India's AIDS conference to challenge similar US summit

The Freedom Festival of Sex Workers with 900 participants from 27 countries in five continents, which will open here starting today in eastern India's state of West Bengal, will pose a challenge to the XIX International AIDS Conference being organized in Washington D.C. also starting this week, according to Smarajit Jana, chief advisor of the festival and mentor of Durbar Mahila Samannoy Committee (DMSC). The meet is officially dubbed XIX International AIDS Conference (Hub 2012, Kolkata, and is being hosted by DMSC along with the Global Network of Sex Workers Project (NSWP), in partnership with Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) and the All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW). Jana told Xinhua that the Kolkata conference will be a protest platform and will have direct satellite link with the summit in Washington D.C.. "We will expose the hypocrisy of the U.S. administration in refusing entry to the United States of people who 'sold sex' or those who used drugs although restrictions against HIV positive persons were lifted by the country in 2009," Jana said. The week-long conference in this city of book fairs and film festivals will discuss various issues related to rights of sex workers, transgenders, HIV positive and AIDS victims. It will also stage some plays and screen films from participating countries that depict the plight of sex workers. From South East Asia there will be 28 participants including six from mainland China. Jana pointed out that because of its ambivalent policy, very few sex workers -- who run the greatest risk of contracting the deadly disease -- would be able to attend the conference in Washington D.C.. In fact, Jana said, the Washington summit could likely turn into a meeting of policy makers that will have little practical use. According to Jana, prostitution is legal in eight counties in the state of Nevada. "So, what right does the United States have in judging others?" Jana asked. The conference in Kolkata will try to make the voice of sex workers be heard in Washington. Its main objective is to assert the rights of sex workers not only in India but also in neighboring countries as well. The conference will also commemorate 20th anniversary of Sonagachi in Kolkata, one of the oldest "red light" districts in the world housing about 10,000 sex workers. It will also highlight the successful HIV intervention program for sex workers in the city. Apart from sex workers, the Kolkata conference will see representatives from more than a 100 sex workers' organizations, technical experts, government officials, ministers, parliamentarians, policy-makers donors and members from U.N. agencies. Jana said that sex workers form the most significant groups that are capable of participating effectively in the HIV/AIDS program. This conference will highlight how community-based programs can make progress in HIV intervention. He said the conference will focus on crystallizing policy issues centering on rights and social justice of marginalized communities and its implication in health interventions. Sex workers' networks that participate in the conference would develop a long-term plan of action to decriminalize their profession in the community where they work, Jana said.