UNDP reports legal environment on MSM and HIV

Report Launch: Legal environments, human rights and HIV responses among MSM and TG in Asia and the Pacific: An agenda for action

On Tuesday, July 20th, UNDP/APCOM presented a ground breaking study on Legal environments, human rights and HIV responses among men who have sex with men and transgender people in Asia and the Pacific: An agenda for action. This report and its key findings were delivered during the session on Criminalizing Homosexual Behaviour: Human Rights Violation and Obstacles to Effective HIV/AIDS Prevention at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna. A press conference was held on Wednesday, July 21st with Jeff O’Malley, Global Director of UNDP’s HIV Group and Shiv to launch the report.

The report clearly documents how both punitive and protective laws, policies and practices impact comprehensive HIV response. To support the findings and recommendations, the report maps out recent judicial, legislative and policy developments  and community responses at the global, regional and national levels. Together, these findings demonstrate why it is necessary for stakeholders across the spectrum to adopt a rights-based approach to universal access and proactively address policy and legal barriers to effective HIV responses. Finally, the report recommends that each government, development partner and UN agency take bold and effective policy measures to reach out to communities and individuals at risk, particularly those living with HIV.

The study method involved a yearlong review of legislation, cases, published research and grey literature, consultations with community representatives, technical experts and UN agencies, and analysis. A list of participants in the series of community and high-level consultations convened by UNDP to inform the report is provided at Annex II. Inputs were also collected from community representatives; with UNDP and UNAIDS country offices;  UNAIDS and WHO regional offices, with USAID and AusAID, and with some government partners. It’s important to acknowledge that the study has produced more than a report – it has also generated a process, a series of regional consultations within themselves help to raise awareness and build capacity of stakeholders in understanding the issues, and regional and national meetings were held to look at the legal environment and discuss implications.  The study also benefited from technical expertise with inputs from lawyers, parliamentarians and judges from the region.  The recent Punitive Laws, Human Rights and HIV prevention among men who have sex with men in Asia Pacific - High Level Dialogue held in Hong Kong on May 17, 2010 was the last of a series of regional consultations.  The work in this area has been highly  covered by both the international media and local news agencies, and has produced an editorial and full length article in Lancet.

A big thanks to all of you who participated by providing inputs and comments to the report.

Please download the full report HERE.

The following supporting publications can be downloaded HERE.

 - Punitive Laws, Human Rights and HIV prevention among men who have sex with men in Asia Pacific - High Level Dialogue Report (2010)

- WHO: Priority HIV and sexual health interventions in the health sector for men who have sex with men and transgender people in the Asia-Pacific region (2010)

- ICAAP IX Symposium: Overcoming legal barriers to comprehensive prevention among men who have sex with men and transgender people in Asia and the Pacific (2009)

- Developing a Comprehensive Package of Services to Reduce HIV among MSM and TG Populations in Asia and the Pacific: Regional consensus meeting (2009)

[Posted by Edmund Settle, MSM-Asia mailing list, 2010-07-21. The full report can also be downloaded HERE.]

APCOM's new board, director and funding

APCOM First Governing Board sets long-term agenda to tackle HIV among MSM and transgender people in Asia Pacific

Landmark coalition also chooses Executive Director; gets major funding boost

Pattaya, Thailand – The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) has moved from an interim governance structure to one incorporating a Governing Board and an Executive Director, considerably strengthening its capacity to address a sharp rise in HIV infection in men who have sex with men and transgender populations across the region. At the same time, APCOM's key donor, HIVOS, has announced a renewal of its commitment to APCOM for another three years and at an increase of 50% for core costs.

Like the interim body that preceded it, APCOM's new, wide-ranging Governing Board continues to include a range of MSM and transgender community representatives from across the region as well as coalition sector advisors from government, United Nations agencies, donors, and technical experts. "The new roster of representatives marks our transition from a fledgling to an established coalition," said Shivananda Khan, Chief Executive of Naz Foundation International, from its regional office in Lucknow, India. Khan is also the newly elected Chairperson of the APCOM Governing Board. "In a little more than three years, our unusual coalition has already helped push the HIV and MSM/TG agenda significantly higher on national and regional agendas. This has made crucial issues far more visible, pushing governments and other influential stakeholders to craft and implement long overdue policies aimed at HIV prevention among communities that remain perhaps the most vulnerable to infection both in our region and globally."

The election of the first Governing Board was accompanied by the naming of Steven Gu as APCOM's first Executive Director, and with that the imminent shift of the APCOM Secretariat from Lucknow to Bangkok. Gu, who hails from China, is well-known in HIV advocacy and policy on the mainland, and will be based in Thailand to assist APCOM's outreach to key regional supporters and stakeholders, including the regional offices of the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and others as well as the Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO), which officially joined APCOM at its meeting in Pattaya, Thailand.

APCOM's work to date received a ringing endorsement at the Governing Board meeting when the coalition's chief donor, Hivos of the Netherlands (Humanist Institute for Co-operation with Developing Countries), announced it was renewing support for another three years while increasing its funding for the coalition by no less than 50% over its commitment of the past three years.  "We are so very impressed by the groundbreaking efforts of APCOM so far, that our board readily agreed to continue funding these efforts at a considerably higher level," noted Paul Jansen, Hivos Program Officer for LGBT Rights. "Joining forces with others to bring about important social policy change is crucial to the work of Hivos. APCOM exemplifies that ethic, forging ties across the political and civil society spectrum, bringing diverse parties to the table at the same time to engage in dialogue and advocacy that eventually gets transformed into concrete policy, a verifiable return on investment."

Representatives at the APCOM Governing Board meeting passed a budget and work plan to build on the accomplishments of the first three years by strengthening and expanding the coalition's current agenda to encompass areas that include a greater regional push for universal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services for MSM and TG; increased investment in urgently needed research to better inform service and program design; the strengthening of MSM and TG community networks that engage in policy development; and continued efforts to push for the repeal of laws that criminalize MSM and transgender populations.

"Transgender people are so very different from MSM, yet the world tends to clump us together," explained Joleen Mataele, Executive Director of the Tonga Leiti Association, Chairperson of the Pacific Sexual Diversity Network and Community Representative from the Pacific on the APCOM Governing Board. "Through the work of APCOM, TG populations from the Pacific and Asia are educating governments and policy makers as to what our specific identities are, what our specific health needs are, not just when it comes to HIV but beyond.  APCOM seeks to advocate for and support different communities across different environments, and that is one of its strengths."

Several APCOM Governing Board representatives will be attending the upcoming International AIDS Conference in Vienna, hosting or otherwise participating in various sessions on MSM and TG issues including the day-long MSM pre-conference of the Global Forum on MSM & HIV. The leadership is also firming up APCOM's activities to be presented at next year’s 10th International Congress on AIDS in the Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Busan, South Korea, following APCOM’s highly successful series of satellites, meetings and workshops at ICAAP9 in 2009 in Bali, Indonesia.

[Posted by Paul Causey, MSM-Asia mailing list, 2010-06-30]

MSM and TG mapping in India

[Posted by Aditya Bondyopadhyay, ap-rainbow, 22 November 2008.]

Dear colleagues,

With support from Hivos and UNAIDS respectively APCOM has developed two mapping reports for MSM and Transgender organizations is South Asia.

These mapping reports were produced as part of a larger strategy for mapping MSM and TG organisations in the Asia and Pacific region, and provision of networking support for such organizations in areas where there has been limited development. This process is being supported by Hivos.

You can access these two reports in the APCOM website via the following URLs:

• APCOM Report - MSM Mapping South Asia
• APCOM Report - TG Mapping South Asia

Best regards,

Aditya Bondyopadhyay
Secretariat Coordinator
APCOM

[Reports can be also be downloaded HERE and HERE.]

Announcement: APCOM membership

[Posted by Aditya Bondyopadhyay, ap-rainbow, 22 November 2008.]

Membership Drive of APCOM

The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) is a multi sectoral international coalition representing the government sector, the donors, the UN, technical experts, and community organizations and networks working for and on the issues of MSM/Transgender and HIV. The coalition was officially launched in July 2007 at the 8th ICAAP in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

APCOM advocates and promotes:

1. Increased investments on MSM/Transgender HIV programming in the Asia Pacific region.
2. Scaled up HIV and sexual health services for MSM/Transgender in the Asia Pacific region.
3. Improved knowledge to better inform programming and service delivery on MSM/Transgender issues in the region
4. Address stigma, discrimination, and social justice concerns of MSM and transgender is the Asia Pacific region.
5. Promote good practices in MSM/Transgender HIV programming as defined in the "Risks and Responsibilities Consultation 2006" held in New Delhi, India.

The coalition has divided the Asia Pacific region into seven sub-regions (China, Developed Asia, India, Greater Mekong sub-region, Pacific, South Asia excluding Inida, South East Asia excluding GMS).

Representatives of these sub regions are elected to be on the board of APCOM by member organizations in the particular sub-region.

For more information about APCOM, its structure, activities and achievements please visit the APCOM website at www.msmasia.org.

We urge all organizations and networks working on MSM/Transgender HIV issues in the countries of Asia and the Pacific to become members of APCOM, so that they can participate in the upcoming elections of APCOM board, so that their voice can be heard through their sub regional representatives.

Registration can be done online and this is the preferred method. Please visit the following URL to do this:

http://www.msmasia.org/onlineapply.html

In case you are unable to access the registration online please write me for sending you a hard copy of the manual form, which you can then fill up and return to me for processing your registration.

We encourage all appropriate organizations to come together to fight for the health and human rights of MSM and transgender persons, and help us do the same by becoming our member and strengthening our hands.

APCOM writes UN Secretary General

[Posted by Aditya Bondyopadhyay, ap-rainbow, 20 November 2008.]

To the Honourable Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary-General
United Nations,
New York, New York
United States of America

8th November 2008

Dear Excellency,

The imminent departure of Dr. Peter Piot from UNAIDS marks the end of an era, and the beginning of a new chapter for a key global organization in the arena of HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, awareness and advocacy. It also raises many questions as to the future direction of UNAIDS under Dr. Piot's successor who is about to be chosen from a field of three candidates.

In recent years, under Dr. Piot's leadership, UNAIDS has taken an ever stronger stand on the issues, needs and concerns regarding men who have sex with men (MSM), underlining the urgent need to address the substantive risks and vulnerabilities experienced by them. This, against the backdrop of abysmally and unacceptable low coverage of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services that would address those needs, along with the poor investment record in such services.

In a March 2008 report issued by the Independent Commission on AIDS in Asia (Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an Effective Response), and which was presented to you at the time, the authors pointed out the danger of the coming decade of not investing effectively and appropriately, where, as a consequence, some 50% of new HIV infections would be among MSM in the region. The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) regards this as a truly frightening scenario, one that must be tackled on a war footing via a joint effort by governments, United Nations agencies and organizations, non-governmental organizations, MSM community organizations and activists. This is the wide-ranging and vibrant coalition that APCOM represents across the Asia Pacific.

Dr Peter Piot has been a staunch ally of the work being done by the affected communities, not only in our region, but globally, and has worked hard to raise these issues of concern, addressing the social exclusion of MSM from social justice, equity and health services. He has done this not only within the UNAIDS Secretariat itself, but also among the co-sponsors, with governments, donors, and civil society.

With Dr Piot leaving UNAIDS, and the subsequent challenges that will be posed by the transition period for the new Executive Director, APCOM would like to be assured that the issues, needs and concerns, of what can be considered one of the most vulnerable populations to HIV and AIDS will not be forgotten, but will continue to be central not only of UNAIDS, but of the new Executive Director. In fact, we believe that this should be one of the key criteria for the final selection of the Executive Director.

Each of the final candidates for this very important UN position must be asked what has been his or her standpoint on men who have sex with men and hiv; what each has done to highlight this issue of great concern, and how each of the prospective Executive Directors intends to carry this forward within UNAIDS.

Yours sincerely

Shivananda Khan, OBE
Interim Chairperson
APCOM

MSM "Faith Encounter"

[Posted by Aditya Bondyopadhyay on ap-rainbow Yahoo! Group, 10 September 2008]

Dear Colleagues,

Please find the report of the meeting of MSMGF and APCOM representatives with reps from Faith Based Organisations in the Mexico AIDS

Conference as prepared by the World AIDS Campaign, the facilitator of the meeting. Quiet aptly it is called “MSM Faith Encounter”..!!
Best regards to all,

Aditya Bondyopadhyay

[Attached document available here]

MSM and HIV - implications for policy and programs

HIV and associated risk behaviors among men who have sex with men in the Asia and Pacific region – Implications for policy and programming

UNAIDS Regional Support Team – Asia and the Pacific, and the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health - APCOM are very pleased to release this report which provides a comprehensive overview of the epidemiology of HIV, STIs and the associated risk behaviors among MSM in the Asia and Pacific region.

It contains detailed country by country reports as it reviews over 90 studies throughout the region and provides a number of key recommendations for HIV and MSM policy and programming. We hope that it will be a highly useful source of information for those working in the field.

This document is being released in working draft format to ensure circulation before the World AIDS Conference next week. We encourage wide distribution of this information throughout your networks and particularly to delegates of the conference whom have an interest in MSM / HIV issues.


Aditya Bondyopadhyay
Secretariat Coordinator
APCOM

[Download file here.]

MSM sessions at Mexico IAC

For those that are attending the Mexico International AIDS Conference and are interested in MSM sessions or sessions of MSM interest, APCOM has created the attached document by extracting information from the Conference Program Book.

Hope this will be of use to all of you and wish those who are attending the Mexico conference a safe trip and a productive visit.

[Download document here.]

APCOM launches new website

New APCOM website

The website of the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) has recently been launched and can be accessed at http://www.msmasia.org. APCOM promotes the principles of good practice and lessons learnt by bringing together MSM and HIV community-based organisations, the government sector, donors, technical experts and the UN system in an effort to share experience, knowledge and expertise. To learn more about MSM in the Asia-Pacific region and APCOM itself, visit the new website which is regularly updated with the latest news and resources. Just a few features currently on the site:

The birth of an Asia Pacific regional coalition – The beginnings of APCOM

It's about leadership – APCOM Board Member and member of Parliament, Sunil Babu Pant makes history in Nepal

Landmark HIV testing project in Singapore finds 3.1% of MSM to be HIV infected – The latest data from Singapore

Become an APCOM member

Membership in APCOM is open to any organisation or group working on the issues of MSM and HIV and includes all direct service organisations or entities, networks of MSM or other recognised groupings. It's a very simple process and there is no cost involved, so why not sign up today and be part of this growing regional network. Becoming a member is a good way to ensure your organisation is an integral part of the regional successes and achievements.

• Promote the work of your organisation
• Access to Members-only pages on the website
• Access to other members in your sub-region or area