From the Wall Street Journal Asia
By Mark Heywood and Sara L.M. Davis
China will observe World AIDS Day on Thursday with events in which Chinese leaders publicly embrace people living
with HIV/AIDS. But on every other day of the year, hundreds of thousands of Chinese living with HIV/AIDS are treated as second-class citizens.
Asia Catalyst is urging supporters and friends to give what you can to the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) in their urgent appeal for a disaster response.
According to TNP+, the floods in 26 provinces of Thailand which began in October 2011 have affected about 2 million people. In some towns and villages the water is as high as three meters above street level.
The members of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) who live in those provinces are affected in many ways:
– homes and household equipment have been damaged, with water levels reaching the roofs of some properties
– equipment damaged
– farm land damaged
– cars and motorcycles under water
By Yu Fangqiang
On July 27, 2010, a person living with HIV/AIDS in Anhui Province successfully filed China’s first case alleging employment discrimination on the basis of HIV status. Soon afterwards, a second case was filed in Sichuan Province. A year later, both cases were lost, and both plaintiffs filed appeals. Currently, the third plaintiff in an HIV-related employment discrimination case is preparing to file suit. In this article, lawyer Yu Fangqiang tells the personal story behind the historically important Anhui case.
Korean and international AIDS activists who participated in a peaceful protest against the Free Trade Agreement and for access to AIDS treatment at the International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) were shoved and dragged by the police while trying to prevent the arrest of AIDS lawyer Jang Seo-yeon. Two activists, including a staff person of the ICAAP Local Organizing Committee, were hospitalized. Below is the joint statement from Korean activists and supporters about the incident.
Asia Catalyst and 25 other regional networks and organizations called this week for methadone and buprenorphine access at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, to take place this month in Busan, Korea.
