The co-facilitators of the 2016 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS (HLM) have released the zero draft of the 2016 Political Declaration that will be negotiated and then considered for adoption at the HLM in June. The co-facilitators are Patricia Mwaba Kasese-Bota, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations, and Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations.

Click here to download the zero draft

Member States will negotiate and finalize the Declaration over the next few weeks. The co-facilitators will also hold an informal meeting with civil society, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders on 26 April (8:30 to 9:45 New York time), which will be webcast live at http://webtv.un.org/live/.

About the Award

In East and Southern Africa, 35% of women are married before age 18. Globally, over 650 million women alive today were married as children. Child marriage is rooted in gender inequality and is exacerbated by poverty, insecurity and conflict.

Launched in 2018, RIATT-ESA in partnership with the the African Union and with support from Media Monitoring Africa, launched an award for journalists reporting on Child Marriage. The award was developed in support the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage Campaign, in an effort to enhance the promotion and protection of the rights of girls and women in Africa. The primary objective of the Award is to promote reporting of child marriage issues; hence raising public awareness, understanding and galvanizing action against child marriage.

The first awards were handed out in 2019 during the during the 3rd STC & SDLE of the African Union.