Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 19:38:55 +0000 (WET) From: Coordinadora Gai-Lesbiana Subject: press release: Argentina From: ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association) AIDES FEDERATION NATIONALE - ACT UP PARIS CHRETINES ET SIDA - DAVID ET JONATHAN (David et Jonathan is on an ILGA twinning project with Argentinian lesbian and gay organizations) PRESS RELEASE ARGENTINA: MOVING TOWARDS COMPULSORY AIDS TESTING Compulsory AIDS testing for the military. The Argentinian Government of President Carlos Menem recently issued decree N.906/95 to make AIDS testing compulsory for all civilian and military members of the Armed and Security Forces, as well as for all applicants to these national organizations. This mesure, which is already enforced by the Argentinian ministry of Finance, is increasingly becoming part of private companies' hiring practices. A discriminatory and "illegal" decree This decree is, in fact, contrary both to Argentina's Act 23798 which states that the fight against AIDS is in the national interest, and more especially to Article 2 of this Act which upholds the dignity of all persons and formally condems any form of discrimination. Implementation of this decree constitutes a violation of medical confidentiality, notably with regards to AIDS. It means, in fact, that any government official will have access to the medical file of those seropositive persons who maybe under their command. The State of Argentina is thus siding with totalitarian countries and reneging on its international commitments. It is transgressing the December 1, 1994 Paris World Summit declaration on AIDS of which it is a signatory. It had indeed pledged there in that "the law would guarantee equal protection to all AIDS victims in terms of access to medical care, employment, education, freedom of movement, housing and social security." There is a real danger today that similar measures might spread to other Latin American States with which Argentina has regional agreements. The Aides Federation Nationale, Act Up Paris, Chretiens et Sida and David et Jonathan organizations are strongly opposed to such mesasures, and are asking in a letter to President Carlos Menem that decree 906/95 be immediatly abrogated. We are likewise asking both the French Government and the Europena Union to intervene so that President Carlos Menem may announce his intention to uphold Argentina's commitment and defend Human Rights in his country, previous to his official February visit to Paris. Action Alert: Because of all that, we encourage everybody to send letters of protest to: note: You should put the accents, marked with ', over the previous vocal, and substitute the simbol ~ by the letter n with ~ over it. The following is the text of the letter we sent to President Menem, please put the name of your organization where it is required in brackets[]. The text of this letter is exactly what it is written on the press release above. Excelentisimo Se~or Presidente de la repu'blica Argentina CARLOS SAUL MENEM Casa de Gobierno Balcarce, 50 Buenos Aires Argentina Excelenti'simo Se~or presidente, Nuestra Asociacio'n ha sido informada del decreto 906/95, firmado por Usted el pasado 11 de Diciembre, instaurando la prueba obligatoria del VIH para todos los miembros de la Fuerzas Armadas y de Seguridad, tanto civiles como militares. Nos preguntamos si no se trata en realidad de una primera etapa hacia la generalizacio'n de un control sistema'tico, condicio'n previa para acceder a una vacante y poder trabajar en todos los otros sectores de actividad de la nacio'n. El contenido del decreto nos preocupa con respecto al Articulo 2 de la Ley 23:789 (Ley argentina declarando de intere's nacional la lucha contra el SIDA), con el que esta' en contradiccio'n. El decreto 906/95 esta' tambie'n en oposicio'n con las recomendaciones y conclusiones de la Cumbre Mundial de SIDA de Paris de 1994, a las cuales se ha adherido el gobierno argentino. Nos sorprende que un pais que ha demostrado su capacidad para retornar a la democracia y al respeto de los Derechos Humanos, pueda adoptar medidas referentes a la salud publica, en relacio'n a la prueba obligatoria del VIH, contrarias a tales principios, propias de paises como Cuba o Rusia. Experiencias estas que no se han vuelto a repetir, puesto que se han verificado completamente ineficaces. Por consiguiente nuestra organizacio'n [name of your organization] solicita la abrogacio'n del decreto 906/95, a fin de restablecer la imagen de su pais respetuoso de la persona humana. Le rogamos acepte, Excelentisimo Se~or Presidente, la expresio'n de nuestra ma's alta consideracio'n. [signature, name of organization, address, etc.] _________________________________________________________________________ | Coordinadora Gai-Lesbiana | voice: 34-3-237 08 69 | | C/ les Carolines, 13 | fax: 34-3-218 11 91 | | 08012 Barcelona | hot line: 900 601 601 (from Spain) | | Catalunya | 34-3-237 70 70 (rest of the world)| | Spain | e-mail: cogailes@pangea.org | |___________________________|_____________________________________________| ****************************************************************************** To send a message to the entire list "queerplanet", email queerplanet@abacus.oxy.edu This list is run by the program MAJORDOMO@abacus.oxy.edu. *******************************************************************************