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to Headline Gay Benefit 30,000 March in Johannesburg, South Africa IGLHRC Posts Guide to Accessing AIDS Drugs |
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By Rex Wockner International News Report
Elton John, George Michael to Headline Gay Benefit
Pop music stars George Michael and Elton John will headline a November 28 concert in London to celebrate the 10th birthday of Stonewall, Britain's leading gay lobby group. The event, which will take place at Royal Albert Hall, is being promoted as Europe's largest-ever indoor, ticketed gay event. 30,000 March in Johannesburg
The march was followed by an all-night concert and party. South Africa is one of only four nations that ban anti-gay discrimination in their constitutions. IGLHRC POSTS Guide to Accessing AIDS Drugs The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has Web-posted an international guide on obtaining HIV treatments. The URL is www.iglhrc.org. "This campaign kit is one way to make governments and the pharmaceutical industry pay attention to other concerns, including concerns of those in need of health care," said IGLHRC's Sydney Levy. "One of our goals is to take the complicated arena of international trade laws and demystify it, making it more accessible to activists." The kits explain how activists can lobby under international trade provisions that permit parallel importing and compulsory licensing. As explained by IGLHRC: "Parallel importing is the practice of importing something from someone other than the manufacturer at a better price. The opportunity for parallel importing occurs when, for example, a pharmaceutical company sells an HIV medicine to one country at a less expensive rate; another country then imports the medicines from this country rather than the pharmaceutical company. ... "Compulsory licensing is when the government permits a third party to manufacture a product without the permission of a patent owner, an act which is perfectly legal under Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, an international agreement governing this area." |
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