创始主任Khum Chantawipa 'Noi'Apisuk向CNNGo网站谈到认可性工作者对经济的贡献的需要，同时也分享了她对女性人口贩卖的充满争议的观点。

'我们从不称自己酒吧女孩'

Noi说到，该组织成立初期只有一小群女性，包括活动家和性工作者，一起分享语言技巧和生活经验。

"我们并没有计划成为一个基金会；一开始，我们只想互相学习，互相支持"。

和大部分泰国此类组织不一样，"影响力"对性工作采取中立的态度，并不呼吁人们离开这个行业。

"25年来，我们不得不反复强调性工作也是工作，真让人沮丧，"她说，"性工作者是工作者，必须获得和其他工作者同样的福利和保护，以及在社会获得同等的尊重和空间。"

"我们从不称自己是'酒吧女孩'"， Noi说道，并补充说她们也不认为自己是'妓女'，因为这个词带有古有的污名。Noi说过去25年来有5万个性工作者加入了"影响力"，虽然这个组织并不旨在提供一个慈善会或福利组织传统上可能提供的帮助。

"'影响力'是一个性工作者推动自己的人权，包括倡议政府改变政策的地方。这里主要由性工作者管理，为性工作者服务，提供基本权利如教育、健康和社区归属感。"

对经济的贡献

Noi说性工作者常常是一个家人的经济支柱，供养其它6－8个成人，指出泰国性行业的重要性。

"旅游业占了GDP的7%----超过大米出口， 而很多旅游业都依靠性工作者"，她说，"国际劳工组织发现，性工作者每年向农村地区的家寄回3亿美元，超出任何一个政府发展项目。"

Noi说大多数泰国性工作者在娱乐场所的工作内容是侍应饮料、跳舞、唱歌、打斯洛克、按摩或与顾客聊天。

"这些工作没有任何一项是非法的，这些场所本身就可能是合法注册的。性工作者需要我们的工作得到认可，这样泰国劳工法和社会保障法案，以及职业健康和安全条列才能被应用到我们的工作场所。这将让性工作者与其它工作者享受同等的保护和福利。"

还在等待实际的改变

"我们开始的时候大概有10个政府。我们与其中的一些应对社会问题的如艾滋病毒或者儿童虐待等紧密合作；其它的将性工作者作为替罪羊，或者高兴地使用性工作者赚的钱建设经济。许多还是我们很好的客户，"她说道，并补充说"影响力"已经获得非正式教育部和公共卫生部的认可，并与司法部、艺术与文化部和人力资源和发展部合作。

Noi说"影响力"还在等待一个诚恳的政府，对政策和执法作出实际的改变，从而促进性工作者的生活。同时，她说许多反人口贩卖组织没有认识到移徙性工作者和违反自身意志被迫卖淫的女性之间的区别。

"在我看来，许多'突袭－救援'行动和随后的逮捕与污名只会让性工作者陷入更糟糕的情境，"她说，"我们的酒吧，可以这么做"是该行业内的榜样，提供了一个杰出的工作环境。工作者们每周可以休息一天，我们提供社保福利。提供一个安全公平的工作场所是有可能的。"

组织: 影响力（Empower）

Empower, which stands for "Education Means Protection of Women Engaged in Recreation", is a non-profit organization with centers in Bangkok's Patpong red light district, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Sai and Patong Beach in Phuket.

'We never call ourselves bar girls'
Describing the organization's beginnings, Noi says they started out as a small group of women, both activists and sex workers, sharing language skills and life experiences together.
"We didn't plan to evolve into a foundation; initially we just wanted to learn from each other and support each other."
Unlike most Thai organizations operating in this field, Empower takes a neutral stance towards sex work and does not pressure people to leave the trade.
"It's frustrating to keep repeating ourselves for over 25 years that sex work is work," she says. "Sex workers are workers who must be given the same benefits and protections as other workers and equal respect and space in society.
"We never call ourselves 'bar girls'," says Noi, adding that they don't dub themselves "prostitutes" either, as that word carries an old-fashioned stigma. Noi says that 50,000 sex workers have joined Empower over the last 25 years, though the group does not aim to help in the traditional sense that a charity or welfare organization might.
"Empower is a space where sex workers can promote our human rights, including advocating change in government policy. It is largely run and managed by sex workers for sex workers, providing access to basic rights like education, health and community belonging."

Contributing to the economy
Pointing out the importance of Thailand's sex trade, Noi says that sex workers are often the head of the family, supporting five to eight other adults.
"Much of the tourist industry is dependent on sex workers and it makes up around 7 percent of the GDP -- more than rice exports," she says. "The International Labour Organisation found sex workers send home US$300 million a year to rural areas, which is more than any government development project."
Noi says that most of Thailand's sex workers work in entertainment venues serving drinks, dancing, singing, playing snooker, massaging or chatting with customers.
"None of these activities are illegal and the places themselves can be legally registered. Sex workers need the work we do recognized as work so the Thai labor law and social security act, along with occupational health and safety codes, can be applied to our workplaces. This would give sex workers the same protections and benefits that other workers enjoy."

 
Still waiting for concrete change
"We have had maybe 10 governments since we began. We have worked closely with some addressing social problems like HIV or child abuse; others have used sex workers as scapegoats or happily used sex worker earnings to build the economy. Many are our good customers," she notes, adding that Empower has been recognized by the Department of Non Formal Education and the Department of Public Health, and has worked together with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Art and Culture and the Ministry of Human Resources and Development.
Nui says Empower is still waiting for a sincere government that will make concrete changes to policy and law enforcement to improve the lives of sex workers. Meanwhile, she says many anti-trafficking organizations fail to recognize the important difference between migrant sex workers and women forced to prostitute themselves against their will.
"In my opinion, many raid-and-rescue operations and the following arrests and stigmatization only worsen the situation of sex workers," she says. "Our bar, Can Do, is a model for exemplary working conditions in the industry. Workers have a day off each week and we provide social security benefits, proving a safe, fair work place is possible

Key Topics 关键话题

A special issue of the medical journal The Lancet, produced for the International AIDS Conference, published a ground-breaking series of articles and commentaries on the global HIV epidemic among people who use drugs. Drawing on their comprehensive examination of hundreds of studies, the journal's editors called for an evidence- and rights-based response to HIV among people who use drugs: "Criminalization has reduced access to health care for people at risk of drug use...Put simply, locking people up does not work."  The journal's articles provide evidence showing that the most neglected strategy, a human rights-based approach, is the the most effective tool in reversing the epidemic. Some highlights of the journal:

• Steffanie Strathdee and colleagues documented the effectiveness of "triple therapy" in preventing HIV among drug users: opioid substitution therapy (such as methadone), needle and syringe exchange, and antiretroviral treatment (ART).  In support, the authors points to studies in Pakistan and Kenya, where changes in policy and access to healthcare have contributed to reversal of the epidemic. 
• Daniel Wolfe and colleagues examined access to ART for people who use drugs in low-income and middle-income countries, and found that nearly half (47%) of all injection drug users (IDUs) infected with HIV are in five nations - China, Vietnam, Russia, Ukraine and Malaysia - where policies on drug use make it difficult for IDU to access ART. They found that criminalization of drug use, including imprisonment, compulsory detoxification and the maintenance of registries of the names of drug users, create barriers to the fight against AIDS.
• Ralf Jurgens and colleagues reviewed over 900 studies on human rights and IDU and found that abuses of human rights increase vulnerability to HIV infection and negatively affect delivery of HIV programmes. These abuses include denial of harm-reduction services, discriminatory access to antiretroviral therapy, abusive law enforcement practices, and coercion in the guise of treatment for drug dependence. Protection of the human rights of people who use drugs therefore is important not only because their rights must be respected, protected, and fulfilled, but also because it is an essential precondition to improving the health of people who use drugs.
• Finally, Chris Beyrer and colleagues, including Michel Sidibe (head of UNAIDS) and Michel Kazatchkine (head of the Global Fund) called on states to expand rights-based approaches to providing treatment and care to IDU with HIV/AIDS.  

Because of their scientific methodology, the articles in this issue of the journal will be valuable tools for advocacy in countries where drug use is criminalized. This includes a number of countries in Asia, such as Indonesia, Thailand and China.

新证据表明，毒品利用有罪化加剧艾滋病传播

医学期刊《柳叶刀》上有期为国际艾滋病大会制作的专门话题，围绕话题发表了一系列有关全球艾滋病在吸毒者之间的感染情况的论文和评论，颇具开拓性。通过对这数百项研究进行综合考察，期刊的编辑呼吁，对吸毒人群艾滋病的回应应当有据且符合其正当权益，"有罪化，使得容易受到感染的吸毒人群接触健康治疗的途径减少......简单地说，将人锁起来是没有用的。"期刊的论文用相关证据说明，在对抗艾滋病时，最容易被人们忽视的方式，也就是以人为本的方式，其实是最有效的方式。期刊上的重点亮点如下：

l  斯蒂夫尼·斯初资蒂和他的同事探讨了在吸毒人群内预防艾滋病时，"三方疗法"的有效性。"三方疗法"包括类鸦片替代疗法（例如美沙酮），肌肉注射和静脉点滴交换以及抗逆转录疗法（ART）。作者以在巴基斯坦和肯尼亚的研究为依据，这两个国家的政策和获取健康护理的途径都有了相应变化，在对抗艾滋病的过程中有极大的贡献。

l  丹尼尔·沃尔夫和他的同事考察了在低收入与中低收入的国家中，吸毒人员获取抗逆转录疗法的途径。研究发现，在所有针注射毒品的人员（IDUs）中，将近一半（47%）的感染者分布在五个国家----中国、越南、俄罗斯、乌克兰和马来西亚。这些国家在毒品使用方面的政策，使得IDU很难获得ART的治疗。研究者们发现，吸毒的有罪化，包括关押、强制戒毒和对毒品使用者名字记录的保存等，给对抗艾滋病的战役设置了屏障。

l  如阿夫·舟梗斯和他的同事回顾了有关人权和IDU人群的900项调查后发现，人权侵犯成为对抗艾滋病传染战役中的薄弱处，并对艾滋病项目的移交有着负面影响。这些侵权行为包括否认减低伤害（harm-reduction）服务，区别提供获取抗逆转录治疗途径，法律强制性措施的泛滥以及以治疗药物依赖为名的强制性措施。一方面，由于吸毒者的人权必须得到尊重、保护和满足，另一方面，作为提高吸毒人群健康素质的必要前提因素，保护吸毒者的人权显得非常重要。

l  最后，克里斯·贝尔和他的同事，包括迈克尔·斯蒂本（联合国艾滋病规划署署长）和迈克尔·科茨特凯恩（全球基金会会长）向各国政府呼吁，扩大以人为本的治疗渠道，关照感染艾滋病的IDU人群。

由于这些论文采用的是科学方法，它们将在以后向将毒品使用有罪化的国家----包括亚洲的许多国家，如印度尼西亚、泰国和中国----进行呼吁时，成为有用的工具。

Global Fund chief calls for closure of compulsory detoxification centers

Echoing a speech he made in Toronto in June, Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, again called for the closure of compulsory detention centers, where drug users are detained for months or years without trial or due process, under the guise of drug treatment.

The detentions usually take place without a clinical assessment. The drug users are often denied access to evidence-based drug treatment and other basic health services. In some countries, they are forced to perform gruelling labor for no pay. Drug users in these facilities may be tested for HIV without their knowledge or consent. Torture and inhuman or degrading treatment have also been documented.

In his speech in Toronto, Kazatchkine said, "All compulsory drug detention centres should be closed and replaced by drug treatment facilities that work and that conform to ethical standards and human rights norms. At the same time, as long as such centres exist, I strongly believe that detainees should at least be provided with access to effective HIV prevention and treatment, provided in an ethical manner and respectful of their rights and dignity."

Sessions at the conference specifically discussed abuses in forced detoxification centers in China, Thailand and Vietnam. NGOs in those countries could continue to push the Global Fund to work with them in addressing the concerns of drug users about these facilities.

全球基金会会长呼吁关闭强制戒毒所

和7月在多伦多的演讲相呼应，全球抗击艾滋病、肺结核和疟疾基金会的首席执行官迈克尔·科茨特凯恩又一次呼吁关闭强制戒毒所。强制戒毒所以对药物治疗为名，在没有经过审讯或其他合适程序的情况下，将吸毒人员关押数月甚至数年。

这些关押通常没有临床评估，吸毒者也通常缺乏有依据的药物治疗和其他基础医疗服务。在一些国家，他们被强迫无酬劳地做高强度工作。这些关押所里的吸毒者通常在不知情或未经自己同意的情况下便被进行艾滋病的检测，相关记录显示他们还受到折磨和非人或者侮辱性对待。

科茨特凯恩在多伦多的演讲中说："所有强制戒毒所都应当被关闭，我们应当根据各地的习俗标准以及人权，建立有效的毒瘾治疗中心。同时，如果这样的戒毒所还存在，那么我本人强烈建议，在押人员至少应当有艾滋病防治的途径，而且应当是以一种地区礼仪并且是尊重他们权利和尊严的方式提供给他们。"

本次大会的一些会议专门讨论了中国、泰国和越南国内，强制戒毒所的暴力现象，这些国家的非政府组织应当继续推进和全球基金会的合作，处理吸毒者对这些机构的忧虑。