A meeting to review the SADC sponsored United Nations Resolution on Women, the Girl Child and HIV and AIDS was held from the 27-30th July 2015 at Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting objectives were to:
(i) review the content of the Resolution on Women, the Girl Child and HIV and AIDS and in particular, with great emphasis on the three contentious issues that Member States could not agree on;
(ii) make cross references and get inputs from other SADC sectors of Health and Education in terms of the agreed language in relation to the contentious issues and reach a consensus on the way forward; and
(iii) prepare and agree on the Revised Resolution which will be presented to the Ministers Meeting for approval before its tabling at the CSW60.
The meeting was attended by a total of 45 participants, at least three participants from each Member State i.e. Angola; Botswana; DRC; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mauritius; Namibia; Seychelles; Swaziland; United Republic of Tanzania; Zambia and Zimbabwe. Participants were drawn from Gender, Education, Health and Legal sectors. In attendance also was representatives of the United Nations Agencies from UNAIDS Regional Office and HQ in Geneva; UN-Women and UNESCO.
The meeting successfully reviewed the 2014 Commission on the Status of Women Sessions (CSW) Resolution, paragraph by paragraph, mainly looking at issues that are outdated and updating the evidence; repetitions etc. After having identified, discussed and agreeing on what makes a "Good Resolution" with the United Nations guidance on how to draft UN resolutions, the meeting:
- Outlined the key contentious issues from the past, and examined the evidence and considered how to mitigate/negotiate on these issues in future;
- Identified the key current and future impacts of HIV on Women and Children (globally and within SADC) and the core forward looking areas to be included in the new resolution;
- Agreed on the process for moving the resolution forward and getting buy-in within the AU and with key champion Member States from each region of the world;
- Agreed on the process and identified the key thematic/ elements of the new resolutions and content for the new resolution paving the way forward leading up to the 60th CSW;
- Came up with a working draft Resolution ready for circulation to all Member States for inputs; and
- Agreed and outlined all the necessary steps on the way forward leading up to CSW60.
