Over the past 16 days, the Community of Practice on HIV, human rights and gender (HIVAPCOP), in contribution to the campaign on 16 days of Activism to End Violence Against Women, shared with you features on committed community organizations and individuals who are at the fore front of the campaign on addressing the complex challenges of the epidemic in the region.
Through the features you have read about the work of community organizations like Spiritia Foundation from Indonesia, who supports the rights of People Living with HIV (PLHIV), and; Social Action for Women who provide the much needed helping hand for vulnerable migrants and sometime trafficked women between the Myanmar- Thai border.
We have profiled activists who worked with marginalised groups and most at risk populations including Empower Foundation, from Thailand who works for the rights of sex workers; People Like Us (PLUS) who campaign for the rights of Men who have Sex with Men and Transgender groups in Kolkata, India, and; Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust from Mumbai, India who are among the pioneers on substitution therapy.
We also introduced Princey Mangaleeka, from Sri Lanka who tirelessly advocates against discrimination and stigma of people living with HIV in Sri Lanka; Vichuta Ly from Cambodia, a lawyer who fights for the rights of women and children, and Eni Lestari, from Indonesia who advocates for the rights of migrants.
And finally we paid a tribute to Bob Monkhouse from Yakeba, Indonesia, who passed away in November 2009, a compassionate human rights activist, known for his work with Injecting Drug Users in Bali, Indonesia.
The HIV APCOP will continue to honour communities and people in the region for the crucial role they play in reducing the spread of HIV and its impact on people. Towards this end, on the HIV- APCOP website, a special page is now dedicated to community work. We invite your nominations of communities and people to be featured on the site.
Also, as you may be aware, in order to honour exceptional grassroots leadership in responding to the AIDS epidemic, the Red Ribbon Award for Community Leadership and Action on AIDS (www.redribbonaward.org) - was introduced by UNDP in partnership with UNAIDS in 2006. Every biennium, 25 community organizations are selected through a community-led process for their exceptional contribution to addressing HIV. The calls for nominations for the award for 2010 was announced during World AIDs Day 2009 and will be presented at the 18th International AIDS Conference in (IAC) to be held in Vienna, Austria in July 2010. We encourage you to share this through your networks.
Thank you for your continued commitment and support to addressing the challenges of HIV, gender and human rights in the region.
Nicholas
Deputy Assistant Administrator and
Deputy Regional Director
Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific
