HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

160

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO RESCIND THE POLICY REQUIRING NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS TO SIGN A PLEDGE OPPOSING THE DECRIMINALIZATION OF PROSTITUTION AS A CONDITION FOR RECEIVING hiv/aids PREVENTION FUNDS.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, the federal government actively funds international efforts to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program; and

 

     WHEREAS, under a policy of the United States set by the prior presidential administration, non-governmental organizations that accept money from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program to fight HIV/AIDS are required by contract to have a specific policy opposing prostitution; and

 

     WHEREAS, many AIDS organizations in third world countries designated to receive these moneys are organized and led by former and current sex workers, including prostitutes; and

 

     WHEREAS, many international organizations of sex workers have been on the forefront of efforts to combat the spread of AIDS and human trafficking; and

 

     WHEREAS, many of the best international organizations have had to forgo funding from the United States Agency for International Development, rather than comply with the political agenda of the prior presidential administration; and

 

     WHEREAS, at least one non-governmental organization has been slandered in United States news reports as engaging in human trafficking because the organization included sex workers in its organizational structure; and

 

     WHEREAS, sex workers and their advocates have been excluded from participating in the discussion of United States policies that affect them; and

 

     WHEREAS, some United States policies on this subject have harmed the people they claim to aid; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that the President of the United States is requested to reverse the policy of the prior presidential administration that required non-governmental organizations to sign a pledge opposing the decriminalization of prostitution; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President of the United States is urged to not impose a political litmus test or gag rule on non-governmental organizations regarding the opposition to legal prostitution, decriminalized prostitution, or to the sex workers' rights movement; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States and members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

HIV/AIDS Prevention Funds