MEDIA RELEASE: 11 May 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Human Rights Pioneers
Remembered At Aids Memorial

On 16 May 2010, New Zealanders across the country will light candles to mark the 27th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. In New Zealand the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial will be marked in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill by hundreds of people. People who are living with, and affected by, HIV, will gather to celebrate the lives and honour those who have died of AIDS.

Eamonn Smythe, National Co-ordinator for New Zealand “the theme for 2010 is ‘many lights for human rights’”. New Zealand led the way in the early days of the HIV epidemic - many of the people who struggled for Homosexual Law Reform, the Human Rights Act and later, Prostitution Law Reform, came from the communities most affected by HIV and this is an opportunity to remember and honour them.”

Started in 1983, the historic Candlelight Memorial is one of the oldest and largest grassroots movements focused on HIV awareness and advocacy and is a program of the Global Health Council. Timed to coincide with this year’s Candlelight Memorial, the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt has announced that quilt panels representing New Zealanders who have died of AIDS are now available for viewing online at www.aidsquilt.org.nz/

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