[COMMENTARY] Harm Reduction in China – Where Are We Now?

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By Gisa Hartmann

In response to the rise of drug dependence, China has begun to embrace harm reduction,
scaling up policies such as methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and needle
exchange programs (NEP) in a growing number of areas. This shift in policy is expressed
in the new Anti-Drug Law, which categorizes drug addiction as a medical condition rather than a criminal issue or moral failing. But how far along is the development of MMT and NEP in China, and what does the state plan
for the future? How do current policies play out for drug users on the ground? This
two-part blog will explore these and related issues.

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[REPORT] The Limits of Legal Rights in Nepal

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by Hayley Curry

The rule of law can be a powerful and effective tool
for building a society that is free of injustice and filled with opportunities
for all, but the operational environment that accompanies human rights advocacy can limit its effectiveness. This summer, while working as a legal intern at an NGO in Kathmandu,
Nepal, I experienced these challenges firsthand.

 

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[REPORT] Structural Violence in a Refugee Community

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By Celina Su

In 2000, I began to work with a small, community-based project called the Burmese
Refugee Project (BRP) in northwest Thailand. Using a participatory
model of community development, the BRP helps over 100 Burmese Shan refugees in
northwest Thailand access education, health, and legal services. Through this
work, I learned that refugees are the victims of what public health researchers
call structural violence–physical and mental harm that results from unjust social, economic, and political
structures. Many of the prescriptions that would treat these ailments–such as a shared wheelbarrow so
that the refugees do not have to carry 50-kilo bags of rice on their shoulders,
and for the man above, sunglasses to treat pterygium (a scar on the eyes caused
by sun damage)–fall outside typical medical practice.

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[COMMENTARY] Sex Workers Breaking New Ground in China and Myanmar

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Ye Haiyan self-portrait with poster, which reads “Legalize sex work and decriminalize prostitution! Sex work is work!”
 

By Meg Davis

The crisis of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is creating incentive and space for mobilization of marginalized communities, and
otherwise restrictive states such as China and Myanmar (Burma) are largely allowing it. In recent months, both Chinese and Burmese sex worker-led organizations have moved into the public eye.

 

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[NEWS] Last Train Home, A Documentary About Migrant Workers in China

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By Wen-Hsuan Tseng

Last Train Home, an award-winning documentary directed by Chinese-Canadian
director Lixin Fan, will open in New York on September 3rd at IFC
Center. Every spring, China’s cities are plunged into chaos as 130 million
migrant workers journey to their home villages for the New Year’s holiday. This mass exodus is the world’s largest human migration–an epic spectacle that reveals a country tragically caught between its rural past
and industrial future.

 

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