Dear Working Group Members,
You have sent many suggestions for resources to the Working Group. We have
compiled them here for the period 29 April-5 May. We hope these resources will
be useful in your efforts to end violence against women.
Thanks again for all your messages!
Warm regards,
the Moderators
******************
RESOURCES SUBMITTED TO
THE END-VIOLENCE WORKING GROUP
29 APRIL - 5 MAY 2002
Contents
A. ARTICLES/NEWS
1. Lithuanian court passes first sentences for trade in women
B. UPCOMING EVENTS
2. Parliamentary Hearings - Gender Based Violence (South Africa)
3. Call for papers: International Seminar on Globalization, Violence, NGOs
and the Non-state
Actors
C. PUBLICATIONS
4. New publications on sexual and reproductive rights
D. CAMPAIGNS
5. Mullahs' regime condemns woman to stoning -- NCR Women's Committee's appeal
6. United Nations Human Rights Commission evades condemning the human right
situation in Iran
************************************************************
A. ARTICLES/NEWS
1. LITHUANIAN COURT PASSES FIRST SENTENCES FOR TRADE IN WOMEN
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 17, 2002
Klaipeda, Lithuania, 17 April: A court of Lithuania's port city Klaipeda
has sentenced three local residents, including one
former police officer, to jail sentences for human trafficking.
These are the first sentences in Lithuania on charges of selling women -
sometimes coming from neighbouring Belarus and
the Russian Kaliningrad Region - to sex slavery in Spain, Germany and other
countries.
On Tuesday [16 April], a Klaipeda court handed down a seven-year jail term
for former senior inspector of the city's organized
crime unit, 34-year-old Timur Bagno. His two accomplices were sentenced to
six and three years in prison.
Bagno was detained on suspicion of acting as an intermediary in the selling
of prostitutes to sex slavery in Germany. His
accomplices were apprehended as they attempted to take two women, aged 19
and 22, from Lithuania by car.
Source: BNS news agency, Tallinn, in English 0915
gmt 17 Apr 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.
-------------
B. UPCOMING EVENTS
2. PARLIAMENTARY HEARINGS - GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
NPCHP and SAGBVHI
Date: June 4 to 5, 2002
Venue:
South Africa
The National Portfolio Committee on Health in Parliament, and the
South African Gender-based Violence and Health Initiative, will be
jointly holding hearings in Parliament on Gender-Based Violence and
the Health Sector.
The South African Gender-based Violence and Health initiative
(SAGBVHI) is a partnership of individuals and organizations aiming to
build the capacity of the health sector to respond to survivors of
gender-based violence.
Members of SAGBVHI include the Women's Health Project, Gender &
Health Group at the Medical Research Council, Centre for the Study of
Violence and Reconciliation, Soul City, Emphilisweni Training Centre
and the Departments of Nursing, as well as Forensic Medicine &
Toxicology at the University of Cape Town.
During these hearings the Committee is interested in hearing from
members of the public who are involved in the following areas:
1 Training health care workers on issues around gender based
violence
2 Providing health services for survivors of gender based violence
3 Researching issues round the health sector response to gender
based violence
The Committee is also interested in hearing from survivors of gender
based violence - both domestic violence and sexual assault - about
their experiences of using the health sector and recommendations for
improving the service.
There are two ways that you can participate in the hearings.
1 Oral submission
Those wanting to make an oral submission at the hearings should
send a brief summary of the area which they would like to talk
about to the secretary of the Committee by Monday 20th May.
Oral submission will be limited to 15 minutes per
person/organisation so we can fit in as many as possible.
Applications can be send to:
Marilyn Swart
Parliament Towers
P.O. Box 15
Cape Town
or faxed to 021 403 2725
or emailed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Efforts will be made to make space for everyone who wishes to
make an oral submission but this might not be possible due to
time constraints. Those who are being invited to make an oral
submission will be contacted by Wednesday the 22nd of May.
2 Written submission
Written submissions can aslo be sent to Marilyn Swart.
The closing date for written submissions is Wednesday 29th May
2002
Fatima Suleman, Information Manager
Healthlink Programme
Health Systems Trust
P.O. Box 808
Durban
4000
http://www.hst.org.za
Contact info:
Name: Loveday Penn-Kekana
Phone: (011) 489 9930
Cell phone: 083 483 2473
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Source: Women'sNet
URL: http://www2.womensnet.org.za/events/show.cfm?id=409
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3. CALL FOR PAPERS
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON GLOBALIZATION, VIOLENCE, NGOS AND THE NON-STATE
ACTORS
Tehran, December 2002
by: The Organization for Defending Victims of Violence (ODVV)
Abstracts can be send through email to the ODVV ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), by the
end of June 2002 through.
Main subjects of the conference :
New patterns of violence in the era of globalization
The nature of violence in the process of globalization
new forms of violence and globalization
more access to violent softwares and hardwares in the era of
globalization
violence against women and children, and globalization
The role of NGOs in monitoring, advocacy and training for a culture of
non-violence
The role of NGOs in decreasing the violence
controlling systems for violence in the process of globalization
For more information, contact the ODVV.
***********************************************************************
Organization for Defending Victims of Violence (ODVV), a non
governmental organization devoted to promoting a culture of
non-violence, in Special Consultative Status to the Economic and Social
Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC), associated with the United
Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI)
P.O.Box 16765-911, Tehran, IRAN
Tel : + 98 21 895 49 28 Fax : + 98 21 896 30 91
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website : http://www.odvv.org
***********************************************************************
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C. PUBLICATIONS
4. NEW PUBLICATIONS ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Ipas is pleased to announce several new publications related to improving
women's ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights and to
reducing abortion-related maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide:
**Making safe abortion accessible: A practical guide for advocates**
This 68-page handbook offers direction to activists working to ensure that
abortions permitted by law are safe and accessible, in accordance with
international mandates. It reviews key steps in successful abortion-rights
advocacy campaigns, including: envisioning needed changes in abortion
services; building and managing effective partnerships for advocacy;
increasing awareness of the need for change among a variety of audiences;
and helping prepare the health system and related sectors to offer safe
abortion. The guide is adaptable to diverse settings, prompting readers to
develop the most appropriate strategies for their own context. (In English.
Full text online at www.ipas.org. Hard copies are available
free of charge.)
________________________________
**A guide to providing abortion care**
Based on Ipas's global experience developing, implementing and monitoring
abortion and postabortion care programs, this comprehensive 82-page manual
gives readers tools needed to establish and improve abortion services.
Intended audiences include program managers, clinic managers, health care
providers and policymakers. Chapter topics are: assessing needs; planning
for change in service delivery; training abortion care providers; providing
services; and monitoring and evaluating programs. The guide can be used in
its entirety or in part, adapted to individual sites' and health systems'
needs. Also provided are checklists, forms and a other tools to aid program
planning and implementation. (In English. Full text online at
www.ipas.org. Hard copies are available free of charge.)
________________________________
**Filling the gap: Introducing innovative second-trimester abortion
services in Vietnam**
The latest issue of Ipas's Dialogue series reports on the Vietnamese
Ministry of Health's strategic response to a critical gap in women's health
care. After a national assessment conducted with the World Health
Organization revealed that Vietnamese women face significant obstacles
obtaining abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy, the Ministry of
Health collaborated with Ipas to design, test and introduce a
resource-appropriate technique for second-trimester abortion. The
innovative procedure -- which combines dilatation and evacuation (D&E) with
manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and buccal administration of misoprostol for
cervical preparation -- has proved to be an appropriate and safe procedure
and has begun to fill a harmful gap in reproductive health services. The
systems approach used to introduce the new procedure offers important
lessons for other settings where safe, effective services for
second-trimester abortion are lacking. (In English and Spanish. Hard copies
are available free of charge.)
________________________________
**A handbook for advocacy in the African human rights system: Advancing
reproductive and sexual health**
Prepared by eminent legal scholars under the auspices of the International
Programme on Reproductive and Sexual Health Law at the University of
Toronto, this 193-page manual aims to facilitate use of Africa's human
rights system to promote and protect reproductive and sexual health. A rich
resource for women's health and rights advocates working in Africa, it
provides an overview of the context of reproductive and sexual health in
Africa; an introduction to the African regional human rights system; "how
to" information on using the African Commission on Human and Peoples'
Rights; background on the Commission's casework relevant to advocacy; and
basic human rights documents of the African human rights system, as well as
other interpretive documents. (In English. Available online at
<http://www.ipas.org>. Limited hard copies are available free
of charge and can be requested from the Ipas African Regional Office at
[EMAIL PROTECTED])
________________________________
**Preventing unsafe abortion: A call to action for health professionals**
Health associations and individual health professionals can provide
leadership in bringing awareness to the public health crisis of unsafe
abortion. This four-page fact sheet provides advocates in the health care
field with the necessary background to speak about the issue and advocate
for change in restrictive abortion laws and policies. It contains basic
facts and key statements from the medical community and United Nations
bodies on actions that prevent deaths from unsafe abortion. (In English and
Spanish. Full text online at www.ipas.org. Hard copies are
available free of charge.)
________________________________
**Contruyendo el acceso de las mujeres a los servicios de interrupción
legal del embarazo en los casos de violación (Building women's access to
abortion services in cases of rape)**
Developed by Ipas-Mexico and the Secretariat of Health in Mexico City, this
6-page bulletin summarizes a strategy for equipping facilities in general
and Maternal/Child Health hospitals to provide abortion for legal
indications and key experiences to date implementing this strategy in
Mexico City. The article includes results of a questionnaire surveying
various hospital-based health care providers' knowledge and opinions about
legal abortion and violence, as well as inquiring about their training and
experiences related to these subjects. Finally, the bulletin describes a
comprehensive health care model for women who are victims of violence. (In
Spanish. Full text online at www.ipas.org. Hard copies are
available free of charge.)
____________________________________
For additional information about these or any other Ipas publications,
contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or (919) 960-5705. And please feel free
to share this announcement with others!
----------
D. CAMPAIGNS
5. MULLAHS' REGIME CONDEMNS WOMAN TO STONING -- NCR WOMEN'S COMMITTEE'S APPEAL
Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Veuillez trouver ci-joint les textes en anglais et en Français de ce
communiqué:
Mullahs' regime condemns woman to stoning
NCR Women's Committee's appeal
The state-run daily Entekhab reported that a court in Tehran
sentenced a woman by the name of Ferdows - B to stoning yesterday.
This is the 21st case of stoning announced during Khatami's
presidency. Fourteen of the victims have been women. Among the
victims was a 35-year-old woman who was stoned to death after eight
years in jail on charges of appearing in "obscene films", and another
woman by the name of Sima, who has been waiting in prison to be
stoned since January 2002.
While condemning this appalling, anti-human punishment, the Women's
Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran calls upon
international human rights and women's rights forums to protest
against cruel and inhuman punishments against women in Iran.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 25, 2002
-------
Le régime des mollahs condamne une femme à la lapidation
Appel de la commission des femmes du CNRI
Le quotidien officiel Entekhab a rapporté qu'un tribunal de Téhéran a
condamné hier une femme, Ferdows B., à la lapidation.C'est le 21e cas
de lapidation annoncé sous la présidence de Khatami. Quatorze des
victimes sont des femmes. Parmi les victimes se trouve une femme de
35 ans qui a été lapidée à mort après huit années d'emprisonnement,
accusée d'avoir tourné dans des "films obscènes", et une autre femme
du nom de Sima, qui attend en prison d'étre lapidée depuis janvier
2002.
Tout en condamnant cet horrible châtiment inhumain, la commission des
femmes du Conseil national de la Résistance iranienne appelle les
instances internationales et les organisations de défenses des droits
des femmes à protester contre les châtiments cruels et inhumains
contre les femmes en Iran.
Secrétariat du Conseil national de la Résistance iranienne
Le 25 avril 2002
----------
6. UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION EVADES CONDEMNING THE HUMAN RIGHTS
SITUATION IN IRAN
AIWUSA-Association of Iranian Women-US
WEBSITE:WWW.AIWUSA.ORG E-MAIL:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
TEL:00-1-703-941-8584
IRANIAN WOMEN'S BRIEF (IWB) # 51
APRIL 2002
CONTACT PERSON: BEHJAT DEHGHAN
Although the United Nations special representative professor Capithorn
called Iran as a "prison for Woman." On Monday April 22(superscript: nd).
The 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva
voted on a resolution on the human rights situation in Iran by evading to
see the facts and figures presented to them. The human rights situation was
regretfully sacrificed for the under?table ?deals offered by the
representatives of the Islamic government. The Association of Iranian
women-USA (AIWUSA) deplores the commission's failure to condemn the
situation of human rights and remains deeply concerned over the situation
of women in Iran. The Association believes strongly that this vote is
providing a green light for Iranian regime to bolster its misogynist
behaviors towards women. Now the world should witness more stoning, more
executions, more violence, more discriminatory laws and more humiliation of
women. We appreciate the support of thousands women's rights advocates from
48 countries, including 158 associations and organizations defending
women's and human rights in Iran last month. They signed a declaration
entitled, "With Iranian Women, Against Islamic Fundamentalism". The
signatories include hundreds of parliamentarians, writers and researchers,
lawyers, physicians and religious personalities.
Along with our nation wide democratic movement inside Iran, The
Association of Iranian Women-USA will continue it's full effort to
advocate women rights in Iran by monitoring situation of Women in Iran and
informing the International Bodies about all the atrocities imposed by
Islamic Fundamentalist regime in Iran and ask for solidarity and supports
of all international NGO's and Humanitarian Bodies. The following are
excerpts from different news agencies elaborating the resolution.
Iran Zamin news agency, April 24,2002
- Through deals with other human rights violators and by buying votes,
mullahs' regime temporarily evades, by one vote, 50th UN condemnation of
its crimes
The 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva
voted on
Monday, April 22, 2002, on a resolution on the human rights situation in
Iran.
The draft resolution recalled a series of condemnations of the mullahs'
regime by the UN General Assembly and the Commission, and deeply regretted
the fact that the Commission' Special Representative had not been able to
visit Iran since 1996. The draft resolution expressed grave concern over
the continuing discrimination, torture and executions in Iran and "the use
of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, in
particular the practice of amputation and flogging," "the systematic
discrimination against women and girls in law and in practice," "the
imprisonment and mistreatment of demonstrators," "the deterioration of the
situation with regard to freedom of opinion and expression, especially
attacks against the freedom of the press," "the absence of guarantees of
due process of law and respect for internationally recognized legal
safeguards," and "the continuing discrimination against persons
belonging to religious minorities [and] ethnic minorities."
The resolution also insisted that the mullahs' regime end the execution
of "persons under the age of 18, " and allow the Special Representative to
visit Iran to be able to study the situation "through direct contacts with
all sectors of society."
The draft resolution, one of the strongest to-date on the human rights
situation in Iran, was prepared to a large extent on the basis of a huge
volume of reports and documents
provided by the Iranian Resistance to the member states and the Special
Representative of the Human Rights Commission.
Of the 53 members of the Commission, 19 voted for the resolution, 20
voted against and 14 abstained. The mullahs' regime was thus able to evade,
temporarily and by one vote, a new condemnation of its human rights record
by the United Nations, which would have been the 50th resolution censuring
mullahs' crimes. The mullahs avoided a new
condemnation thanks to under-the-table deals with other human rights
violators and by
purchasing the votes of certain dictatorial regimes that have been
admitted to the Commission this year. Of the 11 new members of the
Commission, only three voted in
favor of the resolution and the rest abstained or opposed the resolution.
Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of
Iran, lamented the way the concept of human rights has been vulgarized and
commercialized. He said: "Removing the mullahs' regime from the top of the
list of human rights violators in today's world only emboldens the ruling
religious fascism in the pursuit of terrorism and crimes against the
Iranian people. It will only lead to a deterioration of the human rights
situation in Iran. But the Iranian people and Resistance know very well
that 'the history of human rights is written in blood,' because they pay a
price with their flesh and bone, for every day that the mullahs remain in
power. The way to freedom and restoration of human rights is through
resistance."
Mr. Rajavi thanked those countries that voted against the mullahs'
regime and its
widespread violation of human rights in Iran and lauded the untiring
efforts of all the
members of the Resistance's delegation at the fifty-eighth session of the
Commission. He said: "Forty-nine condemnations by the UN and an enormous
volume of documents and evidence on the mullahs' terrorist and anti-human
crimes are too evident to be covered up or overshadowed through petty
deals. The mullahs' regime faces nothing but increasing international
condemnation and isolation. There is a force in the resistance for freedom
and justice that cannot be vanquished by any power or treachery."
France News Agency, April 22,2002
The situation of human rights in Iran has only DETERIORATED AND this
decision will not help to improve it.
- Human rights organizations and the spokesmen for a number of European
governments and the United States denounced the UN Human Rights
Commission's failure to adopt the resolution on the violations of human
rights in Iran. They said this would further encourage the clerical regime
in continuing and escalating its crimes against the people of Iran.
The representative of Spain, who chaired the Human Rights Commission's
session, said the situation of human rights in Iran is a cause of grave
concern.
The spokesman for the US Dept. of State said the US government is
concerned about the Commission's failure to condemn serious violations of
human rights in other parts of the world. Richard Boucher said we continue
to remain deeply concerned about the situation of human rights in places
like in Iran.
Prof. Maurice Copithorne, the UN Special Representative for human rights
in Iran also said the issue of human rights in Iran is one of the oldest
issues discussed by the UN Human Rights Commission.
Reuters. April 22,2002
U.N. rights body rejects bid to condemn Iran
By Richard Waddington
GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N.'s top human rights body Monday rejected a call
by the European Union and the United States to again condemn alleged abuses
in Iran, abandoning an 18-year-old tradition of criticizing Tehran.
As a result, for the first time since 1984, Tehran will not be the subject
of special reports by an investigator appointed by the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights.
The 53-member state body backed a call by members of the Organization of
the Islamic Conference to throw out the resolution that called on Iran to
stop the use of torture, grant greater freedom of expression and end
religious discrimination.
The motion was defeated by 20 votes to 19 with 14 countries abstaining,
delivering a diplomatic setback for Washington, which had played a key role
in securing the commission's annual pillorying of post-revolutionary Iran.
The United States says Iran forms part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and
North Korea, which it accuses of seeking to develop weapons of mass
destruction.
Presenting the motion on behalf of the EU, Spain's representative said that
despite some positive developments, the human rights situation in Iran was
still very worrying.
"The draft resolution expresses concern, particularly at the cases of
disappearance, the use of torture and other degrading treatment and the
deterioration of the situation with regard to freedom of expression,"
Ambassador Joaquin Perez-Villanueva y Tovar said before the vote.
But Islamic states and Iran, backed by China and a number of developing
countries in Africa and Asia, hit back by accusing Europe and the United
States of being motivated more by international politics than any desire to
improve human rights.
"The defeat of a measure that in the past two decades has been motivated by
political pressure is indicative of greater attention to the realities in
the Islamic republic," Iran's IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.
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