wfn.org | Inter-Faith Declaration Opposes Discrimination Against People

["Frank Imhoff" <frank_imhoff@elca.org>]

Inter-Faith Declaration Opposes Discrimination Against People with HIV/AIDS
LWF/DWS Nepal Combating Stigmatization with Information Campaigns

BANGKOK, Thailand/GENEVA, 28 July 2004 (LWI)  - Churches and faith
communities have declared their opposition to discrimination against people
with HIV/AIDS. A joint inter-faith declaration adopted at the end of the 15th
International AIDS Conference, which was held from 11 to 16 July in Bangkok,
Thailand, contained contributions from Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists
and Hindus. It was drafted with support of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
(EAA).

"Trust in God, hope and compassion make a great difference with AIDS," stated
Dr Musimbi Kanyoro, general secretary of the World Young Women's Christian
Association (YWCA). She emphasized that "AIDS urges us to talk about
sexuality." The religious leaders intend to mobilize their own resources to
ensure that all people gain access to more information and receive treatment
in keeping with the conference theme, "Access for All." 

Dr Christoph Benn, director of external relations of the Geneva-based Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, is pleased with the declaration
and stressed the importance of the conference issuing such a message. "There
has never been anything like this at an AIDS conference," said the former
deputy director of the German Institute for Medical Mission (DIFDM) in
T|bingen, Germany. Benn emphasized that the declaration supports and
encourages local organizations.
	
It became clear at the conference that discrimination is still a major
problem more than two decades after the outbreak of the pandemic. Shashi
Rijal, a staff member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for
World Service (DWS) country program in Nepal, reported that there was
widespread stigmatization of those infected with HIV/AIDS. Describing a woman
who had been rejected by her husband because she was infected with HIV, Rijal
said, "We have many such cases." HIV/AIDS is spreading rapidly in Nepal, with
the United Nations estimating that as many as 60,000 Nepalis are living with
HIV/AIDS. Government figures indicate that 4,000 people are HIV-positive.  

Rijal attributes the spread of AIDS to poverty, the high number of migrant
workers and Nepal's civil war. The LWF/DWS country program focuses its
information and prevention campaign on the disadvantaged caste of Dalits and
refugees. Rijal reported that the large number of migrant workers in western
Nepal, who earn their living in India, bring the virus back with them. In
other areas of the country, child trafficking contributes to the spread of
AIDS.

"The danger has not been recognized yet," the LWF staff member claimed,
noting that one of the greatest problems is that people do not talk about
AIDS. Women suffer most from the pandemic, Rijal told the conference, because
"They have no say; they are illiterate and poor."

Bishnu Ghimire, a staff member of an LWF partner organization in Nepal,
presented examples of the widespread discrimination of those affected,
including the case of a woman who had been cast out of her village community.
When she went for an HIV test after the death of her husband, the news that
she was HIV-positive spread like wildfire through the village and she was
told to move away. When she did not move, her house was burnt down.

When the widow, with several children aged between four and 14, still refused
to be driven away, the rest of the inhabitants denied her all support. She
sent her three older children to work as domestics, but they were sent back
home when it became known that their mother was HIV-infected.. The children
then had to fend for themselves as their mother was so weak by now that she
had to be hospitalized.

The information campaigns of the LWF/DWS program confront such forms of
discrimination. With 3,000 AIDS-related deaths reported last year in Nepal,
according to Ghimire, the program intends to set up a network in conjunction
with other aid agencies to increase its effectiveness.	The groups at risk,
according to LWF/DWS Nepal, include migrant workers, about 20,0000
prostitutes, with an estimated 17 percent infected, and 35,000 intravenous
drug users, with an estimated 50 percent who are HIV-positive.

The LWF/DWS country program in Nepal has informed over 70,000 people about
the dangers of HIV/AIDS. The information campaigns, which are launched in
conjunction with projects to open up new livelihoods for those affected,
always strive to involve Hindu leaders in the work. "Religious leaders can do
a lot to influence people's behavior," Rijal explains. The leaders are
respected in the community and their words carry a lot of weight. In her
view, there is an urgent need to appeal to them on a large scale. 
(754 words)

(By Rainer Lang, Stuttgart, Germany)

[The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing 62.3 million of the almost 66 million
Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas
of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless
specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or
opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.]

*    *	   *

LWI online at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html 

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30 
Editor's e-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org