[NEWS] Criminalization of Drug Use Fuels AIDS 毒品利用有罪化加剧艾滋病传播

New evidence that criminalization of drug use fuels HIV/AIDS

 

A special issue of the medical journal The Lancet,
produced for the International AIDS Conference, published a ground-breaking
series of articles and commentaries on the global HIV epidemic among people who
use drugs. Drawing on their comprehensive examination of hundreds of studies, the
journal’s editors called for an evidence- and rights-based response to HIV
among people who use drugs: “Criminalization
has reduced access to health care for people at risk of drug use…Put simply,
locking people up does not work.”
  The
journal’s articles provide evidence showing that the most neglected strategy, a
human rights-based approach, is the the most effective tool in reversing the
epidemic.

新证据表明,毒品利用有罪化加剧艾滋病传播

 

医学期刊《柳叶刀》上有期为国际艾滋病大会制作的专门话题,围绕话题发表了一系列有关全球艾滋病在吸毒者之间的感染情况的论文和评论,颇具开拓性。通过对这数百项研究进行综合考察,期刊的编辑呼吁,对吸毒人群艾滋病的回应应当有据且符合其正当权益,”有罪化,使得容易受到感染的吸毒人群接触健康治疗的途径减少……简单地说,将人锁起来是没有用的。”期刊的论文用相关证据说明,在对抗艾滋病时,最容易被人们忽视的方式,也就是以人为本的方式,其实是最有效的方式。

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[NEWS] Law Chokes NGOs’ Foreign Funding

By Peter Ford

Sitting in a bare office behind an anonymous steel door, Yu Fangqiang
feels under siege.

His small nongovernmental organization, Yirenping, has enjoyed
remarkable success in helping HIV and hepatitis B sufferers fight
discrimination by Chinese employers, universities, and government
departments. For this challenge to the authorities, though, the group is
paying a high price.

Last year, police raided Yirenping’s Beijing office and confiscated
all its publicity material and legal aid brochures – hence the empty
bookshelves. In March, officials subjected their accounts to an
unusually prolonged investigation and warned them of more to come.

Now, new government regulations are starving Yirenping and other
controversial NGOs of funds.

“I am very worried about our future,”
says Mr. Yu, Yirenping’s chief coordinator. “I’m afraid we may have to
close.”

 

Read the full story at Christian Science Monitor.

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[RESOURCE] Navigating the Terrain: Resources for Online Asian Law Research

Computerkids.jpg

by Ken Oh

Around Asia, internet users face several barriers to doing legal research. The barriers can be political, as the recent row
between China and Google
demonstrates. In some cases, developing countries do not have the capacity to provide internet access to their citizens.  Finally (and likely the most easily fixed), the barriers can be more practical: once you have internet access, how do you know where to search?

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