ILO symposium, “International legal initiatives to strengthen national response to HIV and AIDS at the workplace” during the ICAAP

Waves of Change, Waves of Hope was the theme of the International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from August 19-23, 2007. The conference brought together 2500 delegates from 70 countries including politicians, officials, community workers, medical professionals, academics, journalists, trade union leaders and people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) to share knowledge and devise new strategies to deal with the disease.

The HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific remains a diverse and exceptional threat. A number of countries have taken decisive action to deliver effective and comprehensive AIDS programmes. However, the overall response in the region is still not keeping up with the pace and expanding reach of the epidemic. Leadership at various levels is still not adequately alive to the consequences of an escalating pandemic and its impact not only on the health but also on the socio economic well being of the people of the region.

During the conference, ILO organised a symposium, “International legal initiatives to strengthen national response to HIV and AIDS at the workplace.” In 2001 the ILO’s tripartite constituents-governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations approved the groundbreaking ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. This code highlighted the potential role of employers and workers in the workplace to not only combat and prevent the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but also to ensure basic human rights. The code is now the reference point for laws and policies in over 70 countries. To take forward the workplace response to AIDS, the March 2007 session of the ILO governing body decided to place HIV/AIDS on the agenda of the International labour conference in 2009. The expectation is that a recommendation on HIV/AIDS will be developed and a new standard adopted.   

The high level symposium was attended by key actors in HIV/AIDS workplace initiatives at national, regional and global levels which includes Oscar Fernandes, Minster of labour, Government of India, Athauda Senevirathne, Minster of labour relations and Manpower, Government of Sri lanka, Sophie Kisting, Director, ILOAIDS, Bounpheng Philavong, Head of Health and Population unit, ASEAN secretariat and Mohammad Khawaja from Pakistan representing International organization of Employers (IOE). ITF represented the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) during the symposium. The symposium stimulated an interesting debate and provided some inputs on the contents, application and impact of such a standard. Although the participants saw the importance of such standard, yet there was a strong demand from trade union representatives for the proper implementation and monitoring of the existing conventions, laws and policies in relation to HIV/AIDS and the workplace. Otherwise policies are just pieces of paper without proper implementation.

Asian countries about to receive AIDS recommendation from an independent commission on AIDS

By the end of 2007, the commission on AIDS in Asia, an independent group of experts will come out with specific recommendations to Asian policy-makers, government agencies, civil society and international organisations about how to address the regional epidemic more effectively.

According to the chairman of the committee Dr. Chakravarthi Rangarajan, the commission now is currently compiling specific guidelines in relation to national HIV prevention, treatment, care and impact mitigation as well as other dimensions such as essential financial resources and human rights issues. During his presentation in the conference he mentioned, “ in low prevalence countries, economic impact in terms of macroeconomic parameters-like rate of growth of economy or per capita income do not have a large impact, but individual households will nevertheless be affected. Households in which a member of the family is found to be HIV positive will often face serious problems”.

After the dissemination of the recommendations through a report in December, it will be forwarded to you by the E-bulletin.

Linking infrastructure to HIV/AIDS

Building physical infrastructure like roads and airports is considered critical for economic development in Asia Pacific. The region is already witnessing a boom in infrastructure and mobility as a part of the process of economic growth. Countries in East Asia for instance need an estimated US 1 trillion to invest in infrastructure between 2005-2010. In South Asia, India alone says it needs at least US $ 350 billion to build roads, railways, ports and power plants between 2007-2012.

Ms. Ursula Schaefer-Pereuss, vice president, Knowledge management and sustainable development at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) speaking in a session during the ICAAP mentioned, “ building infrastructure should not be looked at in isolation because it also impacts on other areas like health and environment and can also have a serious impact on the spread of HIV/AIDS. Linkages between large infrastructure projects, mobile populations and HIV are already emerging in some of the recent studies.” She also mentioned that during the last few months, the ADB has been finalising a ground breaking analytical research on this issue in the Asia Pacific region.