To mark 1 December World AIDS Day
A series of ship visits by HIV/AIDS activists have been among the myriad of activities organised by ITF affiliates around the world to mark 1 December World AIDS Day.
The Bali branch of Kesatuan Pelaut Indonesia and the Norwegian Seafarers’ Union jointly organised a day of activities involving seafarers, fishers, their families, students from the marine school and HIV positive workers. Activists visited ships and distributed ITF campaign materials and condoms among seafarers and fishers. The unionists also ran a talk show on challenging stigma, during which HIV positive workers shared their stories and participated in awareness sessions and “AIDS games”. More then 100 people including 10 HIV positive workers attended the event.
Ship visits also took place in Mumbai, India, and at seafarers’ centres in Siracha, Thailand, and Veracruz, Mexico.
In Spain, activists from the Federacion Servicios a la Ciudadania CCOO wrote articles and blogs on the union’s website and other social networking platforms. They also worked collaboratively with a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual organisation to raise awareness through education and training to end discrimination and exclusion.
Other activities as part of World AIDS Day included: a workshop with management to develop a workplace policy run by a railway union in Bolivia and a voluntary HIV counselling and testing camp organised at Entebbe airport by a union in Uganda.
ITF HIV/AIDS coordinator Dr Asif Altaf commented: “We are very pleased that unions around the world are committing to challenging HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination at work. The activities on World AIDS day clearly show that HIV/AIDS is an issue for all transport sectors in all regions and our affiliates are ready to tackle it and help members.”
Source: ITF
