1月10日(火)、IPU を代表して第20回アジア・太平洋議員フォーラム(APPF) で発言をしました。
私はミレニアム開発目標(MDGs)達成のセッションにて、IPU(列国議会同盟)の代表として、アジア・太平洋地域におけるHIV/エイズに関するスピーチを行いました。後に動画を掲載予定ですので楽しみにお待ち下さい。
英文ですが、以下発言内容を掲載いたします。
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor for me to speak out on behalf of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Japanese diet. The tragic earthquake and nuclear power plant accident last year in japan left one significant question to many of us including myself.
What have we done to many lives on the earth?
Where did we make the wrong path? And how?
How long it takes for us to learn
that we are not the only one to live on this planet?
Thank you very much for all support to my country after 311 from all of you.
Since 311, I have been working on many new policies as Japanese MP in order to recover Tohoku, and take care of refugees, radiation issues, and so on.
More I work on that, more I come to realize that this is not only 311 recovery, but it is also about our future.
I, as HIV career, strongly believe that Life is the most valuable thing on this planet.
Not just our own but all lives.
We are not living alone, every one of us is an important part of big life.
However our first priority has been going the wrong direction in last century,
we mistakenly believed that GDP is the scale of our happiness, which turned out to be not true.
It is now the time for us to reset our direction, heading to a concrete vision, in which everyone is living with pride and choice, and all other creatures are being highly respected.
You know, the kind of society we would proudly hand it to the children and the next generation. One of the goal of my life is to create such society for the future.
And my area is HIV/AIDS issue, which is one of the goals of MDGs.
Fortunately, more and more Parliamentarians have come to recognize the importance of their leadership on HIV/AIDS.
I am a member of International Parliamentary Union Advisory Group.
The Advisory Group provides members of parliament with access to relevant policy expertise and skills for their duties of lawmaking, oversight, and leadership.
The IPU Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS strongly believes that it is time for parliamentarians to take a visible action.
I will give you one examples, why Parliamentarians mission is so huge for Millennium Developing Goals.
When I was 17 years old, I sued Japanese government with other hemophilia patients over HIV-contaminated blood products which made me infected at the age of 10. Though, it was the big force involving many young people and media
who sympathized with my cause, if the Parliamentarian didn’t pick up our voices,
it would not have led to such a huge advance in HIV/AIDS treatment in Japan.
Their legislative actions not only advanced HIV treatment, but also erased my distrust in my own country, gave me a hope that I can live my life just as good as next person.
And here I am, 35 years old MP, happily married, living with HIV for over 25 years.
My next birthday is coming in 2 days.
The experience 16 years ago taught me that everybody is free to choose how they wish to live regardless of their illness or situation.
And the mission of Parliamentarian is NOT just to give remedy to people in need,
but also to CREATE an environment in which everyone can live with pride, dignity,
and the freedom of choice.
I want to let every single MP in this hall to know, how beautiful and exciting our mission is, no matter how challenging it may look sometimes.
When I feel frustrated, I always think about my friends and colleagues who share the same aspiration, friends who passed away with no treatment, and PARLIAMENTARIAN who gave me HOPE IN LIFE 16 years ago.
So when you go back to your country and feel the same way, please reach out your hands, let’s hold hand in hand across national borders, lets unite as one great team in order to achieve the MDGs.
When you feel powerless, I, as a living witness can remind you at any time
that our mission is worth trying.
Thank you very much.