HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

Last month, the Bush administration notified US-based AIDS groups working overseas with US funds that they must pledge their opposition to sex trafficking and prostitution. It is the first time US groups have been required to accept such a condition to receive federal funds.

The law that authorized the five-year, $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) required groups receiving federal funds to promise they would not use the money to promote prostitution, its legalization, or sex trafficking. Foreign groups accessing the funds were also required to declare their opposition to prostitution and their allegiance to US policy.

View our poll archive

Critics call the pledge a "loyalty oath" and said it may violate their rights to free speech and hurt their work with prostitutes. "No one endorses prostitution and sex trafficking," said Paul Zeitz of the Global AIDS Alliance, but he added, "We cannot stop AIDS if we lose the trust of people most at risk of HIV infection and undermine effective, lifesaving programs."

In February, 13 charitable organizations expressed the same reservations to US Global AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias. "Contributing to the stigmatizing of populations that are at risk, infected or affected by HIV/AIDS greatly undermines the success of AIDS prevention, testing, and care efforts," the groups said.

Editor's Note: from USA Today