LEADING AIDS/HIV EDUCATORS AND ACTIVISTS JOIN WITH HUMAN RIGHTS PROPONENTS AT THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HIV/AIDS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN RUSSIA, OCTOBER 19–21, 2005 Conference presented at Smolny College at Saint Petersburg Sta

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The first international conference in Russia to address issues of HIV/AIDS and human rights will be held in St. Petersburg from October 19–21, 2005. Hosted by Smolny College and its Gagarin Human Rights Center, with the support of Bard College and Saint Petersburg State University, conference participants include Russian and international scholars, activists, and policymakers, as well as people with AIDS. The keynote speaker is Dr. Jim Yong Kim, director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department. Participants will meet for three days of intensive dialogue and discussions about the intersection between human rights and the practices of HIV/AIDS education, prevention, care, and treatment. With the belief that the campaign against HIV/AIDS must address the human rights of infected people, the conference will examine the role that human rights have played and could play in advancing the fight against the epidemic. The goal is to promote discussion and dialogue as a basis for increasing knowledge, cooperation, and effective action. A central aim of the conference is to initiate a public education campaign in Russia and elsewhere, and to mobilize public support for timely and informed action against the disease and on behalf of the rights of those living with it. Smolny College is a joint enterprise of Bard College and Saint Petersburg State University. Founded in 1999, it has 400 students and is Russia’s first liberal arts college. Students, who are mostly Russian, receive two B.A. degrees—one from Bard and one from Smolny College of Saint Petersburg State University. The Andrew Gagarin Center is named in honor of St. Petersburg–born businessman Andrew Gagarin. It supports the creation of a community of teachers, researchers, NGO activists, etc., involved in human rights–related projects and activities. The conference is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Gagarin Trust, and the Open Society Institute, among others. Further information and registration information is available through the conference website www.human.smolny.nw.ru/english/hiv/index.html. # Conference participants include: Professor Michel Kazatchkine, M.D., France’s Ambassador on HIV/AIDS and Transmissible Diseases and vice chair of the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria; Alexander Goliusov, head of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Department, Russian Ministry of Health; Liudmila Alexeeva, director, Moscow Helsinki Group; Vladimir Pozner, president, Russian TV Academy; Aryeh Neier, president, Open Society Institute; Joelle Tanguy, managing director, Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC); Igor Gorlinsky, dean, the Faculty of Biology, Saint Petersburg State University; Anatoliy Shatokhin, Health Manager, BP Russia; Alexander Tsekhanovich, director, Humanitarian Action Foundation; Alec Khachatrian, executive director, RF, Trans-Atlantic Partners Against AIDS (TPAA); Steven Solnick, Representative, Ford Foundation (Moscow Office); Judyth L. Twigg, associate director, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University; Sarah E. Mendelson, senior fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington); Gabriele Fischer, professor of psychiatry and medical director of the Addiction Clinic at the University Psychiatry Hospital, Vienna, Austria; Hortense Gbaguidi-Niamke, HIV/AIDS Program Officer, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA); Alex de Waal, director, Justice Africa; Theodore P. Gerber, professor of sociology, University of Wisconsin at Madison; Sergey Smirnov, assistant to the director for social and human sciences, UNESCO (Moscow office); Evgeny Kozhokin, director, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies; Vladimir Musatov, deputy chief physician, Botkin Infectious Disease Hospital, St. Petersburg; Andrey Tolopilo, IHRD Technical Advisor on Human Rights and Legal Issues, Ukrainian Harm Reduction Association; Raisa Skriabine, international health consultant, Washington, D.C.; Alexandra Volgina, cofounder, Svecha Charity; Alexey Datiy, head, Research Institute, Russian Federal Prison Administration; Joseph Amon, HIV/AIDS director, Human Rights Watch; Daniel Novichkov, information manager, Regional Public Organization “Community of People Living with HIV/AIDS”; Daniil Meshcharykov, executive director, Moscow Helsinki Group; Lev Levinson, a drug policy expert, Institute for Human Rights; Natalia Khodakevich, deputy regional director, RF, AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW); Olga Fedorova, director, Project of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Monitoring, Moscow Helsinki Group; Alyona Peryshkina, program director, AIDS Infoshare (Moscow); Elizaveta Veikher, coordinator of the Master of Science Program in Public Health, the Faculty of Biology, Saint Petersburg State University; Mikhail Rukavishnikov, director, Development and External Affairs, Regional Public Organization “Community of People Living with HIV/AIDS”; Natalya Katsap, manager, Media Partnerships, TPAA, and the director, Russian Media Partnership to Combat HIV/AIDS; Alexander Rumiantsev, director, Delo Foundation (St. Petersburg).
A project of the Smolny College and its Gagarin Human Rights Center, with the support of Bard College and Saint Petersburg State University, in honour of the United Nations’ Sixtieth Anniversary # # # (9/21/05)

This event was last updated on 10-20-2005

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