[COMMENTARY] Citizen Journalism in Asia

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by Hye Gi Shim

 “To be a journalist is to bear witness,” wrote Roger Cohen of The New York Times, “The rest is no more than ornamentation.” Today, bearing witness is made easier than ever thanks to the revolution in information and communication technology. The power to find, produce, and distribute information has expanded through the Internet and via digital cameras and cell phones leading to a growth of citizen journalists — people without professional training in journalism who produce, augment, or fact-check the news.

 

Asia is home to some of the most wired countries in the world (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan) as well as to some of the most restricted ones (North Korea, Burma, Cambodia). The rising tide of the Internet, however, is lifting all boats. Citizen journalists are sharing opinions about corruption and food safety in Cambodia and China and are influencing presidential elections in South Korea and India, and influencing the outcome of major events.

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[RESOURCE] News and Information on Sex Work Online

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Check out the new website launched by Paulo Longo Research Institute in honor of the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (yes, there really is a day for everything), www.plri.org. The site looks like a good resource for news and information on sex work, harm reduction and human rights issues. A recent wander through the site turned up these things:

 

  • A report from Pakistan’s National AIDS Control Program last spring on how human rights abuses by the police are fuelling the spread of AIDS;
  • A report from Cambodia on how the response to trafficking led to a crackdown on sex workers with a lot of negative fallout;
  • Articles on trafficking and migration from various perspectives;
  • Articles on research methods and ethics that aim to move “toward innovative, interdisciplinary and participatory frameworks that reflect sex worker priorities and perspectives”.

 

The site was just launched yesterday, so there aren’t a huge number of entries yet; hopefully these will be filled out as the site develops. It would also be great if links below the abstracts led you right to the article – some just link to the host website. Put this together with AIDSLEX, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network’s new site on AIDS law, and finding resources on AIDS and human rights online just got a little bit easier.

[COMMENTARY] A Patent Pool: What Are the Risks?

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Today and tomorrow, December 14-15, the executive board of UNITAID will vote on whether to move forward with plans for a patent pool. A patent pool is a consortium of companies that share a license to a particular product or technology. In this case, manufacturers of AIDS drugs would give a limited number of generic manufacturers the right to produce those drugs. Competition between the generic manufacturers would then drive down the price of drugs in countries where many people currently cannot afford AIDS drugs.

Controversy has roiled over the patent pool idea since some have suggested that middle-income countries should be excluded. A lot of those countries are in Asia; see this letter from APN+, the network of people living with HIV in Asia, which clearly lays out the issues.

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[REPORT] Give Everyone the Right to Affordable Medicines

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By Shiwei Ye

The high cost of medicines essential for the prevention, treatment and cure of many diseases makes them inaccessible to millions of patients who need them. The World Health Organization estimates this to include a third of the world’s population. In parts of Asia, the percentage may be even higher.

One of the key factors making medicines unaffordable is the current intellectual property right (IPR) regime and its prominent place in many free trade agreements. There is a dire need to reform the current international trade framework in order to provide correct and adequate incentives that can lead to need-based medical innovations and that can ensure that public health is prioritized over commercial interests.

 

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[REPORT] Does Cambodia Want Harm Reduction Groups to Cause Harm?

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The Cambodian government is attempting to coerce local NGOs to test an unproven medication on drug users, according to materials obtained by Asia Catalyst. Authorities have threatened to shut down NGOs that refuse to administer the drug, and arrest drug users who refuse to take the test.

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