Regional Session on the Caribbean

reflecting the blogger's biases and prejudices..

So, the last day. The session was co-chaired by Dr Anita Radix (with links to Grenada) and Dr Jean Pape (with links to Haiti), two distinguished scientists. The first discussion by Dr Donald Simeon of CHRC said that HIV and chronic disease prevention are making good progress in the region, while there is no progress on mental health.. you could tell judging by some of the goings on in the regions, ah mean, mad people never say dey mad right?
So apparently tings not too bad by international standards, some countries better than others. Cuba doing good.

Suzette Moses Burton spoke of civil society involvement in HIV work, and gave the lesson of CRN+ (the website last update in 2007 before their global fund grant get pull). She spoke of the celebration of when they first got the grant, and how things started to go haywire for some reason. This resulted in devastation for the caribbean people living with HIV AIDS who were trying to organise themselves to better access services. Or in short, eye pass from the Global Fund.
The eye pass continues when it seemed that some donors say that they will not fund CRN plus unless CRN change its governance structure and the people there.

Marcus Day from CVC continued the discussion about civil society, moving from his normally brash tone to one which was a lil weird and sounded almost apologist for the donors who very picky and choosey and he talked about the two boarding passes which got to be handed in. He say CVC is not a gatekeeper,and that they have been able to establish a sex workers association and a trans association. Marcus say dat dere must be some harmony between the passion of civil society and the donors er procedures.. and den he talk about grinding, and CVC and Pancap grinding.i Now.. I get dizzy, what he and mr brown does grind? And something about how they like two stone dat grind until they get smooth..  now.. surely dat is not wat civil society supposed to do wid de donors.. safer sex includes frottage.. but this?
Marcus said that a recent sexual health workshop which involved health care providers and men of all sexual orientations was a good example of the kind of interactions which the donors need to support and fund and follow through. (Not sure if anybody grinding wid anybody dere)


The final panel was from Kerrel McKay from the Jamaican youth programme and the work being done to deal with young persons living with HIV AIDS. As with all Government programmes, it sound nice and so on. What I like , is how like Donnellis , she start up with the Bob Marley, Usain Bolt and White Beaches promoting Jamaica. Cynics like me want to say what about Beenie Man, Dudus Coke and Tivoli Gardens.. but Jamaicans like dat.. dey dont hold back on de positive. After her presentation, a paediatrician added to the discussion about the work being done with the children who are now grown and the provision of services for those children, including psycho social support.

A lady from somewhere tell Suzette that the passion for the work got to be the same as the passion for project management and that civil society implements better than Governments. Somebody ask about the situation in Haiti, and Dr Pape say dat with regards to HIV , the situation is the same as before the earthquake. (Language is a funny ting, dat could mean it just as good or just as bad). Dr Pape say dat dey are concerned with TB, since TB infections are rising.
Den a white man stand up and say that he flabbergasted since there is increased sexual violence, no services for MSM and other vulnerable populations. The Burnham in me rise up and say what the ... who is dis man fuh cuss up de haitian doctor.. and den de odder part in me, is like wheh de rass de haitian msm to ask this question in this Caribbean forum? And the white man mek a point about the absence of people living with HIV from any Haitian discourse. And the rest of we shut up because we dont really know nuttin about haiti and we cant talk French.

Mr Charles from Grenada asked why Dr  Simeon did not include the OECS in his presentation - Dr Simeon said that it was not intentional but he was sampling to compare. People were not too convinced at this response.
The time was near finishing, in fact the time always near to done. Donnellis also made a point that people who are positive should be free to decide when they want to disclose.

Sharon Mottley from CCNAPC spoke of the importance of sharing information so that people could see how the regional policies were being implemented in some countries. A lady with a nice musical accent voice ask a question about media and source of information . I stupidy, I only remember the voice, but not what she really say. Was trying to see if the lady was nice looking as the voice but the room was dark.

At some point Dr Radix said, time to go. As with all the sessions, there was not enough time to ask questions or interact.

No more bullshit

Bullshit, bullshit was the cry from the audience which cheered after Robert Carr's closing presentation in the panel "MSM, HIV and Activism : Key Questions and Strategies for Moving Forward" in the closing plenary of the MSM Pre-conference.

We in the Caribbean have had many internationally renowned orators.. Burnham, Eric Williams, Rodney ..  Robert's passion and "righteous anger as panel moderator Stephen Lewis put it , came over succinctly in the history of those great Caribbean orators, in Robert's call for no more bullshit.

The remarks focussed on :-

1. Bullshit was the word used to describe the provision of peer education workshops and workshops "using dildos to show how to put on condoms" while other sections of the Government - police, social services, education services discriminated against MSM are not the signs of any Government's activities to addressing the needs of MSM. 
2. Bullshit was the word used to describe the politicians' acceptance that homophobia was equivalent to nation building, and that homosexuality was a western imposition, and that homosexuals were not citizens
3. Bullshit was the word used to describe the UN's slow movement to invest in programmes that directly targetted MSM,and their complicit avoidance of the homophobia in the Government partners - even though the UN is committed to good governance, democracy and human rights.
4. Bullshit was the word used to describe the expectation that civil society activists who are providing services and advocating for MSM must work as volunteers. The call was made for independent funds for Civil Society organisations.

Robert asked the plenary to acknowledge the work done by the representatives from Jamaica AIDS Support and JFLAG . He used the Stand for Silence as way to emphasise and celebrate the "committment of the spirit to the science of overcoming the impossible"

The hotel is a scam...

The last leg of the journey, and Bernard from St Lucia gets a text that says that  the hotel is a scam , let us wait on a new address. This is in Heathrow. It has been a long journey to get a lot of people here to Vienna. Visa applications had to be done, flights had to be booked and accomodation had to be arranged.

Bernard wore his red ribbon and many people asked him if he was going to the conference. I saw a woman in the line at Heathrow with her AIDS 2008 conference and she said that she was heading to Vienna. She from Trinidad. But she have two suitcase of stuff fuh people in London, you know how it is. The lady said that plenty people not coming from Trinidad who normally come since the Government change. So we have to explore whether Kamla Government holding back on the ATM card for AIDS conferences.
The plane from Trinidad also had 84 people from Trinidad related to the Bishops Anstey Girls School choir..heading to Vienna to sing. Good for Trinidad!

So Bernard phone not getting signal in Vienna and we have to go find out where we supposed to be staying. We contact Marcus over the internet at a kiosk.. good thing he answer back.
It turns that the booking made by Marcus via Hostel Bookers did not go through. The hotel manager said he has never heard of them! Anyways it was sorted out. There was no free breakfast the first day though.

Some persons are annoyed at their accomodation arrangements while others have adjusted. It is not easy since small hotels in Vienna apparently do not need to be customer friendly for tourism, unlike us in the Caribbean

Originally posted here

Rights Here, Right Now: CVC Coalition and AIDS 2010

Posted 22 June 2010, 12:57 P, by Conference Secretariat By Vidyaratha Kissoon, CVC Media Volunteer, AIDS 2010. CVC is an AIDS 2010 Organizing Partner.

The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) endorses the theme Rights Here, Right Now for AIDS 2010.

CVC is a coalition of community leaders and non-governmental agencies providing services directly to and on behalf of Caribbean populations who are especially vulnerable to HIV infection or often forgotten in access to treatment and healthcare programmes. These groups include:

• men who have sex with men
• sex workers
• people who use drugs
• orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV
• migrant populations
• ex-prisoners
• youth in especially difficult circumstances.

Youth in Toco, Trinidad. Credit: UNAIDS/B. Press.

The membership is drawn from the Caribbean and includes people and organizations who work in Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Curaçao, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, the French Caribbean, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia,  St. Vincent, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

CVC's participation in AIDS 2010 is critical to the objective of generating an enabling environment to support human rights and improve the quality of life of vulnerable populations.

At the launch of CVC's Campaign to Vienna in October 2009, CVC Co-Chairperson Marcus Day encouraged members to participate in AIDS 2010, saying “The AIDS conference presents a brilliant opportunity for us to showcase the work that the Caribbean does in addressing the issues of vulnerable populations in a less than ideal political and social environment”.

The work being done in this “less than ideal political and social environment” is what CVC members would like to share with the world at AIDS 2010 through the main conference and participation in Caribbean Regional activities that will run concurrent with the conference.

CVC participated in developing the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS – 2008 to 2012 (pdf), which recognises six priority areas for action. These are:

1. An enabling environment that fosters universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support services
2. An expanded and coordinated multisectoral response to the HIV epidemic
3. Prevention of HIV transmission
4. Treatment, care, and support
5. Capacity development for HIV/AIDS services
6. Monitoring, evaluation, and research

The AIDS 2010 theme Rights Here, Right Now brings the focus of the AIDS gathering to the human rights environment, which is necessary for the first priority action for the Caribbean and one in which there are still strides to be made.

CVC members are further concerned that there has been a shift away from rights-based programming for HIV/AIDS in the region.

CVC partner organisations have been conducting important advocacy work to emphasise human rights. In Guyana, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) has launched a constitutional challenge against the Cross Dressing laws.  SASOD, in collaboration with the Sexuality Rights Initiative, also made a submission to the 8th UPR (pdf), and the Government of Guyana is expected to respond on the measures it will take to ensure the rights of its LGBT citizens. In Jamaica, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays coordinated a Stand against Silence and a March for Tolerance, both events held with civil society organisations. The United Belize Advocacy Movement continues to highlight human rights violations and to press for redress when necessary.

CVC's priorities at AIDS 2010 are to highlight and advocate that:

• adequate attention is paid to the needs of vulnerable communities in Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake in January 2010
• states of the English-speaking Caribbean repeal all legislation criminalizing relationships between same-sex consenting adults, which limit the free development of their personalities
• Caribbean states introduce legislation to protect, guarantee and promote equality of individuals regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression
• violence against sex workers, including migrant sex workers, is recognised as a form of gender-based violence because most of the sex workers who experience violence from the state and private individuals are women or male-to-female transgenders.

CVC Montego Bay Workshop, November 2009.

CVC members expect that at AIDS 2010 there will be greater Caribbean participation than at previous International AIDS Conferences, especially by those from vulnerable populations. The experience of networking through the Global Village is expected to be quite positive and CVC members also believe that encounters with donors and multilateral agencies will highlight the need for rights-based programming in the region. In addition, CVC me