WACC President's World Aids Day Message

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Message from the President and the General Secretary of
the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC)
on the Occasion of the World AIDS Day

> 1 December 2010

Communication rights are crucial to the World AIDS Campaign

On World AIDS Day 2010 we express gratitude to the members and
partners of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC)
for their efforts to advance communication rights that help prevent
the stigmatisation of people living with HIV and AIDS.

Significant progress in achieving universal access to HIV treatment,
care, prevention and support in some countries is reported in Towards
universal access published in September 2010 by the World Health
Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and
the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Many agree that even greater progress is possible if universal access
to care and prevention are understood as a fundamental human right.
According to the World AIDS Campaign, "linking universal access to
human rights helps bring the HIV diagnosis and treatment issues into
existing fora and before world leaders who are already committed to
pursuing a human rights agenda." A rights-based approach "gives
more credence to the international agreements related to human rights
and their precedence in international law."

In its own work, WACC has found that communication rights are
essential to promoting universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment,
care, prevention and support. Communication rights empower people
living with and affected by the virus to express their needs, to make
their voices heard, and to take charge of their own lives.

As an example we highlight WACC partner Fondation SolidaritÃ
Familiale in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which embarked on a
campaign to publicize national law 08/011, enacted on 14 July 2008 and
which upholds the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS with the
aim of combating all forms of stigma and discrimination.

Another partner, Groupe Chrétien contre le Sida in Togo, is placing
the spotlight on a little known national law enacted to protect people
living with HIV and AIDS against stigma and discrimination.

A third partner, the Christian Council of Ghana, is contributing to
efforts to increase knowledge in communities in the Greater Accra
Region about the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS. New
knowledge on the right to a life free of discrimination aided Regina,
a project beneficiary, to successfully challenge a landlord's threat
to evict her from a rental home because of her seropositive status.
Information on the legal supports in place made it possible for Regina
to stay until the end of her tenancy agreement.

Creating awareness about such laws is a first step towards providing
people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS with the knowledge
necessary to make informed decisions about their lives. Such decisions
bear directly on their possibilities to access treatment, care,
prevention and support.

Let us together find more intentional approaches to advance
communication rights that challenge stigmatisation and discrimination
and save lives. The World AIDS Campaign needs communication rights.

> Dennis Smith DD (hon)

> WACC President

> The Rev Karin Achtelstetter

> WACC General Secretary

> - 30 -

French and Spanish versions of this statement will be available on the
WACC website (http://www.waccglobal.org).

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) promotes
communication for social change. It believes that communication is a
basic human right that defines peopleâ??s common humanity, strengthens
cultures, enables participation, creates community, and challenges
tyranny and oppression. WACCâ??s key concerns are media diversity,
equal and affordable access to communication and knowledge, media and
gender justice, and the relationship between communication and power.
WACC has 584 corporate and personal members and 947 affiliates in 128
countries across the world.

World Association for Christian Communication, 308 Main Street,
Toronto, Ontario M4C 4X7, Canada.

Tel: (+1) 416-691-1999 Fax: (+1) 416-691-1997 e-mail:
info@waccglobal.org http://www.waccglobal.org

For messages and statements from WACC partners go to our Facebook page
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/WACC-Global/139482639700

(www.facebook.com/pages/WACC-Global/139482639700)