2009 ECOSOC Resolution on UNAIDS

UNSEC
24 July 2009

Analysis of precedential value

Res­o­lu­tion passed at the 36th ple­nary meet­ing of the United Nations Eco­nomic and Social Coun­cil (UNESC)–the UN’s cen­tral forum for advanc­ing sus­tain­able devel­op­ment’s eco­nomic, social and envi­ron­men­tal dimen­sions. It com­prises 54 Mem­ber States elected reg­u­larly by the UN Gen­eral Assem­bly. In draft form, this text was spon­sored by 30 Mem­ber States.

Used as precedent

stigma and discrimination

Acknowl­edges the insid­i­ous and per­sis­tent dri­vers of the epi­demic, in par­tic­u­lar stigma, dis­crim­i­na­tion, gen­der inequal­ity, socio-eco­nomic inequal­ity and lack of respect for human rights, also acknowl­edges that in some cases food inse­cu­rity and dis­place­ments, for exam­ple, can lead to increased vul­ner­a­bil­ity, and encour­ages inten­si­fied analy­sis and advo­cacy by the Joint Pro­gramme to ensure that under­ly­ing obsta­cles to uni­ver­sal access are under­stood and appro­pri­ately addressed at all lev­els and in all set­tings, includ­ing through ser­vices to under­served and vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tions.

access to health products

Reaf­firms the right to use, to the full, the pro­vi­sions con­tained in the Agree­ment on Trade-related Aspects of Intel­lec­tual Prop­erty Rights, the Doha Dec­la­ra­tion on the Agree­ment on Trade-related Aspects of Intel­lec­tual Prop­erty Rights and Pub­lic Health, and the deci­sion of the World Trade Orga­ni­za­tion Gen­eral Coun­cil of 30 August 2003 on the imple­men­ta­tion of para­graph 6 of the Doha Dec­la­ra­tion on the TRIPS Agree­ment and pub­lic health, and, when for­mal accep­tance pro­ce­dures are com­pleted, the amend­ment to arti­cle 31 of the Agree­ment, which pro­vide flex­i­bil­i­ties for the pro­tec­tion of pub­lic health, and, in par­tic­u­lar, to pro­mote access to med­i­cines for all, and also calls for a broad and timely accep­tance of the amend­ment to arti­cle 31 of the Agree­ment on Trade-related Aspects of Intel­lec­tual Prop­erty Rights, as pro­posed by the World Trade Orga­ni­za­tion Gen­eral Coun­cil in its deci­sion of 6 Decem­ber 2005.Urges Gov­ern­ments to pri­or­i­tize and expand access to the pre­ven­tion and treat­ment of HIV-related oppor­tunis­tic infec­tions, to pro­mote access to and the effec­tive use of safe and effec­tive anti­retro­vi­ral drugs of assured qual­ity, at afford­able prices, and to sup­port both bio­med­ical and socio-eco­nomic research on new prod­ucts to pre­vent HIV infec­tion, includ­ing those con­trolled by women, diag­nos­tics, med­i­cines and other treat­ment com­modi­ties and tech­nolo­gies related to HIV.

key population and community leadership

Acknowl­edges the crit­i­cal impor­tance of peo­ple liv­ing with HIV to all aspects of national AIDS responses, global advo­cacy efforts and the work of the United Nations sys­tem on AIDS, and encour­ages increased sup­port for the capac­ity of civil soci­ety to carry out pro­gramme imple­men­ta­tion and advo­cacy, directed towards the goal of ensur­ing uni­ver­sal access to pre­ven­tion, treat­ment, care and sup­port.

positive legal determinants

Rec­og­nizes the need for the Joint Pro­gramme to sig­nif­i­cantly expand and strengthen its work with national Gov­ern­ments and to work with all groups of civil soci­ety to address the gap in access to ser­vices for inject­ing drug users in all set­tings, includ­ing pris­ons, to develop com­pre­hen­sive mod­els of appro­pri­ate ser­vice deliv­ery for inject­ing drug users, to tackle the issues of stigma­ti­za­tion and dis­crim­i­na­tion, and to sup­port increased capac­ity and resources for the pro­vi­sion of a com­pre­hen­sive pack­age of ser­vices for inject­ing drug users, includ­ing harm reduc­tion pro­grammes in rela­tion to HIV, as elab­o­rated in the WHO, UNODC, UNAIDS Tech­ni­cal Guide for Coun­tries to Set Tar­gets for Uni­ver­sal Access to HIV Pre­ven­tion, Treat­ment and Care for Inject­ing Drug Users, in accor­dance with rel­e­vant national cir­cum­stances.

sexual orientation

Wel­comes the pro­mul­ga­tion of the UNAIDS Action Frame­work: Uni­ver­sal Access for Men Who Have Sex with Men and Trans­gen­der Peo­ple, and the fol­low-up action that is already under way, and calls on the Joint Pro­gramme and other part­ners to sup­port fur­ther action and strengthen part­ner­ships to address the polit­i­cal, social, legal and eco­nomic bar­ri­ers to uni­ver­sal access, as part of the agreed Uni­fied Bud­get and Work­plan pri­or­i­ties.

gender equality

Rec­og­nizes the inter­re­lated nature of the health- and gen­der-related Mil­len­nium Devel­op­ment Goals, and wel­comes the progress made by the Joint Pro­gramme in assist­ing coun­tries in accel­er­at­ing action on women, girls and gen­der equal­ity within the con­text of AIDS, includ­ing the appoint­ment of an advi­sory group, under the lead­er­ship of the Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, to develop, imple­ment and mon­i­tor an oper­a­tional plan in rela­tion to a strength­ened inter-agency strat­egy and the draft­ing of the UNAIDS Action Frame­work: Address­ing Women, Girls, Gen­der Equal­ity and HIV.