Juliana Rincon Parra's blog

Prejudice and ignorance can go a really long way towards sustaining injustice, and that is why I believe that sessions like the one on sex workers rights at the Human Rights Networking Zone was completely necessary.
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Tuesday's symposium during the afternoon provided plenty of food for thought. Deloris Dockrey from the US, Shaun Mellors from South Africa, Carlos García de León from Mexico and Veronica from ICW who substituted for Promise Mthembu all gave their reasons and thoughts behind the movement to provide sexual and reproductive right services and information to People Living with HIV-AIDS.

One of my thoughts on seeing this panel composed of only PLHIV was that it was a shame more people couldn't see this: the way these men and women are strongly going on with their lives and advocating for others to do the same is inspiring. They spoke candidly about their positive status, the impact it has had on their lives and how in spite of popular belief, men and women with HIV don't lose the wish or right to marry or find a partner and found a family if they so desire.

One of the main ideas proposed during this panel was that PLHIV should have access to family planning centers and health information specific to their condition. They should be able to go to a clinic and ask about birth control methods and interaction with ARV drugs, the usage of condoms, recommendations on IUD placement and what cares they should take if they wish to have a family, space children out or should they require pregnancy termination.
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I’ve spent the day at the Global Village, the cultural area of the AIDS conference, visiting booths and seeing what they have to offer delegates and visitors who come to the open area of the conference for the day.

At TheCondomProject.org booth I joined the droves of people who huddle around the tables to make condom lapel pins by sticking pieces of handmade paper in a variety of colors and patterns onto a colorful condom inside its wrapper, adding a pin-back and displaying it to all.

After that, in the Women's Networking Zone, Maya taught two other women and myself how to use a female condom, in a friendly and professional manner, and during the whole process she encouraged our questions while prompting us to take as many as we needed to try them out.

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At the International AIDS Women's Caucus Challenges for Women and Girls and HIV/AIDS. 5 minutes to the hour, the audience starts shuffling in. Women wearing Blue Jeans, dresses, suits and saris fill in the audience.
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The Pre-conference symposium organized by OSI, Strategies for Change: Breaking barriers to HIV Prevention, treatment and Care for Women provided much food for thought and insightful panelists who spoke with true candor on important issues such as empowerment strategies, how lawmaking can be used to their benefit, how to make, track and spend money in these grassroots organizations and how to advance health Care for Women.

The panels were well rounded and I particularly enjoyed the diversity of the panelists: they had different takes on certain issues and this made the conversation flow and expand. It felt more like a conversation in someone's living room than a conference where you sit and hear people drone: it was quite lively and engaging.

One of the greatest things has been that there is quite enough time for each panelist to speak out about their experience: each session is 1.5 hours long and I think that this is enough time for panelists to relax and know that they'll have more than enough time to speak out, so conversation flows equally with participation from all the different women. The full program can be seen here.  read more »