ACTION: Organizational Sign ON: Stop US Efforts To Silence United Nations On Proven HIV Prevention

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Stop US Efforts To Silence United Nations On Proven HIV PreventionSign on an Open Letter to the delegates of the Forty-eighth session ofthe Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). To sign on, emailhivaids@... ( Nagle) including the name of yourOrganization, City, and Country.In a year when the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC) ischair of the governing body of the UN's Joint Programme onHIV/AIDS(UNAIDS), we write to express concern about U.S. efforts toforce a UNODC retreat from support of syringe exchange, methadonemaintenance and other measures proven to contain the spread of HIV amongdrug users.Injection drug use accounts for the majority of HIV infections in dozensof countries in Asia and the former Soviet Union, including Russia,China, all of Central Asia, and much of Southeast Asia. In mostcountries outside Africa, the largest number of new infections now occuramong injection drug users. As UNODC director Costa notedat the July 2004 International AIDS Conference, effective responses toinjection driven AIDS epidemics require expanded HIV prevention,including syringe exchange, rather than policies that accelerate HIVinfections through widespread and indiscriminate imprisonment. Unfortunately, recent events suggest that UNODC-under pressure from theUnited States-is being asked to withdraw support from proven HIVprevention strategies at precisely the moment when increased commitmentto measures such as syringe exchange and opiate substitution treatmentis needed. It is particularly alarming that the silencing of UNODC isoccurring in a year when the agency is chair of UNAIDS' Committee ofCo-sponsoring Organizations and in a year when HIV prevention is a focusof thematic debate at the 48th meeting of the CND. Among the events that have particularly heightened our concern are:* Mr. Costa, who last year expressed support for positive changes inthe Russian criminal code, expansion of syringe exchange in countriesfacing injection driven epidemics and other measures to reducedrug-related harm, has apparently been rebuked by the U.S. StateDepartment. Following a meeting with , U.S. AssistantSecretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Mr.Costa pledged to review all UNODC electronic and printed documents forreferences to "harm reduction" and to be "even more vigilant in thefuture." * In Southeast Asia, UNODC has suspended a program that sought reducedrug users' vulnerability to HIV prevention through approaches thatemphasized public health and drug users' human rights, rather thanpunishment.* Even syringe exchange, affirmed as an effective and essential part ofHIV prevention by UNAIDS, WHO, and UN member nations, has becomepolitically unpalatable. A November e-mail from a senior UNODC staffmember asked junior staff to "to ensure that references to harmreduction and needle/syringe exchange are avoided in UNODC documents,publications and statements."We recognize that UNODC is dependent on contributions from donornations, and that the U.S. is the single largest donor to UN drugcontrol. At the same time, the lives of hundreds of thousands depend onsound, scientific approaches to HIV prevention. Numerous studies,including U.S. government studies, have found that strategies such assyringe exchange and methadone maintenance demonstrably diminish HIVtransmission and other health risks. The fact that U.S. delegatesdeclare the evidence in support of syringe exchange "unconvincing," asthey did in last year's CND session, should not be allowed to determinethe course of the UN drug control and HIV prevention efforts, which areinextricably and essentially linked. Nor should UNODC-a co-sponsor ofUNAIDS, and an agency with an essential role to play in the course ofthe HIV epidemic-be asked to refrain from public statements about needleexchange simply because they do not fall within the realm of what theU.S. deems acceptable.Strategies that attempt solely to achieve abstinence from drug use donot constitute an acceptable alternative to programs, such as syringeexchange, that help active drug users protect themselves from HIV/AIDS.Experience has shown that "zero tolerance" drug control efforts can havethe effect of driving injection drug users underground and away fromdrug treatment and other health services. This is particularly truewhere, as in many countries, counter-narcotics efforts lead to falsearrest, beatings and extortion by police, prolonged detention withouttrial, forced drug treatment, disproportionate incarceration in cruelconditions and, in some cases, extrajudicial execution.Programs such as syringe exchange and opiate substitution, by contrast,both prevent HIV infection and provide a bridge to other healthservices. Restricting these programs is a blatant infringement of drugusers' human right to health.As you gather this year to debate HIV/AIDS prevention and drug abuse, werespectfully urge you to support syringe exchange, opiate substitutiontreatment and other harm reduction approaches demonstrated to reduce HIVrisk; to affirm the human rights of drug users to health and healthservices; and to reject efforts to overrule science and tie the hands ofthose working on the front lines. No less than the future of the HIVepidemic is at stake. cc: * Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS* World Health Organization* Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights* International Narcotics Control BoardTo sign on, email hivaids@... ( Nagle) including the name ofyour Organization, City, and Country.This article comes from EATGhttp://www.eatg.org/ The URL for this story is:http://www.eatg.org/modules.php?op=modload & name=News & file=article & sid=438 NOTE: If an email bounces back to you from GMHC, please copy email to mypersonal account at gregggonsalves@.... Gregg GonsalvesDirector of Treatment and Prevention AdvocacyGay Men's Health Crisis119 West 24th StreetNew York, NY 10011Phone: 212-367-1169Mobile: 646-250-8130Fax: 212-367-1235Email: greggg@... orgregggonsalves@... The fed_AIDS_pol list is the private working list of the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership. Please do not forward any of the messages on this list without the permission of the original poster.