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Situational analysis report
of prostitution of boys in South Asia - from ECPAT
HIV in
India — The Challenges Ahead (.pdf)
Robert Steinbrook, M.D.
On April 1, 2007, India will launch a new phase
of its National AIDS Control Program (NACP). Its
goals include reducing the number of new human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections —
currently, an estimated 98.5 to 99.5% of India's 1.1
billion people remain uninfected — improving
treatment, and providing therapy to more people.
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Campaigning for the rights of sex workers:
lessons from Bangladesh
Authors: S. Huq
Publisher: Eldis
Document Store, 2005
This paper describes the involvement of Naripokkho, a
Bangladesh NGO, in a national campaign to support the rights of
sex workers. Naripokkho supported sex workers’ efforts to defend
themselves against illegal government eviction orders from
brothels in Bangladesh. The eviction resulted in 84 women’s and
human rights’ organisations and development NGOs forming an
alliance in support of the rights of women in sex work.
The campaign achieved several major successes:
- the extensive media coverage of the campaign raised
public awareness of the realities of sex work and the
demands of sex workers
- the term "prostitute" was replaced in the media by that
of "sex worker". This led to a new understanding of sex
workers as socially acceptable holders of rights engaged in
a legitimate occupation, rather than as objects of pity and
moral disgust
- the campaign forged a new solidarity between the
"mainstream" women’s movement and sex workers, and led to
the acceptance of sex workers’ groups in national networks
of women’s organisations
- the involvement of intersex persons in the sexual rights
campaign challenged conventional ideas about what
constitutes a woman
- a successful legal case against the eviction was
launched, and a landmark ruling pronounced the eviction as
illegal and implicitly recognised sex work within brothels
to be legal.
Summary written in collaboration with BRIDGE and
Siyanda
How marginalisation of sex workers and drug users
by Kazakhstan's police is worsening the HIV/AIDS problem
Authors: ; Human
Rights Watch (HRW)
Publisher: Human
Rights Watch , 2003
This report presents research conducted in Kazakhstan in 2002
to demonstrate that officials routinely harass and discriminate
against injection drug users and sex workers, compounding their
already marginalised status and reinforcing their reluctance to
use AIDS-related health services, including needle exchange
The paper argues that while on the one hand, some state
health facilities have attempted to reach out to drug users and
other high-risk groups by offering prevention and care services,
other state actors, in particular law enforcement agents,
dissuade persons at risk from taking advantage of these services
through repressive practices. Other vulnerable persons,
including men who have sex with men, and those already living
with AIDS, are similarly deeply stigmatised and marginalised
The paper makes recommendations to the government of
Kazakhstan on HIV/AIDS, international human rights conventions
and on law enforcement conduct. It also makes recommendations to
the National AIDS Program, U.N. agencies and other multilateral
and bilateral donors, the European Union and Member States, the
United States, the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development.
Recommendations to the government of Kazakhstan on HIV/AIDS
include:
- implement fully and as soon as possible the decision
announced by the government in July 2002 to rescind the
policy of mandatory testing of all persons in government
detention. Review the proposed replacement policy on
voluntary testing against the United Nations International
Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, with particular
attention to safeguarding the provision of voluntary and
confidential HIV testing and minimising the use of mandatory
HIV testing by the state
- discontinue the registration of HIV-positive persons by
government offices and any other practice that violates an
individual's right to confidentiality about HIV status
- discontinue the practice of isolation of HIV-positive
prisoners
- discontinue the practice of confiscating official
identification papers of detainees, drug users and persons
living with HIV/AIDS
- amend Article 14(2) of the Constitution of the Republic
of Kazakhstan on non-discrimination or issue a policy or
official edict to interpret the article to ensure that no
person can be discriminated against based on HIV status or
sexual orientation. Similarly, specify that all persons
regardless of HIV status should enjoy equality before the
law, as noted in Article 14(1)
- ensure the prompt review of HIV/AIDS legislation and
regulations being undertaken by the government and the use
of international standards
- establish humane treatment services for narcotics
addiction
- at AIDS centres, skin and venereal disease hospitals and
other health facilities, establish health services for
persons at risk of and living with HIV/AIDS according to the
standards of the U.N. International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS
and Human Rights, with particular attention to
confidentiality of HIV testing and non-mandatory HIV testing
with appropriate counselling. Eliminate all practices by
government authorities at these centres and facilities that
violate the right to confidentiality of HIV testing and to
non-mandatory HIV testing
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