The following is an action called for by Amnesty International USA's 
Government Action Network and is posted here by Amnesty International 
Members for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (AIMLGC).  

For more information about this action, write: Amnesty International USA's 
Government Action Network, 304 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 
20003.  For information about AIMLGC, send email to: aimlgc, PeaceNet, (or 
aimlgc@igc.org, on other networks).  Postal mail can be sent to: AIMLGC, P.O. 
Box 8293, Santa Cruz, CA 95061-8293.
 
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U.S. Violates Rights of HIV-Positive Refugees

November 12, 1992 -- The United States Government is currently holding 
240 Haitian asylum seekers plus 38 other family members in quarantine at 
the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.  These refugees have tested 
positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).  Each one has also 
been judged twice to have a significant claim for the protection of the United 
States due to fear of persecution by security forces or their allies in Haiti.  

These 240 men and women and their dependents are not being allowed to 
pursue their claims of asylum because current U.S. policy calls for refuges 
with HIV to be excluded from the country.  Although Dr. Louis Sullivan, 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, called in January 1991 for this 
policy to be changed, the Bush administration has not taken any action to do 
so.  

U.S. policy allows for a waiver to be granted in the U.S. embassy of a 
refugee's home country.  The waiver, however, is not practical nor safe for 
refugees who have fled their country, apparently m,any with a well-founded 
fear of persecution.  In addition, most of these Haitians were likely unaware 
of their HIV status until they reached Guantanamo.

Amnesty International believes that this U.S. action violates the basic human 
rights of people to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from 
persecution (Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Please write to William Bar, the Attorney General of the United States, and 
please send a copy of your letter to June Osborn, the chair of President 
Bush's National Commission on AIDS.  Urge Mr. Barr to allow HIV-positive 
Haitians in Guantanamo to enter the United States and pursue their claims 
for political asylum.  It would be especially appropriate for the Bush 
administration to grant this before President Bush's term in office expires in 
January.

WRITE:

The Honorable William Barr
Attorney general of the U.S.
Department of Justice 
10th and Constitution NW
Room 4400
Washington, DC  20530

Fax: 202-514-4371

CC: 

June Osborn
Chair
National Commission on AIDS
1720 K Street NW
Room 815
Washington, DC 20006

Fax: 202-254-3060

Redirect the Power of Government for Human Rights!