Influencing Commonwealth policy on health: the case of Para 55, the Commonwealth HIV/AIDS Action Group
Richard Bourne
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Abstract
This is an account of a London-based Commonwealth advocacy campaign on HIV/AIDS which has had serious difficulties of continuity and finance. Effectively voluntary, it has sought to make Commonwealth Heads of Government live up to their 1999 pledge to give personal leadership in the struggle against the pandemic, and has taken a multi-sectoral approach. The pledge was made in paragraph 55 of the Durban summit communiqué, and gave its name to the advocacy group, but leaders themselves took no steps to audit their performance. The study notes problems in combining international advocacy with links with activist groups and Ministries in affected states, uneven relationships with the two official Commonwealth bodies (Commonwealth Secretariat and Commonwealth Foundation), and the challenge for an advocacy body when the inter-governmental Commonwealth has weak standing and influence in the health field. Because of anxiety about the scale of HIV/AIDS, particularly in Commonwealth countries, the campaign has struggled on, supported by a small number of Commonwealth-oriented persons who have other commitments. This analysis raises questions about the strategy, location and sustainability of a non-governmental group of this kind, especially after the official Commonwealth body concerned for civil society has patronised the creation of an alternative group, closer to activists and sufferers in HIV-affected states.
A first draft of this paper was discussed by persons involved in Para 55 at a workshop at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London on 13 June 2007 and revised in the light of those comments. The author would like to thank all those who attended this workshop, past and present members of Para 55 and other interested parties for their input, and Kirrily Pells, rapporteur at the June workshop.