UN Security Council passes resolution supporting HIV/AIDS awareness in peacekeeping

Participants attend a United Nations Security Council meeting on "Impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic on international peace and security" at UN headquarters in New York, the United States, June 7, 2011. The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution to underline the importance of including UN peacekeeping missions into HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment strategies. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution to underline the importance of including UN peacekeeping missions into HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment strategies.

The resolution recognized that UN peacekeeping missions "can be important contributors to an integrated response to HIV and AIDS," and welcomed "the incorporation of HIV awareness in mandated activities and outreach projects for vulnerable communities."

Members of the Security Council passed the resolution at an open meeting on the Impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on international peace and security. The Council meeting took place one day before the launch of the 2011 High-Level Meeting on AIDS, which will run from June 8 to 10.

In the resolution, the Council emphasized the need to intensify HIV prevention actions within the UN missions, and requested that UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon ensure that prevention and awareness activities are carried out.

According to Ban, who spoke at the meeting, pre-deployment training in HIV and peer counseling is standard for UN peacekeepers, and many more are volunteering for HIV/AIDS tests each year.

The Council "encourages the incorporation, as appropriate, of HIV prevention, care, and support, including voluntary and confidential counseling and testing programs in the implementation of the mandated tasks of peacekeeping operation, including assistance to national institutions, to security reform (SSR), and to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) processes; and the need to ensure the continuation of such prevention, treatment, care and support during and after transitions to other configurations of UN presence," the resolution said.

Tuesday's meeting was the second time HIV/AIDS has been discussed by the Security Council. The first time was in January 2000, when Resolution 1308 was adopted, delineating the connection between HIV/AIDS and UN peacekeeping.

The Council also acknowledged in the resolution that women and girls are often affected particularly by HIV and may be in even more danger in conflict and post-conflict situations where sexual violence is more prone to be perpetrated against them.

To deal with this issue, the resolution "requests the secretary- general to consider HIV-related needs of people living with, affected by, and vulnerable to HIV, including women and girls, in his activities pertinent to the prevention and resolution of conflict."


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Source: Xinhua

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