29 JULY 2008 (New York, USA) – Next week, the Leitner Center will send four representatives to the XVII International AIDS Conference being held in Mexico City. Professor Tracy Higgins (Co-Director, Leitner Center for International Law and Justice), Professor Paolo Galizzi (Director, Sustainable Development Legal Initiative), Brian Honermann (FLS'07 and '07-'08 Tolan Fellow), and Libby Mooers (Program Assistant), will attend the conference on behalf of the Leitner Center.
As part of the conference, UNDP and UNAIDS recently announced the 25 winners of this year's Red Ribbon Awards. (http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2008/june/unaids-announces-red-ribbon-award-2008-winners.en) The Award is given to community-based organizations for their work and for demonstrating remarkable efforts in terms of innovation, impact, sustainability, strategic partnerships, gender sensitivity and social inclusion. The Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (COWLHA) is one of those selected for their work. After working with the Crowley Program in International Human Rights in 2007, COWLHA received the Leitner Center’s Annual Human Rights Prize last fall.

From the 25 winners, five will be selected during the conference by a jury of eminent persons to receive special recognition in the following categories; providing access to treatment, support and care; supporting children orphaned by AIDS; promoting human rights; empowering women and girls; and providing HIV prevention programs and services.

The jury will include her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Norway, Dr. Paul Farmer, Dr. Helene Gayle, Professor Tracy Higgins, President Mary Robinson and other prominent actors in the AIDS response. Each of the 25 winning organizations will receive USD 5,000 and the five communities receiving special recognition will receive an additional USD 15,000.

In addition to Professor Higgins' role as a jury member, she will participate with President Robinson and Justice Edwin Cameron in the "Meet the Leaders: Human Rights and HIV" session and co-facilitate the "Know Your Universal Rights Information Session," both to be held on Wednesday, August 6. Professor Higgins and current Tolan Fellow Brian Honermann will conduct the latter session as part of the Community Tequio Dialogue Space in the Global Village at the conference. The Community Dialogue Space encourages the exchange of ideas for to strengthening and supporting community participation in HIV/AIDS.

As the first Tolan Fellow, Brian has worked with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the AIDS Law Project (ALP), the two premiere organizations campaigning for the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Brian will bring a valuable perspective to the Leitner Center’s training session.

For more information on the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008), please visit the conference website at http://www.aids2008.org/. For questions regarding the Leitner Center’s involvement in the conference, please contact Libby Mooers at mooers@law.fordham.edu.