Meeting the Challenge: Canada's Foreign Policy on HIV/AIDS - With a Particular Focus on Africa

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Section 1.0 - Introduction

This section explains how this paper came to be written and describes how it is organized.

Background

This paper was commissioned by the Ministerial Council on HIV/AIDS in response to a request from the Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Health.

In June 2003, the Minister of Health received a letter from the Honourable Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs, requesting that the Ministerial Council undertake a review of Canada's approach to HIV/AIDS on the international stage. In his letter, Mr. Graham requested that the review examine the international dimensions of HIV/AIDS in terms of both the projection of Canada internationally and the impact of the global epidemic on Canadians at home and abroad, with a particular emphasis on Africa. Mr. Graham proposed that the review identify opportunities for Canadian political leadership and advocacy in multilateral fora and in Canada's bilateral relationships in the next decade. He also requested that the review address the following specific issues:

• the interplay between HIV and food insecurity, respect for human rights, women and HIV/AIDS, governance standards and capacity in government and civil society;
• the impact of HIV on humanitarian crises, including the provision of humanitarian assistance, refugee and internally displaced populations and agricultural development;
• the impact of HIV on regional politics in west and southern Africa, including political stability and post-conflict reconstruction; and
• the economic implications for Canada and Canadian companies of growing infection rates in all countries with high rates of HIV infection.

Mr. Graham said that he would welcome recommendations on how Canada can ensure a coordinated and coherent government response to the development, health, political and security aspects of the pandemic. Mr. Graham said in his letter that the recommendations emanating from this review will help inform the work being undertaken by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) in preparation for the debate on HIV/AIDS scheduled to take place in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 22 September 2003. He added that recommendations would also inform the renewal of the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS, and contribute to the follow-up work that the Government of Canada will do for its Africa Action Plan.

How this paper is organized

The Executive Summary, which can be found at the start of this paper, contains a brief overview of the main themes of the paper and a complete list of the recommendations.

Following this introductory section, the personal, social, economic, security and human rights impacts of HIV/AIDS globally, and particularly in Africa, are described in Section 2.0 (The Impact of HIV/AIDS).

Section 3.0 (Foundations) examines some core Canadian values upon which Canada's response to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic should be based. The section also outlines some of Canada's international commitments with respect to health, human rights, development and the response to HIV/AIDS.

Section 4.0 (Demonstrating Leadership) discusses the importance of political leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS and provides examples of where strong leadership has made a difference. The section emphasizes the need for Canada to play a leading role in the global response, and discusses the desirability of DFAIT forming coalitions with like-minded countries around specific issues as one way of showing leadership. The section provides examples of multilateral fora within which Canada can influence the global response to HIV/AIDS. It also looks at two bilateral relationships of importance to Canada: those with South Africa and the United States. The section then explores what Canada can do to promote the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. Finally, the section examines the need for collaboration within Canada among the federal departments and agencies that play a significant role in the global response, and the need for DFAIT to show leadership within its own department.

Section 5.0 (Key Foreign Policy Directions) discusses the approaches that Canadian foreign policy should pursue with respect to some of the key global HIV/AIDS issues. The section examines the need for scaling up the response to HIV/AIDS, particularly with respect to resource allocation; the need to promote a human rights-based approach to the epidemic; the central importance of efforts to promote access to HIV-related treatments; and the need to support the key role in the response played by civil society, people living with HIV/AIDS and vulnerable groups.

Section 6.0 (Specific Foreign Policy Initiatives) examines additional foreign policy approaches that DFAIT should consider with respect to how it responds to HIV/AIDS. The section describes the implications of the HIV/AIDS challenge in conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian emergency situations, with particular reference to Africa and Canadian engagement in peacekeeping and related missions in areas in conflict. The section examines the implications of the impact of HIV/AIDS on governance. The section also examines the impact of HIV/AIDS on food security and governance; discusses steps that DFAIT can take to promote and share best practices in the response to HIV/AIDS; and examines the need to support international research on HIV/AIDS .

Section 7.0 (Canadian Businesses Operating Abroad) discusses the challenges of HIV/AIDS for businesses operating in countries with a high prevalence of HIV, and describes how business organizations and individual companies have responded. The section examines how corporate responsibility extends beyond purely bottom-line considerations. Finally, the section discusses the issue of providing HIV-related medications to employees living with HIV/AIDS.

Section 8.0 (Conclusion) reiterates the need for a massive scaling up of efforts to address the epidemic and discusses the need to address emerging epidemics in regions of the world outside of Africa.

The endnotes have been placed at the end of each section.

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