AIDS NGOs lobby President Pohamba

THE AIDS Law Unit and the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) have called on President Hifikepunye Pohamba to lift a ban on their participation at next month’s UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV-AIDS (UNGASS).

The two organisations forwarded a petition to Pohamba, signed by other non-governmental organisations in Namibia and the southern African region. ARASA is based in Windhoek but represents 14 organisations from the SADC region.They told Pohamba that they were being excluded despite Government signing a 2001 declaration of commitment on the disease.Namibia’s objection to the participation of the NGOs is believed to have stood despite an attempt by top personnel at the UN offices in New York to get the Namibian mission to the UN to withdraw it.The Namibian mission is believed to have refused to do so.UNGASS originally granted accreditation to civil-society representatives on a “no-objection” basis.The only way in which Namibian civil society could have been excluded from accreditation was through an objection lodged by Government.The organisations told Pohamba that the scale of the HIV pandemic demanded that all sectors of society must be involved in the response to the disease, to the fullest extent of their capacities.”Now is not the time for the exclusion of civil-society organisations from the response.The nature of the epidemic demands that we expand our partnerships across all institutions and individuals tackling the epidemic – governments and civil-society organisations, businesses and faith-based organisations, educators and healthcare workers, leaders of institutions and movements and all people living with HIV-AIDS,” the letter states.The same happened in South Africa, where Pretoria also objected to the accreditation of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the AIDS Law Project (ALP).The TAC said it suspected that ARASA, which conducts its work regionally, was excluded because the ALP sits on its board.A letter has also been sent to South African President Thabo Mbeki to inform him that repealing the decision would ensure that the invaluable contributions and experience of civil society would help that country move closer to the common vision of a world without AIDS Meanwhile, the Namibia Network of AIDS Service Organisations, NANASO, says the Government has not objected to its participation in the UN General Assembly meeting on HIV-AIDS.NANASO says it has been accredited to participate and will be represented at next month’s meeting.ARASA is based in Windhoek but represents 14 organisations from the SADC region.They told Pohamba that they were being excluded despite Government signing a 2001 declaration of commitment on the disease.Namibia’s objection to the participation of the NGOs is believed to have stood despite an attempt by top personnel at the UN offices in New York to get the Namibian mission to the UN to withdraw it.The Namibian mission is believed to have refused to do so.UNGASS originally granted accreditation to civil-society representatives on a “no-objection” basis.The only way in which Namibian civil society could have been excluded from accreditation was through an objection lodged by Government.The organisations told Pohamba that the scale of the HIV pandemic demanded that all sectors of society must be involved in the response to the disease, to the fullest extent of their capacities.”Now is not the time for the exclusion of civil-society organisations from the response.The nature of the epidemic demands that we expand our partnerships across all institutions and individuals tackling the epidemic – governments and civil-society organisations, businesses and faith-based organisations, educators and healthcare workers, leaders of institutions and movements and all people living with HIV-AIDS,” the letter states.The same happened in South Africa, where Pretoria also objected to the accreditation of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the AIDS Law Project (ALP).The TAC said it suspected that ARASA, which conducts its work regionally, was excluded because the ALP sits on its board.A letter has also been sent to South African President Thabo Mbeki to inform him that repealing the decision would ensure that the invaluable contributions and experience of civil society would help that country move closer to the common vision of a world without AIDS Meanwhile, the Namibia Network of AIDS Service Organisations, NANASO, says the Government has not objected to its participation in the UN General Assembly meeting on HIV-AIDS.NANASO says it has been accredited to participate and will be represented at next month’s meeting.