[COMMENTARY] Sex Work is Work, Plenary Speech by Kaythi Win

Posted on by

By Kthi Win

Plenery speech by Kaythi Win, Chairperson of Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers, at Association of Women in Development Forum forum in Istanbul on April 21,  2012. See the exciting video here.

Hello everybody,

I am Kthi Win from Myanmar and I am a sex worker. I manage a national organization for female, male & transgender sex workers in Burma & I am also the chairperson of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers.  Until now, organizing anything in Myanmar has been very difficult.  And people ask, “how did you set up a national program for sex workers?”  And my answer to them is “Our work is illegal.  Every night we manage to earn money without getting arrested by the police.  We used to work and organize together, so we use this knowledge in order to work out how we can set up the National Network without making the government angry”.

This topic is about transforming economic power.  I want to say to you, that when a woman makes the decision to sell sex, she has already made the decision to empower herself economically.  What we do in organizing sex workers, is we build on the power that the sex worker has already taken for herself – the decision to not be poor.

(more…)

[COMMENTARY] Consent of the Networked

Posted on by

For the past few weekends, I’ve been gradually deleting information from my Facebook account. Each Sunday, a few more photos come down. That’s because I read Rebecca MacKinnon’s call to arms, Consent of the Networked, which shows that Facebook, Twitter, and Google are acquiring the size and power of nation-states, but without the democratic accountability or transparency citizens may demand of the states that govern them. Mackinnon asks, “How do we make sure that people with power over our digital lives will not abuse that power?”

(more…)

[NEWS] US to Cut $550 Million from Global AIDS Funding

Posted on by
While Secretary of State Clinton has a grand vision of an “AIDS-free generation” the Global Post reports that the White House 2013 fiscal budget actually slashes global AIDS funding by 11 percent. The cause? The administration recently announced that there is still $1.5 billion unspent from the former budget. To put this in perspective, $1.46 billion is roughly three times the annual amount the US government spent on AIDS globally a decade ago.
Read the complete Global Post interview with US Global AIDS ambassador Eric Goosby here and the new PEPFAR guidelines for spending here.

[NEWS] 联合国各机构关于关闭强制戒毒和康复中心的联合声明

Posted on by

In March, a joint statement cosigned by 12 UN bodies, including UNAIDS, called for all “States to close compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centers and implement voluntary, evidence-informed and rights-based health and social services in the community.” The statement noted that many of the compulsory centers violate internationally recognized human rights standards often involving physical and sexual violence or forced labor.

[UPDATE] January – March 2012

Posted on by

Celebrating our fifth anniversary

This year, Asia Catalyst celebrates five years of helping to build grassroots groups in East and Southeast Asia. As part of our 5th Anniversary Campaign, our board has promised to match donations to help Chinese rights advocates come to the International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. in July. That means $100 donation is worth $200, and $500 is worth $1000. Please make a tax-deductible gift here.

A gift of $100 or more gets you a lovely gift book — with photos and background on our inspiring partners in China and Southeast Asia.

(more…)