Chaired by Joel Nana, South Africa

Zoryan Kis, from the All Ukrainian Network of PLWH started the symposium by presenting on HIV prevention, care and support for MSM in Ukraine. He drew attention to the Ukraine government’s lack of political will in gathering surveillance data on MSM or in addressing their needs. MSM interventions started as recently as 2006, and bulk of the work is done by NGOs. Although homosexuality was decriminalized in 1991, jurisprudence was not changed. Homophobic practices also increased with increasing visibility of the LGBT community. Active participation of 4 MSM leaders in stakeholder consultations around Global Fund Round 6 and Project Development Committee ensured that MSM programming was at all included.

Mac-Darling Cobbinah from Ghana presented next on another recent MSM intervention. The programme, the first among MSM in Ghana was started 3 years ago and works in collaboration with the government health services. It runs a comprehensive package of interventions ranging from campaign against extortion and blackmail of LGBT community, to gender sensitization and peer facilitated HIV prevention services. He made the point that despite criminalization of homosexual practices and social and religious intolerance, his project has demonstrated that it is possible to run interventions among MSM and show results.

Boris Dittrich, of the Netherlands presented the Yogyakarta principles that were articulated in 2006 by collating and codifying 29 existing human rights laws, jurisprudence and treaties that have implications for rights around sexual orientation and gender identity. He gave examples of recent gross violation of human rights of MSM by government agencies in Uganda and Egypt which directly contravene these principles and made the point that if new infections among MSM (which is driving the epidemic in many countries) have to be averted scaled up HIV interventions have to be accompanied with protecting and promoting human rights, the first step toward which should be ending criminalization and discrimination.

Ashok Row Kavi from India presented on the complexities of practice of male to male sexuality in India and charted how MSM and transgenders as a group have emerged as a core high risk group in the national HIV/AIDS programme.

The key messages from this symposium were: in many countries Interventions among MSM are still very new and does not perhaps reach the most vulnerable. Decriminalization, although necessary, is not enough to combat homophobia and even in courtiers where some rights have been secured for MSM, they can easily be eroded. MSM interventions have to go hand in hand with fighting against stigma and discrimination and promoting human rights.