World leaders resisted setting exact financial targets for the fight against AIDS at a major conference, drawing criticism from activists who claimed they do not want to shoulder the financial burden of trying to stop the epidemic.
However, rights groups also said there were some gains from the conference that wrapped up on Friday, including a push for drug users to be given sterile injecting equipment and recognition that the fight against AIDS will require up to US$23 billion each year by 2010.
The meeting was meant to review efforts to fight AIDS and prepare national plans to fight the virus over the next 10 years. It came after a UN report said that 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, and 8,000 die every day from the virus.
"The epidemic continues to outpace us," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. "Last year, globally, there were more new infections than ever before, and more people died than ever before."
Overall, activists said the nonbinding final declaration was a missed opportunity, and 69 groups denounced it outright. They said it lacked the kind of bold, galvanizing proposals included in a plan of action that was agreed to at a similar conference in 2001.
The resistance to financial targets came mostly from the leading donor nations, including the US, the EU, Japan and Australia, who feared that if they set goals for AIDS funding, they would be the ones expected to bear the biggest burden.
They settled for a promise to set "ambitious national targets" this year so nations can achieve universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010. The world spent US$8.3 billion to fight AIDS last year.
Civil rights groups acknowledge that few of the earlier goals were met, but they said those targets provided a yardstick to measure the progress against AIDS.
"It's true, many of the targets that were set in 2001 weren't met, but that's also extremely important information [while doing] the post-mortem and examine why that was the case," said Asia Russell, director for international policy with the Philadelphia-based Health Global Access Program.
Some delegates had also hoped that after five years, world leaders would have been more open to specifically mentioning those most at risk to the virus, including prostitutes, gay men and intravenous drug users.
Instead, they stuck to the same language from 2001, only referring to "vulnerable groups."
"I wish we could have been a bit more frank in our document about telling the truth," said Britain's development secretary, Hilary Benn.
"Abstinence is fine for those who are able to abstain, but human beings like to have sex and they should not die because they do have sex," she said.
Still, the meeting was not the disaster some had feared. Early on in the negotiations, some Islamic countries had resisted even the reference to "vulnerable groups," and the US was opposed to any financial targets at all.
The atmosphere changed after government officials arrived from their countries and took over negotiations from UN diplomats based in New York. UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson also intervened with a draft that he urged officials to live with.
Some civil rights groups pointed to language on young people, including "comprehensive, evidence based prevention strategies" and the use of condoms. Conservative nations had resisted efforts to deliver comprehensive sex education to children.
The push for education gained support from US first lady Laura Bush, who told the General Assembly that more people must understand how the deadly virus is transmitted.
She called on countries to improve literacy so their citizens can make better choices.
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
RSS