DAS ELEKTRONISCHE BULLETIN DER SCHWEIZERISCHEN FACHPLATTFORM HIV/AIDS UND INTERNATIONALE ZUSAMMENARBEIT

EINLADUNG ZUR FACHTAGUNG VOM 10. APRIL 2008 AIDS AND LIVELIHOOD. SECURING

Ich möchte Euch herzlich einladen zur diesjährigen Fachtagung von aidsfocus.ch vom 10. April 2008 zum Thema „AIDS and livelihoods. Securing property and inheritance rights“. Es ist wiederum ein sehr aktuelles Thema, das aidsfocus.ch damit aufgreift, das bisher aber wenig beachtet wurde. Es ist ein sehr vielschichtiges Thema, das einlädt zum Austausch von Wissen und Erfahrungen und zum gemeinsamen Lernen.

Ich freue mich, Sie am 10 April in Bern begrüssen zu dürfen

Mit freundlichen Grüssen

Helena Zweifel aidsfocus.ch

Bern | aidsfocus.ch: Children’s rights to inheritance are often violated even while the mother is still alive and becomes more severe when both parents have died, and so are women's rights when her husband passed away. The relatives are the first to gain access to the property. The staggering number of AIDS deaths in the coming years will result in millions more women becoming widows or grandmothers carer of their grandchildren. These women and their children are likely to face not only social stigma against people affected by HIV and AIDS but also deprivations caused by property rights violations.

Bern, kornhausforum, Kornhausplatz 11, 9.15 – 16.45

http://www.aidsfocus.ch
http://www.aidsfocus.ch

--------------------------------------------------------------- PROGRAM AND REGISTRATION

Helena Zweifel, aidsfocus.ch, Medicus Mundi Switzerland Welcome and introduction

Dr. Kaori Izumi, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Rome Gender, Property Rights and Livelihoods in the Era of AIDS. Key issues and strategies

Mercy Wahome, Society of Women and AIDS in Kenya (SWAK), Kenya Securing property and inheritance rights in the context of HIV and AIDS. Action and advocacy – community and national level

Maimuna Kanyamala, Kivulini Women’s Rights Organization, Tanzania “SASA!” Women, domestic violence and HIV/AIDS. Innovative strategies from grassroot activism (with film)

Frank Mischo, Kindernothilfe Deutschland, Germany A doubled traumatic experience: Children loose their parents and homes. Field experiences from an

Working Groups on key issues 1. AIDS and livelihoods: Progress and directions in international policy 2. Formal versus traditional law: Choices and chances for women 3. Integrating health and livelihoods with the focus on children: Challenges and opportunities

Plenary: Where to go from here: Key messages and evaluation

All partners of aidsfocus.ch and interested persons are invited. The conference language is English

Conference fee: for partners of aidsfocus.ch: CHF 50.-. Others: CHF 80.-

Registration:

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

The technical consultation Organized by the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division (ESW), FAO, 28-30 November 2007, Rome provides a good background on the issue of gender, property rights and livelihoods, highlights key discussions and key messages from an international perspective

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS (GCWA), a loose alliance of civil society groups, networks of women living with HIV, and United Nations agencies focuses on eight key issues. Securing property and inheritance rights is one of them:

Research suggests that women who have secure access to, ownership and control over land and other assets are better able to avoid relationships that threaten them with HIV, and to manage the impact of AIDS.

National governments and international partners need to ensure that legal systems uphold women’s property and inheritance rights through the establishment, reform, and enforcement of laws, and harmonization of statutory and customary laws. At the same time, more support is needed for community-based initiatives that provide legal advice and skills training to protect women’s property and inheritance rights.”

A collection of resources and links:

http://womenandaids.unaids.org

It is not uncommon for a woman to be forced from her marital home by her in-laws if her husband dies of AIDS. Often suffering from HIV herself, such a widow – perhaps with children in tow – often leaves her home with no assets, stigmatized and forced to survive on her own.

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), with partners, is working to change this reality. "Our research takes us one step closer to understanding how secure property rights might help women protect themselves and their households from adverse consequences related to HIV, including stigma, poverty and property dispossession," says ICRW lead researcher Hema Swaminathan.

The report shows that a complex, comprehensive strategy is needed to link women's property rights with HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, counseling and care services. (July 2007)

http://www.icrw.org

Human Rights Watch’s investigations in several countries have highlighted that many African women are excluded from inheriting, evicted from their lands and homes by in-laws, stripped of their possessions, and forced to engage in risky sexual practices in order to keep their property. In some countries, these abuses seem to be more frequent and severe for HIV-affected women.

A complex mix of cultural, legal, and social factors underlies women’s property rights violations. In many countries, customary laws—largely unwritten but influential local norms that coexist with formal laws—are based on patriarchal traditions in which men inherited and largely controlled land and other property, and women were “protected” but had lesser property rights.

http://www.hrw.org

Billions of dollars are spent on poverty reduction, on AIDS, TB, and Malaria, but most of these funds do not focus on empowering women or even on addressing their needs and their realities. Unless we empower women, really empower them by putting resources, building capacities and ensuring legal protection, our efforts to address poverty, nutrition, AIDS will have very limited success.

Elisabeth Mataka’s speech at the Gender, Property Rights and Livelihoods in the Era of AIDS, FAO, Rome (29 November 2007):

http://womenandaids.unaids.org

Biel | cinfo: HIV und Aids sind eine bedrückende Wirklichkeit in vielen Ländern der internationalen Zusammenarbeit (IZA). HIV berührt nicht nur die betroffene Bevölkerung in allen Aspekten ihres Lebens, sondern nimmt auch einen grossen Stellenwert im beruflichen und privaten Leben der im Ausland lebenden MitarbeiterInnen der IZA ein. Das Ziel dieses Seminars ist es, die TeilnehmerInnen zu unterstützen, damit sie mit diesen Herausforderungen besser umgehen können.

http://www.cinfo.ch

Ausserholligen | The course offered by SDC aims to provide information on and skills in mainstreaming HIV/AIDS. It aims to strengthen participants’ motivation and competence to mainstream HIV/AIDS as relevant for their work.

At the end of the day, participants should know what is understood by the comprehensive approach and be able to apply the concept of risk/vulnerability reduction and impact mitigation.

http://www.deza.admin.ch

aidsfocus.ch, die schweizerische Fachplattform HIV/Aids und internationale Zusammenarbeit ist ein Projekt von Medicus Mundi Schweiz. Mit der Bereitstellung von Informationen und einer Plattform für den gegenseitigen Austausch und das gemeinsame Lernen unterstützt aidsfocus.ch die schweizerischen Akteure im Bereich HIV/Aids und Internationale Zusammenarbeit. aidsfocus.ch wird finanziell unterstützt von den 33 Partnerorganisationen und der Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit (DEZA).

Partner von aidsfocus.ch sind: Aids-Hilfe Schweiz, Aids & Kind, Bethlehem Mission Immensee, Caritas Schweiz, cinfo, CO-OPERAID, Déclaration de Berne, Esperanza Medicines Foundation, Fastenopfer, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, FEPA, Gemeinschaft der St. Anna-Schwestern, HEKS, IAMANEH Schweiz, Internationaler Bund des Blauen Kreuzes, Interteam, Kindernothilfe Schweiz, Kwa Wazee, Médecins Sans Frontières, medico international schweiz, mediCuba, missio, mission21, REPSSI, SolidarMed, Schweizer MIVA, Schweizerisches Rotes Kreuz, Schweizerisches Tropeninstitut, Stiftung Terre des hommes, Swiss Aids Care International, TearFund, terre des hommes schweiz und World Vision Schweiz.