Chicago Tribune - June 26, 2001
Stevenson Swanson, Tribune staff reporter

Efforts to reach agreement on a lengthy declaration about the causes and prevention of AIDS ran aground because of objections by a 56-nation bloc of Islamic countries that objected to references to homosexuality, intravenous drug use and condoms in the document.

And, after more than two hours of often heated debate in the General Assembly, a representative of an international gay and lesbian organization was allowed to participate in the session over the objections of several Islamic nations.

The split did not augur well for the three-day session to end with the kind of resounding commitment to containing the spread of AIDS that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and others hoped for.

"We must act, and we must act now," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the 3,000 delegates and representatives of non-governmental organizations from 189 nations. "This is the time, this is the place, and we must not fail the people of the world who are looking to us for leadership."

More than 36 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Of that total, 25 million live in Africa, but infection rates are rising in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. AIDS has killed an estimated 22 million people in the 20 years since it was diagnosed.

Given the staggering numbers of the dead and infected, Annan said, the problem cannot be overcome by stigmatizing those who are infected with HIV.

"We cannot deal with AIDS by making moral judgments or refusing to face unpleasant facts," Annan said in opening the first UN special session to be devoted to a public health issue. "We can only do it by speaking clearly and openly, both about the ways that people become infected and about what they can do to avoid infection."

Islamic objections

But addressing the causes of AIDS and the need for safe-sex measures in a worldwide AIDS strategy has so far proved an insurmountable obstacle for a large number of Islamic countries, where homosexuality is a crime. Many Islamic nations hold to the view that homosexuals and intravenous drug users do not deserve special treatment because their behavior causes them to become infected with HIV.

Hoping to hammer out an agreement on the declaration before the session started, negotiators met over the weekend, finally adjourning at 3 a.m. Monday.

"We knew from the outset that we were having to deal with issues that raised profound sensitivities," said negotiator Penny Wensley, Australia's ambassador to the UN.

Wensley said all nations had agreed to the final wording except the 56 Islamic nations, which hadn't decided whether to accept the declaration Monday evening. United Nations negotiators aim for consensus in such declarations to give them greater moral force.

Another rupture occurred when delegates considered what would normally be a routine matter at the start of a special session: a vote to allow representatives of non-governmental organizations, such as foundations and non-profit advocacy groups, to join deliberations.

But debate wore on long into the afternoon over whether the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, a San Francisco group, could participate in a Tuesday discussion on human rights and AIDS.

Delegates from such Islamic nations as Malaysia, Egypt and Pakistan accused General Assembly President Harri Holkeri of forcing a vote without a quorum. When the vote finally was taken, about a dozen Islamic nations refused to vote, signifying their contention that the vote was improper. The resolution to allow the gay and lesbian group to participate passed 62-0, with 30 countries abstaining.

Several delegates said such arguments damaged the potential good that could come from the session.

"This is a conference about people who are dying from AIDS," said Dumisana Kumalo of South Africa, where an estimated 4.7 million people, more than 10 percent of the population, are living with HIV. "White people, black people, gay people, not gay people. I truly regret that we have come to the stage where we are."

Divisions explain paralysis

The deep divisions on display at the United Nations provide at least one explanation of why international efforts to slow the AIDS epidemic in the developing world have been slow to take shape.

Although Annan admitted that the world response "has not measured up to the challenge," he said that has begun to change because of widespread reports about the disease's devastating impact on Africa, where in some countries as much as one-third of the population has HIV.

"AIDS can no longer do its deadly work in the dark," Annan said. "The world has started to wake up."

Spending on AIDS treatment and prevention in developing nations needs to increase by roughly fivefold, Annan said.

He called on nations and individual donors to pledge up to $10 billion a year to fund such programs. The money also would be used to fight malaria and tuberculosis.

The secretary general hopes to have the fund, which probably would be administered by the World Bank, in operation by the end of the year.

Last month, President Bush pledged $200 million to the fund.

The 15-member European Union has said it will contribute about $127 million, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates has pledged $100 million.

Powell said the Bush administration would seek $3.4 billion in AIDS research funding in the next fiscal year and $480 million to combat AIDS in developing countries.

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