ILO's participation in the 20th International AIDS Conference

The ILO is participating in AIDS2014, which is expected to gather over 10,000 delegates (including policy makers, programme implementers, practitioners, activists, scientists, journalists, people living with HIV) from nearly 200 countries on the theme: Stepping up the pace. The ILO and its partners will highlight the contribution of the world of work to the AIDS response through various events and activities held from 20 to 24 July in Melbourne, Australia.

ILO’s Oral poster discussion sessions


Monday 21 July, Room 103, 13:00-14:00

ILOAIDS will make two oral presentations under the theme “Shedding Light on Social Protection Responses”.
  • “Access to and effects of Social Protection of people living with HIV and their households”- a recent ILO research - by Afsar Syed Mohammad, Senior Technical Specialist, ILOAIDS, Geneva.
  • “Research based advocacy for removing the exclusion of HIV from private Insurance Policies in Sri Lanka by Indira Hettiarachchi, the ILO National Focal Point on HIV and AIDS in Sri Lanka.
  • Discussions will revolve around the role of social protection in strengthening HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and the challenges that key populations, workers and their households face in accessing services.

Thursday 24 July, Room 104, 13:00-14:00

Alice Ouedraogo will co-chair “Working It Out: HIV and the Workplace” with Brian Brink, Anglo American's Chief Medical Officer. (THPDD01)
This session will involve several presentations, including the following two from the ILO:
  • “Community Conversations for health and safety for entertainment and garment workers in Cambodia: Work Smarter and Safer”- by Richard Howard, Regional Technical Specialist for Asia and the Pacific, ILO Bangkok.
  • “Federation of Kenya responds to HIV: clustered HIV and AIDS Enterprise Networks”- by Isaac Kiema Muema, Projects and Capacity Building Coordinator at the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE), Kenya.

Global Village sessions


Wednesday 23 July, Clarendon Auditorium @ 11:00 – 12:30

Understanding the impact of travel restrictions on universal access from the perspectives of Migrant sending and receiving countries,” led by Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+). The session will be co-chaired by Alice Ouedraogo (ILOAIDS) and Suzette Moses-Burton, Executive Director of GNP+.
  • P. Wiessner, Germany; O. Franco, Philippines; M. da Quinta, Thailand; A. Altaf, United Kingdom; J. Lim-Pousard, United States; A. Lim, Singapore, J. Hyde, Australia; and A. Thakur, India will be speaking in the session.
  • Following the session, there will be a webinar run by Julian Hows of GNP+ and Afsar Syed Mohammad of ILOAIDS from 13.30-14.30, presenting the highlights of the session.

Thursday 24 July, Clarendon Auditorium @ 16:30-18:00

Making HIV testing happen: a shared responsibility” This session led by ILO, will be chaired by Luiz Loures, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS.
  • Alice Ouedraogo, ILOAIDS; Nikki Soboil, South African Clothing and Textiles Workers Unions (SACTWU); Astrid Kartika, Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australian Embassy Jakarta, Indonesia; Ken Davis, Unions Aid Abroad - APHEDA the international development agency of the Australian Council of trade Unions; and Ed Ngoksin, Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) will be speaking in the session.

Workshops


Monday 21 July, Room 109-110 @ 14:30-17:30

Using the law to defend human rights in the HIV epidemic: courts in action” – This workshop will be led by Anna Torriente, Senior Legal Officer, ILOAIDS, Geneva.
  • Presenters include: Richard Elliott, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network; Urmila Bhoolla, former South African Labour Court Judge and currently Executive Director of International Women’s Rights Watch Asia-Pacific Region; Tim Wilson, Ombudsman, Australian National Human Rights Commission; and Priti Patel, Deputy Director and HIV Programme Manager, Southern Africa Litigation Centre.

Wednesday 23 July, Room 111-112 @ 11:00-12:30

It’s not what we do but how we do it: Occupational Health and Safety Standards for sex workers”.
  • Richard Howard, Senior Specialist for HIV/AIDS in Asia Pacific will be speaking on: “Occupational health and safety standards and decriminalization of sex work”.

Thursday 24 July, Room 101-102 @ 11:00-12:30

I love my job! The who and how of successful HIV workplace programmes”.
  • Richard Howard will be co-facilitating this workshop along with Diana peters, which will also have participation of Ngoni Chibukire and Thang Mai.
  • Richard will also be speaking on: “The role of NGOs facilitating workplace programs for key populations in Asia/Pacific”.

Session where ILOAIDS is speaking


Wednesday 23 July, Room 104 @ 18:30-20:30

Satellite session: “Overcoming HIV in conservative social settings” (WESA13).
  • Afsar Syed Mohammad, Senior Technical Specialist, ILOAIDS, Geneva will be speaking on: “Defending human rights: Advocacy challenges for making policy changes in conservative social settings”.

Poster exhibitions presented by the ILO


Tuesday 22 July, Exhibition Hall 12:30-14:30

  • Institutionalizing HIV workplace programmes in the informal economy in Kenya (TUPE115)
  • A sustainable model for legal aid services for PLHIV and other key affected populations in China (TUPE293)
  • Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV in healthcare settings in China (TUPE294)
  • The Impact of ILO’s labour standard on HIV and AIDS in protecting the labour rights of key populations in Latin America (TUPE332)
  • The impact of training for labour judges and legal professionals on the protection of labour rights for men and women workers living with HIV (TUPE333)
  • Promoting the rights of people living with HIV (PLHIV) where there is no specific HIV law to protect them: the Cameroon experience (TUPE334)
  • I don’t have a job, I don’t know how to get a job: barriers to employment for men who have sex with men and transgendered PLHIV in Argentina (TUPE335)

Wednesday 23 July, Exhibition Hall 12:30-14:30

  • The impact of employment on HIV treatment adherence (WEPE277)

Thursday 24 July, Exhibition Hall 12:30-14:30

  • Respecting human rights in VCT@WORK (THPE269)
  • Cambodian legislation promotes occupational safety and health for entertainment workers (THPE326)
  • VCT@WORK initiative: a model to rapidly scale up HIV counselling and testing services in and through the work place (THPE360)
  • Has the countdown to zero begun at your workplace? Trade unions deliver large scale HIV counselling and testing services (THPE361)
  • Research on selling sex and HIV vulnerability in indigenous communities demonstrates that respect for culture is key (THPE366)
  • Do Guatemalan women and men living with HIV and in informal work have access to social protection benefits? (THPE367)