YES Campaign: Youth Educated Sexually!

 

YESS: Youth Encourages Safer Sex

 

YES to safer sex

YES to condoms

YES to informed choices

YES to reliable information

YES to Youth Educated Sexually

 

 

Manifesto of the ASTRA Youth Group

on the launch of “YES” campaign promoting condom use

 

 

If sex you choose, then condom use!

 

 

We, young women and men of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Balkan Countries are truly concerned about our peers’ reproductive and sexual health. The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Eastern Europe has been increasing steeply and constantly, and is reaching alarming proportions.  The number of HIV-positive persons has risen by one third since 2003 (UNAIDS, 2006 *). Young people, especially teenage women are most vulnerable to HIV infection. According to UNAIDS, people under 25 years account for half of all newly diagnosed infections. Many countries of the CEE region are at the forefront of the pandemic, including the Russian Federation which has the biggest AIDS prevalence in all of Europe, Ukraine and Belarus – countries where the escalation of the epidemic is especially steep (UNAIDS 2006).

 

 

We, ASTRA Youth members are worried about the alarming situation and trends we face. The challenge posed by HIV/AIDS demands an urgent and effective response. As by now, the only method to fight HIV/AIDS we have at our disposal is prevention through correct and consistent condom use.

 

 

Young people do have sex and sexuality is an important aspect of our lives – that’s a reality. However, there is strong evidence that young people of the CEE region and Balkan countries lack accurate and comprehensive knowledge and skills on how to practice safer sex (Youth’s Voice, 2006 **). Prejudice, taboos, and misconceptions are common.

This makes us - young people in all the CEE region - more vulnerable to contracting HIV, Sexually Transmitted infections, and more likely to experience unwanted pregnancy, stigma, and guilt about our sexuality.

 

 

The part of the world we live in is a very specific one in terms of cultural attitudes towards sexuality and states’ policies towards sexuality education. In many countries with conservative views on sexual and reproductive health and rights, young people’s access to reliable information, services and supplies, including male and female condoms, is significantly limited. Being conscious and responsible human beings, we do not want to deny our sexuality. Thus, we urge and set out to make condom use the new behavioral norm for all young people, to ensure healthy, respectable, and safer sexuality.     

 

 

Many HIV-prevention campaigns targeted at youth are exclusively or mostly abstinence-based. We, the ASTRA Youth Group express deep concerns that this particular prevention approach will not reach those young people who engage in or want to engage in sexual intercourse. Sexually active youth have a right to information on how to minimize the risk of HIV. Thus we call upon the national governments to recognize youth’s needs and to undertake actions to educate young people about safer sex. 

 

     

Safer sex requires correct and consistent condom use. Male and female condoms are the most effective prevention technology that is available so far It’s a shame that condom use is not promoted among young women and men in the CEE region and Balkan Countries. The low rate of condom use among people is alarming.

 

 

Sexually active young people can only reduce their vulnerability to HIV through the correct and consistent practice of protected sex.

 

 

It is our right to enjoy safer sex!

 

 

ASTRA Youth Group ***  

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:  

 

* UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic; available at: http://www.unaids.org/en/HIV_data/2006GlobalReport/default.asp

 

** Chruœciel, E. (ed.) Youth’s voice, Astra Network 2006; available at: http://www.astra.org.pl/youth_report.pdf

  

*** ASTRA Youth is a group of young activists from the CEE region and Balkan countries. The group was launched by Astra Network in July 2004. We advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people in the part of the world we live in. We already had a chance to participate in international events like Beijing+10 (Fourth World Conference on Women), 10th International Women and Health Meeting and 10th International AWID Forum and as the young delegation we represented the youth voice of the CEE region on the SRHR problems discussed on the world agenda. We believe that as the young generation we have a right to improve the world we live in, to provide us with better life options. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights are the basic human rights.

·   We have the right to decide about our lives, how we want to spend them.

·   We have the right to decide if, when and how many children we want to have.

·   We have the right to make decisions about beginning our sexual lives and the right to acquire information about how to make it safe.

Facing the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic, we have the right to information more reliable than pointing out abstinence as the best protection method against HIV/AIDS.