Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-05-Speech-2-073"
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"en.19991005.4.2-073"2
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"Mr President, the aim of the eleventh ICASA conference in Lusaka was to set in motion a critical evaluation of the priorities and strategies which have been drawn up so far in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I would like to thank the Commissioner for his statement.
We are going to have to give particular attention in our debate on this subject to the solutions being proposed by the African scientists themselves. As affluent western countries, we must not start talking in a high-handed manner about what we consider to be the best approach. For it is heart-rending to think that, of all peoples, it is the impoverished African people who are having to endure this affliction.
On the occasion of the Lusaka conference some comments worth listening to were made on the question of how to tackle the spread of AIDS effectively. A case in point was the courageous contribution made by Professor Nkando Luo, the Zambian Minister for Public Health, who called for high moral standards to be maintained and for responsible sexual behaviour. In saying this, she reached the heart of the matter. Other speakers in Lusaka also suggested that this is not being made a subject for discussion in all candour, although everyone is aware that the spreading of the HIV virus is due, above all, to promiscuous behaviour.
It goes without saying that this should never give rise to the stigmatisation of those who are infected with the AIDS virus. Compassion and mercy are the key words when it comes to our behaviour towards these sick fellow human beings. Cheap drugs and the means to relieve their suffering ought therefore to be available. Where this is not the case, as affluent countries it is only right that we should make a contribution.
But what I have just said relates to curative care. Preventive measures are even more necessary. If we are to tackle a problem effectively, then we must always begin at its root. If we drop the moral standard advocating that sexual intercourse be embedded in a relationship based on mutual trust, in which the man and woman know each other inside out, then it is to be feared that this will bring about disintegration and breakdown in society. When people lead promiscuous lives we are not talking about relationships in which respect for the other person as a human being sets the tone. This means that we are destroying that which is loveliest. The comment made by the South African Zindaka Sibeko during the ICASA conference was telling. He said: “I believe that the longing for marriage raises a painful dilemma these days, for we have been completely robbed of the happiness, the joy that accompanies a wedding.”
Africa holds up a mirror to Europe in this respect: the selfish lifestyle, in which purely individual sexual pleasure without respect for the other person or responsibility to society is considered the norm, has a very high price. Too high. Perhaps there is a need for a European version of the Lusaka conference at which we as Europeans would reflect on our principal responsibilities, for the draft resolutions submitted to date do not contain so much as a hint of how badly this is needed."@en1
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