'Don't Break Your Promise on AIDS' International Treatment Preparedness Coalition Demands of G8 Leaders

The following is being issued by International Treatment Preparedness Coalition:

G8 Leaders:

We are alarmed to hear reports coming from the back-room G8 negotiations that there is a movement to renege on the solemn commitment to come as close as possible to universal access to AIDS treatment, prevention and care by 2010.

As a group of 800 people from over 120 countries, representative of millions of fellow people for whom treatment is the only hope for life, we know that we are not in a position to negotiate or influence through traditional diplomatic channels. We've tried to work through the established process and, if what we hear is true, we have failed.

With only hours left until the public G8 commitments are made the only means we have left to influence your crucial work are the human-to-human connections -- imploring you and the behind-the-scenes teams representing you -- not to use our lives as trading chips.

For us 'near universal access', while not a specific metric, translates into ten million of our lives sustained by the world's commitment. We have never deluded ourselves that this goal would be easy to accomplish, or even likely to be attained, but we celebrated it for the statement it makes about our value in the world.

If, as we are hearing, this commitment is abandoned and instead '50% of need by 2010' replaces it, with the stroke of a pen and the nod of powerful heads, five million people are condemned.

We hope we are misinformed and that there is not a chance that the leaders of the world will disown one of the boldest and most honorable goals the world has ever set itself. But we cannot afford to wait and see how the negotiations turn out: we must beg you today, in this hour, not to let this happen.