The United Nations General Assembly should reverse its decision to exclude three human rights and sexual health nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from its June 10 high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS, a coalition of human rights groups and international AIDS organizations said today.

A homophobic mob attack in Jamaica that left one man severely injured and another missing and feared dead shows yet again that authorities must take urgent action against violence and hatred, Human Rights Watch said today. This incident is the latest in a string of homophobic mob violence over the last year, including an attack on mourners in a church.

Gareth Williams, a leading AIDS activist and voice for the rights of sexual minorities in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean, is the recipient of the 2006 International Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch announced today. Stella, a Montréal-based support and information group organized by and for sex workers, is the recipient of the Canadian award.

As fears arise that two women were murdered because of their alleged lesbian relationship, Jamaican authorities must immediately investigate the crime, Human Rights Watch said in a letter sent to the Jamaican government today. It should also act to combat the continuing climate of violent homophobia.

Ongoing rights abuses are undermining efforts to fight the HIV pandemic and threatening the few, hard-won successes, Human Rights Watch said today, a month before the XVI International AIDS Conference opens in Toronto.

In a recent (Monday, May 22) column in this newspaper, deputy solicitor general, Stephen Vasciannie, suggested that Jamaica has no legal obligation to repeal its sodomy laws because no international treaty explicitly recognises a right to homosexual sex, and no reasonable interpretation of the law could justify this conclusion.

Human Rights Watch mourns the death of Steve Harvey, a leading Jamaican HIV/AIDS activist who worked tirelessly to defend the health and human rights of people living with and at high-risk of HIV/AIDS.

Jamaican authorities should reject a police demand to press criminal charges against local human rights defenders who have criticized police abuses against gay men and people living with HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the Jamaican prime minister.