Sex workers and activists establish AIDS network
By T. Sima Gunawan
CHIANG MAI (JP): Sex workers and support groups in the Asia Pacific region have formed a network to respond to the widespread allegations that prostitutes are spreading the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), it was announced yesterday.
The decision to set up the network was made in a satellite symposium involving sex workers and activists from 20 countries, including Indonesia, during the third International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific yesterday.
A network spokeswoman said the forum's chief objective is to promote the rights of the region's sex workers who have come under strong pressure because of the AIDS allegations.
Different languages and different cultures are no barriers because sex workers have a common ground to work together in promoting their rights, Chantawipa Apisuk, a director of a non- governmental organization called Empower, told a press conference.
Other sex workers' support organizations involved include Ikhlas of Malaysia, Panther of Australia, and Prostitutes Collective of Victoria, Australia, and New Zealand.
"The issues of HIV and AIDS cannot be treated separately. It must be integrated into programs which promote fair and safe living and working conditions for sex workers," Kartini Salmah from Ikhlas said.
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), causes AIDS.
Presenting the guidelines for the creation of the network, she said the programs should recognize and support the roles sex workers play in the prevention of the disease, and put an end to the false allegations that sex workers spread AIDS, she said.
The network calls on people to accept that sex work is a community issue and that everybody involved, including clients, brothel owners, agents, police and social workers need to be involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
It also urged governments to stop punishing sex workers and instead, start promoting and supporting their initiatives for taking control of their own lives.
Ethics
According to the guidelines, in respect to sex workers' rights, all research and clinical trials involving sex workers should be conducted ethically, in collaboration with them and with the informed consents of the participants. They should be conducted in safe conditions with appropriate compensation, and must ultimately lead to sex worker empowerment.
The network calls on the media to present sex workers as equal members of society with equal rights, respect their privacy and stop representing them as criminals or victims.
Campaigns on Anti-AIDS policies should target people's behavior instead of singling out prostitutes as the main cause, another activist from Malaysia pointed out.
Meanwhile, in a conference session, Bernadette N. Setiadi from the Institute of Applied Psychology of University of Indonesia, presented a study on sexual negotiations, empowerment of commercial sex workers and the female condom.
The study involved 36 sex workers.
The majority of sex workers were reluctant to negotiate the use of condoms with their partners, not only because they did not know how to protect themselves and did not now how to communicate the issues to the customers, but also because they were afraid of the negative reactions of customers, which indicated their feeling of powerlessness, according to the study.
Education and the introduction of female condoms could help, but this would not be much use without men's increasing awareness, as the study shows that, in general, men have higher risks of being infected with HIV/AIDS because extra marital and premarital sex for men are tolerated.
"This means that, without increasing men's awareness of their risk of contracting HIV, intervention targeted toward women will only put a heavier burden on the women, while the likelihood of success remains low," Setiadi said.
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