The Framework for Dialogue between Religious Leaders and Networks of People Living with HIV provides practical steps to help faith communities and people living with HIV to effectively address key issues of concern to those most affected at a national level.

“One of the major lessons we have learned 30 years into the HIV pandemic is that we can do so much more together than any of us can do on our own,” said Peter Prove, EAA Executive Director speaking in advance of the launch to be held at 18:00 CET in the Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, Switzerland. “This framework builds on the critical leadership and experience people living with HIV have in identifying what needs to happen to improve prevention, treatment and support efforts, through the community reach, moral authority, and pastoral responsibilities that religious leaders have.”

The organizations acknowledge that dialogue and joint action between religious leaders and people living with HIV is not new. What is new, they highlight, is the intentional process the Framework for Dialogue brings to help both groups – as equal partners – to address and discuss perceptions, experiences and beliefs relating to HIV, and to identify common goals in order to take action together.

“The principle of equal partnership is core to this project,” said Liz Tremlett, Stigma Index Coordinator for GNP+. “This has not only been demonstrated by strong collaboration between the four organizations that have developed this tool, but is also underscored by the creation of a balanced and inclusive working group in each country that implements the Framework for Dialogue.”

Organizers report that people living with HIV and religious leaders in the three countries that have piloted this tool – Malawi, Myanmar and Ethiopia – have already forged closer working partnerships to address stigma and discrimination: some have developed principles for respectful engagement, others have formed action plans to take the work forward. A recent regional dialogue in Bangkok also sparked new ideas and working relationships spanning five countries and four religious groupings in Asia.

Speaking via a pre-recorded video, Safari Mbewe of the Malawi Network of People Living with HIV (MANET+) reflected on the impact of the process, saying: “As a result of the first dialogue that we had, the religious leaders themselves actually opened up their doors to people living with HIV, so that if there were any issues that we have to bring to their attention we should be free to bring them to their attention. To me that was a milestone that now we had established a formal relationship between networks of people living with HIV and religious leaders.”

“Religious leaders living with HIV play a pivotal role in the Framework for Dialogue process,” emphasized Rev. Phumzile Mabizela, Executive Director of INERELA+. “We can challenge misconceptions and help to bridge any perceived gap between ‘faith’ and ‘living with HIV’.”

The Framework for Dialogue starts by basing dialogue on evidence that quantifies and illustrates the needs of people living with HIV in a specific country, and then guides religious leaders and people living with HIV through a process of analyzing this evidence in order to identify areas for joint action as well as key issues for further dialogue.

Dr Mariângela Simão, UNAIDS Director for Rights, Gender, Community Mobilization and Prevention, concluded: “New and effective partnerships at this stage of the global response to HIV – when we finally have the tools and knowledge to lay the groundwork for achieving Zero new infections, Zero discrimination, and Zero AIDS-related deaths – are fundamental. UNAIDS fully supports the development of the Framework for Dialogue and hopes that it will now be rolled out in many more countries to come.”

For more information about the Framework for Dialogue, including how to implement it in your own country, visit www.frameworkfordialogue.org.

The group, known as Regional Religious Advocacy Group against HIV-AIDS, says they are poised to use the pulpit to reach every home and preach against the stigma and discrimination meted out to victims of the virus.

Read the full article from The Ghana Chronicle.

Leaders from five world religions gathered in Toronto, Canada, are encouraging their peers to deepen their engagement and action on HIV by addressing the difficult issues raised by the pandemic in dialogue with people living with HIV.

The leaders also have expressed dismay at the recent drop in funding for the AIDS response just as recent statistics show the effectiveness of prevention and treatment approaches. Governments “can’t slice money from one needed area to another” stated Ruth Messinger, President of the American Jewish World Service. “We have to move beyond the right to ‘affordable’ health and talk about the need for all to have the best attainable health and life.”

In its final reflections on ways forward, participants stated, “As we ourselves recommit to deeper and more active engagement in the HIV response, we call on donor and recipient governments to fulfill their promises and provide the sustainable financial resources to reach the goal in the 2011 Political Declaration[1] that we now see as attainable – zero deaths, zero new infections and zero stigma and discrimination.”

Canon Gideon Byamugisha, who was the first religious leader in Africa to publicly declare his HIV positive status, talked about the personal implications that a spending cap in Uganda is having. “For the first time, people are praying that Gideon dies,” he observed, noting that people now needing anti-retroviral treatment are put on a waiting list until someone currently receiving treatment dies.

The 15 leaders from the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim traditions, including religious leaders living with HIV, met together with people living with HIV and representatives of organizations active in the response, including the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), UNAIDS, United Nations Population Fund, and World AIDS Campaign.  They assessed efforts to implement the recommendations of the Summit of High Level Religious Leaders in Response to HIV, held in the Netherlands in March 2010 and discussed ways to strengthen religious leadership in the response to HIV.

Reflecting on personal commitments

A basis for the meeting was a report on how religious leaders have fulfilled a personal commitment to action, “Together We Must Do More”. The actions and reflections shared through the report provide an important snapshot of the range of activities and recommendations for strengthening religious leadership in the response to HIV, participants said, although they acknowledge that the report is not, and cannot be, comprehensive of the services and support provided through religious leaders and communities in responding to the HIV pandemic.

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, Rabbinical Assembly, recalled that “the highest religious value of my tradition is to heal. It overrules every other obligation. If someone is ill, I have an obligation to work to heal. It is not necessary to condone anyone’s behavior in order to work to heal.” Participants highlighted the important mutual role of spirituality and medical treatment.

Schonfeld noted that one thing she has been doing is “to make sure that in the flurry of crises HIV/AIDS is not forgotten.”

Rev. Dr. Richard Fee, Presbyterian Church of Canada also hoped the personal commitment will continue to be a catalyst for action as those who have signed influence others. “It takes just one leader to draw others in.”

Stigma Index provides foundation for dialogue with people living with HIV

Participants were presented with initial results from national surveys documenting levels and sources of stigma experienced by people living with HIV. The Stigma Index is being implemented by national networks of people living with HIV and supported by national partners, GNP+, the International Community of Women Living with HIV, International Planned Parenthood Federation and UNAIDS.

The results show a significant percentage of people living with HIV facing physical and verbal assault because of their HIV status, along with general low levels of disclosure to religious leaders. Participants felt the results provide a vital resource for religious leaders to reflect together how they could better serve their community, and this type of evidence provides a basis for discussion with people living with HIV on how to address stigma together.

Anish Dua, from the Art of Living Foundation in India, highlighted that the data provides an opportunity for introspection. “If I were a religious leader, and 60% of people in my community consider it ‘not applicable’ to disclose to me that they are living with HIV, I would have to ask myself, How relevant am I to my community?”

Participants strongly encouraged listening and enabling dialogue between religious leaders and people living with HIV as an important way to hear the realities on the ground and find common ground and language to address issues related to human rights and dignity, sexuality and gender equality.

Professor Akhtarul Wasey, of the Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies in India, emphasized the need that “We should work together. We should swim together or we will sink together.”

Frameworks for dialogue between religious leaders and people living with HIV will be developed through the Strengthening Religious Leadership Multifaith Working Group of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, which includes representatives from GNP+ and UNAIDS, and pilot tested over the next eight months.

The meeting was organized by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, based in Geneva, Switzerland, and hosted at the offices of The Presbyterian Church in Canada.

In reflecting on the urgency of the task ahead and the dual roles of religious leaders to both provide spiritual support and to advocate for justice, Canon Gideon Byamugisha stated, “We are called to comfort the agitated and agitate the comfortable”.

The aim is to get religious organisations from the various faiths to intensify their support of persons living with AIDS.

One of the few religious leaders in Singapore vocal about raising awareness on the HIV/AIDS issue is 82-year-old Reverend Yap Kim Hao.

Dr Yap said he feels they must be more involved in reaching out to those at risk.

Religious leaders Channel NewsAsia spoke with said AIDS is still very much a taboo subject, with places of worship being the last place those afflicted with the disease will turn to.

“They have access to their own members in the institutional, religious community, so it’s their responsibility also to teach their own members, as to a real understanding instead of dealing with stereotypes,” Dr Yap said.

“They have to know what the disease is, how is it being transmitted, how can it be prevented, because it affects their own lives! If they don’t address it, you’re living in ignorance of the actual situation.”

Read the full article on channelnewsasia.com

Next week, leading up to World AIDS Day on December 1, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim leaders from around the world will meet in Toronto, Canada to assess progress in fulfilling this commitment.

The 15 leaders, including religious leaders living with HIV, will be joined by people living with HIV, and representatives of organizations active in the response to HIV, including the Global Network of People Living with HIV, UNAIDS, United Nations Population Fund, and World AIDS Campaign.  They will be assessing efforts to implement the recommendations of the Summit of High Level Religious Leaders in Response to HIV, held in the Netherlands in March 2010 and discussing ways to strengthening religious leadership in the response to HIV.

A report, highlighting how these religious leaders and their faith communities are fulfilling this commitment and recommendations for future actions, will be released for World AIDS Day.

The meeting will be held November 29-30 and is organized by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is hosted at the offices of The Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Read the full article.

The inter-faith prayer breakfast was co-organized by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), UNAIDS, and UNFPA in collaboration with other religious organizations and was hosted by the Ford Foundation.

Read more.

Leaders of religious and civil society and advocates from around the world spoke out about the progress made by faith-based organizations to stop the spread of HIV and provide physical and emotional support to those living with HIV.

After a short breakout session, each table at the breakfast shared one idea for how all sectors of society can work together to end stigma about AIDS. The breakfast closed with prayers invoked by representatives of different faiths.

Watch the webcast.

Religious leaders attending the high-level HIV and AIDS review at the United Nations are expressing both praise and some disappointment about the declaration coming out of the three-day event.

Particularly welcome, said Peter Prove, executive director of the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, is the expected declaration’s establishment of a time-bound numerical target of getting 15 million people on ARV treatment by 2015.

Prove also said the EAA welcomes the declaration’s commitment to closing the HIV and AIDS resource gap by 2015, estimated by UNAIDS to be US $6 billion a year, and its recognition that psycho-social, spiritual and palliative care are essential to comprehensive care and support services.

“The inclusion of clear numerical targets for reducing sexual transmission of HIV by 50 percent and the goal to eliminate vertical transmission [the transmission of HIV from mother to child] by 2015” are other positive steps, he said.

At the same time, Prove noted that despite recognizing the disproportionate impact of HIV and AIDS on women, the political declaration “sets no specific prevention, treatment, and care targets for women and girls.”

J.P. Mokgethi-Heath, acting executive director of the South Africa-based International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+), said he was concerned that specific populations affected by HIV, such as sex workers, men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users, while mentioned in the document’s preamble are not mentioned in the document’s specific action plan.

Mokgethi-Heath also said the document strongly acknowledges the need to overcome stigma and discrimination, but does not sufficiently acknowledge “the vulnerability that stigma and discrimination creates for people.”

Prove stated: “Stigma, discrimination, marginalization and exclusion are inconsistent with the recognition of the God-given human dignity of every person. We also know from operational and practical experience in the HIV response that stigma and discrimination are obstacles to effective and comprehensive prevention, testing and treatment.”

“We appreciate that the declaration reaffirms the centrality of human rights in the AIDS response, and focuses on enabling legal, social and policy frameworks for the elimination of stigma, discrimination, and violence,” he continued. “Human rights obligations – especially the principle of non-discrimination – reflect fundamental faith principles concerning respect for human dignity.”

Prove added: “It is important that at least some of the key populations have been named in the declaration. This clear recognition is long overdue.”

An interfaith prayer breakfast on 10 June, the last day of the three-day global event, was co-organized by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, UNAIDS, and UNFPA in collaboration with other religious organizations and hosted by the Ford Foundation. Over 100 participants heard numerous affirmations of the need for the religious community to move beyond commitment to action.

A repeated theme by various faith, governmental and civil society representatives was the need for the faith community to embrace a vision of what Mokgethi-Heath called “healing without judgment, embracing justice.”

In an interview, Gunilla Hallonsten, acting policy director for the Church of Sweden, said faith-based communities have done much that is good, yet must also, in the wake of a history of judgment, particularly in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, affirm the recognition that “all humans are created in the image of God.”

Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, deputy secretary general of the United Nations, told the audience of faith leaders that they were “natural activists who can change attitudes.”

“Speak out. End marginalization. Don’t be silent. Be a force for reconciliation,” she said. “You can be the difference between shame and pride … between life and death.”

The text of the draft political declaration and the webcast of the interfaith prayer breakfast are available at: http://www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/hivaids/accountability/ungass/

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance is a broad international network of churches and Christian organizations cooperating in advocacy on food and HIV and AIDS. The Alliance is based in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information, see http://www.e-alliance.ch/