Out of our bedrooms!
SADC countries have come under fire for focusing more on who has sex with whom than working to combat HIV and Aids, and upholding rights, amongst others.
A parliamentarian has said SADC member states should desist from trying to dictate what happens in peoples' bedrooms so that they spend more time actually upholding the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) of all of their citizens.
Dr Jessie Kabwila, an MP from Malawi, says it is disheartening that the rights of key populations are not fairly upheld in many countries despite the fact that many member states were party to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) which brokered consensus over the need to uphold the dignity and human rights of all people. The ICPD Plan of Action recognises that halting and reversing HIV and Aids would involve recognising and integrating issues that affect key populations that include people who use drugs, men who have sex with other men, women who have sex with other women, and sex workers.
The Global Fund has been giving out large sums of money to many countries that have programmes that cater for the needs of key populations. It remains largely touch and go how much of these funds have actually been reaching population groups that activists say face serious attitudinal barriers in some countries.
As chairperson of the Regional Women's Parliamentary Caucus of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, Kabwila works closely with the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, HIV and Aids Governance Project of the forum which Sweden and Norway are funding. She has been relentless in calling for SADC countries to take full advantage of the project, which is being implemented in seven SADC states so that their citizens are not left out as the world strives toward ending Aids by the year 2030.
At the recent 42nd Plenary Assembly of the SADC PF in Windhoek, Kabwila took her advocacy for no-one to be left behind a notch higher, saying countries that get money in the name of key populations must be held accountable.
“Some of us tend to forget that our job is to legislate for the different people who are in this world and not for people who are like us (heterosexual). Many of us tend to think we are [in parliament] to reproduce who we are or what we believe. That is not the job of a legislator,” she said.
She gave the example of her own constituency, Salima North West in Malawi, which is home to masked, non-Christian dancers.
“I am also an MP for those masked dancers. They come to me with their issues and I cannot say I will not legislate on their behalf because I don't believe in what they do.”
She took a swipe at countries that had policies barring school girls that fall pregnant from re-joining school, or those in which organisations that try to assist key populations, were being persecuted. The MP said while she fully appreciates the fact that there were different views on issues such as safe abortion and the rights of gay people, her view was that MPs should preoccupy themselves with knowledge production and legislation.
“If we are signatories to ICPD, it means you have freedom to have sex with who you want, for what you want, how you want it and when you want it as long as it is not a minor, an animal or a child,” she said to applause. She commended the SADC forum on sexual rights as well as the HIV and Aids Governance Project for striving to “embrace difference in identity and sexuality,” and said the duty of all MPs was to work toward meeting 90/90/90 target on HIV and Aids. Kabwila spoke as the Plenary Assembly Session of SADC PF noted efforts by the forum to start work toward the development of a SADC model law on the key populations.
Experts say that in many SADC states, HIV and Aids affects the general population but is concentrated in key populations, who are prone to marginalisation given that law and practice often do not recognise their status and they are denied socio-economic opportunities. Additionally, because of poverty or other factors symptomatic of societal marginalisation, key populations cannot have access to HIV prevention and treatment services, including access to life-saving medication. Attitudinal barriers in many SADC countries have driven key populations underground and far from services and commodities related to SRHR, HIV and Aids.
Experts and activists say SADC countries do not have a uniform and harmonised approach for the protection of the sexual and reproductive rights of key populations through the SADC model law on HIV in southern Africa and that on eradicating child marriage, which are deemed as insufficient in addressing particular infringements faced by key populations.Expectations are that a law on key populations would serve as a guiding legal document for all of SADC as they ensure that all their citizens enjoy sexual and reproductive health rights. The SADC PF project is scheduled to end in March. Implementing countries have appealed to Sweden and Norway to extend it, saying it had enabled them to achieve what they would otherwise had not achieved in SRHR, HIV and Aids governance.
Kabwila added her voice.
“I think ending it is tantamount to closing a lid on an issue that needs to be talked about. Our region is seriously hit by HIV and unless we are able to engage everyone without discrimination and prescriptions, we will not win the war on HIV,” she said.
*Moses Magadza is Communications and Advocacy Specialist at SADC PF.
Moses Magadza
Dr Jessie Kabwila, an MP from Malawi, says it is disheartening that the rights of key populations are not fairly upheld in many countries despite the fact that many member states were party to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) which brokered consensus over the need to uphold the dignity and human rights of all people. The ICPD Plan of Action recognises that halting and reversing HIV and Aids would involve recognising and integrating issues that affect key populations that include people who use drugs, men who have sex with other men, women who have sex with other women, and sex workers.
The Global Fund has been giving out large sums of money to many countries that have programmes that cater for the needs of key populations. It remains largely touch and go how much of these funds have actually been reaching population groups that activists say face serious attitudinal barriers in some countries.
As chairperson of the Regional Women's Parliamentary Caucus of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, Kabwila works closely with the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, HIV and Aids Governance Project of the forum which Sweden and Norway are funding. She has been relentless in calling for SADC countries to take full advantage of the project, which is being implemented in seven SADC states so that their citizens are not left out as the world strives toward ending Aids by the year 2030.
At the recent 42nd Plenary Assembly of the SADC PF in Windhoek, Kabwila took her advocacy for no-one to be left behind a notch higher, saying countries that get money in the name of key populations must be held accountable.
“Some of us tend to forget that our job is to legislate for the different people who are in this world and not for people who are like us (heterosexual). Many of us tend to think we are [in parliament] to reproduce who we are or what we believe. That is not the job of a legislator,” she said.
She gave the example of her own constituency, Salima North West in Malawi, which is home to masked, non-Christian dancers.
“I am also an MP for those masked dancers. They come to me with their issues and I cannot say I will not legislate on their behalf because I don't believe in what they do.”
She took a swipe at countries that had policies barring school girls that fall pregnant from re-joining school, or those in which organisations that try to assist key populations, were being persecuted. The MP said while she fully appreciates the fact that there were different views on issues such as safe abortion and the rights of gay people, her view was that MPs should preoccupy themselves with knowledge production and legislation.
“If we are signatories to ICPD, it means you have freedom to have sex with who you want, for what you want, how you want it and when you want it as long as it is not a minor, an animal or a child,” she said to applause. She commended the SADC forum on sexual rights as well as the HIV and Aids Governance Project for striving to “embrace difference in identity and sexuality,” and said the duty of all MPs was to work toward meeting 90/90/90 target on HIV and Aids. Kabwila spoke as the Plenary Assembly Session of SADC PF noted efforts by the forum to start work toward the development of a SADC model law on the key populations.
Experts say that in many SADC states, HIV and Aids affects the general population but is concentrated in key populations, who are prone to marginalisation given that law and practice often do not recognise their status and they are denied socio-economic opportunities. Additionally, because of poverty or other factors symptomatic of societal marginalisation, key populations cannot have access to HIV prevention and treatment services, including access to life-saving medication. Attitudinal barriers in many SADC countries have driven key populations underground and far from services and commodities related to SRHR, HIV and Aids.
Experts and activists say SADC countries do not have a uniform and harmonised approach for the protection of the sexual and reproductive rights of key populations through the SADC model law on HIV in southern Africa and that on eradicating child marriage, which are deemed as insufficient in addressing particular infringements faced by key populations.Expectations are that a law on key populations would serve as a guiding legal document for all of SADC as they ensure that all their citizens enjoy sexual and reproductive health rights. The SADC PF project is scheduled to end in March. Implementing countries have appealed to Sweden and Norway to extend it, saying it had enabled them to achieve what they would otherwise had not achieved in SRHR, HIV and Aids governance.
Kabwila added her voice.
“I think ending it is tantamount to closing a lid on an issue that needs to be talked about. Our region is seriously hit by HIV and unless we are able to engage everyone without discrimination and prescriptions, we will not win the war on HIV,” she said.
*Moses Magadza is Communications and Advocacy Specialist at SADC PF.
Moses Magadza
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