Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, T.D at the Launch of UNICEF’s Global Campaign on Children and AIDS on Monday, 24 October 2005

I am delighted to speak to you today on the launch of such an important initiative. 

The campaign “Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS”, bringing together UNICEF, UNAIDS and other partners will certainly increase public awareness and understanding of children living with HIV and AIDS and its effects.  The Irish Government is playing a significant role in the global response to HIV and AIDS. The existence of high levels of HIV infection is directly related to poverty and disadvantage.

Given the Government’s commitment to sustainable poverty reduction, combating the spread of HIV and AIDS is one of the top priorities for Ireland’s Development Cooperation Programme.

I have visited a number of countries in Southern Africa and have seen the devastating impact this pandemic is having on people’s lives. We have all heard the statistics almost 40 million people are infected with HIV and 9,000 people per day are dying from AIDS. These men, women and children are lost to us and to their countries.

The HIV pandemic presents a huge obstacle to reducing poverty. At the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on HIV and AIDS in 2001, I made a commitment on behalf of the Government of Ireland to spend at least €30 million per year on HIV-related interventions.  Since then, the level of funding to HIV and AIDS has reached 10% of our overall development budget, rising to €50 million this year. 

In New York last month, when I attended the United Nations High-Level Meeting to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, I announced that this overall development budget will increase further.

Ireland will reach the UN target of 0.7% of GNI on Official Development Assistance by 2012.  This is three years earlier than the agreed EU target date of 2015.  It places Ireland in the front rank of donors worldwide in terms of the volume of assistance we provide to the world's poorest countries. 

The increases involved are very significant in fact, the largest ever made by any Government.  On the basis of currently anticipated growth rates, spending on ODA would be of the order of €1.5 billion in 2012.  Over the period from 2005 to 2012, we will spend as much as €8 billion on overseas aid.

At the United Nations last month, I announced a new Initiative on HIV and AIDS and other Global Diseases, which will see the Irish Government’s funding towards combating these diseases double to

€100 million per annum. Our HIV policy is comprehensive.  It incorporates a range of interventions covering prevention, treatment and care strategies, and includes advocating for leadership and improved coordination of HIV and AIDS-related programmes at global, regional and national levels.

One of the most troubling consequences of the HIV and AIDS epidemic is its impact on children. The number of children under the age of 15 that have lost one or both parents to AIDS currently stands at 14 million young boys and girls. This situation does not augur well for the future and calls for a stronger and more decisive response from all of us.

I am delighted to see that HIV and AIDS is now identified as a core priority in UNICEF’s Medium-Term Strategic Plan.  Coordinating its efforts with other branches of the United Nations family, UNICEF takes the lead in the prevention of HIV infection among young people; the prevention of mother to child transmission; and the protection, care and support for children affected by AIDS.

The Government of Ireland is a strong supporter of UNICEF and has been broadening and deepening this relationship over the last ten years.  In that period, our contribution to UNICEF’s core resources has increased substantially from €1.5 million in 1997 to €9.2 million in 2005.

In addition to this contribution to UNICEF’s core resources, we also contribute to specific UNICEF operations in the field. Indeed, we have just allocated €1 million to UNICEF for its work in the humanitarian relief effort in northern Pakistan following the terrible earthquake in South Asia.

The number of children who were killed in that appalling tragedy was heart-breaking. Children were particularly vulnerable as they sat in classrooms attending school on that Saturday morning. UNICEF has responded quickly to the disaster supplying blankets, children’s clothing, plastic sheeting, water purifications tablets and high protein biscuits. 

Ireland will continue to play its part in helping the people of northern Pakistan and the surrounding areas to rebuild their lives as the aid effort moves from relief to recovery.

The situation in southern Africa over the last two years has demonstrated how the HIV and AIDS crisis, and the food security crisis, are inter-linked. The food emergency in those countries has been dramatically deepened by the pandemic, which is both a cause and consequence of the food shortage.  It is clear that people affected by HIV and AIDS are more vulnerable to the effects of such a crisis.  Irish Aid will be expanding its work on emergency and humanitarian relief in the coming year and remains committed to ensuring that the special needs of this vulnerable group are fully addressed in our humanitarian response.

I commend UNICEF for its leadership in the area of HIV and AIDS.  Based on the Framework for the Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and Vulnerable Children living in a world with HIV and AIDS, which it was instrumental in developing, UNICEF has formulated its Global Campaign on AIDS and Children. The plans for this Campaign were hatched here in Ireland last year, so it is appropriate that it should be launched here too.

The Campaign Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS is focussed on preventing the spread of HIV among children and young people and ensuring the protection of children affected by AIDS.  The Campaign should raise awareness of the situation of children and mobilise support for strategic interventions to ensure that children affected by HIV and AIDS get the help they so desperately need.

Irish Aid is already working with UNICEF in support of its HIV programmes in a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Baltic States, as well as in Ghana.  In these countries, Ireland is providing funding for the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child and for the protection of children orphaned by AIDS.  We are committed to exploring how Ireland can help UNICEF deliver on its new Campaign.

In addition, through our own bilateral aid programme, Ireland supports children through a number of interventions including access to HIV prevention and treatment services, immunisation, malaria control, access to education and the provision of social protection measures. 

These are delivered through government programmes and through non-governmental and faith-based organisations.  Such interventions need to be scaled up if we are to stop the spread of HIV and protect the children of today, for tomorrow’s future.

We know that the scale and impact of the HIV pandemic is enormous and that it is causing an increase in other diseases such as tuberculosis.  The damage being done is truly frightening, especially in Africa. 

This is the reason for Ireland’s new Initiative on HIV and AIDS and other Global Diseases.  When doubling our funding for these purposes, we will ensure that up to 20% of the increased funding now to be allocated will be invested in interventions that benefit children. This new commitment in regard to children represents a statement of policy. It further proves our determination to reach 0.7% of GNP by 2012.

Not only does it indicate our commitment to children through our Overseas Aid Programme, it also signals Ireland’s intention to campaign on this issue with all our partner countries and organisations.

Thank you.

ENDS+++
24th October 2005