Two formidable women were appointed to key positions, one combatting HIV/AIDS on a global stage and the other battling bigotry and hatred in the U.S. this month.
The United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS, known as UNAIDS, announced the appointment of Winnie Byanyima as the agency’s new executive director earlier this month.
The Ugandan human rights advocate was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres following a comprehensive selection process with a search committee and members of the UNAIDS Program Coordinating Board, according to the August 14 news release from the agency.
UNAIDS mission is to lead and inspire the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths, according to the release.
Byanyima has more than 30 years of experience in political leadership, diplomacy and humanitarian engagement on behalf of marginalized people, especially women. This isn’t the first time Byanyima has worked for the U.N., prior to heading Oxfam International, which she has done since 2013, she served for seven years as the director of Gender and Development at the United Nations Development Program.
“I am honored to be joining UNAIDS as the executive director at such a critical time in the response to HIV,” said Byanyima in the release. “The end of AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 is a goal that is within the world’s reach, but I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge ahead. Working with all its partners, UNAIDS must continue to speak up for the people left behind and champion human rights as the only way to end the epidemic.”
MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights was encouraged by Byanyima’s appointment following Michael Sidibe, the former UNAIDS executive director’s, internal leadership crisis uncovered in an external report last year.
Sidibe stepping down in June 2019 following accusations of “sexual harassment, bullying, and abuse of power” uncovered in the report, reported CNN.
“The world needs an even stronger UNAIDS to provide steady leadership in the global HIV response,” said MPact’s Executive Director Dr. George Ayala said in an August 15 news release from the organization. “Ms. Byanyima must move quickly to rally governments and global donors in fast-tracking a rights-based and evidence-informed HIV response.”
Ayala continued outlining the organization’s expectations for UNAIDS.
He stated that the organization was looking for UNAIDS to “help finally close the HIV treatment gap,” by “addressing barriers to service access like the cost of diagnostics and medicines.
“UNAIDS must also keep an unwavering focus on eliminating stigma, discrimination, violence, and criminalization, which continue to seriously undermine the global HIV response for gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who use drugs, sex workers, and transgender people.”
Byanyima holds an advanced degree in mechanical engineering (in energy conservation and the environment) from the Cranfield Institute of Technology and an undergraduate degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Manchester, according to the release.
Last week, Political Research Associates named award-winning journalist Tina Vasquez as assistant research director.
Award-winning journalist Tina Vasquez to be new Political Research Associates assistant research director. Photo: Courtesy of Political Research Associates
Vasquez will begin her new position on September 9, according to the August 23 news release.
In her new role, Vasquez will be responsible for leading the Reproductive Justice, Gender, and Sexuality program and expand the social justice research center’s relationships with newsmakers and advocacy groups.
For a decade, Vasquez has written about the intersections of immigration, gender justice, and LGBTQ rights and was a senior reporter at Rewire.News, a journalism nonprofit that specializes in reporting on reproductive rights and social justice issues.
She created the news organization’s immigration beat and forged media partnerships with NPR’s Latino USA, The New York Review of Books, Wake Forest University’s Anna Julia Cooper Center, and Press On, a southern collective for Movement Journalism.
She has also served as an associate editor at Black Girl Dangerous and has contributed to Jezebel, The Guardian, Bitch Magazine, and Al Jazeera.
Vasquez said that “PRA’s research informed my reporting and helped shape my understanding of anti-immigrant sheriffs and right-wing movements” she hopes to do the same for other journalists.
“I now hope to do the same for journalists covering unprecedented attacks on reproductive rights and LGBTQ communities,” Vasquez said in the release. “PRA is doing crucial work, especially in this political moment, and I’m thrilled to join the organization and help support movements that are fighting for justice.”
PRA Executive Director Tarso Luís Ramos praised Vasquez’s investigative reporting.
“Tina’s journalism combines muckraking with a passionate commitment to those who are targeted and abused because of their race, gender, sexuality, and/or immigration status,” said Luís Ramos. “Organized bigots beware – we look forward to unleashing her formidable talents on the right-wing movements currently shaping repressive government policies.”
