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Background on the World AIDS Campaign The World Health Organization declared the first World AIDS Day in 1988. The day, 1 December, quickly became established as one of the world’s most successful commemorative days and is now recognized and celebrated by a diverse range of constituents every year around the globe. Then, in 1997, recognizing the need for year-round campaign activity on HIV and AIDS, UNAIDS launched the first World AIDS Campaign. Between 1997 and 2004, UNAIDS coordinated the World AIDS Campaign as a loose partnership of UN agencies, governments and all sectors of civil society campaigning around particular themes related to HIV and AIDS. For example, in 2002-2003, under the slogan Live and Let Live, the Campaign focused on highlighting the damage associated with HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. Over the years, feedback has suggested that the World AIDS Campaign has helped influence the international agenda around HIV and AIDS but due to its global nature and, to some degree, its close association with UN agencies, the Campaign at times fell short of achieving its full potential at a national and local levels. The year 2004 saw the Campaign entering an exciting transition phase. At the same time as delivering a thematic focus on Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS, oversight of the Campaign was transferred from UNAIDS to NGOs, bolstering the role of civil society. In other words, the management of the Campaign shifted away from the UN to civil society. To strengthen civil society’s role in the Campaign, a Global Steering Committee of representatives from national NGOs was established. Currently, the Global Steering Committee has membership from Brazil, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania, and the US. The UNAIDS Secretariat also sits on the steering committee, as do representatives of key organizations such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, ICASO, GNP+/ICW, representatives of the labour movement and other key constituents. A small Campaign International Office, now based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, coordinates campaign activity. This International Office seeks to support a global network of national campaigns that focus on advocacy objectives most relevant to local needs and cultures. Under the umbrella theme of “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” the World AIDS Campaign aims to be a campaign of nationally-driven HIV and AIDS campaigns - bringing them all together under a global umbrella united by the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. The Declaration of Commitment was agreed in June 2001 when governments unanimously set targets and goals to fight AIDS. Since the session, UN agencies and governments have been working together to fulfil the promises outlined in the Declaration. It is in a similar vein that civil society is seeking to coordinate its campaigning and advocacy efforts through a strengthened World AIDS Campaign. Meantime, UNAIDS continues to support the Campaign under the auspices of civil society. The role of UNAIDS in the World AIDS Campaign is described below:
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