We denounce the great omission of our population that has taken place at the Political Declaration of the High Level Meeting.
The Latin American Network of Women Sex Workers’ of Latin America and the Caribbean, RedTraSex, denounces the great omission of our population that has taken place at the Political Declaration of the High Level Meeting.
In the draft declaration that is expected to be approved hours from now, we, women sex workers’, are only mentioned in the paragraph 42, as people that have ten more chances of getting HIV. A similar formulation is employed in the same text to refer to all key population.
Key populations are not just vulnerable people but also citizens with rights and subjects with an identity that goes beyond any disease.
From our foundation we battle to be protagonists and that’s how we’ve accomplished diminishing HIV-AIDS numbers in the region. We are part of the solution as key subjects, with political identity, that fight for the recognition of our work, the improvement of our working conditions, the promotion and protection of our Human Rights.
We ask the governments of our region and the organized civil society gathered in New York to “break the silence”, allowing the reopening of the draft document and negotiations aiming to amend these great omissions, avoiding the damage they’ve caused.
In particular, we urge ambassadors and diplomats holding the negotiations, as the national authorities that head national delegations, as well as the organizations and activists that have been working on the mentioned negotiations.
Don’t be accomplice to this great omission, break the silence!
Elena Eva Reynaga
Executive Secretary
REDTRASEX