The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean participated in a roundtable discussion on the occasion of the World AIDS Orphans Day on 7 May at the St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity in Valletta, capital city of the small Mediterranean archipelago. The leading guest of the activity, organized by the French Embassy to Malta, was Countess Albina du Boisrouvray, founder of the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud (AFXB), which was created in honour of her son. The organization seeks to help AIDS orphans worldwide and provides support to their communities.
Countess du Boisrouvray opened the talks with a short presentation of the AFXB and its mission, which is to fight poverty and AIDS and to support orphans and vulnerable children left in the wake of the AIDS pandemic. It advocates for their fundamental rights, and today AFXB leads over 100 programs in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, with a network of 42 countries. She suggested that Malta, being at the forefront of the discussions on water and climate change issues, could also be a leader at the UN in mobilizing other countries and push in finding programs through which money is spent more appropriately to alleviate the emotional and practical suffering of these children.
Mr. Martin Micallef, PAM’s Senior Information Officer, gave a brief overview of PAM’s activities and accomplishments, notably with respect to gender issues and the promotion of access to information regarding sexual health within its Special Task Force on Gender and Equality Issues. He referred to PAM’s Resolution on this subject which, among other things, calls upon the Parliaments to incorporate gender equality at the core of the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Mediterranean countries’ development policies. It also suggests Parliaments give support to efforts aimed at discussing the current backlash against gender equality and relatively unaddressed topics of HIV/AIDS, human trafficking and women’s access to information technologies in gender perspective. PAM, Mr. Micallef added, has also a responsibility in engaging the media and civil society in its activities. “We aim to bring awareness to them about
PAM and its goals so that they too will have a positive impact on governments and promote PAM’s ideals”.
In regards to the migration aspect views were aired by Mr. Ahmed Burge, Manager of the Marsa Open Center, one of Malta’s reception facilities for illegal immigrants, and Ms. Maria Pisani of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Malta. Mr. Burge, a Ghanaian who has been living in Malta for 19 years, stated that climate change has become a major factor in forcing people to migrate, especially due to an increasing lack of water resources. Many people in rural areas move to the cities where they equally remain disillusioned. They therefore decide to start their saga to reach destinations in continental Europe. It is within the urban context of their country of origin, that they are exposed to situations in which they unknowingly contract HIV. He said that therefore the focus needs to be switched to “why they are leaving” their small villages, as it is now clear that the lack of tangible opportunities there, is the major push factor towards migration. Ms. Pisani stressed that migration is certainly highly related to HV/AIDS, as health is a cross-cutting theme. She explained that at the IOM they work to assist voluntary returns where those receiving the aid not only benefit themselves but also their community.
Other contributions to the roundtable were made by the Mayor of Valletta, Mr. Alexiei Dingli, and Father Martin Micallef of Dar tal-Provvidenza and Claire Bodonyi. Mr Serge Borg moderated the discussion.
H.E. Daniel Rondeau, the French Ambassador to Malta, closed the event by reiterating his strong support for Countess du Boisrouvray’s efforts with AIDS orphans. In concluding, the Countess welcomed the opportunity to work closely with PAM in the future and spoke with enthusiasm on connecting PAM’s network of parliamentarians with the one she had built of over 800 mayors.