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27 Mar 2007 People & Planet news. HIV/AIDS

Stop AIDS Day of Action - Hilary Benn and 10000 messages in a bottle

Over 100 student campaigners from all over the country descended upon Westminster for a day packed with political action on universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment. Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, central target of the day, was presented with 10,000 pill petition cards demanding Government action at the G8 Development Ministers Meeting in Berlin.

Student campaigners from People & Planet and the Student Stop AIDS Campaign (SSAC) groups challenged Hilary Benn on government action on universal access to treatment at a speaker event put on by the Stop AIDS Campaign Coalition.

The coalition, of which People & Planet is a member, chose the day strategically to be just a few days before the G8 Development Ministers Meeting.

At the event, Benn was presented with the 10,000 pill-shaped petition cards campaigners have collected so far, calling on the government to keep their promise of access to treatment for all by 2010.

As part of the Stop AIDS Day of Action, student campaigners also lobbied MPs who came to the event and then embarked on a mass-lobby of MPs in Parliament.

Dani, Treat AIDS Now Intern at People & Planet, reports:

In the morning campaigners gathered together to go through the plans for the day and prepare for meeting up with MPs and asking Hilary Benn questions at the speaker event. After putting on the red ‘the world is watching’ t-shirts with a giant eyeball image on the front everyone left for the Speaker event in the Emmanuel Centre.

Some P&Pers and campaigners from the SSAC went straight on to lobby the MPs who came to the event.

When Hilary Benn entered the building, he was greeted and led to the event by a whole contingent of life-sized HIV/AIDS treatment pills.

He then got the chance to listen to HIV/AIDS campaigners Arditi Sharma from ActionAID International in New Delhi and Anton Kerr, the Senior Policy Advisor for the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, before he had the opportunity to briefly make his stand.

Questions and Answers…

In the Question & Answer session that followed, campaigners challenged the Secretary of State for International Development with specific questions on how the government was planning to ensure access to treatment for all by 2010.

Some evidence of progress on the Government’s part was seen with Benn’s acknowledgement of campaigners’ concerns about funding and the TRIPS flexibilities and his promise to discuss them at the G8 Development Ministers Meeting.

…And, yes, when we meet next week…in Berlin, I promise to take to that meeting…the question you’ve raised with me about funding, and secondly, to have a conversation about the TRIPS flexibilities, because those are two issues of which the G8 has got to speak out and has got further to go…

Unfortunately, the Secretary of State’s answers to other questions was rather disappointing. One student asked about the ongoing situtation in Thailand:

“The UK government frequently says it supports developing countries’ rights to use the flexibilities under TRIPS to access medicines. Recently, the Thai government tried to do this and Abbott ended up withdrawing registration of other essential medicines in Thailand. So what practical support is the UK government going to offer?

Despite repeating that the government fully supports countries using the TRIPS flexibilities, Mr Benn would not go as far as to offer specific support for Thailand or condemn Abbott’s announcement that it would not register any new drugs in Thailand.

We continue to urge the government to take this forward. The outcome in Thailand will be watched closely: if Thailand, as a middle-income country, struggles to assert its rights to use the TRIPS flexibilities, then low income countries, who face even greater barriers, will be discouraged from even attempting to use the same processes. While much of the political pressure exerted to discourage countries from using the TRIPS flexibilities is unseen, the very public bullying from Abbott must not go unmet.

Hilary Benn was also asked about the effectiveness of the TRIPS August 30th agreement, which was designed to allow countries without domestic production capacity to access generics. We believe this agreement is unfit for purpose, and its deficiencies must be urgently addressed. Yet Benn’s response - “if the flexibilities and the rules and the systems that we’ve got are working, then let’s get on with it; if we find in the end they’re not working then we need to reflect on them” - failed to demonstrate any sense of urgency. Yet the government needs to engage seriously with this issue now; if we want, as Mr Benn says, “to get on with saving lives” - then ‘reflection’ is not adequate: we need action.

Taking the message to Parliament

After the Speaker event campaigners went on to Parliament for a mass-lobby of MPs.

Thanks to P&P and SSAC students many MPs agreed to send emails and letters to Hilary Benn as well as Tony Blair demanding action. Campaigners also ensured that on his return from the G8 Development Ministers Meeting, Hilary Benn will be greeted by questions in Parliament, challenging him on his promised actions.

Relentless lobbying by student campaigners has so far led to 137 MPs having signed EDM 107 on Universal Access to Treatment and 60 having signed EDM 376 on Financing (Sterling Stamp Duty).

In the run-up to the G8 meeting campaigners are now focusing on keeping the pressure up to make sure that the UK government takes immediate action and leads the G8 to keep their promise.