As Donors Meet to Discuss Haiti, AIDS Activists Protest UN Inaction
Posted by , March 31, 2010 at 6:50pm
Haitians and allies protest UN inaction on Haitian AIDS crisis
“Where is the plan for Haitians living with AIDS?”
Some 50 protesters spent an hour shouting this chant and others at a protest outside the United Nations this morning. As key donors met at the United Nations for a conference on funding the Haiti earthquake recovery, activists gathered at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza nearby to urge the Haitian government, U.N. and U.S. to craft a plan for Haitians living with HIV/AIDS.
“The United Nations made a promise to Haiti and hasn’t come through with it,” said Sandy Guillaume, a Haitian-American who attended the rally. “We’re not asking the United Nations to fix all our problems. We’re just asking for help.” Gullaume said that the situation in Haiti was even more dire for people living with HIV/AIDS. “The situation was bad for them to begin with. Now there’s not sanitary conditions, there’s nothing to eat. If you’re not in Port-au-Prince you’re not getting help.”
The protesters said that uncoordinated relief efforts are leaving Haitians vulnerable to AIDS and endangering Haitians living with the disease. Activists are demanding that the U.N. and the U.S. adopt and execute a targeted relief effort before it’s too late.
“The United Nations and USAID have been promising a real plan to provide desperately needed medical care to people with HIV since the relief efforts began. We can no longer tolerate their inaction. We must tell the world what is going on,” said Esther Boucicault, president of PHAP+, a Haitian group that supported the protest. Other groups participating included African Services Committee; Bailey House; CitiWide Harm Reduction; Housing Works; and Metropolitan Community Church.
Boucicault is one of five Haitians who arrived in New York this week to fight for people living with HIV/AIDS in Haiti. On Thursday at the Keith D. Cylar Activist Awards and Panel: Addressing AIDS in Haiti After the Earthquake., the public panel and discussion will featured the five PHAP+ activists. The panel is cosponsored by Housing Works and The New School’s Office of Intercultural Support and Student Health Services.
The Haiti delegation includes Boucicault, Liony Accelus, President, Haitian Network of People Living with HIV (REHPIVIH); Edner Boucicaut, Chief Communication Officer, Center for Communication on AIDS (CECOSIDA); Steve Laguerre, ED, SéroVIE; and Erick Louis, General Coordinator, Greater Involvement of People Living with AIDS (GIPA).
On Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will be hosting a briefing on HIV/AID in Haiti after the earthquake. Featured speakers will include HIV+ survivors of the earthquake and allies.
For more information about Housing Works’ efforts in Haiti go to housingworks.org/haiti.
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