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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSoooo like the people working around the world for AIDS had to take a pledge against prostitution
http://www.medindia.net/news/american-groups-working-against-aids-no-longer-mandated-to-take-pledge-against-prostitution-120878-1.htmI don't understand this one at all. The reason for this article is they banned it but I had no idea it was even going on.
American Groups Working Against AIDS No Longer Mandated to Take Pledge Against Prostitution
The US Supreme Court ruled that American anti-HIV groups who work in countries around the world are no longer needed to take a pledge against prostitution with the court stating that it was a violation of free speech.
"We know that stigma plays a huge role in driving the global AIDS epidemic and this was a very stigmatizing law against a population that is one of the most vulnerable in the epidemic," said Chris Collins, director of public policy at amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.
In 2003 programs that received US funds under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a global program devised by former president George W. Bush, were required to make an anti-prostitution pledge in order to receive funds.
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Read more: American Groups Working Against AIDS No Longer Mandated to Take Pledge Against Prostitution | Medindia http://www.medindia.net/news/american-groups-working-against-aids-no-longer-mandated-to-take-pledge-against-prostitution-120878-1.htm#ixzz2jYeTzyFN
dballance
(5,756 posts)Note this was during the Bush years.
Apparently, those sinful prostitutes who have no other way to make money and provide for their families should die from their sins.
Maraya1969
(22,441 posts)other countries, as a helper to teach them about safety and hygiene etc. should have to take a pledge for themselves. As if they are going to fall prey to the lure of prostitution just because they are working with prostitutes.
Yea it sounds like a right winged thing about control and oppression.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)but I believe the pledge was to not provide anti-AIDS services or work with prostitutes or in cultures that practiced or accepted prostitution. The second part that was upheld was that no funds can be used to promote prostitution or the legalization of prostitution.
It was not to my knowledge a pledge to personally not use the services of prostitutes which is also something I do not believe was happening with any great frequency...that's ultra-high risk behavior in many of the areas they're working in.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Against patronizing them? Against engaging in it themselves? What did they pledge to do or not to do?
Maraya1969
(22,441 posts)by the government. As if these people can't control themselves or someone decided that they could not make their own decisions.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)and the government did not want those hired to be prostitutes. That's the only scenario I can envision.
freeplessinseattle
(3,508 posts)because that would be like enabling or something I guess. Idiots.
"Our colleague organizations have documented numerous examples of the pledge's harmful effects, such as a condom shortage among sex workers in Mali, the withholding of safe sex information from young male sex workers in Cambodia, and the closure of community-based health centers in Bangladesh," she said.
"Evidence, not ideology, should drive policy governing public health programs."
According to Melissa Hope Ditmore, the editor of the Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work, the policy had a range of effects on US groups working in Africa and Asia that wanted to help sex workers as part of their strategy to end HIV transmission.
"Some closed, some hid them, some didn't publicize things that were effective and others turned down the money," she told AFP, calling the court ruling a "great improvement" for organizations on the ground.
"They will now be able to talk about good programming they have done with sex workers. They will be able to talk about evidence-based programming, instead of ideologically based programming, which is what this promoted."
dsc
(52,130 posts)Randal Tobias was the official charged with enforcing the pledge. He wound up having to resign due to having used an escort service. No, I am not making that up.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation. Tobias, 65, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), had previously served as the ambassador for the Presidents Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2007/04/senior_official/