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| 03 May 2009 - 17:28 | Sevilla Actualidad
URL: www.sevillaactualidad.com/noticias/sevil . . .
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Sevilla Actualidad Sevilla Sociedad
Sevilla inicia una campaña contra los proxenetas
Sevilla - Sociedad La capital hispalense acogerá el próximo lunes 20 de abril una campaña contra el proxenetismo que busca concienciar a los ciudadanos de que la prostitución es una forma extrema de violencia de género. La campaña publicitaria se realizará por medio de anuncios-denuncia en prensa, repartición de carteles banderas y folletos a mano que apoyen la causa.
Anuncios-denuncia en prensa, carteles, banderas y folletos intentarán concienciar de este problema social
El próximo lunes 20 de abril se iniciará una campaña contra el proxenetismo, es decir, la intención de obtener beneficios económicos de la prostitución de otra persona, iniciativa potenciada por la delegación de la Mujer y de la delegación de Participación Ciudadana del Ayuntamiento de Sevilla.
El proyecto busca medidas que intenten eliminar la prostitución en Sevilla, incidiendo en el rechazo contra los proxenetas. Así, la campaña se realiza a instancias de una propuesta de Presupuesto Participativos y su objetivo principal es concienciar a los ciudadanos que la prostitución es una forma extrema de violencia de género.
Además, la iniciativa busca que la sociedad sepa que el proxenetismo organizado está ligado a intereses económicos y relacionados con las mafias, concienciando además sobre la ilegitimidad que supone lucrarse del ejercicio de la prostitución.
La campaña se basará en la inserción de anuncios en prensa, visualización de carteles en centros cívicos, reparto de banderolas entre la ciudadanía para su colocación en viviendas particulares y distribución de folletos informativos.
En lo que a la publicidad en prensa se refiere, ésta comenzará el próximo lunes 20 de abril y durará alrededor de un mes. Esta difusión se realizará por medio de anuncios-denuncias sobre el proxenetismo. Además de en la prensa, los anuncios también se podrán ver en carteles de 10 centros cívicos de Sevilla, concretamente en Las Sirenas, Hytasa, San Fernando, Los Carteros, Tejar del Mellizo, Entreparques, Torre del Agua, Torreblanca, Alcosa y Bellavista.
La campaña publicitaria se reforzará además con el reparto de 300 banderas pequeñas que se repartirán en asociaciones y particulares que quieran apoyar la visualización de los proxenetas de la capital hispalense mediante la colocación de éstas en sus balcones y ventanas. Finalmente se repartirán también 8.000 folletos de mano con información sobre el objeto de la campaña.
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| 03 May 2009 - 09:55 | Canadian Broadcasting Corp
URL: www.cbc.ca/sunday/2009/04/042609_1.html
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15 min MUST-SEE cbc video segment :
Interview with author, Victor Malarek, "The Johns"
www.cbc.ca/sunday/2009/04/042609_1.html
Check out this strong interview with Canadian investigative journalist Victor Malarek who has just published "The Johns" (KeyPorter Books, april 2009) a blistering exposé of the demand side in prostitution:
www.cbc.ca/sunday/2009/04/042609_1.html
The lengthy comments section on the CBC News website page seems to indicate that Malarek touched a sympathetic lodestone with his no-nonsense challenge to prostitution aficionados.
Martin Dufresne
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| 02 May 2009 - 13:56 | New York Times - Op Ed
URL: www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/opinion/30kri . . .
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New York Times
Op-Ed Columnist
Is Rape Serious?
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 29, 2009
When a woman reports a rape, her body is a crime scene. She is typically asked to undress over a large sheet of white paper to collect hairs or fibers, and then her body is examined with an ultraviolet light, photographed and thoroughly swabbed for the rapist’s DNA.
It’s a grueling and invasive process that can last four to six hours and produces a “rape kit” — which, it turns out, often sits around for months or years, unopened and untested.
Continues...
www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/opinion/30kristof.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
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| 02 May 2009 - 13:29 | Office of Victims of Crime
URL: www.ovc.gov/publications/infores/Victims . . .
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Sexual Assault
Victims' Right to Privacy
Online Guide
www.ovc.gov/publications/infores/VictimsRightToPrivacy/welcome.html
Maintaining confidentiality is vital if sexual assault victims1,2 are to receive the assistance they need and deserve. However, many factors continue to compromise victims' right to privacy. Advocates are crucial in ensuring victim confidentiality, but they need support to effectively, consistently, and successfully protect victims' right to privacy.
The focus of this online guide, developed by Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Inc., is sexual assault victims' right to privacy. It reinforces the importance of keeping information confidential and highlights the power of employing consistent practices to create a culture of respect for victims' privacy. This guide contains general recommendations, addresses common challenges, provides core concepts, and offers practical tips to assist advocates in their efforts to maintain victim confidentiality.
While some existing laws, statutes, and regulations establish victims' legal rights regarding privacy and confidential communication, the term "right" is used here in a much broader sense. Laws, statutes, and regulations should be used to support victim service center's and advocate's local policies and practices to promote this culture, rather than serving as the sole basis for maintaining confidentiality. Be aware that laws governing confidentiality for victims vary by state and territory. Be familiar with protections afforded to victims locally.
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| 02 May 2009 - 13:25 | Women's Grid UK
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UK
John Worboys’ jail term condemned by government adviser |
A senior adviser on rape to the government criticised the sentence given to the serial sex attacker John Worboys as “absolutely bizarre” yesterday, warning it could undermine work to improve the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences.
Black-cab driver Worboys, who police say could have sexually assaulted or raped more than 200 women, was jailed indeterminately but could be considered for parole in eight years’ time.
Dave Gee, a former head of Criminal Investigations Department who works with the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers and is behind a new assessment regime to monitor individual forces’ performance on rape, said the tariff did not reflect the severity of Worboys’s crimes.
“We know it’s the minimum but it’s the presentational message it gives,” he said. “People will think he’s only going to get eight years. It’s absolutely bizarre what message that sends … that there are cases where the judiciary don’t take rape seriously.
“It has the potential to discourage victims to come forward and also to undermine the confidence of people investigating and prosecuting rape.”
Gee said that the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who had been working to try to improve detection and conviction rates, as well as victims, could end up thinking “what’s the point?”.
He added that the tariff had “not gone down well” with professionals in the field. “The CPS are not happy. Eight years appears to be on the low side when you consider that rape can carry a sentence of life imprisonment.
“How do you qualify it against the level of offending? I’m not sure it matches at all - this man was a predator. We probably don’t know a fraction of his victims.”
Court reports said Worboys, who was found guilty last month of assaulting 12 women over 18 months and has been linked to 85 other attacks, was a sexual deviant who had not accepted his crimes and continued to pose a serious risk.
Police failings meant he continued attacking women because a number of officers did not believe his victims’ claims that they had been sexually assaulted by a London cabby. Several officers face disciplinary action.
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| 02 May 2009 - 13:05 | Marcia Greenberger, National Women's Law Center
action@nwlc.org
URL: action.nwlc.org/site/R?i=H8zNMiHDDRowuwZ . . .
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For the President's Suggestion Box: Nominate a Woman
Dear Colleague,
We need a good woman.
As Justice David Souter prepares to retire from the Supreme Court, it is absolutely critical to the women of this country that President Obama nominate a person who is committed to the legal rights and constitutional protections that women rely upon every day. And given the number of superbly qualified women -- both on and off the bench -- this person should be a woman!
As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in a speech earlier this month:
"Even though a wise old man and a wise old woman will reach the same decision, there are life experiences a woman has that come from growing up in a woman's body that men don't have."
Please join us in urging President Obama to nominate a woman committed to upholding and enforcing women's legal rights and protections:
action.nwlc.org/site/R?i=H8zNMiHDDRowuwZKXmxvTQ
Since Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired in 2005, Justice Ginsburg has been the sole woman on the Court. We have clearly moved past the days when one woman on the highest court in the land is enough.
Please join us in urging President Obama to nominate a woman who will move the Court forward in the spirit of Justice Souter's legacy on behalf of women and their families: http://action.nwlc.org/site/R?i=Izmua1te o8cKvNsfJS1uPg..
As always, thank you for all you do to protect and advance the legal rights of women.
Sincerely,
Marcia Greenberger,
Co-President,
National Women's Law Center
P.S. And please take a moment to read my article in The Huffington Post, "For the President's Suggestion Box: Nominate a Woman":
action.nwlc.org/site/R?i=gKIY9zXJ ztfN5i6hn88rqQ
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| 01 May 2009 - 10:04 | RAINN
URL: apps.rainn.org/ohl-bridge/
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RAINN'S
National Sexual Assault Online Hotline
apps.rainn.org/ohl-bridge/
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| 01 May 2009 - 09:48 | Associated Press
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8-year-old Saudi girl divorces 50-year-old husband
By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI – 16 hours ago
Associated Press
CAIRO (AP) — An 8-year-old Saudi girl has divorced her middle-aged husband after her father forced her to marry him last year in exchange for about $13,000, her lawyer said Thursday. Saudi Arabia has come under increasing criticism at home and abroad for permitting child marriages. The United States, a close ally of the conservative Muslim kingdom, has called child marriage a "clear and unacceptable" violation of human rights.
The girl was allowed to divorce the 50-year-old man who she married in August after an out-of-court settlement had been reached in the case, said her lawyer, Abdulla al-Jeteli. The exact date of the divorce was not immediately known.
A court in the central Oneiza region previously rejected a request by the girl's mother for a divorce and ruled that the girl would have to wait until she reached puberty to file a petition then.
There are no laws in Saudi Arabia defining the minimum age for marriage. Though a woman's consent is legally required, some marriage officials don't seek it.
But there has been a push by Saudi human rights groups to define the age of marriage and put an end to the phenomenon.
One Saudi human rights activist Sohaila Zain al-Abdeen was optimistic that the girl's divorce would help efforts to get a law passed enforcing a minimum marriage age of 18.
"Unfortunately, some fathers trade their daughters," she told The Associated Press. "They are weak people who are sometimes in need of money and forget their roles as parents."
It was not clear if the man received money for the divorce settlement. The man had given the girl's father 50,000 riyals, or about $13,350, as a marriage gift in return for his daughter, the lawyer said.
The 8-year-old girl's marriage was not the only one in the kingdom to receive attention in recent months. Saudi newspapers have highlighted several cases in which young girls were married off to much older men or young boys including a 15-year-old girl whose father, a death-row inmate, married her off to a cell mate.
Saudi Arabia's conservative Muslim clergy have opposed the drive to end child marriages. In January, the kingdom's most senior cleric said it was permissible for 10-year-old girls to marry and those who believe they are too young are doing the girls an injustice.
But some in the government appear to support the movement to set a minimum age for marriage. The kingdom's new justice minister was quoted in mid-April as saying the government was doing a study on underage marriage that would include regulations.
There are no statistics to show how many marriages involving children are performed in Saudi Arabia every year. Activists say the girls are given away in return for hefty marriage gifts or as a result of long-standing custom in which a father promises his infant daughters and sons to cousins out of a belief that marriage will protect them from illicit relationships.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 01 May 2009 - 09:21 | Assemblymember Jim Bealle
URL: democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a24/Ne . . .
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California
AB 612 Requires Family Courts to Restrict Use of Pseudo Syndromes in Custody Cases
April 28, 2009
Contact: Rodney Foo
(408) 282-8920
Assemblymember Beall: Junk Science Should Be Thrown Out of Court
AB 612 Requires Family Courts to Restrict Use of Pseudo Syndromes in Custody Cases
(Sacramento) – Assembly Bill 612, legislation from Assemblymember Jim Beall, Jr. (D-San Jose), outlawing unscientific “alienation’’ theories that have fueled bitter and expensive child custody battles, cleared its first hurdle on Tuesday when it was approved by the Assembly Committee on Judiciary. Supporting the measure at the hearing was award winning television star Nancy Lee Grahn (General Hospital’s Alexis Davis) and others.
The bill seeks to prohibit courts from considering nonscientific theories when making decisions on child custody or visitation. The American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family “noted the lack of data to support so-called ‘parental alienation syndrome,’ ’’ according to an association statement.
AB 612 would also eliminate training in non-scientific theories, such as parental alienation theories, from Judicial Council-approved education for family court professionals.
"We want to change a harmful family court practice that apparently has gone unchecked for some time, resulting in innocent children being improperly placed,’’ Beall said. “This legislation requires family courts to follow the legal principals of accepted evidence. Pseudo 'syndromes' should not be allowed as evidence in life-altering custody determinations.
The Parental Alienation Syndrome presupposes that the custodial parent brainwashes the child to make false statements against the other parent. The theory or syndrome has been employed by some abusive parents to regain custody of the victimized child, experts say.
“Too many times, court evaluators are sidetracked by this pseudo syndrome into presuming the child’s hostility toward the non-custodial parent resulted from ‘programming’ by the custodial parent while completely ignoring symptoms of abuse or domestic violence by the non-custodial parent,’’ Beall said.
By prohibiting non-scientific theories, the bill makes evidentiary standards in family court more consistent with other courts.
More info and links, scroll down this page:
democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a24/News_Room/Press/20090428AD24PR01.aspx
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| 30 Apr 2009 - 09:11 | El Intransigente
URL: www.elintransigente.com/notas/2009/4/21/ . . .
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Argentina
Contra la violencia doméstica
Corte de Justicia de Salta y la Corte Suprema de la Nación planearán actividades conjuntas vinculadas con el acceso a justicia de las personas afectadas.
El Presidente de la Corte de Justicia de Salta, Guillermo Posadas participará el viernes del acto que se realizará en Capital Federal en cuyo transcurso los tribunales superiores de las provincias del NOA suscribirán un convenio con la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación para poner en marcha acciones conjuntas para afrontar la problemática de la violencia doméstica.
Continua....
www.elintransigente.com/notas/2009/4/21/regionales-17110.asp
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| 30 Apr 2009 - 09:01 | Mujeres a bordo
URL: mujeresabordo.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_ar . . .
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Argentina: ley de proteccion integral a las mujeres
Rige desde hoy la ley de proteccion integral a las mujeres
Buenos Aires, 14 de abril (Télam).- La ley 26.485 de Protección Integral a las Mujeres para prevenir, sancionar y erradicar la violencia en su contra comenzó a regir hoy al publicarse su texto en la edición 31.632 del Boletín Oficial.
Tanto la defensora General de la Nación, Stella Maris Martínez, como el director ejecutivo de Amnistía Internacional de Argentina, Rafael Barca, manifestaron su satisfacción por la entrada en vigencia de la norma.
"La nueva ley constituye un adelanto con relación a normativas anteriores, que proponían un tratamiento neutral en términos de género, de situaciones que repercuten diferencialmente en las mujeres", consideró Martínez.
Tras calificarla como un "avance positivo", Barca sostuvo que "es crucial que, de manera urgente, el Gobierno Nacional muestre su compromiso político con esta nueva ley a través de su reglamentación, la dotación de recursos y la rendición de cuentas".
La ley, sancionada el pasado 11 de marzo y promulgada el 1 de este mes, posee cuatro títulos y 45 artículos, el primero de los cuales indica que sus disposiciones son de "orden público y de aplicación en todo el territorio de la República".
El artículo segundo tipifica que la ley "tiene por objeto promover y garantizar", entre otras, "la eliminación de la discriminación entre mujeres y varones en todos los ámbitos de la vida"; y el derecho "a vivir una vida sin violencia".
"La remoción de patrones socioculturales que promueven y sostienen la desigualdad de género y las relaciones de poder sobre las mujeres" "el acceso a la justicia" de las que "padecen violencia" y "la asistencia" a las que "padecen violencia en las áreas estatales y privadas", también son objetos de esta norma.
Además, garantiza los derechos reconocidos por la Convención para la Eliminación de todas las Formas de Discriminación contra la Mujer; la Convención Interamericana para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia contra la Mujer, la Convención de los Derechos de los Niños y la Ley 26.061 de Protección Integral de los Derechos de Niñas/os y Adolescentes.
El artículo tercero se refiere al derecho a "la salud, la educación y la seguridad personal" de las mujeres; a su "integridad física, psicológica, sexual, económica o patrimonial", a "gozar de acceso gratuito a la justicia" y a "la igualdad real de derechos, oportunidades y de trato entre varones y mujeres"..
Mención especial merece el inciso "e" de este artículo que les garantiza "decidir sobre la vida reproductiva, número de embarazos y cuándo tenerlos, de conformidad con la ley 25.673 de Creación del Programa Nacional de Salud Sexual y Procreación responsable".
La defensora General abogó para que "los organismos vinculados a la protección de los derechos humanos y el acceso a la Justicia hagan uso de esta nueva herramienta y destinen esfuerzos para lograr la plena vigencia de la ley y garantizar el derecho a una vida libre de violencia".
"Tanto en el ámbito internacional como local, las mujeres son, en una mayoría abrumadora, víctimas de violencia familiar y sexual, de trata de personas con fines de explotación sexual, de prostitución forzada y de acoso sexual; además, tienen mayores dificultades para acceder al empleo y a puestos de decisión y, en términos generales, perciben salarios un 30% inferiores a los de los varones", sostuvo Martínez.
"Ante este panorama, el reconocimiento expreso del impacto diferenciado que tiene el ejercicio de la violencia por razones de género implica un adelanto significativo de la ley", indicó.
El Ministerio Público de la Defensa presta asesoramiento y eventual patrocinio jurídico a mujeres maltratadas que acuden a la Oficina de Violencia Doméstica de la Corte Suprema y, a través del Programa de Asistencia y Patrocinio Jurídico -dijo- "se acompaña a las víctimas para intervenir como querellantes en los procesos penales".
El titular local de Amnistía Internacional interpretó que "convertir la nueva ley en avances concretos, exige la acción y el liderazgo del Gobierno Nacional, en conjunto con los gobiernos provinciales y todo el Estado, a fin de garantizar que la nueva legislación se aplique de forma diligente y para que se asignen partidas presupuestarias suficientes para implementarla".
El reto que se enfrenta, dijo Barca, "es el de garantizar que la nueva legislación y las medidas que se derivan sirvan para eliminar los obstáculos que impiden a las mujeres acceder a sus derechos, para proporcionarles seguridad, justicia y reparación".
"Esperamos que esta ley sea el punto de partida para poder generar en Argentina un plan de acción nacional en contra de la violencia de género", instó Barca. (Télam) amb-aem-mag 14/04/2009 16:38
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| 30 Apr 2009 - 07:24 | Anne Walker, Terra Viva
annewalker@iwtc.org
URL: ipsterraviva.net/UN/currentNew.aspx?new= . . .
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Fiji's Women of Peace Need UN Support
By Anne S. Walker
MELBOURNE, Apr 28 ----Fiji, a multi-racial, multi-cultural country of 300 islands in the South Pacific, has undergone another coup, the fourth in 22 years. The women of Fiji want their voices to be heard as they work on ways to bring peace back to their country, and they are asking for the United Nations to support their efforts.
Fiji is the chosen destination for myriads of sun-loving tourists worldwide. It is in many respects a tropical paradise with almost all of its land protected in perpetuity for its indigenous peoples. Hotels lease the land from the relevant 'mataqali' (tribe) and provide jobs for the mataqali lease-owners.
From 1962 to 1972, I worked for the Fiji YWCA, helping to establish programs for women and young people in job training, early childhood education, rural and community development.
During this time, the YWCA became involved in Fiji's independence struggle and the fight against nuclear testing in Mururoa, French Polynesia, joining forces with other community groups, and with students from the newly established University of the South Pacific.
With a broad-based constituency that represented all races and cultures, all religions and generations, the women and young people of Fiji were encouraged to speak for themselves and to make themselves heard.
A space was provided for emerging leaders and for many years there seemed to be no limit to what Fiji could achieve as a multi-cultural, multi-racial country showing the way to other emerging democracies across the Pacific region.
Continues....
ipsterraviva.net/UN/currentNew.aspx?new=5890
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| 29 Apr 2009 - 14:18 | Human Rights Education Associates
URL: www.hrea.org
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PACE calls for prohibition and penalisation of gender-based human rights violations
Strasbourg, 28.04.2009 – In a resolution adopted today, PACE invited the member states to adapt their national legislation in order to prohibit and penalise forced marriages, female genital mutilation and any other gender-based violations of human rights, encouraging them to prosecute abductions, illegal confinements and forced returns of women or girls to their countries of origin. According to the parliamentarians, cultural or religious relativism cannot be invoked to justify these acts.
“It is a matter of the member states’ responsibility that they should do their utmost to guard against and combat these anachronistic, inhuman practices both nationally and internationally,” said Antigoni Papadopoulos (Cyprus, ALDE), rapporteur for the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. “British legislation on forced marriages is exemplary in this respect, in that it provides a means of stopping potential victims from being taken out of the country against their will and of compelling the family to disclose the whereabouts of a member considered to be in danger,” she added, commending the courage of a victim of Bangladeshi origin who gave her personal testimony today on the sidelines of the session.
The Assembly also called upon the member states to develop co-operation procedures at the international level with the authorities in the countries of origin, encouraging them to intercede with the families concerned and to strengthen women’s rights. The parliamentarians also advocate raising the awareness of consular staff as regards the serious risks facing women and girls forcibly returned to their countries of origin, and as regards the applicable legal framework.
In a recommendation to the Committee of Ministers, the PACE reiterated its request for the Council of Europe to draft a convention to combat the most serious and widespread forms of violence against women, including forced marriages.
Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax : +33 3 90 21 41 34
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| 29 Apr 2009 - 08:52 | Cuerpos y Derechos
URL: cuerpoyderechos.info/home/id.php?ID=292
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Editoriales
Somos curas pederastas, somos humanos
Por Sanjuana Martínez*
México DF, 28 abril (CIMAC).- El grave problema del abuso sexual infantil cometido por sacerdotes católicos en México continua siendo silenciado por la jerarquía eclesiástica, desatendido por el gobierno mexicano e ignorado por el poder legislativo. La impunidad es la constante.
Las reveladoras declaraciones de Leopoldo González vocero de la Comisión del Episcopado Mexicano (CEM) muestran la verdadera postura de los jerarcas católicos mexicanos: negar, minimizar y silenciar.
Para el Episcopado Mexicano la detención del sacerdote Rafael Muñiz López detenido en Xalapa, Veracruz por estar ligado a una banda de ciberpederastas es un síntoma de humanidad: “entre más humanos nos vean, más nos van a apreciar”, consideró González.
Las declaraciones son profundamente desafortunadas, pero ciertamente sinceras. Ese es el sentir de la jerarquía católica que hasta ahora no ha movido un dedo para desvelar los archivos secretos que determinan los movimientos y el paradero de cientos de sacerdotes abusadores.
Y digo cientos, porque según las estadísticas el 30 por ciento de los 14 mil sacerdotes católicos que existen en México comete algún tipo de abuso sexual con su feligresía. Un estudio del Departamento de Investigaciones sobre Abusos Religiosos (DIAR) reveló lo anterior y expuso un dato importante: en el 55 por ciento de los casos, las víctimas son mujeres mayores de edad, una tercera parte niños y el resto hombres.
Continua....
cuerpoyderechos.info/home/id.php?ID=292
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| 29 Apr 2009 - 08:40 | IPS Gender Wire
URL: www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46635
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RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Back to School in Swat, But for How Long?
By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Sheema (an open book in her hands) is in grade 2 at the Government Girls Primary School in Odigram village. She says: "We hadn’t thought we would be in school ever again."
MINGORA, Pakistan, Apr 27 (IPS) - Tiny Sheema is happy to be back in school in Swat, a volatile northern district in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
In 2007, Swat was overrun by armed Pakistani Taliban, who deliberately bombed schools, forced bareheaded women to wear burqas and men to grow beards in an attempt to impose a radical Islam, similar to that enforced by the former Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan.
With the local administration unable to stop the Pakistani Taliban, Swat’s schoolchildren stayed home for nearly 18 months till Mar. 1.
"We hadn’t thought we would be in school ever again," confides Sheema, the grade 2 student of Government Girls Primary School in Odigram village, blushing shyly.
The daughter of a local butcher, she tells IPS that she wants to study so she can become a doctor and take care of people in her village.
Continues...
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46635
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| 29 Apr 2009 - 08:04 | Bradley Myles
URL: www.polarisproject.org/component/option, . . .
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The Marketing Arm of Human Trafficking
by Bradley Myles
Ads placed in “Erotic Services” section of craigslist in Portland, Oregon
“I expose slavery in this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one of those monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is death.” – Frederick Douglass
Human traffickers are motivated by profit, and they know that human trafficking is a business, driven by the economic principles of supply and demand. Like other businesses, traffickers need to engage in effective marketing in order to reach potential customers. What most people don’t realize, however, is the degree to which traffickers are using legitimate sources to advertise.
This need to advertise is particularly pressing for sex traffickers who force, deceive, or threaten victims into the commercial sex trade. They make their money from “johns” who pay for sex, and they want to reach as many buyers as possible to maximize profits.
Bold-faced sex traffickers will advertise in the largest possible news sources where they can get away with it. For example, in our work since 2002, we can confirm with certainty that human trafficking operations are using craigslist, The Washington Post, and many other prominent news sources across the country to advertise their operations. The burden then turns on legitimate businesses to not let them.
Continues....
www.polarisproject.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,108/
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| 29 Apr 2009 - 07:56 | ProChoiceAmerica
URL: www.prochoiceamerica.org/choice-action-c . . .
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President Obama's Key Nominees
The Senate voted to confirm Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services!
NARAL Pro-Choice America is still working to confirm two more key Obama nominees—Judge David Hamilton and Prof. Dawn Johnsen —and to stop anti-choice attacks on these nominees simply because they've taken pro-choice positions.
About the Nominees
Judge David Hamilton - President Obama nominated Judge David Hamilton, a district court judge in Indiana, to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prof. Dawn Johnsen - President Obama nominated Professor Dawn Johnsen to the position of assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), Department of Justice.
What You Can Do
Urge your senators to confirm Hamilton and Johnsen when they come up for floor votes.
Go to:
www.prochoiceamerica.org/choice-action-center/us-gov/nominees.html
Spread the word about these nominees to your friends via Facebook , MySpace, or Twitter.
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| 29 Apr 2009 - 07:33 | Becky Lee, Becky's Fund
URL: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqSataX5bWc
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Her Story : domestic violence
5 minute video, You Tube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqSataX5bWc
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| 28 Apr 2009 - 09:37 | CIMAC noticias
URL: www.cimacnoticias.com/site/09042710-Muje . . .
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Doctora Mercedes Ballesté, de SIPAM
Mujeres embarazadas y pobres, más vulnerables a influenza
Por Sandra Torres Pastrana
México DF, 27 abril 09 (CIMAC).- Las mujeres embarazadas con bajos recursos económicos serían las más afectadas por la epidemia de influenza porcina que padece México, afirmó a Cimacnoticias la doctora Mercedes Ballesté, especialista en salud sexual y reproductiva, integrante del consejo directivo de Salud Integral para las Mujeres AC (SIPAM).
Ante ello, señaló la experta, es importante que las mujeres embarazadas tomen medidas de prevención adecuadas, pues debido al proceso biológico que viven, sobre todo en los primeros meses de gestación, están inmunodeprimidas, esto quiere decir, dijo, que su sistema inmunológico está disminuido y es más lento. Por lo tanto las infecciones virales son mucho mas agresivas en las mujeres embarazadas.
Por ello, es lamentable, señaló Ballesté, que la Secretaria de Salud no proporcione datos desagregados por edad, sexo y condición socioeconómica, ya que bajo esta medida se puede observar al sector vulnerable y enfocar medidas de prevención.
La especialista resaltó que, aunque la respuesta ante el virus difiere de mujer a mujer, hay aspectos como el acceso a la salud o la buena o mala alimentación que inciden en la forma en que se ven afectadas las mujeres embarazadas.
LAS MEDIDAS QUE FALTAN
Continua....
www.cimacnoticias.com/site/09042710-Mujeres-embarazadas.37504.0.html
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| 28 Apr 2009 - 09:17 | Women's Media Center
URL: womensmediacenter.com/ex/042109.html
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In Iceland, Our Long-Sought Victory in Battling Human Trafficking
By Gudrún Jónsdóttir
On April 17, the last day before Iceland’s parliament adjourned to prepare for elections on April 25, members passed a bill criminalizing the act of buying individuals for purposes of prostitution. Patterned on the Swedish law that addresses the demand fueling the commercial sex industry, the action was hailed as an historic moment in the international struggle against human trafficking. Via Equality Now, here is a dispatch describing the campaign from Gudrún Jónsdóttir, spokeswoman for Stigamot, a women's rights organization in Iceland.
April 21, 2009
At Stigamot we have been working with women victims of rape and incest for 20 years. Throughout the years, these women have taught me the most important lesson about the connection between sexual violence and prostitution—that prostitution is yet another face of the same violence. When a friend and survivor of prostitution took her life in 2001, I promised myself I would not rest until this issue was addressed. We established the Kristin Fund in her memory and joined battle.
When the bill was put forward for the first time in March 2000, laughter was the main reaction to our efforts. So, we launched a public education campaign, inviting to Iceland prominent experts on issues of prostitution and sex trafficking such as Janice Raymond of the United States and from Sweden, Gunilla Ekberg and Margareta Winberg. Specialists from all over Europe also took part in seminars on best practices against the commercial sexual exploitation of women.
The entire women´s movement in Iceland joined forces. In 2003 and again this year some 15 NGOs urged members of parliament and the government to consult seriously with women’s groups. An opinion poll taken in 2007 showed that 70 percent of the nation wanted to criminalize the buying of prostitution—including a majority of both women and men and within every political party. Parliamentarian Kolbrun Halldorsdóttir of the Left-Green party took the lead in the debates. When the Left-Greens came into the government two months ago, she became minister of environmental affairs and brokered her power to get the legislation passed.
This has been a symbolic fight for ten long years. Slowly, slowly the nation´s consciousness rose to understand clearly the connection between pornography, prostitution and sex trafficking. So today we celebrate this victory as a further step to end violence against women. We’ve received congratulatory messages from around the world. I just can’t stop smiling.
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| 28 Apr 2009 - 09:04 | Stop Violence Against Women
URL: www.stopvaw.org
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Global Coalition Supports a New U.N. Gender Entity
4/24/2009 12:00 PM
A proposal for a strong new women's entity at the United Nation was supported by an international coalition of more than 300 women's organizations and human rights groups from more than 50 countries. After launching “Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR)” - a long-term global campaign, the coalition is looking for a "hybrid" body, or a combination of a U.N department and a U.N. agency.
While the majority of the members of the General Assembly, and its President have already voiced a preference for a composite body for women, the UN Secretary-General will present a paper including four options to strengthen the U.N.'s gender architecture to its current sessions of the 192 members in order to make a final decision before September 2009.
The four options presented in the paper focus on the following goals:
Maintaining the status quo of the U.N. institutions and projects related to women and gender but with increased resources.
Creating a fund or program based on voluntary contributions from member states.
Creating a new department within the Secretariat.
Creating a new hybrid entity, incorporating option two and three.
The GEAR coalition members have stressed that they are looking for a combination of both a department and an agency, not merely a department within the U.N., in order to avoid the current problems and combine the advantages of both structures. Therefore, maintaining the status quo is not a favorable option for coalition member states; mainly because they view the current U.N. gender equality architecture as fragmented and under-resourced.
The GEAR Campaign is expecting the composite entity to be "ambitiously funded," hoping for a minimum annual budget of one billion dollars from both voluntary and assessed contributions, a combination which would provide a more secure source of funding in addition to a more balanced ownership between both northern and southern countries.
The secretary-general expressed his own preference recently in a meeting of delegates, mentioning that the composite entity is the best option in order to provide a concrete field presence, eliminate fragmentation, link normative and operational work, and hold all entities accountable for performance.
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| 28 Apr 2009 - 08:34 | Carla
suz_1972@yahoo.com
URL: ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MDJRe . . .
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my 13 year old daughter is a victim of rape she was 12 when it happened wich was last summer i didnt find out till january of this year and believe you me its been hell since then here is the site where you can see what he is being charged with so far
ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MDJReport.aspx?district=MDJ-35-3-01&do cketNumber=CR-0000087-09
my children arent protected the guy lives right across the road and intimidates the girls each and everyday in his own little sick way, hes out on a 20,000 bond im sick. i dont know where the protection of the children are in this world we live in. i do know the system sucks. the law is hoping that this goes to trial by the end of summer but that dont repair my daughters soul. she has a heart of gold and no soul to see through her eyes.she relives this everyday.
i need help something has to give. i walk up and down the steps many times at night to make sure they are safe as well as go outside to make sure this guy didnt put
something in the vent of our pellett stove ive got chronic back pain as well as a massive case of neropathy and all this is killing me health wise as well as emotionally. we dont talk about what happened to her at the house i have a lady from aware that goes to her school to talk to her and she has a wrap around that we got for her last year thinking she was just a troubles child never in my wildest dreams did i think this happened to her.i feel her pain i molested from age 8 to 20 but i came out a few years ago about what happened to me but i do relive it when i see her. i cry alot but i dont let her see this.im suppose to be the strong one. she is a disabled child mentaly as well as academicly and i have paper to prove that as well as being deaf at the time. i had to do a year in jail for a dui so this happened while i was away. the whole ear thing didnt get fixed till i got home my x was afraid something might happen to her and i wouldnt beable to come home for it so when i got home i got her hearing fixed. please help us in any way you can .
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| 27 Apr 2009 - 21:11 | Today's Zaman
URL: www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?l . . .
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Feminist reforms in Turkey reflect the progressive face of İslam *
by
Sertaç Sehlikoğlu Karakaş**
MONTRÉAL -- Turkey has strong ties both with its Muslim history and with secularism, where the latter is taken to mean not mixing religion with politics. After decades of struggling between these two identities, this strategic NATO ally and EU contender has developed a hybrid identity that encompasses both.
As a result, Turkey has increasingly been perceived as a liberal and progressive face of Islam on the global stage and, in congruence with the true spirit of the religion, it is demonstrating its commitment to the empowerment of women.
Continues....
www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=173512&bolum=109
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| 27 Apr 2009 - 21:02 | El Mundo
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Espana
'Los niños verán a las niñas como un desigual si se escolarizan separados'
El delegado del Gobierno para la Violencia de Género, Miguel Lorente, ha apostado por una educación mixta sobre referencias de igualdad.
El Mundo
24/04/2009
El delegado del Gobierno para la Violencia de Género, Miguel Lorente, ha apostado por una educación mixta sobre referencias de igualdad, ya que cree que la segregación de alumnos en los colegios "impide la identificación con los valores" de las personas del otro sexo y crea "muros entre hombres y mujeres".
Lorente, que compareció ante la Comisión de Igualdad del Senado para dar cuenta de las actuaciones del Gobierno en la lucha contra la violencia machista, argumentó en declaraciones a los medios que "el problema de la violencia y de la desigualdad es no identificarse con el otro" por lo que si los niños se escolarizan separados de las niñas las verán como "un desigual, un otro distinto a lo que ellos son como hombres (...) con todo lo que ello supone, especialmente en la violencia de género".
Para el delegado del Gobierno, hay que apostar por una educación que supere esa referencia cultural, que "ha permitido aproximarse a hombres y mujeres pero no compartir mundos, ni identificarse con valores del otro".
"Hay que trabajar en ese compartir y habrá momentos en que estarán juntos y otros separados, pero no siempre separados como un mandato", ha añadido Lorente, quien opina que no hay que usar el diferente desarrollo cognitivo "para enfrentar".
Utilizando el argumento de que la segregación podría facilitar la adquisición de conocimientos, Lorente ha planteado con ironía si también se debería aplicar esa separación según los orígenes, el poder adquisitivo o el barrio donde se vive, lo que llevaría este argumento al "absurdo". "No es bueno que cuando tenemos que facilitar lo que es la participación de los ciudadanos, hombres y mujeres, en la sociedad los separemos por elementos que limitan esa convivencia alrededor del desarrollo de elementos cognitivos", ha asegurado Lorente, quien ha apostado por "socializar para convivir y no vivir para diferenciar".
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