Earlier in the week, I made a post about UNAIDS new report on the Global HIV/AIDS Pandemic. Part II of this posting theme relates to the current activities occuring in New York city. The United Nations is holding a summit on HIV/AIDS prevention, with the intention of updating a 2001 declaration that provided the momentum for a worldwide campaign against AIDS.
According to the Guardian, “[m]ore than 140 nations are attending the UN summit in New York which began on Wednesday”, however it appears that the United States is opposing measures to reference homosexuals, prostitutes and drug addicts in the resolution as it provides for support in the use of condoms and needle exchanges. “The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents Muslim countries, vehemently opposes references in the declaration to homosexuals, prostitutes and drug addicts, saying these should not appear in a public document. The US is supporting the OIC.”
The OIC is also working with other mainly patriachal governments to reduce the requirement of signatories to “promote gender equality and empowerment of women and girls,” and instead “promote and protect the rights of the girl child.” (Source: Washington Post). The article notes that “[s]ome observers see that as a subtle expression of patriarchy, which might be threatened if girls, too, were empowered.”
Indeed!