• Background
• Policy Base

Background
In early June, 2006, world leaders will meet at the United Nations in New York for the General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) where they will review progress toward promises that they have made to address the AIDS pandemic throughout the world.

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, comprised of more than 95 church or church-related organizations, has produced a teaching resource called "Keep the Promise" to engage young people in advocacy around HIV and AIDS. This curriculum can be widely used by schools, church groups, and community organizations to learn about the global AIDS pandemic and the United Nations review of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, 31 May – 2 June 2006. Young people from all over the world will be participating in this campaign.

The curriculum tells how to get involved in national advocacy by joining the “Letters to the World” campaign.

Request a free printed copy of the “Keep the Promise” through the online order form, or download the guide directly from the web at:
www.e-alliance.ch/hiv_curriculum.jsp 

Use the curriculum in your local church or school. Include people living with HIV or AIDS in preparing the lessons and in community events.

Each class should also send a letter (preferably hand-written) to join others from around the world in an exhibit at the UN in New York during May 31-June 2. Letters should be received before May 24. If possible, please include a class / group photo and a note saying how many letters the class has sent. Letters should be addressed to:

Keep the Promise – Letters to the World
211 E. 43rd Street, Room 1100
New York, NY 10017-4707
USA

*The ELCA is a member of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance: www.elca.org/aids

For more information about the UN General Assembly Review of the Declaration of Commitment on AIDS, contact Emily Freeburg at the Lutheran Office for World Community.

ELCA Policy Base
From social statements passed by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly

The ELCA social statement For Peace in God’s World affirms that “our nation has responsibility to contribute a portion of its wealth to people in poorer nations through effective economic assistance,” and that the purpose of such assistance “should be to reduce hunger and poverty in sustainable and environmentally sound ways.” (16)

For Peace in God's World also acknowledges that "While the United States has been generous in providing humanitarian aid, our nation dramatically trails the rest of the industrialized world in providing development assistance relative to our production of wealth." (16)

Further, the ELCA social statement on economic life, Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All, calls us to “scrutiny of how specific policies and practices affect people and nations that are the poorest, and changes to make policies of economic growth, trade, and investment more beneficial to those who are poor.” Also, the statement calls for “support for family planning and enhanced opportunities for women so that population pressures might be eased.” (pg. 6)

Our social statement on abortion states that “Abortion ought to be an option of only last resort. Therefore, as a church we seek to reduce the need to turn to abortion as the answer to unintended pregnancies.” Moreover, “We also deplore the circumstances that lead a woman to consider abortion as the best option available to her.” And “Poverty, lack of supportive relationships, immaturity, oppressive social realities, sexism and racism can intensify her sense of powerlessness.” (pg. 4)