PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV ARE…

Participation in

IAC

Conferences

• 1985: Atlanta, GA• 1986: Paris, France

– GNP+ formed at the conference• 1987: Washington, DC• 1988: Stockholm, Sweden

1989: Montreal, Canada

• PLHIV- disruption at the opening• After effects:

– Nov 22, 1989: League of Red Cross Societies announces their boycott of the 1990 IAC to protest US immigration policies discriminating against PLHIV

– 130 local, national, and international organizations joined the boycott

1990: San Francisco, CA

• ACT UP coming of age @ SF IAC• Immigration reform was a hot topic – WHO blasts US for

regressive immigration policy but does not join boycott• Media circus about it started a year early• No scientific sessions were disrupted• Daily street demonstrations, 280 arrests• “Since Montreal, the biggest breakthrough has been the

development of mutual respect between the worlds of research and AIDS activism” -Critical Path Newsletter

1991: Florence, Italy

• ACT UP releases AIDS Treatment Research Agenda• THE IAS moves defensively. They say: we'll send out a survey

to IAS members to see if they're ok with moving it to countries with less restrictive travel bans. Skepticism abounds about whether the survey will ever happen.

• PLHIV threatened to move comfy chairs from the Speaker's Center to the PLHIV lounge, which lacked couches – within an hour of their threat, comfortable furniture showed up

• US political issues dominated this and the last IAS

1992: Amsterdam, Netherlands

• For the first time, CBOs, NGOs, PLHIV and representatives from resource poor countries are on the planning committees

• Attempts to make it more inclusive including more and different types of programming

• PLHIV lounge was small and far away• First appearance of what will become Global Village: “Global

town meetings”• Sex worker activism and big pharma targeted• ICW formed at the conference

1993: Berlin, Germany

• Bad news treatment wise, AZT sucks, surprise

• PLWHIV in workshops

1994: Yokohama, Japan

• First IAC to be held in Asia or in any non-US,/non-European country

• Last annual meeting – after this they were every 2 years • ACT UP NY boycotted IAC in Japan, sending only 1 HIV-neg

delegate . • IAS accepted all submitted posters• Commercial exhibitors passed, mostly didn't show up, which

sent a mixed message to the worldwide PLHIV community• Activist activities: funeral march for Aldyn McKean and a

Japanese grieving ceremony where paper lanterns are floated out into water bearing the names of the deceased

1996: Vancouver, Canada

• The first glimmer of good news treatment wise• “One World One Hope” was the theme while ART

unavailable to 90% of those who need them. “One Hope, Two Worlds”

• AIDS activists, scientists and humanitarians alike turned their backs on David Dingwell, Canadian Minister of Health, at the opening, because he represented a government that refused to put forth a national AIDS plan.

• Nearly hourly demonstrations

1998: Geneva, Switzerland

2000: Durban, South Africa

• First IAC south of the equator

• Combined force of activism amongst conference attendees and the Durban community still looms large

Conferences

• 2002: Barcelona, Spain• 2004: Bangkok, Thailand• 2006: Toronto, Canada• 2008: Mexico City, Mexico

– LIVING 2008• 2010: Vienna, Austria• 2012: Washington, DC

– LIVING 2012• 2014: Melbourne, Australia

PLHIV in organization of the conferences

• Conference Organizing Committee– GNP+ and ICW were permanent members, along

with UNAIDS and ICASO• Toronto Conference, 2006: COC changed in to

CCC (“Coordinating”), making the IAS the sole “organizer” and the other partners “coorganizers”)– GNP+ and ICW shared 1 vote (this was changed

only last month – now both have a vote – therefore 2 for PLHIV on the CCC

PLHIV Entry Points in the Conference

• Via ICW and GNP+ on the CCC• Rotating “regional” seat and rotating “network”

seat – potential for PLHIV groups to apply for open call

• Open calls for committee chairs and members: CPC, LAPC, SPC

• Advocacy towards CCC and committees to address specific topics

• Abstract submission of PLHIV work• Global Village – networking zones

IAS Governance- an entry point?

• IAS Governing Council– IAS members from each of five geographic regions

nominate members to serve a term of four years– Canada, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the

Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific Islands• IAS Executive Committee

– acts on behalf of the Governing Council– President, President-Elect, Treasurer, and one

Regional Representative selected from each region

PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV ARE…

Thank

you