Blame & Banishment - Médecins du Monde

Blame and Banishment: The underground HIV epidemic affecting children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
environment that is required to prevent further spread of the epidemic. Listening to and
involving children and young people, so as to better respond to their concerns and promote
their human rights, is at the core of what is required.
Change will require a collective effort at all levels of society, from individuals and families,
to local authorities and top level policy makers to ensure respect and dignity for all children
and all people. As expressed by Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the authors of the United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so
close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world... Such are the places
where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity
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without discrimination.
As this report documents, important steps have already been taken by some countries
to develop health, education and social protection services that reach and serve children
and young people, including those most at risk and vulnerable. These initiatives require
further support, scale-up and strengthening. But as the target dates for achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals and other globally agreed objectives approach, the
likelihood of their being met in the region is threatened by delays of urgently needed
reforms in health and social systems. Renewed commitments by both national political and
community leaders will be required if progress is to be made.
Developing a rights-based response to meet the needs of children and young people will
also require additional funding. Combined international investments in HIV in the entire
region do not come close to investments in a single country such as Ethiopia that has a
similar number of new HIV infections annually as the Russian Federation or Ukraine, and
which also falls amongst the top twelve most affected countries in the world. Resource
needs are now further threatened by the financial crisis and by a number of countries in the
region becoming ineligible for funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria. In these circumstances, much greater political leadership, national investment and
support from partner countries will be required if responses are even to be sustained.
Bold action for the well-being of children and young people is about building a better
understanding of their real needs and protecting their rights. It is about challenging the
cultural alibis that are evoked to justify not knowing or not caring. And it is also about
forging a collective effort to understand, provide support and include – rather than exclude,
blame and banish.
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