Port of Spain Parliamentary Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS

ISSUE 31 - 18 June 2004

On 14 and 15 June 2004, parliamentarians from Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago gathered for a two day meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago entitled "Leadership as a Vital Tool Against HIV/AIDS". The meeting was co-organized by the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (IAPG) and the UNFPA Caribbean office in Jamaica.

Below is the declaration adopted unanimously by the parliamentarians on their commitment to HIV/AIDS issues.

DECLARATION

The Port of Spain Parliamentary Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS

We, the parliamentarians from Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, present at the meeting of Parliamentarians and HIV/AIDS Specialists, entitled "Leadership As a Vital Tool Against HIV/AIDS", in Port of Spain, Trinidad, from 14 to 15 June 2004, recognize parliamentary leadership as a key resource in the expanded response to HIV/AIDS:

Reaffirming the 'Programme of Action' (PoA) of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 1994, Key Actions to Implementing the PoA, and the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS Adopted by the UN General Assembly (UNGASS), June 2001;

Recalling the Caribbean Cooperation in Health II and the Nassau Declaration on Health 2001;

Recognizing the Pan Caribbean Partnership on HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS (2002-2006);

Bearing in mind the Declaration of the UNECLAC/CDCC Caribbean meeting to assess the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) 10 years after its adoption, in Port of Spain, Trinidad, November 2003

Recognizing the Caribbean region has the second highest rate of infection after sub Saharan Africa and that women and young people are particularly affected;

Recognizing that HIV/AIDS constitutes a regional emergency which requires strong leadership at all levels of society for an effective response;

Further recognizing the importance of having one National HIV/AIDS Action Framework, one National AIDS coordinating authority with a broad-based multisectoral mandate, and one national monitoring and evaluation system -The "Three Ones";

We commit ourselves as Leaders to combat HIV/AIDS and agree to mobilize support from all levels of Government, in partnership with civil society, particularly PLWHA, the business community and private sector and young people, in the following ways:

ADVOCACY

Ensure and promote increased awareness of and support for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support issues among peers and other local officials and authorities.

Pledge to be proactive in drawing the attention and support of the mass media so that awareness of the social, economic and health impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is increased.

Ensure that young people have access to age-specific gender-sensitive and culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health education and services.

Commit to work with our constituencies to create awareness on HIV/AIDS to overcome social taboos and eliminate stigma and discrimination towards people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

Encourage appropriate research to provide the evidence base for effective policy and programme interventions, including particular attention to the gender and sexuality dimensions of the epidemic; and regularly review with a view towards monitoring progress in achieving agreed to national, regional and international HIV/AIDS goals and targets.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION

Review, reform and enact appropriate legislation that:

Promotes an integrated response to HIV/AIDS, across all appropriate sectors and takes into account the interrelation between sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV/AIDS;

Eliminates all forms of discrimination against people living with, affected by, and particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection, while respecting, protecting and fulfilling their human rights;

Creates mechanisms to ensure active participation of women, young people and PLWHA and other affected groups in the development, monitoring and evaluation of national legal and policy efforts related to HIV/AIDS;

Protects in the workplace, the rights and dignity of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS and those at greatest risk of HIV/AIDS, taking into account established international guidelines on HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

Advocate for and allocate increased levels of financial and other resources for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support programmes within all relevant ministries.

Maximise use of existing resources available within: (a) the UN system including Country level Theme Groups on HIV/AIDS; (b) regional Institutions such as University of the West Indies (UWI), CARICOM and CAREC/PAHO/WHO, with particularly reference to the Pan Caribbean Partnership (PANCAP); (c) civil society organizations, such as the Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (CRN+), and the Latin America and the Caribbean Council of AIDS Service of Organizations (LACCASO).

Work in partnership with the international community to mobilize additional resources, both local and external, to support an effective and expanded response to the AIDS epidemic.

Allocate the necessary resources to strengthen existing health systems to be able to effectively deliver integrated sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes.

FOLLOW-UP

Acknowledging the need to continue to support each other, share information and monitor our respective implementation of the Plan of Action emanating from this meeting, we call upon the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (IAPG), the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the United Nations system, in close collaboration with our International Development Partners to facilitate follow up actions, including inter-country meetings of Parliamentarians.

Encourage wide dissemination of the outcomes of this meeting to: other Parliamentarians; International and Regional Conferences on AIDS; and all countries in the Caribbean.

Encourage wide dissemination of the outcomes of this meeting to: other Parliamentarians; International and Regional Conferences on AIDS; and all countries in the Caribbean.

We express our gratitude to the Government and people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for hosting this meeting to mobilize Caribbean Parliamentarians in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

We adopt this declaration in commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development and in recognition that the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS will constitute a serious obstacle to the realization of the twin global development goals of the ICPD and the Millennium Summit.

This newsletter is issued by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in its capacity as secretariat for the International Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (November 2002, Ottawa, Canada). These dispatches are intended to highlight important developments taking place around the world so that parliamentarians can be kept informed of and learn from the successes, setbacks and challenges encountered by their fellow parliamentarians in other countries and regions in their efforts to promote the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (September 1994, Cairo, Egypt). It should be noted that UNFPA does not necessarily endorse all of the policies described in this newsletter.

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