From: International Gay Lesbian Human Rights Commission Date: 08 Feb 94 09:48 PST Subject: ERN: Jan/Feb 1994 To: Recipients of conference "iglhrc.ern" IGLHRC Action Alert January / February 1994 Emergency Response Network of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission IGLHRC is the Action Secretariat of the International Lesbian and Gay Association NEW Hospice for People with HIV and AIDS Under Violent Attack -- Colombian Government Skirts Responsibility to Protect Residents of an AIDS hospice in Bogota, Colombia have been targeted with death threats, physical violence, and other acts of intimidation. Urgent letters are needed to demand that the Colombian government do everything in its power to protect the safety and lives of the HIV positive hospice residents. The hospice is run by the EUDES Foundation, an independent charity, and houses about 30 people with HIV. Ongoing attacks against the EUDES Foundation hospice have included verbal threats, broken windows, and on December 14, a firebombing that caused little physical damage but much trepidation among the 30 inhabitants. For a few days after the bombing, a police car was stationed near the hospice and no further incidents occurred. Just days after the protection was called off, however, the harassment resumed culminating in an armed attack on January 4. In that incident, six armed assailants entered and looted the two hospice residences, telling those inside that they would be killed if they did not leave the neighborhood. Since then, death threats against AIDS service providers who work with the hospice have continued unabated. Foundation director Bernardo Vergara, a Catholic priest, believes that all the incidents have been aimed at intimidating the Foundation and the people it serves, with the aim of forcing them to flee Patria, an area of northern Bogota. He suspects the attackers to be members of the local community who oppose the presence of people with HIV in their neighborhood. According to press accounts published in Colombia, a legal suit seeking forced relocation of the AIDS hospice was brought forward by the Junta de Accion Comunal, the Patria neighborhood association. That petition was rejected in September 1993 by the Colombian courts who ruled that that the presence of the hospice in no way endangered local residents. At a neighborhood meeting following the courts decision, the local deputy mayor and other authorities indicated that if the hospice was not moved they would take independent action. Press reports indicate that it was only after that meeting that the attacks began. Given the apparent absence of willingness on the part of the state to protect the hospice, its and residents seriously fear for future incidents. Urgent letters are needed to the President of Colombia and the Mayor of Bogota to ensure that they take the necessary steps to protect the hospice and bring to justice the perpetrators of the previous attacks. Letters should respectfully but firmly make the following points: 1. As a nation which publicly declares its commitment to human rights, it is important that Colombia match its words with the actions that will bring to justice those who prey upon defenseless persons as a way of enforcing illegal demands. 2. It should be the obligation of the state to protect all Colombians without regard to HIV sero status, sexual orientation, and / or social or economic position. It is also the duty of the state to protect its citizens against extra-official violence such as that directed against the residents of the EUDES Foundation hospice, located at Carrera 36 No. 87 - 16, in Bogota. The government must take all necessary steps to protect the lives and well being of the residents of EUDES, and of any other institution in a similar situation. 3. The international community can not tolerate the repetition of these acts and can only interpret their unhindered continuation as a sign of official complicity with the attacks. 4. An adequate state response to the AIDS pandemic includes dispelling precisely the sort of misinformation and prejudices driving the attacks against the EUDES Foundation. Colombia could demmonstrate its commitmnet to the human rights of people with HIV by launching such a comprehensive health education campaign. Write to: Seor Presidente Cesar Gaviria Trujillo Presidente de la Republica de Colombia Palacio de Nario Sante fe de Bogota COLOMBIA Fax: 57-1-286-7324 57-1-286-7434 Seor Jaime Castro Acalde Mayor de Santa fe de Bogota Palacio de Lievano Santa fe de Bogota COLOMBIA Dr. Gustavo de Greiff Fiscal General Fiscalia General Apartado Aereo 29855 Santa fe de Bogota COLOMBIA FAX: 57-1-287-0939 Dr. Carlos Gustavo Arrieta Padilla Procurador General de la Nacion Porcuradura General Edificio Bano Ganadero Carrera 5, No. 15-80 Sante fe de Bogota COLOMBIA FAX: 57-1-284-0472 Update: July / August 1993 Action DEMAND ACCESS FOR ALL DELEGATES TO THE 10TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AIDS Urgent action is needed to ensure that all delegates to the 10th International Conference on AIDS are allowed to enter the host country. The conference is scheduled to take place in Yokohama, Japan from August 7th to 12th, 1994. Current Japanese law forbids entry by all sex workers and convicted drug users, while leaving unclear which HIV positive people will be admitted. OCCUR, the Association for the Lesbian and Gay Movement in Tokyo, is concerned that these laws, subject to wide interpretation by border agents, make it legally possible that some delegates to the Yokohama conference may be turned back at Japanese ports of entry. In regards to drug users, Japanese law states that those who have "been convicted of any law ... relating to control of narcotics" shall be denied entry to Japan. The law barring prostitutes is stricter, denying entrance to anyone "who engages or has engaged in prostitution". Another amendment to Japanese immigration law includes the vague stipulation that those persons who are HIV positive and deemed "likely to pose a risk of infection to the general public" can be turned back. Official attempts to address this last issue have so far proved inadequate. A communique by the Deputy Director of the Infectious Disease Control Division (a branch of the Ministry of Health and Welfare) states: "no questions about a person's HIV status or sexual orientation are asked when applying for a visa or entering Japan". Such a statement does nothing to address the legitimate concerns of those who travel with HIV specific medications, appear sick, or otherwise indicate their HIV serostatus. Though IGLHRC knows of no one who has actually been refused entry to Japan on account of their HIV status, the very presence of the travel restriction raises the specter of exclusion, and that in itself may discourage attendance. It is crucial that the 10th International Conference on AIDS, and all gatherings that address the future of the AIDS pandemic, be completely accessible to those most directly affected by this disease. This necessarily include sex workers, addicts, and people with HIV. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), acting as the Action Secretariat of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), is asking for activists to write the three following letters. 1. Respectfully worded letters should be sent to Japanese government officials requesting: * A formal and explicit declaration from the highest levels of Japan's government that people with HIV will under no circumstances be denied entry to Japan solely because of their HIV status. * A similarly explicit guarantee that sex workers and drug users attempting to attend the Yokohama conference be allowed entry into Japan. Write to: Mr. Morihiro Hosokawa Honorable Prime Minister of Japan 2-3-1 Nagatacho, Choyoda-Ku Tokyo 100 JAPAN fax: 81-3-3503-2889 Mr. Akira Mikatzuki Honorable Minister of Justice 1-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo 100 JAPAN fax: 81-3-5511-7200 Mr. Tsutomu Hata Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs 2-2-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo 100 JAPAN fax: 81-3-3581-5554 Mr. Keigo Ouchi Honorable Minister of Health and Welfare 1-2-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo 100 JAPAN fax: 81-3-3593-0806 2. IGLHRC also recommends that letters be sent to the organizers and sponsors of the conference. Letters should: * Request that the issue of travel and immigration restrictions against people with HIV be given prominent attention at the Round Table Discussion and at the Last Reporting Session during the Conference. * Express your concern that the Conference may not be completely accessible to delegates with a history of sex work, drug use, and / or with a HIV infection. Write to: Dr. Yuichi Shiokawa Honorable Chair of the Organizing Committee of the 10th International Conference on AIDS c/o Congress Corporation Namiki Bldg., 5-3 Kamiyama-cho, Shibuya-ku Tokyo 150 Japan fax: 81-3-3466-5246 Dr. Mike Merson Global Program on AIDS World Health Organization 20 Ave Appia Geneva 27 CH 1211 SWITZERLAND 3. Finally, official letters from other governments requesting clarification on the treatment that their HIV positive citizens can expect at Japanese borders would be especially useful. Therefore, IGLHRC recommends that activists get their respective governments to seek official clarification from Mr. Akira Mikatzuki, Minister of Justice in Tokyo. Letters should request: * An official clarification of precisely what the legal criteria is for determining which HIV positive visitors to Japan will be turned back and how individual custom agents will determine who meets that criteria. NEW University in Costa Rica Adopts Anti-Gay Policy A Costa Rican University, the Universidad Internacional de las Americas (UIA), has become enrolled in a legal battle after its policy of expelling lesbian and gay students was made public. An attempt by activists to close down the UIA because its admission policies violate Costa Rica's constitution has failed and the discriminatory policy remains in place. This very public controversy erupted on August 15, 1993, when a student wrote a letter to La Nacion (a Costa Rican daily) condemning the UIA policy of expelling students and professors who are "homosexuals" and / or men who wear earrings, have long hair, or wear lycra shorts. A week later, the UIA responded by taking a full page ad out in the same paper defending its policies, citing its obligation to uphold traditional Costa Rican values. At this point, the Instituto Latinoamericano de Educacion y Prevencion en Salud (ILPES), a local non governmental AIDS organization, formally requested that the Ministry of Education close down the UIA for violating the Costa Rican constitution and the fundamental human rights of its gay students. The petition was denied in early October because the complaint initiated by ILPES was unable to cite actual cases of discrimination. In its ruling, however, the Ministry of Education did point out that it would have been inclined to have ruled against the UIA had an actual plaintiff been presented. In particular it argued that policies that block a student's access to education because of their sexual orientation violate Articles 78 (right to education), 20 and 33 (equal protection) of the Costa Rican Constitution. ILPES promptly escalated by filing a compliant with the Sala Cuarta, Costa Rica's highest constitutional court. On December 9th the Court found that the University's policy of expelling long haired men violated Articles 20 and 33 of the Costa Rican Constitution, which clearly state that "all people are equal before the law". The Constitutional Court was unable, however, to make a determination on the constitutionality of the anti-gay policy because none of the students or professors who had been expelled because of their sexual orientation were willing to face the social censure that coming forward would have entailed. To surmount this problem, activists have been trying to get the Ministry of Education to agree to keep the names of any potential plaintiffs confidential. So far their requests have been denied. Meanwhile, the highly publicized legal battle has left lesbian and gay students on the UIA campus feeling even more vulnerable now that the discriminatory policy remains in place. Strongly worded letters of protest are needed to be sent to both the Ministry of Education and the Universidad Internacional de las Americas (UIA). Letters to the Ministry of Education should make the following points: 1. The Ministry of Education has an obligation to ensure that Universities in Costa Rica operate in accordance with the national constitution. Discriminatory policies on University campuses, whether enforced or not, place an unjust burden on lesbian and gay students and thus hamper their access to education. 2. The issue before the Ministry is not whether anyone is willing to come forward as a gay or lesbian student at the UIA. The issue is whether a discriminatory policy exists. That such a policy does exist is self evident given that the University has publicly and proudly defended it. Expecting isolated and very vulnerable students to face increased social marginalization, sabotaging of their careers and even expulsion from their University is to profoundly misunderstand the needs of lesbian and gay students. Letters to the UIA should include the following points: 1. Human rights, access to education, and protection from discrimination are not privileges doled out to those that act or look a certain way. The very reason these concepts are codified and made legally binding is to protect precisely those groups of people who may not conform to dominant ways of living. 2. To maintain that homosexuality comes from abroad or in any way represents a threat to society, all arguments that the UIA has used to defend its policies, is to deny the dignity and legitimacy of Costa Rican lesbian and gay people. 3. The right to an education is guaranteed by Article 78 of the Costa Rican Constitution, and Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further, the Costa Rican Ministry of Education has made clear its belief that "the right to an education is a right of all people admitted and recognized in all the declarations dealing with fundamental human rights ... no type of discrimination in regards to access to education is acceptable, be it in a public or private institution, or be it based on race, age, gender, religion, and ... sexual orientation." Write to: Lic. Miguel Angel Gutierrez Alvarez Rector de la UIA Apdo. Postal 1447-1002 Paseo de los Estudiantes San Jose Costa Rica fax: +506-22-3216 Lic. Rafael Garzona Secretario CONESUP Ministerio de Educacion Publica 1000 San Jose Costa Rica NEW -- Local Authorities Force Cancelation of Gay Event in Tijuana A coalition of lesbian and gay groups in Tijuana, Mexico is requesting that letters of protest be sent to local government officials there after authorities refused to issue the necessary permits for the holding of a Miss Gay Tijuana beauty contest. The beauty pageant had originally been scheduled for the 18th of December. IGLHRC is concerned that the refusal of local authorities to allow this event to take place may constitute a violation of the right to freedom of assembly and that similar events planned in the future may therefore also face arbitrary interference. In an apparent bid to justify rejecting the permit application, the City Council of Tijuana responded to the initial request for a permit by issuing public statements condemning homosexuality. The statements indicated that the local gay community did not "contribute to the development of our community" and that the council had a responsibility to preserve the "harmony" of the city. Respectfully worded letters are needed making the following points: 1. Denial of the permits needed to peacefully assemble based on no other ground but the sexual orientation of the petitioners is a violation of both the guarantees of equal protection before the law (Articles 1, 4, 8, and 13) and freedom of assembly (Articles 5 and 9) contained in the Mexican Constitution. 2. It is not appropriate for government officials to base administrative decisions on moral standards that they then seek to impose on the the population at large. 3. Lesbian and gay social, cultural and political events necessarily contribute to the development of diverse, tolerant communities. On the other hand, government sanctioned discrimination, such as what occurred in Tijuana, can only encourage intolerance and hostility. Write to: Lic. Hector Osuna Jaime President XIV Ayuntamiento de Tijuana Palacio Municipal de Tijuana Zona del Rio Tijuana, B.C. MEXICO Lic. Ernesto Rufo Appel Gobrenador Constitucional del Estado de Baja California Palacio de Gobierno Mexicali, B.C. MEXICO