Needle Sharing Prevention

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History of the Resolution

During the telegram campaigns associated with the Tracking Near Earth Objects resolution, a number of UN members asked Mikitivity why it was focusing on such a distant threat, asteroids, while ignoring a much more immediate danger: the spread of HIV/AIDS in many lesser developed nations. Already under domestic pressure to deal with the situtation, the government decided to consult with national health care officials for low-cost innovative solutions to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The United Nations had already adopted New Clarkhall's Global AIDS Initiative resolution (#32), which focused on encouraging national governments to use tax incentives as a way to motivate private pharmaceutical companies into lowering the costs of AIDS treatment drugs. The resolution also promoted increased national testing for HIV in blood banks, in order to reduce transfusion based infections. However, neither of these two direct approaches promoted a way to reduce the actual spread of HIV.

The Mikitivity Medical Association and Mikitivity Rote Kreuz convinced the Mikitivity Office of International Affairs, that the Global AIDS Initiative could be built upon by focusing on a more radical approach that was being implemented in a number of cities in NationStates where one of the vectors of the spread of HIV was through needle injections.

Concerned that injection drug users were not necessarily viewed as a priority amongst many national governments, Mikitivity was prepared for a heavy UN battle (as evidenced by the lengthy resolution preamble and documentation) in its effort to request that nations start more needle and syringe exchange programs. Surprisingly, a large number of UN Delegates were very receptive to the idea, and the resolution quickly reached the UN floor where the debate focused large on the issue of the impact on injecting drug use if needles were easier to get.

The UN adopted the resolution with 80% of the votes cast in favor of the idea, making Mikitivity the first UN member to have two resolutions adopted.


Text of the Resolution

UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION #67
Needle Sharing Prevention
A resolution to reduce income inequality and increase basic welfare.

Category: Social Justice Strength: Significant Proposed By: Mikitivity


The NationStates United Nations

OBSERVING the continued health risk posed by injecting drug use (IDU), as reported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its June 25, 2004 report titled, "World Drug Report 2004";


AWARE that it is common for injecting drug users to share their needles, in a practice that is commonly referred to as "needle sharing";


TAKING NOTE of the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) report "2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic", dated July 6, 2004;


CALLING ATTENTION to the fact that the UNAIDS report states that the "HIV epidemic remains largely concentrated among injecting drug users, men who have sex with men, sex workers, clients of sex workers, and their immediate sexual partners";


BEARING IN MIND that the UNAIDS report also found that in many regions of the world that 60% of injecting drug users are infected with HIV;


ALSO AWARE that due to the illegal status of most injecting drugs in many nations, that injecting drug users, like many other people living with HIV/AIDS and high risk groups, are less able to participate in prevention and treatment programs;


CONCERNED by the UNAIDS estimate that "AIDS is intensifying chronic food shortages in many countries where large numbers of people are already undernourished" due in part to the fact that people living with HIV/AIDS account for large portions of the agricultural work force;


ACKNOWLEGDING that while the best prevention and treatment programs are tailor designed to the individual cultures and societies to which they seek to help, that the scope of the AIDS Epidemic is global in nature;


NOTING the success of reducing HIV/AIDS (as well as other diseases such as Hepatitis B and C) through domestic, local, and non-governmental based needle and syringe exchange programs; 1 , 2


OBSERVING reports that needle and syringe exchange programs do not increase IDU, but instead have resulted in decreases in the number of injections per day; 3


1. AFFIRMS the basic human right for all people, including injection drug users, to equal access to HIV/AIDS based prevention and treatment programs;


2. ENCOURAGES all nations to review existing free needle and syringe exchange programs and to consider adopting trial or study level needle and syringe exchange programs tailor suited to the cultural and society in which the program will be applied;


3. STRESSES that for IDU HIV/AIDS prevention programs to be successful, that the individuals that organize or participate in these programs shall not be subject to arrest or harassment, nor shall participation in these programs imply drug use;


4. COMMENDS existing national, local, and non-governmental needle and syringe exchange programs; and


5. REQUESTS that existing needle sharing prevention programs share the findings of their studies with other national, local, and non-governmental organizations interested in developing their own needle and syringe exchange programs.


NOTES

1 Australian National Council on AIDS, Hepatitis C, and Related Diseases for a real-world example.
2 "Seattle and King County Needle Exchange Program" is another real-world example that these programs are cost effective and save money and lives.
3 1998 University of California San Francisco study titled: "Does HIV Needle Exchange Work?"


Votes For: 11,654
Votes Against: 2,876
Implemented: Fri Jul 23 2004


Additional Information

Discussion on Gameplay Impacts

Since the passage of this resolution, the Game Moderators have since ruled that no proposal or resolution can make any reference to any real world document. Future proposals that include information similar to the Annex of this resolution would be ruled a UN rules violation, and the proposing nation would be issued a warning and the proposal deleted.

The way around this change in gameplay would be to not include actual citations in the resolution text, but to create a resolution FAQ or list of references that could be posted in the UN forum during the resolution debate.