Feminist Joint Statement on the 2026 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS

On June 23rd, at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS, governments adopted the 2026 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS with the support of 149 Member States. This Declaration will guide the global HIV response for the next five years, shaping national policies, financing commitments, and accountability mechanisms to achieve the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

We deeply regret that this Political Declaration was put to a vote for the second time in the history of UN High-Level Meetings on HIV/AIDS, with 8 countries voting against it. A political declaration on a global public health crisis that affects millions of people should enjoy the consensus of the entire international community. 

The decision by some Member States to call for a vote and, vote against or abstain sends a deeply troubling signal: that the rights of key populations, people living with HIV or at risk, women, has become more politically contested rather than universally upheld. We call on all States to recommit to the principles of multilateralism, solidarity, human rights and gender equality that have underpinned the global AIDS response since its inception. We further reject efforts to weaken the rights-based foundation of the HIV response. Such compromises do not save lives, expand access to prevention and treatment, or uphold the promise of leaving no one behind.

While we welcome its adoption at a time when the rollback of rights for key populations, women and girls, LGTIQ+ populations, and marginalized communities, is worsening globally, the 2026 Declaration needed to be stronger and ambitious and show clear unwavering commitment without compromise. We deeply regret that the Political Declaration weakens rather than strengthens key commitments that are more urgent than ever to achieve. 

We now call on all Member States to honour their  commitment in the Political Declaration through concrete, adequately resourced, and rights-based implementation at the national level. 

WELCOMING NEW ADDITIONS

While the Political Declaration fails to to respond with the ambition, rights-based approach, and solidarity called for by the unprecedented emergency people living with and most affected by HIV are facing around the world, we recognized the efforts of all stakeholders committed to safeguard the HIV/AIDS response and welcome that it retains language on integrated HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), the meaningful role of communities, key populations,  young people and youth-led organizations and civil society, all of which are crucial to a comprehensive and community-led HIV response.  

We further welcomes the following new additions:

• Frank acknowledgement of the financing gap.
• Recognition of HIV vulnerability in conflict, climate-related disasters, natural disasters and other humanitarian crises, including the explicit link between these crises and increased sexual violence against women and girls. We further welcome the amendment introduced to restore the language on sexual and gender-based violence in this paragraph. 
• Language on innovation and access, including on long-acting technologies, local production, technology transfer, regulatory capacity, market transparency, and AMA
• The first reference to advanced HIV disease in a UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.
• Reference to the data highlighting that women living with HIV are 8 times more likely to die from preventable causes of maternal mortality and unequal access to integrated, gender-responsive healthcare services than women not living with HIV.
• Commitments on HIV vaccine and cure research, including a commitment to developing a research agenda and measurable actions, and the naming of a timeline for accountability.
• Language on closing digital divides. 
• Language on access to justice and accountability mechanisms for survivors of violence.
• Commitment to increasing predictable and flexible youth-responsive funding for advocacy and youth-led initiatives/programmes.

We welcome the amendments tabled to bring back language on SGBV as a contributing factor to HIV vulnerability during conflict, climate-related and humanitarian crises, to key populations in the 10-10-10 target paragraph, ensuring consistency with the Global AIDS Strategy, and the removal of the reference to “mutually agreed terms” in the technology transfer paragraphs, which is an obstacle to address inequalities. We regret that these amendments had to be fought for in the final rounds of negotiations, despite reflecting previously agreed commitments and ultimately not being contested when the Declaration was put forward for adoption at the General Assembly.

THE GAPS THAT WILL COST LIVES

As the 2026 Political Declaration itself acknowledges, "the gains are fragile and need to be protected." It is therefore deeply disappointing that this Declaration, adopted at a moment of acute financing crisis, rising inequalities, and growing threats to affected communities and civic space, weakens rather than strengthens the very commitments needed to protect those gains.  

We are particularly alarmed by the following regressions in the 2026 Declaration, especially compared to previous commitments from 2021, including in the following areas:

• The Declaration fails to adequately address sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which signals a dangerous retreat from previous commitments that are fundamental to an effective HIV response. The Declaration has removed the standalone paragraph on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. Moreover,  the reaffirmation of every person's right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health including sexual and reproductive health, and several references to sexuality education and access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services were removed. Taken together, these omissions do not merely weaken the Declaration's language on SRHR, but strip out the very commitments that connect HIV to the broader struggle for gender justice, bodily autonomy, and reproductive rights. 
   
• The removal of a dedicated gender equality and women’s empowerment section with specific targets, together with the commitments to the voice, autonomy, agency and leadership of women and girls and to engage men and boys as agents of change in transforming negative social norms and gender stereotypes. The Declaration also fails to adequately address specific vulnerabilities of women in key population groups - including transgender women, women who inject drugs, and female sex workers who face compounded discrimination. 
   
• The omission of feminist groups from the list of essential stakeholders which represents a stark symbol of the political retreat on gender justice embedded throughout this text.
   
• The scaling back of diversity language and the weakening of references to people in diverse situations and multiple, intersecting forms of discrimination (MIFD), which further narrows the Declaration's reach, leaving behind those who face the most compounded barriers to HIV prevention, treatment, and care, including women and girls living at the intersection of gender, race, disability, displacement, and poverty. 
   
• The elimination of the $3.1 billion societal enablers financing commitment, which funded the legal reforms, anti-stigma measures, and community-led programs that address the structural drivers of HIV, leaves the response without the resources needed to tackle inequality at its roots. 
   
• Dilution or omission of language on key populations, at a moment when they face escalating criminalisation and violence. The Declaration falls short of the commitments needed to address the structural barriers that drive their disproportionate HIV vulnerability. Critical language on decriminalisation, ending punitive laws and policies, and eliminating stigma and discrimination has been weakened, making it easier for governments to claim compliance while continuing to criminalise and marginalise these communities in practice. 
   
• Furthermore, the 2026 Political Declaration , includes a new standalone paragraph on the role of families. While we recognize that families and communities can play a supportive role in the HIV response, this emphasis is not matched by equivalent language on the protection of human rights and of people from family-based stigma, discrimination, and violence. A declaration that elevates families without safeguarding the rights of the most marginalized within and beyond family structures is not a balanced declaration. 
   
• We also note with concern the removal of the reaffirmation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the recognition of the HIV response's vital contribution to achieving it.

Implementation is urgent and must happen now

The true impact of this outcome will be measured by its implementation at the local, national and regional levels and will demand political will.

Beyond restoring a rights- and evidence-based HIV response, all governments must uphold their commitments to financing the HIV response, including their commitments to international development cooperation, and ensure predictable, sustainable financing. Ending AIDS requires moving beyond voluntary contributions towards a shared global responsibility, with fully funded HIV and community-led responses.

As APHA, ATHENA Network, AWPCAB, DIVA for Equality, EWNA, FEIM, Frontline AIDS, Gestos, Harm Reduction International, ICWEA, IPPF, Just Future Collaborative, LLaves, MENA Rosa, MGCY, Positive Women, and WMG, with locally rooted organizations, we are committed and positioned to drive and support the implementation of these commitments across national, regional, and global spheres. 

By doing so, we can ensure meaningful change in the lives of women, adolescents, girls, people living with HIV, key populations, as well as other populations disproportionately affected by HIV, stigma, discrimination, and criminalization. This includes advancing equitable access to HIV prevention, testing, treatment, care and support services; protecting human rights; promoting gender equality and bodily autonomy; and strengthening community-led responses that are essential to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. 

We will continue to hold Member States accountable to the commitments made in this Declaration.

People's Declaration

Finally, when governments fall short, communities lead. The People's Declaration on HIV and AIDS is the declaration the world actually needs; written by and for the people most affected by HIV. It sets out, without compromise, what a meaningful response to this crisis must look like. Read it. Share it. Demand it. 

Read the People’s Declaration below.