In South Africa, Sex Workers Arm Themselves with the Law Published on Monday, 15 September 2014 10:02 The criminalization of sex work has dire consequences for the safety and health of sex workers. Police threaten sex workers with arbitrary arrest,…
I have lived and worked in Eastern Europe and Central Asia for most of my professional life. As a human rights lawyer, I am always happy to observe when adequate legal solutions are found, paving the road to progress and development in our region. It is equally difficult for me to see the process in reverse: unnecessary, inadequate laws enacted to deprive people of their rights. It is especially worrying when we talk about people living with, or at high risk of getting HIV. They not only deal with a chronic health condition, but often must also bear the added injuries of rejection, stigma, and discrimination.
When Uganda President Yoweri Museveni visited the White House during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit last month, a high court had just overturned his country’s widely reviled “Anti-Homosexuality Law” which penalized “aggravated homosexuality” with life in prison, and criminalized the provision of services and support to gay people, threatening progress in that country’s long battle against HIV. The elimination of the law, which President Barack Obama had warned Museveni would “complicate” the relationship between their two countries, allowed Museveni to focus on the summit, centered around growth, economic development, and the theme of “investing in the next generation.” In many sub-Saharan African countries, no greater threat to growth exists than the impact of HIV on human resources, development and income. The irony is that by then, Museveni had apparently decided to sign the “HIV Prevention and Control Act,” a new setback to Uganda’s HIV fight.
Back in the 1990s, Uganda was seen as a success story in the fight against the AIDS epidemic. HIV infection rates were falling. The country had developed strong, community based programs that provided support to those who became ill. They fought stigma and emphasized pragmatic – not ideological – approaches to preventing HIV infection.
Gambia Passes Anti-Gay Bill Imposing Life Imprisonment For Some Same-Sex Acts Published on Monday, 08 September 2014 09:56 ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — A Gambian lawmaker says the National Assembly has passed a bill imposing life imprisonment for some homosexual…