By Cynthia Rothschild

In Mexico, HIV activists have been beaten for distributing condoms.

In South Africa, lesbian HIV activists have been antagonized even in AIDS organizations for pursuing feminist agendas.

In the United States, HIV organizations have been targeted by government bodies for financial audits as punishment for distributing explicit HIV prevention materials.

These are true stories, but the locations could be interchangeable. All over the world, activists are physically abused, harassed, discriminated against, and made to feel unwelcome - all with consequences to our political agendas and sense of safety as individuals. Our organizations are targeted, either for closure, deregistration or forms of financial and other harassment. I’m concerned about one unexplored element of this state of affairs: what role do HIV and sexuality play in this landscape? What are the specific experiences of defenders of rights related to HIV&AIDS and sexuality (and in many instances reproduction)?

Our activist communities would benefit from looking at our own individual experiences and rights as defenders of HIV related rights, alongside the communities whose rights we advocate for.

My argument is simple: defenders of HIV and sexuality-related rights face particular risks because of who we are or are perceived to be, and because of the specific rights we defend. We’re marginalized and ostracized for specific reasons, many of which have to do with societal prejudices about sexuality and HIV&AIDS. If we are women and lesbians, add sexism and misogyny to the list of prejudices we must overcome in our activism..

These challenges impact whether we can comfortably participate in coalitions, assert our agendas in all political spaces, and self identify as members of groups marginalized because of sexual or gender identity. I’d like to see our HIV activist communities looking at issues such as our own freedom of association and the right to political participation. We face particular struggles worthy of exploration, and we need to better understand the violence and discrimination we face to prevent additional abuses.

Cynthia Rothschild, former Senior Policy Advisor, Center for Women’s Global Leadership and sexual rights / HIV , human rights activist.  The Center for Women's Glboal Leadership is a member of the Women WON'T wait coalition.  For more information about the Centre for Women's Global Leadership go to: www.cwgl.rutgers.edu.

Watch out for our daily blogs during the 16 days of Activism:
25  Nov -   Intensify efforts in ending all forms of violence against women and girls (Shamillah Wilson, South Africa)
26         -  Are All Defenders Equal? (Cynthia Rothchild, New York, USA)
28         -  An essential package of services to deal with two interlinked human rights and rights crises. (Neelanjana Mukhia, India)
29th      -  Questions of accountability and violence against women and girl and HIV&AIDS. (Shamillah Wilson, South Africa)
30th      -  Female Condoms: Now More Than Ever.  (Kimberley Whipkey, USA)
1st Dec -  Violence of Judgementalism (Meena Saraswathi Seshu, India)
2nd       -  Violence Against Women, Disasters and Climate Change (Jacqui Patterson, USA)
3rd        -  Silenced Links: Violence and HIV in Women. A current look at Latin America and the Caribbean. (Mabel Bianco, Argentina)
4th        -  Sexist Violence.  Some Data to take into consideration.  (Nirvana Gonzalez Rosa, Puerto Rico/Chile)
5th        -  Rights Not Rescue.  Experiences of Sex Workers in Southern Africa. (Vicci Tallis, South Africa and Aziza Ahmed, USA)
6th        -  Criminalisation of HIV and concerns for violence against women.  (Norah Matovu Winyi, Kenya)
7th        -  Issues of violence against lesbian women and lesbian, bi- and transsexual women. (Vicci Tallis, South Africa)
8th        -  Violence against women in conflict situations.  (Mary Wandia - Kenya and Neelanjana Mukhia - India)
9th        -  Today the enemy is homosexual.  Tomorrow it could be you.  (Christine Butegwa, Uganda)
10th      -  Our work isnt done - response to VAW as a consequence of HIV (Neelanjana Mukhia, India)
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The Women Wont Wait campaign is an international coalition of organizations and networks working to promote women's health and human rights in the struggle to address HIV and AIDS and end all forms of violence against women and girls.
 
Members of WWW: Action Aid; African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET); Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID); Akina Mama wa Afrika; Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL); Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE); Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM); GESTOS-Soropositividade, Comunicação & Gênero; International Community of Women Living with HIV&AIDS Southern Africa (ICW-Southern Africa); International Women’s AIDS Caucus; International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC); Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network; Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA); Program on International Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health; SANGRAM; VAMP; and Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA).

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