Dear Members, Below is an interesting article with an example of a country trying to change cultural values that make girls and young women vulnerable to violence and HIV/AIDS infection.
------------- November 11, 2001 Swazi King Violates His Own Sex Ban By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 7:27 p.m. ET MBABANE, Swaziland (AP) -- Swaziland's king paid the traditional fine of one cow Sunday for violating his own ban against having sexual relations with young female subjects. About 300 young women marched to a royal residence outside of the capital, Mbabane, and laid down their symbolic chastity belts -- a multicolored tasseled scarf -- in protest of King Mswati III's choosing a 17-year-old as his ninth wife. The cow was then speared, roasted and eaten in a festive gathering held by the young women. Frustrated by the high rate of HIV infection in his country and describing teen-age girls as ``flowers that should be protected,'' the 33-year-old king announced the reinstatement of the traditional chastity rite of ``umchwasho'' in September banning sexual relations for unmarried girls under the age of 18. Nearly two decades after this tiny mountain kingdom in southern Africa was last subjected to a sex ban, young women in traditional rural areas -- where powerful local chiefs enforce the king's will -- appear to have accepted the order. But it has been more difficult to impose the ban among the country's urbanized girls. Mswati said the umchwasho was necessary to combat the high HIV-infection rate in the country. More than 25 percent of adults in Swaziland are infected with HIV, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations' AIDS agency. The disease has already killed tens of thousands of Swazis. According to Swazi tradition, if the king's 17-year-old wife, Notsetselelo Magongo, becomes pregnant during the sex ban, the king will be obliged to pay another cow as a fine. Copyright 2001 The Associated Press ***End-violence is sponsored by UNIFEM and receives generous support from ICAP*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe end-violence OR type: unsubscribe end-violence Archives of previous End-violence messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/end-violence/hypermail/
