UNAIDS Country Coordinator visits Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee

[Guest guest]

UNAIDS Country Coordinator visits Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, Kolkata

India

Mr. Denis Broun, Country Coordinator UNAIDS attended the 3rd State

Conference of Sex Workers organised by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee on

Friday 27 May 2005 in Kolkata (India).

Speaking as the Guest of Honour in the Open Session, Mr. Broun lauded the

efforts of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee and their success at implementing

community-based STI-HIV prevention among sex workers. Mr. Broun said that

STI/HIV prevention programmes, like the Sonagachi Project (that is owned and run

by DMSC), were extremely relevant vis-à-vis the HIV situation in the country,

and needed to be replicated widely. He said: “Today I had a choice; I could

travel with President Clinton to Tamil Nadu or I could come here to attend this

Conference. But for me, the choice was clear: I wanted to attend this Conference

to say that we at UNAIDS consider the work you do here important.”

After the Conference, Mr. Broun and DMSC leadership met to exchange views. The

leadership shared with Mr. Broun their efforts of networking with other sex

worker groups and organisations across the country. Responding to a question

from Roma Debnath, President DMSC, Mr. Broun said that UNAIDS could act as a

resource for DMSC and facilitate learning from other sex worker projects

worldwide. He also agreed that DMSC could itself be a resource for UNAIDS as

there were no other sex worker-run organisations that did micro-finance and

children’s education and training programmes the way DMSC did.

He also said that in India, the focus of UNAIDS is on legal aspects of sex work

and on issues around Article 377 of the IPC, but agreed that the UNAIDS needed

to bring into discussion the issues raised by DMSC that sex work was work and

that sex workers were entitled to workers’ rights. Mrinal Kanti Dutta, Programme

Director Durbar brought on board the question of having sex worker

representation at the policy level and in bodies that plan and decide HIV/AIDS

prevention efforts in the country. Clarifying his stand he said that involvement

of PLWHA in such bodies was already an accepted norm, and sex workers, as one of

the most vulnerable groups also need to be brought on board. Agreeing

wholeheartedly,

Mr. Broun told the group that UNAIDS has pushed for, and been successful in

initiating an electronic consultation on the NACP-III in which the NACO has

agreed to hear the voices of organisations that work with vulnerable groups. He

said details of the consultation and of participating in it would be available

to DMSC and similar organisations within the week. At conclusion, Mr. Broun said

that he was happy that he came and spoke at the State Conference. He thanked the

DMSC leadership for organising the Conference and for sharing their views with

him. Swapna Gayen, Secretary DMSC thanked Mr. Broun for coming to the Conference

and looked forward to a long and fruitful association with UNAIDS.

Report Compiled by IEC Dept. Durbar, with support from DMSC-TAAH Project

Amitrajit Saha

E-mail: <amitrajitsaha@...>