Experts Demand Pause on AU Violence Treaty as HIV Gains Face Funding Crisis
By Ojoma Akor
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — African women’s rights advocates have called for a pause in the ratification of the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, warning that weaknesses in the proposed treaty could undermine protections already secured by African women.
The call came as health and rights advocates at the 26th International AIDS Conference, AIDS 2026, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, warned that deep cuts in HIV funding, growing anti-rights campaigns and attacks on gender equality are threatening hard-won gains in the global response to AIDS.
The warnings were made during a SHE & Rights session titled “Rising Anti-Rights and Anti-Gender Backlash: Threats to the Global AIDS Response,” co-hosted by the Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI) and CNS, with partners including the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), ARROW and APCAT Media.
The concerns come against the backdrop of a worsening global HIV financing crisis. UNAIDS reported at AIDS 2026 that 1.2 million people acquired HIV in 2025, while 570,000 died of AIDS-related illnesses. About 41 million people were living with HIV, and 32.1 million were accessing antiretroviral treatment.
UNAIDS warned that cuts to international funding and HIV prevention and community services could lead to a resurgence of the epidemic and put the 2030 goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat at risk.
Shobha Shukla, SHE & Rights host, coordinator and executive director of CNS, said gender justice was fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including ending AIDS.
“With only 54 months left to deliver on 2030 targets, we are at a critical crossroads,” Shukla said, warning that attacks on health and gender rights were threatening progress against HIV.
African women challenge AU treaty.
Mai Aman, legal officer for the Strengthening Legal Mechanism at the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), said the Pause for Purpose campaign did not oppose an African continental treaty addressing violence against women and girls.
Instead, it is demanding that the proposed convention undergo further scrutiny and be strengthened before countries become legally bound.
“Our message is simple and very clear: Pause, listen, strengthen, then ratify,” Aman said.
The campaign argues that the treaty’s development process has not adequately involved women’s rights organizations, survivors and civil society.
A survey of about 1,500 civil society organizations cited by the campaign found that only 33% were aware the convention was being drafted before its adoption. In contrast, 93% said they had not been consulted.
“Consultation therefore must be more than an invitation to endorse a predetermined outcome. It must give women and girls a genuine opportunity to examine the text, raise concerns and influence the final instrument,” Aman said.
“A treaty concerning African women cannot be developed without African women.”
The campaign has also raised concerns about the substance of the proposed convention, including what it describes as insufficiently enforceable protections and inadequate treatment of issues such as female genital mutilation, child marriage, domestic violence, marital rape, trafficking and conflict-related sexual violence.
Aman said references to “family” and “African values” also required scrutiny to ensure they could not be used to restrict women’s autonomy or undermine existing rights.
The campaign argues that the new treaty should strengthen, rather than weaken or create ambiguity around, protections contained in the 2003 Maputo Protocol.
It is calling for an independent expert review of the convention and an inclusive revision process involving African women’s rights groups, survivors, governments and legal experts.
The campaign also staged a peaceful protest outside the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa, on July 25, during a high-level dialogue on the convention’s domestication and ratification.
“This is not a call to delay without purpose. It is a call for due diligence, accountability and stronger protections,” Aman said.
Funding cuts deepen HIV crisis.
Numan Afifi of the APCOM Foundation in Thailand said the HIV response was facing two mutually reinforcing crises: declining funding and an organized anti-rights and anti-gender backlash.
“Just as the response faces an unprecedented funding crisis with deep cuts to HIV programs all around the world, it is being hit by a second crisis — an organized, well-funded anti-rights and anti-gender backlash,” Afifi said.
“These two crises are not separate. They compound each other.”
He said criminalization and stigma were pushing vulnerable populations away from HIV testing, prevention and treatment.
The funding crisis is already having measurable consequences. UNAIDS said earlier in 2026 that 38% fewer people received PrEP at least once in 2025 than in 2024 across 62 countries, a decline of about 1.2 million people. Nigeria was among the countries included in the analysis.
For Africa, the consequences could be particularly serious because the continent continues to carry the world’s largest HIV burden.
Kenya: ‘We saw shelves go dry’
Nelly Munyasia, executive director of the Reproductive Health Network Kenya, described the effects of funding disruptions following the 2025 USAID stop-work order.
“When USAID left, parallel systems collapsed: ARVs, check-ups, referrals, community outreaches, counseling and testing centers all came to a standstill,” she said.
“We saw shelves go dry.”
Munyasia said the disruption extended beyond HIV to family planning services and other reproductive health programs.
She said a baseline survey launched in five Kenyan counties in July had recorded increases in unintended pregnancies, HIV infections and reinfections, and unsafe abortions.
The crisis, she added, was being exploited by organized anti-rights groups promoting what she described as exclusionary interpretations of African values.
“African is not hate. African appreciates and recognizes everyone in their diversity,” she said.
Dr Edison Oduor, program director at RHNK, said African countries needed to use the funding crisis as an opportunity to build stronger domestic health systems, rather than recreate fragmented, donor-dependent programs.
He called for integration of HIV, sexual and reproductive health, contraception, maternal health and gender-based violence services, alongside greater investment in digital health.
“No single organization can replace donor funding,” Oduor said. “Only resilient government systems, properly resourced, can deliver at scale.”
At AIDS 2026, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said ending AIDS by 2030 remained achievable, but stressed that communities must remain central to the response and called for greater domestic and international funding and the repeal of laws that criminalize vulnerable populations.
For the African women leading the Pause for Purpose campaign, however, the message extends beyond HIV.
They argue that the continent cannot defeat violence against women, HIV, or other public health threats while weakening the legal and social protections that enable women and marginalized communities to access care.