United Nations Security Council resolution 1308, adopted unanimously on 17 July 2000, was the first resolution to address the impact of HIV/AIDS worldwide. The Security Council asked countries to consider voluntary HIV/AIDS testing and counselling for troops deployed in peacekeeping operations.[1]
Speaking after the unanimous adoption of the United States-sponsored resolution, the American ambassador Richard Holbrooke thanked Security Council members for the "unprecedented resolution on a health issue–the first in the history of the Security Council."[2]
Resolution
Observations
The security council was concerned about the HIV/AIDS pandemic worldwide, and especially the severity of the crisis in Africa. The UN General Assembly and the UN Economic and Social Council had an important role and there was a need for a co-ordinated effort to address the diseases. The spread of HIV/AIDS had a heavy impact on society, was exacerbated by violence, and could lead to instability and emergency situations if left unchecked.[3] Therefore, a co-ordinated international response was important.[citation needed]
The resolution expressed concern at the impact of HIV/AIDS on international peacekeeping and support personnel.[4] It acknowledged efforts by certain countries to address the issue through national programmes and encouraged those that had not yet done so to co-operate with the international community and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to develop long-term strategies to address the spread of the diseases. The Secretary-General was asked to take further steps in the training of peacekeepers to prevent the diseases.[5]
UNAIDS was encouraged to strengthen cooperation with Member States. The council concluded by expressing an interest in making progress on the issue of access to treatment and care and prevention through discussions with countries, United Nations bodies, international organisations, and industry.[6]
Individuals
Richard Holbrooke's Chief of Staff R.P. Eddy was the principal drafter and U.S. negotiator of the resolution.[7][8]
^Tripodi, P.; Patel, P. (2002). "The Global Impact of HIV/AIDS on Peace Support Operations". International Peacekeeping. 9 (3): 51–66. doi:10.1080/714002738. S2CID144105756.
^Kapstein, Ethan; Busby, Joshua (29 August 2013). AIDS Drugs For All: Social Movements and Market Transformations. Cambridge University Press. p. 315. ISBN9781107292581. The government and intergovernmental officials who supported changes in IP rules that facilitated access as well as the drug quality and procurement policies that opened the door to generic competition also can be considered part of the broader advocacy network. Certainly, Koff Annan was the most prominent intergovernmental proponent of access, "the world's chief AIDS advocate" in Piot's description (Piot 2012, Kindle Location 4265). In April 2001, Annan made the keynote address at a summit in Abuja, Nigeria, where he called for the creation of a $7—$10 billion fund to fight HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases (Annan 2001). In June 2001, the UN General Assembly had a special session on HIV/AIDS, which set as one of its top priorities "treatment to all those infected" (UN 2001). To build support for this initiative inside the UN, Annan relied on a network of allies in it, including his deputy, Louise Frechette, his senior adviser on HIV/AIDS, R.P. Eddy, as well as Piot at UNAIDS, Mark Malloch Brown at UNDP, and Gro Harlem Brundtland, and her successor, Jong Took Lee, at the WHO. Once the Global Fund was created in 2002, its first executive director, Richard Feachem, was responsible for helping create an important funding platform that facilitated generic access. Less prominent officials include Lernbit Rago and Andre Van Zyl at the WHO, who led the efforts to create the prequalification for medicines program, discussed in Chapter 6.
^"4259th meeting: The responsibility of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security: HIV/AIDS and international peacekeeping operations"(PDF). United Nations Security Council. 19 January 2001. p. 24. Retrieved 14 July 2022. When I leave here at noon tomorrow, I leave the Mission in the hands of a very good team. I am particularly pleased that Secretary-designate Powell has asked Ambassador Cunningham to remain as the Deputy Permanent Representative and has already said that he wants to have a direct working relationship with Ambassador Cunningham until my successor is chosen. Everything you have said in praise of our efforts was not addressed simply to me, in my view, but to an entire team. R.P. Eddy, whom you all know, has worked tirelessly on this issue and deserves great credit. He has worked very closely with DPKO and UNAIDS and others in this room.
^Feldbaum, Harley (2009). The HIV-AIDS national security nexus : a history of risks and benefits. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (doctoral). London: LSHTM Research Online. p. 251. doi:10.17037/PUBS.00682417. Partially in response to this Ebola outbreak, and partly due to high levels of public attention to the threat of emerging diseases, U. S. President Clinton issued a Presidential Review Directive (PRD) in 1995 directing the U. S. National Security Council (NIC) to 125 study American vulnerability to bioterrorism. 17 R. P. Eddy ran the PRD in 1995 and describes the process as follows: I ran this interagency process with the CIA, OED and all the other agencies to try and get them to help us understand what the President, basically what the threat was. So the PRD is first, it lets us just see what we are doing and what assets we have and what your options are. And the PDD, Presidential Decision Directive, is the President then saying, `Well based on what we've done, here's what we're gonna do. '(R. P. Eddy Interview) Eddy confirms that the origins of the PRD lay with the Kikwit outbreak and increasing public concern about emerging diseases. The PRD was basically initiated because of the Ebola outbreak in Kikwit, Zaire, but also a feeling, there was a movie called "Outbreak" with Dustin Hoffman - and a book called "The Hot Zone" - so there was this, sort of, awareness that potentially microbes could be a potential security issue" (Eddy Interview). During the PRD, Eddy had a prescient conversation about the national security implications of HIV/AIDS. Eddy remembers a State Department staff member saying: `You're talking about Ebola, you're talking about anthrax, a little bit in terms of smallpox and other diseases and the risk to national security. Have you considered HIV/AIDS? ' And I almost laughed! AIDS and national security, it's ridiculous and I immediately shut him up and moved on... (Eddy Interview) Eddy says his skepticism about the potential for HIV/AIDS to have an impact on national security was widespread at the time and "continues today" (Eddy Interview). Despite Eddy's skepticism, his PRD became a Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) released on 12 June 1996. The PDD mentions Ebola, drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS as posing "one of the most significant health and security challenges facing the global community" (White House 1996). Despite describing a threat to the "global community, " the PDD focuses on the national security interests of the U. S.: Addressing this challenge requires a global strategy as most cities in the United States are within a 36 hour commercial flight of any area of the world -- less time '7 A PRD was the Clinton Administration's mechanism to direct reviews and studies by U. S. government agencies. A Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) was the Clinton Administration's mechanism to declare Presidential decisions on national security matters. 126 than the incubation period of many infectious diseases. Furthermore, the United States is vulnerable to a release of biological agents by rogue nations or terrorists, which could result in the spread of infectious diseases. (White House 1996: para. 1)
