Translating the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS into Action for Women, Girls and Gender Equality: Advancing Our Action Agenda

The Political Declaration that emerged from the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS, articulates key outcome oriented goals for 2015 (in line with the Millennium Development Goals), and signals a renewed global commitment to respond to HIV and achieve universal access. Reaching these goals demands a clear understanding of what is needed to achieve the changes sought, including in terms of addressing gender inequalities to meet each goal.

To ensure that commitments to women’s rights, and in particular sexual and reproductive health and rights, are upheld and advanced through the HIV response, the “Advancing Our Action Agenda” report highlights the priority actions that will be required from all stakeholders to ensure that we achieve these goals. It builds on and advances the “In Women’s Words: HIV Priorities for Positive Change”Action Agenda, derived from a virtual consultation involving nearly 800 women from 95 countries around the world, and launched on the eve of the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS. The process also produced “In Women’s Words: A Dialogue for African Action” (also in French). You can read more in a blog post developed during ICASA 2011: Strong, Proud and Beautiful.

The consultation was defined by 5 principles: 1) Inclusion of women and girls in decision-making, including the democratization of global processes; 2) Importance of women, girls, and gender equality; 3) Centrality of women’s rights to the success of the HIV response; 4) Political opportunity to define actions and address women, girls, and gender equality in the context of HIV and AIDS; and 5) Urgency of all Millennium Development Goals to the well-being of all women and girls.

Launching the Report

On June 7, 2011, the report was launched at a an event preceding the High Level Meeting on AIDS. The event featured a panel opened by HRE Paul Kagame of Rwanda, the Prime Minister of St. Maarten, Michel Sidibé, and Michelle Bachelet. The Minister of Gender and Development of Liberia, Frika Chia Iskandar, Ebony Johnson, Alicia Keys, and Annie Lennox were then part of a dialogue moderated by Stephanie Nolen.

The UN NEWS & MEDIA PAGE features a webcast of the report launch.

Please also visit our Document Centre for regionally specific action agendas (under “Virtual Consultation – HLM”)