Although it was interesting to hear from some of the panelists about discrimination towards trans people, undocumented and irregular migrants, and people living with a disability, the whole panel came across as very stifled. Maybe I'm just not used to the way that discussions happen within UN organizations, but I felt like the speakers were trying so hard to be politically correct and to not say anything controversial, that their message was completely lost. You really can't talk about an issue like the provision of health care to undocumented (and even documented) migrants without taking a political stance. I felt like towards the end, with some of the questions asked from the audience, the discussion opened up a little bit and the panelists were able to be a bit more frank. Unfortunately, the discussion was cut short to allow the next meeting to start.
At the seminar, they were really pushing the #zerodiscrimination campaign, which seemed kind of strange and out of place. They gave us all these little butterfly buttons and stickers that said things like "zero discrimination" and "keep calm and don't discriminate". Personally, I kind of thought it was crap, since "raising awareness" of discrimination seems not only to be an ineffective intervention, given that most discrimination is institutionalized it also seemed to be poorly executed. Why is UNAIDS running this campaign anyways? Who are they trying to reach? A bunch of interns in the UN system?
I'm sure that I act in discriminatory ways from time to time, but I don't do it consciously, and someone telling me to "stop discrimination" doesn't exactly give any way to change the way I behave. It also doesn't tell me how to advocate for unisex bathrooms, or accessibility or for access to healthcare and living wages for migrant workers. Also, the butterflies are just kind of lame. End rant.
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