An odd motley crowd – sex workers, drug dealers, transvestites along with doctors and social workers – has gathered in Kolkata. They are here to observe and participate in the International AIDS Conference (IAC) or as they are calling it the Alternate International AIDS conference.  Undeterred by the USA’s refusal to allow entry to international sex workers, the organisers have decided to hold the first-ever Global Hub of the International AIDS Conference at the Swabhumi here, to be attended by 550 representatives of sex workers from across the globe. The group in Kolkata will participate in the festival, being held in Washington through video-conferencing. 

Aiming to provide a pathway for ensuring basic freedoms for sex workers, a week-long festival started on Sunday in Kolkata with 500 participants from 41 countries. The Sex Workers Freedom Festival was organised by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee along with the the Global Network of Sex Work Project (GNSWP) and International AIDS Society and other international agencies.

The festival will revolve around the central theme of bestowing on sex workers “seven freedoms”.

The seven freedoms for sex workers are - 

1. Freedom of movement and to migrate
2. Access to quality health services
3. Freedom to work and choose occupation
4. Associate and unionise
5. To be protected by the law
6. Freedom from abuse and violence
7. Freedom from stigma and discrimination

The International AIDS Conference (IAC) is a bi-annual congregation of global organisations and agencies engaged in controlling AIDS. This year, the conference is being held July 22-27. Held for the past 25 years in the US, the IAC has been an effective three-way dialogue between planners, the people living with HIV and the communities most at risk, such as sex workers.

“The drug dealers, the transgender etc. are the core of the response. To prevent HIV-AIDS, we have to work with them hand in hand. We will send a clear message not only to the Washington but to the entire world that without sex workers the response is not adequate,” said J.V.R. Prasada Rao, UN secretary general’s Special Envoy for AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region. ”The police harassment and the violence against the sexworkers must stop. This should be worked out with all the state governments in the country,” Rao told IANS.

Source: IANS

The sex workers were denied visas by the US government to participate in the XIX International AIDS Conference which began Sunday in Washington D.C. and has a live digital link with the Indian hub. Dwelling on the society’s refusal to recognise their calling, GNSWP president, Australian Andrew Hunter said it was “sheer hypocrisy” that the people who buy sex are the ones condemning it as a moral sin and denying the basic rights to sex workers.

“We need to be recognised as an individual, as a person. We are human beings after all.” In France, according to male sex worker Thierry Shaffhauser, “Sex work is considered a moral sin. We are denied basic rights like health, safety and travelling permits. It is killing us.”

Seconding Thierry, Khartini Slamah, a Malaysian transgender sex worker, said: “We do not want to be saved. We just want to be treated as equals. Sex work is work.” But the picture is somewhat rosy in New Zealand, where decriminalisation of sex work in 2003, has given them back their rights to a large extent.

Elaborating on this, Anna Pickering said: “If a client refuses to pay up the amount then we can go to a judge and take action against the client.” A far cry from this is Serbia, where sex work is illegal. Said Rada, a Serbian sex worker, “It is quite common for the police to arbitrarily imprison sex workers if they are found with condoms.”

Also read: 

• Sex workers unite in Kolkata
• Scientists hope to find HIV cure
• Red umbrellas mark sex workers’ rally

Source: IANS

Travel restrictions on international sex workers prevented them from participating in the International AIDS conference in Washington.

“The red umbrellas have become symbolic of the movement for sex worker rights. While the umbrellas can protect us from the skies, they can also protect us from human beings. They can hide us at times when we need it and can also ward people off in times that we face violence,” said Ruth Morgon Thomas, global coordinator of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects.

The red umbrellas were first used as a symbol for sex worker solidarity at the Venice Biennale of Art in 2001, when Italian sex workers marched along the canals of Venice with red umbrellas as part of an art installation by Slovenian artist Tadej Pogacar, Ms Thomas said.

Balloons, banners and posters that declared “I am a sex worker….I can be a policymaker too” or “Sex workers demand workers’ rights” were held up by the demonstrators.

Sex workers are also demanding policy changes and amendments that’ll improve their lives. They argued for efforts to educate sex workers and clients alike.  What are their wants?

Meanwhile in Washington…

A thousand people – sex workers, drug users and AIDS activists – marched towards the White House carrying red umbrellas to protest the stigma associated with drug use and prostitution, a stigma that makes these two groups (sex workers and intravenous drug users) the two highest HIV risk groups in the world. The demonstration is looking to get both these acts decriminalised which would promote healthier practices.

The 19^th International AIDS conference, which is taking place in the nation’s capital this week, the first time the US, has hosted it in 22 years. Until 2009, a U.S. travel ban denied visas to people who had HIV. However, sex workers from other countries were denied entry into the US and therefore they are holding a rally in Kolkata and will be connecting to the conference via video-conferencing

Scientists hell-bent on finding HIV cure

“Maybe you think I am naive. Maybe you think I am off my rocker. Here I am telling an audience of 7,000 global health experts that you can end AIDS with love,” he said at the AIDS 2012 international conference, reports femalefirst.co.uk. ”But thanks to all this compassion, all this love, more than 8 million people are on treatment.. Thanks to people who have chosen to act, who have chosen to care, we can see an end to this epidemic…” he said. ”… but it’s going to take a lot more compassion to get us there, a hell of a lot more,” he added. 

The 65-year-old went on to note that “shame and stigma” prevent many people from getting help with the condition and discussed his belief that everyone needs to feel that they matter in the world. ”We have inexpensive and accurate take-home tests for HIV. But we can’t convince people to get tested if they think their lives don’t count… Millions of people around the world feel ashamed because of who they are. They feel subhuman, worthless, like they don’t matter at all,” he said. Referring to his recovery from cocaine addiction, he added: “I felt that shame before and it almost killed me. It’s killing people all around the world. We have to replace the stigma with compassion.”

Source: IANS