United States: challenges filed to anti-prostitution pledge requirement.

Two separate lawsuits were filed recently in US federal courts challenging a provision of US law requiring that non-governmental organizations have a policy "explicitly opposing prostitution" as a condition of receiving funding under the United States Leadership against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (US Global AIDS Act). US-based plaintiffs in both cases argue that the anti-prostitution pledge requirement in the Act violates US Constitutional guarantees of free speech and due process, and undermines proven, effective efforts to fight HIV/AIDS among sex workers.