SEXISME et DROITS des FEMMES / SEXISM and WOMEN'S RIGHTS
: Bulletin 2003 - 15
Cher-e-s ami-e-s, dear
friends,
Ci-joint quelques courriers. There is
some news.
Merci de prévenir si vous ne souhaitez plus en recevoir;
Thanks
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Sororalement. Sisterly yours.
Michèle Dayras
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SEXISME et DROITS des FEMMES /
SEXISM and WOMEN'S RIGHTS : Bulletin 2003 - 15
1 - Iraq
* War on Civilians, War on Women : Sign the petition / Signez la
pétition !
* Iraqi Women Rush Deliveries under Bombings
* Femmes
autochtones contre la guerre
* Pas de guerre pour le pétrole
!
2 - Israel / Palestine
* I was a
human shield
* Des juifs de la diaspora renoncent à la citoyenneté
israélienne
3 - Latin America : Violence against women
4 - Bulgarie / Bulgaria : Législation contre la violence
domestique / Legislation against domestic violence
5 - Slovaquie /
Slovakia : Romes contraintes à la stérilisation / Forced sterilization
of Roma women
6 - Lituanie / Lituania : Le salaire des
femmes se rapproche de celui des hommes / Lituanie / Lituania : Le salaire des
femmes se rapproche de celui des hommes
7 - Suisse : La voix des oubliés du sida
8 - Africa : Young Girls Cornered by AIDS
9 - ONU : Gender based exploitation in
war
10 - International : Les Etats membres du G8
doivent enfin prendre des mesures concrètes pour favoriser l'accès aux
médicaments dans les pays pauvres
11 - Conference
/ Meeting - Petition !
* France
** Seminar " Participation of
young women in political life "
(17/09/2003)
** Débat pour préparer le
FSE
** Olympe de Gouges au Panthéon
(Pétition)
* Tchequie :
Students' Forum 2000 (June 2003)
* HREA distance learning
courses
12 - Books / Livres
* Georgia : A manual for starting
Human Rights Education
* Albania : Introducing human rights
in primary school nationwide
* Europe : Appel à
Communications
13 - New web site / Nouveau site internet
SOS SEXISME :
Campagne Internationale -
International Campaign - Campana
Internacional
***
1 - Iraq
>>>>>>>>>> NDLR : " A
vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire " !
....
* War on Civilians, War on Women :
Sign the petition / Signez la pétition !
War on Civilians, War on
Women
HOW
ARE WOMEN DISPROPORTIONATELY HURT BY WAR? Women are primarily responsible for
those made most vulnerable by war — children, the sick and the elderly — and for
maintaining families and households. When bombs destroy homes, hospitals,
schools and food markets, people’s basic needs do not disappear. In fact, they
intensify and women are left to meet the tremendous needs generated by the sharp
rise in trauma, disability, disease and homelessness that are the known outcomes
of war. US bombing and sanctions have already caused great hardship for Iraqi
women, who must intensify their work hauling water, processing food and
providing health care, day care and many other services formerly provided by the
state. Moreover, gender discrimination means that when resources such as jobs,
medical treatment and food are made scarce, the needs of girls and women are
sacrificed first.
*
* Iraqi
Women Rush Deliveries under Bombings
Agence France Presse; April 3, 2003; International
News
When 22-year-old Hind began to bleed heavily Thursday morning, her
mother rushed her to hospital for a premature delivery which doctors warn is
increasingly becoming the norm under relentless US-British bombardment of
Baghdad. Lying on a small bed at the al-Hayat hospital in central Baghdad, Hind
was shaking from the morning bleeding, low blood pressure and the Caesarean
section she underwent to deliver her baby.
But she still wanted to go home
later in the day. She did not want to be away from her husband and son when the
daily bombardment of the Iraqi capital resumes. Hind only found comfort when she
proudly looked at "Decisive," her newborn daughter named after the Iraqi
official codename glorifying the confrontation against the US-British onslaught
on the country.
"I wanted to name her Decisive after the name of the battle,
so that she may bring luck to Iraq in this battle," said Hind, referring to
Maarakat al-Hawassem, or "Decisive Battle" in Arabic. Her mother, Muntaha
Hussein, explained that Hind had suffered tremendously from climbing up and down
the stairs of their fourth-floor apartment due to power cuts since the war
erupted on March 20.
"But she was mostly terrified during bombings, some of
which were near the house. She was very tired and distressed in the last few
days. She delivered in her eighth month of pregnancy," she said. Sister Bushra,
founder and director of the Catholic Dominican hospital, said miscarriages,
premature deliveries and Caesarean sections had risen sharply since the start of
the war.
"The round-the-clock anxiety, the physical shock from the bombings,
and the fear ... are having a devastating effect on pregnant women," she said.
"We used to have mostly normal deliveries, with a limited number of operations,
now it is the opposite," said the nun, wearing a white scarf and a beige,
austere dress.
Sister Bushra said miscarriages were mostly increasing among
women in their third or fourth month of pregnancy. "Many women who usually have
normal deliveries are even requesting Caesarean sections a week or 10 days ahead
of their due dates because of the situation," she said.
"We make them sign
letters so that we are not held responsible if something goes wrong," she said.
The US-British bombing that destroyed nearby state buildings has shattered
hospital windows and prompted staff to quit. Sister Clementine, who is in charge
of administration, is now also the cook of the two-floor elegant villa, one of
the capital's most famous delivery hospitals.
"We had to bring theology
college student nuns to help us, but they are doing all the tasks that the staff
used to do, including cleaning," said the nun with a smiling, round face. Saad
Socrat is the anesthesiologist who stays at the hospital overnight, along with
an obstetrician, since telephone lines were cut in the recent bombings of
telecommunication centers in Baghdad.
"Every evening, I bring my wife, three
children and mother to sleep at the hospital because they are scared to stay at
home without me," he said. The bombings also forced the closure of the newborn
babies' ward. "During one of the terrible nights of massive bombings in the
neighborhood, the mothers started running hysterically toward the babies' ward
to protect their infants or make sure there are no mix-ups," said Sister Bushra.
"It was a terrible, terrible sight. Nobody can stop a mother, so we closed the
ward and gave each baby to his mother," she said, before breaking into
uncontrollable tears.
"Is this how the Americans want their 'liberation'
war, by killing unborn children and bombing residential neighborhoods where
there are hospitals? This is unacceptable," she said.
NAYLA RAZZOUK
*
* Femmes autochtones contre la
guerre
| Femmes autochtones
contre la guerre |
| Kahn-Tineta Horn et al., vendredi, 03/28/2003 -
21:16 |
(...)
|
Femmes, nous avons le devoir d’user de notre pouvoir
pour le bien. Nous avons décidé de rappeler à toute l’humanité cette
importante vérité. La guerre ne peut perdurer sans le support des femmes.
Nous faisons appel à toutes les femmes du monde afin qu’elles
prennent les devants et qu’elles affirment leur titre de progénitrices,
créatrices de tous les hommes, de toute l’humanité, de celles qui prennent
soin de la terre et de toute la vie en elle.
En tant que femmes, nous
connaissons la douleur et la souffrance de l’accouchement. Nous ressentons
également un profond sentiment de perte lorsque nos enfants meurent. Cette
compréhension nous pousse à agir afin d’arrêter la destruction de vies.
Les enfants ne doivent pas souffrir
Pas nos enfants.
Pas les
enfants, peu importe s’ils sont de celui avec qui nous ne sommes pas
d’accord.
Nous respectons la souveraineté et le droit sacré de chaque
individu à vivre sur cette terre.
Nous, les femmes du monde et les
hommes qui nous appuient, nous vous demandons de prendre les devants et
d’arrêter cette folie guerrière.
Cette décision de partir
en guerre causera la mort de milliers d’innocents, hommes, femmes et
enfants. C’est une décision qui a été prise par des hommes, sans la
participation des femmes.
La majorité de ces hommes ont
des grands-mères, mères, épouses, copines, sœurs, tantes, filles, nièces,
petites-filles, etc. Nous demandons à toutes ces femmes qu’elles fassent
pression sur ces hommes- des hommes comme le Président George W. Bush,
Colin Powell, le Sénateur Rumsfeld, le Premier Ministre Tony Blair, Saddam
Hussein, le Premier Ministre Jean Chrétien, Ariel Sharon, les
Palestiniens, les Nord-Coréens et tous les autres qui sont impliqués dans
l’actuelle menace de destruction du monde.
Femmes, ramenez vos
hommes à leur bon sens,
Femmes,
rappelez-vous du pouvoir que vous détenez, souvenez-vous de votre
responsabilité.
Chaque personne possède son pouvoir personnel. Nous
devons utiliser ce pouvoir pour faire le
bien.
Nous devons arrêter
la guerre.
Nous devons arrêter la Guerre.
Nous devons
maintenir la Paix.
Ne faisons pas de mocassins.
Kahn-Tineta
Horn, mère et grand-mère Mohawk
Kahente Horn-Miller, mère Mohawk
Karonhioko'he, fille
Kokowa, fille
Grace Lix-xiu Woo, tante et
soeur
|
http://www.cmaq.net/fr/node.php?id=11166
Retransmis
par : colettelelievre@videotron.ca |
*
* Pas de guerre pour le
pétrole !
Sur la tour de contrôle
de l’aéroport d’Ostende, pend un gigantesque calicot: «No war for oil,
Resist» (Pas de guerre pour le pétrole, Resist). Quelques jeunes sont montés
par les échelles de secours sur le toit de la tour. Devant les caméras de
télévision venues pour une conférence de presse de la liste électorale Resist*,
ils ont non seulement déployé leur banderole mais aussi bloqué tout atterrissage
pendant une heure.
Au sol, d’autres jeunes partent en
inspection sur le tarmac de l’aéroport. Leur objectif: en savoir plus sur ce que
transportent les avions de la compagnie Gemini Airlines affrétés par
l’armée US et qui décollent chaque jour en direction du Koweït. Des travailleurs
en bleu de travail, enthousiastes, interpellent les activistes: «La
prochaine fois, avertissez-nous: nous mettrons votre banderole
nous-mêmes. Ainsi vous ne risquerez pas de vous casser quelque chose en
montant».
Après les actions du week-end des
pacifistes de l’association «Planestopping» (arrêter les avions), la pression
monte pour empêcher tout accès aérien belge à des avions affrétés par l’armée
US.
From : Roger Romain
***
2 - Israel /
Palestine
* I was a human shield
Ma'ariv - weekend supplement
28/3/03.
[Soon to appear in Hebrew and English on the Gush Shalom
website]
I was a human shield
By Billie Moskona-Lerman
The
death of human rights activist Rachel Corrie, crushed to death while trying to
stop an IDF bulldozer, was reason for Billie Moskona-Lerman to go to the Rafah
Refugee Camp and to spend 24 hours at the most miserable place in the Gaza
Strip. A place where shooting never stops, where shells whistle by the windows,
the walls are covered with bloodstains on the walls, houses turn into ruins and
people walk the streets barefooted and desperate. She came back a different
person. In a rare human document she describes her encounter with
death.
(...) International Solidarity Movement, a
group of human rights activists who oppose the Israeli occupation through direct
non-violent action. They are young, politically motivated university graduates -
very extreme and determined pacifists. Their purpose is to prevent the army from
harming civilians.
Every night, with the beginning of
the curfew, they are spreading in Palestinian homes on the first row, which
are exposed to shooting from the military positions . They wear
phosphorescent clothing and megaphones. In the midst of firing, or in the face
of IDF bulldozers, they emerge to call out in English the text of international
conventions and block the soldiers when they come in, shoot, bomb or demolish
homes. Until a week ago it worked. They were calling out, warning, shouting,
blocked the bulldozers with their bodies - and the army turned back.
On Sunday, March 17, all bets were
off. What happened found its way to the media of the entire world, caused a
storm. A young woman, human rights activist, was killed by an IDF bulldozer
which ran over her. Her name was Rachel Corrie, she
was 23 yearsold, and Joe Smith recorded her last moments. He saw her facing the
bulldozer, as was her habit, trying to establish contact with the soldier
driving it. A second later she was not visible any more. A cat and mouse game is
how members of the human rights group call the dangerous game they are playing
with the IDF D-9 bulldozers. When a bulldozer approaches a house marked for
destruction, they sit down in their phosphorescent clothing on the mound of
earth carried on the giant bulldozer extended front, addressing by megaphone the
soldier behind the windows of opaque, reinforced glass. Standing on the front of
the bulldozer requires maintaining a very delicate balance, and there comes a
moment when you can overturn and fall off. Until the day Rachel was killed, the
soldiers did not push things to far. They would always stop and turn back one
minute before this could happen. But on that Sunday, the soldier driving the
bulldozer did not stop at the critical moment, and Rachel was killed. Joe
Smith's photos document, stage by stage, Rachel's folding into death. Like a big
strong bird which flies in the sky, gets a blow, squeezes itself and slowly
falls down to become a small crumpled heap on the ground. Here is a photo of
Rachel standing determined in front of the bulldozer, here she stands on the
mound of earth. And here she disappears, she lies on the ground, her mouth open
as if trying to say something, Alice crouches over her (later, Alice would quote
what she said with her last strength: "My back is broken"), she draws in her two
legs, the body lies like a lifeless sack. Rachel is dead.
After
her death Rachel became a Shaheed (martyr). From all over the world,
media was called upon to interview the group of young people, which had numbered
eight and is now reduced to seven.
So it was that I also arrived there.
A short phone call from my editor, a contact person at the Erez Checkpoint, a
taxi, a Palestinian photographer from Gaza, and an emphatic instruction from the
contact person: "Nobody must know that you are an Israeli. From now on, you are
a French journalist - period". (...)
More details: http://www.gush-shalom.org/bbcFrom : info@gush-shalom.org <info@gush-shalom.org>
* Des juifs de la
diaspora renoncent à la citoyenneté israélienne
Une
lettre signée par plus de 150 juifs de la diaspora qui renoncent à leur
droit légal à la citoyenneté israélienne.
Par ce geste, les signataires
rejettent toute approbation de la spoliation du peuple palestinien, de la
brutalité de l'occupation et de la nature raciste et non démocratique de sa
politique.
http://www.solidarite-palestine.org/doc-adm-030330-1.html
***
3 - Latin America : Violence against women
Violence against women in
Latin America reflects global trends, mediated by histories and conditions
specific to the region. These include colonization, war, migration, and
neo-liberalism. As in other regions, gender-based violence was integral to the
European conquest of Latin America, setting a pernicious pattern in which
indigenous women have been disproportionately targeted for rape as a weapon of
war. Non-indigenous women have also been abused during armed conflicts,
including more than 70 US military interventions intotheir countries. Under the
military regimes of the Southern Cone countries in the 1970’s, thousands of
women endured the disappearance and murder of their children and other loved
ones, while women political prisoners were systematically subjected to sexual
torture. Violence against women was also a widespread counter-insurgency tactic
in Central America in the 1980’s; while during the 1990’s, women in the heavily
militarized state of Chiapas, Mexico were subjected to sexual harassment,
rape,
forced prostitution and compulsory servitude in military
camps.
(...) A 1996 Inter-American
Development Bank study in Nicaragua reveals strong links between women’s
economic dependence on men and physical abuse. This correlation exists
internationally. However, employment does not necessarily provide sufficient
leverage to challenge domestic violence. Many Latin American women report male
relatives using violence or the threat of violence to take their earnings from
them. And for thousands of women, the workplace itself is a site of abuse. In
fact, the sector most emblematic of Latin America’s role in the global economy
is also the most notorious for the abuse of women. Export manufacturing
sweatshops, or maquilas, hire mainly women who are paid less, work longer and
are subjected to worse conditions than men. Many of these women are migrants who
have left behind social networks that could provide protection from violence.
Documented examples of violence against women in maquillas include humiliation,
sexual harassment and intimidation, sexual assaults and beatings, strip
searches, forced pregnancy tests, termination of pregnant workers and violence
against union organizers.
The maquila boom is one feature of neo-liberal
economic restructuring that swept Latin America at the end of the 20th Century.
These policies, including privatization and Structural Adjustment Programs
(SAPs), have intensified poverty, urbanization, migration and women’s
employment, inducing rapid changes in traditional social structures throughout
the region. Violence against women was one manifestation of men’s attempts to
reassert traditional authority and cope with economic crisis. Privatization of
hospitals and schools and the displacement of peasant farmers by agribusiness
have meant life-threatening deprivation for poor women and girls, who are less
likely than boys and men to receive costly medical care, schooling or scarce
food.
SAPs, instituted by nearly every country in Latin America, have
drastically cut public services that help prevent gender violence, including
education, drug treatment, job training and women’s leadership development
programs. SAPs have also slashed resources that support survivors of violence
and provide alternatives to abusive situations, including counseling, shelters,
healthcare and subsidized housing. In poor communities, birth rates rise as
women’s access to education, information and reproductive healthcare diminishes.
More children means greater dependency on male wages, which increases
vulnerability to male violence.
Centuries of economic exploitation by the
global North has made development a key concern in Latin America, particularly
in poverty-stricken Central America. However, neo-liberal development
strategies, which rely on macro-economic indicators like export growth and Gross
National Product, tend to disregard the impact of gender violence on society.
For example, in the wake of 1998’s Hurricane Mitch, one of Central America’s
worst recorded natural disasters, development strategies were narrowly focussed
on industrial reconstruction. Crises in poor communities -- including documented
increases in domestic violence associated with the trauma of the storm -- were
neglected. Latin America has spearheaded potentially egalitarian development
strategies, notably, agrarian reform. But the discriminatory implementation of
these programs has concentrated land resources in the hands of men, thereby
reinforcing women’s subordination – the root cause of violence against
women.
As Latin American women’s economic opportunities shrank and the
AIDS epidemic shifted sex tourism away from Asia, sex trafficking increased
throughout the region. Brazil’s sex tourism industry utilizes an estimated
500,000 girls under the age of 14. Thousands more serve as prostitutes in remote
mining camps under conditions of virtual slavery. Guatemala City has also become
a center of international sex trafficking, with girls from all over Central
America smuggled in and forced to work as prostitutes. (...)
From :
Yifat Susskind
Associate Director, MADRE : http://www.madre.org/art_violence.html
***
4 -
Bulgarie / Bulgaria : Législation contre la violence domestique / Legislation
against domestic violence
LÉGISLATION CONTRE LA VIOLENCE DOMESTIQUE EN
BULGARIE : En janvier 2003, un groupe de travail a été créé au sein du
ministère bulgare de la Justice, afin de réviser et d’avancer des propositions
concernant le projet de loi sur la protection contre la violence domestique,
élaboré par les délégués de la Fondation bulgare pour la recherche sur le genre
et des juristes qui travaillent avec cette organisation. Le texte réunit des
propositions relatives aux mécanismes les plus indispensables, comme l’émission
d’ordres de protection par un tribunal civil pour protéger les victimes. Le
projet de document légal, diffusé par les ONG dans le cadre d’une campagne
nationale, dans le contexte des 16 journées contre la violence envers les femmes
(automne 2002), a également bénéficié du solide soutien de la police nationale.
Une fois qu’il sera adopté, la Bulgarie sera le premier pays des Balkans à
disposer d’une protection légale pour les victimes de la violence domestique. En
outre, il s’agira de la première initiative élaborée, proposée et, on l’espère,
promue par la société civile. Information : Fondation bulgare pour la
recherche sur le genre bgrf_jiv@inet.bgo:p>
LEGISLATION
AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN BULGARIA In January 2003 a working group was
established in the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice to review and make proposals on
the Draft law for protection against domestic violence, elaborated by
representatives of the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (BGRF) and lawyers
experts working with the organisation. It contains proposals for urgently needed
mechanisms, such as the issuing of protection orders by the civil court for the
protection of victims. The Draft legal document, which was disseminated in a
nation-wide campaign by NGOs during the campaign of 16 days against VAW in
autumn 2002, has also received strong support of the National Police. Once
adopted, Bulgaria may become the first country in the Balkans to have legal
protection of victims of domestic violence. Furthermore, it will be the first
"bottom-up" initiative - elaborated, proposed and, hopefully, promoted by civil
society. For more information, please contact: Bulgarian Gender Research
Foundation, bgrf_jiv@inet.bg
From : struthers@womenlobby.org
***
5 - Slovaquie /
Slovakia : Romes contraintes à la
stérilisation / Forced sterilization of Roma women
Slovaquie : Romes contraintes à la
stérilisation : Un nouveau rapport, réalisé par le centre pour les droits
de reproduction (Center for Reproductive Law and Policy) et le centre pour les
droits civils et humains, une organisation slovaque, révèle que cent dix femmes
romes de l'est de la Slovaquie ont subi des stérilisations forcées. Le rapport
intitulé "Corps et esprit : stérilisation forcée et autres agressions à
l'encontre de la liberté de reproduction des femmes romes », s’appuie sur
les témoignages de deux cent trente femmes tsiganes mais aussi sur ceux de
femmes « blanches », de représentants du gouvernement slovaque, de
directeurs d’hôpitaux et de gynécologues. Les structures médicales
gouvernementales semblent être complices de ces pratiques illégales de
stérilisation, effectuée sur des femmes qui ignoraient quelle intervention
allait être pratiquée sur elles. Non informées, ces victimes ont dû signer un
document de demande de stérilisation. La pratique de stérilisations forcées a
été instaurée sous le régime communiste. Elle visait, en fait, les femmes romes
en échange d’une rémunération. Cette politique a été formellement supprimée il y
a plus de dix ans, cependant la réalité est tout autre. Rapport disponible en
anglais sur le site Internet du Centre pour les droits de
reproduction : www.reproductiverights.org/pub_bo_slovakia.html#report
Slovakia: Forced sterilization of Roma
women: A hundred and ten Roma were forced to undergo sterilization procedures in
eastern Slovakia, according to a report written by the Centre for reproductive
law and policy and the Centre for civil and human rights. This report, titled
“Body and soul: forced sterilization and other assaults on Roma reproductive
freedom in Slovakia” was made from
interviews held with two hundred
and thirty Roma, but also non-Roma women, government officials, hospital
administrators and doctors. Governmental care services seem to be accomplice of
these illegal practices unaware to the women themselves. Indeed, they were made
to sign a paper stipulating that they agreed to be sterilized, but they were not
informed that this kind of intervention (sterilization) would be done.
The practice of forced
sterilization was introduced under the communist regime. It targeted Roma women
in giving them money. This policy was formally rescinded more than ten years ago
but the reality shows that it has not disappeared. Report available on the
Centre of reproductive rights web page:
www.reproductiverights.org/pub_bo_slovakia.html#report
From : struthers@womenlobby.org <struthers@womenlobby.org>
***
6 - Lituanie / Lituania : Le salaire
des femmes se rapproche de celui des hommes / Lituanie / Lituania : Le salaire
des femmes se rapproche de celui des hommes
Le salaire
des femmes se rapproche de celui des hommes en Lituanie : c’est ce que
révèle une étude menée par la sécurité sociale et le ministère du Travail de
Lituanie. La disparité de salaire mensuel entre les femmes et les hommes
s’amenuise, et elle est bien moins importante en Lituanie que dans les deux
autres États baltes. L’étude indique que ce phénomène est principalement
imputable à une augmentation des salaires fonctionnaires, qui est supérieure à
celle enregistrée dans le secteur privé. L’enquête était conduite par la société
de sondage d’opinion publique et d’étude de marché Baltijos Tyrimai (Études
baltiques), qui a interrogé 909 employés âgés de 16 à 64 ans en janvier et
février 2002. Pour en savoir plus : Women’s Issues Information Centre www.lygus.It
Women’s wages nearing men’s pay in Lithuania,
according to a research conducted by the Lithuanian Social Security and Labour
Ministry, the gap between average monthly wages for men and women is narrowing
in Lithuania. The gap is smaller in
Lithuania than it is in the other two Baltic States. The research found that the
bridging of the gap between men and women’s salaries was mainly due to the
higher increase of wages in state service than the private sector. The poll was
conducted by the public opinion and market research company Baltijos Tyrimai
(Baltic Surveys) which questioned 909 employees aged between 16 and 64 in
January- February 2002. For more details contact: Women’s Issues Information
Centre: www.lygus.It
From : struthers@womenlobby.org <struthers@womenlobby.org>
***
7 - Suisse : La voix
des oubliés du sida
** Un
article de la revue 360°: La voix des oubliés du sida **
Une émission
diffusée sur des ondes associatives porte la voix du combat que mènent les
séropositifs d'origine étrangère contre la maladie. Premiers touchés par
l'épidémie, les « migrants contre le sida » revendiquent un accès égalitaire aux
soins. Leur combat rejoint celui des homos américains dans les années 80, même
s'ils sont encore loin de peser en tant que lobby, faute de droits
sociaux.
http://www.survivreausida.net/spip/article.php3?id_article=31
Extrait de la lettre d'information du site
"survivreausida.net"
From: <redaction@survivreausida.net>
***
8 - Africa : Young Girls Cornered by AIDS
The International Herald Tribune (France); April
2, 2003;
The strikingly higher infection rates among adolescent
girls compared to boys in Zambia and many other parts of Africa reveal a
disturbing trend: the AIDS epidemic is being fueled by the abuse and
subordination of young women.
Sexual violence and coercion of girls is
widespread, often fueled by intergenerational sex when men choose younger and
younger girls because they are assumed to be HIV-negative. The increasing number
of orphans created by the AIDS epidemic is contributing to the crisis. Many
girls who are orphaned, or taking care of younger siblings, trade sex to earn a
survival income. Such girls are rarely able to negotiate safe sex. Worse still,
the perpetrators of abuses against girls, especially orphans, are sometimes
members of their own families, or others charged with looking after them,
including teachers.
The State of the Union announcement by President
George W. Bush of a new AIDS initiative for Africa and the Caribbean will need
to include measures to protect the rights of girls and young women, or it will
be impossible to curb the AIDS epidemic.
Interviews conducted recently
by Human Rights Watch in Zambia put the gender dimensions of the situation in
stark relief. One twelve-year-old orphan described her experience of sexual
abuse by relatives. "My uncle used to beat me with electricity wires," she said.
"Before I went to live with my uncle and auntie, I stayed with my big sister's
mother, and my brother used to take me in the bush. Then he raped me. I was
eight or nine. I was scared. He said 'I'm going to beat you if you ever tell
anyone."'
The AIDS crisis makes the subordinate status of women and
girls lethal. They are hard-pressed to protect themselves from infection when
they are economically and socially dependent, and sometimes subject to threats
of violence or abandonment.
When asked by Human Rights Watch why abusers
within the family are not reported to the police, many young women stated, in
effect, that bringing a complaint against the breadwinner was unthinkable. Even
if they do attempt to bring the case to the police, the chance of an effective
response from law enforcement agencies is often minimal, furthering the sense of
impunity for perpetrators of such crimes. Women and girls often remain silent
rather than confront hostile legal and social structures.
Sexual
violence and coercion of even very young girls are not unique to Africa, but the
AIDS crisis, food shortages, widespread poverty and lack of education makes such
abuses more pronounced. Recent studies by the Joint United
Nations Program on AIDS have concluded that about half of all those infected
worldwide are women and girls. In the worst affected countries in Africa,
many girls are pulled out of school to care for sick relatives in AIDS affected
families, or simply because their families can no longer afford to pay school
fees.
An integrated response is needed. Social services for women and
girls must be expanded to reduce their vulnerability to transmission. Women's
property and inheritance rights must be strengthened, and access to education
improved. Sexual violence and coercion of females must be investigated and
prosecuted. One of the single most important measures that could be taken to
protect girls is to keep their parents alive longer. That means dramatically
expanded treatment possibilities. The remedies required to
address some of the key vulnerabilities of women and girls are not very costly
compared to many other elements of AIDS programs. By integrating a gender
dimension into the Bush administration's new AIDS initiative, the United States
can take concrete steps to tackle widespread virus transmission among women and
girls by making their protection a priority.
Janet
Fleischman (The writer is Washington director for Africa of Human
Rights Watch. She also chairs the Working Group on Women and Girls of the
HIV/AIDS Task Force set up by the Center for Strategic and International Studies
in Washington). To vie this op ed, go to: http://www.iht.com/articles/91786.html
From : Gerry
Puelle
***9 -
ONU : Gender based exploitation in war
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Integrated Regional Information
Network (IRIN)
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
NAIROBI, 3
April (IRIN) - Civilians are the main casualties of modern
warfare, with women and children constituting an unprecedented number of the
victims.
More than 2.5 million people have died directly as
the result of violent conflict in the last decade and over ten times that number
displaced and uprooted, according to the United Nations. This represents human
suffering on an immense, almost incomprehensible, scale for men, women and
children – despite the protection many of these people are due under
international humanitarian law. “The reason we have become more involved with
the protection of civilians is precisely because the nature of warfare has been
changing considerably during the last decade or more,” Mark Bowden, head of
policy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) told IRIN. “Wars are fought in a way that target civilians more, or
incorporate them more into the means of fighting.”
Addressing the UN
Security Council in November 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke of
three new challenges emerging for the protection of civilians in conflict:
sexual exploitation and gender-based exploitation in situations of war,
commercial exploitation and the escalating threat posed by global
terrorism.
Gender based
exploitation in war
Women and children,
especially those displaced from their homes, in violent conflict are especially
vulnerable to attack, including rape, trafficking and all manner of physical,
sexual and psychological abuse. “It was the middle of the night and I was
asleep,” one woman, a widow who was raped in the northern part of the Burundi
capital, Bujumbura, told the ICRC. “Suddenly, I heard a noise. Our houses don't
have any doors, so I got up to investigate. “That's when a bright light was
shone in my face, blinding me and preventing me from seeing my attackers. But I
know there were two of them. For several weeks afterwards, it hurt to urinate
but I was too ashamed to go and see a doctor.” The woman’s14-year-old niece was
also raped and is still traumatised. Young girls and older women are generally
more exposed to such crimes, which they have trouble speaking about. In the
outskirts of Bujumbura, where clashes between armed groups are common, many
women are the victims of violence. The suffering this causes them often further
aggravates their plight as poverty-stricken widows and displaced persons. (
www.icrc.org]
In
Somalia, where years of civil war, rampant insecurity and violence has resulted
in a collapse of the state, human rights activists complain of arbitrary
killings, torture, detention, kidnapping, rape and extortion at the hands of
various faction leaders. Clashes between clan militias and private factions have
frequently caused the death, injury, displacement and suffering of
non-combatants civilians. Human rights activists have expressed concern that
warlords and faction leaders are now actively engaged in Somali peace talks in
Kenya, and aiming to give themselves “total impunity for their gross violations
of human rights.” Meanwhile, The challenges facing Somali children and women are
daunting, both now and for the future, according to the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF). “The infant mortality rate currently stands at 132 per
1,000 births, and the maternal mortality rate is 160 per 10,000,” the agency
reported in late February. “In some parts of the country, one in four children
exhibits symptoms of malnutrition. Only 17 percent of children of eligible
school age are receiving primary education, and of those in school, less than a
third are girls.”
The key issue for civilians in Somalia, including women and
children, is survival until a much- anticipated future in which civil conflict
will no longer prevail, the agency added.
The problem of gender-based violence and exploitation in
war is a grave and continuing one. Women are caught up in armed conflict with
increasing regularity, the ICRC reported in March. They continue to bear the
consequences of war, even where this suffering could be avoided.
“All too
often, female civilians taking no part in hostilities become the deliberate
targets of war, or find themselves in danger simply because they happen to be
where the fighting is,” the Red Cross stated. “And this despite the protection
they are entitled to under international humanitarian law.”
Kofi Annan has
now called on the Security Council to require follow-up actions and prosecutions
in response to allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation, as a means of
strengthening ‘the culture of prevention’ in these circumstances. He has also
called for the Council to encourage states to adopt minimum standards and codes
of conduct in their armies, militias and police services, and to ensure their
implementation to reduce the incidence of gender-based violence as a result of
power imbalances.
“A great deal more work is now being done on the
protection of children from recruitment into military activity, on the problems
that exist in terms of sexual exploitation and abuse that take place in times of
warfare, and establishing codes of conduct and behaviour for belligerents”,
among other areas, according to Bowden.
The UN system has established a Task Force on the Protection from
Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Crises addressing the matter,
co-chaired by UNICEF and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs. It is also seeking ways to adopt a set of core principles and minimum
standards for UN staff in this regard, in recognition that UN staff and
peacekeepers have also been responsible for the abuse and exploitation of women
and girls.
(...)
This Item is Delivered to
the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but
may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.
***
10 - International : Les Etats membres du G8 doivent
enfin prendre des mesures concrètes pour favoriser l'accès aux médicaments dans
les pays pauvres
Les Etats membres du
G8 doivent enfin prendre des mesures concrètes pour favoriser l'accès aux
médicaments dans les pays pauvres
Pour relancer le
débat, Médecins Sans Frontières mobilise le grand public au travers de deux
expositions, de Paris à Evian
Paris, le 3 avril
2003.
Aujourd'hui, comme
chaque jour, 19 000 personnes vont mourir du sida, de la tuberculose, du
paludisme, de la maladie du sommeil ou de la leishmaniose. Malades pauvres dans
des pays pauvres, ils sont ainsi 14 millions chaque année à mourir d'une maladie
infectieuse, faute du traitement qui aurait pu les sauver.
A l'occasion du
prochain G8 qui se tiendra à Evian les 1, 2 et 3 juin prochains et qui devrait
aborder la question de l'accès aux médicaments essentiels, MSF demande aux Etats
membres de G8 de respecter les résolutions prises lors des précédents sommets et
de prendre des mesures concrètes pour rendre accessible aux malades qui en ont
besoin des médicaments à un prix abordable :
· en favorisant la mise en place
d'un véritable système de prix équitables, garantissant de manière durable un
accès aux médicaments aussi large que nécessaire et au prix le plus bas
possible. Ce système doit inclure la concurrence par les médicaments génériques,
l'aide à la production locale et l'achat groupé de médicaments.
· en
encourageant l'utilisation par les pays en développement, d'une manière simple
et efficace, des mesures contenues dans l'accord Adpic (accord sur la propriété
intellectuelle) afin de respecter l'esprit de la déclaration de Doha.
· en
contribuant de manière massive au Fonds global pour le sida, la tuberculose et
le paludisme, afin d'atteindre les besoins estimés de 7 à 10 milliards de
dollars par an.
· en soutenant la recherche et le développement pour les
maladies négligées.
Pour sensibiliser et
mobiliser le public sur l'accès aux médicaments essentiels dans les pays
pauvres, Médecins Sans Frontières organise une tournée de Paris à Evian, d'avril
à juin, au travers de deux expositions, accompagnées de conférences-débats
:
· « Trop pauvre pour être soigné » est une
exposition interactive. Conçue comme un jeu de rôle, elle amène le visiteur à se
mettre dans la « peau » d'une personne malade, vivant dans un pays pauvre.
·
« Tropiques de l'abandon » est une exposition
photographique où les auteurs nous font partager le quotidien des malades, celui
des soignants et leur environnement économique et social sur plusieurs
continents. Ces deux expositions démarrent leur tournée à Paris en avril pour
atteindre Evian au moment du G8. L'inauguration de cette tournée aura lieu le
vendredi 11 avril 2003 à 10 heures, place de l'Hôtel de Ville de Paris.
Newsletter MSF N°80
From : webmaster@paris.msf.org <webmaster@paris.msf.org>
***
11 - Conference / Meeting - Petition !
* France
** Seminar
" Participation of young women in political life " (17/09/2003)
Dear friends,
Please find attached information and a call for
applications concerning the seminar "Participation of young women in political
life" which will take place at the European Youth Centre, Strasbourg on 16 and
17 September 2003.
** Débat pour préparer le
FSE
Le "forum del teatro" italien (fdt) en association avec le
Collectif Bellaciao de Paris et la Cie "Un excursus" vous invitent à une
rencontre/débat artistique et culturel au LE RELAIS MENILMONTANT 85 bis rue
Ménilmontant 75020 Paris.
Ce débat n'est pas une rencontre FSE
officielle: c'est une initiative indépendante. Une proposition culturelle créée
par quelques sujets au travail pour sa réalisation. Ce sera un moment
extraordinaire du point de vue social, politique, artistique et culturel
"Il forum sociale europeo di Saint Denis-Paris 2003 è in
costruzione" Sarà sicuramente un momento straordinario dal punto di vista
sociale, politico, artistico e culturale
Le "forum del teatro" italien en
association avec le Collectif Bellaciao de Paris et la Cie "Un excursus" à
quelque mois de la mise en place du parcours complexe et actif pour la
réalisation du forum entendent, avec cette rencontre, fournir un instrument apte
à la lecture des multiples travaux menés jusqu'à aujourd'hui. Nous sommes
tou-te-s déjà engagé-e-s sur les aspects culturels et artistiques et nous
invitons chaque artiste et compagnie, chaque collectif, chaque intellectuel-le
et chaque activiste à participer à ces échanges, à cette rencontre:
L'11
APRILE 2003 dalle 18 alle 23 LE RELAIS MENILMONTANT 85 bis rue Ménilmontant
75020 Paris metro:Ménilmontant
nfoproeurope@libero.it
From : bellaciaoinfo@yahoo.fr
<bellaciaoinfo@yahoo.fr>
** Olympe
de Gouges au Panthéon (Pétition)
En 1791, Olympe de Gouges, rédige une
" Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne ". Elle
marque ainsi le changement d'époque, et donne l'exemple d'un engagement radical
en faveur de la libération des femmes. Elle s'est battue également contre
l'esclavage des noirs, pour le droit au divorce, pour l'éducation des filles,
pour la création d'hôpitaux et d'ateliers d'Etat pour les travailleurs sans
emploi.
Plus de deux siècles après sa
condamnation à mort et son exécution, les signataires de ce texte proposent son
entrée aux Panthéon, parmi les " grands hommes " ...(NDLR : et les grandes
femmes ! ), juste symbole réparateur d'un oubli de la nation envers son œuvre
pionnière.
Si vous soutenez cette demande de reconnaissance,
veuillez noter vos noms et éventuellement votre fonction ou profession,
ci-dessous.
Merci de transmettre cette pétition à qui vous semble
intéressé-e.
Bernard Lefort, éditeur et journaliste
Sophie Mousset,
écrivaine
(NDLR : En 1993, une grande
manifestation avait eu lieu devant le Panthéon pour le bicentenaire de
la mort d'Olympe de Gouges. Nous demandions que ses cendres soient transférées
au Panthéon...J'ai filmé cette cérémonie - Michèle
Dayras).
* Tchequie :
Students' Forum 2000 (June 2003)
Dear all,
Attached
please find information on an event that the Students’
Forum 2000 is organizing for the third time
this time in June in Prague. Would be great if you could
forward this information to your friends, colleagues, partner organizations, any
servers in your country related to youth activities, organizations, NGO’s
etc.
Look forward to seeing
some of you at our event.
All the
best,
From : Michaela Pavlisová :
zzztea@mbox.vol.cz
ac_youth@yahoogroups.com Council
Advisory
*
HREA distance learning courses
LEADING TO CHOICES: A DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE
ON PARTICIPATORY LEADERSHIP (26 May-3 August 2003)
Instructors: Suheir
Azzouni and Nancy Flowers
Application deadline: 1 May 2003
This course is
offered in partnership with Women's Learning Partnership.
Course description
and application form can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/courses/12E.htmlUSE
OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS) FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
WORK-ADVANCED COURSE (2 June-26 July 2003)
Instructor: Frank
Elbers
Application deadline: 1 May 2003
Course description and application
form can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/courses/3E.htmlINTRODUCTION
TO HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION (1 September-23 November 2003)
Course instructors:
Nancy Flowers and Felisa Tibbitts
Application deadline: 15 May 2003
Course
description and application form can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/courses/8E.htmlDo
not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions about these courses
by sending an e-mail to <
applications@hrea.org>.
***
12 - Books /
Livres
* Georgia : A manual for
starting Human Rights Education
In cooperation with the Armenian Constitutional
Rights-Protective Centre (Armenia) and the Bureau for Human Rights and Law
Respect (Azerbaijan), the Human Rights Education Centre of Tbilisi (Georgia)
recently conducted a five-day training project entitled "Training of Young
Lawyers of Caucasus".
The main aim of the project was to train young lawyers
(law faculty and international law faculty students) from Caucasian countries
(Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) on strategies and techniques of human rights
education, based on the Amnesty International manual for human rights
schoolteachers "First Steps".
[***Full text of different language versions of
"First Steps: A manual for starting human rights education" can be found in
HREA's on-line Human Rights Education Library at: http://www.hrea.org/erc/Library/First_Steps/ ***]
* Albania : Introducing human rights in primary school
nationwide
(..) The first human rights teachers' manual was translated into Albanian and
used for three teacher trainings in 1993, in cooperation with the Norwegian
Foundation "Ana." A subsequent cooperation with the Netherlands Helsinki
Committee and the Danish Centre for Human Rights resulted in the development of
original pupil's activity booklets for use in grades 1-8.
These booklets
focused on the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child but
reflected the cardinal problems of life in Albania. The principles used by the
Albanian writers in writing the materials were that:
* the booklets should speak of the Albanian reality,
which reflected many challenges to meeting basic needs
* the books should
educate about both rights and responsibilities, ensuring that children in the
"post-totalitarian" environment would not feel that they have unlimited rights
and freedoms
* activities should be organised in such a way that children
could express their own views, thus trying to overcome the paternalism that
still shaped relations between the generations
* the booklets should present
the idea of non-discrimination, an issue especially poignant for those students
migrating from the rural areas to the larger towns and
cities
(...) Since 2000, there have been several new developments in
Albania's human rights education program, which is a main subdomain of knowledge
in the civic education standards. Human and children's rights are treated as
special themes in civic education in the 6th grade of primary school human
rights are part of curricula of the oriented or specialised (human and science
branches) high school education. Human rights constitutes 30 % of the program
"Citizenship" for the 10th grade. Human rights, now included in the Law for
Pre-University Education, began to be introduced in the Faculties of Education,
where an introductory course on human rights and human rights education is now
available to teachers in training.
Piloting and innovation continues to
take place in Albanian schools. (...)
* Europe : Appel à
Communications
Numéro thématique : " Genre et
Transition " - à paraître à l'automne
2004
(...) La question de
l'égalité entre les hommes et les femmes est une des missions prioritaires de
l'Union européenne et dans ce cadre le processus d'adhésion ne devrait pas
manquer d'influencer les rapports de sexes dans les pays candidats, ne serait-ce
qu'au niveau discursif. Dans certains pays (Pologne, Roumanie,.) les standards
européens en matière d'égalité entre les sexes, et leur prise en compte au
niveau formel, représentent un vrai saut qualitatif. Toutefois, bien que la
logique du mainstreaming constitue la doctrine européenne, force est de
constater que les questions d'égalité entre les sexes ne constituent que des
enjeux de second niveau dans les processus d'adhésion.
De plus, les
politiques de rigueur économique que suppose très souvent le respect des
conditions de qualification au statut de membre de l'Union entraînent des
restrictions des politiques sociales dont les femmes sont les premières
victimes.
L'objectif de ce volume de la revue Transition est de
rassembler des contributions portant sur l'effet du processus d'intégration
européenne quant aux rapports sociaux entre les sexes dans les pays dits
post-communistes. Les contributions viseront à mesurer à la fois l'impact du
cadre normatif européen (l'acquis communautaire) mais aussi et surtout l'impact
du modèle social prôné par l'Europe des 15 ou par telle ou telle de ses
composantes. (..)
Les propositions d'articles (une page maximum)
sont à envoyer avant le 15 mai 2003. Les articles, d'une longueur
d'environ 35 000 caractères, rédigés en français de préférence ou en anglais,
seront à remettre avant le 15 octobre 2003.
Les résumés sont à envoyer aux
deux adresses suivantes :
* Jacqueline Heinen - mail : Jacqueline.Heinen@printemps.uvsq.fr,
***
13 - New web site / Nouveau site internet
***