Welcome to the first June issue of APA Update.  It seems to be a time of year when everyone is very busy – as you will be able to see from our Members News section this fortnight.  From preparations and advocacy happening in Japan, Indonesia, Australia and New York; to new initiatives in the region being supported by New Zealand and the U.S.  Whichever way you look at it, things are definitely moving.  APA and its members are also in the initial stages of the allocation of 2008 Small Grants.  All APA Member Organisations should have by now received the Guidelines for this years round of Small Grants.  If you have not received this information as yet, please contact either the APA Secretariat or Rachel Chua at ICOMP.  You may also be interested in reading the Small Grants Report from last years’ activities.  You can download the report by following this link here.

Preparations are also well underway for this years’ APA Conference to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand during the week beginning the 5^th of October.  Member organisations will be contacted over the coming weeks about flight bookings and who will be attending from your organisation.  APA will be able to cover the cost of one staff member to attend, but others are encouraged to attend at their own expense.  Similarly, we are happy to welcome APA’s partners to attend our conference day.  This year we will be exploring the Challenges in Providing/Accessing SRH for Migrant, Displaced and Refugee populations in South East Asia and the Pacific. Please contact the APA Secretariat if you have any questions.  An official invitation will be issued by the end of this month.

With this in mind, we have changed the focus of the newsletter this fortnight to continue to inform you about the impact on/and the challenges for this region of many issues to do with Migrant, Displaced and Refugee populations.

Thank you to all of those people who have sent in information and articles for inclusion in the Update – it is warmly received and I hope that it keeps on coming!

Until next time –

APA Secretariat.

Member and Partner News

From JOICFP

APA member organisation, JOICFP, in cooperation with International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF), has been advocating the importance of universal access to reproductive health for African development, and this week had good reason to be happy with their efforts following the Japanese Prime Minister’s speech that committed to address issues of population and reproductive health and reduce maternal and child mortality in Africa.  His speech was made in the opening address of the Fourth Tokyo International Conference of African Development (TICAD IV), in Yokohama, where representatives of 86 African and other countries and EU, and 71 organizations gathered.

 From the Youth Coalition

APA member organisation, the Youth Coalition is organizing a Progressive Youth Caucus meeting prior to the HLM (on Sunday June 8th). The meeting will bring together progressive young advocates from diverse countries and organizations to develop collaborative advocacy strategies for the HLM. The goal of the meeting is to ensure meaningful youth participation in the 2008 HLM on HIV and AIDS on all levels and to ensure that young people’s sexual and reproductive rights are adequately addressed throughout the review process. Participants will also strategize how to apply the outcomes of the HLM in the work with their respective organizations and how to link them to other key international processes and conferences.

From AFPPD

Good Governance will Improve Reproductive Health Management: AFPPD Panel

 From Population Action International

Linking Civil Society Networks in Knowledge and Action

Project RMA held its first Reproductive Health (RH) Supplies advocacy meeting, entitled "Linking civil society networks in knowledge and action", from April 24th to 25th in Kampala, Uganda. Participants from Africa Youth Parliament, USAID DELIVER, MSI Uganda, the Ugandan Ministry of Health, and many more civil society networks, Project RMA sub-grantees and partners (Including APA Member NZFPI), as well as representatives from UNFPA followed the invitation to take part in this forum for action-oriented coordination. The participants of the meeting exchanged experiences from advocacy strategies undertaken in the area of RH Supplies at the global, regional, and national levels and discussed how to develop linkages between them, so that efforts mutually reinforce each other.

Additional goals of the meeting included giving organisations newer to the RH Supplies issue insight into how to effectively address it within their membership. The meeting concluded with a short site visit, which allowed participants to discuss with Ugandan government officials specific advocacy activities to be undertaken in partnership to avoid condom stock-outs in the country in 2008.

From Australia

From New Zealand

Making Cambodian Factories Better - How Trade can Work for Development

In May 2008, APA Member, NZAID became a donor-partner to the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia initiative. The project is an example of how improved labour practices and greater competitiveness can significantly change lives for poor workers.  So far positive impacts have been felt by over 340,000 people employed in around 300 factories in Cambodia, and momentum on the project is still growing.   Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) combines monitoring to ensure employers' compliance with labour standards, mediation when disputes arise and training to improve workers' skills. It also provides a guarantee to international buyers of healthy labour standards, a key factor in their decision to source garments from Cambodian factories.

Overall, the project aims to benefit workers, employers and their organisations, and contributes to reducing poverty in one of the poorest nations of the world. NZAID is particularly proud to partner with this project, given its strong focus on gender, and improving the situation of women garment workers.  Based on the positive results of Better Factories Cambodia, Better Work, a joint ILO-International Finance Corporation initiative is now developing global tools and piloting three country projects, in Jordan, Lesotho and Viet Nam with the assent of workers and employers organisations.

Regional News

Gender-Based Violence Contributing To Spread Of HIV In Papua New Guinea, Amnesty International Report Says

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/109676.php

Violence against women is contributing to the spread of HIV in Papua New Guinea, Amnesty International said in its recent annual report, the Australian Associated Press reports. According to the report, gender-based violence, including "sexual violence," in the country is "endemic in the home and in the community." Such violence is "seen as a key reason behind the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which, in turn, is fueling more abuses against women" because AIDS-related deaths are "sometimes believed to be the result of sorcery," the report added. In addition, the report said that people in Papua New Guinea have little faith in the country's police because they often do not investigate crimes, make arrests or collect evidence (Australian Associated Press, 5/30).

Officials and researchers in July 2007 said that some women in Papua New Guinea are being accused of practicing witchcraft to cause AIDS-related deaths among young people in the country. An analysis released by the Centre for Independent Studies in Australia said, "Sorcery, witchcraft and other supernatural forces are widely blamed for causing HIV/AIDS" in Papua New Guinea. It added that "[a]ccusations of sorcery have resulted in torture and murder" of some women. Research fellow Miranda Tobias wrote in the analysis that there are "reports of women being tortured for days in efforts to extract confessions." Such forms of torture include being "beaten, stabbed, cut with knives, sexually assaulted and burnt with hot irons," Tobias wrote. According to the earlier analysis, it is "estimated that there have been 500 such attacks in the past year" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/25/07).

Human Trafficking

Trafficking in Persons Report 2008 - 

"We are pleased that in the seven years since the creation of the Department of States Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, the United States and our friends and allies have made important strides in confronting the reality that human beings continue to be bought and sold in the twenty-first century. It has been gratifying to witness the determined governments, human rights and womens groups, faith-based organizations, and many brave individuals who are dedicated to advancing human dignity worldwide. Trafficking and exploitation plague all nations, and no country, even ours, is immune."

--Secretary Rice, June 4, 2008

 The Report is available by following this link here

 Conflict And Crisis Settings: Promoting Sexual And Reproductive Rights

Source: Reproductive Health Matters

Under conditions of global economic and ecological crisis and rampant militarism, growing numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) find themselves stripped of ordinary rights or even 'the right to have rights'.  Disaster has a strongly gendered dimension, particularly related to sexual and reproductive health and sexual and other forms of violence.  The camps and shelters that are supposed to provide refuge often become places of violence and mutilation, demoralisation and dehumanisation, especially for women and girls.

By the end of 2006, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that nearly 33 million people worldwide qualified for humanitarian assistance - an increase of 56% over available statistics from 2005. The great majority of these were IDPs who do not qualify for the rights and benefits conferred by refugee status.  The long-term duration of armed conflict in many countries means that IDPs and refugees may find themselves displaced for years or even decades.  Conditions of unequal power, dependency, crowding, sub-standard housing and lack of privacy make rape and abuse a constant threat.

 
The demeaning images of refugees often projected by local residents, media and policy-makers as economically burdensome and morally threatening - if not potential terrorists - are often deeply racist as well as gender-biased.  Despite this, displaced communities, often under the leadership of women, have extraordinary energy and resilience. A new humanitarian paradigm is needed which will allow those directly affected to define their needs and find appropriate solutions during disasters, rather than having external organisations impose solutions on them.

Source: Reproductive Health Matters in Medical News Today, 7 June 2008

Spotlight on Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations

A review of issues highlighted in two recently released reports on sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations.

 By Kathambi Kinoti - AWID - Association for Women's Rights in Development - http://www.awid.org

In conflict and post-conflict situations members of local populations, particularly girls and women, are at increased risk of sexual violence perpetrated not only by combatants, but also by aid workers and United Nations peacekeepers. Two recently published reports highlight this problem. 'No One to Turn To' [1] is the report of a study carried out by Save the Children, UK in Cote d'Ivoire, Haiti and Southern Sudan. 'Forced Marriage within the Lord's Resistance Army, Uganda' is published by the Feinstein International Center. [2]

 Sexual abuse and exploitation takes many forms. It is common for sex to be traded for food or other goods and services. There is also forced sex, verbal sexual abuse, child pornography and sexual slavery where a child is forced to have sex with an adult by someone else who then receives payment.  The Save the Children study makes a distinction between forced sex and coerced sex. Although any sex with a person below the age of consent is illegal, the study distinguishes between 'children who are physically forced to have sex and those coerced into it owing to a lack of alternative survival tactics or through ignorance of their rights.' [3] It reveals that coercive sex is more prevalent than forced sex.

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda is notorious for its practice of forced marriage which involves not only forced or coerced sex but other abuses as well. The LRA systematically abducts adolescent girls to force them into marriage with the rebel group's soldiers. According to 'Forced Marriage within the Lord's Resistance Army,'

 'Forced marriages are coercive relationships without valid consent of the female and her family. They have the traditional characteristics of shared domicile, bearing of children, domestic responsibilities, exclusivity and sex. The nature of these relationships forces women and girls to take on roles as sexual partners, mothers to the children born from these relationships, cooks, domestics, water collectors, porters, food producers, and gatherers. The relationships consist of a familial aspect where children are born and raised by abducted mothers and their captor husbands.' [4]

 
The authors of the report emphasize that forced marriage is not akin to sexual slavery and say that 'Distinct from sexual slavery or enslavement, the element of a conjugal union makes forced marriages an independent crime.' [5]

In Cote d'Ivoire, Haiti and Southern Sudan, a wide range of local and international actors were implicated in the sexual abuse of children. The overwhelming majority of those accused in Cote d'Ivoire were UN peacekeeping troops. The prevalence of abuse by the troops was higher than that of other UN staff perhaps because 'Peacekeepers are capable of exerting particular influence over the communities in which they serve, especially over children and young people. This is largely due to the fact that they are armed and provide much-needed physical security within contexts of extreme fragility. Furthermore, peacekeeping forces contain a significant number of military personnel with discriminatory attitudes to women.' [6]

Staff from other UN agencies, local and international humanitarian organizations and religious organizations are also culpable for sexual abuse.

 The LRA has been systematic in its abduction of tens of thousands of girls and keeps updated records on female abductees. When the numbers fall below required quotas, more abductions are organized to replenish the numbers lost through escapes or deaths.

 LITTLE RECOURSE TO JUSTICE

 
No One to Turn To' highlights the under-reporting of sexual abuse. One of the reasons for this is the fear of losing material assistance for instance in the case of the girls or women involved in sex for food transactions. Many others also fear the stigmatization that communities attach to survivors of sexual violence. Some feel powerless to report the humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies that seem to be so powerful in their regions. In many cases there is simply no avenue for recourse. For instance, abductees of the LRA are held within rebel territory outside the reach of the Ugandan government.

 
Save the Children calls for a global watchdog to be established to monitor efforts of organizations to eliminate sexual abuse by their workers, and for child protection services to be strengthened. The authors of the report on forced marriage within the LRA argue that local and international legal jurisprudence does not recognize or address the crime of forced marriage. Although there is an emerging body of international criminal law addressing sexual and gender based crimes, these are inadequate to address the situation of girls and women abducted by the LRA. They argue that forced marriage  should be classified as a crime against humanity, and say:  There is no question that rape, sexual slavery, torture, enforced pregnancy, and forced labor exacted upon women and girls have profound
physical and psychological repercussions. What is often overlooked when forced wives are characterized as solely sexual slaves is a particular quality of the injustice they have sufferedthe forced imposition of the status of marriage. The consequences of the status of wife upon a young female abducted into the LRA and taken by a commander or fighter are complex and... the practice often has a profound impact on the affected females and their children, and families and communities of return.' [6]

The two reports turn a spotlight on gaps within international law and policy that need to be addressed in order to protect targets of sexual abuse and forced marriage. They also make several recommendations which, if adopted, would go a long way in enhancing access to justice for survivors of conflict-related sex and gender-based violence.

-----------------------

Notes:

1. Csaky, Corrina, 'No One to Turn To: The under-reporting of child sexual

exploitation and abuse by aid workers and peace keepers.' Save the

Children, UK, 2008.

2. Karlson, Christopher and Mazurana, Dyan, 'Forced Marriage within the

Lord's Resistance Army, Uganda.' Feinstein International Center, May 2008.

3. Note 1, p.5.

4. Note 2, p. 14.

5. Ibid.

6. Note 1, p.8.

7. Note 2, p. 15.

GENDER, CLIMATE CHANGE & AGRICULTURE

 Source:  http://www.gendercc.net/action/agriculture.html

Our ecosystem influences and is influenced by climate. Agriculture food production is the economic activity that depends most on the climate. Populations growth has led to a change from traditional to intensive agricultural systems. Climate change affects changes in plant growth and in production by promoting the spread of pest and diseases, increased exposure to heat stress, changes in rainfall patterns, greater leaching of nutrients from the soil during intense rains, greater erosion due to stronger winds and more wildfires in drier regions.

Developing countries will be hardest hit by climate change, particularly countries which depends largely on rain-feed agriculture. Agriculture also contributes to climate change. Indeed, land use changes, flooding areas for rice and sugarcane production, burning crop residues, raising ruminant animals and using nitrogen fertilizers are all activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Gender Dimension

There are numerous, significant linkages between gender and agriculture. Gender aspects in agriculture affect access to and control over resources, working in agriculture and food security as well as market and policy decisions.

 
In many countries womens access to land is limited. Patrilineal inheritance customs regulate not only land ownership and property rights but also control over land and sovereignty of food. But worldwide women make up 51% of the agricultural labour force, in the Global South significant more. For example 80% of female employees and self-employees in Sub-Saharan Africa are working in the agricultural sector.

 
There is an evident interdependence between rural poverty and climate change related effects like desertification and degradation. Because of their labour- and time-intensive work in order to care for their families, the share of women hit by poverty is unproportional high. Their responsibility for using and preserving land for food and fuel production and the resulting dependency on the land make them vulnerable for climate change effects and consequences such as desertification, erosion and soil degradation. Decreasing crops and livestock, less productivity and lower income follow these effects and impact particularly women.

 
Depletion of natural resources and decreasing agricultural productivity may increase womens workloads, diminish their crops, their livestock and therefore the income, place additional burdens on their health and reduce time available to participate in decision-making processes and non-agricultural income generating activities.

 
In industrialised countries, studies pointed out some main gendered attitude-differences related to agricultural production and products. These differences concern the view on food and health, ethical dimensions of food productions and selection, nutritional attitudes and choices, dietary changes, food works and body images.

Response

 
When identifying and promoting GHG emission reduction management practices in agriculture womens involvement in decision making processes and implementations will be crucial in particular as they play a key role in ecological, fair and sustainable food production and consumption patterns.

 
Cultural and legal barriers must be removed in order to set an adequate course in womens everyday reality. Womens legalized landownership, e.g., would tackle inequalities with regard to ownership, property rights and customs.

 
Because of the importance of the environment to rural womens daily tasks, they have developed effective adaptation strategies in the face of a changing climate. Greater attention must be paid to the coping strategies already in place within rural agricultural communities.

 
Given women's key role in agriculture, it is imperative that gender disaggregated data become available for more countries and farming systems. Collaborate in building support networks for grassroots women on equal land rights, and support womens groups who are working together to build savings and credit to purchase land. Understanding and working with rural womens networks is important as regards climate change policy making and implementation.

 It is crucial for adaptation to provide local climate information, and enhance meteorological and climatological capacities. Understanding and working with rural womens networks is important as regards climate change policy making and implementation: they provide important channels for sharing and disseminating information. Rural women should be included in developing information materials and dissemination strategies, reflecting a participatory approach to knowledge management

Tools and Resources

WHO/UNAIDS and UNICEF have today launched the 2008 Progress report - Towards Universal Access - Scaling up priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector.

The report details the latest treatment figures and provides an overview of global progress towards priority health sector interventions.

The full report can be viewed by following this link here and is also available from the UNAIDS Website homepage.

GrantCraft - A Web Resource that provides information and strategies for working with/towards Advocacy Funding

Grant Craft - Advocacy Funding - The Philanthropy of Changing Minds 

 Grant makers tend to be cautious about funding advocacy, and for good reason — yet advocacy can play a crucial role in advancing a foundation’s mission.  One of the many resources that the website provides is a guide to Advocacy Funding.  In this guide, contributors explain that advocacy includes a lot of opportunities to improve public policy through work that is well within the limits of the law.  Whether your purpose is to advance an idea, argue a position, or enrich the policy debate, the guide offers resources and strategies for planning your work, reaching your audience, assessing impact, and more.

To have a look at this valuable resource, follow this link here.

Video Workshop for Forced Displacement Activists in Asia

New Application Deadline: June 30! Apply Now:

IAP, WITNESS, EarthRights International and Chiang Mai Universitys Unit for Social and Environmental Research are excited to convene a Video Advocacy Workshop in Southeast Asia for displacement activists, in September 2008 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  This 10-day workshop will bring together a diverse group of community activists, filmmakers and civil society advocates involved in struggles related to forced displacement in Asia.  The workshop will equip participants with the tools to produce videos related to development-induced forced displacement and to strategically incorporate them into their advocacy campaigns, using the internationally acclaimed methodology of WITNESS.

 For more information about the workshop, please follow this link here.

 WITNESS is the preeminent international organization that trains human rights advocates and organizations in the use of video as a complementary tool in human rights campaigns.  Video advocacy, as defined by WITNESS, is the process of using digital video and related online technologies in strategic and targeted campaigns to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations, and to secure changes in policy or practice.  As it is relatively inexpensive and easy to use, video is a democratic medium through which people can expose human rights violations, reclaim their experience of events and affect needed change.

This workshop will be the central event in an integrated Video Advocacy Project that will support a sustained and growing regional movement to use video as a powerful tool to challenge and change policies and projects driving forced displacement.  This Project will include the formation of a Displacement Video Advocacy Network and Seed Fund to help ensure the sustainability of the workshops objectives.  The Network will be composed of individuals and popular communications organizations committed to facilitating the completion and viewing of powerful videos on forced displacement in targeted settings in Asia.  The Seed Fund will help strengthen relationships between individuals and supporting organizations, and assist with the distribution of the completed videos on forced displacement. 

 The Video Advocacy Workshop, Network and Seed Fund are closely linked with IAPs other work in Asia.  The Video Advocacy Network will overlap with the Peoples Guide network of trainers, and facilitate the creation of a video to complement this regional popular education resource.

DATES FOR THE DIARY

The G8 Summit 2008, which will include global health as a focus theme, will take place in Tokyo, Japan. An outline of the summit, including preliminary and fixed dates of minister meetings, as well as additional information, can be found at the official website.

Preparatory Ministers Meetings:

May 28-30 2008, Yokohama: TICAD IV – Tokyo International Conference on African Development
June 13-14 2008, Osaka: Finance Ministers Meeting
June 26-27 2008, Kyoto: Foreign Ministers Meeting

Monitoring and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Programs

(14/07/2008 - 25/07/2008)

The workshop offers intensive training that will cover the fundamental concepts and tools for monitoring and evaluating HIV/AIDS programs. The workshop will include sessions on: The Role of Strategic Information in Decision Making; M&E Frameworks; indicators; Information Systems; Evaluation Designs; Developing M&E Plans; Selecting, Calculating and interpreting Indicators; and Use of Recently Developed Tools. In addition, modules on program areas and crosscutting issues appropriate for the Asian region and other will also be included. Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University at Salaya Campus www.ipsr.mahidol.ac.th

The AIDS 2008 theme, Universal Action Now , underscores the continued urgency of the pandemic and reminds us of the responsibility we have to take individual and collective action. For scientists, researchers, people living with HIV and other civil society leaders and professionals working in the field of HIV/AIDS, AIDS 2008 is an ideal opportunity to meet new colleagues and learn from the experiences of others engaged at the local, national and international levels. Join us in México City and help bring us closer to the goals of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. For more information about this conference visit the IAC Website.

The course explores key elements in designing efficient, equitable and financially sustainable population policies and reproductive health programs in the context of health sector reform and Millennium Development Goals. After attending the course, participants learn to recognize how the changing international and national policy environments affect their work in population and reproductive health and to identify the linkages among health, gender and poverty.

This two-week course is designed for staff from governments, donor agencies, international organizations, the World Bank, and NGOs working in the health sector. In addition, it targets staff from training and research institutions, as well as academics and researchers working in the areas of health, public administration and social sector reform.

The course is a face-to-face learning event and will be held at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. The sessions will consist of presentations, readings, case studies and group work. Participants must have a good working knowledge of English to participate.

Information about how to apply and fees can be found through the website which you can access by following this link here.

Australasian Sexual Health Conference 2008

(15/09/2008 - 17/09/2008)

Contact the Conference Secretariat at info@sexualhealthconference.com.au or visit the website http://sexualhealthconference.com.au/home/

ASIA PACIFIC ALLIANCE CONFERENCE AND MEETINGS - CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - Week Beginning 5th October 2008

You can expect to be enlightened, provoked and inspired by an exceptional group of thoughtful, forward-looking and fiercely committed women and men. You can expect to move beyond simply talking to getting involved in global action plans and campaigns that will emerge out of the Forum, but will last well beyond it. You can expect to work hard and gain an abundance of new skills, new knowledge, new colleagues, and new ideas for the long road ahead. You can expect to be welcomed, nurtured, fortified and challenged by a group of like-minded activists, academics and practitioners. And finally, you can expect to have more fun than you thought was possible at a conference!

For more information, visit the AWID Website.

Regional Conference on TB, HIV/AIDS and Respiratory Diseases

(15 December, 2008)

South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation *(SAARC) Second Conference on TB, HIV/AIDS and Respiratory Diseases *is being  planned from 15-18 Dec, 2008, Kathmandu, Nepal.

The deadline for abstract submission is 30th June, 2008

SAARC Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS Centre,

E-mail: saarctb@mos.com.np

2009

The 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Bali in August 2009

Welcome to the 9th ICAAP

The organizing committee and sponsors warmly invite you to attend the 9th ICAAP. The congress will be held at the Bali International Convention Center (BICC) in Nusa Dua, Bali – Indonesia from 9 – 13 August 2009. Bali International Convention Centre is the largest and most technologically advanced resource in Bali for meetings and events. It is ideally located in Nusa Dua, home to the island's most luxurious hotel and resort accommodation and conference facilities, just 10 kilometers from Bali's international airport and 25 minutes from the chic and vivacious Kuta, Legian and Seminyak districts.

Why should you consider attending?

Leading scientists in the world in this area will be invited to present plenary lectures focusing on developments in different areas over the past two years and to discuss possible future developments and fruitful areas for research.

Discuss social, economical and programmatic aspects of HIV/AIDS including stigma and discriminations

Strengthen collaboration and networking of nations, leaders, activists, community in general in Asia and the Pacific to fight HIV/AIDS and related issues

Leaderships and political commitments 

Many different aspects of the AIDS response will be discussed with delegates from Asia and the Pacific. We expect in the order of 5,000 delegates.

There will be special exhibitions running alongside the conference. These will include stands of international organizations, displays of various AIDS programs from PLHIV groups and organizations offering technical and financial help to the AIDS response.

Place for sharing experiences, learning, speaking up, updating information, networking

Bali is also known as the "Island of the Gods", where temples and ceremonies can be found almost everywhere and everyday.

In Bali the passage of life is measured through elaborate rituals performed by artistic and hospitable local people. The Balinese maintain a precious heritage of unique arts and a dynamic culture amidst breathtaking panoramas of cultivated rice terrace, awesome volcanoes, pristine beaches and thousands of temples, augmented by an unrivalled range of modern leisure activities.

There will be exciting pre and post congress activities as well as attractive day-trips designed to immerse you in the Bali experience.

ICAAP9 ProgramThe theme of the 9th ICAAP is "Empowering People, Strengthening Networks"

For more than 20 years countries around the world have faced the AIDS epidemic more or less alone. Best practices have been documented to help countries deal with their specific epidemics, but as the world becomes more globalized and country borders become more fluid, interventions that address mobility, migration and global and regional responses become more important.

The empowerment of people – both HIV-positive and HIV-negative vulnerable to HIV – and the strengthening of networks - PLHIV groups, faith-based organizations, communities, governments, regions, sectors, as well as individuals - are important components to addressing this change.

With increased mobility in-country and across borders, nations can no longer expect to work alone in its response to HIV and AIDS. Regional and international cooperation is needed to address HIV transmission among migrant populations. Strong networks are of utmost importance when countries need effective interventions to halt the epidemic in its tracks.  The 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Bali in August 2009 aims to address, among others, issues of mobility, migration, as well as gender and people with disabilities in order to empower the people and strengthen networks to effectively respond to AIDS.

Congress Tracks

http://icaap9.aidsindonesia.or.id/