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Community Rendez-Vous
The Community Rendez-Vous opened with a plenary session, which considered the achievements of the 11^th World AIDS Conference in Vancouver, 1996. The global HIV/AIDS community has realised that dealing with major inequalities has become the hallmark of the struggle against HIV/AIDS. The Geneva Conference must aim to bridge these gaps.
The Community Rendez-Vous of the 12^th World AIDS Conference was a forum for information exchange, strengthening and creating networks and skills building for the global HIV/AIDS communities. Approximately 750 persons, from over 50 countries, attended the Community Rendez-Vous. Its programme was composed of 11 regional and thematic networking sessions, along with four skills building sessions.

All regional meetings identified five common concerns:

• Problems related to access to appropriate treatment in almost all countries of the world.
• Need to improve advocacy skills and practice relating to the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and communities affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Lack of funding for HIV/AIDS community-based initiatives, as the epidemic gains strength every day and resources to fight it become scarcer.
• Members of target communities must be involved in the design and delivery of programmes directed to them.
• Need for expanded, cost-effective and reliable means of communication and capacity building to sustain improved communication.

Each region raised further specific concerns:
Africa

• Concern as to the lack of progress regarding the French government’s initiative to improve access to drugs for Africa.
• Clarification of roles and responsibilities must be undertaken since perceptions of needs and expectations vary between funders and community based organisations.

• The main characteristic of this region is its geographic vastness and huge cultural diversity. Needs and concerns are extremely different from one sub-region to the other.
• Six particular cross-regional concerns were: economic crisis issues and links with HIV/AIDS, mobile populations, treatment and care, women’s rights, sex workers’ networks and Men who have Sex with Men. Relevant programmes need to be put in place, addressing these six issues for all Asian and Pacific countries.

• Recent changes in Europe’s political structure have significantly modified potential aims and objectives among the various networks. Countries should attempt to unite around a common objective such as to improve quality of life for all people living with HIV/AIDS (PWA) in Europe and to empower PWA with a voice on issues affecting them.

• Define, develop and implement strategies to reduce violence against men who have sex with men, transgender people and sex workers.
• Address specific problems related to access to treatment in almost all countries of the region.
• Provide support for the development of subregional networks.

• Address the lessening sense of urgency towards the epidemic, both nationally and within certain communities.

• AIDS Service Organisations must rethink their relationship with donors, volunteers, and their own mission statements, given the evolution of this epidemic, and the varying needs of people living with HIV/AIDS.

• Identify and address the specific needs of minorities such as African American and Latino populations, who are those most affected by HIV.

Theme based-sessions

• Ensure that in all future World AIDS Conferences, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues remain a priority.
• Uphold and recognise gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender specificities, particularly in the areas of cultural and religious differences, in order to respect the diversity of global queer communities.
• Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups should strengthen their networks, develop and improve mutual communication and collaboration.

• Definite attempts must be made to debunk the commonly perceived that sex workers spread disease. This erroneous perception increases the vulnerability of sex workers who already face many hardships.

• Stronger links are required between community needs and academic researchers, in order to ensure that research results are appropriate to the needs of communities affected by HIV/AIDS.

• Establish an international task force to monitor the application of the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, through the development of specific national and international workshops and strategies.
• Develop and promote mechanisms to document HIV-related human rights abuses and omissions, both at national and international levels.
• Reinforce communication and networking among existing and emerging networks on HIV and human rights.

• Deporting people living with HIV/AIDS is considered inhumane and degrading and a violation of fundamental human rights.
• Access to HIV/AIDS treatment and services should be based on people's needs and not on their immigration status.
• Third World people living in the North should demonstrate their solidarity to people living with HIV in their communities.

Cultural Programme

Quilt Ceremony, Saturday 27 June 1998.

• Memorial quilts from the European Quilt Project and the Swiss Quilt were unfolded during a solemn ceremony on the Pont des Bergues, a pedestrian bridge over the river Rhone, in the heart of Geneva.
• Each quilt bears the name of a person having died of AIDS and, as a personal memorial to the deceased, these names were read out to the attending crowd during the unfolding.

Summary Sessions