Programme Support and Mobilization of Resources

Mr. Steven J. Kraus, Programme and External Relations Adviser, UNAIDS-Thailand, moderated the panel discussion on Programme Support and Mobilization of Resources. The panel included Mr. Edward Vela, External Relations Officer, UNAIDS-Geneva, Dr. Ui-Wha Chung, MP from Korea, and Dr. Rekso Ageng Herman, MP from Indonesia.

Mr. Steven J. Kraus emphasized the important role of parliamentarians in Resource Mobilization. He said that parliamentarians have been very effective in several countries to mobilize resources and provide support. He was of the opinion that parliamentarians should also provide support at the grass-root level to remove stigma and provide care.

Mr. Edward Vela spoke on Resource Mobilization. He explained the current status of funding for HIV/AIDS and further informed about the need to enhance resources. According to Mr. Vela, the HIV/AIDS cases are growing, and to effective provide clinical services as well as educational and motivational tools to prevent the spread of the epidemic, substantial increase in financial resources is needed. He also said that to create such resources, political will is extremely important. Parliamentarians can fulfil this role by working with the Government to increase the national resources for HIV/AIDS prevention. External and multilateral resources are also needed.

Right action for decision-makers
- Dr. Ui-Wha Chung

Dr. Ui-Wha Chung, MP from Korea spoke on the subject of "Action in Partnership for HIV/AIDS toward the 21st Century." His notion of "partnership" became more clear as he explained, as the staggering burden of HIV/AlDS in parts of Asia in now prompting an international effort involving Asian governments, regional institutions, bilateral agencies, partners in civil society and organizations of the United Nations System. This is also why we are here. The International Partnership against HIV/AIDS in Asia should aim to create a policy and social environment which is conducive to successful action, and include strong government commitment; integration of HIV/AIDS considerations into national development agendas; a multi- sectoral response; improvement of the status of women; empowerment of communities; and protection of the rights of vulnerable populations.

The global development agenda is daunting. I believe we can achieve the goal of halving the number of poor people by 2015 and HIV/AIDS as well. But it will require a broad effort to mobilize the right action among decision-shapers as well as decision-makers. We need to remind Presidents, Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers that they are truly health ministers themselves.

The public health community has to step out of professional confinements and take an active part in the shaping of the political agenda. Too many public health professionals regard politics as an obstacle to what they see as rational decision-making rather than an essential part of democratic governance. Mr. Chung looked forward to engaging in such endeavor in collaboration with a broad range of partners, and urged we have a window of opportunity. It may not remain open for long. So let us seize the opportunity and make a lasting difference together.

Dr. Rekso Ageng Herman, MP from Indonesia, gave a prentation on "Pro-gramme Support and Mobilization of Re-sources." He told the Meeting that every-one knows that narcotics are dan-gerous. Some of them realize that habitation, tolerance and addic-tion to narcotics will take them to more dangerous level, but few drug users realize that the more dangerous tragedy is through injection, where HIV/AIDS can be transmitted easily and tragic final result, is death. To our concern, most of narcotics addicts use injection because it can react quickly.

The government and NGOs have been striving to overcome the tragedy through medical treatment, law enforcement, psychology, education and social rehabilitation centers, but their efforts have been in vain.

The opportunity to do prevention and therapy for narcotics users as well as for HIV/AIDS victims which is one at the responsibilities of parliamentarians has been ignored. Parliamentarians must take an active role in promoting and in responding to the problems of narcotics and HIV/AIDS programmes.

Commitments by parliamentarians

One of the most important and innovative parts of the meeting was the announcement of Commitment by individual countries. Each country’s highlights are as follows:

Cambodia

Bangkok – The four-day High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review Regional Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) brings together over 800 representatives from governments, NGOs, international agencies and organizations, advocacy groups, private sector organization and professional bodies.

The AFPPD was represented by Ms. Akiko Domoto, Ms. Cindy Termorshuizen from Japan and Ms. Wang Jiaqiu, MP from China. These two parliamentarians from AFPPD were joined by other parliamentarians who were members of national delegations and worked together to convince countries to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The meeting was opened by H.E. Khunying Supatra Masdit, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office of the Royal Thai Government. It was also addressed by Mr. Adrianus Mooy, Executive Secretary of ESCAP. This four-day Intergovernmental Meeting was held at the UN Conference Centre in Bangkok from 26-29 October 1999.

AFPPD attends European Parliamentarians Assembly

Bucharest – The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe organized an Interparliamentary Conference on demographic change and sustainable development in Bucharest from 21 to 23 October 1999 hosted by the Romanian Parliament.

The main objective of the conference was to review the measures taken in the Council of Europe in the "network of parliamentarians on population and development" proposed at the UNFPA meeting in The Hague in February 1999.

AFPPD’s Chairman, Mr. Shin Sakurai was invited to speak on political will for population and development with special reference to the ICPD. Mr. Sakurai was represented by Mr. Yoshio Yatsu, State Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan.

In his speech, he recollected the background of the parliamentarian movement for population and development. He discussed the role of the Japan Federation of Parliamentarians on Population (JPFP) established in 1973 and then the formation of AFPPD in 1981. He also spoke about population and food security and referred to the WTO’s new rules that will effect countries which are struggling with their population growth as well as economic situation.

He said that, as members of parliament we cannot close our eyes to the troubles haunting our world. All of us gathered here could become a forceful power in promoting the implementation of ICPD Programme of Action. It is important we play an active role in building an overall framework for the future from the perspective of sustainable development contained in Chapter 3 of the ICPD Programme of Action.

As for AFPPD, we would very much like to establish a cooperative relationship with our European colleagues in building the future framework from those perspectives.Mutual mistrust and fear are often the causes of conflict. Mistrust breeds mistrust and fear breeds fear. Our parliamentarian activities can play a big role in this respect as well. If we parliamentarians in responsible positions can cooperate to address common challenges of the survival of the humankind and well being of our people, we can then create mutual trust that can then provide the foundation for collaboration. We can use the fruits of peace for the common cause of population and sustainable development.

He said that there will be no future unless we parliamentarians, with our eyes on reality, search for the high ideals. In the Niigata Declaration which was adopted at the Sixth AFPPD General Assembly recently, we find this phrase: "Changing the world sounds like a formidable task, but when individuals change, the world changes." Let us be reminded that individuals compose the world. Let us recall that we are the link between individual citizens and our government .

• Mr. Shiv Khare, Executive Director of AFPPD, spoke on The Experience of Parliamentarians at the Second Cooperative Strategies Forum Meeting held in Chiengmai, Thailand, from 12 to 15 December 1999. The AFPPD is now part of the Forum. The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH).

• Ms. Oyun MP from Mongolia -- an AFPPD parti-cipant -- visited Japan as part of young leaders programme and met Mr. Shin Sakurai, AFPPD Chairman on 10 December to discuss futute cooperation with the Asian Forum.

• Ms. Vipunjit Ketunuti, Programme Associate of AFPPD, spoke at a Panel discussion on Parliamentarians to Partnership in Population Development at the Ministry of Public Health, Bangkok. A Seminar/field Study on Strengthening Advocacy for Increasing ODA Funds to Lao PDR, Cambodia and Thailand (28 November – 3 December 1999) was organized by PPAT, in cooperation with the Department of Health (MOPH) and the Population and Community Development Association.

Working groups

The parliamentarians divided themselves in groups to prepare a plan of action in the areas of:

a)Awareness

b) Preventive strategies and programmes

c) Care and support

d) Policies, legislation and human rights

e) Programme support and mobilization of resources

On the basis of the reports of these groups, a plan of action was prepared and adopted.

Chiengmai – An Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians Conference on Environment and Development was held in Chiengmai on 20 to 23 November 1999 with the theme on "Waste Disposal", and was organized by APPCED (Korea) in cooperation with the National Parliament of Thailand.

Papers were presented by experts on various aspects of waste management, and attending countries provided information on waste management programme. Dr Sang-Mok Suh, Chairman of AFPPD Korea Committee, was the chairman of the conference.It was also addressed by H.E. Wanmuhamadnoor Matha, Hon Speaker of the House of Representatives, Thailand, and Mr. Meechai Ruchupan, President of the Senate of the Parliament of Thailand. Mr. Shiv Khare, Executive Director of AFPPD, represented the Asian Forum.