Bulletin 2002 -13

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Bulletin 2002 -13

1 - Spécial Palestine

A - Sharon et le Droit international

C - NON à l'épuration ethnique !

D - Rapports sur les Violations des Droits Humains par Israël

9 - Rencontre internationale pour les enfants d'Afrique (Italie- juin 2002)

10 - Lutter contre les violences faites aux femmes

From : http://www.paix-en-palestine.org/doss/shabio.htm#not

April 9, 2002

Dear friend,

The violence between Israelis and Palestinians is spinning
out of control. It threatens to kill thousands in Israel and
the occupied territories, and to engulf the entire region in
war. Hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli civilians are
already dead.

In the words of President Bush, enough is enough. It's time
to end this deadly stalemate and forge a lasting peace.
Please join us and many Jewish and Palestinian groups in
calling on the Bush Administration to lead the world
community and play a strong role in the conflict until a
permanent peace agreement has been reached. Just go to:

http://www.moveon.org/enoughisenough/

Prominent members of both sides agree that only a political
solution will bring peace, but without the intervention of
the world community, everything indicates that the violence
will continue to escalate. Regional war is also a real
possibility: already, the Israeli army has come under shell
fire from the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Egypt has suspended
contact with Israel. As Israel's strongest supporter and as
a champion of the Palestinian state, the United States may
be the only country that can step in and stop the bloodshed
for good.

The Bush Administration is torn on how deeply to engage on
this issue. It's good news that US Secretary of State Colin
Powell will travel to Israel and work to secure a peace
agreement. And the US has supported a UN Security Council
resolution on this issue, which is unprecedented. But the
Administration is likely to come under heavy fire from both
sides for taking this stance, and it lacks a firm policy for
the region. President Bush needs to hear that people around
the world support continued US involvement until a lasting
peace has been achieved.

You can let him know at: http://www.moveon.org/enoughisenough/

Every day, this situation grows more dire. Please act now for a peaceful Middle East.

Sincerely, --Eli Pariser 9-11Peace Campaign MoveOn.org (April 9, 2002)

PS: For more information on the Middle East and peacekeeping efforts there, and for a list of Jewish and Palestinian groups that support increased US involvement, go to the link above and click on "Middle East."

US Secretary of State Colin Powell: "No matter how many tanks go through how many villages, at the end of this process you will still have suicide bombers. Ultimately, the Israeli Defense Forces will . . . have to leave the occupied territories . . . and we'll be right back to the need for a political process." (As quoted in the Washington Post,
2/4/02)

From: "Eli Pariser, 9-11peace.org" <moveon-help-497-1071302-qT7LEyDJAhRe%2By7FUG4%2F5g@list.moveon.org>

C - NON à l'épuration ethnique !

(texte du 2 avril 2001...)

NON A L’EPURATION ETHNIQUE PERPETREE PAR LES SIONISTES !

From Michele.Dayras@sos-sexisme.org

B'Tselem: les Forces Israéliennes utilisent des civils palestiniens comme
boucliers humains. Selon l'information fournie à B'Tselem par le docteur Zahara
el-Wawi, docteur présent à l'hôpital, les soldats sont entrés dans la mosquée
avec leurs fusils déposés sur les épaules de civils palestiniens qui étaient
obligés de marcher devant eux pour faire office de "bouclier humain".

Sur Paix-en-Palestine! à l'adresse:
http://www.paix-en-palestine.org/arti/btsbouhum.htm?lb1

B'Tselem: Torture et interdiction complète de communiquer dans le camp de
détention de Ofer. Depuis le début de l'opération "Mur de défense", les Forces
Israéliennes de Défense ont détenu des centaines de Palestiniens à travers toute
la Cisjordanie. Dans la seule zone de Ramallah, plus de 1 600 Palestiniens ont
été détenus et emmenés dans le camp de détention de Ofer, près de Beituniya.
Après la libération de certains des prisonniers, les organisations de défense
des Droits de l'Homme israéliennes ont commencé à recevoir de l'information sur
les conditions difficiles dans les camps de détention et sur les traitements
violents des prisonniers sur le chemin vers le camp et durant la détention.

Sur Paix-en-Palestine! à l'adresse:
http://www.paix-en-palestine.org/arti/btstorofer.htm?lb2

***

Voilà l'action lancée par Amnesty. Signez si vous pouvez.
La pression internationale a déjà sauvé une femme dans une situation similaire.
Gardons le souffle ! MERCI
Annie De Wiest <annie.dewiest@skynet.be>


Nigéria : un nouveau cas de lapidation

Dans l'Etat de Katsina, au nord de Nigéria, Amina Lawal
Kurami a été condamnée vendredi 22 mars 2002 à être
exécutée pour avoir eu un enfant hors mariage. Le père
désigné a nié. Elle a trente jours pour faire appel. Une
pétition électronique est de nouveau lancée par Amnesty
International : http://www.droitsdesfemmes.net/

Merci de transférer cet e-mail à vos connaissances pour récolter un maximum de signatures.

Confronting older people's poverty: gender and income security

Poverty is the main threat facing older men and women world-wide. In
developing countries where older populations are growing fastest, they are
consistently among the poorest of the poor. In countries in transition where
state systems have collapsed and social safety nets have been removed older
people are the hardest hit by the transition. HelpAge International believes
that tackling poverty among older men and women is both an issue of basic
human rights, and a critical next step in the fight to reduce global levels
of poverty and attain the Millennium Development Goals.

We are now well versed in the feminization of poverty and gender biases in
education and the labour market that place women at a disadvantage in
ensuring a secure and stable livelihood. However, the feminization of old
age and cumulative gender bias older women are likely to face is seldom
acknowledged in poverty or gender analyses. Poverty indicators focus almost
entirely on the lower age groups and do not adequately reflect the gendered
poverty of older men and women. Yet HelpAge International's experience shows
that a large proportion of older people in developing countries live below
the poverty line and lack basic needs such as food, water, shelter and
healthcare. Furthermore this poverty is inherently gendered in old age as it
is in younger age groups and older women are more likely to be widowed, live
alone, have few assets of their own and be dependent on family members for
support. Older men also face gender bias as the ageing process undermines
their ability to provide for their families, and discriminates against them
in support for agricultural inputs or credit schemes. Their gendered
experience of old age must not be neglected.

Consultations with older people in Mozambique showed that 80% of
interviewees, both men and women, identified not having a source of income
(job, family support or pension), not having resources with which to
generate income. (e.g. livestock, farm implements, or other materials) and
not having access to credit or other income generating projects/facilities
as key constraints to their income security. Families increasingly suffering
under the strain of poverty themselves, have few resources left over to
support their older parents.

"You can be living with your family but are still isolated and not taken
care of. Our children do not have an income, as they are not employed. The
little they earn from casual labour is not even enough for their own
families". (Older woman, Kenya)

In many parts of the world older people are discriminated against by
moneylenders and micro-credit schemes (including well-respected and known
institutions such as the Grameen Bank and BRAC) as they are assumed to not
be creditworthy subjects. This discrimination increases their poverty.

"Our old age and sickness is often the biggest factor for the NGOs and the
moneylenders to refuse even small loans." Older woman, Cambodia.

In fact, HAI's experience of credit schemes for older people in Peru has
found that older people's repayment rate is exceedingly good, with very
little pressure required to ensure loan payments are made. Furthermore the
income they generate provides them with some kind of security and improves
their status in the household.

Most older people work into very old age to secure a minimum income for
themselves and contribute to their families in kind through childcare,
looking after animals and guarding property. Some are able to farm a small
plot of land for food. Few, however, have an adequate source of income or
livelihood. Pensions systems around the world are grossly inadequate to
cater for the needs and constraints of the poor and continue to have
inherent gender biases through their insistence on minimum contributions
periods and uneven retirement ages. They currently focus entirely on formal
sector employed and have a heavy urban bias, when many of today's older
people live in rural areas. Only four countries in the world have the
equivalent of a non-contributory pension, and even then the amount is
pitiful relative to need. However, HAI's experience suggests that even in
these very small amounts a pension of this sort can make a significant
contribution to the household and well being of the older person, especially
when that person has no other form of income. Non-contributory pensions
especially favour women, as they are less likely to have had the possibility
of saving or accruing sufficient income to contribute to a pension fund on a
regular basis. Research by the World Bank in Eastern and Central Europe
shows that the transition to a market economy and accompanying roll back of
the state and privatization of pension funds has had serious consequences
for older women who previously had equal entitlements under the social
security system.

Older women face particular constraints in later life, as in most parts of
the world they do not have the same inheritance and property rights as men.
In many parts of Africa women cannot inherit land. Instead, on the death of
her husband the land is passed to her oldest son or back to the husband's
family. Similarly, age and gender bias combine to strip the older man of all
income earning capacity as employers, moneylenders and small business
entrepreneurs repeatedly turn them away. Not only does this impact on their
poverty but also on their social status in the family and community. In some
countries older men have suffered more from neglect by their families once
they fail to produce and income and tend to suffer more often from
depression than women.
Older people's tremendous contributions to the household are rarely
acknowledged let alone supported in poverty alleviation programmes. Older
men and women are facing particular new burdens since the onset of the
HIV/AIDS epidemic due to their critical role as carers for their sick
children and guardians of the orphans who remain. In many cases older men,
in particular, are forced to sell their meagre assets to pay for medical
treatment and funeral costs for sick relatives, as well as the survival
needs of remaining family members. The older people are thrown into chronic
poverty and remaining younger family members are disenfranchised of their
inheritance, perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty. Yet older men and
women are repeatedly excluded from intervention programmes tackling HIV/AIDS
and its related impacts on poverty.

At HelpAge International we are asking that older people's contributions be
recognised and valued and that they be allocated their fare share of
national and global resources as an issue of basic rights as well as common
sense. All people need to be guaranteed adequate social protection and
minimum income in old age. The intergenerational and gendered nature of
poverty over the life course needs to be recognised, analysed and acted upon
in national and international poverty reduction programmes and targeted in
integrated poverty reductions strategies if the Millennium Development Goal
of halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015 is to be achieved.
Similar targets aimed at fighting hunger and providing basic water and
shelter will not be met either unless older men and women are recognised as
bearers of the right to development and key agents in poverty reduction and
the survival of their families.

The Second World Assembly on Ageing, which will take place in Madrid from
April 8-12th 2002, provides an opportunity for UN member states to push for
older people's poverty around the world to be addressed in national and
international policy and action. It also provides the opportunity for
commitments made in the Beijing Platform for Action to be applied to our
ageing world and strengthened in the International Plan of Action on Ageing.
HelpAge International has facilitated the participation of over fifty women
and men from developing countries and countries in transition* in the
activities in Madrid so that older people themselves can express their
needs, views and opinions on the design, implementation and monitoring of
gender sensitive poverty reduction strategies for a more secure and more
dignified old age for today's and tomorrow's older women and men.

We would like policy makers to consider how many men and women will die a
death of old age poverty if ageing and older people's gendered needs are not
included and addressed in the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals.

(*With generous support from the Dutch, Canadian and British Government)

From: Leslie Wright

In The Atlanta Constitution and Journal, both Smithwick and Sheffield pointed to education as a way to save women’s lives. "Education results in sustainable improvements," said Smithwick. "And reproductive health has repercussions in everything." Sheffield said, "An investment in education promotes smaller family size, a delay in first pregnancy, lowers infant mortality rates and increases family income levels." Read in: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Chicago Tribune and Associated Press

From: Leslie Wright

AFGHANISTAN: U.N. Commission Approves Resolution On Women And Girls The U.N. Commission on the Status of Women approved by consensus yesterday a revised resolution on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan that outlines recommendations to the interim government and U.N. agencies which aim to improve their quality of life. The commission adjourned its annual session March 15, but had been unable to adopt the Afghan text by the secretariat's deadline, according to the United Nations.

The U.S.-led text, recommended for approval by the U.N. Economic and Social Council, urges Afghanistan to fully respect the equal human rights and freedoms of women and girls in accordance with international standards, give priority to the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its optional protocol, repeal all laws that discriminate against women and girls, respect women's right to work and to security, ensure equal access to education for Afghan women and girls and ensure equal and full participation of women and girls in civil, cultural, economic, political and social life in Afghanistan.

According to the resolution, the transitional government would also be asked to bring to justice those responsible for violence against women and girls, protect their rights to freedom and movement and respect their equal access to physical and mental health services (U.N. release, March 25).

>From : Patricia M. Sears <Patricia M. Sears >President Northeast Kingdom Tamarack, Inc. (NEKTI)

From : femnetfocalpoints@econewsafrica.org

***

ARTICLE SUMMARY:
The U.N. General Assembly yesterday voted overwhelmingly to approve the
declaration and plan of action from last year's World Conference against
Racism, following a recommendation from the assembly's Social,
Humanitarian and Cultural Committee.

You can see the complete version of this story at:
http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/util/display_stories.asp?objid=25105

THE VIVA RIO SUMMER PROGRAM: HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES IN BRAZIL

RIO DE JANEIRO JUNE 3 - JUNE 21, 2002


Dear Friends:

We are pleased to announce the summer program for Human Rights Studies in
Brazil. The class will be held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3rd through June
21. During the three weeks, students will be affiliated with one of the
most prestigious Brazilian NGOs, Viva Rio, which sponsors various
comprehensive human rights programs throughout the city. Students will
study the international human rights standards, the role of international
and local NGOs in the Brazilian human rights movement, the everyday practice
of human rights at the community level, the significance of human rights
representation, and the role of human rights education (both formal and
non-formal) in promoting human rights. During the course, we will have two
sessions a day. The sessions will be either lectures, site-visits, or group
discussions. We will be based out of the headquarters for Viva Rio. But
many of our classes will be conducted in favela communities while visiting
different NGOs.

Students who are encouraged to apply include university students with a
strong interest in human rights studies, emerging human rights scholars,
students of visual media who wish to focus on human rights themes, and
international NGO workers. The language of instruction will be English and
international students must have a strong command of both oral and written
English for lectures and discussions. The cost for the three week course
will be US $1000. Airfare, housing, meals, and visa costs are not included
in the tuition.

For a detailed explanation of the course, the schedule, the faculty,
accommodations, anticipated expenses, and an application, please send a
email to the director of the Viva Rio summer program, Peter Lucas:
<peterfrancislucas@hotmail.com>.

Please write in the subject line "Human Rights in Brazil."

From : <hr-education@hrea.org>.

Per ogni informazione e per il programma di viaggio contattare: info@linus.it

ICRW (International Center for Research on Women) has been doing research in India on domestic violence for the last five years, with support from the USAID. The research points to the wide-spread existence of domestic violence in all classes on the one hand and the complete denial of the issue in certain classes on the other. It shows that nearly 40% of the women sampled reported experiencing a form of physical violence at least once in their lifetime, and 43% report experiencing one form of psychological violence at least once in their lifetime. Shockingly, 50% of the women reporting physical violence reported experiencing it during pregnancy. (Reports available on-line www.icrw.org)

From: "Vijaya Nidadavolu" <nvijaya@icrwindia.org>

Recently, UNIFEM published "Picturing a Life Free of Violence: Media and Communications Strategies to End Violence against Women", which showcasesmaterials from around the world (including materials from many members of the End-Violence Working Group!). This publication can be found at: http://www.unifem.undp.org/public/freeofviolence/index.htm)

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Venez nombreuses !