Posts Tagged As: AIDS

African, Asian, Caribbean LGBT Groups Banned From U.N. AIDS Conference

Jim Burroway

May 18th, 2016

More than fifty Muslim countries, led by Egypt, banded together to ban several LGBT groups from attending a high level U.N.’s 2016 High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS set for June 8 through 10. NGOs from across Africa, as well as Guyana, Jamaica, Peru, Estonia and Ukraine were among eleven groups that were banned:

On behalf of 51 members of the 57-nation Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Egypt requested that the UN bar 11 groups from attending the conference, news agencies reported. Egypt reportedly provided no reason for excluding the groups in its letter.

The NGOs include Eurasian Coalition on Male Health, an Estonia-based group that fights for LGBTI equality in Russia and other former Soviet republics, and Global Action for Trans Equality, which has its headquarters in the United States. Aside from the Estonian and US gay activist groups, Egypt reportedly objected to the participation of Ishtar Men Who Have Sex With Men group from Kenya and the Asia Pacific Transgender Network from Thailand.

Ambassadors from the E.U., U.S., and Canada were quick to denounce the ban:

The United States has already protested the decision, with the US ambassador Samantha Power noting that the disallowed groups “appear to have been chosen for their involvement in LGBTI, transgender or youth advocacy.” …

“We are deeply concerned that at every negotiation on a new General Assembly gathering, the matter of NGO (non-governmental organization) participation is questioned and scrutinized,” Ms Power wrote.

“The movement to block the participation of NGOs on spurious or hidden grounds is becoming epidemic and severely damages the credibility of the U.N.”

“Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/Aids pandemic,” she added.

The 2016 High-Level Meeting was called to share lessons learned in responding to HIV with the stated goal of of ending AIDS by 2030:

The lessons learned in responding to HIV will play an instrumental role in the success in achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals, notably Sustainable Development Goal 3, good health and well-being, and the goals on gender equality and women’s empowerment, reduced inequalities, global partnerships and just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

    

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