Maryanncp's Weblog

Human Rights and HIV/AIDS

Today the United Nations marked World AIDS Day by highlighting the connection between human rights promotion and successful efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an urgent end to discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. “I urge all countries to remove punitive laws, policies and practices that hamper the AIDS response, including travel restrictions against people living with HIV,” said Mr. Ban. “Successful AIDS responses do not punish people; they protect them.”

We must ensure that AIDS responses are based on evidence, not ideology, and reach those most in need and most affected,” said the Secretary-General. “On this World AIDS Day, let us uphold the human rights of all people living with HIV, people at risk of infection, and children and families affected by the epidemic.

Progress in reversing the AIDS epidemic in some countries is outpaced by new infections on a global scale making AIDS one of the leading causes of premature death worldwide. For every two people who begin treatment, five become newly infected with HIV. Women and girls have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.

Worldwide, women constitute half of all people living with HIV/AIDS.
Globally and in every region, more adult women (15 years or older) than ever before are now living with HIV.
Women are at least twice as likely to acquire HIV from men during sexual intercourse than vice versa.
Only 20% of young women aged 15 to 24 correctly identify ways of preventing HIV transmission and reject major misconceptions about HIV transmission.
In low- and middle-income countries, only one-third of pregnant women are currently offered services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, women constitute 59% of all people living with HIV/AIDS. Among young people aged 15-24, the HIV prevalence rate for young women is almost three times higher than the rate among young men.

For this reason, laws that criminalize HIV transmission, such as the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Bill before the Ugandan legislature, can result in disproportionate prosecution of women and girls because more women are tested as part of pre- or ante-natal medical care and therefore know their HIV status. Women’s and girl’s inability to safely negotiate condom use or disclosure to partners who might have been the source of their infection is not recognized in this bill as defenses against criminal penalties. Women who transmit HIV to their infants after birth via breast milk would also be subject to criminal prosecution.

The punitive approach of this bill is likely to make people shy away from requesting testing or treatment. Experience has shown that programs that emphasize prevention and reduce stigma are far more effective in combating HIV/AIDS and are better for women and girls.

Civil Society Must Pressure Governments to “Seal the Deal” in Copenhagen

In April 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the United Nation’s international climate change campaign under the title “Seal the Deal!” This campaign is about mobilizing political leaders, the business sector, NGOs, women’s groups, youth organizations and civil society around the issue of climate change to ensure that a definitive, fair, balanced and effective climate agreement is reached when governments meet in Copenhagen from 7-18 December, 2009. Seal the Deal! is about drumming up support at every level within the global community for urgent and united action on climate change. The significance of climate change in our world today is undisputed: countries all over the world are seeing its effects and are concerned about the devastating effects it could have on future generations. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed the importance of immediate and serious action to fight the climate crisis, describing it as “the defining challenge of our generation.”

The latest scientific research shows that the climate is changing more rapidly than expected-~millions of people are already suffering from its effects. Nine out of every ten disasters recorded are now climate related. The impacts of climate change are already being felt in the most fragile ecosystems around the world such as coral reefs and mountain habitats. Twenty to thirty percent of species on earth also face an increased risk of extinction as wildlife and biological life confronts new challenges from climate change. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns that, “the time for delays and half-measures is over. The personal leadership of every head of state or government is needed to seize this moment to protect people and the planet from one of the most serious challenges ever to confront humanity.”

What Can You Do?

Visit: http://tcktcktck.org/ and add your name to the list of global citizens for climate action. Tell world leaders that you are ready for a global climate deal that is fair, ambitious and binding. Then click on “Do More” to learn ways that you can recruit your friends to support this campaign, follow UN climate change negotiations, follow your country or adopt a negotiator.

“The Journey, Exposing the Sex Trade” Coming to NYC

Through a striking art installation, actress Emma Thompson chronicles the story of a naive 18-year-old from a small Eastern European republic who was caught up in London’s sex trade. Her name is Elena, and her story makes its debut in New York on Nov. 10. This art installation will be in Washington Square Park, New York City, November 10-16. Thompson will be in the seventh container.

COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN: Time to Ensure Enough for All

December 2009 will bring a great opportunity to curb climate change. Government representatives will be meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark for crucial international talks and to finalize a new global agreement to follow the Kyoto Protocol. Currently CO2 emissions are contributing to changes in the earth’s climate, causing suffering to the poorest of the poor in both industrialized and developing countries. People who have benefited the least from activities that cause climate change are suffering the most.

It is time for the developing world, and in particular the United States, to come together to act responsibly to address this injustice.

Please call on your government leaders to seize this opportunity to curb carbon emissions and protect the earth that sustains us all.

Write to:
Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Office of the Prime Minister
10 Downing Street,
London,
SW1A 2AA
https://email.number10.gov.uk/

Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Canada
K1A 0A2
pm@pm.gc.ca

Dear __________________:
In December 2009, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen for crucial international talks about climate change. I’d like you to be there in person to demonstrate how much we care about our global family and our willingness to do what it takes to address this challenge with compassion and resolution.

I believe everyone needs to do their part, so I will:

Personally evaluate my lifestyle and commit to actions that significantly reduce my carbon footprint.
Let my elected representatives know my views about domestic legislation needed to address climate change and to create a greener, more just economy.
Urge you and our country’s negotiating team to commit, along with other industrialized countries, to:
Make at least an 80% cut in domestic carbon emissions by 2050.
Assist and help to pay for developing nations to reduce their emissions, develop cleanly, and adapt to climate change.
Hold you and the negotiators in my prayers and meditations as leaders meet in Copenhagen.

Sincerely,

______________________________

Background:

The last international agreement to stabilize carbon emissions was signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. The targets set by that agreement, called the Kyoto Protocol, expire in 2012. It is time to strengthen it and extend it. It also is time for the United States to join the global community in addressing climate change.
Since 1997, scientific research has dramatically increased our knowledge about the speed and extent of climate change and how it is harming God’s creation. The world’s leading scientists recommend limiting the rise in global temperature to less than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Here’s what they say can happen if we don’t:

Acute water shortages for 1 to 3 billion people
30 million more people going hungry
40 to 60 million more Africans exposed to malaria
In the U.S., heat-related premature deaths would increase

We need to set the bar high. The new deal must effectively curb high carbon emissions. It also must require industrialized nations like the U.S. to act responsibly by making the largest cuts in their carbon emissions, and by contributing the most money to help the developing countries now suffering the worst effects of climate change.
More than just an agreement is at stake. Climate change goes to the very heart of how people live in this world that God created and we all share. We can make a difference for generations to come. We can help make sure that women and girls in the developing world are not stuck in poverty, having to choose between going to school or walking more and more miles in search of less and less water.

It is within our power to create an earth where all of God’s children share in the abundance of this magnificent creation. Now is the time for us to ensure that there is enough for all.

US citizens can access the Countdown to Copenhagen pledge online at the Church World Service website: http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/PageServer?pagename=how_adv_copenhagen_pledge

Additional Resources can be found at:

http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/gateway
http://www.arcworld.org/ (The Alliance of Religions and Conservation)
http://www.catholicsandclimatechange.org/

Partnership for Global Justice
211 East 43rd Street, Suite 708
New York, NY 10017
212-682-6481
www.partnershipforglobaljustice.com

Help Stop Child Sex Trafficking

Countries of Destination, as measured by the extent of reporting of trafficking

Right now before the US Congress there is a bill that could make a real difference in the fight against the buying and selling and trafficking of innocent children, most of whom are girls.

This bill, International Megan’s Law, would mandate reporting requirements for convicted sex traffickers trying to engage in international travel, and prevent entry into the U.S. by any foreign sex offender against a minor.

In the U.S. and around the world, thousands of pimps, traffickers, and child molesters treat girls like objects to be used and discarded. This bill will send a loud and unambiguous message to those who believe they can buy, sell and abuse girls with impunity: never again.

Please send your Congressperson a letter today to help protect girls before more are solicited or kidnapped by the pimps who steal their childhoods for profit.

Click on the Change widget in the left hand column of my blog or visit: http://www.change.org/actions/view/help_stop_child_sex_trafficking to take action.

Coming to your area soon: Breakbone Fever and Jericho Buttons

I spent the month of August living and working with our sisters in Argentina. Of course it was winter there, and when I arrived at the beginning of the month, it was cold. Soon, however, the weather changed and it became unseasonably warm. The sisters told me that their winters have become much warmer in recent years and that there has not been enough rain. With the warm weather comes mosquitos and the threat of dengue fever and malaria. The shorter winters and longer periods of warm weather mean that the people have a longer exposure to these disease bearing insects. Earlier this year, dengue fever reached epidemic proportions in Argentina with at least 8000 reported cases.

It turns out that during my stay in Argentina I experienced an aspect of climate change that is rarely discussed – the relationship between climate change and health.

According to the World Health Organization global climate change poses grave risks to human population health. Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean there have already been alterations in the geographic range (latitude and altitude) and seasonality of certain infectious tropical diseases.

One of these is Dengue (or “breakbone”) fever, a disease that is characterized by high fever, rash, and severe headache with aching bones, joints, and muscles. Dengue and its deadly complications, dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome, have increased over the past several decades. Global warming has substantially increased the number of people at risk of dengue epidemics, as warmer temperatures and changing rainfall conditions expand both the area suitable for mosquitoes and the length of the dengue transmission season in temperate areas.

Currently, dengue fever and its complications cause an estimated 50 to 100 million infections, a half-million hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths annually in more than 100 countries, including parts of South America, Central America, the Caribbean, India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. By 2085, an estimated 5.2 billion people—3 billion additional people worldwide—are projected to be at risk for dengue because of climate change–induced increases in humidity that contribute to increased mosquito presence. Already, the specific types of mosquitoes that can transmit dengue fever have become established in a swath of at least 28 states and the District of Columbia, and across the south and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States and there were 4000 cases of the disease reported to the Centers for Disease Control between 1995 and 2005.

Another disease that is on the move is Leishmaniasis, sometimes known as Jericho Buttons. Until recent years found in parts of the tropics, subtropics and southern Europe, leishmanaias is a parasitic disease that is transmitted by the bite an infected sand fly. Now, cases of the disease are being reported among mountain dwellers in the Andes in Peru. The disease causes skin sores, which may develop a raised edge and central crater, causing the sores to look much like a volcano. These sores take a long time to heal and often leave scars. In the more severe forms of the disease, killer parasite migrate to the internal organs, such as the liver, spleen and bone marrow and cause fever, weight loss and swelling of the spleen and liver. If left untreated, severe cases may result in death.

Personally, I find the threat of these diseases becoming prevalent in the area where I live a great motivator for taking positive steps toward reducing my contribution to global warming. How about you?

Giving Voice to the Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking

The United Nations hosted a special event at its New York Headquarters yesterday for the victims and survivors of human trafficking, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issuing a broad-based call to action for States to tackle the root causes and ensure swift justice against the perpetrators.

“Our fight against human trafficking is guided by three Ps: prevention, protection and prosecution,” he said in an opening address at the event at which four survivors bore living witness with accounts of their own horrific plight, including a girl who was abducted at age 14 by Ugandan rebels and kept as a sex slave for eight years.

“We must also empower victims. They need support systems, information and education. They need viable ways to earn a living. They also need criminal justice systems to pursue traffickers, and subject them to serious penalties. Conviction rates in most countries are microscopic compared to the scope of the problem. But when States help victims, the victims can help States break up trafficking networks.”

Mr. Ban cited a litany of abhorrent practices, including debt bondage, forced labor, torture, organ removal, sexual exploitation and slavery-like conditions. “Human trafficking injures, traumatizes and kills individuals. It devastates families and threatens global security,” he declared of a worldwide industry that generates billions of dollars in profit at the expense of millions of victims.

“Human trafficking touches on many issues, from health and human rights to development and peace and security. Our response must be equally broad, and must tackle this challenge at its roots,” he added, noting that the global economic crisis is making the problem worse as jobs and food get scarcer and rising social exclusion makes minorities and women especially vulnerable.

Survivors of human trafficking who addressed the event included Charlotte Awino, abducted at age 14 by Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in Uganda and kept as a sex slave for eight years; Buddhi Gurung from Nepal, trafficked for labor to Iraq to work on a United States military base; Kika Cerpa from Venezuela, forced into prostitution by a man she thought of as her boyfriend; and Rachel Lloyd, an activist who survived commercial sexual exploitation as a teenager and started a New York organization to aid girls victimized by sex traffickers.

Horrifying Statistics

Today in the world, there are more slaves than when slavery was legal. There are an estimated 27 million victims of human trafficking that live in every major city across the world. Contemplating this, we see a picture of suffering on a magnitude too staggering to comprehend.

Human trafficking is a $10 billion+ growth industry with conservative estimates ranging from 700,000 to 2 million people – primarily women and children – trafficked into prostitution and slavery annually.
Human trafficking is the third largest criminal business worldwide, after trafficking in drugs and weapons.
For traffickers it has been a high profit, low risk enterprise. Laws against trafficking in persons do not exist or are not enforced in many countries.
The most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls.
In 30% of the countries that provide information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women trafficking women is the norm.
Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. However, in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, children are the majority (up to 100% in parts of West Africa).

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, whose office organized the Giving Voice to the Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking Special Event, stressed that persisting economic disparities, conflict and discrimination, particularly against women and migrants, continue to push those least able to protect themselves into dangerous situations from which they cannot escape.

Can we End Human Trafficking?

The demand for prostitution is the main driver of the business of human trafficking. The best way to stop the demand for prostitution is to make the act of paying for sex illegal. See: Stopping the Demand for Trafficking in Women & Children and Norway Makes Paying for Sex Illegal.

There will always be some individuals who will not be stopped from buying sex by such legislation, but the experience of Sweden and Norway has shown that most are deterred by the risk of such penalties as having their name printed in the newspaper, having their car impounded, having to do community service or having to attend educational sessions on human trafficking.

What can you do?

There are many things that you can do to stop the demand for trafficking in women and children.

Educate others about the implications of buying sex, frequenting “gentlemen’s clubs,” patronizing porn sites on the Internet, etc.
Promote the passage of anti-trafficking laws that follow the Swedish model of punishing those who buy sex.
Participate in awareness-raising groups that make known the situation of human trafficking in your country or region.
Pray daily for an end to human trafficking.
Speak out against the sexualization and commoditization of women and children in the media and on the Internet.

For more information go to:

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html

http://www.ipjc.org/links/trafficking.htm

Village ‘witches’ beaten in India

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Five women were paraded naked, beaten and forced to eat human excrement by villagers after being branded as witches in in a remote village in Deoghar district in India’s Jharkhand state. Local police said the victims were Muslim widows who had been labeled as witches by a local cleric.

This is a very disturbing story, but all too common. Widows in many parts of the world are abandoned by their families, deprived of their property, accused of witchcraft, abused and sometimes even killed. What is particularly terrible about this story is that the abusers appear to be other, younger women.

There is a really excellent article about the status of widows in the developing world and especially on the Indian subcontinent and in Africa at: http://www.deathreference.com/Vi-Z/Widows-in-Third-World-Nations.html

Teaching Peace – PeaceJam

Today’s briefing for NGOs at the United Nations was part of the Department of Public Information’s (DPI) Faith Series, “Islam and its Message of Peace and Understanding among Civilizations.

I was particularly impressed with one of the speakers: Dr. Shirin Ebadi. She is a human rights lawyer and activist from Iran, and was the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

These days, her passion is the PeaceJam Foundation.

Dr. Ebadi explained to the audience how PeaceJam got started. In 1993 Dawn Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff noticed that more and more kids in their working class neighborhood in Denver seemed to be quitting school and joining gangs. One day, as Ivan was leaving for work he saw four young boys, he knew, carrying guns and he called them over to talk.

He asked, “Why aren’t you in school?

The boys answered, “They don’t teach anything there, that we are interested in learning.

He asked them, “Who is the President of the United States?

They answered, “Who cares? What did he ever do for us?”

He asked, What country is our neighbor to the north?

They said, “We don’t know and we don’t care.”

Ivan asked, “Did you ever learn anything useful from any teacher you ever had?”

The boys said, “The teachers don’t understand poverty. They don’t understand where poverty takes you.”

Then Ivan asked, “Who would you like to be your teacher?”

One of the boys answered, “Desmond Tutu.” The boys went on to add that they would also like to be taught by Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.

This conversation was the inspiration for PeaceJam. Ivan thought, maybe what Denver needed was to put young people together with Nobel Peace Laureates like Tutu, to inspire young people to use their energy to work for positive change. Maybe this was what the world needed.

Before long, the PeaceJam program was launched, and to date over 600,000 young people have participated in the USA and around the world.

“The mission of the PeaceJam Foundation is to create young leaders committed to positive change in themselves, their communities and the world through the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates who pass on the spirit, skills, and wisdom they embody.”

The Core Components of PeaceJam Programs are: Education, Inspiration and Action.

Education – PeaceJam’s curricula are standards-based and designed to stimulate youths’ critical thinking skills, strengthen their research skills, increase their conflict resolution and leadership skills, and promote reflection and action.

Inspiration – Each curriculum teaches about the lives and work of the Nobel Peace Laureates through age-appropriate activities and content. Youth get to know the personal and harrowing stories of the 12 PeaceJam Nobel Peace Laureates and how these role models work to solve problems through non-violence.

Action – On September 16, 2006 10 Nobel Peace Laureates gathered in Denver, Colorado. It was the largest gathering of Nobel Peace Prize winners in U.S. history. The laureates issued a challenge to the youth of the world, the Global Call to Action. This is what they said:

“Today we ask the young leaders of PeaceJam, and the youth of the entire world, to join us in a Global Call to Action. For the next ten years, we invite them to work side by side with us as we address ten fundamental issues. These ten core problems are at the root of much of the suffering in our world, and we believe that young people can mobilize to make a difference in these ten key areas. Over the coming decade, we will continue to lead this effort, which is being launched today at the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the PeaceJam Foundation.

It is our hope that by launching this ten-year campaign, we can inspire people of all ages, worldwide, to work for change. Over the next ten years, we hope to inspire over a billion acts of service and peace”

PeaceJam also brings Nobel Peace Prize winners together with high-school aged youth for two-day PeaceJam Youth Conferences.

At today’s briefing Dr. Ebadi announced the launch of the PeaceJam Foundation’s Middle East Program. PeaceJam has already, as Bishop Tutu recently commented, “made a huge, huge difference in the lives of many young people by giving them hope and direction.” Hopefully it will make a big difference in the future of the Middle East by empowering the youth there to become the agents of change that region so desperately needs.

http://www.peacejam.org

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