Reposted from Peter Maybarduk at Public Citizen:
Today, as the 11th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations kicked off in Melbourne, Australia, the Vietnam Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (VNP+) released the “VNP+ Declaration on the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement and Access to Medicines in Vietnam.”
By Gisa Hartmann
The Wall Street Journal reports that China’s government has issued new regulations giving migrant workers new rights. The regulations, originally published in February 2011, were kept secret to give local authorities time to prepare for the expected rush for applications. The State Council circular allows some workers to register for hukou (household registration, 户口) in small and mid-sized cities.
Under the directive, workers must meet certain criteria, including a stable job and stable residence for small cities and an additional one year participation in social security payments for mid-size cities. Large cities such as Beijing
are not included. Since many public services provided in cities, including public health and public schooling, are only accessible with a hukou/registration, this change in regulation will break down barriers to access free medical services for many workers as well as their spouses and children, who are included in the household registration change.
By Kevin Woods & Tom Kramer
Contrary to official rhetoric China’s opium crop substitution program has very little to do with providing mechanisms to decrease reliance on poppy cultivation or provide alternative livelihoods for ex-poppy growers.
This week the Transnational Institute published a comprehensive report documenting new developments at the Chinese Burmese border.They find that China’s opium crop substitution program has very little to do with providing mechanisms to decrease reliance on poppy cultivation or provide alternative livelihoods for ex-poppy growers. They call for investments related to opium substitution to be carried out in a more sustainable, transparent, accountable, and equitable fashion
You can read the whole report here or read on for the Executive Summary.
China Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (CAP+) Statement on
Real-Name Testing Policy for HIV/AIDS
For those following the uproar about proposed policies in Guangxi, endorsed the Ministry of Health, that would institute real-name HIV testing and compulsory partner notification (summary on our blog, here); below is a strong statement with reference to Chinese laws by China’s national association of people living with HIV/AIDS. A short summary in English follows.
