In a resolution to be voted on the evening of 19 May, the European Parliament wants the EU to take the lead at the UN High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (8-10 June) and help accelerate progress towards eliminating AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
To ensure that this UN meeting results in ambitious commitments, Parliament calls for a renewed EU commitment to the global fight against AIDS, with more determination, responsibility and resources.
It reaffirms that everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to equality conducive to a life of dignity. The only amendment to be voted on is a call for the EU to support India’s and South Africa’s requests at the WTO for a temporary lifting of patents on anti-Covid-19 vaccines, equipment and treatments.
Parliament welcomes the EU’s role in the multi-sectoral fight against AIDS worldwide and calls on the Commission to make AIDS a global public health emergency and to redouble its efforts to reach the 2025 targets, including increasing investment in UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
It stresses the need to provide the Fund with sufficient resources to enable it to make a decisive contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The Commission is invited to ensure that the programming of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) in the 2021-2027 EU budget supports partner countries’ efforts to build strong and resilient health systems and regulations to ensure universal health coverage including HIV.
Parliament calls on the European External Action Service, the Commission and the Member States, in the context of implementing the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and the Third EU Action Plan on Gender Equality to address human rights violations and gender inequalities by prioritising the fight against stigma and discrimination, sexual and gender-based violence, criminalisation of same-sex relationships and other repressive and discriminatory laws and policies.
The Commission and Member States are invited to work with partner countries to introduce compulsory comprehensive sexuality education in their national education programmes in order to prevent the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, particularly in countries with the highest infection rates.
The Commission is urged to oppose the inclusion of TRIPS plus measures in free trade agreements with middle-income developing countries, to ensure that all HIV antiretroviral treatment is affordable.
See the text: https://bit.ly/3u22lfU (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)