Today marks a victory for PHR and all of you who have been working to lift the US HIV travel ban. This morning, while signing the fourth reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act, President Obama vowed to “publish a final rule that eliminates the travel ban effective just after the New Year.”
Twenty-two years ago in a decision rooted in fear rather than fact, the United States instituted a travel ban on entry into the country for people living with HIV/AIDS. Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease — yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat. We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic — yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it.
The final rule will remove the HIV infection from the list of “communicable disease of public health significance,” no longer require HIV testing as part of the US immigration screening process and eliminate the need for a waiver to enter the country as an HIV carrier.
Please read Obama’s statement, his first public address about HIV/AIDS where he illustrates his commitment to make the United States a global leader in tackling HIV/AIDS and erasing its stigma. Also check out PHR’s press release on this important victory.
Said PHR CEO Frank Donaghue:
Today is a great day for human rights and for people living with AIDS, their friends and their families. The HIV Travel Ban made the United States a pariah in human rights circles, and harmed our reputation as a world leader of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care. Starting in 2010, people living with HIV will no longer be prevented from entering this country, no longer turned away at customs, no longer forced to hide their condition and interrupt medical treatment, and no longer be treated by our government with contempt.
We’re celebrating in Cambridge and DC; we hope you are too. This is an amazing victory for all of you who have worked so hard to promote and protect the human rights of people living with AIDS!
Sudan, Qatar, Tonga, Palau, Nauru, Iran, Somalia…United States? The US has the dubious distinction of being one of only eight United Nations member states (out of 192) who have failed to ratify the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
CEDAW, which was adopted by the U.N. general assembly in 1979, is the premier document in international law dealing with women’s rights. CEDAW addresses a diverse array of women’s rights and human rights issues including equality in civil, social, political and economic life, protection from sexual violence, and reproductive freedom. As President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton work to move the United States to the forefront of international human rights and women’s rights work, it is imperative that we ratify CEDAW and demonstrate that we are serious about our obligations to the international community and to women worldwide.
This year, in recognition of both World AIDS Day (Dec 1) and Human Rights Day (Dec 10), PHR and other partnering organizations will mount a10,000 signatures in 10 days campaign. Join us in letting your senator know that it’s time for the United States to ratify CEDAW and commit to women’s rights worldwide. We’ll be posting an educational and event planning toolkit next week, with many more World AIDS Day resources to follow, so stay tuned!
World AIDS Day is coming up, and this year’s theme is Human Rights and Universal Access. To stop AIDS, we must promote and protect human rights—especially those of women and girls. Therefore, to celebrate World AIDS Day 2009, PHR is launching a campaign to urge the US Senate to ratify CEDAW—and to officially recognize that protecting women promotes their health and the health of societies worldwide.
CEDAW, or the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, is an international convention adopted by the United Nations in 1979. It serves as an international bill of human rights for women, specifically extending provisions laid out by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to women while also addressing issues unique to women worldwide. Many of the provisions laid out in CEDAW, such as the right to health for women, the right to civil and domestic equality, and the right to reproductive freedom, directly pertain to controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS. Although women all over the world have used CEDAW to enact positive changes in their own countries, the United States remains one of only eight member countries of the U.N. that have not ratified CEDAW—the others include Iran, Sudan and Somalia. This World AIDS Day, we’re looking to change that.
To gear up for your school’s involvement in World AIDS Day, here are a few introductory factsheets on CEDAW and U.S. Ratification. Use these as articles for discussion groups, addendums to relevant course reading, informational handouts during tabling or events, etc. These serve as a great way to familiarize yourself, your chapter, and your peers with what CEDAW is and how the United States can join the international community in supporting women’s rights:
PHR will join the globe in celebrating World AIDS Day (WAD) on December 1, 2009. This year’s WAD theme is Universal Access and Human Rights. The critical message: access for all to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care is a fundamental human right we all must fight to protect.
Given this year’s theme, PHR and other partnering organizations will bridge World AIDS Day (Dec 1) with Human Rights Day (Dec 10) with a 10,000 signatures in 10 days campaign, mobilizing American’s to advocate for U.S. ratification of the Convention to Eliminate All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2010.
What does CEDAW do for women’s right?
CEDAW creates a legal, universal definition of women’s rights and discrimination against women. It includes: direction for ratified countries to ensure national laws respect the universal standards, monitoring processes for women’s rights standards worldwide, and forums for handling grievances and holding governments accountable. Learn more about CEDAW.
If the US wants to play a credible and influential leadership role on health, human rights and women’s empowerment—As president Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have promised—it must ratify the most prominent international law for women.
Why push for CEDAW on World AIDS Day?
Women and young girls presently comprise more than 60% of those who are living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and the numbers continue to grow. Any solution to the epidemic must acknowledge the devastating gender dynamics of AIDS and place women’s empowerment at the center of the solution. To halt the feminization of AIDS, we must address the root causes of HIV/AIDS transmission, many of which are based on human rights violations such as widespread gender-based violence, stigma and discrimination, and inequalities and violations of economic, social, legal, health and educational rights.
The most vexing and intolerable dimension of the pandemic is what is happening to women. Gender inequality is driving the pandemic, and we will never subdue the gruesome force of AIDS until the rights of women become paramount in the struggle. -Stephen Lewis, Keynote Speech at International AIDS Conference, Toronto
Join us!
Mark your calendars for Dec 1-Dec 10 to:
mobilize your campus to participate in this national action by urging your Senators to support U.S. ratification of CEDAW and helping PHR collect 10,000 signatures
educate your community about the feminization of AIDS and its direct connection to women’s rights standards.
Throughout the next few weeks, we will launch a series of educational and organizing resources to help you plan your national WAD action. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with any questions and requests for further information.
This summer, the House of Representatives took a historic step by removing the ban on federal funding for needle and syringe exchange programs (SEPs). Now, the Senate must act, but they are not making this policy a priority.
With the delay in voting, we have more time to advocate for an end to the federal ban! President Obama is in a unique position to urge the Senate to make needle exchange a priority as the vote approaches. During his campaign, President Obama promised to end the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs. Senators need to hear from President Obama that his Administration supports syringe exchange.
Now is the time to urge President Obama to fulfill his campaign promise to end the ban and urge the Senate to act. Want to help?Organize a Call-in drive on your campus over the next two weeks to ensure Obama hears from the public to take action.
It could make the all the difference in how the Senate votes.
Why support stronger Syringe Exchange Programs? SEPs promote health and human rights. More than a dozen scientific reviews of SEPs have shown that when implemented as part of a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention strategy, SEPs help reduce HIV transmissions without increasing drug use. Indeed, SEPs do more than provide clean syringes and properly dispose of used ones; they link people into the health care system and drug treatment programs that save lives.
President Obama’s leadership is key to moving this issue forward in the Senate. His support could help save the lives of thousands of people. 20 years is too long—help us end the ban today! Contact me if you want to get your campus involved.
During his campaign, President Obama promised to end the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs.
Call President Obama TODAY at (202) 456-1414 or (202) 456-1111 and tell him to keep his promise to save lives.
This summer, the House of Representatives took a historic step by removing the ban on federal funding for needle and syringe exchange programs (SEPs). Now, the Senate must act, but they are not making this policy a priority.
Senators need to hear from President Obama that his Administration supports syringe exchange. Now is the time to urge President Obama to fulfill his campaign promise to end the ban and to urge the Senate to act.
SEPs promote health and human rights. More than a dozen scientific reviews of SEPs have shown that when implemented as part of a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention strategy, SEPs help reduce HIV transmissions without increasing drug use.
Indeed, SEPs do more than provide clean syringes and properly dispose of used ones; they link people into the health care system and drug treatment programs that save lives.
President Obama’s leadership is key to moving this issue forward in the Senate. His support could help save the lives of thousands of people. 20 years is too long—help us end the ban today!
Call The White House Comment Line TODAY at (202) 456-1414 or (202) 456-1111 and tell Obama to fulfill his promise and END THE BAN.
Phone Script:
Tell the operator where you are from and if you are a health professional and/or have any specific expertise relevant to needle exchange, AIDS, and/or harm reduction. It is okay if you don’t have specific expertise—Obama needs to hear from everyone, in every state, about this issue!
Ask the operator to tell President Obama:
The research is clear – syringe exchange programs work. The presence of syringe exchange programs in communities does not increase rates of drug use, nor does it lead to a rise in crime. What it does do: decrease transmission of HIV, Hepatitis C and other diseases.
Now is the time for the President to make good on his promise to support lifting the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange. We are calling on President Obama to let key congressional members know that the White House supports Chairman Obey in fully revoking the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange.
The President must also urge the Senate to refrain from adding any language or amendments to the Senate bill that would place undue restrictions on SEPs. The detrimental “1,000 Foot Rule” contained in the House bill may seem innocuous, but in reality it severely and unnecessarily limits the locations of SEPs. In some cases, the rule makes it impossible for urban communities to have needle exchange programs at all.
Thanks to all the chapters who have already mobilized to get needle exchange postcards signed and mailed to your Senators. We are very close to ending the ban on federal funds for needle exchange, and we need the support of students to make it a reality.
1.) Postcard Deadline: if you haven’t gotten your postcard signed, sealed and delivered, please do so no later than Monday, September 7.
2.) Elite Sign on: As part of a multi-channel campaign to end this ban, PHR is launching an elite health professional sign on letter that will be addressed to all members of the Senate, urging them to vote to end the ban on federal funding for needle exchange and to ensure there are no amendments or language in the bill (like the 1000 foot rule in the House) that limits how states can use this funding. If you want to ask your Dean to sign on to this letter, email Sarah (Outreach and Constituency Organizing Director) at skalloch[at]phrusa[dot]org and she will give you sample letter text to use in engaging VIPs at your school. We need their signatures by next week — let me know if you want to help!
3.) E-Lert: We’ll also be emailing an action alert about this in the next two weeks that will engage all 30,000 of our activist supporters — the third prong of our campaign to end the ban. Keep and eye out for it and forward it on to friends!
PHR has been at the forefront of the fight for syringe exchange programs, thanks to the support of activists like you. NY Rep. Jose Serrano praised our work in helping to end the ban in the House:
“I also wish to recognize the incredible efforts of the various national and local groups that have been working for years to make this possible, especially AIDS Action, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Harm Reduction Coalition. Without the work of these valiant groups all across the nation, the step we took today never would have been possible.”
Now we need the Senate to follow suit and we need your help. Hope to hear from you soon!
