UNAIDS is guided by a Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) with representatives of 22 governments from all geographic regions, the ten UNAIDS cosponsors and five representatives of non-governmental organizations, including associations of people living with HIV. For more information on the UNAIDS PCB and for upcoming meeting dates, visit the UNAIDS PCB website.
Civil Society Representation
UNAIDS was the first United Nations programme to have civil society formally represented on its governing body. Playing a critical role on the PCB, the NGO Delegation participates in decision-making of the PCB, ensures community representation, and enhances transparency and accountability of PCB decision-making and policy-setting.
In partnership with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), ICAD coordinates Canadian consultations before and after each PCB meeting and also distributes the reports of each PCB meeting.
ICAD attends each PCB meeting as an NGO observer where we participate in the deliberations of the PCB raising key points and concerns on issues and participate in the development and delivery of NGO Observer Statements, also known as interventions.
ICAD and the Global Civil Society Community at the UNAIDS PCB Meetings:
39th UNAIDS PCB Meeting: 6-8 December 2016
ICAD participated in the development and delivery of a number of important NGO Observer Statements during this meeting:
Dima Sherembey of the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV at the 39th UNAIDS PCB: “I am here because I was lucky enough to survive. I can stay alive and come here because in the morning, I have taken my ARV. But many people don’t have such opportunity. They still don’t have access to ARVS. Thus, we need to see people behind the reports, they are not just numbers.”
“A huge difference between estimated needs and actual spending on community led responses, continues to undermine our efforts. In order to make significant progress therefore, the investments to enable the end of AIDS by 2030 need not only be definitively earmarked, but be increased and front-loaded during the next four years.” – Musah Lumumba – Africa Delegate Read his full statement here.
“It is time for UNAIDS to change the language and framing around the term ‘Mother to Child transmission’. We need to move past the disempowering, stigmatizing language and advance the term ‘Vertical transmission’ in our official communications and publications.” – Coco Jervis, GNP+ Read the full statement here.
“Women living with HIV have been calling for many years to change this terminology to language that does not point a finger of blame at women living with HIV, for the language that we use to be that of “vertical transmission.” We have noted repeatedly in multiple venues, with too little success, that there is no other process of HIV transmission that names a person as the source of HIV acquisition. Certainly, we know in our bodies that no one wants their baby to be born fully healthy than the mother who is carrying that child.” – Laurel Sprague, NGO Delegation North America. Read her full statement here.
“We recognize that IP barriers are just one of many barriers, but in our experience in countries, IP barriers ARE the huge and the major barriers, especially in middle income countries. We have many examples around the world. We are talking about facts.” – Alexandra Volgina, Europe. Read the full statement here.
“While there have been numerous comments around possible subcontracting of UNAIDS by the Global Fund or receiving money for specific activities by the Global Fund, as the NGO Delegation we remain firmly against such propositions that would affect the governance dynamics of UNAIDS, its accountability mechanism, and who it ultimately reports to.” – Intervention by Trevor Stratton, North America. Read his full statement here.
Christian Hui delivers a powerful statement at the 39th UNAIDS PCB on behalf of CPPN, ICAD and ICASO on the integral role of communities in our global effort to end AIDS by 2030. Read the full statement here.
The NGO Delegation to the PCB meeting with Civil Society partners on the eve of the 39th UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board.
The NGO Delegation to the PCB meeting with Civil Society partners on the eve of the 39th UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board.
38th UNAIDS PCB Meeting: 28-30 June 2016
ICAD participated in the development and delivery of a number of important NGO Observer Statements during this meeting:
Robin Montgomery, ICAD Executive Director, delivered a joint statement on the HIV response in the post-2015 development agenda. The statement focused on our call to donors to continue their commitment to ending AIDS. The statement was made on behalf of the AIDS Fonds, GNP+, ICAD, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, and the Stop AIDS Alliance.
Photo Gallery from Meeting:
A huge shout-out to Trevor Stratton from the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network and the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS. Trevor is an amazing and powerful voice as the incoming PCB NGO Board member for North America!
Strategizing with an amazing group of civil society advocates in lead-up to the start of the 37th UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Laurel Sprague, North America NGO Delegate responds to the UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe’s Report (Agenda 1.3). ‘We have fast-track targets without fact-track funding. Lives are hanging in the balance.’
Robin Montgomery, ICAD Executive Director, delivered a joint statement on the HIV response in the post-2015 development agenda. The statement focused on our call to donors to continue their commitment to ending AIDS. The statement was made on behalf of the AIDS Fonds, GNP+, ICAD, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, and the Stop AIDS Alliance.
It’s 7:30 in the evening and the discussion on inclusion of SRHR language in the UNAIDS 2016-2021 strategy is still heating up. Will these ‘few words’ stall the process and jeopardize the approval of the Joint Programme’s strategy for the next five years??? #NoQualifiersforSRHR!
“We face structural and the political issues. They are like elephants in the room, but we need to address them to achieve the SDGs and the Fast Track targets… implementing SDGs and the fast track, will require a paradigm shift in terms of political economy mindset and power relations among the nations…” – Alessandra Nilo, GESTOS, Brazil, civil society keynote speaker in the 37th Thematic Segment on ‘Global solidarity and Shared Responsibility’
The Thematic Segment of the 37th PCB Meeting is on ‘Global Solidarity and Shared Responsibility’ — focused on HIV Financing. The question in everyone’s minds: now that the Updated UNAIDS Strategy has been approved is, how will it be funded? So today, civil society is bringing out the ‘elephants in the room.’
The inauguration! Welcome to all our incoming delegates with a special shout out to Trevor Stratton as our new NGO PCB North American delegate to the UNAIDS board!!!
36th UNAIDS PCB Meeting: 30 June – 2 July 2015
Photo Gallery from Meeting
“Now as much as ever, we need to fully fund the work of civil society and to invest in capacity building for civil society organizations”, states Laurel Sprague, NGO PCB delegate at the 36th Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), the governing body of UNAIDS.
NGO PCB delegate, Angeline Chiwetani called to “Ensure that policies and laws do not impede access to services especially in terms of legislations bordering on issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity, sex work, and drug use”.
Positioning key affected populations within the SDGs.
The NGO Delegation, ICAD and other civil society partners stand in solidarity with Oba, NGO Africa Delegate as he delivered his intervention on the Updated UNAIDS Strategy.
Well done to Charles King and Sasha Volgina who delivered a powerful intervention in follow-up to the thematic segment on reducing HIV transmission among people who inject drugs (35th PCB): “Our approach to people who use drugs must be based on human rights, on respect for human dignity and on the full embrace of harm reduction interventions, implemented in solidarity with people who use drugs, which necessarily includes full funding of impacted civil society.”
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In partnership with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), ICAD coordinates Canadian consultations before and after each PCB meeting and also distributes the reports of each PCB meeting.
