COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT A ONE-DAY CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, GIRLS AND HIV/AIDS
HELD AT THE NICON HILTON HOTEL, ABUJA ON NOVEMBER 30, 2004

In commemoration of the 2004 World AIDS Day, the Federal Ministry of
Women Affairs, the National Action Committee on AIDS in collaboration
with the United Nations Theme Group on HIV/AIDS organised a one day
national conference on the theme: Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS.

The conference was designed to raise awareness among the Nigerian
populace as well as policy makers on the ways in which women?s
inequality helps fuel the transmission of HIV and increase the impact of
AIDS. The conference served as a forum for examining the gender
dimensions to the HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as seeking lasting solutions
in Nigeria. It was attended by 158 participants comprising of
representatives of government agencies, HIV/AIDS support groups, civil
society organisations, faith-based organisations, development agencies
and media organisations.

The forum noted among other things that:

1. Women and girls are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because of biological,
social and economic factors;

2. HIV is mostly transmitted through sexual intercourse and that women's
vulnerability is greatly increased by the unhealthy sexual behaviour of
their male partners over which they have no control;

3. Sexual violence like rape and sexual harassment as well as domestic
violence increase the risk of HIV infection among women;

4. Women lack access to appropriate and adequate information, skills and
services that they require to take control of their lives;

5. Poverty constitutes a major barrier to women?s ability to actualise
their rights;

6. Cultural practices such as early marriage, wife hospitality, widow
inheritance, polygyny and female genital mutilation promote the spread of
HIV/AIDS;

7. Women and girls? vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is further increased due to
lack of adequate representation in policy formulation and decision making
on issues that affect women;

8. Low educational status of women reduces their potential to negotiate
favourable choices for improved quality of life;

After in-depth deliberation on the above issues, the forum resolved that:
1. all relevant government agencies as well as other stakeholders should
intensify their efforts at promoting more gender re-orientation campaign
and programmes at national and household levels;

2. the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and other stakeholders should
embark on massive action for empowering women on life skills that can
enable them take control of their lives;

3. special tribunals should be set up to address specific issues of
violence against women;

4. there should be aggressive awareness creation involving men,
faith based organisations and community based groups in the effort to
eliminate harmful traditional practices;

5. government and development agencies should support women living
positively by making drugs available, accessible and affordable;

6. government should accelerate the process of domesticating the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) which was ratified 17 years ago so that women can have a
viable legal environment for protecting their rights and promoting
appropriate legal reform;

7. government poverty alleviation programmes as well as those of other
stake holders should be re-designed to promote genuine economic
empowerment of women in order to enhance their ability to take control of
their lives;

8. government should make available necessary resources for the
implementation of the Universal Basic Education Policy;

9. work places should put in place policies on HIV/AIDS and the national
policy on HIV/AIDS should be well disseminated for proper implementation
at the community level;

10. the federal government should review the HIV/AIDS Emergency Action
Plan in order to make it more gender sensitive.

Signed:

Hajia Amina Ginsau Mrs. Funmi Doherty
Federal Ministry of Women Affairs National President,
Women Affairs Society for Women & AIDS
in Africa (SWAAN)
(Nigeria Chapter)

Oyefunsho Orenuga
Inter African Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices

Ms. Doris Emmanuel
Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (Women's Wing)

Ejiro Otive-Igbuzor
Gender and HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
Anglophone West Africa Regional Office
UN House, Abuja. Nigeria
Email: [email protected] [2]