Reportaje

Civil society interactive hearing

11 de junio de 2008

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The President of the General Assembly
H.E. Mr Srgjan Kerim (center) chaired the
interactive civil society hearing.

Representatives of civil society organizations addressed Member States and observers on Tuesday 10th June in an interactive hearing at the High-level Meeting on AIDS entitled Action for Universal Access 2010: Myths and Realities.

The hearing was chaired by the President of the General Assembly and the UN Secretary-General made opening remarks. Following the opening, civil society speakers brought frontline experiences to the session, addressing the challenging issues that underlie the spread of the epidemic. They stressed the importance of accountability and involvement to fulfil targets set on the Declaration of Commitment and Universal Access.

20080611_CS_hearing_200.jpg
Representatives of civil society organizations
addressed Member States and observers on
Tuesday 10th June in an interactive hearing
at the High-level Meeting on AIDS

The speakers also highlighted some of the myths that have become barriers to an effective response to the epidemic. The hearing provided an open forum to discuss these myths and realities and the urgent work needed to achieve universal access by 2010.

Civil society speakers addressed issues related to achieving universal access from a number of different perspectives such as HIV and human rights, sex workers, sexual minorities, people who use drugs, women and girls, children, access to treatment, HIV-related travel restrictions, mobility and migration, workplace responses and civil society involvement and AIDS accountability. 


Following an open call for nominations, which yielded more than 250 proposed speakers, the civil society Task Force recommended speakers to the President of the General Assembly. The selection was based on criteria established by the Civil Society Task Force, which included experience, people living with HIV, gender and regional diversity.