UN meeting on AIDS

The Crown Princess is in New York in her capacity as a Special Representative for UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS). In addition to attending the important negotiations during the High Level Meeting, the Crown Princess will be participating in various side events focusing on young people’s contributions to the HIV/AIDS response.

Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim will speak on behalf of Norway at the High Level Meeting. The objective of the meeting is to adopt a new Declaration of Commitment to guide and sustain the global HIV/AIDS response.

Youth involvement in the UN

In her role as a Special Representative for UNAIDS, the Crown Princess has frequently expressed her belief that young people are the best suited to lead the campaign to reverse the spread of HIV. The Crown Princess would also like to see a greater portion of the funding channelled to organisations combating HIV/AIDS go to the growing number of youth organisations taking up this important fight.

Today the Crown Princess will meet with around 50 young people at a Youth Summit organised by UNAIDS. The aim of the summit is to prepare young leaders to join the High Level Meeting and to ensure that youth voices are heard on HIV issues. The summit is a follow-up of the Mali Youth Summit on HIV/AIDS in April 2011, which the Crown Princess also attended. UNAIDS would like to see the Call to Action drawn up at the Mali summit play a key role in negotiations during the High Level Meeting.

Cultural evening

In addition to attending the High Level Meeting negotiations, the Crown Princess will attend the US launch event for the Norwegian author John Harstad’s novel “Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?”.