From Beatriz Mercado, who works with Pledging Action and SWOP East from Chile. After over a year some really wonderful news.

Beatriz writes: ” I just called Eliana Dentone, from MARGEN, they got the condoms. She wants to write to say thanks, she’s already giving them out. So this is good news! “

Direct donations to Chile may be the best method to get them as there has been difficulty raising funds to get them to distribution points in the US then to organizations in Chile. Thus it may be easier to send them direct to Chile and notify Pledging Action of the total shipped and Beatriz can verify their arrival. Santiago is the capital city of Chile, with a very urban feel. Valparaiso is much like San Francisco with a Latin feel. Both orgs badly need the condoms. Thank you for past and future condoms and support! Please send condoms to:

Rosa González
Cordillera de Los Andes 905
La Básica, Rodelillo
Valparaíso
CHILE

“Special Evil” Bush vs. slavery. By Donna M. Hughes

“Abolitionist” and alleged anti trafficking activist Donna Hughes, one of the “visionaries” behind Trafficking Victim’s Protection Re-Authorization Act discusses President Bush’s war on slavery and terrorism.

What do those impacted by Hughes Expertise and Work feel? Views from those impacted by TVPRA

Special Evil
Bush vs. slavery.

By Donna M. Hughes

At the United Nations, before key world leaders and an international body that symbolizes human rights, President Bush put the fight against the global sex trade on par with the campaign for democracy in Iraq and the war on terrorism. A significant portion of his U.N. speech was dedicated to a “humanitarian crisis…yet hidden from view,” by which he meant the trafficking and prostitution of hundreds of thousands of women and children. In keeping with Bush’s speeches on threats to freedom and democracy in the world, there were no qualifiers or exceptions; he boldly named this activity for what it is: “a special evil.” And as he has done with terrorism, he challenged governments around the world on their complacency: If they tolerate the sex trade, they “are tolerating a form of slavery.” This is the kind of clarity of thinking and leadership the movement against trafficking and sexual exploitation has been waiting for.

<> And he did not stop there. He firmly stated his position on one of the most-avoided questions in the debate on the global sex trade — how to respond to the men who patronize the brothels and create the demand for women and girls. President Bush clearly said, “Those who patronize this industry debase themselves and deepen the misery of others.” One sentence that so simply places responsibility on those who need to be held accountable for the harm they cause to women, children, their families, and communities.In those few minutes, he addressed crucial issues and provided leadership on some of the key battlefronts.

Men who sexually abuse and exploit children often travel to other countries to find victims and avoid arrest. For over six years, ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) has campaigned with limited success to get the tourist industry and airlines to advise travelers that if they have sex with children while abroad they are breaking the law. At the U.N., President Bush urged all governments to “inform travelers of the harm this industry does and the severe punishments that will fall on its patrons.” And for several years ECPAT-USA has frequently contacted the U.S. military in an effort to get them to be more active in stopping military personnel from sexually abusing and exploiting children while they are abroad. With the passage of the PROTECT Act and President Bush’s high-priority call for action against perpetrators abroad, activists should finally see results from their efforts.

President Bush pledged $50 million to support “the good work of organizations that are rescuing women and children from exploitation, and giving them shelter and medical treatment and the hope of a new life.” President Bush’s support for these organizations is particularly important, not only because the funds will provide much-needed services, but also because Christian and feminist organizations who organize rescues and provide shelter for victims in Asia are under attack from pro-prostitution groups who constantly criticize them and try to undermine their rescue work. Those who favor legalized prostitution know that if victims are free to speak their own truth the stories they tell about “empowered sex workers” will be proven to be lies.

There could not have been a better place than the United Nations to call for “clear standards” on combating the global sex trade. Over the past decade, United Nations’ commissions, committees, and conferences have been battlegrounds where governments and nongovernmental organizations have fought to determine if the global sex trade should be legitimized and legalized or criminalized and abolished. President Bush told the members of the United Nations that the U.S. now has clear standards on how the global sex trade should be viewed — “an underground of brutality and lonely fear” — and combated — “those who create these victims and profit from their suffering must be severely punished.”

The people and groups I work with call themselves the new abolitionists. We believe that all people have the right to freedom and dignity and no forms of sexual abuse and exploitation, including those of the sex trade, should be tolerated. All the activists I’ve heard from were thrilled and inspired by President Bush’s speech. One woman said this is going to “put new wind in the sails of the abolitionist movement.” Another said, “That was the most courageous thing I have heard a president say since President Reagan’s demand to ‘tear down this wall’ in Berlin.”

What do those impacted by Hughes Expertise and Work feel? Views from those impacted by TVPRA — Donna M. Hughes is professor & Carlson Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies at the University of Rhode Island.

I’ve been paying close attention to the reauthorization for PEPFAR, the main international AIDS program the US funds. It also has the anti-prostitution pledge in it.

It came up for reauthorization. Among the many changes planned on the bill was the removal of the anti-prostitution pledge. This was not to be. The language was reinserted into the bill the day before it went for vote last week. Though this vote was to approve the language of the bill and not vote the bill itself into effect, there is little hope that the anti-prostitution pledge will be removed between now and the final vote.

The need for Pledging Action and programs like it still exists.

There is a huge controversy surrounding the availablity of the “morning after” pill in Chile, mostly because of the nation’s Catholic leanings.

Condoms, especially for sex workers, are more important than ever.

Even the US is having quality issues with condoms donated for a health program. Fortunately, Trojan stepped in to donate a large amount of condoms to the DC program.

Margen, one of the organizations we’re trying to assist, has desperate need for condoms. They keep asking for condoms. We need to get some donations to Margen.

Help Margen!

The Bishop of Chile is getting in the way of efforts to stem the spread of AIDS in the country. His philosophy comes very close to Bush’s ideas. The Bishop believes “To fight AIDS young people must be educated to chastity, fidelity and abstinence.” He stated that condoms are ineffective at both contraception and disease control.

Catholic-dominated African countries have not had success fighting AIDs with Catholic rhetoric. I doubt it will work in Chile either.

Although condom distribution-restrictions were lifted to allow the public easier access to condoms, the program has hit a snarl and it failing. Part of it has been blamed (in previous articles) on the lack of media attention in the area, part of it has to do with the ideologies of Chile. Either way, there are 50,000 condoms not being put to any use.

A Chilean sex worker has auctioned 27 hours of her time for charity. Read the full story here.

Wonder if she could be contacted on behalf of Margen and Angelina Lina?

The Catholic Church’s view on contraception is getting in the way of the fight against AIDS in Latin America. This is nothing new, as the Church has had the same effect in Africa. Apparently the right to life (for a sperm) is more important than the quality of life (for those who are infected with AIDS in poor countries).

Bet the Church loves President Bush’s method of fighting the spread of AIDS with abstinence programs.