Employers in China’s Yunnan Province openly discriminate against former drug users living with HIV/AIDS, according to a
joint report released by Asia Catalyst and Kangxin Home, a Chinese community organization.
Staff and volunteers of Kangxin Home interviewed community members and found that many had been fired multiple times from their jobs at small businesses such as auto repair shops, tobacco shops and supermarkets.
IKON protest, Wahyu is far left with raised arm. The banner reads “prison is not a
solution for drug addicts.” Photo courtesy IKON.
By Anton Muhajir
After three weeks of hospitalization, Bali
and Indonesia’s best-known drug user rights advocate I Gusti Ngurah Wahyunda
passed away in early March. Wahyu, 31 years old, was the founder of the
Indonesian Drug User Solidarity Association (IDUSA) and coordinator of Ikatan
Korban Napza (IKON), a network of drug victims in Bali.
I honor him as a
friend, activist, and an innovative fighter who built a movement to defend the
human rights of drug users.
April 1, 1978 – March 6, 2010
After being treated for three weeks, I Gusti Ngurah Wahyunda (or Wahyu) died on March
6 at Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar, Bali. Wahyu
was the founder and coordinator of IKON Bali, a group of victims of narcotics,
psychotropic and other addictive substances that fights for the human rights of
that community, and the program manager of Yakeba, a Balinese harm reduction
organization.
Wahyu was himself a former injecting drug user who had undergone rehabilitation at
Yakeba. His experiences as a former IDU and his connections with fellow
survivors at national and international meetings led him to organize IDUs in
Bali to found IKON. Working with Wahyu, IKON has done ground-breaking research,
advocacy, outreach and media work on the
problem of police abuse against IDU in Bali.
In August 2009, Asia Catalyst spent a
week assisting Wahyu and colleagues at IKON with strategic planning. We also
joined together to host a candlelit barbecue party on the beach in Bali for 100
Asian AIDS advocates and their supporters. Wahyu was an inspiring leader, and a
warm and humorous friend and colleague; it was a privilege to work alongside
him, even for a short time. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family in Indonesia.
For more about IKON, please visit www.ikonbali.org.
by Sara (Meg) Davis, Agus Triwahyuono, and Risa Alexander
from Harm Reduction Journal
In Indonesia, an ongoing government “war on drugs” has resulted in
numerous arrests and anecdotal reports of abuse in detention, but to
date there has been little documentation or analysis of this issue.
JANGKAR (also known in English as the Indonesian Harm Reduction
Network), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in Jakarta,
surveyed 1106 injecting drug users in 13 cities about their experiences
of police abuse. Of those interviewed, 667 or 60% reported physical
abuse by police. These findings indicate the importance of continuing
efforts to promote police reform and harm reduction in Indonesia.
We’re delighted that our article on Jangkar’s groundbreaking research has been published in a peer-reviewed journal. For the full article and excerpts from the moving testimony of drug users in Indonesia, please see the Harm Reduction Journal.
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.
