UNGA 78TH SESSION – AGENDA ITEM 10: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECLARATION OF COMMITMENT ON HIV/AIDS AND THE POLITICAL DECLARATIONS ON HIV/AIDS – THE PATH TO ENDING AIDS – REPORT OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL ON 2025 TARGETS PROGRESS AND SOLUTIONS FOR THE FUTURE - CANZ STATEMENT
19 June 2024
As delivered by H.E. Mr James Larsen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations
Thank you, President, and I acknolwledge the Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed and her remarks this morning on behalf of the Secretary General.
I have the honour of speaking today on behalf of Canda, New Zealand, and my own country, Australia.
CANZ welcomes the promising developments in the global fight against HIV and AIDS that are highlighted in the Secretary General’s Report; including 76 per cent of people globally living with HIV are receiving lifesaving treatment, five countries – Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zimbabwe – achieved the 95-95-95 targets in 2022, and the increased expansion and access to antiretroviral therapy.
This progress demonstrates that collective efforts, global solidarity, and a whole-of-society approach are key.
While this success is important to celebrate, as the report shows, progress must not be a cause of complacency, especially when some 9.2 million people living with HIV did not have access to antiretroviral treatment in 2022, 4,000 adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years became infected with HIV globally every week in 2022, and increasing numbers of new HIV infections in 2022 in some countries were evident.
CANZ strongly believes a human rights-based approach for all people is a necessity to achieve further progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Countries that have seen the biggest progress in response to HIV and AIDs have met their obligations under international human rights law to remove societal and structural barriers that put people in harm’s way and prevent them from accessing health and other services.
Health and other services must be open to all, particularly key populations including transgender people who must remain free from stigma and discrimination, arrest, imprisonment and violence and be enabled to access safe and quality services and support.
Similarly, we acknowledge the critical importance of multisectoral responses including to support access to education, including comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health and rights, and addressing violence against girls and women and key populations.
It is beholden on us all to remain vigilant to the increasing number of counter practices, policies, and laws that seek to weaken gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the human rights of LGBTQI+ people, and other key and priority populations.
These issues are at the heart of an effective HIV and AIDS response.
In addition to human rights-based approaches, HIV programs are most successful when evidence is used to inform public health responses ensuring communities inform and lead these responses.
Key to our understanding progress and where we need to focus our efforts to end the HIV epidemic is data; strengthening the collection of disaggregated data will enable early identification and targeting of gaps and barriers necessary to achieve our objectives and guide our efforts to ensure services and support reach those who need them.
Lastly, global responses must always be grounded in partnerships underpinned by a collaboration between people living with, or affected by HIV, governments, community groups, international organisations, researchers and clinicians.
In particular, continued international and multilateral support for the HIV response is essential to efforts to achieve the SDG targets for HIV by 2030.
We now know that we have the global knowledge, tools and experience to end the HIV and AIDS epidemic but what is needed now is to expand efforts and increased accessibility of support to end AIDS by 2030.
Thank you.