Stephen Lewis
United Nations Biography
The Secretary-General has appointed Stephen Lewis as his
Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Mr. Lewis, who served
as Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) from 1995-1999, and former Canadian
Ambassador to the United Nations, will be responsible for
ensuring follow-up to the African summit on HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and other infectious diseases held in Abuja,
Nigeria, last April, and to next month's United Nations
General Assembly special session on HIV/AIDS, as related to
Africa. It was at the Abuja summit of African leaders that the
Secretary-General issued his call to action against the
worldwide scourge of HIV/AIDS, and outlined five key
objectives for the global campaign: preventing the
epidemic's further spread, reducing mother-to-child HIV
transmission, providing care and treatment to all,
delivering scientific breakthroughs, and protecting the
vulnerable, especially orphans. Mr. Lewis will work closely
with African leaders, with the United Nations team and
resident coordinator in each country he visits, and with Dr.
Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), as well as K.Y. Amoako, head
of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). They will help
him establish a small secretariat, at a location to be
decided shortly. He will also, on occasion, represent the
Secretary-General at events related to Africa and HIV/AIDS.
A Canadian citizen, Mr. Lewis has had extensive experience
as a politician, diplomat and humanitarian. A passionate
advocate of the rights and needs of children, he has, since
leaving UNICEF in 1999, been raising his voice in support of
various humanitarian causes around the world, particularly
in Africa and on HIV/AIDS. In June 1998, in addition to his United Nations duties, Mr.
Lewis was appointed by the Organization of African Unity
(OAU) to an "International Panel of Eminent Personalities to
Investigate the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda and the Surrounding
Events". From 1984 through 1988, he was Canadian Ambassador
to the United Nations. In the 1960s and 1970s, Stephen Lewis
was an elected representative to the Ontario Legislature,
and served as leader of the New Democratic Party. Mr. Lewis
was born in Ottawa on 11 November 1937. He is married to
Michele Landsberg, and they have three children -- Ilana,
Avi and Jenny.
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Series
Books:Race Against Time, November 2005
CBC Massey Lectures Series
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