Asia Pacific Conference on Governance
Delhi, India

Asia Pacific Conference on Governance, Delhi, India At a time when the epidemic has started to manifest multiple effects in the sociopolitical and economic life of Asia, HIV&AIDS demands a serious commitment from the government and the civil society of the region. HIV&AIDS has been one of the major development issues. It has started to raise critical issues around human rights, governance and public health.

The issues around quality and transparent aid, the politics around bilateral, multilateral funding and the complicated policies of financial institutions, government's reluctance to allocate proper resources on this sector have raised some critical aspects around political economy of AIDS. The politics of AID within HIV&AIDS sector has been a serious and growing concern. There are increasing realities that the money is not reaching to the communities and it has not been able to address the concerns of the people who are in need of it. The incidences of the violation of human rights have been increasing, the level of stigma and discrimination is increasing, and the issues around care and treatment are becoming more and more critical. In many Asian communities, families are forced to sell their lands and property for care and treatment. Unfortunately, Asian governments and civil society are still reluctant to address the issue with a sense of urgency. Within these critical frameworks, with an aim to begin a dialogue of governance, accountability and transparency within HIV&AIDS sector, APACHA conducted an Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Governance in New Delhi. A large number of participants representing the government, UN agencies, INGOs, PLHA networks women's rights organization, trade union leaders, student union leaders, lawyers, journalists, researchers, academicians and parliamentarians across the Asia region participated in the conference.

The focus of the two days conference was to discuss around the issues of democracy, justice and governance and to look at the issues of HIV&AIDS. Participants during the conference agreed to jointly advocate the issues around mainstreaming of HIV&AIDS, and they emphasized urgent need to address the growing concerns around violence against women and HIV&AIDS, PLHA's access to care, support and treatment and accountability and transparency of the government, donor agencies and the development sector. The role of international financial institutions was also critically discussed during the seminar. They discussed on the bias policies of IMF and World Bank and how poor countries are entering into vicious circles of their politics.

Participants in the seminar also focused to develop alternatives from the citizen's initiatives and they recommended strengthening the people's networks like APPACHA, which is an initiative to break rituals. Participants from across the Asia region representing their different and dynamic constituencies strongly realized a need to synergize their common strengths to make change happen in this part of the world.

Addressing the conference, Chitra Lekha Yadav, the deputy speaker of the parliament of Nepal said,
"It is extremely important to engage parliamentarians across the Asia to be serious on the issues around HIV&AIDS. HIV&AIDS should be an important issue within parliamentary discussion in our respective countries."

Mr. K.K. Abhram, one of the leading activists of India and Asia region said,
"It is extremely important to see GIPA from the perspectives of the governance and there should be meaningful representation of PLHA in decision making process, planning and program implementation processes as well."

John Samuel, the Asia Regional Director of Actionaid, said,
HIV&AIDS is not just a medical issue. The issue of HIV&AIDS has sociopolitical, gender and cultural implications. There is a need to initiate organized action and concentrate public effort to fight the discrimination against people living with HIV. It is the poor women and children who are at the receiving end of the stigma and discrimination. Changing this situation requires both societal action and public advocacy." He also emphasized a need to put pressure on financial institutions to draw a human face on their funding roadmaps and make sure they address public health care system."

One of the leading academicians of India Professor Dr. Iqbal: Said,
Such conferences are occasions to make linkages, but also for soul searching where we could synergize our strengths and make things possible. He added that HIV&AIDS is related to gender issues, economy but it is more of a political issue and thus it demands a political approach to address it. Within the political discourse, governance is one of the fundamental aspects to be addressed."

Joe Thomas one of the leading HIV&AIDS experts in the region said,
"When we are talking about governance and accountability, we have to break it down at all levels beginning to the community level interventions to the global politics.

Prof. Nurul Islam: HIV/AIDS activist in Bangladesh, Dr. Sashi Sharma from Nepal brought some analytical perspectives on the situation in Bangladesh and Nepal. They also hightilighted some key areas of treatment, care and support and the role of the governments and the civil society. Similarly, one of the leading women activists from Cambodia, Rosana presented a paper on the drug trail issues on the sex workers in Cambodia and the civil society resistance for the rights of the people.

One of the leading activists and journalist Shibu Giri highlighted the role of media in bringing the voices of the marginalized and he also presented some of the initiatives of PLHA in Nepal, who received media training and over the period how they were successful in bringing critical issues around HIV&AIDS in Nepal. He also mentioned that PLHA journalist's engagement in media could be one of the strategic spaces to address governance issues as well.

Leading Trade Unions leader of Nepal and the president of DECONT Rajendra Bahadur Raut appealed all trade unions in the region to be serious on the issues of HIV&AIDS. He also emphasized a need to introduce workplace policy in industries to protect the rights of workers.

Similarly, activists, lawyers, student leaders, women rights activists, UN representatives, INGOs representatives from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Cambodia, China, and Australia and from Africa region highlighted different governance related issues.

Seminar ended with a commitment to mainstream governance aspects within HIV&AIDS sector. Participants also recognized APACHA as one of the new and different platforms for Asian People to make a difference in the region. They acknowledged the fact that in the region there is a lack of such a multidisciplinary alliance and they also realized that unless HIV&AIDS can be a matter of common concern of every individual, it will be a huge challenge for the region. Within these critical frame works, they strongly endorsed the need to grow APACHA as a common platform for citizen's politics of rights and justice.

Following the seminar, APACHA related governance meeting also took place after the end of two days seminar. A team of twelve members representing their different constituencies was selected to govern APACHA as independent entity. Until the next team comes, this team will govern the APACHA Regional Secretariat. 2004, 10th Dec