BurmaNet News, October 25, 2005

[Editor]

October 25, 2005 Issue # 2830


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Burma junta’s thinly veiled warning to Min Ko Naing
Narinjara: Military junta taps overseas conversations of Akyab people
Kaladan: Nasaka extorts Kyat 550,000 from two Rohingyas in Northern Arakan

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Two Burma-Thai border crossings to reopen
Mizzima: Landmine victims pick up the pieces of their lives

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Xinhua: Myanmar, Thailand start feasibility study on economic, industrial
zones
Mizzima: Bangladesh Bank cautions against transactions with Burma

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima: British MPs call for Total pullout from Burma
Irrawaddy: Suu Kyi’s 10 years detention marked worldwide
Morning Star: Britain - Burma activists press Parliament for UN action

OPINION / OTHER
Canberra Times: Decisive UN action in Myanmar overdue, say Nobel Laureates

PRESS RELEASE
UNICEF Myanmar: In East Asia and the Pacific, face of AIDS is becoming
younger

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma junta’s thinly veiled warning to Min Ko Naing

Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) held a
news conference at Rangoon on 23 October, and carried out what seemed to
be a thinly veiled warning to leaders of 88 Generation students including
Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi.

As the news conference was held at a crucial time when the people of Burma
were facing every kind of difficulties due to recent petrol price hike,
they were hoping that the generals would say something about solving the
ongoing problems. But nothing to the effect was uttered by them, who only
concentrated on piling blames and accusations on the ‘usual suspects’,
exiled pro-democracy groups for all the ills of the country.

The extraordinary thing was the junta, for the first time, also directed
its attack on former political prisoners and student leaders known as 88
Generation Students led by renowned Min Ko Naing, who have been trying to
find ways of helping the people of Burma solve their various difficulties
by peaceful means.

According to Teit Naing of Thailand-based Assistance Association for
Political prisoners (AAPP), the warning bell was sounded off by the
generals by accusing the students of trying to carve a niche for
themselves by pretending that they are working for the people, and that
they could be taken action against by the junta any time.

____________________________________

October 24, Narinjara News
Military junta taps overseas conversations of Akyab people

The military junta has begun to tap overseas calls of the people of Akyab,
the capital of Arakan State. They are too scared to make overseas phone
calls since they suspect the military authority is intercepting their
conversations, says a source in the city on condition of anonymity.

"Due to the increasing media coverage of the activities of opposition
movements and the violation of human rights by the junta in Arakan State,
we have heard that the military regime is increasing their interception of
overseas calls. They (military authorities) suspect that
overseas media groups get hold of such news by calling local sources."

Even in Rangoon, people suspect that tapping calls is a regular
occurrence, says a businessman from Rangoon.

According to another Rangoon source, "Generally monitoring of the
conversations increases on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. People overseas are
free during the weekends, and hence they make more phone calls."

This increasing interception could be part of the set-up for security
measures to monitor and control given that essential commodity prices are
rising, increasing political instability and the threat of civil unrest
with the economic difficulties, the businessman said.

In 2002, two persons from Akyab were sentenced to two years in prison for
discussing their business with a businessman from Bangladesh over
telephone from a hotel. At the time, an intelligence officer was also
staying at the same hotel. After overhearing their phone conversation, the
intelligence officer accused them of contacting political opposition
groups within Bangladesh.

____________________________________

October 24, Kaladan News
Nasaka extorts Kyat 550,000 from two Rohingyas in Northern Arakan

The Nasaka (Burmese-Border Security Force) extorted Kyat 550,000 from two
Rohingyas in northern Arakan because they did not comply with their
orders, said a relative of a victim.

The victims, identified as Mohammed Jamil, 20, son of Habibur Rahaman and
Mohammed Ismail, 45, son of Mohammed Salay. Both hail from Dunsey village
of Rathedaung Township, Arakan State. They went to Nayapara village of
Maungdaw Township on September 2 to visit their relatives after getting
recommendation letters for one week from the Nasaka camp No.19, the
relative added.

After visiting their relatives, they returned home on September 11, when
they were supposed to reach their village on September 9. After arriving
they went to the Nasaka camp to inform the authorities about their
arrival. However, they were detained at the Nasaka camp because they did
not comply with Nasaka's orders, another relative said.

The victims were tortured in the Nasaka camp and the right hand of
Mohammed Ismail was broken, it was alleged.

Three days later, the victims were set free after "bribing" Kyat 550,000
to the Nasaka authorities. "They procured this huge amount by selling
their landed property, the relative added.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 25, Irrawaddy
Two Burma-Thai border crossings to reopen - Louis Reh

Two border crossings between Northern Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province and
Burma are to reopen on November 19, the Karenni National People’s
Liberation Front announced Tuesday.

The crossings, known as Burma Border10 and Burma Border 14, are near Mae
Sariang, south of Mae Hong Son. The reopening of the crossings is expected
to boost trade, particularly in timber and wood products, between the two
border regions of Burma and Thailand.

A KNPLF member said the reopening would be marked on November 19 at a
ceremony organized jointly with the Burmese government and Thai
authorities. A ceasefire between the Rangoon regime and the KNPLF has been
in effect since June 1994.

The KNPLF split in 1978 with the Karenni National Progressive Party, which
signed its own ceasefire with the regime in March 1995. That ceasefire
broke down amid charges that regime forces were deploying in KNPP
territory.

The planned border reopening was criticized on Tuesday by the KNPP, whose
general secretary, Rimond Htoo, said the expected boost to the timber
trade would lead to deforestation. Local labor would also be exploited, he
charged.

____________________________________

October 24, Mizzima News
Landmine victims pick up the pieces of their lives - Sarah Maung

Saw Theru, 35, wants to learn how to play the guitar well, before he
forgets the songs he learned when he was growing up in Daw Taw Ko, his
home in Karenni State, Burma.

In 1996, when he was still a fighter of the Karenni National Progressive
Party (KNPP), he was blasted by a landline. He was ordered by a KNPP
commander to clear the landmine field but when he touched a cylinder, it
went off.

He lost the big toe in his right foot, had scars on his forehead and face
and can no longer see. He noticed that his memory is also fading that he
can hardly recall the faces of his parents and the harvest songs he used
to sing back home.

Saw Theru is one of the disabled refugees at Section 19, located at the
edge of the two refugee camps in Mae Hong Son province near the Thai-Burma
border. The camps are home to thousands of ethnic Karenni that fled during
the Burmese army military offensives against the KNPP and other ethnic
armed groups fighting for autonomy and democracy in Burma since 1984.

Saw Theru shares a house with Uooreh, 35, also a former fighter of KNPP
and also a victim of landmine explosion in 1999. Uooreh touched a rounded
container he never knew was a landmine. He lost both arms, from elbow
down, and his right eye. He stayed in a hospital in Thailand for one month
and he was fitted with an artificial eye.

Human rights groups said that landmines are used by Burmese military
against a number of ethnic armed groups fighting against the military
regime. But insurgents also use homemade landmines against the Burmese
soldiers. Landmines are also used to restrict movements of civilians who
were suspected of supporting the insurgents.

Burma is currently on the list of countries in the world which have the
highest number of landmine victims, a third of them civilians. Burma's
military regime has refused to sign the international treaty banning
landmines.

According to Human Rights Yearbook in 2004 released in August 2005, the
Burma army has deployed landmines along the border areas in the eastern
part of the country, along the Karen, Karenni and Shan States as well as
in the western side in Arakan and Chin States.

The yearbook, published by Human Rights Documentation Unity based in Mae
Sot, said that in 2004, nine out of 14 States and Divisions in Burma were
mine-affected as well as the cross border areas in Thailand, Bangladesh
and India.

The Burmese army denies that it uses landmines.

Both farmers, Saw Theru and Uooreh joined the KNPP because of the abuses
committee by the Burmese army.

In Uooreh's village of Phurso, forced labor and "portering" were rampant.
Portering means carrying the load of food and ammunition of the soldiers,
oftentimes walking ahead of them to shield them from the first volley of
fire. Uooreh calls them human bunkers. The porters become human
minesweepers because they can set off the landmines.

Saw Theru joined the KNPP in 1988. "My family was poor but we were heavily
taxed by the soldiers who demanded one basket of rice for every basket we
produced. We were also subjected to forced labor," he said.

Despite their disabilities as a result of the landmine explosions, they
said they haven't regretted joining the KNPP. It was a right decision,
they said, adding that if landmines did not disable them, they are still
fighting the Burmese army.

Saw Theru was trained at KNPP's Hwe Pong Lao camp where he met many
students who fled to Thailand Burma border after the student-led uprising
in Rangoon was crushed by the army. The mass demonstrations took place
from March to September 1988. Around 10,000 student activists set up camps
along the border but their numbers was reduced to around 3,000 after few
years.

Uooreh and Saw Theru lived with the support of international humanitarian
groups that provide shelter and sustenance for refugees like them. They
want to learn some skills, similar to crafts taught to disabled Thais,
because they want to earn a living.

Some houses at Section 19 have posters showing a variety of landmines
detailing possible handling precautions. Uooreh said the posters educate
them about landmines, something that he did not have before.

Saw Theru wants to join a campaign to ban landmines in any battlefields in
the world. "Please write about the landmines," he said. "You have seen and
touched the effect of landmines. But I can feel it."

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

October 25, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar, Thailand start feasibility study on economic, industrial zones

Myanmar and Thailand have begun detailed feasibility study on the
establishment of three combined special economic and industrial zones in
major cities of Myanmar, according to the state industry sources Tuesday.

Aimed at creating job opportunities in the region, the study is being
jointly conducted by the Myanmar Ministry of Industry-1 and the Industrial
Estate Authority of Thailand.

The three combined special economic and industrial zones constitute part
of the economic cooperation strategy (ECS) program agreed upon at a summit
of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand held in Myanmar's ancient city of
Bagan in November 2003.

The strategic project is also known as the Ayeyawaddy-Chao Phraya-Mekong
Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).

The three zones are proposed to be set up in Myanmar's Myawaddy and Hpa-an
in southeastern Kayin state and Mawlamyine in southern Mon state where
land areas of 384, 396 and 275 hectares are to be allotted respectively,
the sources said.

Thai investors are reportedly interested in engagement in the three zones
to be started next year.

Under the Myanmar-Thai cooperation, Thai factories are planned to move to
the zones and both countries are expected to benefit from the
establishment economically and socially.

The ECS provides for cooperation in five strategic areas covering
agriculture, industry, trade and investment, transport, tourist and human
resources development.

____________________________________

October 24, Mizzima
Bangladesh Bank cautions against transactions with Burma

The Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank, has cautioned all
commercial banks against establishing banking relationship with
Non-cooperating Countries and Territories or listed by the Financial
Action Task Force on Money Laundering, including Burma.
The central bank recently issued a circular to the chief executives of the
country's banks warning them of the risks of engaging with listed
countries financially. Burma and Nigeria are the only two countries on the
list after Nauru was removed earlier this month. The Financial Action Task
Force (FATF) says neither country has made the necessary progress towards
eradicating the threat of money laundering. "Banks should pay particular
attention when maintaining a corresponding banking relationship with banks
incorporated in a jurisdiction that do not meet international standards
for the prevention of money laundering," the bank's circular said.

Correspondent banking is the provision by one bank to another of credit,
deposit, collection, clearing, payment or other services.

FATF is a 33-member inter-governmental body aimed at developing and
promoting national and international policies to combat money laundering
and the financing of terrorist groups. But FATF welcomed Burma's enactment
of mutual legal assistance legislation, the implementation of rules and
regulations under the Anti-Money Laundering Law and the improvement of its
transaction reporting regime.

The group withdrew counter-measures against Burma in October 2004. The
measures had been in place since November 3, 2003.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 25, Mizzima News
British MPs call for Total pullout from Burma - Alison Hunter

Two British members of parliament, Vera Baird and John Bercow met with
officials from France's Total Oil Company yesterday asking them to
withdraw from Burma.

After meeting Jean-Francois Lassalle, public affairs vice-president for
exploration and production and Andrew Hogg, Chairman of Total Holdings UK,
Baird and Bercow released a statement saying the company was aiding
Burma's military regime.

"Total's investment is propping up a sadistic, hideous regime, providing
it with a cloak of respectability, behind which it can continue its brutal
oppression of the Burmese people. Total's presence does nothing to advance
the case for democracy in Burma," the statement said.

Total Oil, reportedly the world's fourth largest oil company, has had
operations in Burma since 1992. The company's projects in Burma include
the exploitation of the Yadana field in the Gulf of Martaban through a
joint venture with the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and the
development of a 62-kilometer pipeline carrying gas from the field to
Thailand.

The statement also criticised the company's influence over the French
government saying Total was, "obstructing effective action by the EU and
the UN against the military junta".

Officials from Total Holdings UK were unavailable for comment today but
Victoria Roberts, Research Assistant to Bercow told Mizzima the oil
company representatives were unreceptive to the MPs' requests.

As support grows for Burma's inclusion on the United Nations Security
Council agenda, there is some speculation French officials may block the
move due to pressure from Total Oil.

"If France should decide to block an attempt to have Burma placed on the
Security Council agenda, we believe that Total's investment would be a
major factor in that decision," Roberts told Mizzima.

_____________________________________

October 25, Irrawaddy
Suu Kyi’s 10 years detention marked worldwide - Khun Sam

The 10 years that Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spent
under house arrest are being marked at meetings and demonstrations in
Burma and around the world.

In Burma, 67 members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy began a
three-day meeting on Monday with an appeal to the military junta to
release her and all other political prisoners. NLD spokesman Myint Thein
said the meeting was reviewing NLD policies and steps towards national
reconciliation.

Seven of the nine NLD central executive committee members are attending
the meeting. The two absentees are general secretary Suu Kyi and deputy
chairman Tin Oo, who is in jail. Both were named in a list of 75 political
prisoners whose freedom is being urged by the NLD.

Suu Kyi has spent a total of 10 years in three separate periods of house
arrest—from 1989-1995, 2000-2002 and from May 2003 until today. In June
she turned 60, alone and cut off from the outside world.

World attention to her plight, and to that of all political prisoners in
Burma, is being drawn at demonstrations on Tuesday around the globe.
Demonstrators gathered outside the UN headquarters in New York and the
Houses of Parliament in London. Burmese exiles gathered in front of the UN
office in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, urging Dutch support for the report
by retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech
President Vaclav Havel, appealing for UN action on Burma.

Other demonstrations were reported from Canada, Sweden, Australia and
South Korea.

_____________________________________

October 25, Morning Star
Britain - Burma activists press Parliament for UN action

Burmese democracy campaigners gathered outside the House of Commons
yesterday to demand UN intervention to stop oppression, torture and
killings by the ruling military junta.

The colourful demonstration marked the 10th anniversary of the detention
of Burma democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by the junta which calls
itself the State Peace and Development Council.

Among the protesters was National League for Democracy leader Dr Win
Naing, who said that "thousands and thousands of people have died at the
hands of the junta."

He warned that the social and economic situation was steadily worsening in
Burma, accompanied by growing corruption.

A delegation of protesters handed in a letter to Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw demanding that Britain push for the United Nations security council
to take decisive action against the Burmese regime.

Burma Campaign UK director Yvette Mahon said: "The time for empty words is
over. The regime in Burma has snubbed the UN and is undermining its
credibility. It is time for action."

She insisted: "The UN security council must pass a binding resolution
demanding that the regime restore democracy in Burma and release Aung San
Suu Kyi and all political prisoners."

Ms Mahon feared that, unless the security council takes action, Aung San
Suu Kyi, who is aged 60, "could spend the rest of her life under house
arrest."

A new report produced by campaigners, Ten Years of Detention - Too Many
Years of Empty Words, highlights the failure of the UN to take any
effective action against the regime in Burma.

The report complains that world leaders who criticise the regime have
failed to translate their words into action.

It says that "the daily horror of life" in Burma continues, with
"imprisonment and torture of political opponents, rape, forced labour,
shooting of unarmed civilians and poverty."

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 25, The Canberra Times
Decisive UN action in Myanmar overdue, say Nobel Laureates

The world at large continues to ignore one of the most intractable
problems, namely the political, economic and humanitarian crisis
represented by Burma, or Myanmar.

On September 19, two highly respected Nobel Peace Prize winners, former
Czech President Vaclav Havel and South African Bishop Desmond Tutu,
presented a comprehensive report on Myanmar to the United Nations, calling
for firm UN Security Council action on Myanmar as a matter of urgency. The
story went unreported by the Australian media.

Although flawed in many respects -with numerous inaccuracies and
exaggerations -the report nevertheless presents a powerful case for more
decisive action by the United Nations than has so far been made.

The report argues that Myanmar matches the critical criteria for
determining whether a situation poses a "threat to peace" warranting UN
Security Council action under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. These
criteria include the overthrow of a democratic government, failure to
resolve conflict among internal factions, persistent human rights
violations, protracted refugee outflows, and contributing to other
trans-national problems such a drug trafficking and HIV/AIDS. However, the
report has been rejected by the Burmese military regime as "another
attempt to discredit the Government of Myanmar" and "based on
misinformation", while it has been welcomed by the leading opposition
party, the National League for Democracy, as "detailed and accurate" and
prepared out of a genuine and sincere motives".

The other persuasive reason for elevating Myanmar now is the absence of
any sign of a genuine solution emerging from dialogue amongst the various
Burmese parties themselves ever since the military leadership rejected the
outcome of Burma's last democratic election in 1990. Specifically, there
is still no convincing evidence of a credible process for the transfer of
power to a democratically elected government.

Although a national convention process resumed in 2004, after a break of
eight years, it does not include the main opposition parties, whose
leaders remain in detention. Moreover, there are no details of how a new
constitution, or the laws governing a referendum or elections, are to be
drawn up; nor is there a timetable for these steps.

It's not that the United Nations has ignored Myanmar. On the contrary, it
has been active on many fronts: UN General Assembly resolutions have,
since 1991, consistently called for a political solution to Burma's
problems; the Secretary-General has appointed a Special Representative to
assist the process of political dialogue between all parties; the UN Human
Rights Commission has tasked Special Rapporteurs to report on human rights
violations; the International Labour Organisation is trying to bring an
end to forced labour; and many UN agencies are engaged in humanitarian
programs inside Myanmar. But UN assistance programs are grossly
under-funded, and some UN activities there are restricted, either by their
own policies or by the Myanmar authorities. The World Bank and the IMF,
for example, are prevented by their Boards from lending to Myanmar, even
though it is officially one of the world's least developed countries, and
unable to influence economic policy. So, up until now, cooperation between
the United Nations and Myanmar's military regime leaves much to be
desired.

To be fair, the UN role in Myanmar has been complicated by the absence of
international consensus over Myanmar. On the one hand, the United States
and the EU have imposed unilateral sanctions; on the other, Myanmar's
Asian neighbours pursue business-as-usual "engagement" with Myanmar.
Australia and Japan fall somewhere in between these two extremes. But as
the Economist magazine noted recently, all these approaches have failed
dismally. In its July 21st edition, the Economist suggested it is time for
a "deal" between the international community, the military, and the
Burmese democracy movement, some of whose members are also now questioning
past policy failures.

Against this background, the Haval/Tutu plea for UN Security Council
action, hitherto blocked by China, seems utterly reasonable. They
recommend a Security Council resolution requiring the Myanmar Government
to work with the UN Secretary-General to implement a national
reconciliation plan to restore a democratically elected government through
a vigorous conflict-resolution process. It would also require the Myanmar
Government to ensure immediate and unhindered access to UN agencies and
international humanitarian organisations for the delivery of humanitarian
assistance. These are eminently sensible propositions. They would, for the
first time, give some teeth to the United Nations in dealing with Myanmar,
and would provide hope of progress for the people of Myanmar.

Some might argue that the UN should adopt tougher measures such as
sanctions, but this would aggravate internal political divisions,
jeopardise multilateral consensus, and prevent effective UN remedial
action. International intervention in Myanmar must be consensual, and must
respect the reasonable positions and interests of all parties. It must
also offer all parties a better outcome overall, including a clear promise
of substantial flows of badly needed international assistance. Although
Australia is not a member of the UN Security Council, it is unusually well
qualified to play a leading role in efforts to bring the situation of
Myanmar to the Council's deliberations.

Trevor Wilson, a former Australian Ambassador to Myanmar, is a Visiting
Fellow at the Australian National University

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 24, UNICEF Myanmar
In East Asia and the Pacific, face of AIDS is becoming younger

Children are increasingly bearing the brunt of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in
East Asia and the Pacific with devastating consequences, UNICEF and UNAIDS
warned today, at the launch of a major campaign to put children at the
centre of the AIDS agenda.

With a growing number of children in the region infected and affected by
HIV/AIDS, the two organizations urgently called for the most vulnerable
and least protected generation to be put on the world’s radar screen.

The face of HIV/AIDS in East Asia and Pacific is becoming younger. Not
only are children dying, their lives are being damaged in so many ways,
UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Director Anupama Rao Singh said.

The Unite for Children, Unite for AIDS global campaign is designed to
alert the world to the reality that HIV/AIDS is robbing tens of millions
of children of their childhood and threatening their future prospects.
Because of HIV/AIDS, children and young people are missing out on
education, medical care and support, while suffering great emotional pain.

Prevention is the key to halting a potentially disastrous epidemic among
children and young people in East Asia and the Pacific, Rao Singh said. 
But we must also do much more to help children who are already infected
with HIV or are suffering from its impact, and that also means stamping
out stigma, on which HIV/AIDS thrives.

Studies indicate that children and young people in the region have limited
understanding of how the virus is transmitted and what they can do to
protect themselves. In a survey of students in rural schools in China,
over half of the students believed that they could prevent HIV by
exercising. Further, countries that do have prevention programmes in
place, are not reaching a critical mass of those young people, who are
most vulnerable to HIV infection.

"Young people play a vital role in building sustainable HIV prevention
efforts; for themselves, their peers and as a role model for younger
children. Educators, civil society and governments throughout the region
must continue to engage the voice of youth in the long-term fight against
AIDS," said Bai Bagasao, Manager, Asia Pacific Leadership Forum, UNAIDS
Asia Pacific regional office.

By 2004, an estimated 120,700 children were living with HIV/AIDS in the
Asia and Pacific region. Some were infected at birth, others were infected
through injecting drug use or unsafe sex. In Thailand, 50-60 per cent of
new infections each year are among children and young people under 24
years of age. In Viet Nam, 63 per cent of the people infected are under
30.

An estimated 1.5 million children in Asia and the Pacific have lost one or
both parents to AIDS, with many more millions of children affected. The
regions social welfare systems are not strong enough to accommodate the
current number of orphans, let alone a projected rise in the number of
children orphaned by AIDS. Further, these children become far more
vulnerable to trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation and substance
use.

Few children infected with HIV are actually receiving life-prolonging
medicines. In Asia and the Pacific, 34,500 children needed antiretroviral
treatment (ART) in 2004 yet less than one per cent of these children were
receiving it. And only a small number of children currently receive
Cotrimaxozole, a powerful antibiotic, which nearly halves child deaths
from HIV/AIDS and costs just a few cents a day.

The global campaign being launched by UNICEF and UNAIDS, with partners
from many different sectors, aims to drastically reduce new infections
among children and young people, scale up services to prevent
mother-to-child transmission, make pediatric drugs available, and provide
care, support and protection for children affected by HIV/AIDS.

The initiative has specific targets for each of these areas, which are in
line with the Millennium Development Goals and other recent global
commitments on AIDS. By 2010, the aim is to:

reach 80 per cent of women in need with services to prevent HIV
transmission to their babies; provide 80 per cent of children in need with
pediatric AIDS drugs and/or infection-fighting antibiotics; reduce the per
cent of young people living with HIV by 25 per cent globally; reach 80 per
cent of children orphaned and made vulnerable by AIDS in need of support
and protection

Success in all of these areas in East Asia and the Pacific, the region
with one of the fastest-growing epidemics, is contingent upon ending the
stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS.


At the end of this decade, we would like to look back and say that this
was a turning point for children and AIDS, a catalyst for an unprecedented
shift in awareness and action, UNICEF’s Rao Singh said.

Simply put, AIDS is wreaking havoc on childhood, UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan said in New York at the global launch of the campaign with UNICEF
Executive Director Ann M. Veneman and UNAIDS Executive Director Peter
Piot.