During the more than a decade that Carolyne Njoroge worked as a sex worker, she never saw such violence against her peers. Now working full time for the Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA), she said that the COVID-19 lockdown threw everyone into disarray.

“At the outbreak, no one was prepared for the coronavirus,” she said. “It’s not like the rains that we know and can prepare for.”

The government’s lockdown measures to limit the spread of the virus—a dusk-to-dawn curfew and shutting of bars and nightclubs—have left sex workers in Kenya to either work during the day and be very visible or to break the curfew at night.

So far, KESWA has reported that more than 50 sex workers have been forcefully quarantined during the early days of the pandemic, and women have been arrested for not adhering to the social distancing rules and obligatory mask-wearing.

“How do you expect women to adhere to these measures when they cannot feed themselves and their families and many of them don’t even have homes?” Ms Njoroge asked.

Kenya does not criminalize sex work. However, the law forbids “living on the earnings of sex work” and “soliciting or importuning for immoral purposes,” which Ms Njoroge said means that the women work in a grey area. “It’s a very hostile work environment and sex workers are the first to be violated because they say our work is not work,” she said.

Phelister Abdalla, a sex worker living with HIV and KESWA’s National Coordinator, said, “Sex workers need to be protected, but if we are told to stay at home we need to be given food.” 

The government has not released funds or directed aid to sex workers, so KESWA started a fundraiser to dispatch hygiene packs, which include hand sanitizer, masks and menstrual pads, as well as food baskets.

Ms Njoroje said that 100 sex workers from the informal settlements had benefitted. “Our challenge is keeping up with demand, so we are reaching out to others for help,” she said.  

Ms Abdalla said that fighting the pandemic together is key. “If we want to end COVID-19, we should not be judged by the type of job we do,” she said. “We are first and foremost Kenyans, so treat all of us equally.”

Fifty-seven Kenyan civil society and nongovernmental organizations, including KESWA, drafted an advisory note to the Kenyan Government to urge it to put in place safety nets to cushion the communities and people who cannot afford to not work. They also urged them to stop security forces from enforcing measures around social distancing and curfews. The note adds, “We cannot use a “one size fits all” approach for COVID-19” and calls upon the United Nations leadership to help safeguard the progress.

The Kenyan Government, through the National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NASCOP), in partnership with county governments, implementing partners and donors continues to work to ensure the continuity of KP service delivery during the confinement measures. NASCOP issued technical guidance to all services including information, education and communication materials e.g. posters, setting up virtual coordination platforms, capacity building of service providers on HIV in the context of COVID-19 and they have instituted advocacy efforts to raise resources to ensure that service providers, including outreach teams, and Key Population led groups have personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitizers. Mobile dispensing services for people who use drugs and tailored outreaches have been established to enhance service delivery along with the formation of virtual psychosocial support groups distribution of food baskets to the very vulnerable and help/hotlines for violence response have been sustained.

UNAIDS collaborates with governments to ensure that international human rights law are respected, protected and fulfilled, without discrimination, in line with state obligations, including in times of emergency.

Delores Robinson’s days are usually busy. She heads GROOTS Trinidad and Tobago, a civil society organization that provides psychosocial care for people living with HIV. It also manages a transition house that provides shelter and services for displaced members of key populations.

But since the first COVID-19 case in the country was confirmed, on 12 March, Ms Robinson’s workdays have become a whirlwind. The government’s containment measures—a stay-at-home order and a shutdown of all non-essential business—have thrust the most vulnerable people further into the margins.

GROOTS Trinidad and Tobago is an example of how civil society organizations can move quickly to identify and respond to the needs of the voiceless. Ms Robinson, a Jamaican, has lived in Trinidad and Tobago for the past 34 years. During conversation she alternates between wide, open smiles and a furrowed brow. These days there’s lots to worry about.

Every day she prepares meals for 30 families. She then personally delivers them. There is no structured funding for this effort—just money and other contributions from HIV response stakeholders.

There’s a unique story at each drop-off point. Today she manoeuvres through the narrow roads of Sea Lots, a low-income community in the shadow of the capital city, Port of Spain. The men on the block recognize her car. One offers to deliver her parcel. She laughs. Ms Robinson has come to visit the seven children of a single mother living with HIV who is currently hospitalized.

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has provided a range of COVID-19 relief options. These include salary relief, rental assistance grants and nutrition support. Sometimes, Ms Robinson’s role is to help clients navigate government systems. For example, one illiterate mother living with HIV lost her food card and needs help getting it replaced.

“The forms are complicated for many people, plus they don’t have an Internet service,” Ms Robinson explained. “Now that we are all being encouraged to conduct business online, many have no access.”

Since the stay-at-home orders went into effect, she’s been asked by the police to accommodate women and children at the transitional home. The combination of income loss and constant contact has exacerbated abusive situations, leading to a spike in reports of domestic violence.

Ms Robinson reports that her clients living with HIV have so far had no problem accessing their treatment. Before COVID-19, it was standard practice for Trinidad and Tobago clinics to dispense two- to three-month supplies of HIV medicines at a time. HIV treatment facilities and sexually transmitted infection clinics remain open, although they have altered hours.

“They have their meds,” she said. “What they need most now is nutritional support to be able to stay healthy and take their treatment.” And they need masks.

UNAIDS Caribbean is advocating for governments in the region to ensure that community organizations like GROOTS are included in decision-making and planning around meeting the needs of vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 crisis. They are an essential service, ensuring that people’s most basic needs are met. These organizations should be included in contingency plans for connecting people living with HIV to services. And they should be resourced.

“We think we’re all in this together, but there are many people who don’t have the things we take for granted—a safe home, healthy food and the ability to speak out. It’s tiring work but it’s needed now more than ever,” Ms Robinson said.

Two new videos released ahead of the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, celebrated on 17 May, highlight different aspects of what it means to be part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in Brazil.

‘What is the impact of diversity at the workplace? created by the Free & Equal Campaign, in partnership with the UNAIDS, seeks to inspire people by sharing examples of companies committed to tackling discrimination against transgender people in the workplace, in the formal labour market and in the community.

The second video features Brazilian LGBTI people and members of the electronic music scene raising awareness on COVID-19 and its impact on the LGBTI community. In just four days, the video reached more than 100 000 people with a message on the importance of staying at home.

Relief work is not the Humsafar Trust’s specialty, but COVID-19 has changed that.

A few days after the lockdown measures in India went into effect, the Humsafar Trust’s teams received desperate calls from people with no place to live and no income, explained Vivek Anand, Chief Executive Officer of the Humsafar Trust, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people community-based nongovernmental organization based in Mumbai, India. An urgent team meeting was called to determine what to do. “After much back and forth evaluating needs, we agreed, “Let’s start with giving people food support,”” he said.

They pooled money together among themselves and bought food and other essentials.

They then reached out to their communities, telling them that the Humsafar Trust had started an emergency COVID-19 fund. In three days, more than 700 people had asked for support. “With donations from communities, allies, businesses and some donor agencies, we have helped more than 2000 individuals with food, access to medical care, like HIV medicine, financial aid and applying for government support,” Mr Anand said, beaming as his air conditioner sent waves of cold air blowing through his small home office.

He feels that during the pandemic response the LGBTI community is being overlooked. “Seventy per cent of our community comes from lower socioeconomic backgrounds with no savings,” he said.

The bulk of the Humsafar Trust’s aid is focused on transgender people, who, he said, have been the hardest hit. “Not only do they usually survive on a meagre income, a lot of them have no legal papers, making them invisible to government aid,” Mr Anand said.

The lockdown has translated into financial distress and has also resulted in mental stress. Mr Anand recounted that one member of his transgender team at the Humsafar Trust cannot introduce herself during their online outreach sessions because she is living with her parents, who consider her a boy. Others are being pressured to marry, while many have been mistreated and beaten.

Standing outdoors by a vegetable vendor to maximize cellphone connectivity, Shreya Reddy said she always wanted to be a woman. Despite being born a boy and constant ridicule and shaming, she never gave up. At the age of 13 years, she ran away and joined a hijra community, comprised mostly of transgender people. Four years later, she started transitioning gender with money she made as a sex worker. After a while, Ms Reddy said, she realized that to succeed, she needed to study. Her social work degree and background led her to the Humsafar Trust, for which she has become a peer educator and outreach worker. COVID-19 has set her back a bit for a number of reasons.

“It has been terrible, because I cannot get my hormones and I have lost weight and was bleeding,” she said. She added that because of the lockdown, no one can get regular check-ups with gynecologists. “And my community cannot understand all the rules and the science language. Basically, a lot of people like me are struggling a lot, from not being able to pay rent to buying bare necessities,” Ms Reddy said.

Speaking more and more quickly, she added, “People are not that educated, they are scared and there are lots of mistruths.”

Ms Reddy has since become better and said that she is dedicated to her outreach work. One of her transgender peers told her, “Better that I die,” once the woman’s income had melted away. "I empower myself by talking to people,” she said. “We are all so vulnerable and as a small-income population we need support.”

OutRight Action International's recent report, Vulnerability amplified: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LGBTIQ people, said that the challenges faced by LGBTI people across the world as a result of the virus and containment measures were amplified compared to the broader population. Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight, said, “For us the situation is dire. I fear how many LGBTI people will lose their lives because of the amplified vulnerability we face.”

Pointing to market vendors behind her, Ms Reddy said, “I have helped them too figuring out the masks and sanitizers. I help everyone, but I am scared about the future.”

Mr Anand echoed her sentiment. He has had to extend the emergency fund until August.

“Every day, there is a new challenge,” he sighed. His teams, usually out and about, can’t all work online. In addition, he mentioned that more and more people are going underground, making outreach difficult.

Recalling his youth, he explained that he was a late bloomer. “I didn’t know anyone who was gay,” he said. When his secret relationship of nine years ended, he had no one to talk to. He felt lonely and abandoned. “From then on, the Humsafar Trust became my home and my family.” He added that he would not judge anyone in these tense times, reiterating that his first duty was to help others.

What he really wants is that the transgender community be part of the narrative. “Give them a voice, let them be seen and include them in the picture,” he said.

“Le baobab est tombé.” “The baobab has fallen,” was Francine Nganhale’s post against a black backdrop on her Facebook page on 30 April 2020.

Her husband, Charles Domingo Noubissi, had died.

Many couldn’t believe it, because Mr Noubissi had such a fighting spirit. He had health problems, but rarely missed a meeting to advocate for the response to HIV.

As President of the Board of Directors of the Cameroonian Network of Associations of People Living with HIV, he became a pillar of the AIDS response in his country and across the region.   

We will miss him dearly and thank him for his years of leadership and commitment and for being a champion of the community-led response.

UNAIDS had the pleasure of interviewing Charles Noubissi and his wife in 2019, showcasing proud people living with HIV. Here is that story:

The right to disclose your own status

She is sitting opposite, dressed in a lab coat, and you know that with her you are in safe hands. Her kind eyes convey empathy. Malikakhon Kurbanova, known to all who know her as Malika, has been a nurse at the Kyzyl-Kiya family medical centre in Kyrgyzstan for almost 20 years.

Part of one of 10 pilot multidisciplinary teams specializing in infectious diseases in the country, she has been working with people living with HIV for many years. The multidisciplinary teams were formed by UNAIDS in 2013 and include a specialist in infectious diseases or a family doctor, a nurse and a peer consultant. The teams aim to improve the quality of medical and social services for people living with HIV and their families. During the COVID-19 outbreak they are receiving extra financial help from a Russian technical assistance programme.

Like many health-care workers, Malika has been caught up in the fight against COVID-19. UNAIDS met her recently in her office in the clinic, adjacent to a blossoming apple orchard, and spoke to her about her background and work.

 

Why did you decide to become a nurse?

When I was a child, I was quite often sick. My mother and I spent a lot of time in hospitals. I always admired the women who wore lab coats and who knew how to inject me painlessly. I knew then that I would become a nurse and help people. When I graduated from school in 1986, I entered the Kyzyl-Kiya medical college and after that, in 1989, I went to work in the health unit in a construction materials plant. That is how my story began. In the beginning of the 2000s the reform of primary health care started and family medical centres were created. I came to work as a nurse and soon joined the infectious diseases unit, where I still work.

 

You have been working in the COVID-19 response since the very start of the epidemic in the country. Were you frightened?

We do house-to-house visits, helping people with acute respiratory infections. We are human, so of course it was scary—I was afraid about infecting my family.

It is frightening when you are fighting an unknown virus. In the beginning, I did not know what I should tell patients. At the beginning of the pandemic, many people did not believe the truth about COVID-19; some of them accused us of trying to infect them. But over time, people realized that the virus was real, which greatly helped our work.

 

You work as a nurse in a multidisciplinary team for people living with HIV. How has your work changed since the COVID-19 outbreak started?

To avoid people running out of their medicine and to reduce their possible exposure to people with COVID-19, we are now distributing three-month supplies of antiretroviral therapy, when before we gave out one-month supplies.

We also focus on psychosocial support for people living with HIV. People need mutual support. Our peer consultant calls patients every day and holds online self-help groups via WhatsApp. Thanks to the financial support given to the project, the transport costs of visiting clients and monitoring their adherence to antiretroviral therapy is covered. The most vulnerable people living with HIV have been receiving food packages since April.

 

What is the hardest part of your work?

We’ve always had difficulties and they are likely to continue, that is the nature of our work! Sometimes I feel like leaving it at behind, but then I realize that this is my life—I am a nurse. It gives me strength when I see that my actions for my patients bring results and people get better.

The network of the Russian Federation’s more than 100 AIDS prevention and control centres, established in 1989 to respond to HIV, has been mobilized to support the country’s fight against COVID-19.

Each of the centres, which specialize in HIV surveillance, prevention, testing and treatment, has high-technology laboratory equipment, highly qualified health staff, including infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists, and expertise in epidemiological surveillance and contact tracing. Those centres are now using their technology and expertise on HIV testing and diagnosis to scale-up testing for COVID-19.

Public health experts at the AIDS centres are also supporting epidemiological surveillance and contact tracing, using the approaches developed for HIV. Many of their doctors and nurses have been seconded to medical teams dedicated to providing care for people with COVID-19.

“Many AIDS centres across the country have repurposed their laboratories to also diagnose coronavirus, but provision of quality medical care for people living with HIV continues,” said Natalia Ladnaia, Senior Researcher at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, Russian Federal AIDS Centre.

In order to ensure the continuity of HIV services, many AIDS centres are working closely with community organizations to provide online counselling, deliver antiretroviral therapy to people living with HIV to their homes and address mental health challenges, which have grown since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Community activists from Novosibirsk representing the Ostrov and Humanitarian Project nongovernmental organizations, in collaboration with the regional AIDS centre, are delivering antiretroviral medicines to people living with HIV who are not able to collect their medicine from the AIDS centre.

Even some HIV testing services are moving online. Owing to quarantine restrictions, mobile laboratories cannot travel, so the Humanitarian Project organized remote testing for key populations in Siberia. “We are working with representatives of key populations and the regional Ministry of Health,” said Denis Kamaldinov, the head the Humanitarian Project. The initiative is providing online support and counselling for people who are at risk of HIV. Since March 2020, online and telephone-based counselling related to HIV and the health of people who use drugs and other key populations has intensified. “Our counsellors are communicating with clients by phone, social media and instant messaging,” he added. In order to receive an HIV self-test kit, a client only needs to complete an online application on the organization’s website.

The Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Tatiana Golikova, has called for nongovernmental organizations working with key populations and people living with HIV to be supported during the COVID-19 pandemic. The regions that have introduced COVID-19 lockdowns have been advised to allow nongovernmental organizations working on social services, including the AIDS response, to continue their work, with their employees having freedom of movement and being supplied with personal protective equipment.

"The unique value of the AIDS centres is demonstrated by their quick and professional response to COVID-19. We are seeing this leadership coming from AIDS centres across the region. With the strategic involvement of AIDS centres and their partners, the COVID-19 response in our region will be more effective and the risk of progress in the AIDS response being rolled back will be mitigated,” said Alexander Goliusov, Director, a.i., of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Humanity today, in all its fragility, is searching for an effective and safe vaccine against COVID-19. It is our best hope of putting a stop to this painful global pandemic.

We are calling on Health Ministers at the World Health Assembly to rally behind a people’s vaccine against this disease urgently. Governments and international partners must unite around a global guarantee which ensures that, when a safe and effective vaccine is developed, it is produced rapidly at scale and made available for all people, in all countries, free of charge. The same applies for all treatments, diagnostics, and other technologies for COVID-19. 

We recognize that many countries and international organizations are making progress towards this goal, cooperating multilaterally on research and development, funding and access, including the welcome $8 billion pledged on 4^th May. Thanks to tireless public and private sector efforts and billions of dollars of publicly-financed research, many vaccine candidates are proceeding with unprecedented speed and several have begun clinical trials.

Our world will only be safer once everyone can benefit from the science and access a vaccine - and that is a political challenge. The World Health Assembly must forge a global agreement that ensures rapid universal access to quality-assured vaccines and treatments with need prioritized above the ability to pay.

It is time for Health Ministers to renew the commitments made at the founding of the World Health Organization, where all states agreed to deliver the “the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being”.

Now is not the time to allow the interests of the wealthiest corporations and governments to be placed before the universal need to save lives, or to leave this massive and moral task to market forces. Access to vaccines and treatments as global public goods are in the interests of all humanity. We cannot afford for monopolies, crude competition and near-sighted nationalism to stand in the way.

We must heed the warning that “Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” We must learn the painful lessons from a history of unequal access in dealing with disease such as HIV and Ebola. But we must also remember the ground-breaking victories of health movements, including AIDS activists and advocates who fought for access to affordable medicines for all.

Applying both sets of lessons, we call for a global agreement on COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and treatments – implemented under the leadership of the World Health Organization – that:

1. Ensures mandatory worldwide sharing of all COVID-19 related knowledge, data and technologies with a pool of COVID-19 licenses freely available to all countries. Countries should be empowered and enabled to make full use of agreed safeguards and flexibilities in the WTO Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health to protect access to medicines for all.
2. Establishes a global and equitable rapid manufacturing and distribution plan – that is fully-funded by rich nations – for the vaccine and all COVID-19 products and technologies that guarantees transparent ‘at true cost-prices’ and supplies according to need. Action must start urgently to massively build capacity worldwide to manufacture billions of vaccine doses and to recruit and train the millions of paid and protected health workers needed to deliver them.
3. Guarantees COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, tests and treatments are provided free of charge to everyone, everywhere. Access needs to be prioritized first for front-line workers, the most vulnerable people, and for poor countries with the least capacity to save lives.

In doing so, no one can be left behind. Transparent democratic governance must be set in place by the WHO, inclusive of independent expertise and civil society partners, which is essential to lock-in accountability for this agreement.

In doing so, we also recognize the urgent need to reform and strengthen public health systems worldwide, removing all barriers so that rich and poor alike can access the health care, technologies and medicines they need, free at the point of need.

Only a people’s vaccine – with equality and solidarity at its core – can protect all of humanity and get our societies safely running again. A bold international agreement cannot wait.

Signed,

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – President of the Republic of Ghana

Imran Khan - Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Cyril Ramaphosa - President of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson of the African Union

Macky Sall - President of the Republic of Senegal

Karen Koning Abuzayd - Commissioner of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Syria, Under Secretary-General as UNRWA Commissioner-General (2005-2010)

Maria Elena Agüero - Secretary General, World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid

Esko Aho - Prime Minister of Finland (1991-1995)¹

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar - Former UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Rashid Alimov - Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (2016-2019), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan (1992-1994)²

Amat Alsoswa - Former Yemen’s Minister for Human Rights, Former United Nations Assistant Secretary General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director/ Arab States Bureau

Philip Alston - John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, New York University School of Law and Former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Baroness Valerie Amos - United Nations Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (2010-2015)

Rosalia Arteaga Serrano - President of Ecuador (1997)²

Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Salvador (1999-2004)

Shaukat Aziz - Prime Minister of Pakistan (2004-2007), former VP of the Citibank²

Jan Peter Balkenende - Prime Minister of The Netherlands (2002-2010)¹

Joyce Banda - President of the Republic of Malawi (2012-2014) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation¹

Nelson Barbosa - Professor, FGV and the University of Brasilia, and former Finance Minister of Brazil

José Manuel Barroso - Prime Minister of Portugal (2002-2004), President of the European Commission (2004-2014)¹

Carol Bellamy - Former Executive Director, UNICEF (1995-2005)

Valdis Birkavs - Prime Minister of Latvia (1993-1994)¹

Irina Bokova - Director-General of UNESCO (2009-2017)

Gordon Brown - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2007-2010)

Sharan Burrow - General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)*

Winnie Byanyima - Executive Director of UNAIDS and UN Under-Secretary General

Kathy Calvin - Former Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation

Kim Campbell - Prime Minister of Canada (1993)¹

Fernando Henrique Cardoso - President of Brazil (1995-2003)¹

Gina Casar - Senior Advisor to the Executive Director, World Food Programme

Hikmet Cetin - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey (1991-1994), former Speaker of the Parliament²

Ha-Joon Chang - Director, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge

Judy Cheng-Hopkins - Former Assistant Secretary-General, Peacebuilding Support, United Nations

Laura Chinchilla - President of Costa Rica (2010-2014)¹

Joaquim Chissano - President of the Republic of Mozambique (1986-2005) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation¹

Helen Clark - Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2008), UNDP Administrator (2009-2017)¹²

Emil Constantinescu - President of Romania (1996-2000)²

Radhika Coomaraswamy - former UN Under Secretary General and The Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict

Ertharin Cousin - Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (2012-2017)

Paula A. Cox - Premier of Bermuda (2010-2012)

Herman De Croo - Minister of State of Belgium; Honorary Speaker of the House²

Olivier De Schutter - Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Danny Dorling - Professor of Human Geography at Oxford University

Ruth Dreifuss - President of Switzerland (1999) and Federal Councillor (1993-2002)

Diane Elson - Emeritus Professor University of Essex, Member of UN Committee for Development Policy

Maria Fernanda Espinosa - President of the United Nations General Assembly (2018-2019), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador (2007-2009, 2017-2018) and Member of the Political Advisory Panel of UHC2030

Moussa Faki - Chairperson of the African Union Commission

Christiana Figueres - Executive Secretary of UNFCCC (2010-2016)

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir - President of Iceland (1980-1996)¹

Louise Fréchette - UN Deputy Secretary-General (1998-2006)

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr - Director of the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs and Professor of International Affairs at The New School

Patrick Gaspard - Former United States Ambassador to South Africa, President of the Open Society Foundations

Jayati Ghosh - Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University

Felipe González - President of the Government of Spain (1982-1996)¹

Rebeca Grynspan - Vice President of Costa Rica (1994-1998), Ibero-American Secretary General

Alfred Gusenbauer - Chancellor of Austria (2007-2008)¹

Tarja Halonen - President of Finland 2000-2012, BoT Member NGIC*

Han Seung-Soo - Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (2008-2009)¹

Noeleen Heyzer - Member of the UN Secretary-General's High Level Advisory Board on Medication²

Mladen Ivanic - President of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014-2018)²

Devaki Jain - Feminist economist, Honorary Fellow at St Anne’s College, Oxford and member of the erstwhile South Commission (1987-90)

Arjun Jayadev - Professor of Economics at Azim Premji University

Rob Johnson - President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - President of the Republic of Liberia (2006-2018)¹

Mehdi Jomaa - Prime Minister of Tunisia (2014-2015)¹

Anthony T. Jones - Vice-President and Executive Director of Gorbachev Foundation of North America (GFNA)¹

Ivo Josipovic - President of Croatia (2010-2015)²

Naila Kabeer - Professor of Gender and International Development at the London School of Economics

Michel Kazatchkine - Special Advisor to the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Senior Fellow, Global Health Center, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

Kerry Kennedy - President Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, BoT Member NGIC*

Rima Khalaf - President of the Global Organization against Racial Discrimination and Segregation, and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (2010-2017)

Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete - President of Tanzania (2005-2015)*

Horst Köhler - President of Germany (2004-2010)¹

Jadranka Kosor - Prime Minister of Croatia (2009-2011)²

Bernard Kouchner - Minister of Health of France (1992-1993, 1997-1999, 2001-2002), Minister of Foreign affairs of France (2007-2010); founder of Médecins sans frontiers / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Médecins du Monde / Doctors of the World (MdM)

Chandrika Kumaratunga - President of Sri Lanka (1994-2005)¹

Aleksander Kwaśniewski - President of Poland (1995-2005)¹²

Rachel Kyte CMG - Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera - President of Uruguay (1990-1995)¹

Ricardo Lagos - President of Chile (2000-2006)¹

Zlatko Lagumdzija - Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001-2002)¹²

Laura Liswood - Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders

Nora Lustig - President Emerita of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association, Professor of Latin American Economics, Tulane University

Jessie Rose Mabutas - Executive Board Member, African Capacity Building Foundation, Expert Member, Accreditation Panel of the UN Adaptation Fund, and Executive Board Member, Section on African Public Administration of the American Society for Public Administration

Graça Machel - Founder, The Graça Machel Trust and Foundation for Community Development

Susana Malcorra - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina (2015-2017)

Isabel Saint Malo - Vice President of Panama (2014-2019)

Purnima Mane - Global expert on gender, HIV and sexual and reproductive health issues, President of Pathfinder International (2012-2016)

Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi - Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia*

Mariana Mazzucato - Professor at University College London and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)

Mary McAleese - President of Ireland (1997-2011)

Rexhep Meidani - President of Albania (1997-2002)¹²

Carlos Mesa - President of Bolivia (2003-2005)¹

Branko Milanovic - Visiting Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center City University of New York

Aïchatou Mindaoudou - United Nations' Special Representative for Côte d'Ivoire and Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (2013-2017)

Festus Mogae - President of the Republic of Botswana (1998-2008) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation¹

Mario Monti - Prime Minister of Italy (2011-2013)¹

Mireya Moscoso - President of Panama (1999-2004)*

Kgalema Motlanthe - President of the Republic of South Africa (2008-2009) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation

Rovshan Muradov - Secretary General, Nizami Ganjavi International Center

Cristina Narbona - First Vice President of the Spaniard Senate and former Minister of the Environment of Spain

Bujar Nishani - President of Albania (2012-2017)²

Dr. John Nkengasong - Director of African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Olusegun Obasanjo - President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999-2007) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation¹

Djoomart Otorbayev - Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (2014-2015)²

Roza Otunbayeva - President of Kyrgyzstan (2010-2011)¹

Ana Palacio - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain (2002-2004)

Dr. David Pan - Executive Dean, Steve Scwarcman College, Tsinghua University China²

Flavia Pansieri - Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights (2013-2015)

Elsa Papademetriou - former Vice President of the Hellenic Republic (2007-2009)²

Andres Pastrana - President of Colombia (1998-2002)¹

Muhammad Ali Pate - Global Director, Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice of the World Bank and Director of Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents 

Kate Pickett - Professor of Epidemiology at the University of York

Thomas Piketty - Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics and a co-director of the World Inequality Database

Rosen Plevneliev - President of Bulgaria (2012-2017)²

Hifikepunye Pohamba - President of the Republic of Namibia (2005-2015) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation

Karin Sham Pòo - Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF (1987-2004)

Achal Prabhala - Coordinator of the AccessIBSA project

Dainius Puras - Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

Iveta Radicova - Prime Minister of Slovakia (2010-2012)¹

José Manuel Ramos-Horta - President of Timor Leste (2007-2012)¹

J.V.R. Prasada Rao - Special Envoy to the Secretary General of the UN on AIDS (2012-2017) and Health Secretary of the Government of India (2002-2004)

Geeta Rao Gupta - Executive Director of the 3D Program for Girls and Women and Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation

Oscar Ribas - Prime Minister of Andorra (1982-84; 1990-94)¹²

Mary Robinson - President of Ireland (1990-1997), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chair of the Elders

Dani Rodrik - President-Elect of the International Economic Association, Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard University

Petre Roman - Prime Minister of Romania (1989-1991)¹

Juan Manuel Santos - President of Colombia (2010-2018), 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Member of the Elders and Conservation International Arnhold Distinguished Fellow

Kailash Satyarthi - Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2014) and Child Rights Activist

Ismail Serageldin - Co-Chair Nizami Ganjavi International Center, Senior VP of the World Bank (1992-2000)²

Fatiha Serour - Africa Group for Justice & Accountability

Michel Sidibé - Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Mali

Mari Simonen - Former Assistant Secretary General of the UN and Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA

Pierre Somse - Minister of Health and Population of Central Africa Republic

Vera Songwe - Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Michael Spence - Nobel Laureate for Economic Sciences (2001), William R. Berkley Professor in Economics & Business, NYU

Joseph E. Stiglitz - a Nobel laureate in economics and University Professor at Columbia University

Eka Tkeshelashvili - Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia (2010-2012)²

Aminata Touré - Prime Minister of Senegal (2013-2014)¹

Danilo Türk - President of Slovenia (2007-2012)¹

Cassam Uteem - President of Mauritius (1992-2002)¹

Marianna V. Vardinoyannis - Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO²

Ann Veneman - Executive Director of UNICEF (2005-2010)

Chema Vera - Executive Director (Interim) of Oxfam International

Melanne Verveer - United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues (2009-2013), Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University

Vaira Vike-Freiberga - President of Latvia (1999-2007), Co-Chair Nizami Ganjavi International Center

Filip Vujanovic - President of Montenegro (2003-2018)²

Margot Wallström - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2014-2019)

Richard Wilkinson - Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology, University of Nottingham Medical School

Jelta Wong - Minister for Health and HIV/AIDS, Papua New Guinea*

Kateryna Yushchenko - First Lady of Ukraine (2005-2010)²

Viktor Yushchenko - President of Ukraine (2005-2010)²

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero - President of the Government of Spain (2004-2011)¹

Valdis Zatlers - President of Latvia (2007-2011)²

Ernesto Zedillo - President of Mexico (1994-2000)¹

Gabriel Zucman - Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley

 

¹ Member of WLA Club de Madrid
² Member of Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC)

* Signatory to the letter after 14 May, and before the 18 May World Health Assembly

With more than 11 million people in custody worldwide, and 30 million people entering and leaving detention every year, the threat of COVID-19 for people in prisons is very real. In the vast majority of the world’s overcrowded and underfunded prisons and detention centres, physical distancing is simply not an option. In situations where close confinement, shared facilities and spaces and poor hygiene are commonplace, inmates and prison staff are living in constant fear of the ticking COVID-19 time bomb.

“A health response to COVID-19 in prisons is not enough. This unprecedented global emergency demands a response based on human rights,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Countries must ensure not only the security but also the health, safety and human dignity of people deprived of their liberty at all times, irrespective of any state of emergency.”

UNAIDS, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are calling on leaders to make detention a last resort, to close drug rehabilitation detention centres and to decriminalize sex work, same-sex sexual relations and drug use. They are urging countries to release the people who can be released and to consider people at risk of COVID-19, such as older people and people with pre-existing health conditions. Other people, including people sentenced for minor, non-violent offences, pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding and children, should also be considered for release.

As reports of terrified inmates sewing makeshift masks continue to emerge, countries are starting to take action. The Government of Ethiopia, for example, has released more than 30 000 prisoners and has heightened sanitation measures. Indonesia is releasing more than 50 000 people, including 15 000 people incarcerated for drug-related offences. The Islamic Republic of Iran is releasing 40% of its total prison population,100 000 people, while Chile is set to release around 50 000 people.

Shahnaz Khatun (not her real name), a former sex worker now running a small clothing business in Dhaka, Bangladesh, found herself in difficulties when the country went into lockdown. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the areas where she used to work were crowded, but now they are quiet. Ms Khatun is self-isolating in response to the government’s call, but she is unable to provide for herself and her family. “My business is now out of action due to the restrictions on movement. I have some underlying health conditions and I spent all my money on buying medicines,” she said.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, sex workers in Bangladesh, like other informal sector workers, are experiencing hardship and a loss of income. With the limited support that some of them get, they can barely feed themselves and their children. Only a few of them have savings to fall back on and little access to services that could bring some relief. Conditions are more vulnerable for street-based sex workers, as most of them are homeless.

However, sex workers in Bangladesh are organizing themselves, establishing support networks to help their peers. The Bangladesh Sex Workers Network, a nongovernment organization working for the rights of sex workers, mobilized financial aid for more than 2100 sex workers across the country that was distributed through the active engagement of 26 community-based organizations. “Many sex workers have chosen this profession for the sake of their families or children, to provide them with food and a livelihood. Today, sex workers’ families are passing their days helplessly with no money in their pocket,” explains Ms Kajol, President of the Sex Workers Network of Bangladesh.

Ms Khatun received 10 000 Bangladeshi taka, equivalent to US$ 120, through the Bangladesh Sex Workers Network. “With this, I also bought food for another 30 sex workers. I am also arranging for delivery of masks, soap and food to other sex workers in my area and am teaching them about hand washing techniques, maintaining personal hygiene and social distance maintenance,” she said.

Ankhi Akhter (not her real name), who works in a brothel in Tangail, gives support for mental health issues to her peers and encourages regular communication among sex workers in order to cope with stress and to exchange thoughts. “The local governmental authority and a number of nongovernmental organizations, as well as private entities, have already helped us with food and a limited amount of money,” she said. “However, these will not be sufficient if the situation continues.”

As a result of Ms Akhter’s efforts, the Dhaka District Council Office and the Member of Parliament representing the district donated food to the brothel and distributed it among a network of 500 sex workers. The Society for Social Service, a local nongovernmental organization, offered cash payments to more than 400 sex workers and landlords postponed utility bills, such as rent, electricity and water. Most of the sex workers in the brothel received masks, soap and hand sanitizer from the brothel and volunteer organizations.

Sweety Begum (not her real name) is the leader of a community-based organization that supports street-based sex workers in Rajshahi. She relies on her husband's limited income for their living expenses and is helping other sex workers with the small amount of financial help she receives. “Street-based sex workers outside Dhaka are getting less help than those in Dhaka and they are scared to collect aid because of stigma and discrimination,” she said.

“Eleven brothels in Bangladesh have received food and some financial support from government organizations: however, this is not enough. In some areas, relief has been provided only to those who have a national identity card and, unfortunately, not all sex workers have this,” says Saima Khan, UNAIDS Country Manager for Bangladesh.

UNAIDS and the United Nations Children’s Fund have been supporting the network of sex workers to develop income-generating schemes so they can compensate for the loss of income caused by COVID-19. Also, through the network of sex workers and in collaboration with the Bangladesh Country Coordinating Mechanism, UNAIDS has supported 23 community-based organizations of sex workers to procure protective commodities such as soap and masks during the initial stages of the response to COVID-19. Advocacy with organizations to make access to aid easier for sex workers is also ongoing.

“The Sex Workers Network of Bangladesh, through collective efforts, will continue to work hand in hand, so that sex workers can fight back against any difficult situation they face together, leaving no one behind,” said Ms Kajol.