BACKGROUND

In July 2000, the UN Security Council identified HIV/AIDS as a major threat to international peace and security and recognized the need to increase HIV/AIDS awareness amongst peacekeeping personnel. Seeking to work closely with both Troop Contributing Countries (TCC) and host nations, Security Council Resolution 1308 (2000) encouraged HIV/AIDS education, training and prevention activities for the Members of the Uniformed Services and UN peacekeepers.

In January 2001, UNAIDS and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations signed a Cooperation Framework outlining the different areas of cooperation in the field of HIV/AIDS and peace-keeping, including training, testing, cooperation with the national military and the civilian population, in-mission care of affected personnel, provision of resources and the collection of best practices.

In 2001, the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS declared its commitment:

"By 2003 [to] have in place in all countries strategies, policies and programmes that identify and begin to address those factors that make individuals particularly vulnerable to HIV infection, including underdevelopment, economic insecurity, poverty and lack of empowerment of women, lack of education, social excursion, illiteracy, discrimination, lack of information and all/or communities for self-protection, all types of sexual exploitation of women, girls and boys, including for commercial reasons […]."

The Special Session also committed to strengthening the response to HIV/AIDS in the workplace by establishing and implementing prevention and care programmes and to take measures to provide a supportive workplace environment for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Furthermore, it identified the need to provide treatment and care for people with HIV in areas such as voluntary care and counseling, prevention, treatment, palliative care, prevention and treatment of other associated diseases, such as sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) and tuberculosis, provision of condoms, social, psychological and peer support, respect for human rights and reduction of the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

A high-level meeting to assess international response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic took place at UN Headquarters in New York from 31 May to 2 June 2006. During the meeting, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan presented a report on progress achieved in realizing targets agreed by Member States in the historic Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, adopted at the 2001 General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS. The meeting also identified common challenges to scaling up national AIDS responses, and Member States considered recommendations on how to scale-up HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in reaching the goal of universal access to treatment by 2010.

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