Advocacy Guide: Meaningful Involvement of Civil Society in the UNGASS Review Meeting

In June 2001 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) was held, the first time the General Assembly ever addressed a specific health issue. The resulting UNGASS Declaration of Commitment (DoC) on HIV/AIDS adopted by all UN Member States provided a comprehensive framework that aimed to halt and to reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2010, and included specific and measurable milestones for 2003, 2005 and 2010. Between May 31 and June 2 2006, member countries of the United Nations will be sending a delegation to New York to participate in a Review Meeting of the UNGASS commitments.

The purpose of this guide is to assist organisations to advocate to be part of the national delegation, or to support and to influence those that will be attending. It describes different ways that organisations working in HIV/AIDS can participate in the UNGASS Review process. The advocacy guide suggests that organisations can advocate to try to ensure that the national delegation includes representatives from non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The guide also suggests that whether or not NGO representatives are included in the country’s delegation, it is still possible to influence the positions that government takes on specific HIV/AIDS-related issues. This could include NGOs and service organisations working together to provide input into the national report that will be presented at UNGASS, or developing a national NGO position paper outlining the critical issues from an NGO perspective and making recommendations concerning the positions government should promote at the meeting. It also explains that the Review meeting will attract significant media coverage and NGOs can use the opportunity to raise awareness about their specific HIV/AIDS priorities and messages. It discusses how to develop a media strategy and encourage journalists to include the perspective of NGOs.