History
* Adieu à Samira Bellil
L’annonce de la mort de Samira
Bellil fut un choc - consternation et incrédulité. Si toute mort laisse un
goût d’absurdité, cette dernière semble ici portée à son comble.
En effet, après une adolescence saccagée par la barbarie machiste,
après des années de galère vécues dans l’opprobre de ses proches, la honte et
le mépris d’elle-même, elle avait réussi une réhabilitation spectaculaire.
Elle s’était construite dans une longue et patiente psychothérapie; elle avait
trouvé « les mots pour le dire », de sorte que Josée Stoquart a pu
écrire, dans sa préface à « Dans
l’enfer des tournantes » :
« Aujourd’hui, Samira ne se définit plus comme « Samira,
violée », mais comme (…) une Samira à naître, à
vivre ».
C’était il y a deux ans.
Aujourd’hui, Samira est morte.
De ma rencontre avec elle lors d’une de ses conférences, je garde
l’impression d’une personnalité riche, originale et passionnée, douée d’une
grande sensibilité, et surtout, je la devinais totalement impliquée dans ce
qu’elle faisait et vivait.
« Je voulais la même
liberté qu’un mec : respirer, croquer la vie, quoi de plus
naturel ? », écrivait-elle. Je
ne puis m’empêcher de penser - même si cette idée peut paraître irrationnelle, puisque sa maladie est
censée être purement somatique - que c’est paradoxalement son amour de la vie,
sa façon entière de s’y engager, piétinées et étouffées par une société
assassine, qui ont entraîné sa mort précoce, en rendant ses blessures
irréversibles, en lui rivant au corps, inexorablement, ce qu’elle appelait son
sac de souffrances.
Le livre de Samira Bellil est un témoignage saisissant, bouleversant;
une description d’un monde où le
sexisme - qui sévit, hélas, partout - s’exprime avec une extrême cruauté, du
fait, sans doute, d’une exclusion sociale criante qui ouvre un boulevard à
l’intégrisme. Le phénomène des bandes, où la force brutale tient lieu de titre
de noblesse. Le code social implicite, qui, par le truchement de la
« réputation », impose aux filles d’être invisibles, muettes et recluses, le simple fait de sortir, de
« respirer », de vivre,
les exposant à devenir des objets sexuels à disposition, des
pousse-au-crime responsables de leurs viols. Mieux, ce même code retors exige
d’elles que, par leur silence, elles cautionnent les sévices subis, se fassent
complices de leurs tortionnaires, sous peine d’être des
« donneuses », passibles de mort.
C’est contre ce système aberrant, défiant les droits humains les
plus élémentaires, mais aussi le simple bon sens, que Samira Bellil s’est
élevée. Eradiquer ces conceptions archaïques, faire des cités des lieux de vie, de
liberté et de tolérance, sera sans doute l’œuvre, plus que des politiques, de
femmes qui auront la lucidité, la ténacité et le courage de Samira Bellil,
mais aussi son amour de la cité,
dont elle vante la chaleureuse convivialité dans la postface de son
livre.
La dernière image que je conserve d’elle est celle d’une Samira
radieuse derrière une grande banderole, à Paris, un certain 8 mars, alors que,
du début jusqu’à la fin de la
manifestation, d’innombrables fanions roses « Ni putes Ni
soumises », émaillaient l’immense cortège, comme autant de petites
lumières allumées contre l’obscurantisme.
Suzanne Weber - SOS Sexisme
* Adieu à FannyAnn Eddy
FannyAnn Eddy, fondatrice et militante de l'Association
lesbienne et gaie de Sierra Leona (SLLAGA) a été assassinée le 29 septembre
dernier. Les meurtriers ont pénétré par effraction dans les bureaux de SLLAGA
à Freetown tandis qu'elle était seule. Ils l'ont violée et lui ont brisé le
cou. Plusieurs sources voient dans cet assassinat un crime
homophobe.
Depuis l'annonce de cette tragédie qui soulève l'indignation
et la tristesse, les réactions se multiplient. L'organisation humanitaire
Human Rights Watch (HRW), basée à New York, a exhorté la justice sierra
léonaise à agir rapidement pour arrêter les meurtriers. « FannyAnn Eddy était
quelqu'un d'extraordinairement courageux et d'intègre qui avait littéralement
mis sa vie au service des droits de la personne », a déclaré Scott Long, un
des responsables d'HRW. À Londres, OutRage ! a fait savoir qu'elle se joignait
« aux associations africaines endeuillées par la perte d'une militante
lesbienne africaine, source de courage et d'inspiration ». L'Association des
gays et des lesbiennes du Zimbabwe (GALZ) se dit « abasourdie et horrifiée »
par la nouvelle de ce décès et souhaite " qu'il nous encourage à redoubler
d'efforts pour faire de l'Afrique un lieu sûr pour les personnes LGBT ».
(...)
*
Nobel Prize in Medicine for Woman
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute announced this morning
that the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Richard
Axel, an HHMI investigator at Columbia University College of Physicians and
Surgeons, and Linda Buck, an HHMI investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center. The scientists were honored for their discoveries that
clarify how the olfactory system works.
Axel and Buck discovered a
large gene family, comprised of some 1,000 different genes (three per cent of
human genes) that give rise to an equivalent number of olfactory receptor
types. These receptors are located on the olfactory receptor cells, which
occupy a small area in the upper part of the nasal epithelium and detect the
inhaled odorant molecules.
"I had tried so many things and had been
working so hard for years, with nothing to show for it. So when I finally
found the genes in 1991, I couldn't believe it! None of them had ever been
seen before. They were all different but all related to each other. That was
very satisfying." Linda B. Buck (...)
http://www.neww.org.pl/en.php/news/news/1.html?&nw=328&re=1
* Nobel de la paix 2004 à une
Africaine
Le prix
Nobel de la paix 2004 a été attribué,
vendredi 8 octobre, à la militante écologiste kényane Wangari
Maathai, première femme africaine à recevoir la récompense plus que
centenaire, a annoncé le comité Nobel norvégien.
"Le comité Nobel
norvégien a décidé d'attribuer le prix Nobel de la paix 2004 à Wangari Maathai
pour sa contribution en faveur du développement durable, de la démocratie et
de la paix", a fait valoir le comité Nobel dans ses attendus. En ajoutant,
"Wangari Maathai sera la première femme africaine à être honorée par le prix
Nobel de la paix. Elle sera également la première personnalité africaine de la
vaste région comprise entre l'Afrique du Sud et l'Egypte à recevoir le prix.
Elle représente un exemple et une source d'inspiration pour tous ceux qui en
Afrique luttent pour le développement durable, la démocratie et la
paix".
Urgent Appeal / Appel urgent
!
* Help ! Aidez-là !
Hola Mi nombre es Krista Marie y acabo de tener una Bebita , que
se llama Natalie. La
Traje al Mundo, y recientemente los doctores descubrieron que
mi pequeña Natalie tiene un Cancer en el Cerebro. Desafortunadamente mimarido
y yo no tenemos el Dinero para pagar la Operacion, pero mi esposo y yo conseguimos una
ayuda con AOL, y ellos nos ayudaran con 5 centavos por cada persona que reciba
este Correo. Por FAvor, Reenvia este correo con cada persona que Conoscas, y
ayuden a mi pequeña Natalie.
* Tali Fahima
campaign
At Sunday, September
5, 2004, Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli Minister of Defence, issued an order based
on secret information to hold Ms. Tali Fahima (an Israeli peace activist)
under administrative detention for four months. During the 28 days before this
order was issued Ms. Fahima had been under custody without charges. Her
detention was extended based on secret inquiry material that was not shown to
the detainee or to her defense lawyers. Ms. Fahima was intensively
interrogated by the GSS (Israeli General Security Service). This was the
second detention of Ms. Fahima this year. On May 24, 2004 she was arrested and
held for 6 days under GSS interrogation. On May 30 she was released
without any charges, and sent to 4 days of house arrest.
During the 28
days of interrogation Ms. Fahima was kept in a small cell without windows for
24 hours a day. She was forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor, the
electricity light was always on, she was prevented from receiving any visit by
family members, as well as writing or reading material. She was interrogated
for 15 to 18 hours each day, forced to sit in an uneasy position with her
hands cuffed behind her back. Most of the time the interrogators were
lecturing her on politics in order to "re-educate" her, promising to convert
her into "a good Jewish girl" (sic). Physical abuse was added to the
philippics detailing the interrogators' racist, primitive and reactionary
views on sex and politics.
Few days before her detention, Ms. Fahima
received a phone call from a GSS agent who was involved in her previous
detention and interrogation. He requested to meet her, informally, and
mentioned that he knew she has difficulties in finding a job. Following the
advice of her lawyers, she refused to meet him.
Ms.
Tali Fahima is a Jewish peace activist from Kiryat Gat - a peripheral workers' township some 50 km. south of Tel Aviv.
She was brought up with two sisters by a single hard-working mother, and
worked as a secretary at a lawyer's office. Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa
Intifada, she had gradually begun to lose her confidence in the Israeli media.
After intensive study of the political situation and conversations with
Palestinians, she decided to see the facts with her own eyes, and visited the
Jenin refugee camp - the well known target of past and present Israeli attacks
and devastation. Her visit in the refugee camp shocked her. Ever
since her visit to the Jenin refugee camp she became active in support of the
refugees. She, together with a group of her friends, collected
contributions n order to reopen a youth club in the camp, and kept contact
with the camp's activists. Her humanitarian work with Jenin camp's children -
trying to establish human solidarity between people in the harshest conditions
- was highly praised even by the judge in the Israeli court that released her
on May 30 after her first detention.
Ms. Fahima was never
engaged in any kind of violent activity. She is a
peace activist, concentrating mainly in humanitarian work and public acts. At
the end of 2003 Ms. Fahima declared on the Israeli media that she is ready to
serve as a human shield for Mr. Zakariya Zbeida, a leading Jenin camp activist
who had already escaped several Israeli assassination attempts. From that
moment, she and her family became victims of systematic harassment: She
was fired from her job as a secretary and had great difficulties finding a
job. She had to leave her flat and meanwhile stayed at the homes of relatives
and friends. The Israeli media published information from anonymous
sources that were described as "high ranking personalities in the security
community" which claimed that she is suspected of conspiracy o carry out a
terror attack.
A campaign of
demonization is being waged through the Israeli media against Ms. Fahima by
the Israeli security services and politicians. The voice of the international
community is indispensable in order to protect her freedom and personal
security as well as those of her family which also continuous to be
threatened.
Personal
information: Ms. Tali Fahima, Israeli ID no. 038292447, date of birth:
8.2.1976, female, single, secretary in advocate's office. Detained in Neve
Tirza prison, P.O.Box 229þ Ramleh, Israel, 72100þ For
further information please contact her lawyer, Ms. Smadar Ben Natan
+972-3-5619666
* The
Turkish Penal Code Reform
Mr.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister, Republic
of Turkey
- Fax no: +90 312 419 71
01
Mr.
Cemil Cicek, Minister of Justice, Republic
of Turkey
- Fax no: +90 312 417 71
13
Mr.
Abdullah Gül, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Republic
of Turkey
- Fax no: +90 312 419 16
32
Mr. Deniz Baykal, Republican People's
Party - Fax no: +90 312 468 09
96
We are deeply concerned that the Justice
Commission of the Turkish Parliament has refused to respond to women’s demands
and has failed to make the necessary amendments to the Turkish Penal Code
Draft Law in order to eradicate discrimination against women. As it stands,
the Penal Code Draft Law continues to legitimize human rights violations, and
thus fails to comply with the constitutional principle of gender equality and
global human rights norms.
The
Turkish Penal Code Reform is a crucial opportunity for
Turkey
to take a step further in ensuring gender equality and affirming its
commitment to take
a step further in ensuring gender equality and affirming its commitment to
protecting the freedom and rights of its citizens fully as an egalitarian and
democratic state of law. To this end, we strongly urge you and the members of
the parliament to make the following amendments to the draft
law:
To replace “killings in the name of
customary law” with “honor killings” as an aggravating circumstance for
homicides in order to prevent honor killing perpetrators from receiving
sentence reductions in all cases;
To explicitly and effectively ban and
criminalize virginity testing in all cases and to penalize all kinds of
genital examination performed without the necessary legal authorization or
against the woman’s consent;
To penalize “discrimination based on sexual
orientation” which was removed later, and to amend the article to effectively
penalize any violation of political, sexual and economic rights based on
discrimination;
To re-extend the abortion period up to 12 weeks
instead of 10 weeks as was initially stated in the original Draft
Law;
To remove the article penalizing consensual
sexual relations between young people of 15 – 18 years of
age;
To amend the “obscenity” article by clearly
defining acts of “obscenity” in order to prevent threat to freedom of
expression, invasion of privacy and discrimination based on sexual
orientation.
We strongly urge you to take the necessary
action to ascertain the amendment of these discriminatory provisions in the
Turkish Penal Code Draft Law.
Sincerely
yours,
*
Solemn
Appeal against Female Genital Mutilation
(...) We,
the women and men, signatories of this Appeal, born in countries
where female genital mutilation has been traditionally practiced or in
countries where it has been imported in recent times, or simply eager to fight
against a custom that violates the rights and the dignity of millions of women
around the world, pledge to use all our influence and to do everything in our
ability to contribute to its eradication.For this reason, we solemnly call
upon:
* the Heads of State, the Governments and the Parliamentarians of the
countries in which Female Genital Mutilation are traditionally practiced:
* to ensure the respect of the human rights of women and girls, in
particular the right not to be subjected to discrimination, and the right to
health, to physical integrity and to life;
* to legislate - in countries
which don't yet have specific legislation - to consider Female Genital
Mutilation as a violation of fundamental rights of the human person and to
provide for sanctions for those who practice it;
* to promote information
campaigns to bring about a lasting change in the behaviours of the populations
that practice Female Genital Mutilation, addressed to all social classes and
taking into consideration all the aspects of the practice: human rights,
health, social and gender relations, involving national and local
institutions, non-governmental organisations, traditional and religious
leaders and the media;
* to include programmes for the prevention of the
practice in reproductive health policies and to guarantee universal access to
the health services;
* to set aside sufficient funds for these
initiatives.
* the governments and the Parliamentarians of the immigration
countries:
* harmonise the existing legislative framework on Female
Genital Mutilation and to ensure that all legislative measures are accompanied
by information campaigns to ensure that the law is understood, accepted,
applied and respected;
* to consider carefully the application of penalties
against Female Genital Mutilation in order to ensure their effectiveness;
* to consider the possibility of granting residence permits and protection
to the victims of this practice and to recognise the right of asylum for women
and girls who risk genital mutilation.
* international organisations and
the governments of the countries concerned, as well as donor countries:
*
to support information campaigns, education programmes and reproductive health
initiatives that aim to eradicate female genital mutilation;
* to support
the work of non-governmental organisations, associations, and women’s or youth
groups, as well as networks of such bodies;
* to contribute to effect the
reforms necessary to promote equality between the sexes.
* local, national
and international non-governmental organisations:
* to reinforce
collaboration and co-ordination of interventions, as well as the capitalising
upon the results obtained, in order to increase the effectiveness of their
actions and to achieve as soon as possible the goal of the complete
eradication of Female Genital Mutilation;
* to intensify collaboration
between organisations in the countries of origin and immigration countries of
women who have suffered Female Genital Mutilation in order to prevent the
practice among migrant populations.
* Finally, we call upon all women and
men of good-will all over the world to do everything they can to help to
abolish the practice of Female Genital Mutilation, with the aim of ensuring
that it disappears completely within fifteen years, so that, in the countries
concerned, a new generation of women, equal to everyone else in rights and in
dignity, will be born.
http://www.stopfgm.org/stopfgm/FGMappeal/appeal.jsp?idMenu=1,14&
News
1
- France
* The first black woman to present the main
evening news on a national French TV station
A 32-year-old journalist from the
French Caribbean island of Martinique is the first black newsreader to present
the main evening news on a national French TV station.
It is immediately
noticeable to British or American viewers of French television: there are no
black faces. No newsreaders, no chatshow hosts, no gameshow guests; at most, a
handful of actors in mainly stereotyped roles. So when Audrey Pulvar appeared
this month as co-presenter of Soir 3, it caused something of a commotion: the
32-year-old journalist from the French Caribbean island of Martinique was the
first black newsreader to present the main evening news on a national French
TV station. "French TV just does not reflect the reality of French society,"
Pulvar told the Guardian."There is a whole part of the French population that
is not represented there. Or if it is, it's stigmatised in dreadful cliches -
the black dealer, the Moroccan greengrocer."
In a damning report earlier
this year, the High Council on Integration demanded that the government make
it a condition of every broadcaster's licence that immigrants be "fairly and
properly represented". Days later, the state broadcaster France Télévisions,
which runs three of the country's six main TV channels, unveiled a plan to
boost ethnic minorities' presence both on screen and behind the scenes.
"The French have to be able to recognise themselves," said the
broadcaster's chief executive, Marc Tessier. "Fifteen percent of our
population are immigrants of non-European origin. Watching TV, no one would
ever know it." (...)
http://www.neww.org.pl/en.php/news/news/1.html?&nw=299&re=2
* La mixité
scolaire
Madame Nicole Mosconi, vous
avez publié de très nombreux ouvrages. L'un d'entre eux, ancien mais toujours
d'actualité, a un intitulé correspondant tout à fait au thème de notre table
ronde : La mixité dans l'enseignement secondaire, un
faux-semblant ?, publié par les éditions des PUF en 1989.
S'agit-il toujours d'un faux-semblant actuellement ?
" Oui. J'assume toujours ce titre.
Mes critiques ne visent pas à contester le principe politique de la mixité
scolaire. Cette dernière fait, en effet, partie intégrante d'un système
démocratique et est l'affirmation même de l'égalité entre les sexes dans tous
les domaines du social, dont le domaine scolaire. Toute remise en cause de la
mixité est toujours faite par des groupes ou des pays contestant l'égalité
entre les sexes.
Cela étant indiqué, je souligne que, lorsque la mixité
scolaire a été introduite en France dans les années 1960, elle n'a été pensée
ni dans ses finalités politiques ni dans ses finalités pédagogiques et
éducatives. Actuellement, les filles réussissent globalement mieux à l'école
que les garçons en matière d'acquisition des savoirs et des diplômes. L'école
ne se réduit cependant pas à l'acquisition des diplômes. Les jeunes passent à
l'école un très grand nombre d'années et y expérimentent une forme de
socialisation. Les familles, les médias et le milieu social influencent aussi
ces jeunes et tendent à l'inégalité des sexes, même si les progrès sont
nombreux. L'enjeu est de déterminer si l'école ira à l'encontre de cette
tendance ou si elle la renforcera. Il me semble cependant que l'école confirme
les stéréotypes de sexe, tant du point de vue des relations entre élèves que
dans les relations entre enseignants et élèves. Je précise à ce titre, que
très longtemps, aucun soutien n'a été accordé à la recherche sur la pédagogie
et la mixité scolaire. A contrario, dès la création des grammar
schools en Angleterre, dans les années 1960, des recherches en sociologie
et en psychologie sur la mixité scolaire ont été organisées. La recherche dans
ce domaine n'a absolument pas été soutenue en France.
Ces recherches ont permis de tirer
trois principaux enseignements.
* En premier lieu, les
enseignants ne traitent pas les filles et les garçons de la même manière en
classe. Les enseignants réalisent un tiers de leurs interactions avec
les filles contre deux tiers avec les garçons car ces derniers s'imposent,
occupent l'espace didactique et sonore de la classe à tous les niveaux et, à
la limite, empêchent les filles de prendre leur place. Les enseignants doivent
ainsi gérer une tendance à l'opposition et à la non-conformité des garçons. Ce
faisant, ils ne peuvent gérer la dynamique de classe qui impose la domination
des garçons.
* En deuxième lieu, les
enseignants font preuve d'un double standard dans leurs attentes et leur
manière d'évaluer les élèves. Les enseignants pensent d'emblée que
les garçons n'utilisent pas tout leur potentiel qui est censé être grand,
tandis que les filles sont censées déjà faire tout ce qu'elles peuvent. Il est
considéré que les filles ont des capacités mais qui ne vont certainement pas
au-delà de leurs performances. Les corrections de devoir en aveugle montrent
que les devoirs supposés avoir été réalisés par des garçons sont favorisés,
tandis que ceux qui sont supposés avoir été écrits par des filles sont
défavorisés lorsqu'ils sont bons. À l'inverse, les enseignants sont plus
indulgents vis-à-vis des devoirs réalisés par des filles lorsqu'ils sont
mauvais.
* Enfin, jusqu'à présent, le
conseil national des programmes s'est très peu préoccupé des contenus
d'enseignement. La socialisation transmise à travers ces contenus
d'enseignement fait pourtant croire aux garçons - et c'est plus grave
vis-à-vis des garçons car les filles luttent contre cela - que les femmes
dans l'histoire, les arts, la culture et la littérature ne se sont jamais
vraiment exprimées, n'ont jamais réalisé de grandes oeuvres et n'ont jamais
pris de place majeure dans la société. Alors que dans les classes et les
programmes, les filles et les femmes sont traitées comme étant secondaires,
comment voulez-vous qu'ensuite, les filles soient capables de dire
« je », soient émancipées et agissent de manière indépendante ?
Elles le font mais leur environnement les oblige à fournir un effort très
conséquent. "
Nicole MOSCONI, professeur en
sciences de l'éducation à l'université Paris X-Nanterre
http://www.senat.fr/rap/r03-448/r03-4483.html#toc21
2 -
U.K.
* Girl beat cancer to get top
GCSEs
A girl who beat cancer says
she wants to study medicine after achieving five A* and four grade A GCSEs.
Rachel Harris, 16, of Sale, Greater
Manchester, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2000 which left her with a
tumour the size of a melon. The student at Manchester's Withington Girls'
School underwent chemotherapy and an operation to remove the tumour. She said
being diagnosed when aged 12 was "terrifying" but says she now wants to study
for A levels. "It was difficult to keep up with the schoolwork, but my friends
and the teachers were really supportive," Rachel said after getting her
results on Thursday. "After the surgery I was started on the chemotherapy.
"They would take me into the hospital for two days and then I would need two
weeks off for my body to rest and recover. "It went on for months, but now I
have been given the all clear. It's not going to come back."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3601126.stm
* Pregnant
workers
Pregnant workers 'get raw deal'
More than 1,000 women take legal action every year
claiming they were sacked simply for being pregnant, figures show. Other
pregnant workers face demotion, hostility, pay cuts or are forced to work in
unsafe conditions, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) added. A further
study from shop workers union Usdaw found ignorance and lack of awareness was
putting pregnant women and their unborn babies at risk. The investigations
have been published to mark National Pregnancy Week.
'Tip of the iceberg'
"Some employers knowingly flout the law but many simply
don't know what their responsibilities are or what help with costs is already
available from the government," EOC chairwoman Julie Mellor said. In its
report, "Tip of the Iceberg" the EOC calls for government action to deter
discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace.
Among the proposals put forward to resolve pregnancy
discrimination were:
·
A written statement of rights and
responsibilities be given to every pregnant woman and her employer
·
A practical toolkit for employers to
clarify the "complicated jigsaw" of existing law
·
Extending the three-month time limit for
filing pregnancy-related tribunal claims as many women find it difficult to
cope with the process near childbirth
·
A national family strategy to deliver a
coherent framework of parental employment rights and services
The EOC said that with women making up almost half of the
UK's workforce - and 350,000 working women becoming pregnant each year -
action was vital. "Women ... make a vital contribution to the success of
individual companies and the economy," Ms Mellor added. "We cannot afford to
lose their skills and experience. At a time when the birth rate is falling, we
also rely on the next generation for our prosperity and welfare, including our
pensions."
'Marginalised'
In a separate report, Usdaw found two thirds of retail
workers suffered a negative change in attitude from their employer after they
announced they were having a baby. One in four of the 1,200 pregnant women
polled by Usdaw said they were made to feel "marginalised", while a similar
number said they were not given a suitable uniform to wear. Many workers had
to alter clothing themselves - adding zips or elastic, or borrowing clothing
from larger co-workers. "Many women told us they felt undervalued, ignored,
humiliated, even made to feel guilty about being pregnant," Usdaw general
secretary John Hannett said. "Women who asked for help were told to stop
complaining, repeated requests for maternity uniforms fell on deaf ears and
women were excluded from decisions on the basis that they were pregnant," he
added.
'I
collapsed'
One shop worker from Nottingham told the union that she
had been forced to lift trays of meat, fish and cheese - the latter as heavy
as 20kg - while working on a deli counter. "I had no risk assessment. My
manager never asked me how I was coping. I collapsed at work and was admitted
to hospital twice," she told the survey. The union also found that many women
were refused time off for antenatal appointments, or were forced to work back
their time. Among women who made an employment tribunal claim, almost one
quarter were dismissed within hours or days of telling their employer.
Furthermore, 20% of women who returned to the same employer after maternity
leave went back to a lower grade or level of job, Usdaw found. On the other
hand, more than one-third of employers felt pregnancy was an "undue cost
burden" - but some were unaware of their right to reclaim Statutory Maternity
Pay.
Claim costs
While some companies may claim pregnant workers are an
unnecessary expense, they should bear in mind the latest figures from the
Equal Opportunities Review (EOR). Unlawful discrimination cases - whether
concerning race, disability or sex - cost business more than £4m in
settlements last year. Awards, which averaged £11,000, also showed an upward
trend, it said. The EOR also found that half of the sex discrimination cases
involved pregnancy or childcare. But both Usdaw and the EOC did emphasise that
there were many examples of companies that did support their pregnant
employees. "Where we found good practice, Usdaw will be working with employers
to help encourage its spread, but equally we're already approaching retail
employers to ask them to work with Usdaw to tackle the many problems
highlighted by this research," Mr Hannett said.
BBC NEWS 2004/09/06
3 - Vatican : Le
Saint-siège et les Droits de l'Enfant !
(...) N'ayant
pas encore présenté à la Commission ses rapports de 1997 et 2002, le
Saint Siège, État signataire de la Convention sur les droits de l'enfant, est
en infraction à ses obligations. Il devrait le faire immédiatement,
et inclure un rapport complet sur l'ampleur des abus sexuels commis sur des
enfants par des membres du clergé ou des religieux ainsi qu’un plan concret de
prévention. Il devrait aussi soumettre un rapport au Gouvernement français sur
l'ampleur des cas d’abus identifiés en France et sur les mesures de prévention
qu’il met en place.
En
outre, le Saint Siège devrait informer les autres États parties à la
Convention des mesures qu'il a prises pour éliminer les abus sexuels commis
dans ces pays par des membres du clergé catholique ou par des religieux sur
des enfants ou des adolescents et les mesures qu'il propose pour rendre
justice à ces enfants.
Le Saint
Siège devrait s’engager à coopérer avec les autorités civiles locales en
fournissant des preuves et en prêtant leur concours aux poursuites engagées
contre des responsables ecclésiastiques impliqués dans des affaires d'abus
concernant des enfants ou des adolescents.
Le Saint
Siège devrait en outre, dans ces affaires, s'engager à lever ses exigences de
secret et se conformer à sa propre loi en assurant aux enfants et adolescents
ou leurs représentants, des possibilités effectives de se justifier et de
défendre leurs droits ; il doit garantir le plein respect des procédures
internes, judiciaires ou non-judiciaires.
Le Saint
Siège devrait aussi interdire à tous les clercs coupables d'abus sur des
enfants la participation à des activités ou à des organisations qui leur
donnent la possibilité de contacts avec des enfants. Ceci inclut,
non-limitativement, les paroisses, les écoles, les centres d’accueil de jour,
les groupes et activités de loisirs (telles que les organisations de jeunesse
catholique ou celles affiliées aux Journées mondiales de la jeunesse), les hôpitaux, les
groupes de formation, les activités missionnaires à l’intention des enfants et
des jeunes, les séminaires et les couvents.
Pour contribuer à la réalisation de ces objectifs, le Saint Siège
devrait créer et maintenir une base de données accessible de clercs et de
religieux convaincus d’abus sexuels sur des enfants, de sorte que ces
personnes ne puissent échapper aux conséquences de leurs actes criminels en
s'installant ailleurs. (...)
(Extraits d'un rapport d’ONG sur la manière dont les lois du
Saint Siège affectent l’application de la
Convention par la France)
From :
Catholiques pour le
Libre-choix
4 -
Sweden : a "man tax" to cover the social cost of violence against
women...
A group of Swedish
parliamentarians has proposed levying a "man tax" to cover the social cost of
violence against women. "It must be obvious to all of us that society has a
huge problem with male violence against women and that has a cost," Left Party
deputy Gudrun Schyman told Swedish radio on Monday.
"We must have a
discussion where men understand they as a group have a responsibility," said
Schyman, one of the party members to sign the motion for debate on the new
tax. Sweden already has the highest taxes in the European Union as a
percentage of gross domestic product to pay for its famous but hard-pushed
cradle-to-grave welfare program. It is also one of the world's most advanced
nations in terms of gender equality, but Schyman said in a headline-hitting
2002 speech that discrimination in Sweden followed "the same pattern" as in
Afghanistan under the Taliban.
(Reuters - October 4 2004)
5 -
Russia's anti-trafficking coalition
|
Russia's anti-trafficking coalition, founded in 1999
by the MiraMed Institute.
The Angel Coalition is the Russian Federation's first legally
registered international association of anti-trafficking women's
organizations. It has offices in St. Petersburg and Moscow and its
members include 43 non-governmental organizations from 25 regions of
Russia, 7 former Soviet Republics and MiraMed Institute.
As a direct response to the trafficking crisis, and with funding
and institutional support from MiraMed Institute, Angel Coalition
members have:
• Conducted over 100 regional anti-trafficking conferences
throughout Russia, published reports on trafficking in the mass media
and academic journals, conducted television and radio interviews in
their regions and distributed materials on trafficking to hundreds of
schools, institutes and orphanages.
• Co-produced a 30 minute prime time Russian television program
with journalist Vladimir Pozner, "Behind the Mask", which featured a
trafficking victim who told her story to both a live audience and more
than 5 million.
• Distributed global video conference and distribution of a
Russian language video of "A World Free of Violence Against Women"
throughout the CIS (funded by UNIFEM).
• Produced a series of global "chat rooms" - the most recent in
September, 2003 - that allowed members throughout Russia, the CIS and
the world to speak to each other about sexual trafficking and what was
being done to combat it-126 Russian organizations and more than 80
international organizations participated.
• Organized and participated in the largest survey project to
date in Russia on attitudes and knowledge about sexual trafficking (more
than 3,500 participants completed a multi-page questionnaire in 59
regions of Russia and many CIS countries-funded by UNIFEM and
USIA.
http://www.miramedinstitute.org/traffic.htm |
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