Today, on 1 March, Zero Discrimination Day is observed across the globe. Zero Discrimination Day is an opportunity to highlight how everyone can be part of the transformation and take a stand for a fair and just society. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which conceived the Day back in 2014, is calling on everyone this year to make some noise for #zerodiscrimination.
“Throughout our 10 years of working with partners on issues that affect the health, rights and well-being of gay men and other men who have sex with men as well as other sexual minority groups, discrimination, stigma, and laws criminalising sex between men undermine access to HIV/AIDS and other health services.” said APCOM Executive Director Midnight Poonkasetwattana. “90 per cent of gay men and other men who have sex with men do not have access to HIV prevention and care because of discriminatory law, and 18 countries in our region criminalise same-sex sexual activities with imprisonment, corporate punishment or even death penalty.”
90 per cent of gay men and other men who have sex with men do not have access to HIV prevention and care because of discriminatory law, and 18 countries in our region criminalise same-sex sexual activities with imprisonment, corporate punishment or even death penalty.
With the vision of bringing equality, dignity and social justice to our community, zero discrimination is an integral part of APCOM’s works. One of our most recent works is an effort to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Back in November last year, we produced “From Yogyakarta with Love” – a short animation video that aims to facilitate a meaningful understanding of the Yogyakarta Principles and to encourage their use and their promotion. The Yogyakarta Principles are a universal guide to the protection of human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex individuals, which affirm various international legal standards with which many UN Member States have signed.
To date, “From Yogyakarta with Love” has reached more than 37,000 views on APCOM’s Facebook page. The video has been used as an advocacy tool or a lecture material by a number of community organisations and academia, including the ARC International’s Principles in Action global platform, Heinrich Böll Foundation’s YP+10 web dossier, and South Korea-based SOGI Academy.
To commemorate Zero Discrimination Day, we are proud to announce that “From Yogyakarta with Love” on our YouTube channel is now available with captions/subtitles from more than 21 languages, including the main five UN languages, Hindi, Mongolian, Pashto, Persian, Tajik, Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese. The list of the available captions, in fact, will still grow as we are working with volunteers from across the globe.
“We at APCOM strive to make our strategic information reach out to as many audiences as possible. I am thrilled that the video has been received positively as many great advocacy products are often not in local languages so that it is more accessible to local activists and advocates,” concluded Midnight Poonkasetwattana.
To view the available captions of the video, click “Setting” on the bottom bar of the YouTube screen and click “Subtitles/CC” option.
Let us make some noise for #ZeroDiscrimination by sharing the video with our peers, colleagues and networks.
