The head of delegation for the United Kingdom addressed the HLM plenary in Vienna today as follows:

“The UK would have wished to see a bolder document. There are many examples i could give, but i will give only one – Paragraph 20 refers to the link between drug use and HIV AIDS. A key technique in preventing HIV AIDS is harm reduction. Yet those words appear nowhere in the paragraph or otherwise in the document. This is obviously at variance with other UN documents and with millennium goals. This sends confusing and damaging messages to governments and agencies seeking to grapple with this epidemic and we hope our reservation on this point is entered into the minute.”

“We support the declaration despite the reservations we have about it and we hope it will be used creatively and responsively to meet the challenges we will face in the future.”