Commemorate World AIDS Day TODAY by joining a nation-wide movement to protect women’s rights and promote women’s health.
Today, World AIDS Day, marks the first day of the 10,000 in 10 Campaign, a joint effort of Physicians for Human Rights, the American Medical Student Association, Advocates for Youth, Americans for Informed Democracy and the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.
Between World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) and International Human Rights Day (Dec.10), join the campaign to mobilize 10,000 Americans to support US ratification of the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2010.
Human rights violations such as widespread gender-based violence, systematic stigma and discrimination, and economic, social, health and educational inequalities put women at a disproportionately high risk of HIV/AIDS. Protecting women’s rights is essential to halting the feminization of AIDS.
CEDAW is the top international treaty that sets the standards for critical women’s rights issues, including equality in civil, political, and economic life, protection from sexual violence, and reproductive
freedom-all key to the fight against AIDS.
After 30 years of failed attempts at US ratification, CEDAW finally has the strong support within the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Administration needed to make ratification in 2010 possible.
If you are on facebook, spread the word and use this as your status today:
Celebrate World AIDS Day (Dec 1) and Human Rights Day (Dec 10)—join 10,000 Americans calling on senators to stop AIDS by protecting women’s rights at www.humanrightsforwomen.org
Or Tweet:
Celebrate #WorldAIDSDay—join 10,000 Americans calling on Senators to stop AIDS by protecting women’s rights at www.humanrightsforwomen.org
Let your Senator know now is the time to ratify CEDAW and show that the US is serious about global health and women’s rights worldwide! thanks for your support!
Suggestions that the US is a leader in human rights is questionable when the country is not a party to the main human rights treaties, including CEDAW;
US calls for other countries to fulfill women’s human rights lack credibility when the US has not ratified the main women’s human rights treaty;
Successive administrations would be under a legal human rights obligation to submit periodic reports on its implementation of the rights contained in CEDAW;
US civil society could monitor and report on what the US government is doing to implement the human rights of women in this country. Called a ‘Shadow Report’, this report is submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the Committee). The Committee welcomes this information to ensure that it is as well informed as possible;
Individuals and groups can make complaints against the government to the Committee;
The Committee on its own initiative can investigate grave or systemic in-country violations of women’s human rights.
The latter two procedures are only available when a country has accepted them. Hence, this would require the US ratifying the Optional Protocol to CEDAW.
If the US ratifies CEDAW, fulfillment of women’s human rights in the US would no longer be at the whim of different administrations. As the U.S. would be a party to CEDAW, people within the US could demand that any US administration fulfill the rights contained in the treaty.
Between World AIDS Day (December 1) and International Human Rights Day (December 10), PHR is launching the 10,000 in 10 Campaign. We’re mobilizing 10,000 Americans, including students nationwide, to ask their US Senators to support US ratification of the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2010.
We need your help to meet our goal. It will take 2 minutes:
Get More Involved: Join our “10,000 in 10 Leadership Team” and make a pledge to collect 50 signatures from family, friends and colleagues. Email me at skalloch[at]phrusa[dot]org to join the team.
Why CEDAW?
Women all over the world are facing discrimination, abuse and systematic inequities that make them especially vulnerable to some of the most severe global health challenges. Until we promote and protect women’s rights, the most severe diseases and health complications will continue to disproportionately affect women world wide.
Why Now?
The US remains one of only 7 countries in the world who have yet to ratify this critical treaty, along with Sudan and Somalia.
Since the treaty was adopted by United Nations in 1979, efforts for US ratification have come up repeatedly in the Senate but faced significant obstacles by CEDAW opponents, crushing potential for ratification. Now, CEDAW has strong support within the Foreign Relations Committee and is listed by the Obama administration as one of the top three treaties to ratify.
Things are looking a lot brighter: Let’s make the most of this new opportunity to protect women’s rights and support women’s health worldwide by finally ratifying CEDAW!
I just returned from an inspiring ANAC conference (Association of Nurses in AIDS Care). It is always fun, fabulous and totally energizing to be around ANAC members, who are deeply committed to stopping AIDS, supporting people living with AIDS and building an amazing community of caregivers, educators and advocates.
Former PHR Health Action AIDS Campaign Director Pat Daoust was honored with one of ANAC’s most prestigious awards, the Public Serive Award, for her three decades in AIDS care and her amazing advocacy work through Health Action AIDS. Her acceptance speech is below. In it she thanks all of you, the campaign’s supporters, for your deep commitme
nt to stopping AIDS. Read and be inspired!
First of all, thank you very much. I am extremely humbled and honored by this recognition, especially because it comes from this organization — ANAC — my fellow nurses.
When I received word that I would be the recipient of the Public Service Award, the letter noted that this is in large part an acknowledgment of the work accomplished as Director of the Health Action AIDS Campaign while at PHR. While I am extremely proud of the campaigns’ successes, I am the first to emphasize that without our coalition partners and the commitment of our members — particularly the thousands of nurses both here in the US and abroad — we would never been able to reach our goals!
Wen we called upon you to write or sign on to letters to members of congress calling for the repeal of the HIV travel ban.
When we asked you to set up in-district meeting with your representatives to help educate them on the importance of women’s rights and the need to integrate FP and reproductive health care with HIV service.
Whenever we held summits or organized hill meetings to advocate for US investment in health systems and health workers in the developing world.
Whenever we urged op-eds or LTEs that addressed human rights or the right to health for the most vulnerable including IDUs , MSN or women and children at risk for HIV.
You never let us down. You always rallied above and beyond.
The powerful voice of the nurse truly made a significant impact. The wins for AIDS, human rights and global health could never have happened with out the expertise, the dedication, the passion and the commitment of the largest group of health professional in the world. NURSES!!!
Our size as a profession — comprising close to 80% of all health professionals in the world — gives us power but also holds us responsible, obligates us to be advocates for those who voices are not hear. Our work is not done: appropriations for PEFAR and global health is still an unknown and with 70% of those in need of treatment lacking access and infection rates continuing to grown we have to keep our mission on the front pages and at the top of the USG agenda.
In closing I want to acknowledge and thank Deb von Z for nominating me for this award, the ANAC board for approving the nomination, my mentor Larry Kessler, the founder of the AIDS Action Committee in Mass, who first taught me about advocacy and the entire HAA team at PHR and, last, my biggest supporter, my husband Paul, who for years has put up with my international travel, my long absences and my obsessive behavior. He has never once complained.
Robert S. Lawrence, MD, a founding member of PHR and the Chair of PHR’s Board of Directors, has been awarded the Sedgwick Memorial Medal at the 137th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA). The medal, considered the APHA’s most prestigious award, was presented at a ceremony in Philadelphia on November 10, 2009. The Medal recognizes Dr. Lawrence as
an individual who has demonstrated a distinguished record of service to public health while tirelessly working to advance public health knowledge and practice.
Upon learning of the award, PHR’s CEO, Frank Donaghue, said:
Physicians for Human Rights warmly congratulates and applauds our Board Chair, Robert Lawrence, MD, the recipient of one of the highest honors bestowed by the APHA. The 2009 Sedgwick Memorial Medal — a true accolade of the profession — signals colleagues’ recognition of Dr. Lawrence’s exemplary accomplishments in the field of public health. His leadership has helped PHR bring a human rights perspective to vital issues such as fighting global AIDS, strengthening the health workforce, addressing inequities faced by women and children, and promoting accountability and governance in health systems.
The Sedgwick Medal honors Dr. Lawrence’s long and remarkable career in public service. As Professor and Director of the Center for a Livable Future at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Lawrence has worked to eliminate racial and income-based disparities in health-care access across the United States. Educated at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Lawrence has taught at top US universities, served as a director of health sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation and has been a principal force for establishment of human rights programs in schools of public health. He is a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine and is a past recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Prize.
Dr. Lawrence co-founded PHR, and has participated in human rights investigations with PHR and other organizations in countries including Chile, the former Czechoslovakia, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kosovo, the Philippines, and South Korea and South Africa.
World AIDS Day (WAD) is a uniquely dynamic time of year where people from throughout your community are willing to come together and discuss the global AIDS crisis. We highly encourage your student chapters to take advantage and invite your colleagues to join you in recognizing World AIDS Day! Here are some resource recommendations to help as you consider event options, including, film recommendations,journal club articles,andtips for finding speakers.
Film Recommendations
A film screening can be an easy and effective way to get people involved and fill them in on the most pressing issues. Numerous powerful films have been made about the global AIDS crisis and themes such as human rights, women’s rights, and universal access. Here are a few suggestions of relatively recent and well received films:
Yesterday – Oscar nominated film about an HIV-positive mother in South Africa struggling to stay alive long enough to see her daughter off to school.
A Closer Walk - Narrated by Will Smith and Glenn Close and featuring Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama and Bono this expansive film about the global AIDS crisis travels between Africa, North America, Europe and South Asia as it explores the challenges and heartbreaks of AIDS.
A Powerful Noise – A documentary about three women in different parts of the world (one of whom is an HIV-positive advocate for PWAs in Vietnam) overcoming gender barriers and poverty to affect positive changes in their respective communities.
SASA – A 33 minute award-winning film that provides a glimpse into the lives of two East African women where intimate partner violence has made them susceptible to HIV. (The film is saved as a .mov file and thus needs to be played using QuickTime or a compatible player.)
Organize a Journal Club
A smaller event idea for interested members of your organization can be a discussion group to discuss relevant articles and brainstorm ideas. Consider using WAD as the inspiration for a journal club on health and human rights, global AIDS, or other related issues! Here are three good articles to use as a springboard to further discussion and reading:
Confronting AIDS: Human Rights, Law and Social Transformation; Mark Heywood and Dennis Altman; Health and Human Rights, Volume 5, No. 1 (2000), Pages 149-179
All for Universal Health Coverage; Laurie Garrett, A Mushtaque R Chowdhury and Ariel Pablos-Mendez; The Lancet, Volume 374, No. 9697, Pages 1294-1299
Human Rights Approaches to an Expanded Response to Address Women’s Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS; Daniel Whelan; Health and Human Rights, Volume 3, No. 1 (1998), Pages 20-36.
Having a guest come speak is always a fantastic idea for an event. Check out our Host a Speaker Guide and read some tips for finding and inviting a speaker:
Ask your professors! Faculty members tend to know many people in the field and often have insight into who in the area might be most likely to be able to attend your event. They can also lend their support by helping present the invitation and acting asde facto sponsors of your event.
Do some investigation to find non-university activists or organizations from the local community.
Take advantage of the internet. You may be pleasantly surprised and realize they are at a nearby institution or in the same city.
Reach out to other student groups to co-host an event. Not only does this make publicity more effective, it also means you can pool funds to invite someone from further away than would otherwise be possible.
Women all over the world are facing discrimination, abuse and systematic inequities that make then especially vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Until we protect women from sexual violence and exploitation, provide health and prenatal care and education, and provide all women the socioeconomic power to negotiate safer sex practices, HIV/AIDS will continue to disproportionately affect women in many parts of the world.
This year, in keeping with the 2009 theme of Universal Access and Human Rights, we’re dedicating World AIDS Day and Human Rights Day to getting the United States to ratify the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Join us for the 10,000in 10campaign, which aims to collect ten thousand signatures for US ratification of CEDAW during the ten days between World AIDS Day (Dec 1) and Human Rights Day (Dec 10)!
There are a variety of opportunities to join the national action, depending on your interest and capacity:
Mobilize the health professional student and faculty communities to urge the US to ratify CEDAW as a step forward in protecting women’s rights and health. PHR is doing this in partnership with a number of other organizations, allowing for a greater national movement. Our challenge to each PHR chapter: collect 100 signatures of support for CEDAW from your community.
Host educational events on campuses nationwide about women, HIV, and the human rights context/approach.
Organize an in-district meeting with your Senator to personally deliver the signatures you collect and urge him or her to support CEDAW.
As you plan your school’s involvement in World AIDS Day, download our 2009 World AIDS Day Toolkitto receive educational & organizing resources to reach out to students and faculty, organize successful events, and educate members of your community. And stay tuned to the Student Blog for more hands-on advocacy resources available mid-November.
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:
