17th October 2012
The theme of this year’s AGM was the issue of criminalisation of homosexuality and its link with faith.
Lynne Featherstone Keynote Speech
Lynne Featherstone MP, the new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DFID, gave the keynote address at a packed Consortium AGM. In her address to the UK Consortoium, and its members, the Minister re-dedicated DFID to prioritising HIV and AIDS:”I have come here today is to emphasize the UK’s continued commitment to HIV. I want to make that very, very clear.” The Minister also spoke about the relationship between DFID and the UK Consortium: “It is incredibly valuable for DFID to work with and meet the Consortium as a collective. We value the strong, constructive, open and honest relationship we have.” Ms Featherstone spoke about the Government’s commitment to ending discrimination on the basis of sexuality, the theme of this year’s AGM: “The world must work harder to empower these groups whose life circumstances place them under increased risk of HIV.” Listen to the Ministers speech in full.
Round Table on Faith and Criminalisation
A background paper written by the Faith and Prevention Working Groups of the UK Consortium was introduced by Rev. James Matarazzo, co-Chair of the Consortium’s Faith Working Group. This was followed by a roundtable discussion exploring the link of faith and criminalisation of homosexuality, and perspectives on how UK civil society can best respond to the human rights emergency facing LGBT communities. Read a report of the roundtable discussions
Speakers included:
- James Matarazzo, Oxford University and co-chair of the Faith Working Group, UK Consortium Watch video
- David Kuria Mbote, Senate Candidate Kenya
- Steve Fouch, Christian Medical Fellowship and co-chair of the Faith Working Group, UK Consortium
- Mike Battcock, DFID
- Aoife Nic Charthaigh, Interact Worldwide and member of Prevention Working Group, UK Consortium
- Mohamed Osman, Elton John AIDS Foundation
- Rev. Ije Ajibade, Kaleidoscope Trust
Other Key Speeches
- Angelina Namiba, Positively UK. Video and speech.
- Jessie Waldman welcome speech on behalf of UK Consortium Board of Trustees
- Exploring Key Issues with Parliamentary Under Secretary of State: Violence against women; Scaling up the response; Linking HIV with broader health and human rights responses; and Access to medicines.
Trustee Elections
Three new trustees were elected by the Consortium membership at the AGM. Luisa Orza is an independent consultant working to advance women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in the context of HIV and works closely with the Athena Network, Aaron Oxley, Executive Director of the influential advocacy organisation RESULTS UK, and Georgia Burford, who is HIV Strategy Manager at CAFOD. You can read about all of our Trustees here.
View photos of the AGM on our Facebook page.
