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Statement New York, 17 Juli 2000 Mr. President, My delegation wishes to extend its congratulations on your assumption of the Presidency of the Security Council for the month of July. We have full confidence that under your wise guidance and skillful stewardship, progress will be made in dealing with the issue on its agenda. I would also like to extend our appreciation and gratitude to you for convening this important meeting. We also commend the format of the discussion today, enhancing the possibility for further involvement of states that are not members of the Council to participate on an issue deemed critical to the maintenance of international peace and security. Mr. President,My delegation fully recognizes that HIV is a serious peril that endangers humankind. It is poignant to note that the rapid spread and devastating consequences of HIV is numbing. The Millennium Report of the Secretary-General notes that some 50 million people have been infected with HIV since the early 1970s.” The sad thing is that the worst effects of the epidemic are particularly striking in developing countries where health infrastructure is lacking and available HIV vaccines remain costly. The situation has further deteriorated prolonged civil conflicts that have obliterated decades of social and economic development. This multifaceted condition has plunged life expectancies of people in those nations to the same low levels as in the 1960s. Indonesia believes that the international community should undertake a sincere commitment to eradicate the scourge of HIV. My delegation supports the efforts exerted by the World Bank to set up a US$ 500 million package for Aids programme in Africa. We endorse close partnership between Bretton Woods institution with UNAIDS with a view to ensuring a coordinated, strengthened, and expanded response to the HIV plight. We also commend the Secretary-General for his plea, as called for in his Millennium Report, for advancing innovative public-private partnerships, especially in developed countries, to promote an effective and affordable vaccine against HIV. Mr. President, While believing that plaguing HIV, prolonged civil conflicts, and setbacks in development are intermingled in a multifaceted magnitude, my delegation holds the view that linking HIV to international peacekeeping operations raises some serious questions. Are HIV and peacekeeping operations genuinely interrelated?; or are they meant to be interrelated?; which aspects of peacekeeping operations are related to the issue of HIV?; if so, how are they interrelated? Peacekeeping operations have a wide range of aspects. These include principles and mandates, personnel, planning, and organization, safety and security of peace-keepers, training, administration and finances. Medical aspects of peacekeeping operation are probably the most conspicuous point with which the issue of HIV is tangibly connected. As outlined in paragraph 128 of the report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (Document A/54/839), UN peacekeepers in the field face high risk of the transmission and contraction of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases.As we have not yet had a clearer picture of the connection between HIV and international peacekeeping operations, my delegation would rather approach the issue in a practical way. First, my delegation attaches great significance to the orientation on the epidemic provided to peacekeepers before their deployment. Indonesia supports the decision contained in paragraph 128 of the Report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (Document A/54/839) to welcome the UN DPKO Training Unit’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the disease, to request the UN DPKO to incorporate language into the ‘Guidelines for Military and Civpol Participation in Peacekeeping’ manuals to further raise peacekeepers’ awareness of the disease, and to request the Training Unit to conduct this awareness through the train-the-trainers programme. Second, preventive measure such as affordable pre-deployment immunization provided to peacekeepers will be helpful to mitigate the risk of being exposed to HIV. In that connection, partnership between the UNDPKO and UNAIDS and other relevant UN agencies such as WHO and UNDP and between troop-contributing countries and those agencies are pertinent. Third, my delegation emphasizes the importance of the inclusion of medical unit in a UN mission or operation in a country where HIV is spreading. This medical unit should provide regular medical check-up, on daily basis if necessary, to peacekeepers and other personnel in the mission. Once the unit finds that one or more members of the mission are showing symptoms of being affected by the disease, prompt actions should be taken. Fourth, my delegation supports the development of HIV mapping in a country where peacekeepers are going to be deployed. This means there is a need for pre-deployment survey by the UNDPKO, for example, in cooperation or partnership with other relevant UN agencies in the field. Cooperation from host-country will facilitate the mapping process. Data collected from that mapping will help design deployment strategy with the least risk of peacekeepers being exposed to the diseases.Mr. President, I would like to conclude my statement by reiterating Indonesia’s position regarding HIV/AIDS as expressed in the open meeting of the Security Council on The Impact of AIDS on Peace and Security in Africa on 10 January 2000. My delegation shares the vision that we should all seek a world free from the unprecedented human disaster of HIV. A world in which HIV transmission is substantially reduced; where there is affordable treatment; where there is substantial reduction in individual and collective vulnerability to the epidemic; where there is a significant alleviation of the adverse impact of the disease on individuals, communities and nations; and where the silence surrounding the disease is broken forever and thereby sharply reducing the stigma and denial that have stifled resolution; and when this deadly disease is ultimately eliminated. Indonesia believes that this vision can only be achieved through partnerships among relevant agencies within the UN and other systems, and especially between public and private sectors and members of civil society in developed and developing countries. I thank you, Mr. President.
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