May 16, 10:00-11:00 CEST The recent withdrawal of U.S. funding for UNAIDS and the proposed censorship of certain words, perceives as “woke”, has its severe impact on global efforts on HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and to end AIDS as a threat to public health by 2030 as defined as one of the health-related sustainable development goals. UNAIDS warns that without alternative funding, this abrupt halt of HIV programs could jeopardize the successes of the recent two decades. The loss of U.S. funding poses a fundamental challenge for UNAIDS as an organization, the imposed censorship of words jeopardizes the programmatic response of UNAIDS with its focus on human rights-based approaches, the needs of key populations, their integration and on community empowerment. We look forward to a fruitful discussion. Registration with the following link: https://forms.gle/ARaJsR54jo4ZdmbZ9

Together with its stop working orders the Trump administration issued executive orders instructing federal agencies to eliminate programs and language associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). What so far has only been experienced by autocratic regimes, such as in Russia and in Iran, is all of a sudden reality in the US: 100 restricted words includes terms such as gender, queer, LGBTIQ, inclusion, disability, and equality.
Restricting the use of specific words threatens open and independent discourses and the global HIV response. To have control over the usage of words and the terms people speak and think represents power and the goal of any autocratic system. It might hide the existence of certain groups, it violates the freedom of expression and it splits society. We see what this caused in the past with examples from autocratic systems and churches. It’s for the time being unknown if, or to what extent, the imposed censorship has already an impact, for example on the formulation of project proposals, where certain words have to be used in case we want to remain sincere.

We look forward to an intense discussion on the impact of these  developments together with UNAIDS and civil society advocates from Russia and the Global South, with: 

• Christine Stegling, UNAIDS Deputy Director
• Alexei Lakhov, HIV activists from Russia, former delegate of the UNAIDS NGO Delegation
• Shawn Mugisha, Ubuntu Law and Justice Centre, Uganda

registration: https://forms.gle/ARaJsR54jo4ZdmbZ9