Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Red 2002 - June 18, 2002
In its response to a press release issued by the Red2002, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affaris has clarified that participants of the XIV International AIDS Conference to be held July 7 12 in Barcelona, must demonstrate sufficient economic means to obtain an entrance visa, as detailed in Spanish law.
In an official notice released this afternoon, the Ministry indicated that instructions had been given to accelerate the process because of the great number of requests for entrance visas. Nevertheless, according to a European Press release, the Ministry indicated that "sometimes the visa applicants do not fulfill the requirements that Spanish law requests, such as the minimum economic means that an individual must have when entering the country, and that the process will ultimately depend on whether delegates are able to fulfill these legal conditions".
"We do not understand this", replies Joan Tallada on behalf of the Red2002, a network of Non Governmental AIDS Organizations (NGOs) who will participate in the Conference. Tallada says that as is traditional, the Conference has been administering an international program of scholarships that reaches more than 1,000 people across the world, mostly from developing countries, including about 100 journalists (a local program also exists which will provide scholarships to 400 recipients from Spain). Monies for this program are being provided by the Conference and a number of official sources including BarcelonaÆs City Council and the government of Spain, through the Ministry of Health. "the scholarships are provided to people that would otherwise be unable to participate in the Conference by their own means. If this is a reason not to grant visas, then we are before an absurd challenge and it fills us with dread".
The same can be said of other participants without sufficient resources who do not have scholarships to the Conference, but who will attend through international organisations like ONUSIDA, the WHO, or large NGOs who will pay for their travel and accommodation in Barcelona during the Conference.
Spanish NGOs hope that the Ministry of Health remains word true to its word about the importance of this world-wide gathering on AIDS, and convinces its colleagues in the Ministry of the Exterior of the necessity of resolving the situation. Otherwise, according to Tallada, this meeting will be a complete fiasco: "a world AIDS conference without the worldÆs developing countries is nothing more than nonsense; it is an offense against which we will fight with all our efforts".
Joan Tallada
Local Community Chair 14th International AIDS Conference Barcelona, 7-12 July 2002 www.aids2002.com
Facilitator Red 2002 [Network 2002] www.red2002.org
c/o gTt www.gtt-vih.org Carrer del Pi, 10 08002 Barcelona Spain
Phone: + 34 93 412 00 83 Mobile: + 34 637 464 803 Fax: + 34 93 317 22 23
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