Annie Lennox, AIDS Leaders to Call for Enforcement of Human Rights in Fight Against HIV
Press Conference on 20 July 2010, 12:00, at XVIII International AIDS Conference; Thousands Expected to Join March and Rally for Human Rights in Vienna
July 14, 2010, VIENNA—Legendary performer and AIDS activist Annie Lennox will join global AIDS leaders and activists at a press conference on July 20 to call on governments to protect the human rights of vulnerable populations. The press conference will give reporters access to speakers in advance of that evening’s historic human rights march and rally, which is expected to draw 10,000 local residents and participants of the XVIII International AIDS Conference.
Lennox will be joined at the press conference by Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Alan Brotherton, Director of Policy and Communications of the International AIDS Society; Françoise Girard, Public Health Program Director of the Open Society Institute; Rolake Odetoyinbo, Executive Director of Positive Action for Treatment Access in Nigeria; and Kurt Krickler, Executive Director of Homosexuelle Initiative (HOSI) Wien.
Thousands of people are expected to gather in the city center at 18:30 and march through the streets to Vienna’s historic Heldenplatz, where activists and government leaders will rally the crowd in support of human rights. The rally will feature people living with or affected by AIDS from around the world. Lennox, who was recently named international UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, will address the crowd and give a special musical performance.
Additional speakers at the rally include: UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé; International AIDS Society President Julio Montaner; Austrian Health Minister Alois Stöger; and Mark Heywood, director of SECTION27 in South Africa.
Further details on the march and rally are available on the Human Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More Than Ever campaign website at: www.hivhumanrightsnow.org. The press conference will take place at 12:00 in Press Conference Room 1, located in the International AIDS Conference Media Center.
IMPORTANT:There will be a section reserved for media in front of the stage at Heldenplatz. Please email psilva@sorosny.org if you wish to apply for an accreditation. Only accredited journalists will be given access.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Paul Silva, +1 212 548 0309, psilva@sorosny.org
Sigrid Ofner, +43 (1) 595 374 082, ofner@aids.at
Anne-Caroline Duplat, +33 (0) 661 833 523/ +43 (0) 676 973 1185, duplat.nmte@gmail.com
About the Human Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More Than Ever Campaign:
The Now More Than Ever campaign represents the hope of AIDS activists everywhere to place human rights at the center of the global AIDS response. The campaign stems from a joint statement that was originally drafted for the 2006 International AIDS Conference by 25 leading AIDS and human rights organizations. The statement has since been endorsed by over 720 AIDS organizations worldwide, as well as by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
