ABOUT COMMON VOICE
The AIDS epidemic is at a critical point. A remarkable, decades-long global effort has given us the capability to end AIDS as a public health threat. However, the global political will to end AIDS is weakening, raising the risk of a major resurgence of the epidemic in the 2020s, with tens of millions of lives at stake.
The Common Voice Initiative will reduce the risk through advocacy and action by leaders and followers of a broad range of religious traditions. We will organize, support, and promote activities that are strongest and most effective when done by religious groups and leaders working collectively.
The Common Voice Pledge is an interreligious expression of advocacy and commitment that can be used in worship services or other events related to the religious response to HIV and AIDS. The Common Voice Pledge was developed with the help of the World Council of Churches – Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance.
Common Voice: A Global Interreligious Movement to End AIDS
THE COMMON VOICE PLEDGE
As leaders and followers of many of the world’s great religions, we are speaking together with a common voice to urgently demand that the world re-commit to ending AIDS. We demand that the world’s leaders take strong actions now and in the future to ensure that this epidemic is finally brought to an end.
We are speaking with a common voice because our diverse religious traditions share many sacred values. We share a belief in the inherent value and worth of all human beings. We share a conviction that all human beings must be treated with dignity and respect. We share a commitment to relieve human suffering. We share a responsibility to reach out to the marginalized and to protect the vulnerable.
Although HIV and AIDS affect different people, regions, and social groups differently, we know that the epidemic affects the entire human community. As members of the human community, we commit to playing our part in bringing the epidemic to an end.