It is now clear that Dr Prasada Rao did not say all the things that were written in the samizdat paper that has been posted on the [him] website and is in the public domain. You can hear his closing address as he delivered it at the SEA-AIDS website. The [him] moderator has listened to the recording and it differs little from the version officially posted on the UNAIDS website.
But we must not let the “putting words into his mouth” argument distract us from the fact that the samizdat document was obtained from UNAIDS so someone working for the joint programme thinks these thoughts and is brave enough to type them up on a computer screen. Good on ‘em.
To recap the quotes from the samizdat paper and comment on them:
UNAIDS paper: “In some countries, specially China, positive people and their networks continue to be denied their rights to free association.”
[him] moderator: The human right of association is denied in Myanmar. And several other countries. Big and small.
UNAIDS paper: “The launching of the ‘Minimum standards for civil society participation in Universal Access’ by the Seven Sisters is an important tool for promoting greater involvement.”
[him] moderator: If this document is so important, why is it so well hidden? The ‘Minimum Standards’ document must be the best kept secret document on participation ever! The Seven Sisters website does not have it. Neither does the UNAIDS website. Thanks to Health and Development Networks the document is now up for everyone to see.
UNAIDS paper: “I noticed also that the guidelines adopted at the Phnom Penh consultations have not been widely disseminated and needs to be done immediately.”
[him] moderator: The WHO Southeast Asia regional office in Delhi did an excellent job of disseminating the outputs of the meeting. Right after the meeting ended there was a report on it distributed and all the presentations are already up on the SEARO website.
Other cosponsors AND the joint programme have failed in their job to make the results of this meeting known. What a waste of money the meeting was if no one knows about it …
UNAIDS paper: “But even in difficult settings: i) it is possible to deliver services; and ii) people have rights to services. Donors should be encouraged not to withdraw from such environments. This was proved in the case of Burma on which there was a special session.”
[him] moderator: I don’t know what was proved about Burma but the two numbered statements are true and it is good to hear someone from the UN write it down even if Prasada Rao will not name Myanmar as a country in conflict.
UNAIDS paper: “There was some concern from sex worker organizations that we are not delivering on the promise of establishing the organization for the last two years. There has to be better representation of CSOs in the Forum. We need to push the UNFPA hard to launch it before the end of the year.”
[him] moderator: Where is the internal “push” from UNFPA to work with sex worker organisations? We have been hearing rumours of UN support for sex worker organisations for two years but nothing has happened.
[him] moderator
