Just over two weeks before the 14th World AIDS Conference opens in Barcelona, community organisations involved in organising the conference have revealed that Spanish consulates around the world are denying visas to delegates granted community scholarships, on the grounds that they “do not fulfil the minimum economic means that an individual must have when entering the country”, amongst other reasons.
“When Barcelona was chosen, we were guaranteed that participants would not have any problem” said Shaun Mellors, Community Coordinator for the Barcelona conference. “The International AIDS Conference is not held in the U.S.A. because of this kind of problem. Let us hope that this is resolved, or we will have to refrain from holding this type of conference in countries with such restrictive entrance policies.”
The countries where problems have been reported in gaining visas include seriously affected countries such as Uganda, India, Bangladesh, Ivory Coast and Kenya. More than 1,000 people are potentially affected, all granted scholarships by the conference organizers and financed in part by the Spanish Ministry of Health.
"Spain’s image before the international AIDS community is in jeopardy" said Joan Tallada, of Red2002, the network of Spanish non-governmental organizations that is also involved in conference planning. "This AIDS Conference must give continuity to the agenda of the previous conference in Durban, and the focus on the situation in developing countries where the vast majority of the epidemic is occurring. If the people of those countries cannot come to Spain, the Conference will lose its value and its legitimacy. It is an insult to people who already live a tremendous injustice by their lack of resources and access to treatment.”