check out this interesting observation by Families Against State Terrorism convener Ms Yvonne Sobers.........
Dear Editor,
We live in a region with a 50 per cent rate of HIV/AIDS infection that is second only to Africa. This epidemic has taken lives, orphaned children, and set back social and economic progress for present and future generations. Yet, we have a Sexual Offences Bill, now before the Senate, that could further drive the spread of HIV/AIDS in Jamaica.
Unprotected heterosexual sex is the main route to HIV/AIDS transmission in the Caribbean, with unprotected homosexual sex a critical factor.
According to a 2007 report on HIV/AIDS in Jamaica, cultural factors are fuelling the epidemic in high-risk groups (prostitutes and men who have sex with men). In addition, a 2008 study commissioned by the Ministry of Health showed that about one-third of men who have sex with men were also having sex with multiple female partners.
The Ministry of Health cannot now deliver services to these high-risk groups under current laws, let alone the even more stringent laws about to be introduced under the Sexual Offences Bill. For example, under this new Bill:
. A man who is convicted of buggery (having consensual anal sex with a man or a woman) may now be listed as a sex offender after his 10-year prison sentence ends.
. A woman who is convicted of prostitution (having consensual commercial sex) may be fined up to $500,000 and be imprisoned for up to five years. Anyone who lives with a prostitute, or is seen in her company, can be arrested and suffer the same penalties as the prostitute.
Leaders in Jamaica's programme for the control of HIV/AIDS, notably Dr Peter Figueroa and more recently Dr Kevin Harvey, have long called for the repeal of laws criminalising anal sex and prostitution. Further, the African tragedy shows how urgently we need to prevent rather than foment an epidemic that infects about 20,000 Caribbean people each year.
It is certainly in our interest as a society to avoid introducing laws almost guaranteed to worsen a potential epidemic. Let us therefore demand of our senators that they question a Sexual Offences Bill that is out of touch with 21st century life and death realities.
Yvonne McCalla Sobers
sobersy@yahoo.com
1 hour ago
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