States have 'strong desire' to reach accord at UN session on AIDS: Fréchette

The upcoming special session of the United Nations General Assembly on HIV/AIDS will be an important part of UN efforts to fight the epidemic and a major step in raising awareness about the disease, UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette said today.

"What we are looking at is an event that will produce not only a document but also will really help to continue to raise the profile of this issue internationally," Mrs. Fréchette told a news conference held at UN Headquarters in New York in advance of the three-day session that will begin next Monday, 25 June.

As for the concrete results of the session, the Deputy Secretary-General said that the expected formal outcome would be a declaration of commitments, which would provide for comprehensive strategies that Governments would sign on to and which would become the guiding policy framework for the UN and for the Member States.

As of today, some 24 heads of State and Government and six vice-presidents are expected to attend the session, which will include roundtables on four specific themes - prevention and care; AIDS and human rights; the social and economic dimensions of the epidemic; and funding.

One innovation during the round tables is that there will be civil society participation, unlike during the Millennium Summit "where only the leaders met among themselves," Ms. Fréchette said. A second new feature is that the proceedings of the round table discussions will be covered in a listening room, to which the press will be invited.

Asked about some culturally sensitive passages (dealing with homosexuality, prostitution, and other issues) that countries were discussing in the draft declaration, the Deputy Secretary-General said she believed governments wanted to find the right words in order to be able to produce a consensus document.

"The issues that remain on the table are sensitive issues," she said. "They relate to cultural issues that are, as we know, not always easy to handle. But my sense talking to delegations is that there is a very strong desire to come to an agreement, so that the session ends on full consensus on a good, strong declaration. I think that ways will have to be found to find words that take into account the cultural sensitivities without doing damage to the intent of the declaration."