From: ALI00BAW@UNCCVM.UNCC.EDU
Subject: Re: US Violates Refugee Rights
Organization: UNC Charlotte
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 17:44:41 GMT

This is not a gay rights or racial relations matter; it is a public
health matter.  There are several other diseases that may serve as
grounds for exclusion from the US; e.g. leprosy (or Hansen's Disease
if you prefer.)
 
There is enough racism and homophobia in the world without inventing
it where it isn't.
lazarus@wixer.cactus.org (Michael Lax) writes:
 
>
>The following is an action called for by Amnesty International USA's
>Government Action Network and is posted here by Amnesty International
>Members for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (AIMLGC).
>
>For more information about this action, write: Amnesty International USA's
>Government Action Network, 304 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC
>20003.  For information about AIMLGC, send email to: aimlgc, PeaceNet, (or
>aimlgc@igc.org, on other networks).  Postal mail can be sent to: AIMLGC, P.O.
>Box 8293, Santa Cruz, CA 95061-8293.
>
>**********************************************
>
>U.S. Violates Rights of HIV-Positive Refugees
>
>November 12, 1992 -- The United States Government is currently holding
>240 Haitian asylum seekers plus 38 other family members in quarantine at
>the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.  These refugees have tested
>positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).  Each one has also
>been judged twice to have a significant claim for the protection of the United
>States due to fear of persecution by security forces or their allies in Haiti.
>
>These 240 men and women and their dependents are not being allowed to
>pursue their claims of asylum because current U.S. policy calls for refuges
>with HIV to be excluded from the country.  Although Dr. Louis Sullivan,
>Secretary of Health and Human Services, called in January 1991 for this
>policy to be changed, the Bush administration has not taken any action to do
>so.
>
>U.S. policy allows for a waiver to be granted in the U.S. embassy of a
>refugee's home country.  The waiver, however, is not practical nor safe for
>refugees who have fled their country, apparently m,any with a well-founded
>fear of persecution.  In addition, most of these Haitians were likely unaware
>of their HIV status until they reached Guantanamo.
>
>Amnesty International believes that this U.S. action violates the basic human
>rights of people to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from
>persecution (Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
>
>Please write to William Bar, the Attorney General of the United States, and
>please send a copy of your letter to June Osborn, the chair of President
>Bush's National Commission on AIDS.  Urge Mr. Barr to allow HIV-positive
>Haitians in Guantanamo to enter the United States and pursue their claims
>for political asylum.  It would be especially appropriate for the Bush
>administration to grant this before President Bush's term in office expires in
>January.
>
>WRITE:
>
>The Honorable William Barr
>Attorney general of the U.S.
>Department of Justice
>10th and Constitution NW
>Room 4400
>Washington, DC  20530
>
>Fax: 202-514-4371
>
>CC:
>
>June Osborn
>Chair
>National Commission on AIDS
>1720 K Street NW
>Room 815
>Washington, DC 20006
>
>Fax: 202-254-3060
>
>Redirect the Power of Government for Human Rights!
>
>