UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

Chapter 6Zackie Achmat ( secondfrom left) from SouthAfrica’s Treatment ActionCampaign demonstrateswith ArchbishopNjongonkulu WinstonHugh Ndungane ofCape Town (secondfrom right) at the 13thInternational AIDSConference in Durban,South Africa.Panos/Gisele Wulfsohn“We do not expect the UN office tobe an implementing agency in ourcountry, we expect it to be a facilitator– although we do not think that it isdoing enough publicly to bring peopletogether. I think the relationship hasimproved tremendously and I thinkMbulawa Mugabe [UNAIDS CountryCoordinator] has been very skilful inmaintaining a relationship with us andholding a relationship with government,without treading on either’s toesbut making sure that what needs to bedone is getting done … With Genevawe have a relationship where we can push them to do more because they can say thingsthat our country representative cannot say, because our Country Representative is here allthe time and has to traverse real abnormalities concerning local practice both in relation tous and in relation to government. So a Country Representative has a greater responsibilityin managing conflict and trying to avoid conflict wherever possible. Whereas Geneva, whenthere is a conflict, can take a principled position because they are not here, and I think that’show we approach it. Geneva does not need to play the diplomatic game in the same way.So our relationship with UN international, or Geneva, is very different [from] the countryoffice”.Achmat continued: “As activists, our job first and foremost is that we create a movement inour countries where … we hold our governments accountable. We cannot expect the UN tohold our countries accountable if we cannot do it ourselves. It’s like I say to anyone who is afag or a dyke – if you cannot come out to your mom and dad to say that I am gay or a lesbianhow can you expect the government to treat you equally? There is no use in screaming atthe UN, we need to know that we can use the UN and that the UN has a mandate to protectlife and to protect rights and so on and that we should use. We do not use it enough in anappropriate manner”.155The UNAIDS Secretariat and some of its Cosponsors have supported networks of peopleliving with HIV in many countries, in various ways. UNDP supported 10 countries (BurkinaFaso, Burundi, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger,Rwanda, Togo and Zambia) in reviewing laws and administrative measures to preventstigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. It also supported a number ofAIDS nongovernmental organizations to strengthen their governance structure (so often aweakness of underfunded nongovernmental organizations) and strategic planning process,including the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa.