[REPORT] Report on the Impact of China’s 2010 “Strike Hard Campaign”: A Crackdown on Sex Work

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The 2010 “Strike Hard Campaign” put in place a zero tolerance policy on sex work, gambling and drugs all across China. While many brothels and popular clubs were closed ultimately sex workers continued work out in more remote areas. This geographic shift cut people off from essential health services, HIV/AIDS education, and even funeral services for women who die while cut off from their families.

Here in its first major report The China Sex Worker Organization Network Forum trained its members to document the effects of the crackdown. With interviews with close to 300 sex workers from around the country the report documents how “local stakeholders, including sex workers, owners of EEs and sex worker service organizations, see the impacts of these crackdowns and their effects on HIV intervention.”

The report (here in its original in Chinese and translated by volunteers in the network into English here), published in December 2011, finds that the crackdown was a disaster for them.

[NEWS] Week of Jan 20, 2012

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1.
[China Dialogue] What the smog can’t conceal 
(English)
https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4734-What-the-smog-can-t-conceal-
(Chinese)
https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/ch/4734-What-the-smog-can-t-conceal-

Since
the autumn, a series of polluted “hazes” in cities across China –
and discussion of that now ubiquitous term for fine particulate
matter, PM2.5 – have attracted widespread public attention. So too
has the official response: while urban air pollution fast became a
focus of public anger, the Ministry of Environmental Protection
(MEP), which is responsible for monitoring air quality, took the
opportunity to show its sluggish and bureaucratic side.

2.
[Blog | New Yorker] The Chinese View of
SOPA
https://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/01/the-chinese-view-of-sopa.html

In
China, the reaction to American protests has ranged from sympathy to
gentle Schadenfreude. A commentator known as Dr. Zhang wrote on
Weibo, the Twitter-like micro-blogging site: “I’ve come up with a
perfect solution: You can come to China to download all your pirated
media, and we’ll go to America to discuss politically sensitive
subjects.”

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[COMMENTARY] Will China’s New Code of Conduct Protect Hospital Patients?

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Thumbnail image for wishtree.JPG

Wish tree at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna

By Mike Frick

Last week, China’s Ministry of Health released a draft “Code of Conduct for Medical Practitioners” for public review and comment. The document lays out a code of conduct for hospital administrators, doctors, nurses and other medical personnel. According to the ILO, many Chinese hospitals refuse to treat patients with HIV/AIDS – so there is definitely a need for new policies. We reviewed the draft code within Asia Catalyst and found some areas of progress, as well as some areas where the standards need a lot more work.

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[NEWS] Asia Catalyst in the People’s Daily

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PD_Dec2011.jpg

It’s not every day that Asia Catalyst appears in the Wall Street Journal…or the People’s Daily, the official organ of the Chinese Communist Party. It was a pleasant surprise, then, when both happened in the same week.

Here’s a link to an article about Chinese civil rights group Tianxia Gong and their campaign to end employment-related discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in China. Staff of the grassroots NGO asked friends and supporters to pose for the camera with signs reading “PLWHA can be teachers” and “End discrimination against PLWHA”. UNAIDS picked it up, and over 12,000 people around the country have had their photos taken. We are honored to be part of this important campaign.