[NEWS] UNAIDS Chief Spotlights Civil Society in China

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UNAIDS Executive Secretary Michel Sidibe’s trip to China got off to a strong start today with a round of meetings with Chinese NGOs. He began with

 

 an awards ceremony given by International Treatment Preparedness Coalition in Shanghai. Over lunch, he heard from representatives of NGOs, including sex workers and drug users, about the challenges they face doing their work, and the need for more government cooperation with civil society.

In an open letter in August, Asia Catalyst and over 30 international AIDS and human rights organizations called on UNAIDS to speak out against restrictions on civil society. NGOs in China are growing despite burdensome restrictions on registration, censorship, and on individual AIDS activists.

[REPORT] Asia Catalyst in Yunnan

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Part 2 of Asia Catalyst’s trip to China brings Meg and Gisa to Yunnan
Province, where they are working with their new partner Phoenix
（苦草工作室), a group of over 90 women living with HIV/AIDS. The group,
which includes current and former sex workers and drug users, provides
direct services to women in need. These range from hospice care to
prison visits and funerals for those cut off from their families.

[REPORT] How Chinese Activists Access Information Resources

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By Chang Kun


Chinese activists have been using different types of social medias to
post their works and raise international awareness to assist special cases. Following
are examples of some public ways in which Chinese activists have automatic access
to information resources. In the past few years, because of the Internet and increasing
work in this sphere by some HIV/AIDS organizations, such as Beijing AIZHIXING
Institute, a lot of grass-root organizations have grown in skills on how to use
Internet tools for their work and community, especially for posting human
rights cases to increase attention.

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[REPORT] Asian Drug Users Unite

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An interesting development: drug users from around Asia met last week to formalize the Asian Network of People Who Use Drugs. ANPUD aims to create a network that can advocate for the rights of drug users. They’ll also, hopefully, provide some useful input into national and regional policies on narcotics, treatment, and HIV/AIDS. The full statement from ANPUD follows.

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[REPORT] China Goes to Bali

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[:en]The sun is setting over the palm trees, and we’re finishing up a wonderful, exhilirating and intense week in Bali for the International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP-9). For the first time, Asia Catalyst supported a delegation of 9 Chinese AIDS activists, provided translation throughout, and hosted events that brought Chinese and other Asian activists together at meetings, at workshops, and at a beach barbecue party under the stars (do you hate us yet?).

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