RESOLUTION ON GENDER AND HIV/AIDS
"If it can be said, as it can, that by the year 2020 the number of deaths [caused by HIV/AIDS] in Africa will approximate
the number of deaths, military and civilians combined, in both World Wars of the 20th Century, then it should also
be said that a pronounced majority of those deaths will be women and girls. The toll on women and girls is beyond
human imagining; it presents Africa and the World with a practical and moral challenge which places Gender at the
centre of the human condition [.]"
STEPHEN LEWIS, UN Secretary General's
Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, July 2002
The Fourth World Congress of Education International, meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil
from 22 to 26 July, 2004:
- Noting that the world will mark the 23rd anniversary of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in June 2004 and
that according to recent UNAIDS estimations that 40 million people are living with the virus, and
that the global epidemic killed more than 3 million people in 2003.
- Concerned by the alarming growth in the gender dimension of the pandemic, that women and
girls are increasingly represented among the vulnerable, infected and affected by HIV/AIDS,
in Sub-Saharan Africa (the region worst affected), that women and girls are twice as likely to be
infected with HIV than men, and that among people aged 15-24, this ratio is highest.
- Noting that it is not simply because they are women, but because of the inequalities and
discrimination that distorts and impairs almost every aspect of their lives, that violence
of all kinds and the fear of violence may intimidate women from trying to negotiate safer
emotional relationships, to discuss safer practices with partners and to leave risky relationships,
that vulnerability is extremely high where women and girls have little power to decide on
fundamental aspects of their lives, that trafficking of people, prostitution, including child
prostitution, armed conflicts and poverty that devastates economies and impoverishes families
introduce further gender-based violence and increase the opportunities to be affected by the
pandemic.
- Concerned by the extremely difficult situations that particularly women teachers and women
education personnel affected by HIV/AIDS could face at school, in the union, and in society at
large. Also concerned by the situation of girls and young women students, and;
- Convinced that women teachers and women education personnel affected by HIV/AIDS should
not be considered only as victims because they could also be part of the measures aimed at
effectively combating the discrimination and stigma that they could face, and that they have the
right to participate in the development of such measures.
- Considering that the fundamental role that education must play in the prevention and
elimination of all forms of discrimination that could face women and girls affected with HIV/AIDS,
and that several studies conducted at national and international level have shown that the lack of
education in general, and particularly on reproductive health and HIV prevention, increases the
vulnerability of women and girls and have also highlighted the protective role that schools could
play.
- Considering also the quantity of data and expertise gained by EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL
during the past nine years through the programme undertaken in conjunction with WHO and
UNAIDS.
The Fourth World Congress of Education International:
- Calls on governments to take effective measures to:
- Ensure equal and free access of girls and women to public, quality education, which includes
scientific, informed programmes on human sexuality, in close consultation with teacher's
unions;
- Prevent HIV infection of women and girls ensuring access to appropriate sexual education and
to reproductive health care;
- Promote research for the development of effective microbicides;
- Facilitate access to condoms in order to reduce significantly risks of HIV transmission and slow
down the pandemic;
- Ensure equal access of women and girls living with HIV or affected by AIDS to proper care and
treatment;
- Ensure access to generic medication in less developed countries and fully implement the
commitments of Doha;
- Reduce violence against women and girls at home, in schools, at the work place and in society
at large, reducing their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS;
- Conduct national estimates of HIV prevalence based on gender-sensitive and disaggregated
data;
- Protect the economic rights of women and girls, ensuring property ownership and inheritance
rights in the context of HIV/AIDS;
- Firmly combat trafficking on women and girls, child labour, forced marriage, sexual and
economic exploitation and all forms of discrimination against women and girls that increase
their vulnerability and could facilitate their exposure to HIV/AIDS.
- Invites EI member organisations to:
- Spare no effort and to urge their governments to implement a prevention and education
policy integrating sex education, with a gender perspective as well as teacher training
programmes including the use of appropriate methods for education about health, life skills
and HIV/AIDS;
- Include in collective bargaining negotiations issues related to the gender dimension of HIV/
AIDS and to train negotiation teams in this;
- Develop activities to deal specifically with the situations that face women teachers affected by
HIV/AIDS;
- Firmly implement the EI Declaration on Professional Ethics and act to make school a safe
and healthy place that guarantees to everybody protection from all forms of discrimination,
harassment and violence and a friendly place in which to learn, work and live together.
- Role of Education International: EI should:
- Strengthen its collaboration with international organisations like ILO, WHO, UNAIDS, among
others that deal with the gender dimension of HIV/AIDS;
- Participate at international and regional level in events related to gender and HIV/AIDS;
- Include the gender dimension of HIV/AIDS in developing cooperation programmes;
- Develop training activities and materials specifically for women to assist member organisations
on the gender-related aspects of the pandemic.
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The Fourth World Congress of Education International
Porto Alegre (Brazil)
22 to 26 July 2004
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EI Declaration on Professional Ethics
 
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Education for Global Progress
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Education - Public Service or Commodity?
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The Right to Teach: The Right to Learn
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Combating Mismanagement and Corruption in Education
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Promoting Quality Education
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Community Involvement in Education
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Information and Communication Technologies
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Enabling Retired Personnel to Live with Dignity
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Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Teachers
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Principals
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A New International Instrument for Higher Education
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HIV/AIDS
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The Role of the UN in the Current International Context
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Situation In Palestine and Israel
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Sudan
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Colombia
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Education for a Peaceful Environment in Schools
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Education for Cultural Diversity
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Education for Peace
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Death Penalty
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Nepal
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Illegal attack on EGITIM-SEN Turkey
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Trade Union Freedom in Iraq
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Condemnation of the Government of Djibouti
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Gender and HIV/Aids
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Brain Drain
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Education for Sustainable Development
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Vocational Education
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Resolution On EI Resolutions
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Collective Bargaining
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