At the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS, UN Member States are expected to adopt a new declaration that will reaffirm current commitments and identify further actions to guide and sustain the global AIDS response into the next decade. Parliamentarians have a key role to play in the implementation of global commitments at the national level insofar as they provide leadership, shape laws and policies, oversee government action and authorize financing for HIV/AIDS.
The event will be organized in close cooperation with UNAIDS and will build on UN General Assembly resolution 62/178, which expressly encourages Member States to include parliamentarians in their national delegations to the High Level Meeting. The objective of the briefing is twofold:
- Inform legislators of the main lines of action that will emerge from the outcome document of the UN High Level Meeting and the politics underlying the new global consensus on HIV/AIDS; and
- Facilitate an exchange of views on one critical line of action in the AIDS response that constitutes the core of future IPU work, namely the impact of law on HIV interventions (e.g. legal factors that impede universal access to HIV services), and how the law can be used to reinforce, rather than hinder, public health responses.
The discussion will focus on how parliaments and the IPU can help translate future commitments on HIV/AIDS into reality. The conclusions of the parliamentary meeting will be presented to the plenary of the High Level Meeting as part of the IPU statement.
The parliamentary meeting is open to all members of parliament and parliamentary staff who will be attending the High Level Meeting as part of their national delegations. Simultaneous interpreting services will be provided in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
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