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.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique