Charter of Demands of APACHA from People?s SAARC

Introduction

There have been realizations that the Official SAARC has not been able to play effective role to address the sociopolitical, economic and other concerns in the region. To develop citizens' solidarity, increase regional support system, amplify the voices, and make the state agencies accountable for and to put pressure on the Official SAARC, a group of people representing their huge, wider and legitimate grounds across South Asia have come together with big dreams of Imagining a New South Asia. However, within people's issues, there are still chances that the issues of the most marginalized are often neglected. Within these critical facts, Asian People's Alliance for Combating HIV&AIDS (APACHA), Nepal chapter on behalf of the Asia region, got involved in the dialogue of People?s SAARC with an aim to ensure that HIV&AIDS becomes one of the priority areas of People?s SAARC.

At a time when the epidemic has been challenging the socio-political, economic and human rights aspects in the region, until we seriously respond the issue, the dream of a New South Asia will remain unfulfilled. People are dying without having a pouch of food and life saving drugs. Time has come for us to critically think and question whether we are seriously looking at the margin and their concerns. Every citizen in South Asia has right to see and experience democracy from the ground where s/he stands. An HIV positive person has all the right to see democracy from her /his reality. If the region cannot pay serious attention on time, the region will have to face series of crises in the coming days.

Reflecting upon these critical realities of South Asia region, participants in People?s SAARC representing different countries and constituencies developed and endorsed following 9 point-charter of demands. They stressed that they wanted the national governments, donor agencies, IFIs, and the SAARC Secretariat to immediately act on the following demands:

End HIV and AIDS related stigma and discrimination at all levels. Introduce and implement progressive HIV & AIDS legislation to protect the rights of people living with HIV & AIDS at all levels. Guarantee the participation and representation of people living with HIV and AIDS at all levels of decision making process both in state and non-state domains. Introduce and implement HIV & AIDS work place policy both in public and private sector. Guarantee the free access of HIV & AIDS related medicines including ART for people living with HIV & AIDS. Ensure the focused intervention of SAARC on HIV & AIDS. Cancel the debts of the world's poorest countries in full, by fair and transparent means, allowing countries to divert resources to national priorities ensuring predictable resources for HIV & AIDS treatment, prevention and care. Stop immediately all the conditional bilateral and multilateral funding related with HIV and AIDS. Ensure public health rights take precedence over pharmaceutical patents through further reform of TRIPS rules, and support the growth of regional and national generics' industries in worst-affected countries.

APACHA from PEOPLE?S SAARC March 23, 2007

The People's movement against HIV&AIDS went vibrantly with more than 300 people's participation from Women wing of Akhil Nepal Free Student Union (ANFSU), Youth Action, Student's Union, Regional Dalit Network, Positive Women's Network, People Living with HIV&AIDS, Indigenous People's Network, Lawyers Group from Nepal, Environmental Lawyers Association (NELA), Conscious Media Forum and representation from disabled people's group, volunteers, INGOs, NGOs, activists and media persons. A number of South Asian civil society actors were also present in the programs and they significantly expressed their solidarity. People representing APACHA Nepal Chapter entered the National Academy with banner and placards shouting the slogans for ensuring the rights of people living with HIV & AIDS in New South Asia and to put pressure on the civil society as well to strongly acknowledge HIV&AIDS as one of the serious issues of the region.

The APACHA Team had organized a parallel session on HIV&AIDS and Challenges in the region, a number of participants from different constituencies participated in the session. The program started with a welcome song by an HIV infected woman. Members of APACHA discussed a need to solidify their strengths across the region to combat the challenges raised by the increasing trends of the epidemic. Participants strongly raised the need to declare HIV&AIDS as an emergency in the region and they also strongly advised governments to decrease their defense budget and allocate proper budget on HIV&AIDS. Student Union's leader and one of the renowned young political activists of Nepal Ramkumari Jhankri said, "In today's Nepal youth must be proactive to respond urgently to the epidemic. We have been able to mobilize millions of people for the democracy and justice in this country. We can also mobilize people on the issues like HIV&AIDS and if we are serious it is extremely important for us to make our citizens be part of the process, so that it becomes "our agenda, people's agenda." She also expressed her commitments on behalf of students. She also appealed the South Asian Student Union's solidarity to fight against the epidemic and to protect the human rights of people living with HIV&AIDS.

Similarly, a representative from the Regional Dalit Network Ganesh B.K. shared about the Dalit (Untouchables) Movement. He shared some facts about the situation of few villages he visited in the far-west where 80% people tested were found HIV positive. Among them majority of people are Dalits, who have been going to India for seasonal migration. Therefore, he pointed out, whatever the type, seasonal, temporary or permanent migration, unsafe mobility of people has contributed to illumination of HIV&AIDS. Consequently, the sufferers have to undergo more miserable condition, which might be incredibly painful in the case of Dalits. For instance, if a Dalit woman suffers from HIV/AIDS positive, he pointed out, she undergoes three levels of stigma and discrimination: being a woman, being a Dalit and an HIV positive, and thus she breaks down much before her real death. He also appealed to South Asian Dalits networks to work together and help eliminate such situation.

Indigenous people's group emphasized on the need of educating their communities who had always been excluded and marginalized. They significantly raised the issues how Nepali state had been systematically excluding the indigenous people in the country and how they were excluded from the education and information system. They emphasized a need to use local language and ethnic language in awareness raising programs and campaigns.

Lawyers' group and media partners presented their views focusing on the need of a people's movement against HIV&AIDS. A strong social message was conveyed by Shakti Milan Samaj by means of a live Drama on stigma and discrimination due to HIV & AIDS. It was played in an open Garden area so as to sensitize larger mass that had come to attend various parallel sessions on People?s SAARC at Staff College, Jawalakhel, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Marginalized people with unheard voices and hidden pains of stigma and discrimination came together to voice out for a COLLECTIVE EFFORT in the fight against HIV & AIDS saying "United We Stand, Divided We Fall! And together we can really make a difference!