December 1, 2010

On World AIDS Day 2010 we express gratitude to the members and partners of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) for their efforts to advance communication rights that help prevent the stigmatisation of people living with HIV and AIDS.

Significant progress in achieving universal access to HIV treatment, care, prevention and support in some countries is reported in Towards universal access published in September 2010 by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Many agree that even greater progress is possible if universal access to care and prevention are understood as a fundamental human right. According to the World AIDS Campaign, "linking universal access to human rights helps bring the HIV diagnosis and treatment issues into existing fora and before world leaders who are already committed to pursuing a human rights agenda." A rights-based approach "gives more credence to the international agreements related to human rights and their precedence in international law."

In its own work, WACC has found that communication rights are essential to promoting universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, care, prevention and support. Communication rights empower people living with and affected by the virus to express their needs, to make their voices heard, and to take charge of their own lives.

As an example we highlight WACC partner Fondation Solidarità Familiale in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which embarked on a campaign to publicize national law 08/011, enacted on 14 July 2008 and which upholds the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS with the aim of combating all forms of stigma and discrimination.

Another partner, Groupe Chrétien contre le Sida in Togo, is placing the spotlight on a little known national law enacted to protect people living with HIV and AIDS against stigma and discrimination.

A third partner, the Christian Council of Ghana, is contributing to efforts to increase knowledge in communities in the Greater Accra Region about the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS. New knowledge on the right to a life free of discrimination aided Regina, a project beneficiary, to successfully challenge a landlord's threat to evict her from a rental home because of her seropositive status. Information on the legal supports in place made it possible for Regina to stay until the end of her tenancy agreement.

Creating awareness about such laws is a first step towards providing people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS with the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions about their lives. Such decisions bear directly on their possibilities to access treatment, care, prevention and support.

Let us together find more intentional approaches to advance communication rights that challenge stigmatisation and discrimination and save lives. The World AIDS Campaign needs communication rights.

Dennis Smith DD (hon), WACC President
The Rev Karin Achtelstetter, WACC General Secretary

French and Spanish versions of this statement will be available on the WACC website at http://www.waccglobal.org/.

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) promotes communication for social change. It believes that communication is a basic human right that defines people's common humanity, strengthens cultures, enables participation, creates community, and challenges tyranny and oppression. WACC's key concerns are media diversity, equal and affordable access to communication and knowledge, media and gender justice, and the relationship between communication and power. WACC has 584 corporate and personal members and 947 affiliates in 128 countries across the world.

World Association for Christian Communication