Business leaders to back youth and children AIDS campaign in China
"Eight Corporate Responses for Children, Young People & AIDS" launched at Business Forum by UNICEF, the Global Business Coalition and AusAID. BEIJING, 17 April 2007. More than thirty business leaders attended a Business Forum at a central Beijing hotel this morning. They had been invited to the launch of a new guide on HIV/AIDS for corporates in China which has been developed by UNICEF-China in partnership with its Australian National Committee, the Global Business Coalition for AIDS, TB and Malaria and AusAID. This "win-win" guide – entitled "Eight Corporate Responses to Children, Young People and AIDS"—has been endorsed by UNAIDS,UNFPA and the ILO: – provided the centerpiece of the Forum, which was sponsored by three supporters of the Australia National Committee, the Australian Financial Review, the Macquarie Foundation and Quantas. Chinese and Australian Business leaders joined with children and AIDS experts, and Chinese government leaders at this first-ever Business Forum on children and AIDS to discuss practical win-win ways of incorporating children and families into corporate social responsibility strategies. Opening the Forum, Minister Graham Fletcher, of the Australian Embassy, in Beijing, noted the priority his Government was giving to HIV/AIDS in the region, with some 600 million Australian dollars allocated for this purpose over a 10-year period. This included a more than 45 million Australian dollar contribution for a five-year programme in China. UNICEF Representative to China, Dr. Yin Yin Nwe, highlighted the enormously important role the private sector had been playing in support of UNICEF's work, both globally and in China. She recalled, by way of example, how British Airways had responded to the Tsunami appeal with nine Boeing 747 cargo flights, each carrying 100 tons of vitally-needed supplies. UNICEF Representative Dr. Yin Yin Nwe speaking at Forum (Michael Shiu, Director of GBC China, left background) Speaking of HIV/AIDS in China, she said that "businesses operating in China need to be informed that the issue of HIV/AIDS is not as sensitive as they may think, for China's leadership have taken actions that demonstrate their fullest commitment to turning back the epidemic". Dr Nwe therefore urged corporate partners to support the Chinese Campaign on Children, Young People and AIDS. Referring to the "Eight Responses" guide being launched at the Forum, she described them as "practical, and sensitive to the needs of businesses". She also emphasized that they required “urgent reflection and adoption if we are to support the Government's efforts to halt the spread of HIV infection." Corporate partner staff come face-to-face with discrimination for the first time. Following the closing of the Forum, private sector participants were invited to the UNICEF Compound to see at first hand how "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" Youth Ambassadors had been working with Horizon, a leading Chinese research company which is also a GBC member. The session began with an interactive game called "cross the danger zone", handing-out and sorting by risk-category cards which had been prepared by Youth Ambassadors. Topics such as “having sex with a partner with STI” among others were discussed with candidness and even merriment from time to time. The session then took on a more serious tone when Horizon staff showed the results of a survey which had been conducted with their own staff on knowledge, attitude and behaviour related to HIV/AIDS. Among the findings, 40-50 per cent of respondents declared their unwillingness to share an office with a person living with AIDS, with that same proportion also unwilling to continue their relationship with a family member or a friend if found to be HIV positive. Horizon staff member holding card reading "sex with a partner who has STI". These findings are broadly similar to those of a survey conducted within the UN System in China. These high levels of discrimination were then dramatically illustrated by two young people living with AIDS who attended the UNICEF session. "Julia"—not her real name—is a young Chinese woman living with HIV who also is a Youth Ambassador for the China Youth and Children campaign. She told of how she had been forced to change jobs four times because of work-place discrimination. She has her own web-site which attracts more hate-mail than supportive messages. For most of the Horizon staff, mainly in their late 20s and early 30s, this was the first time they had ever come face-to-face with people living with HIV and heard their side of the story. At the close of the session, they resolved to become more knowledgeable about AIDS and to refuse to discriminate against any colleague found to have HIV, as well as to talk to their families about what they had learned at the UNICEF session. These sentiments echo the message of the HIV/AIDS Ambassadors which is "to learn, share and care". At UNICEF, a Youth Ambassador presents on their achievements nationwide.
(Report compiled by UNICEF-China Consultant Zhang Lei and Communication Chief, Charles Rycroft)
|
