New York, New York – The recent adoption of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development by global leadership at the UN this week must
mark the start of refocused advocacy at the national level as leaders turn towards implementation of the agenda. Agenda 2030, captured
in the outcome document “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda,”
includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) featuring 169 targets on social, economic, and environmental priorities. However, political will and
strong financial commitments as well as advocacy and civil society engagement will be required to realize the vision outlined by Agenda 2030. The International
Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) calls on national leaders to keep women living with HIV on the agenda and to invest in and support robust
civil society engagement in planning, implementation, and monitoring processes at global, regional and particularly at the national level.

To be certain, Agenda 2030 falls short of expectations on many fronts— worryingly, the goals reflect a somewhat weakened vision for women’s equality
from the more ambitious vision laid out in the Beijing declaration and platform for action, and fail to lay out a comprehensive human rights based approach to the goals, including a marked lack of focus on securing the rights of people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identities and other key populations within the HIV response.
Further, Agenda 2030 is also lacking in solid financial commitments and clear lines of accountability.

However, Agenda 2030 does include several goals and targets that are of critical importance to women living with HIV including Goal 3: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” Goal 3 includes specific targets to: reduce maternal mortality; end AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by 2030; ensure access to safe, effective quality
and affordable medicines; and, critically, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services including family planning which
was a contentious issue throughout the SDG negotiations. Also particularly critical for women living with HIV is Goal 5 “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Goal 5 includes specific targets on ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere, eliminating all forms of violence in
public and private spheres and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.

Flexibility around which goals and targets will be prioritized and financed at the national level threatens to undermine the consistency of implementation
of the full agenda; women must remain a top priority, specifically through the full implementation of Goals 3 and 5. Keeping women living with HIV
and our concerns on the agenda at the national level will require that women living with HIV have a seat at the table and are engaged at all levels
in implementation processes. ICW urges global leaders to:

1. Ensure meaningful engagement of networks of women living with HIV in planning, implementation, and monitoring process at global, regional and national
   levels by investing in civil society and creating open and inclusive implementation processes;
2. Employ a human rights based approach to the implementation of Agenda 2030, to include the rights of people with diverse sexual orientation and gender
   identities and other key populations for the HIV response such as sex workers and people who use drugs;
3. Fully implement and finance Goal 3, particularly efforts to bolster the HIV response, end discrimination and violence and ensure universal access to
   family planning; and
4. Fully implement and finance Goal 5, to ensure meaningful progress towards gender equality and to secure universal access to sexual and reproductive
   health rights.

NOTHING FOR US WITHOUT US- KEEP WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV ON AGENDA 2030!

WE NEED A SEAT AT THE TABLE!

The International Community of Women Living with HIV, the first and only global network by and for women and girls living with HIV, has worked for
over 20 years to address and support the challenges of, as well as collectively celebrate, all self-identifying women and girls living with HIV throughout
the world.