WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS BULLETIN
AIUSA Women's Human Rights Program
March 2005
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TAKE ACTION: DEMAND JUSTICE FOR WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
Women and girls in Afghanistan continue to be threatened with violence in many aspects of their life, both private and public. Weapons remain a mainstay of Afghan men's lives and violence against women and girls, including rape, mental and physical cruelty, forced marriages, and exchange of girls to settle disputes, are reportedly widespread.
ACT NOW
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=666901&l=12356
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TAKE ACTION: HELP PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER SARA POROJ AND HER COLLEAGUES
Sara Poroj, Sergio Rivera and their colleagues at the Exhumations Program of the human rights organization Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM), Mutual Support Group, have been intimidated and threatened in what appears to be an effort to stop their work to exhume secret mass graves. Urge Guatemalan officials to protect Sara Poroj and her colleagues.
ACT NOW
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=666901&l=12357
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TAKE ACTION: PROTECT WOMEN FROM VIOLENCE IN GUJARAT, INDIA
Victims continue to seek justice for the February 2002 attacks against the Muslim minority in Gujarat, India. Violence against women and girls was a key feature of the attacks and authorities have failed to convict perpetrators and bring victims legal redress.
ACT NOW
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=666901&l=12362
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HOT TOPIC
Continued Violence Against Women in Iraq
A new Amnesty International report, "Decades of Suffering, Now Women Deserve Better," highlights the increase in violence against women in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003. Lawlessness, killings, abductions and rape have increased as the conflict has intensified and the security situation has deteriorated following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. In addition to longstanding discrimination, Iraqi women are also subjected to increased sexual violence, threats, and intimidation by members of the US-led forces, and some women detained by US forces have reported sexual abuse and rape.
Dating from Saddam Hussein's ascent to power in 1979, Iraqi women have disproportionately suffered the impact of three wars: the Iraq-Iran War in the 1980s, the 1990-91 Gulf War, and the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. They have been politically repressed by their own government and have been victims of "honor killings" within their communities. As political activists, relatives of activists or members of certain ethnic or religious groups, Iraqi women have been subjected to gender-specific abuses, including rape and other forms of sexual violence.
Throughout the decades of armed conflict in Iraq, women have been the victims of gender specific forms of violence, such as rape and trafficking for sexual exploitation. Often women have been targeted because of their husband's or other male family member's political affiliation. Rape has been used as a form of torture against women in custody detained because of family member's opposition activities. Additionally, many widows, mothers and sisters have had to face alone the devastating impact of war on the social fabric of Iraqi society after their male family members died as soldiers, were executed, or "disappeared".
Women have also suffered disproportionately to men from the economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Though sanctions were intended as a temporary measure, they remained in force for thirteen years, contributing to a sharp and unprecedented economic decline and to a severe deterioration in living conditions in Iraq. Women were hit hard: they bore the main burden of maintaining the household, they saw their employment opportunities and income shrink, their access to education decline, and their household responsibilities increase. A major impact of the sanctions was a further deterioration of the health services, already severely damaged by two consecutive wars. According to a survey of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) published in November 2003, the number of Iraqi women who died in pregnancy and childbirth almost tripled between 1989 and 2002.
Iraqi women still face discrimination and violence despite the removal of Saddam Hussein from power and the lifting of the economic sanctions. On top of the challenges they face after years of discrimination, coupled with the emotional strain of losing family and friends in armed conflict, they now face violence from armed opposition groups as well as US-led forces. Female political leaders and women's rights activists have been targeted and killed by armed opposition groups and women detained by US forces have, in some cases, been subjected to sexual abuse. Due to this surge in violence and instability, women's freedom of movement has been severely restricted. Women and girls in Basra told Amnesty International that they do not dare go out alone anymore, for fear of rape, abduction and other violence. This restricted freedom of movement has had serious emotional, economic, and political effects on women in Iraq.
A number of steps are required in order to ensure the safety and human rights of women in Iraq. Iraqi authorities and members of the National Assembly must ensure that the new constitution and all new Iraqi legislation contain prohibitions on all forms of discrimination against women and that effective measures to protect women from violence are introduced and supported. Additionally, states that have troops in Iraq under the US-led multinational forces must improve safeguards for women in detention and investigate promptly all allegations of violence against women.
ACT NOW
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=666901&l=12358
READ MORE
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=666901&l=12359
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WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS NEWS IN BRIEF
SHAMEFUL INVESTIGATION INTO SEX-TRAFFICKING CASE
A Moldovan woman has alleged that Montenegrin politicians, judges, police and civil servants tortured and raped her and other Eastern European women who, like her, had been trafficked and held as sex slaves. The 28 year-old mother of two suffered horrendous physical and sexual abuse from 1999 until November 2002, when she found shelter in a women's state house in the capital Podgorica.
SOURCE: Amnesty International
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JAPAN ENDS WWII SEX SLAVE FUND
Japan has announced the 2007 closure of a fund set up in 1995 to help women from neighboring countries who were forced into military brothels during World War II. The fund paid $19,470 in compensation, plus medical and welfare support, to 285 "comfort women" from the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. Former sex slaves are protesting the closure of the fund, claiming that they still have not received official compensation.
SOURCE: BBC
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GUATEMALAN WOMAN'S ASYLUM REQUEST STILL PENDING
On January 21, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that he would neither grant nor deny asylum to Rodi Alvarado, a Guatemalan refugee. Mrs Alvarado was granted asylum in the United States ten years ago after fleeing domestic violence in Guatemala. Her case has been pending since 1999 when the Board of Immigration Appeals reversed the asylum decision and then-Attorney General Janet Reno intervened on her behalf. Ashcroft picked up the case two years ago and wants the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to come up with rules covering asylum claims for domestic abuse before the Alvarado case is resolved.
SOURCE: Amnesty International
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PAT-DOWN SEARCHES OF FEMALE PRISONERS BY MALE GUARDS BANNED
California's Director of Corrections, Jeanne Woodford, has ordered an end to a long-standing policy permitting male guards to pat-down female prisoners, officials reported. A coalition of advocacy groups has been fighting for the change for over a year, stating the searches amount to sexual abuse of female convicts. Cross-gender pat-downs are also in violation of international human rights law.
SOURCE: LA Times
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REPORTS AND RESOURCES
STRENGTHENING AFGHAN WOMEN'S ROLE IN CIVIL SOCIETY
The Women's Edge Coalition, of which Amnesty International USA is a part, has released a policy paper that offers recommendations on building and sustaining a strong women's presence in Afghan civil society to help secure Afghanistan's future.
READ THE REPORT (PDF FORMAT)
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=666901&l=12360
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UPDATE: ADVOCATE OF WOMEN'S & UIGHUR RIGHTS REBIYA KADEER RELEASED
Amnesty International is happy to report that Rebiya Kadeer was released from prison on March 17, 2005. While a joyful victory, our joy is tempered by thoughts of the many others who remain unjustly jailed in China, including those jailed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Rebiya's release demonstrates that no government is immune to the persistent pressure applied by dedicated human rights activists worldwide, and Amnesty International will redouble its efforts to win further releases.
READ MORE
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=666901&l=12369
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UPDATE: ADVOCATE OF WOMEN'S & UIGHUR RIGHTS REBIYA KADEER RELEASED
Amnesty International is happy to report that Rebiya Kadeer was released from prison on March 17, 2005. While a joyful victory, our joy is tempered by thoughts of the many others who remain unjustly jailed in China, including those jailed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Rebiya's release demonstrates that no government is immune to the persistent pressure applied by dedicated human rights activists worldwide, and Amnesty International will redouble its efforts to win further releases.
READ MORE
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=666901&l=12369
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