PEACE AIDS ICW WORLD CAMPAIGN Working through Peace

+ PEACE -AIDS ICW WORLD CAMPAIGN Working through Peace in difficult situations AIDS International Meeting, México 2008

ICW International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS , is the only International Net organized by women living with HIV for women living with HIV. ICW was born in Amsterdam – Holland 1992, at the Pre-Conference of Women living with HIV within the frame of AIDS International Meeting, as a response to lack of world advocacy and information for women living with HIV. More than 12, 000 +women are part of our organization in 57 countries nowadays. ICW is an international net created by and for HVI+ women, and its main objective is to advocate for our voices and the changes to improve our quality of life.

Humankind survival depends on our ability to guarantee Peace on Earth. The great challenge in our attempt to stop AIDS, is to look for changes in human behavior, those ones based on prejudice and discrimination , and which have been a culture medium for HIV spreading, such as Jonathan Mann declared. The world leaders commitment is necessary in order to avoid humankind disappearance as a result of the pandemic, Nelson Mandela says. Within this frame, at ICW LATINA, we decided to undertake the work against violence towards the Specie that represents AIDS.

¿Why HIV+ Women want Peace? Peace is not only lack of war. • Peace in our homes. ” When He knows that I have been to the Health Centre to get the medicine, he hits me and tells me he is ashamed, because I let everybody knows we are ill. Now, I am afraid to go there”. (ICW member). • Peace in our communities. “I was fired as soon as they knew it, and most of my supposed friends did not back on me. My dream, what I was – a well-known nurse, appreciated by everyone- had been vanished. I fell into depression and forgot about the whole world. ” (ICW member).

• Peace in our countries. To promote Peace and the end of conflicts that put women and children in danger and also for children by means of small guns spreading, implied innocents and the use of rape as a war weapon. (Nairobi Call to Action, 2007, Women Leadership in HIV/AIDS, YWCA Worldwide). Peace in the world. “Million of girls are dying in front of our eyes. Levels in permanent increase of HIV+ girls and youngsters are showing the world a critic moral dilemma and a responsibility that ask for a greater leadership, and leave the rhetoric. What we need now is practical organization and action”. (Mary Robinson, ICW Ambassador).

Violence against women is both, cause and consequence of HIV/AIDS; in Ruanda, mates from ICW have been raped because of their positive condition. The use of condom is irrelevant when a woman is hit or raped. Forced vaginal penetration increases HIV chance of transmission, as brutality showed in Kenya some months ago.

+PEACE -AIDS This Campaign is a chance to unify actions for Peace and to improve the social global response to the pandemic.

Expanding Horizons. Reinforcing Alliances. The effort to fight against AIDS cannot be just the patrimony of their activists. It is essential to gather international leaders to build –as a group- a contribution that propose to expand Peace concept, and from that point, to develop an activity of better implications against AIDS.

Year 2011: PEACE and AIDS. ICW leads this initiative and tries to go in depth into UN steps, setting a goal for United Nations to declare year 2011 as “ The year of Peace as an opportunity to stop AIDS”

Campaign Objectives: At worldwide level, in 5 continents, is to awake decision takers´ interest in order that their presence at the campaign set a global sign , by doing different political incidence tasks to reach our goal in 2011. At country level, it is to call different actors in order to articulate with ICW National Chapters , to develop the visualization of AIDS social problem.

Campaign Actions for the Future: To advocate for UN to declare "2011: Year of Peace as an opportunity to stop AIDS” To sign a demand to give to the General Secretary at United Nations. To declare 27 th June as “Day of Peace as an opportunity to stop AIDS” for people from different countries to do “ An Action for Peace to stop AIDS” To spread the Campaign +Peace - AIDS massively: spots with well-known artists to spread a Peace message to stop AIDS. For example, INCAA Argentina, Cinema diffusion.

Working on Central Themes such as: Violence. Visualization of problems on Media. Training for women living with HIV to let them know their rights. Information about ways to report human rights violation. On going support. DD. HH. Spreading DD. HH defense within the campaign frame. Advisory in DD. HH. and HIV / AIDS for every PVVS who need advise. Discrimination and Stigmatization. Coordination with the Campaign of political incidence “ You are not alone”. Education. Programs in educational institutions. .

¿How do we do it? Coordinating in the countries with different Social Actors: Nets of people living with HIV/AIDS (PVVS) and NGO´s Agencies of System from UN Governments Sectors of Civil Society which are not involved in HIV/AIDS, but they are in the same central theme. Enterprises, members from Culture, Sports and Great knowledge areas Media Religious Communities.

Campaign Presentation in Honduras

Campaign Presentation in Honduras

Campaign Presentation in Nicaragua

Campaign Presentation in Nicaragua

Campaign Presentation in Nicaragua

Campaign Presentation in New York

Campaign Presentation in New York.

Campaign Presentation in New York.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. www. icwlatina. org