TOP UNICEF OFFICIAL CALLS FOR LEGALIZED AND UNIONIZED PROSTITUTION
|
Autor: ----
|
Fuente: C-FAM (Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute)
|
On
Tuesday,
a
high
ranking
UN
Children's
Fund
(UNICEF)
official
called
for
the
legalization
of
prostitution
and
for
UNICEF
to
make
condoms
available
"for
everybody,
everywhere
and
at
all
times."
Speaking
at
the
annual
session
of
UNICEF's
Executive
Board,
Urban
Jonsson,
UNICEF
Eastern
and
Southern
African
Regional
Director,
said
that
UNICEF
would
need
to
pursue
such
"controversial
ideas.in
the
near
future
if
we
are
to
win
the
war
against
HIV/AIDS."
Specifically
Jonsson
urged
that
UNICEF
take
actions
to
"de-criminalise
sex-work
and
facilitate
the
organisation
of
sex-workers."
Jonsson
did
not
elaborate
on
how
UNICEF
would
achieve
these
ends,
but
claimed
that
"Experience
from
Europe
and
Thailand
has
shown
that
when
sex-workers
are
organized
they
are
in
a
stronger
position
to
negotiate
safer
sex
with
their
clients."
However,
it
remains
an
open
question
whether
this
position
would
be
effective
in
reducing
AIDS
infection
rates.
Writing
in
a
February
27
Wall
Street
Journal
column,
Donna
M.
Hughes,
professor
of
women's
studies
at
the
University
of
Rhode
Island,
and
an
expert
in
sexual
trafficking,
wrote
that
efforts
to
make
"sex
work"
safer
for
prostitutes
fail
because
many
prostitutes
in
countries
like
Thailand
are
underage
and
virtual
slaves
in
their
brothels,
thereby
making
it
impossible
for
them
to
negotiate
for
condom
use.
Hughes
cites
a
US
Agency
for
International
Development
(USAID)
study
that
determined
that
efforts
to
organize
prostitutes
"had
no
significant
impact
on
a
'sex
worker's
freedom
of
movement'
or
'the
ability
of
sex
workers
to
refuse
clients
who
did
not
want
to
use
condoms.'"
Hughes
concludes
that
the
best
way
to
protect
prostitutes
is
to
liberate
them
from
brothels.
In
his
statement,
Jonsson
also
calls
for
an
end
to
discourse
over
the
relative
effectiveness
of
condom
use.
Jonnson
told
the
meeting
of
diplomats
and
bureaucrats
"Let
us
stop
the
almost
metaphysical
debate
on
the
pros
and
cons
of
the
use
of
condoms..Let
us
follow
the
decision
of
the
government
of
Botswana
to
make
condoms
available
and
accessible
for
everybody,
everywhere
and
at
all
times.
The
use
of
condoms
is
not
the
full
or
the
final
solution,
but
it
has
been
a
part
of
all
known
successes
to
reduce
HIV
infections.
Abstinence
is
simply
not
a
realistic
option
for
most
young
people
in
the
world
today."
Jonnson's
contentions
are
contradicted
by
a
USAID
report
for
Uganda,
the
only
country
in
sub-Saharan
Africa
in
which
the
AIDS
epidemic
has
been
contained.
According
to
USAID,
condom
use
did
not
play
a
significant
role
in
Uganda's
success.
What
is
more,
USAID
found
that
behavior
change,
abstinence
before
marriage
and
fidelity
in
marriage,
was
the
most
important
element
of
the
Ugandan
program.
Jonnson's
comments
are
sure
to
fuel
the
growing
suspicion
that
UNFICEF
has
departed
significantly
from
its
central
mission
of
protecting
poor
children
from
disease,
hunger
and
death.
There
is
a
feeling
among
many
that
UNICEF
has
ventured
more
into
promotion
of
what
some
see
as
a
radical
notion
of
women's
rights,
especially
under
Executive
Director
Carol
Bellamy.
|
