From 30 May to june 2nd 2006, Helem participated in United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) at the UN headquarters in New York City.

Funded by Women for Women Human rights (WWHR), we were able send a representative to participate in UNGASS 2006 session to present a thematic shadow report on the status of HIV and Vulnerable groups especially Men having Sex with Men ( MSN) in Lebanon. While UNAIDS, like all other UN human rights instruments, makes no explicit mention of sexual orientation, sexuality education and sexual freedom, Helem along with other NGOs tried to push the delegations from different countries to include sexual orientation in the final declaration of the UNGASS, we received a lot of support from many delegation and part of the Lebanese delegation, but because of the pressure of many conservative countries sexual orientation was not included clearly , however there was a serious engagement towards vulnerable groups, without naming them, and towards women rights in the declaration

the struggle will continue....
more info about UNGASS : www.ungass.org

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