24 June 2002
Videoconference, Geneva and New York, 17 June 2002
FICSA participated in the Task Force on HIV/AIDS in the UN Workplace, represented by Judey Austin, Vice-President, Maria Teresa Londono, Regional Member for the Americas, Anne Marie Pinou, Research and Liaison Officer and Leslie Ewart, Information Officer.
Participants discussed the following items:
FICSA welcomes the comprehensive and rights-based approach to HIV/AIDS policy in the UN workplace, based on the 1991 ACC system-wide policy on HIV/AIDS, the ILO Code of Practice and the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment and urges senior management to reinforce the principles set out in those documents. Together, they provide a set of minimum standards that should form the basis for monitoring and accountability.
The UNAIDS Secretariat will ensure that examples of best practice are collected and that learning material is developed and updated to strengthen learning programmes for UN management and staff. The Secretariat will also check on the progress of the recommendation already sent to Heads of Agencies that called for the establishment of HIV/AIDS focal points in agencies.
The ACTION (Access, Care, Treatment and Organizational Needs) programme for 10 countries will continue to be given priority. Although country selection was based on rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence and the number of UN staff in each country, FICSA pointed out that consideration should be given to conducting future missions to the Caribbean region. To date, missions have been carried out to Rwanda, Uganda and Cambodia to assess the extent of the implementation of the policy on HIV/AIDS in the workplace, and identify needs. The mission team for Cambodia concluded that more work needs to be done to strengthen peer counseling, to deal with delays in reimbursing medical claims and to ensure confidentiality when claims are reimbursed locally.
The High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) will take up the issue of health insurance with a view to ensuring that there is a comparable level of protection throughout the 19 health insurance schemes. The Chief Executive Board (CEB) had conducted a preliminary study of the various health insurance schemes that was forwarded to all organizations for comments. It was recognized that a major factor contributing to discrepancies in medical insurance coverage for staff is the inequitable application and wide variety of contractual conditions throughout the UN system.
UNAIDS proposed amendments to the current medical questionnaire that would exclude references to HIV/AIDS status. The UN Medical Service, on the other hand, stressed the need for staff to disclose all pertinent medical details. FICSA supported the addition of language that would ensure that HIV/AIDS sufferers know that they cannot be discriminated against. After some debate, the Task Force agreed that it would consider further how best to amend the questionnaire to reconcile the concerns of the medical services with those of staff. In addition, there is a need to clarify the purpose of the questionnaire both to staff and administrating officers.
Draft posters on the HIV/AIDS in the workplace policy and PEP kits were considered. The general view was that more work needs to be done, in collaboration with a communications expert to ensure that the posters convey their message effectively. The posters will be produced in local languages.
The UNAIDS expert charged with the HIV/AIDS Learning Strategy presented an outline of this plan which is intended to support local government/NGO responses to HIV/AIDS and educate staff and those responsible for counseling others on HIV/AIDS policy in the workplace.
The meeting welcomed the participation of ILO in the Task Force, for the first time. ILO’s proposal to create an Inter-Agency Task Team was considered but it was seen as redundant in view of the existence of the present Task Force which had already been established by the CEB, and which has the overall authority for issues of staff welfare within the UN system.
A Distance Learning Project is underway, with most of the work centered on a CD-ROM that has already been produced. FICSA highlighted some of the difficulties in relying on the CD-ROM as a principal training tool, e.g. some staff do not have access to computers, staff may not have access to the CD ROM or access may be hampered by administrative procedures that jeopardize confidentiality. UNAIDS supported the creation of a number of different learning options recognizing that it would not be enough to rely solely on one form of training.
UNHCR announced that to date it had trained 31 persons in peer support in the Africa region.
UNICEF announced the creation of the post of a professional human resources officer who would be responsible solely for HIV/AIDS policy. UNICEF stressed the need to make senior management aware that sufficient resources must be allocated if the UN organizations are serious about tackling HIV/AIDS in the workplace.