ELECTRONIC BULLETIN OF THE SWISS PLATTFORM ON HIV/AIDS AND INTERNATIONALE COOPERATION March 2008

INVITATION AIDSFOCUS.CH CONFERENCE 2008

I would like to invite you the aidsfocus.ch conference 2008 in Bern on the topic „AIDS and livelihoods. Securing property and inheritance rights“. It is a topic raised by community level partner organisations of aidsfocus.ch that are faced with these issues and developed innovative strategies. At the international level, the recent Technical Consultation on Gender, Property Rights and Livelihoods in the Era of AIDS moderated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO demonstrates the urgency of the issue for all organizations working in the field of development cooperation. It is also a topic that allows a lively exchange of knowledge and experiences and joint learning.

I would be very happy to welcome you on 10 April 2008 in Berne.

Best regards,

Helena Zweifel Coordinator 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.

The conference will discuss the multiple interrelationships between HIV/AIDS, poverty, gender imbalances and property and inheritance rights and focus on innovative strategies at community, national and international level.

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, 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 HIV/AIDS project with an holistic approach

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

Bienne | cinfo: Le VIH/SIDA est une réalité douloureuse dans de nombreux pays de la coopération internationale (CI). Il affecte non seulement chaque aspect de la vie des populations concernées, mais il a également un impact considérable sur la vie et le travail de personnel expatrié de la CI. Ce séminaire a pour objectif d’accompagner les participants/es afin qu'ils/elles puissent mieux gérer ce défi.

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 is a project set up by Medicus Mundi Switzerland. aidsfocus.ch is sponsored and shaped by 31 partner organizations who support the aims and activities of the platform through their financial contributions, expertise and commitment.

Partners: Afro-European Medical and Research Network (AEMRN), AIDS & Child, Bethlehem Mission Immensee, Caritas Switzerland, cinfo, CO-OPERAID, Déclaration de Berne, Doctors without Borders, FEPA, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, Gemeinschaft St. Anna-Schwestern, HEKS, IAMANEH Switzerland, International Federation of the Blue Cross, INTERTEAM, Kindernothilfe Schweiz, medico international Switzerland, mediCuba-Suisse, mission, REPSSI, SolidarMed, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Aids Federation, missio, mission 21, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, Swiss MIVA, Swiss Red Cross, Swiss Tropical Institute, Tear Fund, Terre des hommes Foundation, terre des hommes schweiz, and World Vision Switzerland.