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ASIA PACIFIC WOMEN LEADERS NETWORK CALLS FOR HIV PREVENTION THROUGH ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN September 18-22, 2006
Women account for 27% of the estimated 4.37 million people living with HIV in 2005 in countries within Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). APEC brings together a group of 21 economies located around the Pacific ocean, which collectively represent half the world’s population and over half of global trade. Women in Asia-Pacific countries face economic and social inequities that place them highly vulnerable to HIV infection. The 11th APEC Women Leaders Network (WLN) meeting, hosted by the Viet Nam Women’s Union, gathered over 300 government officials, business women and civil society leaders to develop recommendations on economic and trade issues affecting women. By including HIV, for the first time, the women leaders recognised that HIV is not only a health issue, but also a gender and a development issue. The WLN recommendations go to APEC Leaders at their summit in November. They also express the commitment of the WLN members - government agencies for women (Ministries, Women’s Unions etc), senior officials from Economy and Trade, as well as many women business leaders. In his opening address at the 11th APEC WLN meeting, Viet Nam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung noted that the economic growth of the APEC economies is challenged by social issues such as trafficking of women and girls and HIV and AIDS. The presentation of UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for AIDS in Asia and Pacific and APLF Steering Committee member, Dr. Nafis Sadik, was received with great interest and convinced the women leaders of both the opportunity and the need for their action to address HIV. The final recommendations from the 11th APEC WLN meeting highlighted the links between human security and HIV/AIDS. Recognizing women’s increasing vulnerability to HIV infection and its disproportionate impacts on women, as well as the disparate impacts of migration, the meeting requested APEC Leaders to: promote the economic empowerment of women and safeguard APEC prosperity through encouraging APEC enterprises to adopt and implement the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work, and provide related capacity building programs. The meeting also emphasized the need to protect the rights of migrant workers, the majority of whom are women, and establish and implement effective legal protection for female and male migrant workers at both the economy and regional levels. |
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