...Lubes in the Spotlight at AIDS 2012

[Citizen News Service and IRMA are collaborating to amplify rectal microbicide research and advocacy, as well as IRMA-led initiatives, throughout AIDS 2012.]

via Citizen News Service, by Bobby Ramakant

Most men, women and transgender people who practice anal sex use some kind of a lubricant (lube) ranging from expensive and commercially marketed branded lubes to saliva or oil. According to the United Nations joint programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), anal sex considerably increases risk of HIV acquisition.

People practicing anal sex are also at a high risk of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and condoms alone are not enough to protect them from HIV or other STIs. People practicing anal sex, for example, need condoms with safer, affordable, accessible lubes to protect them from HIV and STIs. Marc-Andre LeBlanc, Secretary of International Rectal Microbicides Advocacy (IRMA) who is also a member of Lube Safety Working Group, said to CNS before XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) opened in Washington DC: "Many men, women and transgender people use lubricants (lubes) during sexual intercourse. Yet we know very little about their safety when used during anal intercourse."

Read the rest.

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UNAIDS Director Michel Sidibé Uses Charm in Diplomacy to Fight AIDS

via NY Times, by Donald G. McNeil, Jr.

Shortly after Michel Sidibé became executive director of the United Nations’ AIDS prevention agency, a court in Senegal sentenced nine gay men, all AIDS educators, to eight years in prison for “unnatural acts.”

In one of his first moves as the new chief of U.N.AIDS, Mr. Sidibe flew to Senegal to ask its aging president, Abdoulaye Wade, to pardon the men.

Mr. Sidibé, the son of a Muslim politician from Mali and a white French Catholic, asked the president — who is married to a white Frenchwoman — if he had ever suffered discrimination.

“Oh, Sidibé, you have no idea,” came the reply. “And for not marrying a Muslim.”

“Then, Uncle,” Mr. Sidibé said, using the African way to politely address an older man, “why do you accept that men here are put in jail for eight years just for being gay?”

Mr. Wade thought about it and promised to call his justice minister. Shortly afterward, the charges were dropped.

Asked if his predecessor — Dr. Peter Piot, a Belgian and one of the discoverers of the Ebola virus — could have gotten the same results, Mr. Sidibé said, “Without doubt, it would have been more difficult. It would be very automatically perceived as ‘the white people moralizing to us again.’ Since I’m African, I can raise it in a way that is less confrontational.”

Asked about that, Dr. Piot laughed and agreed, saying he sometimes thought his African missions, like those of the U2 singer Bono, “felt like a junior Tanzanian economist and Hugh Masekela coming to Washington to scold Congress for its budget deficit” — with Congress having to grin and bear it because it needed Tanzania’s cash.

Mr. Sidibé, 59, is a former relief worker, rather than a physician, and, along with English and French, he speaks West African Mandingo, the Tamashek of the Tuaregs and other languages.

With a combination of bonhomie and persistence, he has delivered difficult messages to African presidents very persuasively in his three years in office: Convince your men to get circumcised. Tell your teenage girls not to sleep with older men for money. Shelve your squeamishness and talk about condoms. Help prostitutes instead of jailing them. Ask your preachers to stop railing against homosexuals and order your police forces to stop beating them. Let Western scientists test new drugs and vaccines, despite the inevitable rumors that Africans are being used as guinea pigs.

“You can’t say ‘no’ to Michel,” said Dr. Piot, who hired him away from Unicef. “I was at a conference in Ethiopia in December, and for the first time, I felt I was hearing ‘ownership’ of AIDS by African countries. They weren’t talking so much about the donors, but about it as their own problem. I think he had a lot to do with that.”

Read the rest.


[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

MSMGF Provides New Online Resources Detailing the Law's Effect on MSM Health and Human Rights

Global MSM network calls on policy makers, parliamentarians and advocates to address legal and policy barriers undermining Universal Access to HIV services

This World AIDS Day, as the United Nations Global Commission on HIV and the Law draws up its final recommendations, the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) urges national legislators around the world to review and repeal laws that undermine access to HIV services for gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM). To help illustrate the connection between HIV and the law for this key population, the MSMGF has launched a new collection of resources that features case studies, toolkits and never-before-seen video testimonials from grassroots MSM advocates in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Cameroon.

“From laws criminalizing homosexuality in more than 70 countries to laws punishing non-disclosure of one’s HIV status, punitive legal environments around the world prevent MSM from accessing life-saving services,” said Dr. George Ayala, Executive Officer of the MSMGF. “This is a major problem for the HIV response among MSM around the world, in countries rich and poor alike.”

The content of the archive was selected to make clear the connection between HIV and the law for this highly-impacted population, as well as provide grassroots organizations with tools to aid in legal advocacy for the health and human rights of MSM.

“Civil society has formed the backbone of the response to the HIV epidemic among MSM around the world, with local men rising up to care for their own communities where support from government and society is lacking or absent,” said Krista Lauer, Policy Associate at the MSMGF. “This archive is part of a larger effort to equip grassroots organizations with the information and resources they need to hold governments and multilateral institutions accountable for doing quality HIV work, including addressing harmful laws.”

The website features the MSMGF's Specialist Submission to the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, made public for the first time. Drawing upon focus group interviews, published research and other sources, the report makes five recommendations for law-based action that would have a game-changing impact on the HIV response for MSM:
1. Review and repeal laws that undermine the HIV response among MSM

2. Address the inappropriate enforcement of laws that hinder access to HIV services for MSM, through coordination, education and training with the judiciary and law enforcement officials

3. Establish laws that protect the health and rights of MSM, and bring perpetrators of violence and other human rights abuses against MSM to justice

4. Implement know-your-rights campaigns, and create enabling environments in which individuals can lay claim to their rights

5. Integrate the law as a core pillar in all National AIDS Reponses, and adopt a rights-based approach to the HIV response

“We know that laws and policies that uphold the human rights of gay men and facilitate their access to services are absolutely essential for an effective HIV response,” said Dr. Ayala. “But real action to transform legal environments has been bogged down by fear, stigma, and a lack of political will to take on the tough issues. Courageous activists have continued to raise their voices in this struggle, often at great personal expense to themselves and their families. We call on all Member States of the United Nations to heed the call of civil society, and recognize that the human rights movement is the HIV movement.”

The online archive can be accessed on the MSMGF’s website at http://www.msmgf.org/law.



[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

The Rape of Men

via The Guardian, by Will Storr

Sexual violence is one of the most horrific weapons of war, an instrument of terror used against women. Yet huge numbers of men are also victims. In this harrowing report, Will Storr travels to Uganda to meet traumatised survivors, and reveals how male rape is endemic in many of the world's conflicts.

Of all the secrets of war, there is one that is so well kept that it exists mostly as a rumour. It is usually denied by the perpetrator and his victim. Governments, aid agencies and human rights defenders at the UN barely acknowledge its possibility. Yet every now and then someone gathers the courage to tell of it. This is just what happened on an ordinary afternoon in the office of a kind and careful counsellor in Kampala, Uganda. For four years Eunice Owiny had been employed by Makerere University's Refugee Law Project (RLP) to help displaced people from all over Africa work through their traumas. This particular case, though, was a puzzle. A female client was having marital difficulties. "My husband can't have sex," she complained. "He feels very bad about this. I'm sure there's something he's keeping from me."

Owiny invited the husband in. For a while they got nowhere. Then Owiny asked the wife to leave. The man then murmured cryptically: "It happened to me." Owiny frowned. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old sanitary pad. "Mama Eunice," he said. "I am in pain. I have to use this."

Laying the pus-covered pad on the desk in front of him, he gave up his secret. During his escape from the civil war in neighbouring Congo, he had been separated from his wife and taken by rebels. His captors raped him, three times a day, every day for three years. And he wasn't the only one. He watched as man after man was taken and raped. The wounds of one were so grievous that he died in the cell in front of him.

Read the rest.


[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

An end to AIDS is within our reach

via The Washington Post, by Desmond Tutu

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month has demonstrated that antiretroviral treatment can prevent the spread of HIV, in addition to saving those infected from sickness and death.

Armed with this new data, President Obama should lead the world in a massive effort to expand access to treatment and rid humanity of AIDS — the most devastating disease of our time.

But just as the end of AIDS has finally come within reach, we are witnessing an unprecedented drop in financial and political support for the cause.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Kaiser Family Foundation reported in August that donor funding for HIV/AIDS leveled in 2009 and then declined — 10 percent — in 2010 for the first time ever. The United States, which accounts for more than half of global contributions to fight the disease, disbursed $700 million less in 2010 than in 2009. And projected U.S. funding in 2011 is roughly $28 million less than in 2010.

This is a great shame, as millions of people receiving treatment worldwide depend on these funds to stay alive.

Our support should be increasing. AIDS remains the leading cause of orphanhood and of death among women of reproductive age. It is a major driver of opportunistic infections — particularly tuberculosis — and keeps tens of millions of Africans mired in poverty.

Read the rest.


[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

AIDS Summit at the UN: Not Enough Talk About Sex

Via the Huffington Post, by Evelyn Leopold.

World leaders gathered at the United Nations to mark the 30th anniversary of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and put out a 102-paragraph declaration. Adrienne Germain, the president of the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), has been working on women's issues all her adult life and was active in the 1994 Cairo conference on women, also known as the CPD (International Conference on Population and Development). In an interview with the Huffington Post, Germain and Alexandra Garita, an international policy program officer at IWHC, discuss the declaration and the controversies that arise whenever sex is on the agenda. The declaration, produced every five years, gives U.N. agencies a mandate for their programs and advises governments where best to spend monies.

Q: What about access to family planning, to birth control?

AG: We lost reproductive rights and reproductive health language from the 1994 Cairo document and from early drafts here. Reproductive rights, for example, also includes the right to freely and responsibly decide on the number and spacing of one's children. If you lose that and you have no reference to family planning services in the document, then you basically have no reference to contraception for women. You also don't have protection for women living with HIV who are sterilized without their consent and who are forced to have abortion. It is not a rare occurrence in southern Africa (including South Africa).

Q: And how about the new studies on early intervention of Antiretroviral drugs (ARV) to reduce transmission, which are welcomed as a major breakthrough?

An important development is using ARV treatment much earlier in a person's life in order to reduce the amount of virus in the body. Therefore the person will be less able to transmit the virus to someone else and you can use treatment as prevention. In this document, it is treated as a miracle breakthrough. We don't look at it that way. Probably about half the people in the world who are living with HIV don't know it. You are most infectious right after you have been infected. But at that time you have no symptoms at all so why would you go forward with testing? So to think that a medicine, a drug, is going to end this epidemic when we don't even know how to get more people to come forward for testing -- is really foolish. But debates on how best to end the epidemic go on all the time -- how we should all be giving much more time to prevention. Yet this document ends up with four paragraphs -FOUR!-on prevention. Does that make much sense? No. Not in our book.

Q: Homosexuals and prostitutes were a big issue five years ago, even among some delegates from the Bush administration. Has this changed?

They are in the document for the first time. There was one paragraph that names the community of drug users, men who have sex with men and sex workers. That is very good. But this listing is used once only and then there is UN mumbo-jumbo in other paragraphs where you should have specific references about the kinds of interventions needed to reach this population and what they face in their lives. And there is nothing on human rights for these people (despite the UN secretary-general's speech).

Read the rest here.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

30 Years: Epidemic to Pandemic

by Aldona Martinka

This Sunday was the thirtieth anniversary of the CDC report that would become the first mention of HIV/AIDS. IRMA is commemorating this with a short series on AIDS history. It will explore where we began, where we are now, and where we are going as we continue to battle this disease with hope and determination. This is part three of five.

Today everyone realizes that AIDS is a global issue, from the First World to the Third World. In 1999, AIDS became the fourth most common cause of death in the world. To the average American, however, AIDS as a global issue did not seem so important until the turn of the century. The United Nations began to hold increasingly frequent meetings to discuss HIV/AIDS-related issues, and American politicians and activists began to turn their gaze outward.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) was launched in 1996, and by 2000 the UN was a vital player in the global fight against the disease. In that year alone the UN, the WHO, and UNAIDS worked to negotiate pharmaceutical prices for HIV/AIDS drugs in the developing world, the UN Security Council met regarding AIDS and its effects on peace/security in Africa, and the UN announced its Millennium Development Goals. The same year the G8 met and announced a need for more resources to battle the pandemic. The UN would, in the next few years, hold its first Special Session on AIDS (reviewed in 2005), launch the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, and continue to reinforce its commitment to providing prevention and treatment options for HIV/AIDS worldwide.

The United States also began fighting AIDS on a global scale during this time. In 200 President Clinton announced his administration’s Millennium Vaccine Initiative, declared HIV a national security threat, and issued an executive order to aid developing countries in producing and importing generic treatments for HIV/AIDS. He and his legacy would continue to work to provide these drugs at a low cost to developing countries worldwide for years to come. In 2001, the Bush administration vowed to continue a commitment to fighting AIDS both nationally and globally. The CDC created a plan to halve US infections within five years. Early in 2003, President Bush announced the creation of the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a five year plan devoting $15 billion dollars to fight AIDS internationally. This was, and continues to be, the largest commitment by any country to combat HIV/AIDS. The first $350 million was authorized the next year.

The US, the UN, the G8, international projects such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, countless other organizations, have continued to fight for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and as the 31st year of AIDS begins there is a renewed energy to this battle.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

What the UN Can Learn from Gay Activism

via The Bay Area Reporter, by George Ayala

Many gay men and women have a deep and complicated relationship with the concept of omission. The choice to leave out information about our sexual orientation can be a useful strategy when faced with the potential for an awkward, painful, or violent situation. It placates sensitivities, prevents discord, and in some cases it saves our lives. However, it also preserves the status quo.

With such compelling reasons to bite our tongues, many of us choose silence as homophobia takes its toll around us. Lips sealed and hands tied, we watch in quiet pain as abuses are inflicted on our more visible kin. We become unwitting accomplices to those who wish to erase us. Realizing the effects of our own inaction, more and more of us have come to feel that this path of least resistance is not worth the violence and injustice it allows – and we speak up.

As the world prepares for the upcoming United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS, taking place June 8-10 in New York, country missions at the UN are faced with a strikingly similar dilemma. With HIV rates among gay men skyrocketing across the globe, UN member states must decide how to present men who have sex with men in the meeting's final outcome document. They can appease anti-gay forces by omitting MSM entirely, or they can write MSM into their policies explicitly, no matter how polarizing the issue may be.

Read the rest here.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

AIDS.gov: Highlights from the U.S. National Transgender Health Summit

"Transgender people experience significant health disparities in this country. In fact, regardless of socioeconomic status, transgender people are the most medically underserved population in the U.S."
- JoAnne Keatley, Director of the CoE for Transgender Health and the lead conference organizer (pictured)

via AIDS.gov, by Jennie Anderson and Mindy Nichamin

What do empowerment, discrimination, data, and health have in common? They are several of the many themes we heard throughout the National Transgender Health Summit that took place in San Francisco earlier this month. The Center of Excellence for Transgender Health (CoE) organized this groundbreaking two-day Summit that brought together healthcare providers, health profession students, researchers, and other health leaders. In past posts we've discussed the disproportionate impact of the HIV epidemic on the transgender community, and so this Summit was an important opportunity for us to learn from and engage with experts on this topic. As the White House National HIV/AIDS Strategy states, "Some studies have found that as many as 30 percent of transgender individuals are HIV-positive. Yet, historically, efforts targeting this specific population have been minimal."

Read the rest.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Governments Remove Sexual Orientation from UN Resolution Condemning Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions

via International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), by Sara Perle and John Fisher

(New York, November 17, 2010) – The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and ARC International are deeply disappointed with yesterday’s vote in the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly to remove a reference to sexual orientation from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

The resolution urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling on states to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. For the past 10 years, the resolution has included sexual orientation in the list of discriminatory grounds on which killings are often based. The removed reference was originally contained in a non-exhaustive list in the resolution highlighting the many groups of people that are particularly targeted by killings - including persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, persons acting as human rights defenders (such as lawyers, journalists or demonstrators) as well as street children and members of indigenous communities.

Mentioning sexual orientation as a basis on which people are targeted for killing highlights a situation in which particular vigilance is required in order for all people to be afforded equal protection. The amendment removing the reference to sexual orientation was sponsored by Benin on behalf of the African Group in the UN General Assembly and was adopted with 79 votes in favor, 70 against, 17 abstentions and 26 absent.

"This vote is a dangerous and disturbing development,” said Cary Alan Johnson, Executive Director of IGLHRC. “It essentially removes the important recognition of the particular vulnerability faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - a recognition that is crucial at a time when 76 countries around the world criminalize homosexuality, five consider it a capital crime, and countries like Uganda are considering adding the death penalty to their laws criminalizing homosexuality."

This decision in the General Assembly flies in the face of the overwhelming evidence that people are routinely killed around the world because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and renders these killings invisible or unimportant. The Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions has highlighted documented cases of extrajudicial killings on the grounds of sexual orientation including individuals facing the death penalty for consensual same-sex conduct; individuals tortured to death by State actors because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation; paramilitary groups killing individuals because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation as part of “social cleansing” campaigns; individuals murdered by police officers with impunity because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation; and States failing to investigate hate crimes and killings of persons because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.

"It is a matter of great shame that the responsible Committee of the United Nations General Assembly failed in its responsibility to explicitly condemn well-documented killings based on sexual orientation," said John Fisher, Co-Director of ARC international. "The credibility of the United Nations requires protection of all persons from violations of their fundamental human rights, including on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. We thank those States which supported the inclusion of sexual orientation in the text, and will redouble our collective efforts to ensure that Member States of the United Nations maintain the standards they have sworn to uphold."

The amendment runs counter to other positive developments in UN and regional human rights systems where there is increased recognition of the need for protection from discrimination regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. At a September 2010 panel held in conjunction with a session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon unequivocally recognized "the particular vulnerability of individuals who face criminal sanctions, including imprisonment and in some cases the death penalty, on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity." Sixty-eight countries have also signed a joint statement in the UN General Assembly on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity which calls for an end to "human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity … in particular the use of the death penalty on this ground [and] extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions."

IGLHRC and ARC International urge all States, regardless of their vote on this amendment, to sign the UNGA joint statement affirming support of the human rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity and to continue in efforts to decriminalize same-sex conduct and to end other discrimination, including violence, on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The votes to amend the resolution were as follows:

In favor of the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (79):
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brunei Dar-Sala, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Opposed to the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (70):
Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia (FS), Monaco, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela

Abstain (17):
Antigua-Barbuda, Barbados, Belarus, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Colombia, Fiji, Mauritius, Mongolia, Papau New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

Absent (26):
Albania, Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chad, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Marshall Island, Mauritania, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Sao Tome Principe, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Togo, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan

Read more about IGLHRC

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

UN pushes for de-criminalization of sexual orientations

via UN News Centre

“No one, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. No one should be prosecuted for their ideas or beliefs. No one should be punished for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”

Top United Nations officials today appealed to all countries that criminalize people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity to reform such laws and to ensure the protection of basic human rights for all.

“No doubt deeply-rooted cultural sensitivities can be aroused when we talk about sexual orientation. Social attitudes run deep and take time to change. But cultural considerations should not stand in the way of basic human rights,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Read more

Activists Lobby for "Robin Hood" Levy

Via The Body

Now is the time to push for a micro-tax on all financial transactions to fund HIV prevention and care throughout the world, activists said this week at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna.

The so-called "Robin Hood" tax of 0.005 percent would generate $33 billion annually worldwide, said Khalil Elouardighi of Coalition PLUS, an assembly of HIV advocacy groups.

"It acts like an invisible micro-withdrawal. Knowing that 97 percent of transactions are of a speculative nature, there will be no consequence on the real economy," noted Philippe Douste-Blazy, UN undersecretary-general for innovative financing for development.

One challenge is to ensure that receipts from such a tax are funneled to HIV/AIDS and not diverted to other needs, said Douste-Blazy, a former French foreign minister.

Douste-Blazy also serves as chair of UNITAID, a World Health Organization enterprise dedicated to expanding treatment for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. France and 11 other countries have implemented a UNITAID funding mechanism in which a small tax on airline tickets helps to pay for treatment of HIV-positive pregnant women.

Countries adopting a micro-tax assessment would not be immune from existing donor obligations, said Christoph Benn of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

"We are not taking away any pressure from governments to provide additional resources from their development budgets: that is a given, that is our first request, that they increase their contributions," Benn said.

Activists feel this is the right time to advocate for the tax, given the upcoming Millennium Development Goals meeting in September and a G-20 gathering in November.

Please click here for more.

Discrimination hurts fight against HIV in homosexual men in Asia-Pacific - UN

Original posted by UN News May 18

More than 90 per cent of men having sex with men in the Asia-Pacific region, a group in which HIV prevalence has reached alarming levels, do not have access to prevention and care services due to an adverse legal and social environment, a United Nations-backed forum was told today.

Read the rest.

Theory Explains Why Some With HIV Survive Longer

via Physorg.com by, Jason Socrates Bardi

A group of researchers in Boston announced a new theory this week that may help to explain a longstanding mystery in AIDS research: why some people with HIV survive for decades without ever developing AIDS.

About one out of every 200 people who catch HIV are considered "long-term non-progressors" or "elite controllers" because they can live for many years with the virus without developing AIDS. Even the most sensitive tests often cannot detect the virus in their bloodstream.

Read the rest.

US endorses UN gay rights text

By MATTHEW LEE – via AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Wednesday formally endorsed a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, a measure that former President George W. Bush had refused to sign.

The move was the administration's latest in reversing Bush-era decisions that have been heavily criticized by human rights and other groups. The United States was the only western nation not to sign onto the declaration when it came up at the U.N. General Assembly in December.

"The United States supports the U.N.'s statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity and is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support of the statement," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

"The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world," Wood told reporters. "As such, we join with other supporters of this statement, and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the administration would endorse the declaration.

Gay rights and other groups had criticized the Bush administration when it refused to sign the declaration when it was presented at the United Nations on Dec. 19. U.S. officials said then that the U.S. opposed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but that parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review.

According to negotiators, the Bush team had concerns that those sections could commit the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In some states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military.

But Wood said a "careful interagency review" by the Obama administration had concluded that "supporting this statement commits us to no legal obligations."

When it was voted on in December, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration, which backers called an historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with anti-gay discrimination. It was endorsed by all 27 European Union members as well as Japan, Australia and Mexico.

But 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality — and in several, homosexual acts can be punished by execution. More than 50 nations, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, opposed the declaration.

Some Islamic countries said at the time that protecting sexual orientation could lead to "the social normalization and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts" such as pedophilia and incest. The declaration was also opposed by the Vatican.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

missing pieces

HIV Related Needs of Sexual Minorities in India


A National Consultation on the HIV related needs and concerns of Sexual Minorities in India was held on October 24 and 25, 2008 at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The participants at the consultation discussed issues related to Men having Sex with Men (MSM) and Transgender (TG), as well as the status of programmes and advocacy activities within the third phase of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP III). They subsequently suggested action in strategic areas where the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) can provide support to the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

Read the full report (PDF) here.

Uganda's New Vision: Homos, Porn and Witches and the Advocates of Immorality

Via Uganda's New Vision Online

The move to universalise immorality in the name of human rights or freedom will not convince Ugandans to abandon what is right in preference of what is wrong.

Uganda will neither legalise nor recognise homosexuality as a human rights issue.

UGANDA deserves a social audit for the year 2008. For the first time in her history, the ugly side of human behaviour reared its ugly face on the conscience of Ugandans as never before. Attempts to dress this ugly face in popular catch phrases such as human rights and freedom were made by advocates of immorality with some degree of success.

Promoters of homosexuality, pornography and witchcraft, etc. were on the offensive seeking to market their philosophies contrary to tenets of Uganda's laws as well as nature. The venom of embezzlement, poor time management and drug abuse, too, had their toll on public service.

In the case of homosexuality, some nations went into an overdrive. They drafted a resolution for presentation to the United Nations which would "compel" other nations to legalise, in effect, anal sex, in the case of men, as an alternative to heterosexual sex. This is an unprecedented classic case of abuse by these nations which are seeking to use their weight and advantage to impose their tastes and preferences upon the rest of the world. One wonders what divine right they have to do that!

Read the rest on New Vision Online.

UNAIDS: Decriminalisation is key to universal access to HIV treatment

via pinknews.co.uk

The United Nations agency responsible for coordinating global efforts to combat HIV and AIDS has called for "enhanced action to promote and protect the human rights of men who have sex with men, transgender people, lesbians, gays and bisexuals."

Last Thursday the UN General Assembly heard a statement on the universal human rights of LGBT people, and at the same time UNAIDS and the United Nations Development Programme issued their own joint statement:

"The unanimous commitments of Member States to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010 and Millennium Development Goal 6 – to halt and reverse the spread of HIV by 2015 – include commitments to further the realisation of human rights for all, including for all those vulnerable to HIV infection and to the impact of AIDS.

"Such commitments confirm the fact that the realisation of human rights for all is not only right but also leads to the most effective response to HIV and generates broader health and development benefits.

"However, many people at risk of HIV infection, including men who have sex with men, transgender people, lesbians, gays and bisexuals cannot protect themselves from such infection or live successfully if infected due to the discrimination, violence, marginalisation and other violations of human rights that they face.

"Many governments either deny the existence of men who have sex with men, transgender people, lesbians, gays and bisexuals in their societies, and/or have not adequately invested in their health and human rights.

"This has a pernicious impact in terms of hampering their access to HIV and health services and making them even more vulnerable to HIV.

"For example, recent evidence shows that, in some regions, as few as 12% of men who have sex with men have access to HIV services.

"Furthermore, where these groups are marginalised or criminalised, many fear to take up the HIV, health and other services that are available, because of the likelihood of facing discrimination, and in some places, violence or criminal prosecution.

"Resources allocated to appropriate HIV programming for men who have sex with men, transgender people, lesbians, gays and bisexuals falls far short of what is required to realise Member States' commitments to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

"Urgent and enhanced action is required to scale up effective and rights-based responses for men who have sex with men, transgender people, lesbians, gays and bisexuals in the context of the HIV epidemic.

"Like all people, men who have sex with men, transgender people, lesbians, gays and bisexuals enjoy all human rights, in particular the rights to be free from murder, torture, violence, arbitrary arrest, vilification, discrimination, and violations of privacy.

"They also enjoy the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The realization of their human rights is essential for their dignity, their protection in a world with HIV, and for an effective response to the HIV epidemic.

"There is no more time for 'business as usual.'"

On Thursday 66 nations supported the statement at a session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

It was read out by Argentina's Ambassador the UN.

It does not create new rights and is not legally binding but instead builds on similar past initiatives.

It affirms the principle of universality: that all human beings, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity, are entitled to equal dignity and respect.

No-one should be subject to violence, harassment, discrimination or abuse, solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The UNAIDS/UNDP statement ended with a quote from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's speech in August 2008:

"In countries without laws to protect…. men who have sex with men, only a fraction of the population has access to prevention.

"Conversely, in countries with legal protection and the protection of human rights for these people, many more have access to services.

"As a result, there are fewer infections, less demand for antiretroviral treatment and fewer deaths. Not only is it unethical not to protect these groups; it makes no sense from a health perspective.

"It hurts all of us."

According to calculations by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association and other organisations, more than six dozen countries still have laws against consensual sex between adults of the same sex.

The UN Human Rights Committee, which interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a core UN treaty, held in a historic 1994 decision that such laws are rights violations – and that human rights law forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Public Statement on the United States’ Failure to Endorse UN Statement on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

via APLA

66 Nations Sign on to Historic Document

The United States was alone among major Western nations Thursday (December 18, 2008) in refusing to sign onto a United Nations declaration affirming the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide. In total, 66 of the 192 member countries of the UN stood up for LGBT rights in the UN General Assembly’s first-ever initiative to expressly address human rights as they apply to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The statement reaffirms the universality of human rights, condemns violence and human rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and calls upon states to hold perpetrators accountable for any violations of these grounds. While non-binding, the statement nonetheless embodies a crucial step toward global recognition of LGBT dignity and rights and will serve as a critical advocacy tool in the struggle to decriminalize homosexuality. The full text of the non-binding document, written in French (pages 1-2), Spanish (pages 3-4) and English (pages 5-6), can be read here.

U.S. activists spoke out strongly against the U.S. position. Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission called it "an appalling stance — to not join with other countries that are standing up and calling for decriminalization of homosexuality."

Insiders say U.S. opposition to the statement was mired in debate regarding potentially problematic parts of the declaration, such as committing the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In some states, for instance, landlords are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Nonetheless, the former chief spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N., Richard Grenell, called the suggested legal considerations “ridiculous.”

"The U.S.’s lack of support on this issue only dims our once bright beacon of hope and freedom for those who are persecuted and oppressed," said the self-described gay Republican. Read the entirety of the Associated Press article here.

According to a press release from the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), the signatory nations are:

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The year 2008 marks sixty years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

See previous IRMA post on this topic.

This Weds - UN General Assembly to Consider LGBT Human Rights for the First Time

A watershed for gay rights

The UN must pass this week's historic declaration calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality worldwide.

by Peter Tatchell

A declaration calling for the global decriminalisation of homosexuality will be put before the United Nations General Assembly this Wednesday, which is Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It will be the first time in its history that the UN General Assembly has considered the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights.

Although it will not be binding on the member states, the declaration will have immense symbolic value, given the six decades in which homophobic persecution has been ignored by the UN.

If you want to understand why this decriminalisation declaration is so important and necessary, ponder this: even today, not a single international human rights convention explicitly acknowledges the human rights of LGBT people. The right to physically love the person of one's choice is nowhere enshrined in any global humanitarian law. No convention recognises sexual rights as human rights. None offers explicit protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Yet 86 countries (nearly half the nations on Earth) still have a total ban on male homosexuality and a smaller number also ban sex between women. The penalties in these countries range from a few years jail to life imprisonment. In at least seven countries or regions of countries (all under Islamist jurisdiction), the sentence is death: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Mauritania and parts of Nigeria and Pakistan.

Many of the countries that continue to criminalise same-sex relationships are in Africa and Asia. Their anti-gay laws were, in fact, imposed by the European powers during the period of colonialism. With the backing of Christian churches and missionaries, the imperial states exported their homophobia to the rest of the world. In many of the conquered lands, little such prejudice had previously existed and, in some cases, same-sex relations were variously tolerated, accepted and even venerated. This importation of western homophobia happened in countries like Ghana, Jamaica, Nigeria and Uganda, which now absurdly decry homosexuality as a "white man's disease" and "unAfrican", while vehemently denying and suppressing all knowledge of their own pre-colonial era indigenous homosexualities.

Read the rest on the guardian.co.uk.