World AIDS Day: Condom Restrictions Cost Lives
Human
Rights Watch, November 30, 2004
New York—Needless restrictions on
condoms and HIV/AIDS information are undermining the global fight against the
epidemic, Human Rights Watch charged today in a paper
released today on World AIDS Day. Condoms remain the single most effective
device against sexually transmitted HIV, yet they face government-imposed
constraints in numerous countries across the globe.
The 30-page
briefing paper documents censorship of information about condoms in
government-funded programs, myths about condoms spread by religious leaders,
and restrictions on condoms in numerous countries. In some places, police
confiscate condoms from AIDS outreach workers and use them as evidence of
illegal prostitution or sodomy.
“Governments should be promoting condom use, not
treating condoms like contraband,” said Jonathan Cohen, a researcher with
Human Rights Watch’s HIV/AIDS Program. “The clear result of restricting
access to condoms will be more lives lost to AIDS.”
The World Health Organization and other international
health agencies share the broad consensus that condoms used correctly are
highly effective in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV. While condoms
are clearly not a complete solution to HIV/AIDS, international agencies agree
that providing complete and accurate information about the proper use of
condoms to reduce the risk of HIV transmission is an essential part of the
limited anti-HIV arsenal.
But government-sponsored programs of many
countries—including India, Nigeria, Peru and the United States—restrict
access to these anti-HIV tools. In 2003, less than half of all people
worldwide at risk of sexual transmission of HIV had access to condoms. Even
fewer had access to basic HIV/AIDS education. Where school-based HIV/AIDS
programs exist, they often conceal information about condoms for fear of
promoting promiscuity or birth control.
The United States, the world’s leading donor to
HIV/AIDS programs, continues to ramp up its support for “abstinence until
marriage” HIV-prevention programs that stress condoms’ very low failure
rate, rather than their effectiveness in preventing HIV infection. When used
correctly and consistently, condoms provide nearly 100-percent protection
against HIV.
“In the U.S., the Bush Administration is spending
millions of dollars on abstinence-only programs that mislead people at risk of
HIV/AIDS about the effectiveness of condoms,” said Rebecca Schleifer, a
researcher with Human Rights Watch’s HIV/AIDS Program. “Exporting these
programs to countries facing even more serious HIV/AIDS epidemics will only
make the situation worse around the world.”
In many countries, political and religious leaders make
public statements associating condoms with sin or sexual promiscuity, or
providing misleading information about condoms’ effectiveness. The Vatican
explicitly objects to condom use and has publicly distorted scientific
information about condoms. Senior Vatican officials have blamed condoms for
the spread of HIV/AIDS. They have made false scientific claims suggesting that
HIV can permeate microscopic pores in condoms—a claim that flies in the face
of science.
Nongovernmental organizations in many countries offer a
critical source of HIV/AIDS information and condoms, especially to
marginalized groups like sex workers and men who have sex with men. But police
harassment of frontline HIV/AIDS educators in countries like India and
Bangladesh undermines this important work. In some cases, police treat the
provision of condoms to men who have sex with men as an act abetting sodomy,
which is criminalized under colonial-era laws in numerous countries. Police
also use the possession of condoms to justify harassment of those who
encourage sex workers to use condoms.
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