Declaration from the Peru Youthforce 2009

The Peru Youth Force at the 5th Latin American and Caribbean Forum on HIV and STIs,
recognises the diversity of Latin American and Caribbean youth. We are women, men,
lesbians, trans, gay, bisexual, intersex, heterosexual, young people living with HIV, African
descendants, indigenous people, migrants and drug users, sex workers, and youth with
deprivation of liberty, and we consider it vital to raise our voices.

Our region has become the centre of many political, economic, and social challenges. After
devastating dictatorships, our democracies are still weak, the gaps that are products of socio-
economic polarisation continue to grow, and anti-rights groups have won major government
space, which hinders the exercise of human rights, especially sexual and reproductive rights.
We therefore demand:

1. Promotion of access to sexual and reproductive health to meet the needs of

young people, and to actively involve young women, ensuring their effective
participation and leading role in decision-making spaces in the state and civil society.

2. Universal access to innovative prevention strategies and diagnostic

services, and treatment for HIV and STIs from a human rights approach, for
lesbians, trans, gay and bisexual men. Furthermore, we demand public policies in
education, health, and work, and laws that prevent, punish, and eliminate violence
and hate crimes against these communities.

3. Comprehensive, friendly and differentiated health services for universal

access to multiple existing combinations of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) and for young
people living with HIV. And programs to lessen the impact of side effects of ARVs in
their daily lives.

4. Urgent implementation of the Declaration for Sexual Education signed by the

Ministers of Education and Health at the XVII International AIDS Conference (Mexico
City, August 2008), incorporating young people as protagonists in the mechanisms
for implementing, monitoring, and evaluation of the Declaration.

Finally, we reiterate the need for facilities to promote our effective participation in decision-
making, and administration of resources to respond effectively to the impact of the pandemic.
And education to decide, resources to act, participation to transform!

Education to decide, resources to act

& participation to tra nsform!

Lima, November 20, 2009