Brazil this week became the first country to take a stand against the Bush administration’s massive Aids programme, which is seen by many as seeking increasingly to press its anti-abortion, pro–abstinence sexual agenda on poorer countries.
Campaigners applauded Brazil’s rejection of $40-million for its Aids programmes because it refuses to agree to a declaration condemning prostitution.
The government and many Aids groups believe such a declaration would be a serious barrier to helping sex workers protect themselves and their clients from infection.
The demand from the United States administration, heavily influenced by the religious right, follows what is known as the ”global gag” — a ban on US government funds to any foreign-based organisation that has links to abortion. This has resulted in the removal of millions of dollars of funding from family planning clinics worldwide.
Dr Pedro Chequer, director of Brazil’s HIV/Aids programme, said the government had managed to resist US pressure during negotiations on the Aids funding to focus on promoting abstinence and fidelity rather than con-doms — another ideological battle being waged by the religious right. But the US negotiators insisted that the clause on prostitution must stay.
”I would like to confirm that Brazil has taken this decision in order to preserve its autonomy on issues related to national policies on HIV/Aids as well as ethical and human rights principles,” said Chequer.
Campaigners congratulated the Brazilian government for its stance, and voiced concerns that the declaration on prostitution could damage efforts to tackle Aids among sex workers in many countries.
Jodi Jacobson of the Centre for Health and Gender Equity in the US said that, unlike the global gag, the declaration on prostitution looked likely to be imposed on US-based organisations as well as their subsidiaries abroad.
The office of Randall Tobias, the global Aids coordinator responsible for spending the $15-billion President George W Bush promised for the fight against Aids, was working on the language to be adopted, she said.
”Any organisation receiving US global Aids funding will have to agree to the policy,” she said.
”It is a hugely problematic policy from the standpoint of public health alone. It goes against the entire grain of public health principles in not judging the people you are trying to reach.”
Sam Brownback, a leading Senate conservative, told the Wall Street Journal: ”Obviously Brazil has the right to act however it chooses in this regard. We’re talking about promotion of prostitution, which the majority of both the House and the Senate believe is harmful to women.”
Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition, said: ”The importance of the Brazilian government decision cannot be overstated.” — Â