Post-ICAAP Report
The recently concluded 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Busan, South Korea proved to be more than just a Congress of Asia Pacific’s leading advocates and activities in the area of HIV. ICAAP was also a time for young key affected populations (YKAPs) in Asia and the Pacific to come together, wield, and hoist YKAP issues in various discussions with different audiences. Most importantly, ICAAP was a time for YKAP leaders to step up and claim beyond universal access to HIV-related services including comprehensive sexuality education, which is the recognition that we, as YKAP, have rights too. And our participation in every discussion is essential.
YouthLEAD, with support from Save the Children, invited me to attend the five-day ICAAP in Busan, South Korea. Being the second largest HIV conference in the world held every two years, I was so looking forward and excited to attend the Congress. Being more than five years in HIV advocacy, for the first time, I would be meeting the movers and shakers of HIV activism in this part of the region. And being young and gay myself, I would be able to make my voice count and would be able to partake in the discussions on various issues, ranging from a more personal to a more programmatic to policies. Likewise, I would be able to dig in and explore new possibilities and innovative approaches which I can apply in my home country, the Philippines, particularly in my work as a research coordinator on HIV and human rights program with Action for Health Initiatives (ACHIEVE), Inc., a nongovernment organization that does action researches on issues on HIV, migration, sexual orientation and gender identity, and human rights.
Prior to ICAAP, I had the chance to participate at the New Generation Leadership Training by YouthLEAD from August 23-24. I got the chance to meet my fellow YouthLEADers (to quote Gaj, a fellow YouthLEAD focal point) and Korean youth participants who were also part of the ICAAP Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The two-day training was a dry-run-cum-consultation from the YKAPs of the five-day New Generation Leadership training which will make its maiden run here in the Philippines this coming November. At the two-day training/consultation, I got the chance to learn new energizers and new ways of levelling concepts and information on HIV and YKAPs – enough to be understood by the YKAPs. And I saw how the module evolved as a module for YKAPs by YKAPs, which was really great.
The relatively “serious” work began on Day 3 (August 25) when the community forum began. I joined the youth forum and partook in the activities leading to the formulation of key youth statements that would form part of the community statement to be read during the ICAAP Opening Ceremonies on the evening of the 26th. While there were some agenda in the youth forum that I thought was “irrelevant”, I was in awe to hear the experiences of LGBTs and LGBT activists in Korea. Through my newfound Korean friends, I was able to uncover how difficult it was to come out as gay in Korea because one might lose his or her job or even his or her schooling. What more to issues surrounding HIV! But at the end of the session, we were able to develop key messages on treatment as prevention and human rights. These messages were shared to the larger community the following day at the Report-Back Forum.
I also got to attend the Opening Ceremonies on the night of August 26th – where the series of protests began. Being an activist myself, I
felt how, despite the language barrier, Korean activists have been sealing their lips because their own government seals them from claiming their rights. It was also very emotional for me when I saw my fellow Korean LGBT activists there with the rest of the group. But it was our voices that united us in fighting for stigma and discrimination. The protest did not end peacefully, and I it was only the beginning of ICAAP.
The three “official” ICAAP days was, to sum it all up, very rewarding to me. I got the chance to attend sessions which were very relevant to my advocacy work. I attended sessions that tackle very personal issues (YKAP and MSM); sessions that advance my advocacy on HIV and human rights; and issues that satisfies my curiosity (migration and HIV). I also got the chance to mingle and got to know more about my fellow YKAP leaders in various fields at the Youth Pavilion, and I got the chance to meet various organizations and people who can help us in our work with young people and in the area of human rights. One of the most exciting sessions for me was actually the side event, the NewGen Asia Launch Lunch. Being pre-selected as a mentee was already a privilege; to be with the present and future leaders aimed in reaching ‘Three Zeros’ in a single room was definitely an experience to remember.
This year’s ICAAP, however, will definitely be remembered because of the Anti-FTA protests and the suppression of voices and violation of the right to free speech and expression. While I am not new to street protests and social actions, it was both frustrating and outrageous for the Korean government to intervene and meddle with activities within ICAAP, which is supposedly a safe space for protest. Shame on the Korean government for the arrests and police abuse against ICAAP Korean and foreign delegates. In order to help, I am linking up another organization wherein I’m a member of, Amnesty International Philippines, with Amnesty International Korea to follow-up on if there will arrests and threats against Korean activists post-ICAAP.
My entire experience in the nine-day stay in Busan, South Korea for the 10th ICAAP motivated me to learn from my own experience,
discover new initiatives, and form stronger partnerships. Coming from ICAAP, I am moved to lever my advocacy up. The Congress made me understood the connections of what I do in-country with the rest of the region, and the contributions that I do, which is not only for my country but for the entire region as well. ICAAP is also a place to meet not only new friends, meet in-person email, Skype, or Facebook contacts, but also a venue to form linkages that serve as nodes in gaining new knowledge and learning from each other’s experience. Most importantly, I got to know Save the Children’s current initiatives on peer education that cater YKAPs in the Philippines, and which is already in its expansion stage.
Coming from ICAAP, the most concrete next step that I will take is to get in touch with the partners I met in the Congress to pursue my work with the police and with the lawyers in mainstreaming their services to cater HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Most importantly, ICAAP also paved way for our organization, ACHIEVE, to commence conducting action researches on HIV, young people and the law, which I am very excited about.
