| BURNING ISSUE
YES Campaign: Youth Educated Sexually!!! We would like to encourage you to support
the Astra Youth Campaign on safer sex and promotion of condom use among young people by
signing the manifesto prepared by the group which is available for you at: http://www.astra.org.pl/podpisy/
Astra Youth is a group of young activists from Central and Eastern Europe, as
well as Balkan countries, who work in the field of sexual and reproductive health and
rights. The major advocacy efforts of the group focus on comprehensive sexuality
education, which is a precondition of effective HIV prevention. Astra Youth is highly
alarmed with the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic in the CEE region. The rates of newly reported
cases are the steepest in the world. Moreover, young people, especially young women, are
becoming more and more vulnerable as a group. In this context, lack of adequate HIV
preventative campaigns targeted at youth combined with the limited access to SRHR
comprehensive information due to the lack of sexuality education at schools require urgent
actions to be undertaken. Based on these concerns, Astra Youth developed its campaign to
reach young people in the region with a message: If sex you choose, then condom use!
The launch of the campaign is going to take place
in Zagreb, Croatia on 1st of June 2007 at the International Children’s Day.
REGIONAL
UPDATES
BULGARIA: Launch of the National Campaign for preventing trafficking in women. The overall aim of the campaign is to educate and sensitize the
public about the problem of trafficking in humans, which is an especially burning issue in
Bulgaria. The most vulnerable group is young women who are sold for forced prostitution.
Various human right organizations estimate that the scope of the trafficking might be even
10 thousands women a year. At the launch of the campaign, that was co-organized by various
NGOs, artistic event entitled “Traffic of people”
took place. Short films and other visual projects with the participation of
Bulgarian celebrities were presented. This way of awareness raising is scheduled to last
till September and is aimed at the general public.
More
information is available at:
http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_English/Theme_Lifestyle/Material/trafficwomenBa.htm
Source: NEWW 06/04/2007
BULGARIA: experiences the lowest demographic growth in Europe. National Statistical Institute presented new data that indicate that
Bulgaria has the lowest population growth rate in all of Europe. Although aging population
appears to be actually a problem of the whole enlarged European Union, the situation in
newest Member State seems most dramatic. The average age amounts to 41.4 years and the
death rate is significantly higher than the European average. Moreover, the population
growth rate constantly decreases and the overall number of population declines. Sexual and
reproductive health and rights groups should keep an eye on the further developments of
this situation and monitor governments responses to this problem.
Source:
CCMC PUSH Journal 02/04/2007
LITHUANIA: Problem of limited access to legal abortion. The heads of the hospitals, where abortion services are provided
informed that about 2/3 of doctors in their clinics refuse to perform abortions. Abortion
is legal in Lithuania, but many doctors report they feel guilty performing this procedure.
In Lithuanian society’s opinion, abortion stands for killing human beings and normally
doctors who refuse to perform abortions are praised.
The
heads of hospitals asked the Ministry of Health to increase the price of abortion. Now
women pay for abortion EUR 33, but this price does not cover expenses of the hospital.
Family Planning and Sexual Health Association urged the Ministry of Health to form working
group and to discuss possibilities to cover difference by health insurance. Women’s
reproductive rights should be protected and the price of the abortion should not be
increased.
Esmeralda
Kuliesyte, Family Planning and Sexual Health Association of Lithuania
LATVIA: Ban on Parade was illegal - rules the Court. The Latvian Administrative Court of appellate jurisdiction found the
ban on the Equality March organized by sexual minorities circles illegal. In July 2006,
the city of Riga authorities did not allow the LGBT organizations to organize an annual
parade. The organizers strongly disagreed with this unlawful decision and believed that
their right of free assembly had been violated. The court supported the aggrieved party’s
claims. Now, the city authorities have to reimburse the costs of the registration of the
parade the organizers bore.
POLAND: Parliament rejected proposed changes in the Constitution to totally ban
abortion. This is a victory of
pro-choice circles in Poland. The parliament did not approve the proposal to introduce
protection of “unborn life” in the Constitution. All five amendments were rejected.
Although supporters of the anti-choice changes of the Constitution had a majority, they
did not manage to collect 2/3 of votes that were required. Out of 460 members of
Parliament, 443 participated. 269 MPs voted in favor of the change, 121 – against, 53
– abstained. In order to win they should have 27 votes more.
The
leader of the League of Polish Families, Roman Giertych, made a statement soon after the
voting that his political party will continue efforts to strengthen legal protection of
life.
Source:
Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning www.federa.org.pl
South Caucasus Annual Youth Reproductive Health and Rights Forum in the
Parliament of Georgia. Last month,
governmental representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as European
Union officials and civil society including youth delegates gathered to discuss the
challenges in improving the situation of youth’s sexual and reproductive health and
rights (SRHR). The outcome of this youth-oriented event organized by European
Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) in cooperation with United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) Georgia is a Statement of Commitment worked out by participants.
The Statement focuses on achieving sustainable improvements in the field of SRHR of young
people in South Caucasus. The
Forum took place within the framework of Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in the
South Caucasus (RHIYC), which is a three-year initiative targeted at youth aged 15 to 24,
with a particular focus on the most vulnerable groups. Young people are involved in the
project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The programme also includes the
opening of 15 youth-friendly reproductive health centers.
Young Women from Eastern Europe – victims of sex slavery. Unknown facts
revealed by BBC Investigation. It
is estimated that at least 85% of sex workers in British brothels come from Eastern
European Countries. Among them there are as girls as young as 14 years old – claim
children’s rights organizations. Juvenile trafficked children (aged 14-17) might account
even up to 10% of victims. The BBC investigation reveals that a big number of people
working in the sex industry are actually sex slaves trafficked from overseas. Young women
from Eastern Europe are rather eager to migrate for economic reasons due to the difficult
situation on the labour market in their home countries. This makes them especially
vulnerable for trafficking. What is most dreadful is that family members or boyfriends are
often a party of the sale transaction; and women are completely unaware of their real fate
in the United Kingdom. According to the Home Office estimates, 4000 women were trafficked
for sex exploitation in UK in 2003. But experts claim that the real scope of trafficking
might be much more widespread than official statistics indicate. Moreover, the number of
cases has risen since 2003 for sure.
Full
article on the BBC investigation is available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/6459369.stm
Women immigrating from Eastern Europe burden National Health System of
Great Britain. Experts claim that
increased immigration of women from the CEE region after EU enlargement in 2004 to the
country has doubled the demand for reproductive health care services. The fertility rate
is higher among immigrants , which significantly increases the medical professionals’
workload. The local health care systems also had to employ interpreters. Polish, Russian
and Lithuanian are among the most needed acquaintances in medical centers. Eastern women
are also looking for abortion services. According to official estimates, 25% of women who
want to terminate pregnancy are from the CEE region. Experts anticipate that sustaining
influx of women from the East might soon become a big problem for the public service
infrastructure since it was not prepared for immigration amounting to 500.000 in three
years.
Source:
CCMC PUSH Journal 28/03/2007
GLOBAL
UPDATES
OPPOSITION: IV World Congress of
Families, 11 – 13 May 2007, Warsaw, Poland. This is one of the most spectacular events of the
opponents of sexual and reproductive health and rights. The World Family Congress (WCF)
brings together many ultra-right wing, anti-choice organizations located in and outside United
States. Although the event might seem benign “it is a strategic camouflage for a
familiar set of favorite ultraconservative causes: an intolerant version of
heterosexuality and marriage that precludes recognition of gay unions, is anti-abortion,
anti-contraception and anti-sex education”, as expert in the field - Gillian Kane from
International Women’s Health Coalition - stated. This is the fourth edition of the WCF
and not accidentally will it take place in Poland - ruled by conservative, so called
pro-family oriented political forces. Previous congresses took place in Prague, Geneva and
Mexico and gathered a big audience, but the upcoming one is going to outnumber all
previous editions. Moreover, Polish President, Lech Kaczynski agreed to be Honorary Patron
of the Congress and by these means the head of the state presents his position as
conflicting with sexual and reproductive rights. TEllen Sauerbrey, the Assistant Secretary
of State for Population, Refugees and Migration in the Bush’s administration also
received an invitation to this event. MEPs urged her to withdraw from this conservative
meeting.
EU: Informal Council Meeting of Health
Ministers 19 April 2007, Aachen. The ministers gathered to discuss the crossborder healthcare services and
strategize on the possible steps that have to be undertaken in the nearest future to
improve those services. Ulla Schimdt, the
German Federal minister of Health
declared also that it will be highly desirable to further cooperate in terms of HIV/AIDS
prevention since the virus does not stop at borders. This seems to be a continuation of
the recognition made at the Bremen Conference.
Press
release is available at: http://www.eu2007.de/en/News/Press_Releases/April/0419BMGMinistertreffen.html
EU: Evolution and Religious Fundamentalism in
European Schools. On 17th of April 2007, a seminar under
this title took place in the European Parliament. It was organized by Swedish MEP Maria
Carlshamre and the Swedish Humanist Association. The problem of religious fundamentalism
presented by some MEPs who continually intend to incorporate Christian values into
European policy has been discussed from various angles. The seminar was honoured by the
presence of professor Richard Dawkins, author of a bestseller “Selfish Gene”. Dawkins
gave a severe critique of creationism and postulated that this way of thinking must be
labeled ideology, not a scientific theory.
Moreover, at the seminar Wanda Nowicka from the
Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning gave a speech about sexual and
reproductive health and rights of women in Poland and how they are endangered by Christian
fundamentalism. “After it failed to change the Polish Constitution, the ultra-right wing
ruling coalition is going to undertake further actions to restrict sexual and reproductive
rights of women in Poland, including a total ban on abortion” – Nowicka concluded.
USA:
Wastefulness of the Abstinence Until Marriage Education. The Bush Administration continues its program
targeted at teenagers of abstinence-until-marriage education, although it received a
severe critique of progressive circles and sexual and reproductive health advocates and
proved its inefficiency numerous times. On the contrary, there were some declarations from
the administration that the abstinence–only messages should be reinforced. At the moment
the federal government already spends approximately USD 176 million per year and does not
seem to the change policy towards sexuality education that does not yield any results as
most recent study of Mathematica Policy Research Inc. It turns out clearly that students
who took part in the full of governmental programme were equally likely to have sexual
intercourse than those students who did not attend abstinence-until-marriage education.
Moreover, both groups that took part in the study did not differ significantly in terms of
numbers of sexual partners.
Source:
KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 14
The
study is available at:
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/impactabstinence.pdf
Mexico
City
legalizes abortion. This is a great success of pro-choice advocates,
especially if we take into account that Mexico City is the second largest Roman Catholic
community in the world – 90% of its population declares to be religious. At the
legislative assembly, there were 46 votes in favour of legal abortion up to 12 weeks of
pregnancy in comparison with 19 legislators who were against the introduction of the new
right for women to make decision about their own bodies. Now the act has to be only signed
up by the leftist mayor of the city. Decriminalization of abortion should be perceived in
the context of general liberalization of laws in Mexico City. Recently, the legislative
assembly adopted a right to same-sex civil unions. The next issue that will be put for
social debate is most probably legalization of euthanasia.
You
can read more about this issue at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6586959.stm
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
gives a decision in the frozen embryo case. The Grand Chamber from Strasbourg remained congruent
with the British courts’ verdict that embryos cannot be used to in vitro fertilization
without a partner’s consent. ECHR considered Natallie Evans’s complaint, a British
women who was denied the use of frozen embryos to become pregnant because her ex-partner
withdrew permission after they split up. The woman claims that she has the right to use
the embryos, especially since it is the only way for her to have her own children since
she underwent cancer of the uterus treatment which left her infertile. The woman also
referred to an argument, that the law is discriminatory against infertile women. If she
was able to get pregnant in a natural way she would now have a baby and no one would dare
to question it after her relationship with the baby’s father was over. Analogically, if
she was pregnant the moment the relationship ended, the future father would not have the
right to make her terminate the pregnancy.
After
the Grand Chamber verdict that there was no violation of the Article 8 of the European
Convention on Human Rights, the embryos will be destroyed within the next month.
Source:
Kaiser 12/04/2007
UPCOMING
EVENTS
18th International
Conference on the Reduction of Harm Related Drugs, 13-17 May 2007, Warsaw, Poland. All information is available at: www.harmreduction2007.org
REMINDER:
Global Safe Abortion Conference 2007 23-24
October 2007, London, UK. Early
registration deadline is 31st of May 2007. Organized by Marie Stopes
International in cooperation with Ipas and Abortion Rights, the conference is completely
focused on abortion: its accessibility, legal status, advocacy and funding.
All
detailed information can be accessed at: http://www.globalsafeabortion.org/index.html
WIDE's Annual Conference 2007 ‘New
aid, old trade: What do women have to say?’, Madrid, Spain, 14 – 17 June 2007. The
aim of this year’s conference is to create a forum for constructive analysis of women’s
rights today and perspectives for gender equality in the new global development and trade
architecture. The problem of lacks in expected advancement of women that should follow the
constant and persisting development will be raised. The WIDE conference is intended to be
a space for women from the East, North and South to analyse critically European and
international aid and trade policies, in order to name the challenges, to identify the
opportunities and to agree on a common agenda to ensure that this new aid, trade and
foreign policy architecture reinforces and supports commitments on women’s human rights
and gender equality.
Details about conference are available at:
http://www.eurosur.org/wide/annualconference.htm
REPRODUCTIVE
RIGHTS ON THE AGENDA
Call
for facilitators: Youth Coalition is awaiting submission to facilitate a one-day session on
facilitation skills at the organization’s Annual Meeting that is about to take place
in Morocco, Casablanca on 5th of August 2007. The entire submission
package must be received by the Youth Coalition no later than May 7th,
by 12:00 P.M. New York time.
PUBLICATIONS
A Health Handbook for Women with
Disabilities. This book provides basic information to help women with disabilities
stay healthy. The publications covers the topics of mental health, understanding and
taking care of your body, sexuality, family planning, pregnancy and many many others.
The entire book is now available for download from Hesperian’s
website that issued this publication:
http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php#wwd
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs): Global Monitoring Report 2007. This publication elaborates
on the progress made in achieving MDGs in the field of gender equality. According to this
review, those states that have weak institutions and governance fail to keep up and the
process of development is far too slow there. It is also postulated that scaling up “quality”
aid requires greater consistency among donors, developing countries and international
agencies.
The report can be downloaded for free at: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTGLOBALMONITOR/EXTGLOMONREP2007/0,,contentMDK:21256862~menuPK:3413296
~pagePK:64218950~piPK:64218883~theSitePK:3413261,00.html
It is available in English, French and Spanish.
Women and Girls living with
HIV/AIDS. This publication is a joint initiative of BRIDGE and International
Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS. It presents an elaborative overview of the
problems and challenges that HIV-positive women and girls are facing, including stigma and
double discrimination, maternity and sexual life. Moreover, this report provides
information on annotated bibliography, which might especially helpful for those who wish
to go more in depth into particular issues.
The publication is available at: http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports/BB18_HIV.pdf
LINKS
New SIECUS (The Sexuality Information
and Education Council of the United States) resource on Sex Education. This is a comprehensive online resource on
sexuality education for educators, counselors, administrators, health professionals and
others interested in the topic, that has been developed by SIECUS, a leading organization
on that matters. It provides relevant tools to teach children and young people about the
subject, as well as the most up to date and medically accurate information and knowledge
regarding sexuality.
We
encourage you to visit it at: http://www.sexedlibrary.org/
New feminist website http://www.heresiesfilmproject.org This website contains an archive of all issues of
legendary Feminist Journal on Art and Politics that existed in years 1977 – 1992. The
website also includes a full proposal for the project - which can be printed - as well as
biographies of most of the women who founded the magazine, stills from the 70's and
behind-the-scenes photos of our shoots on location in Santa Fe, New York, Venice, Italy
and Carboneras, Spain. Watch for the trailer of the feature documentary, showing on the
website soon!
World Health Organization (WHO) launches a
new webpage on Female Genital Mutilation. A new resource developed by the Department of Reproductive Health and
Research offers consolidated information on research and activities addressing FGM.
You
can check it up at: http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/fgm/index.html
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