[stop-imf] Rally & Die-In Held at IMF/World Bank to Mark World AIDS Day

[robert weissman]

ActionAid International USA * Africa Action * 50 Years is Enough Network *
Global AIDS Alliance * Global Justice * Jubilee USA Network * Nicaragua
Network * Religious Working Group on the IMF/World Bank * Student Global
AIDS Campaign * United Methodist General Board of Church and Society

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 1, 2004

Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan/Marie Clarke, Africa Action, 202-546 7961
Neil Watkins, Jubilee USA, 202-783-0129

Activists Hold Rally & Die-In at IMF/World Bank to Mark  World AIDS Day

Groups Call for Debt Cancellation; Highlight Disproportionate Impact of
HIV/AIDS on Women & Girls

Wednesday, December 1, 2004 (Washington, DC) =96 A range of global justice,
faith-based, and AIDS advocacy organizations today marked World AIDS Day at
noon by co-sponsoring a major rally & die-in outside the World Bank and IMF
to condemn policies that undermine the fight against HIV/AIDS for women and
girls globally.  Participants called for full debt cancellation for all
impoverished nations and an end to budget austerity measures that hinder th=
e
ability of poor countries to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis.


At the rally, Marie Clarke Brill of Africa Action said, =93Increasingly, in
Africa and around the world, AIDS has a woman=92s face.  If we are to turn =
the
tide of this pandemic, we need to promote strategies that will address the
gender inequalities that leave women most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.  Instead,
the policies of the World Bank and IMF continue to undermine women=92s heal=
th
globally.=94

Jakeya Caruthers of Jubilee USA Network said, =93While impoverished countri=
es
struggle to cope with the HIV/AIDS crisis, the World Bank and IMF continue
to insist that they prioritize debt repayments over spending on HIV/AIDS
programs and health care.  The policies imposed by these institutions
cripple the ability of African countries to respond to HIV/AIDS.  We demand
that they drop the debt NOW to fight HIV/AIDS!=94

At the noon rally, dozens of women and girls dressed in red created a human
chain in the form of a women=92s symbol to dramatize the disproportionate
impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls globally.  Latest United Nations
figures reveal that the number of women living with HIV/AIDS continues to
increase in every region of the world.   In Africa, almost 60% of those
living with HIV/AIDS are women.

Emira Woods from Foreign Policy in Focus said today, =93We gather here on
World AIDS Day outside two of the most powerful financial institutions in
the world to call on them to do the right thing and put an end to policies
that block progress on the fight against HIV/AIDS for women and girls.
While women bear the brunt of this disease, their vulnerability is increase=
d
still further by the harmful policies of these institutions.=94

Njoki Njehu from 50 Years Is Enough Network added, =93Women and girls are
hardest hit by HIV/AIDS globally, but the budget austerity policies imposed
by the IMF continue to undermine efforts to address the impact of this
health crisis on women.  If the World Bank and IMF are serious about
defeating this pandemic and promoting women=92s rights, they must cancel th=
e
debt and end budget austerity policies deepen poverty that perpetuate gende=
r
inequality.=94

Today=92s rally and die-in brought activists from around the Washington, DC
area to speak out and raise awareness of the structural impediments to the
fight against HIV/AIDS, especially for women and girls.  The theme of this
year=92s World AIDS Day focuses on the disproportionate impact of this
pandemic among women and girls globally.
####