Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - June 29, 2001
David Fraser
Karyn Kaplan's three-minute speech on Tuesday, June 26, came after the full General Assembly reversed a decision by the official Human Rights Round Table on HIV/AIDS to ban her participation after inviting her organization. Kaplan is the HIV program officer of the San Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. She works out of New York.
IGLHRC was the only gay/lesbian non-governmental organization invited to address the Round Table.
"We are satisfied that she managed to speak," Sydney Levy, IGLHRC's communications director, told the Bay Area Reporter. "But it's troublesome that it took two hours of the General Assembly's time to decide if she could speak for three minutes. It shows the level of opposition we're facing, not only because of fears of homosexuality but also because of antagonism toward human rights in general by some governments.
"It's troublesome: the U.N. is meeting to decide what to do about HIV/AIDS and how to administer billions of dollars.
Basic issues
"Karyn spoke for three minutes. Imagine what will happen when we get to really serious issues, like men having sex with men, and HIV prevention." Controversy over Kaplan's role arose after objections to her speaking came from delegations from Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt, Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco, Levy said.
The objections reflect efforts by some nations to exclude from the special session's expected draft declaration any mention of men having sex with men, sex workers and their clients, IV drug users, and other groups at higher risk for HIV.
A subsequent motion sponsored by Argentina, Canada, Norway, and the European Union objected to the ban. After nearly three hours of heated debate, IGLHRC said, the General Assembly voted to okay Kaplan's participation by 62 to 0 with 30 abstentions.
Levy said a number of delegations simply did not vote, in hopes of denying a quorum. The vote was eventually ruled valid.
Norway: Fighting for the soul
At the General Assembly, the Norwegian representative viewed the vote as a "fight about the soul of the U.N.," in order to ensure that the organization remains "open, transparent, and relevant."
He added that cooperation from civil society was particularly important in the battle against HIV/AIDS.
The South African delegate reminded his colleagues that "this is a conference about people who are dying from HIV/AIDS. White, black, gay, straight, this is a disease which knows no boundaries." Despite skyrocketing HIV infection rates, South Africa's president and health minister have been outspoken in questioning whether AIDS is caused by HIV.
Neither South African President Thabo Mbeki nor President George W. Bush attended the conference; the highest ranking U.S. representative at the session was Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Levy said he saw two important issues in the debate over IGLHRC's role at the special session: homophobia and the ability of civil society organizations - NGOs - to have a voice in U.N. affairs. "That is the fundamental issue," Levy said.
In her address, Kaplan told the delegates, "... all States must learn to see HIV/AIDS as a crisis enabled and exacerbated by other endemic and egregious human rights violations. Wherever people are victimized by stigma or singled out for hate, they are made vulnerable to HIV.
"Wherever economic or political inequality rends a society, it opens the doors to HIV."
Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United Nations, spoke Monday - the first day of the session - and pleaded for cooperation from the 2,000 delegates and observers attending the special session. "AIDS can no longer do its dirty work in the dark," he said.
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