 
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Thursday, June 08, 2000
The U.N. International Labor Organization yesterday released a report that said the spread of the AIDS virus is likely to curb the size and quality of the labor force, increase employers' costs and reverse economic progress in the worst-hit countries. At the same time, discord surfaced publicly regarding the drafting of the conference's final consensus platform for action. Here is a sampling of reaction to the AIDS report and the platform drafting:
"It has taken society in general a long time to recognize AIDS as a serious workplace issue. We have looked at this problem along the lines of a health care crisis, but it is equally in my view a labor crisis because it affects the workplace, the economic health of countries and has a devastating impact in particular regions."
-- U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman
"If we don't start by identifying what the problems are, how will action be taken to reduce these problems?"
-- Bene Madunagu, Nigerian Girls' Power Initiative
"The real reason this document is not finished is because of radical language being pushed by the rich Western states. This document could have been complete last March if not for the radical nature of the Western proposals on sexual rights, homosexual rights, abortion and many others. [Western nations are attempting] "to spread to the developing world a kind of personal immorality that has utterly failed the rich West."
-- anti-abortion activist Austin Ruse