What's New

Thailand has committed to the targets of the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS and has a prioritized National Strategy which pledges a two-thirds reduction in incidence in sexual transmission, and through injecting drug use, by 2016. Thailand has the potential to be one of the first countries in Asia to ‘End AIDS’ and reach the first milestone on the road to end AIDS by meeting the 2015 HLM targets. The end of AIDS can become a reality if Thailand is able to effectively utilize the preventive effects of antiretroviral treatment. Thailand as has already shown this is possible through the virtual elimination of HIV infections from mother to child.

"The Time Has Come" is a training package for health providers to reduce stigma in health care settings, as well as to enhance HIV, STI and other sexual health services for men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people in Asia and the Pacific. The package offers a dynamic, interactive training programme designed by expert peer trainers. It aims to impart practical, sustainable knowledge and skills to programme managers, frontline service managers and health policy professionals that can enhance their leadership capacity and improve programming and service delivery. The training package is designed to be particularly relevant for health care workers, as well as selected staff from national and provincial HIV programmes, Global Fund project managers, policy-makers, frontline managers and advocates. It is hoped that the training package will play an important role in responding to the need to address sexual orientation and gender identity in the region’s response to HIV. "The Time Has Come" regional training package was jointly developed by UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC), WHO Southeast Asia Regional Office (SEARO) and WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO).

This Southeast Asia Opium Survey shows that despite eradication efforts, opium poppy cultivation in the region continues to increase. Poppy cultivation in Myanmar rose 13% from the previous year to 57,800 hectares, more than doubling since 2006. In Lao cultivation levelled off but remains a concern. Surveys of farmers in poppy-growing villages, indicate that the money made from poppy cultivation remains an essential part of family income. Villagers threatened with food insecurity and poverty need sustainable alternatives, or they will continue out of desperation to turn to growing this cash crop. In Myanmar and Lao PDR, the use of opium, heroin and synthetic drugs – another growing threat in the region –, remains high. Moreover, the number of registered heroin and synthetic drug users in China has been going up since 2007. This increase in drug production and use represents a clear threat to human security and health. Balanced plans aimed at slowing and stopping production and trafficking, while preventing drug use and providing evidence-based treatment and care for drug-dependent users, in full compliance with human rights standards, must be made a priority by states and international partners.

This Project, Assessing the Capacity of National Human Rights Institutions to Address Human Rights in relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and HIV (NHRI SOGI Project or the Project), forms part of broader regional collaborative efforts to promote an enabling legal environment for the response to HIV. The NHRI SOGI Project aimed to build understanding of the capacity and response of selected Asian National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) to the human rights issues faced by people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). In much of Asia, SOGI-related stigma and discrimination strips people of their rights and excludes them from mainstream health programs, public services, and economic opportunity. Stigma and discrimination also have the effect of increasing the acceptability and incidence of violence perpetrated against men and women of diverse SOGI and transgender people. Under these circumstances people of diverse SOGI face ongoing and dehumanizing harm, humiliation and exclusion. Driven underground, people of diverse SOGI are denied the ability to live productive lives as contributing and engaged members of society. Deep set socio-cultural prejudices are exacerbated by punitive and discriminatory legal frameworks, criminalization of same-sex sexual relations in a number of jurisdictions, and law enforcement practices.

Findings from studies conducted in the United States of America and Europe have shown that transgender people are at a significantly higher risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as compared to gay and heterosexual men. At the 10th international Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific held in Busan, Republica of Korea, from the 26th to the 30th of August 2011, Republic of Korea, transgender delegates requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess the state of transgender health in Asia and the Pacific. The objectives of this assessment report are (1) to examine the current state of evidence on transgender health in Asia and the Pacific, (2) to understand the current needs and concerns of transgender communities in Asia and the Pacific and, informed by objectives 1 and 2, (3) to make technical recommendations to WHO and Member States regarding transgender health.

It is indeed a great achievement that gender equality is a fundamental element of the constitutions of all countries in South Asia, yet women and girls continue to be discriminated against within their homes, in schools, in the work place, in institutional settings, and even by law. More specifically, discrimination is especially strong among women and girls who are affected by HIV. This report looks into existing constitutional provisions, laws, and legal mechanisms in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, and identifies provisions that provide protection or redress for violations of rights at health care settings. While the report focuses specifically on key HIV-affected women, the legal provisions identified also apply to the general population (including marginalized groups, such as disabled and very poor women) whose rights might be violated in health care settings. The report demonstrates that there are serious gaps in laws to provide protection and redress for violation of rights at health care settings in the four countries under discussion. While the constitutions in all four countries guarantee equality under the law and prohibit discrimination based on sex, there are only a few laws or legal mechanisms that women can use to access justice if these rights have been violated in health care settings.

Presentation from Expert Meeting on the Implementation of the Outcome of the Asia-Pacific High-level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Assessment of Progress against Commitments in the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the Millennium Development Goals

Transgender people are an integral part of the traditional culture of many countries in Asia and the Pacific and in many places have been accepted into traditional daily life. In September 2012, a regional meeting of transgender advisers and activists adopted a working definition for transgender people in the Asia Pacific context. The adopted definition states that transgender people are: “Persons who identify themselves in a different gender rather than that assigned to them at birth” and may choose to “express their identity differently to that expected of the gender role assigned to them at birth.” Transgender people in the region “often identify themselves in ways that are locally, socially, culturally, religiously, or spiritually defined,” using local terminology and indigenous labels, despite these terms often being derogatory and marginalizing. A report in 2012 documented 50 such different terms for transgender people across 16 countries. However, acceptance and integration of transgender women and, to a lesser-documented extent, transgender men, into the daily fabric of local community life has diminished in recent times. Many assert that this change has been influenced by ‘western’ ideals. Societal acceptance and support of gender identification and varied sexual orientation has been declining, which is resulting in heightened discrimination of transgender people. Cultural and economic influences from the west have brought stigma, prejudice and discrimination towards those in Asia and the Pacific region who are transgender, along with men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have sex with women.

This report provides an overview of the Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) situation in the region. It outlines several key issues and emerging threats throughout the region and their implications for the neighbouring regions. While the data presented point towards the increased efforts by the countries in the region to tackle the ATS problem, it also highlights the need for continued and joint efforts, both at the national as well as regional levels. It is hoped that this report and the forthcoming national and regional updates, will help in the better understanding of the ATS problem and in designing effective strategies to combat it.

The primary purpose of undertaking this seven-country consultation meeting in April 2013 was to identify the national laws and policies which need review and/or reform, or other programme initiatives which will increase access to rights-respecting HIV services by eliminating real or perceived impediments to delivery of equitable health services to all individuals and communities. It was intended that countries would develop a measurable and monitorable action plan for undertaking key legal and policy reforms at country level to bring national legislation and policies in line with international good practice relating to human rights and rights-based HIV responses which the United Nations and/or other partners can support in the lead up to the 2015 deadline for achieving global targets and commitments on HIV, including the MDGs, Declaration of Commitment (2006) and Political Declaration (2011), and as part of the ESCAP Framework for regional support to countries.