The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network has been “down under” during what passes for winter in Melbourne, attending AIDS 2014 last week – and amidst several presentations and various sides meetings with human rights advocates, the Legal Network also co-hosted the busy and successful Human Rights Networking Zone at the conference.The Zone opened with a packed reception just before the opening ceremonies of the conference, the perfect launch to a week during which we hosted hundreds of AIDS 2014 delegates and members of the public to interactive and educational sessions on a wide range of topics HIV- and human rights-related. A special thank you to Kimahli Powell for coordinating the Zone, to our partner and co-host, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), and to the Open Society Foundations for their generous support.
We would also like to congratulate ARASA on their launch in the Zone of HIV and Human Rights in Southern and East Africa. At the launch, guest speaker Michael Kirby, Former Justice of the High Court of Australia, decried that governments in the region must act on remedying the human rights concerns outlined by ARASA if they want to respond effectively to the AIDS epidemic. At one point, he was up on his chair addressing the crowd with his usual eloquence. We encourage you to read this important report from a key partner.
One issue on the agenda in the Human Rights Networking Zone, and receiving much-needed attention at AIDS 2014 overall, was the health and human rights of sex workers. The Zone’s international panel on sex work was extremely popular and explored the legal frameworks that currently undermine sex workers’ abilities to work safely, including their ability to practice safer sex. This timely discussion featured experts from the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, the Scarlet Alliance of Australia, the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers, and Anna-Louise Crago of the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform (and past Legal Network Board Member), who provided an excellent overview of Bill C-36 and the current situation in Canada.
During the week of AIDS 2014, The Lancet also published a special issue on HIV and sex workers. It included “Human rights violations against sex workers: burden and effect on HIV,” co-authored by our very own Sandra Ka Hon Chu. And our critique of the current situation for sex workers in many countries, including Canada, didn’t end there. Our op-eds in The Toronto Star (by legal researcher Freddie Arps) and on Rabble.ca highlight how Bill C-36 misses the most important mark: the health of sex workers – and their right to it.
Beyond the Human Rights Networking Zone, Legal Network staff were involved in other important sessions and meetings, including a wide-ranging meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and other human rights advocates to discuss everything from unjust HIV criminalization to access to medicines to the upcoming UN General Assembly sessions on both HIV and on global drug policy in 2016.
Running throughout all these discussions was the need to ensure that “nobody is left behind” in overcoming the HIV epidemic – and the Melbourne Declaration identifies many of the key actions that must be taken if this basic human rights principle is to be honoured. Take a moment to read and endorse it.