The Vienna Declaration and the 2010 AIDS Conference

Throughout the week of July 18-23, the annual International AIDS conference will take place in Vienna. The International AIDS conference is the key global gathering of those working in the field of HIV, including policy makers, people living with HIV and people committed to ending the epidemic. The intention of the conference is to keep HIV as an issue of crucial significance and to demonstrate the importance of continuing and increasing HIV investment while highlighting the connection between human rights, drug policy and HIV.

In seeking to promote individual and collective action in tackling the HIV issue, the conference will help to foster constructive debate and dialogue between the various sectors of people involved in HIV provision. The latest issues in HIV science, policy and practice will be examined and evaluated. A whole host of other discussions and programmes will also be taking place, based around skills building workshops, identifying the best practices, lessons to be learnt and identifying gaps in knowledge which can then be built on, as well as having programme activities by the Global village and the Youth Programme.

The host city of Vienna is significant in itself, offering a unique bridge to Eastern Europe and central Asia, a region with one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics fuelled largely by injecting drug use and criminalisation of users. The intertwining of the issues of HIV and drug policy is highlighted by the Vienna Declaration, the official declaration of the International AIDS conference.

For decades, a costly and destructive war has been waged against illicit drugs with an international drug prohibition regime having been developed under the auspices of the United Nations. The law enforcement approach to drug policy has had far reaching effects and a consensus has finally been reached about the destructive outcomes and results of this policy. Drug availability, use and purity have increased in many parts of the world while the provision and treatments afforded to users have also suffered considerably in many places. Despite the massive investments in drug surveillance systems, the policy of prohibition and enforcement has been shown to have has failed. 

The message of the Vienna Declaration is based around the undertaking of a transparent review of the current drug policies. The calling of a science-based approach to be implemented in order to address the individual and communal harms stemming from illicit drug use. Decriminalising drug users and pushing for evidence based treatments for users, rather than ineffectual compulsory treatment centres that have come to characterise drug treatment across the world. The endorsing and increasing of HIV interventions spelled out by the WHO, UNODC and UNAIDS is also called for, creating a culture of involvement by members of the affected communities who can develop, implement and monitor the policies most effectively. 

The stature of the conference and the declaration have been aided by the involvement and support of a range of key policy makers and academics including the three former presidents in Latin America, Fernando Cardozo (Brazil), Ernesto Zedillo (México), César Gaviria (Colombia), the Nobel Laureate Prof. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, a former Seattle police chief and a range of other leading academic and medical professionals as well as activists from around the world. Supporting the AIDS conference and the Vienna Declaration will help to build the momentum needed to pursue the more effective policies which will have a direct impact on the people who need it most. 

The declaration can be signed here... www.viennadeclaration.com

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