Ensuring and Facilitating your input to the 2021 High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS

Asia Pacific Key Populations Talk: Focus on South Asia and Southeast Asia

Date: Wednesday 28 April 2021

Time: 10:30 Islamabad, 11:00 Delhi, 12:30 Bangkok/Jakarta, 13:30 Manila

Duration: 90 mins

Asia Pacific Key Populations Talk: Focus on East Asia and the Pacific Islands

Date: Thursday 29 April 2021

Time: 8:30 Delhi, 10:00 Bangkok, 12:00 Tokyo, 13:00 PNG/Sydney, 15:00 Fiji, 16:00 Samoa/Tonga

Duration: 90 mins

The United Nations General Assembly will hold its first high-level meeting on HIV since 2016 on 8–10 June 2021. APCOM is organising two short Key Populations Talks with LGBTQI organisations across the Asia-Pacific to ensure that our collective priorities and recommendations are considered during the 2021 High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS.

By taking part in one of the Key Population Talks on 28 and 29 April, you will have an opportunity to influence the review of progress and implementation since the 2016 Political Declaration; to push for LGBTQI language to be included in the 2021 Political Declaration and that our community becomes involved in monitoring of implementation of the 2021 Political Declaration. There is already a formal process for civil society input with the establishment of the Multi-stakeholder Task Force[1]. However, we believe there is a need to ensure additional community-led process in Asia Pacific region, to allow for ample inputs from key populations into the high-level discussions.

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[1] Following a public call for nominations, 16 representatives of civil society and the private sector from all regions were selected to join the multistakeholder task force for the high-level meeting on HIV. The task force will advise and will help to identify speakers for high-level meeting plenary and panel discussions. https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2021/march/20210329_multistakeholder-task-force-high-level-meeting-hiv

UNAIDS Asia Pacific organised a regional HLM briefing for regional key population networks and their national/local constituencies and regional civil society organizations on Monday 5 April, and HLM 2021 virtual consultation with regional key populations networks and civil society on Friday 9th of April.

On 23 April 2021 there will be an interactive multi-stakeholder hearing in preparation for the HLM session co-organised by Aidsfonds and GNP+.

Objectives of the talks:

The Asia Pacific Key Populations Talks aim to:

• Gather insights on opportunities for strategic engagements in the review and new political declaration
• Provide input into what could be the ‘asks’ for Asia Pacific Key Populations

The output we would like, is to gather key population voices from Asia Pacific and submit an open letter to:

• the Multi-stakeholder Task Force; 
• the President of the General Assembly;
• the UN Secretary-General; and
• the Executive Director of UNAIDS

When?

We will organise two meetings:

Asia Pacific Key Populations Talk: Focus on South Asia and Southeast Asia   Date: Wednesday 28 April 2021 Time: 10:30 Islamabad, 11:00 Delhi, 12:30 Bangkok/Jakarta, 13:30 Manila Duration: 90 mins

Asia Pacific Key Populations Talk: Focus on East Asia and the Pacific Islands   Date: Thursday 29 April 2021 Time: 8:30 Delhi, 10:00 Bangkok, 12:00 Tokyo, 13:00 PNG/Sydney, 15:00 Fiji, 16:00 Samoa/Tonga Duration: 90 mins

PLEASE FILL IN THE REGISTRATION FORM AND QUESTIONNAIRE BY MONDAY 26 APRIL

Asia Pacific Key Populations Talk: Focus on South Asia and Southeast Asia

Asia Pacific Key Populations Talk: Focus on East Asia and the Pacific Islands

Content and Format of meeting, Participants and Next Steps

Content: We will organise two 90-minutes highly participatory meetings where we will provide a short overview of the June high level meeting, procedures and expected outcomes and the established stakeholder process which includes stakeholders from India and Australia. We are encouraging all participants to come prepared and identify and share where you see the gaps in the current declaration on HIV/Aids; what are your priorities at this particular time (including any specific challenges created by COVID-19), specific recommendations for the 2021 Declaration and any good practices you may want to share from your country and which can be replicated in other countries.

Format: The meeting will be an informal open plenary where we encourage everyone to raise their points. It is a closed meeting and will be recorded in order to ensure accurate notes. In order to have open and frank discussions, it will follow the Chatham House Rule, which means that participants are free to use the information received but may not reveal the identity or the affiliation of the speaker(s), or of any other participant.

If you are not able to participate, it is possible to provide written input by sending an email to [email protected]  by 30 April 2021.

Also, if you have any burning issues, you didn’t have the opportunity to share at the meeting, please email [email protected] by 30 April 2021.

Participants: To ensure that we have as many key population inputs as possible APCOM is inviting all key populations in Asia Pacific – activists, advocates, key population networks, community-based organisations – working on HIV and LGBTQI human rights to join.

Eamonn Murphy, Regional Director UNAIDS Asia Pacific will provide an overview of the Global AIDS Strategy and what it means for Asia Pacific region.

In addition, three APCOM Ambassadors will take part and share their experiences, namely:

• The Hon Michael Kirby (LGBTQI Human Rights Ambassador) – international jurist, educator and former judge of the High Court of Australia, Patron of the Kirby Institute on Infection and Control
• JVR Prasada Rao (HIV/AIDS Ambassador) – former United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, and Director of India’s National AIDS Control Organization
• Ratu Epeli Nailatikau (Pacific Ambassador) – former President of Fiji and UNAIDS special representative for the Pacific

Next steps: APCOM will collect and summarise concrete key priorities and recommendations from the meetings in a public, open letter to the Multi-stakeholder Task Force; President of the General Assembly; the UN Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UNAIDS.

We shall be sending the draft letter to the participants to review and sign on, buy 4 May 2021.

Due to the tight deadlines, participants will have until 6 May 2021 to review and sign on, and the final letter will be submitted on 7 May 2021.

Background

The permanent missions to the United Nations of Australia and Namibia will co-facilitate the upcoming United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV and AIDS. The high-level meeting will review the progress made in reducing the impact of HIV since the last United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV and AIDS in 2016, and the General Assembly is expected to adopt a new political declaration to guide the future direction of the response.

Background Material

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 8 June 2016: Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: On the Fast Track to Accelerating the Fight against HIV and to Ending the AIDS Epidemic by 2030: https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/70/266

Draft resolution submitted by the President of the General Assembly on 18 February 2021: Organization of the 2021 high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS: https://undocs.org/en/A/75/L.59

For 2016 HLM APCOM developed:

For more information, visit:  HIGH LEVEL MEETING ON AIDS: End Inequalities. End AIDS.

UNAIDS: https://www.unaids.org/en/topic/HLM2021

Preliminary Agenda

Asia Pacific Key Populations Talk: Focus on South Asia and Southeast Asia

Date: Wednesday 28 April 2021

Time: 10:30 Islamabad, 11:00 Delhi, 12:30 Bangkok/Jakarta, 13:30 Manila

Duration: 90 mins

Asia Pacific Key Populations Talk: Focus on East Asia and the Pacific Islands

Date: Thursday 29 April 2021

Time: 8:30 Delhi, 10:00 Bangkok, 12:00 Tokyo, 13:00 PNG/Sydney, 15:00 Fiji, 16:00 Samoa/Tonga

Duration: 90 mins

Time	Details
15 mins	Welcome and Introduction to the high-level meeting Midnight – APCOM Executive Director Michael Kirby – APCOM LGBTQI Human Rights Ambassador
15 mins(with Q&A)	Global AIDS Strategy: Its Implication for Asia Pacific Eamonn Murphy – Regional Director, UNAIDS Asia Pacific
20 mins(with Q&A)	Key gaps in the implementation of the 2016 Political Declaration and Priorities in the 2021 Political Declaration JVR Prasada Rao – APCOM HIV/AIDS Ambassador
25 mins	Consultation: Midnight to facilitate Which key recommendations should we bring to the high-level meeting?Are there any good practices to be shared and replicated? Questions taken from chat box, and people raising hands
5 mins	Perspective from People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) Francis Joseph – Asian Network of People who Use Drugs
10 mins	Summary, Closing and Next Steps Dédé Oetomo – Chair of APCOM Regional Advisory Group