February 2018

Feb 22, 2018

In many places an end is still not in sight...

Dear aidsfocus readers,

“Fear is the overriding emotion of a drug user in public in Russia. Every encounter with the police or other authorities represents a threat and can change your life forever.” At the Action against AIDS Germany conference in Berlin in late November 2017, Russian journalist Alexander Delfinov delivers a vivid description of his experiences within a Russian system that treats human rights with contempt. The activist, who has for some years been living in Germany from where he supports HIV and drug education work in Russia, considers the current situation in his country to be intolerable: they treat you like “animals”; as drug users you have “absolutely no human rights”.

An Egyptian activist reports similarly on the situation of homosexuals in his country. And in his case too, he evidently finds it difficult to put his experiences into words. Homosexuality may not illegal in Egypt but a law against “sexual debaucheries” enacted in 1961 is being consistently misused by the state to harass people with an alternative sexual orientation. Stigmatisation and criminalisation are the order of the day: if you are suspected of homosexuality you have to endure anal examinations when visiting HIV prevention and healthcare facilities. And you risk being arrested.

“The end of AIDS will not happen by itself!” conference held on the occasion of the 15^th anniversary of the founding of Action against AIDS Germany focused on some of the biggest challenges with regards to the end of AIDS. Alongside concerns about the massive decrease in funding (2016 returned us to the position of 2010), human rights abuses and stigmatisation of HIV-infected people and those with alternative sexual orientations still top the list of priorities. Even for Germany, the internationally collated Stigma Index paints a bleak picture: 70% of those infected fear revealing their status and a quarter of those who dare to take the step report having had bad experiences, frequently at medical facilities. Clearly we are still many miles away from achieving general equality of treatment even in Europe. Of particular concern is the situation of social minorities in Eastern European countries, above all in Russia. Read more about this in our Topic of the Month.

With the title “Gender-Based Violence: Approaches and Challenges at Community and Advocacy Level”, our MMS/aidsfocus.ch symposium on 2 May 2018 is also focusing on human rights violations. Don’t miss it! We would be delighted to see you there! You can register here.

Martina Staenke
Communication Manager, Medicus Mundi Switzerland
mstaenke@medicusmundi.ch