C/O International AIDS Society

Chemin de L’Avanchet, 33
1216 Geneva
Switzerland

Communications Department
International AIDS Society

To whom it may concern,

It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that we are writing to you in order to share the
key messages that over 300 young people will be advocating for through the conjunct
efforts of over 20 different organizations and under the Vienna YouthForce umbrella
during the XVIII International AIDS Conference in just a couple of weeks more!

The messages shown below were built through an e-consultation process that collected
information from over 80 different countries with more than 300 respondents, and are the
basis for an advocacy campaign which has successfully produced several types of
visibility materials that will be displayed both at the IAC and throughout the city of
Vienna.

So what do we want to tell the world?

We want Human Rights, in particular through three key priority areas:

1) the right to confidentiality and no discrimination of young people; 2) the right to health
services that assure access to family planning services, contraceptives, condoms and
STI treatment, and 3) the right to comprehensive education regarding sex, HIV, sexual
and reproductive health and drug use.

Moreover, we call for UN bodies to grow their promotion work around the Convention of
the Rights of the Child, and governments and relevant stakeholders to use a human
rights framework for HIV education, the promotion of the rights of young lesbians, gay,
bisexual, transgender, transexual, queer, young sex workers and young drug users as
an effective and best practice for addressing the human rights of young people. We want
our governments to stop being ‘passive’ when defending human rights of young people!

We call for Harm Reduction, especially around: 1) changing drug

policy and stoping youth criminalization; 2) developing comprehensive education
regarding drug use; 3) increasing age desegregated data collection and drug policy
assessment; 4) promoting access to harm reduction services for young people, and 5)
increasing awareness and understanding of sex work and drug use.

Furthermore, we call relevant parties to develop capacity building opportunities and

comprehensive evidence-based education regarding drug use and sex work. We want
the UN and its member states to address the criminalization of drug possession for
personal use and sex work as a means of living, and the discrimination, stigma and
violence towards drug users and sex workers!
We need Health Resources, both financial and human, and we
need them through: 1) mandatory sexual education laws and promotion and information
about them; 2) availability of condoms in rural areas and religious communities; 3)
reducing obstacles for accessing information regarding HIV, and 4) through economic
resources for greater empowerment of young people.

On this note, we demand that the lack of information about availability of health services,
taboo, fear of stigma and discrimination, lack of confidentiality and requirement of
parental consent stop being the primary barriers to accessing health services. We
demand and need information, support and education but of particular importance is that
financial resources allocated towards the response of HIV, in particular among young
people, are maintained to current standards!

As you know, youth participation in making policy that affect our lives is key to foster
learning possibilities and sharing with friends, getting involved, advocating and
sensitizing peer groups. We are aware of the significant support you have been giving
young people and youth-led organizations in particular by supporting and opening fora
for our participation and we are grateful for it.

We are aware that you may help us lever and promote these demands, and that it is in
your power to help disseminate between media, civil society, UN agencies and officials
and other strategic and relevant stakeholders. It is because of this last that we decided
to share with you our common key messages. Thus, continuing and strengthening the
partnership between adults and young people which, without a doubt, helps create a
better world for current and future generations.

Kind regards,

Aram Barra
Nickie Imanguli

On behalf of the Advocacy Subcommittee of the Vienna YouthForce and the Vienna
YouthForce.