Holding UN Member States Accountable: #EndAIDS by 2030

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Last year at the 2016 UN High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS (HLM), MSMGF led a coalition of key population networks and gay activists from around the world to advocate for an equitable, effective, and sustainable HIV response. From urging Member States to include key populations in national commitments, to producing a fact sheet about the HIV epidemic among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, MSMGF has been on frontlines of holding Member States accountable before and during the formulation of the output the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS.

Now almost a year on, we are sharing a new advocacy tool for civil society to continue to hold Member States to account for their commitments: a video archive from the HLM with statements made by Member States relevant to key populations.

Obstacles such as stigma, discrimination, violence, and criminalization pose serious threats to achieving the ambitious target of ending AIDS by 2030. While the Political Declaration was strong on some of the issues we cared about, the final version spoke sparsely to the disproportionate HIV disease burden shouldered by key populations, including gay men, other men who have sex with men, transwomen, sex workers, and people who use drugs. Together with a coalition of other global HIV organizations,[1] MSMGF released a comprehensive analysis of the HLM and Political Declaration drafting process, its gaps and opportunities, and suggested actions going forward.

Civil society must remain vigilant to ensure that Member States do not shirk responsibilities and take concrete action toward meeting targets. At the Spring 2017 convening of the Platform to Fast Track the HIV & Human Rights Responses with Gay and Bisexual Men in Bangkok, UN agency and multilateral representatives, donors, researchers, and community members identified monitoring commitments in the Political Declaration and the SDGs as a priority advocacy area for years ahead.

In this spirit, MSMGF has compiled excerpts from statements made by Member States at the HLM that are relevant to LGBTI and other key populations; we must continue to hold these States and all other stakeholders accountable to design equitable, sustainable, and evidence-based programming for key populations. We will not end AIDS by 2030 if Member States continue to neglect and criminalize key populations.

The video archive from the HLM is now available online, and it includes statements from the following States:

Algeria	Costa Rica	Malaysia	South Africa
Belarus	Egypt	Mexico	Thailand
Botswana	Ethiopia	Morocco	Ukraine
Brazil	El Salvador	Nepal	United States
Cameroon	Estonia	Panama	Uruguay
Cambodia	Gambia	Paraguay	Zimbabwe
Dominican Republic	Georgia	Peru	Colombia
	Kenya	Russia

MSMGF will continue to support ongoing advocacy among civil society and encourage specific monitoring of Member State progress toward commitments made. This includes the annual March 31 deadline for Global AIDS Monitoring, the Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) at the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on the SDGs, and other entry points.

These videos will serve as a tool to enable civil society to track commitments made in June 2016 and ensure consistency and accountability in VNR reporting on SDG Target 3.3 (End the epidemic of AIDS by 2030) at the HLPF on July 10-19, 2017, in New York.

We expect full inclusion and transparency about progress on HIV among the most vulnerable populations.

[1] Analysis of the Political Declaration written in collaboration with ICASO, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Health Gap, GNP+, Harm Reduction international, ICW, GATE, International Women’s Health Coalition, StopAIDS, IPPF, and NSWP.