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December has historically been a month comprised of revolutionary events. On December 9, 1948, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was opened for signature. On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In December 1995, the FDA approved the first protease inhibitor, one of the now many classes of therapies available for the treatment of HIV infection. December 1 is now designated as World AIDS Day.
On Monday, December 8, 2008, Physicians for Human Rights and Harvard Medical School will be hosting a town hall meeting titled HIV/AIDS and the Right to Health: Leadership in the US and Globally commemorating World AIDS Day and the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. RSVP by midnight and be prepared to arrive super early if you want a seat.
From December 13-15, 2008 United Sikhs will be hosting Global Sikh Civil Rights Conference during which a Global Civil Rights Report will be released, cases will be presented to the United Nations and sangat, and a panel discussion will be held at the United Nations Church Center. E-mail law@unitedsikhs.org to RSVP or visit unitedsikhs.org for more information.
Because of revolutionary thinkers and activists, HIV is no longer a lethal disease but a chronic manageable condition that is now screened for in the same way we screen for high cholesterol and reported (in most states) in the same manner we notify patients about other blood work and studies. Because of raised voices and collective seva, Sikhs are making headway in defending their right to dignity, life and safety, and practice Sikhi. December 2008 marks only the beginning of change to come. Do your part in educating yourself about the issues and diseases afflicting our panth, erasing intolerance and helping to enact interventions through more than just surveillance research. Let us open our eyes and acknowledge past and present human rights violations in Punjab and throughout the world*. Let us reevaluate our own stigmas and acknowledge that HIV/AIDS affects Sikhs of all sexual orientations, backgrounds and ages. Let us raise our fists together and stay committed to change for months and years to come.
*including Zimbabwe, Turkey, Congo, Russia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Thailand, Burundi, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Kazakhstan, and the United States (Human Rights Watch Weekly Digest, Nov 28-Dec 3)
Correction Appended
Reseachers at the NYU/Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture published a study titled “The Effects of Torture-Related Injuries on Long-Term Psychological Distress in a Punjabi Sikh Sample” to determine whether “physical injury moderates or mediates the relationship between torture and major depressive episodes (MDE) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors of political persecution in India.” Translation: do physical injuries in the setting of torture manifest themselves through mental disease? Major conclusions of the study included that “the diagnosis of MDE was not associated with torture, although depression was associated with chronic injuries” and “injury mediates the effect of torture on longterm PTSD.” Translation: it wasn’t the torture experience itself that led to MDE or PTSD in the sample of Sikhs studied, but rather the “traumatic cues” or reminders of being tortured through the chronic injuries one sustained that led to the manifestation of psychiatric illness.
Some bloggers have noted it was upsetting to not see Sikh physicians associated with the study. Although I agree to some extent, this is where it gets a bit fuzzy for me. It would be inspirational to see Sikhs in the medical world document the physical and psychological toll of human rights abuses in Punjab. Yet, these bloggers are setting a dangerous precedent by narrowing the population to be served to Sikhs alone. We, the Sikh Panth, are a nation defined by an insignia: we must maintain our miri and piri and protect our own spiritual and political sovereignty yet embrace the circular symbol of oneness and our duty to humanity by fighting all injustices and actions of oppression. The atrocities in Punjab have most certainly not been brought to an appropriate scale of attention, and we should use that frustration to motivate us. We must, however, make sure we do not remain blind to our current state of affairs. Genocides are going on right now in Kenya, Sudan, Chechnya, Palestine, and Burma. Right now. Yes, I’ll say it again: genocides are happening right now. In fact, we can broaden the list a bit further: when an individual is denied access to healthcare or medications a human rights violation is committed. Which means I’ve indited nearly every country on the planet, including the U.S. and Canada. Our frustration should not only be with the dearth of Sikhs within the field of human rights but with the number of spirited Sikhs enraged by the brutality currently being enforced on our brothers and sisters. Let us start by reading and getting up to speed with current national and world events and then ask questions, get linked into organizations such as Human Rights Watch or Physicians for Human Rights, sign petitions, blog our thoughts, write letters to the editor, go into the field, march in the streets, shout from the rooftops… okay, I’ll end before I start calling for total anarchy. But you get my drift, I hope.
Correction: February 1, 2007
There is an erroneous statement above, and it has been striked. The blogger did not place limits on the population to be served.
sikh.p.u.l.s.e. 
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