Visit us at AIDS 2012
Programme — Human Rights / Social, Economic & Prevention Justice Zone (GV-806)
We’re presenting more than 20 hours of programming over 5 days, from Sunday, July 22 to Thursday, July 26. You can download our programme (PDF) or read it here:
Sunday, July 22
17:30 to 19:00 — Opening reception
Join us for the official opening of the Human Rights / Social, Economic & Prevention Justice Zone!
You’ll find us in area GV-806 of the Global Village (Hall B of the Walter E. Washington Convention Centre).
Monday, July 23
- 11:00 to 12:30 — We Can End AIDS: Mobilizing for Economic Justice and Human Rights
- 13:00 to 14:00 — Placard-making for the “We Can Ends AIDS” march
- 14:30 to 16:00 — Condoms as Contraband: How Harmful Police Practices are Hurting Sex Workers, and How to Fight Back
- 16:30 to 18:00 — Cops and Rubbers
- 18:30 to 20:00 — Placard-making for the “We Can Ends AIDS” march
- 18:30 to 20:00 — Putin’s Russia: Life with HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis
11:00 to 12:30 — We Can End AIDS: Mobilizing for Economic Justice and Human Rights
Organizers
- Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
- HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (United States of America)
Presenters
- Jennifer Flynn, Managing Director, Health GAP [Health Global Access Project] (@HealthGAP)
- Speaker TBC, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (@AIDSLAW)
- Speaker TBC, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, United States of America (@HIVPrevJustice)
Overview
We deserve a world in which the lives and health of our communities are prioritized over corporations and ideology.
Yet we see the opposite in Washington, D.C., across the United States, and throughout the world. We have the science, the treatment, and the resources to end the AIDS epidemic, but not the political will. That’s why we’re mobilizing the “We Can End AIDS” march on Tuesday, July 24. (See the listing below.)
Join us for this teach-in on the day before the march to find out more about the issues and the plan — and make your own personal sign or placard about the issues you care about to carry in the march.
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- @WeCanEndAIDS
- #WeCanEndAIDS
- #endAIDS
13:00 to 14:00 — Placard-making for the “We Can Ends AIDS” march
Join us in the Human Rights / Social, Economic & Justice Prevention Zone to make a personalized placard for Tuesday’s “We Can Ends AIDS” march.
We’ll be giving out a limited number of headbands to those who make a placard!
14:30 to 16:00 — Condoms as Contraband: How Harmful Police Practices are Hurting Sex Workers, and How to Fight Back
Organizer
Open Society Foundations / Human Rights Watch
Presenters
Presenters:
- Megan McLemore, Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch, United States of America
- Acacia Shields, Consultant, Open Society Foundations
Panellists:
- Sienna Baskin, Director, Sex Workers Project, Urban Justice Center (New York), United States of America
- Stacey-Leigh Manoek, Attorney, Women’s Legal Centre, South Africa
- Sian Maseko, Director, Sexual Rights Centre, Zimbabwe
- Bamby Salcedo, HIV Prevention Services Project Coordinator, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, United States of America
Overview
HIV prevention programs globally have recognized the importance of ensuring sex workers have access to condoms and increasing their ability to use them.
Yet before sex workers can use condoms, they need to be able to carry and keep them. In countries around the world — including the U.S. — police are actively engaged in stopping and searching sex workers and confiscating or destroying condoms found in their possession.
In other cases, police use possession of condoms as grounds to arrest or detain people on charges of sex work — and in some jurisdictions courts allow condoms to be used as evidence to convict people on prostitution-related charges.
Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Foundations are releasing reports and accompanying videos documenting the police practice of using condoms as evidence of prostitution and its impact on sex workers’ lives, including their vulnerability to HIV.
In this 90-minute session, Megan McLemore and Acacia Shields will present the research findings, and activists from South Africa, the United States and Zimbabwe who were involved in the research will answer questions about the implications of these policing practices on sex workers and their communities.
Topics
- HIV prevention, social disparities and structural interventions
- Sex workers’ rights
- Women
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #HIVrights
- #HIV
- #sexworkers
- #condoms
- #criminalization
16:30 to 18:00 — Cops and Rubbers
Organizer
Open Society Foundations
Overview
Play our interactive game, “Cops and Rubbers”!
Test your street savvy and learn where sex workers are hiding their condoms from police and why.
Topics
- HIV prevention, social disparities and structural interventions
- Sex workers’ rights
- Women
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #HIVrights
- #HIV
- #sexworkers
- #condoms
- #criminalization
18:30 to 20:00 — Placard-making for the “We Can Ends AIDS” march
Join us in the Human Rights / Social, Economic & Justice Prevention Zone to make a personalized placard for Tuesday’s “We Can Ends AIDS” march.
We’ll be giving out a limited number of headbands to those who make a placard!
18:30 to 20:00 — Putin’s Russia: Life with HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis
Organizer
Institute of Modern Russia (United States of America)
Presenter
- Misha Friedman, Photographer, Institute of Modern Russia
Overview
The Institute of Modern Russia is launching this photo exhibition to raise awareness of the disastrous state of affairs with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) in Russia.
The irresponsible and inhumane attitude of the Russian government toward the socially vulnerable group suffering from these infectious diseases is among the greatest horrors of the present situation in the country.
In most first-world nations, HIV/AIDS and TB have been taken under state control, ceased to be taboo subjects, and have been destigmatized. This is not the case in Russia or the former Soviet republics, where independent observers report that the incidence of TB and HIV/AIDS have reached epidemic levels.
But, despite these grim figures, the authorities have not only ignored this problem, but also actively suppress information surrounding it. People are largely unaware that a significant proportion of Russians are TB carriers, and therefore at high risk of developing an acute form of tuberculosis if infected with an immune-suppressant virus such as HIV.
Topics
- Funding human rights initiatives as part of the response to HIV
- Human rights education (including public legal education)
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- @InModernRussia
Tuesday, July 24
Please note that the Human Rights / Social, Economic & Prevention Justice Zone will be closed between 11:45 and 15:00 for the “We Can End AIDS” march.
- 9:00 to 11:00 — Placard-making for the “We Can Ends AIDS” march
- 11:00 to 11:30 — Gathering and mobilization for “We Can Ends AIDS” march
- 11:45 to 13:00 — “We Can Ends AIDS” march
- 16:30 to 18:00 — ARVs for Treatment & Prevention: Human Rights Issues
- 18:30 to 20:00 — Criminalize Hate, Not HIV: Transmission, Exposure and Non-disclosure
9:00 to 11:00 — Placard-making for the “We Can Ends AIDS” march
Join us in the Human Rights / Social, Economic & Justice Prevention Zone to make a personalized placard for Tuesday’s “We Can Ends AIDS” march.
We’ll be giving out a limited number of headbands to those who make a placard!
11:00 to 11:30 — Gathering and mobilization for “We Can Ends AIDS” march
The Human Rights / Social, Economic & Justice Prevention Zone is a gathering point for the “We Can Ends AIDS” march.
Join us, meet other marchers, learn some slogans and chants, and prepare for a memorable march in Washington!
11:45 to 13:00 — “We Can Ends AIDS” march
Five distinct branches of the march will flood downtown Washington with a range of creative and powerful actions.
The branches will snake through K Street, New York Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, meeting at Lafayette Park at 13:00 to deliver a powerful collective message to the White House and the world: “To end the AIDS pandemic, we demand the political will necessary to ensure economic justice for all and to defend and protect the human rights of our marginalized communities, including people living with HIV & AIDS.”
16:30 to 18:00 — ARVs for Treatment & Prevention: Human Rights Issues
Organizer
UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights
Presenters
- Facilitator: Jonathan Cohen, Open Society Foundations, United States of America (@JonCohenNYC)
- Sarah Zaidi, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), Thailand
- Michaela Clayton, AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), Namibia
- Susan Timberlake, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Topics
- Access to AIDS treatment
- Funding human rights initiatives as part of the response to HIV
- HIV prevention, social disparities and structural interventions
18:30 to 20:00 — Criminalize Hate, Not HIV: Transmission, Exposure and Non-disclosure
Organizer
International Planned Parenthood Federation
Presenters
- Chair: Susan Timberlake, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
- Catherine Hanssens, Center for HIV Law and Policy, United States of America
- Allison Nichol, United States Department of Justice, United States of America
- Darby, Global Network of Sex Work Projects
- Lucy Stackpool-Moore, International Planned Parenthood Federation, United Kingdom
Overview
This session examines the continuing crisis of HIV criminalization — the use of criminal law to target people with HIV for unusual and unusually harsh charges and punishments on the basis of conduct that is legal when those without diagnosed HIV engage in it.
Criminal law has served as a government-sponsored tool to further stigmatize people with HIV and the populations with which HIV is disproportionately associated: gay men, people of color, sex workers and people who use drugs.
This session will be a moderated, interactive dialogue on the intersecting issues of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, drug use and poverty that inform the epidemic of HIV criminalization.
Topics
- Criminalization of HIV transmission/exposure
- LGBT
- Litigation or law reform
- People who use drugs (drug policy / harm reduction)
- Sex workers’ rights
- Other: Sex, gender identity, race, poverty
Wednesday, July 25
- 9:00 to 10:30 — Ask the Activist: Chinese and Thai HIV/AIDS activists answer your questions about research advocacy
- 11:00 to 12:30 — Exiled to the Hubs: Voices from Kiev and Kolkata
- 13:00 to 14:00 — Criminalization of HIV: Voices of affected PLHIV
- 14:30 to 16:00 — Strategy Session on High-Impact Prevention (HIP), Structural Interventions and Prevention Justice Worldwide
- 16:30 to 18:00 — Litigation and Law Reform: Strategies and Lessons
- 19:00 to 20:30 — Interchange on Global Economic Justice and HIV
9:00 to 10:30 — Ask the Activist: Chinese and Thai HIV/AIDS activists answer your questions about research advocacy
Organizer
Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG)
Presenters
- Jirasak Sripramong, Harm Reduction Coordinator, Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG)
- Tingting Shen, Co-founder, Korekata AIDS Law Center, China
Overview
This session will allow attendees the opportunity to hear two activists, from China and Thailand, discuss the contexts in which they work, including challenges, creative solutions, and outcomes of doing human rights research and advocacy with highly marginalized, criminalized populations affected by HIV.
Topics
- Litigation or law reform
- People who use drugs (drug policy / harm reduction)
- Prisoners
- Other: Blood scandal, human rights documentation
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- @saralmdavis
11:00 to 12:30 — Exiled to the Hubs: Voices from Kiev and Kolkata
Organizer
Open Society Foundations
Overview
Sex workers and people who use drugs are barred from attending AIDS 2012 because they are ineligible for U.S. visas.
As an alternative, they are gathering in Kiev and Kolkata for conference “hubs” that provide a space to address their concerns.
This session will provide an overview of the relevant immigration law, screen footage from Kiev and Kolkata, and prepare for a peaceful action during the Thursday plenaries to protest the travel restrictions.
Topics
- People who use drugs (drug policy / harm reduction)
- Travel and residence restrictions based on HIV status
- Sex workers’ rights
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #hivrights
- @hivhumanrights
- @JonCohenNYC
13:00 to 14:00 — Criminalization of HIV: Voices of affected PLHIV
Organizer
HIV Justice Network (United Kingdom)
Presenters
- Facilitator: Edwin J Bernard, Co-ordinator, HIV Justice Network, United Kingdom (@hivjusticenet)
- Louis Gay, criminalized PLHIV, Norway (@LouisGay72)
- Robert Suttle, Assistant Director, The Sero Project, United States of America (@i_Suttle)
- Marama Pala, Executive Director, INA – Māori, Indigenous & South Pacific HIV/AIDS Foundation, New Zealand (@Maramaboo)
Overview
The criminalization of HIV non-disclosure, potential exposure or transmission is often discussed in the abstract in terms of morality, ethics and policy issues.
However, the voices of people directly impacted by such laws and prosecutions — people living with HIV — are rarely heard.
This is an opportunity to hear first-hand the experiences of three people who have been directly involved in criminal cases: someone who is currently being prosecuted; a criminalization survivor; and a former complainant.
Facilitated by a global expert on this issue (who is also living with HIV), this panel discussion will include opportunities for the audience to ask questions and to discuss lessons learned.
Topics
- Criminalization of HIV transmission/exposure
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #noHIVcrimes
- #HIVisnotacrime
- #HIVjustice
- #speakupIAC
14:30 to 16:00 — Strategy Session on High-Impact Prevention (HIP), Structural Interventions and Prevention Justice Worldwide
Organizer
HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (United States of America)
Presenters
- Moderator: Julie Davids, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (HIV PJA) / AIDS Foundation of Chicago, United States of America (@HIVPrevJustice)
- Dr. Jonathan Mermin, Director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Dr. Nancy Padian, Senior Technical Advisor, Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (United States of America)
Overview
Join us for an informal, stimulating conversation with two of the top U.S officials in global and domestic HIV prevention policy.
If treatment is increasingly recognized for its HIV prevention power, will we move further into a business-as-usual “medical model” of dealing with the epidemic, or will stark gaps in access to treatment also force us to confront the structural causes of inequality worldwide?
- What is the connection between social justice, prevention tools, and HIV incidence, and what is the role of stigma and discrimination?
- And how can people with HIV, allies and political leaders support bold or controversial strategies that could truly tackle the epidemic?
- How can we balance the needs of different communities in an era of strained resources?
Come to speak up, and come to listen!
Topics
- Access to AIDS treatment
- Funding human rights initiatives as part of the response to HIV
- LGBT
- People who use drugs (drug policy / harm reduction)
- Prisoners
- Sex workers’ rights
- Women
- Youth
- Other: Political will
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #HIVPJA
- #endaids
- @WeCanEndAIDS
16:30 to 18:00 — Litigation and Law Reform: Strategies and Lessons
Organizer
Open Society Foundations
Presenters
- Katrina Pacey, Litigation Director, Pivot Legal Society, Canada (@katrinapacey)
- Priti Patel, Deputy Director, Southern African Litigation Centre, South Africa
- Mikhail Golichenko, Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Canada
- Melba Katindi Katsivo, Advocacy and Training Officer, Kenya Legal & Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS, Kenya
- Jeffrey Ogwaro, Ugandan Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Uganda
Overview
The recent report of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law highlighted the negatively impact that punitive and discriminatory laws, policies and state practice can have on HIV responses. Civil society groups, working in partnership with those most affected by HIV, have long sought to challenge these frameworks through strategic litigation and law reform advocacy.
In this session, participants will hear from a panel of advocates from across the world on exciting case studies of litigation and law reform, drawing on the steps taken in developing the strategy for change and lessons learnt in the process. Topics presented on include:
- Using the courts to push for sex work decriminalization in Canada;
- The legal challenge to the practice of forced sterilization of women living with HIV in Namibia;
- Strategic litigation to advance access to harm reduction in Russia;
- The recent victory by advocates against the anti-counterfeit Laws in Kenya; and
- The civil society coalition against the planned anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda.
Topics
- Access to AIDS treatment
- LGBT
- Litigation or law reform
- People who use drugs (drug policy / harm reduction)
- Sex workers’ rights
- Women
19:00 to 20:30 — Interchange on Global Economic Justice and HIV
Organizer
HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (United States of America)
Presenters
- Moderator: Anna Saini, VOCAL-NY (@vocalnewyork)
- Kenyon Farrow, Communications Director, The Praxis Project, United States of America (@kenyonfarrow)
- Valencia Robinson, Executive Director, Mississippi in Action, United States of America
- Jirasak Sripramong, Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group, Thailand
- Ken Zinn, National Nurses Union / U.S. Robin Hood Tax Campaign, United States of America (@robinhoodtax)
Overview
Economic Justice (EJ) is: “The attainment of rightful access to basic financial and material resources and opportunities.” We believe that it is key to ending the HIV/ AIDS.
Economic inequality does not happen by accident.
It happens because of a global economic system that benefits the very few to the detriment of the many.
- How are people with HIV and allies fighting in Washington DC, across the United States and around the world for economic justice, and how can we help?
- How are AIDS activists working with and as members of the Occupy movement?
We’ll kick it off with powerful EJ/HIV videos, including Human Rights Watch’s “Living with HIV in Mississippi,” and lead into a lively interchange with panellists and the audience — bring your life experiences, your ideas and your passion for justice.
Topics
- Access to AIDS treatment
- Access to jobs, income and economic support
- Funding human rights initiatives as part of the response to HIV
- HIV prevention, social disparities and structural interventions
- Other: Economic Justice
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #HIVPJA
- #endaids
- @HIVPrevJustice
- @WeCanEndAIDS
- @Praxis_Project
Thursday, July 26
- 11:00 to 12:30 — Justice Across the Generations: U.S. campaigns for structural changes for youth, workers and elders
- 13:00 to 14:00 — U.S. drug policy and its impact on HIV response
- 14:30 to 16:00 — Denial of pain treatment
- 16:30 to 18:00 — Dialogue on Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Justice
- 18:30 to 20:00 — Report-back/Strategy Session: Evaluating our conference efforts and talking about next steps
11:00 to 12:30 — Justice Across the Generations: U.S. campaigns for structural changes for youth, workers and elders
Organizer
HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (United States of America)
Moderators
- Walt Senterfitt, co-founder, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, United States of America
- Dee Borrego, Steering Committee, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, United States of America
Presenters
- Mark Misrok, Executive Director, National Working Positive Coalition, United States of America
- Maya Rupert, Federal Policy Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights, United States of America
- Robin Shaffert, Policy Director, Caring Across Generations Campaign, United States of America
Overview
In the United States, poverty, homelessness and other structural issues are drivers of the HIV epidemic in a national now facing sustained economic crisis.
How are activists in and beyond the HIV community:
- Focusing on structural changes to help families learn to accept their LGBTQ children rather than throwing them out;
- Seeking to improve the economic status of people with HIV and help them reach their goals as students and workers; and
- Integrating people with HIV as workers and recipients of new jobs in home care and support with real benefits, a path to citizenship and a ladder for advancement?
Come learn about these campaigns and other issues where HIV intersects with the economy, society and workplaces of the United States.
Topics
- Access to jobs, income and economic support
- Disability rights and HIV
- HIV prevention, social disparities and structural interventions
- Legal services for people living with or vulnerable to HIV
- LGBT
- Women
- Youth
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #HIVPJA
- #endaids
- @HIVPrevJustice
- @WeCanEndAIDS
13:00 to 14:00 — U.S. drug policy and its impact on HIV response
Organizer
Open Society Foundations
Presenters
- Moderator: Daniel Wolfe, Open Society Foundations, United States of America
- Anya Sarang, Andrei Rylkov Foundation, Russia
- Damon Barrett, Harm Reduction International, United Kingdom (@DamonHRI)
- Allan Clear, Harm Reduction Coalition, United States of America (@HarmReduction)
Overview
Whether through the reimposition of the ban on federal funding for needle and syringe programs, collaboration with the Russian government on a joint program for drug eradication, or investment in “treatment” programs that offer little but incarceration in Southeast Asia, the U.S. government’s drug policies shape the course of the HIV epidemic for millions of individuals.
Speakers in this panel discussion will highlight the HIV impacts of U.S. drug policy across the world, highlighting the costs of current policies and directions for positive change.
Topics
- Access to AIDS treatment
- HIV prevention, social disparities and structural interventions
- People who use drugs (drug policy / harm reduction)
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
14:30 to 16:00 — Denial of pain treatment
Organizer
Open Society Foundations
Presenters
- Moderator: Stephen Connor, Senior Executive, Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, United Kingdom
- Joe Amon, Director, Health and Human Rights Program, Human Rights Watch, United States of America (@joeamon)
- Jenna Kohnke, Program Manager, Global Access to Pain Relief Initiative (GAPRI), United States of America
- Joan Marston, Chief Executive Officer, International Children’s Palliative Care Initiative, South Africa
Topics
- Access to palliative care and pain relief
16:30 to 18:00 — Dialogue on Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Justice
Organizers
- HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, United States of America
- Funder’s Network on Population, Reproductive Health and Rights, United States of America
- Funders Concerned About AIDS, United States of America
Presenters
- Deon Haywood, Women with a Vision, United States of America
- Darby Hickey, Best Practices Policy Project, United States of America
- Joel Gustave Nana, African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR), South Africa
- Charles Stephens, Steering Committee, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, United States of America
Overview
This facilitated and fascinating panel discussion will explore interconnections, fault lines and opportunities for policy, organizing and advocacy on the health and rights of women and girls, transgender rights and liberation, LGBQ issues, sexual health and reproductive justice in the contexts of the domestic and global AIDS epidemics.
Topics
- Funding human rights initiatives as part of the response to HIV
- HIV prevention, social disparities and structural interventions
- LGBT
- Litigation or law reform
- Sex workers’ rights
- Women
- Other: Reproductive Justice
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #HIVPJA
- #endaids
- @HIVPrevJustice
- @WeCanEndAIDS
18:30 to 20:00 — Report-back/Strategy Session: Evaluating our conference efforts and talking about next steps
Organizer
HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (United States of America)
Presenters
- Julie Davids, Director of National Advocacy and Mobilization, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (HIV PJA) / AIDS Foundation of Chicago, United States of America
- Kelly McGowan, Director, Upstream Consulting, United States of America
Overview
Join us for a strategic, fast-moving assessment of advocacy efforts at AIDS 2012 and in making concrete, achievable plans for our next steps.
Learn new facilitation techniques for sharing information, building solidarity, planning strategies and creating alliances, while practicing them in real-time!
Additional Twitter hashtags/handles
- #HIVPJA
- #endaids
- @HIVPrevJustice
- @WeCanEndAIDS
