No AIDS conference in Trump’s America – Activists
Activists have been campaigning at the 2018 AIDS conference in Amsterdam, calling on the International AIDS Society (IAS) to move the 2020 conference, scheduled for the US out of the country.
The activists, a coalition of people living with HIV and known as AIDS 2020 For All, who since the opening of the conference have intensified their campaign calling on the IAS to move the conference to another country say they are willing to help the organisers to navigate the process of moving the conference to another country.
The activists are urging the IAS to respect its own values by changing plans to hold the conference in the US.
The activists are protesting the US conference because, they say the Trump administration has banned the entry of sex workers and people who use drugs; has criminalized immigrants and detained activists at airports; has denied HIV care to people in prison and immigrant detention centres. These acts have “resulted in the death of those in custody; and has seen massive increases in white supremacists violence that are expected to peak in 2020 during a contentious presidential race.”
During a press conference Friday morning July 27, 2018, President-elect of the IAS, Anton Pozniak told journalists that the organization is currently engaged in broad consultation on the matter with all stakeholders.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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