We, the representatives of the African NGO's attending this 45th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women;

NOTE WITH APPRECIATION that all governments acknowledge the HIV/AIDS pandemic as a serious threat to human security and an obstacle to the full enjoyment of human rights;

WELCOME an approach that seeks to examine and address the HIV/ AIDS pandemic within a human rights and human security framework; and

CONFIRM our belief in the indivisibility of human rights ;

We NOTE WITH GRAVE CONCERN the patterning of HIV/AIDS that reflects gender and race inequalities which increase in conditions of poverty and conflict as is evidenced by, inter alia, the disproportionate infection rate among women in sub-Saharan Africa and the high incidence of mother-to child transmission of HIV/AIDS,

We FURTHER NOTE WITH REGRET that the response of many governments lacks the crucial political commitment as well as concerted and pro-active actions necessary for halting the exponential nature of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

In particular, we wish to DRAW ATTENTION to the following:

Under the pretexts of economic liberalisation and globalisation, social services such as health care are continuously cut back due to economic structural adjustment programmes, thereby transferring the burden of caring for HIV/AIDS patients to women, thus deepening their poverty while at the same time exposing them to greater risk of infection. This severely constrains development in Africa. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of access to, and ineffective dissemination of information, often resulting from language and other cultural barriers.

In this regard, we URGE the United Nations and all its agencies, as well as all governments, to ensure that poverty elimination is central to its response to, and strategies for, combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

We FURTHER URGE governments to review their trade policies to ensure that such policies are targeted at the survival of the poorest, the majority of them being women.

We SUPPORT the call for the debt burden of African countries to be cancelled; and

STRONGLY URGE that resources released by such cancellation be made available for the implementation of poverty elimination and HIV/AIDS control programmes. Women should benefit equally from such initiatives.

The majority of African women lack access to appropriate and gender-sensitive health-care services, including access to anti -retroviral drugs and other appropriate drugs to combat opportunistic diseases. Furthermore, increasing HIV/AIDS research on African women by the pharmaceutical companies of the North is dehumanising. Such practices include clinical testing in the ante-natal stage, without the women's consent, and without any provisions for pre-and post-counseling as well as after-care.

In this regard, we URGE the United Nations and its agencies, as well as all governments, to urgently introduce all measures and strategies required to ensure access to appropriate and gender-sensitive health-care services.

We FURTHER URGE all parties concerned to ensure, by any means necessary, that African countries have the capacity to produce anti-retroviral and other appropriate drugs in their own countries at a cheaper rate.

We WELCOME the introduction of disaster relief measures for HIV/AIDS- affected areas, but URGE the United Nations and its agencies as well as all governments to devise strategies that will ensure that services and relief can be accessed by the poorest of the poor, including those in rural areas, the majority of them being women and children.

We RECOMMEND that existing social structures, including NGO's, CBO's and faith-based organisations, be utilised to the fullest and in the most strategic manner.

We RECOMMEND that the gender-implications of all intervention programmes be carefully considered and that women participate fully and equally at all levels of decision-making , policy formulation and peace-building.

Strong and effective gender-sensitive leadership as well as sound resource management, especially at grass-roots level, is essential to the success of any intervention.

We NOTE WITH CONCERN the various forms of violence affecting African women in homes, refugee camps, prisons, schools and war fronts, thereby increasing their societal vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

Manifestations of such violence include rape, incest, domestic violence aimed at those women living with HIV/AIDS and witchcraft-related violence.

We URGE governments to promote voluntary testing for HIV/AIDS and to introduce measures to ensure the de-stigmatisation of the disease;

We FURTHER URGE all governments to introduce effective legal and other measures to eliminate violence against women and to ensure the effective implementation of such measures.

We NOTE WITH CONCERN the continuing armed conflict and wars on the African continent. A striking example of this is the war and genocide in Rwanda that saw thousands of women bearing children as a result of war-time rape. Furthermore, women in refugee camps are raped by refugee men as well as the very officers tasked with protecting them.

We URGE all governments to review their arms policies in order to avoid fueling conflict in Africa;

We FURTHER URGE the United Nations and its agencies to ensure and enforce compliance with international human rights treaties.

Trafficking of women and girls into prostitution and sexual slavery increases women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection and is linked to the widespread feminisation of poverty, sex-tourism, sweatshops and other detrimental consequences of globalisation. Harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation and virginity testing further continue to increase African women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection.

We URGE the United Nations and its agencies, as well as all governments, to introduce effective measures in order to eliminate these forms of gender-based violence .

We FURTHER URGE governments to enlist the assistance of traditional and other community leaders, as well as traditional healers, in ensuring the efficacy of such measures, especially as they impact on culture.

We ACKNOWLEDGE the importance of men as partners in the struggle against HIV/AIDS and URGE their positive participation.

We DRAW ATTENTION to the fact that different categories of women, eg the girl child , elderly women and widows, require different measures and interventions with regard to HIV/AIDS.

In this regard, we NOTE WITH CONCERN that neither UNAIDS, WHO, nor UNFPA has addressed the sexual and reproductive health of widows in the context of HIV/AIDS and of traditional practices and human rights violations.

Finally, MINDFUL that HIV/AIDS pandemic has a racial as well as a gender dimension,

We RECOMMEND that methodologies and tools be developed to make the race and gender intersections visible in order to ensure an effective and holistic response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

THE AFRICAN WOMEN'S CAUCUS URGES ALL PARTIES , WITHOUT DELAY, TO IMPLEMENT ALL EXISTING GENDER PRINCIPLES FOR THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS FROM HIV/AIDS AND ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN.