Anti - prostitution Clause in US funding for HIV/AIDS

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

Have all of u seen the following news item on 'Anti - prostitution Clause in US

funding for HIV/AIDS'?

Meena Saraswathi Seshu.

SANGRAM/VAMP

E-mail: <san_meena@...>

A Misguided Anti-Vice Pledge

Los Angeles Times) -- Social conservatives in Congress, backed by

the Catholic Church and the Christian right, are on a new foray to

dictate sexual mores to the rest of the world, at the expense of

public health. This time it's an oath being foisted on U.S. groups

working to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They will soon be asked to

comply with a 2-year-old law dictating that they have " a policy

explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking " before they

will be considered for federal grants to provide health services

overseas.

The pledge is reminiscent of other Bush administration efforts

including the re-imposition of the so-called global gag rule, which

bans international family planning groups that receive U.S. funds

from performing or even discussing abortion. It is as unproductive

as pushing the United Nations to withdraw support for

needle-exchange programs. Such policies do little to stem HIV, and

contribute to the deaths of women forced to seek illegal and unsafe

abortions.

AIDS experts agree almost uniformly that the anti-prostitution

pledge could have the opposite of its intended effect, making it

tougher for aid groups to reach the women who most need their help

-- and who play a major role in the spread of the disease.

The pledge has its origins in a law passed by Congress in 2003 but

not used as a litmus test for funding until now. At stake is the

entire $3.2 billion the Bush administration has asked Congress to

set aside for global efforts to curb AIDS and HIV next year.

It's absurd to suppose that any of the groups working to combat HIV

in the Third World -- like Save the Children, Doctors Without

Borders and Oxfam -- are in favor of prostitution. But a big part of

fighting HIV/AIDS necessarily involves working with prostitutes and

building trust so that they're willing to seek treatment and

counseling.

The pledge will not prevent groups from giving condoms or

antiretroviral drugs to prostitutes. But it might stand in the way

in other cases, with highly damaging effects.

For instance, aid workers in Bangladesh sometimes pass out shoes to

brothel workers who are forced by local custom to go barefoot. That

might not seem like a way to stem AIDS, but it helps gain their

trust and gives them a measure of self-respect -- without which they

are unlikely to change their behavior. Would these handouts, or

counseling sessions for sex workers on personal hygiene, be

considered a violation of the anti-prostitution pledge? Its vague

wording leaves that unclear. What is apparent is that it could

easily be used to deny funding to groups that legislators don't like.

Last year, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) helped delay

efforts to apply the 2003 law to U.S. groups working overseas. This

year he has stood on the sidelines. Frist -- who regularly travels

to Africa to do pro bono work as a physician -- knows the situation

on the ground far better than most of his colleagues. He should

stand up to his fellow conservatives and speak out against the

pledge. U.S. groups working overseas should also refuse to sign it.

These groups fully understand why prostitution is a public health

disaster in the developing world. They are working hard to give

women better options, not through coercion or moralizing, but

through venereal disease counseling, domestic violence prevention,

literacy programs, job training and other social support. They

shouldn't be forced to prove their sincerity by signing a pledge

that could be used cavalierly against them.

If conservatives want to go after prostitution in the Third World,

they can fund religious groups to proselytize against it.

Interfering in the fight against HIV is a misguided policy that

could cost lives.

Online at:

http://www.religiousconsultation.org/News_Tracker/misguided_anti-vice_pledge.htm