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WACC has observed with dismay recent news reports that some church leaders are opposing the human rights of homosexuals and singling them out as a cause of the burden of HIV and AIDS in Ghana. |
In June 2011 WACC and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) completed a three-year project partnership on reducing HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in Ghana. Its aim was to involve religious and other local community leaders in three districts around Greater Accra in a rights-based campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS.
The project has succeeded in changing attitudes and behaviours in the districts, where people living with HIV or AIDS indicate that they are treated much more fairly and experience much more acceptance. Homosexual persons living with HIV or AIDS in the district where the WACC-CCG project took place drew attention to stigmatisation that prevented them from accessing treatment. The project was coordinated by the CCG’s Programme Manager for Human Rights and Gender.
While there is no united position among church leaders on the place of homosexuality in society, many are open to sensitive and thoughtful discussion around the implications of policy decisions affecting gay people and people living with HIV and AIDS.
Towards the beginning of 2011, over 70 religious representatives and 25 organizations from many countries issued a statement in response to the violent death of David Kato, a human rights activist and a member of a sexual minority in Uganda. It urged religious authorities “to speak out against hate, stigma and discrimination, and instead, in words and deeds, recognize and promote the essential worth and dignity of every person” and called on them “to speak, act and urge their faithful to reach out in compassion towards those who are marginalized for any reason and to resist all attempts to promote intolerance and hatred.”
The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), of which WACC is a member, played a leading role in issuing the statement. WACC EAA Executive Director Peter Prove noted that from the experience of the EAA’s HIV and AIDS campaign, discrimination against people on the margins of society, such as men who have sex with men, drug users and sex workers, has fuelled the HIV pandemic because it discourages individuals from receiving the information and services for prevention and treatment that they need.
Prove said that, “From this practical standpoint, we see that respecting human rights is essential - and indeed, given the universal religious understanding of God-given human dignity, religious leaders and organizations should be at the forefront of efforts to overcome stigma and discrimination and associated violence.”
WACC has partnered with faith based organisations in many countries to overcome HIV and AIDS related stigma and discrimination. Deputy General Secretary Lavinia Mohr said, “Our experience has shown that the denial of human rights to marginalised people makes them and their entire society more vulnerable to HIV, and fuels HIV and AIDS related stigma and discrimination. Clearly, the struggle against stigma and discrimination is not over yet.” |
