Distinguished representatives,
Ladies and gentlemen,

The challenge that HIV/AIDS represents for many nations extends far beyond the issue of health. For a growing number of countries, AIDS is no longer only a public health crisis. AIDS has become, as the Security Council has so rightly stated, an issue of human security. It is posing a real threat to stability and peace, particularly in Africa. HIV/AIDS can be so pervasive that it destroys the very fabric of a nation: individuals, families and communities; economic, social and political institutions; military and police forces.

Welcome to Oslo, Norway. It is a pleasure and an honor for me to speak to such a motivated, interested and varied audience, which includes both familiar and unfamiliar faces, and to speak on an equally important topic. Norway gives high priority to the battle against HIV/AIDS. We will continue to do so, both at home and abroad, and we know that the committee is making important contributions to this cause. I am therefore very pleased to be able to open this meeting of the Steering Committee by addressing some of the main challenges facing us.

AIDS poses a threat both because it may aggravate international security challenges and because it can undermine international capacity to resolve conflicts. AIDS is a security threat to the countries it ravages and to their neighbors, partners and allies. AIDS is taking a toll more profound than any military confrontation, and it is indiscriminate in its effects. All are alike for this new enemy of the state, combatants and non-combatants, leaders and civilians. AIDS makes no distinction.

If we are to make headway against this scourge, we need to communicate better and more openly about HIV/AIDS. We talk a great deal about how to avoid the stigmatization of victims of AIDS in civil society. My experience is that denial, fear and stigmatization are also present at the highest political levels, improvements notwithstanding.

No government can deal with the challenges of the epidemic on its own. Alliances with all democratic forces - across political divides, across religious divides, across ethnic divides - are called for. Last year I myself established a national Forum for AIDS and Development. This brings together representatives of youth organizations, labor, business, culture, sport, churches, NGOs, the media, and people living with HIV and AIDS, who are joining together as partners to fight the disease. This is a model which we have taken from countries in the South.

Numerous suggestions have been put forward on how to fight the battle against AIDS. Some have already been implemented, some still need further work and all rely upon political will. We need to address these suggestions and various other issues during this meeting of the Steering Committee. Some are more politically sensitive than others, but we need to find ways of addressing these as well. I would like to discuss one of these in more detail.

Peacekeeping personnel are exposed to HIV/AIDS, and personnel from and in the developing world are particularly vulnerable – indeed, they are often at extremely high risk. It cannot be denied that military and peacekeeping personnel, and aid workers, also sometimes put women and girls in local communities at risk. We are all responsible for changing this situation and making military and peacekeeping forces our allies in prevention. Thus we need to focus on the countries that provide peacekeeping personnel. We also need to strengthen local and regional capacity in order to be able to respond to the epidemics in national uniformed services.

Norway is dealing with this issue in various ways. In June, we took over as chairman of SHIRBRIG. This is the Multinational UN Stand-by Forces High Readiness Brigade, whose forces include participants from several Nordic countries. During the year of our chairmanship we will ensure that HIV/AIDS figures prominently in the cooperation.

Norway has also initiated a program called Training for Peace in Southern Africa. The purpose of this project is to help countries in the region to build up peacekeeping expertise through courses, seminars and other types of information sharing. Here too, the fight against HIV/AIDS will be part of the activities.

I believe that voluntary HIV testing in national defense forces, especially of troops to be deployed in international peacekeeping missions, will be an effective preventive measure. Although testing is no panacea, I truly believe voluntary counseling and testing can help reduce the risk of HIV transmission. It has been shown that knowledge of one’s HIV status can result in a change from high-risk to low-risk behavior. This applies not only to sexual behavior, it is also relevant for injuries and blood transfusions.

All UN peacekeeping personnel should be given voluntary, confidential counseling and testing, both before and after deployment. The counseling must be detailed, frank, adapted to local circumstances and sensitivities, and pay due regard to human rights considerations. Such testing is already established practice in Norway. Later today we will be talking in more detail about Norwegian practices in this regard.

We are working closely with the armed forces in this process and are receiving valuable support, both in this connection and in regard to our work in the AIDS Forum. Through this cooperation, we can reach the personnel to be deployed abroad directly. At a meeting with Secretary General Annan here in Oslo last month, General Sølvberg from Defense Command North Norway asked, "Is the AIDS epidemic now so serious that we have to send the army to fight it? The answer is yes. Not only do soldiers need to protect themselves. They are also ambassadors of a great cause." It is vital that the armed forces of other countries also share this understanding. They must be an integral part of the international strategy to fight HIV/AIDS.

In June I visited the Nordic/Baltic military exercise Nordic Peace 2001, and distributed the first HIV Awareness Cards to all the participants. We managed to include the HIV/AIDS aspect in a civil/military co-operation (CIMIC) exercise and thereby emphasize the important links between the two.

There is an urgent need to integrate HIV prevention into the efforts to deal with humanitarian crises and complex emergencies, and to offer comprehensive HIV prevention programs to all peacekeeping troops and the communities in which they serve. As you, Dr. Piot, have observed, "a military and police force, well trained in HIV prevention and behavior changes, can be a tremendous force for prevention if it is made one of their priorities".

Good luck to all of you – and thank you for your attention.

(Dr. Piot, you have the floor)