53rd Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women meets at UN HQ in New York March 2 – 13.

When we contemplate the status of women around the world, one area of grave concern is the growth in human trafficking in recent years.  Human trafficking means forced use of human persons as a form of commerce, whether as slave labor or for sexual exploitation.  Victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls, but trafficking is connected to economic, political and social forces that increase the vulnerability and desperation of the poor, of refugees and immigrants. Women and children are the most vulnerable.

We must join the UN’s call for more to be done to reduce the vulnerability of victims of trafficking, to increase the risks to traffickers, and to lower demand for the goods and services of modern-day slaves.
______________________________
Please send a message to the major government representatives at the Commission on the Status of Women who are members of the Bureau and your own government’s representative:

H.E. Jan Grauls (Belgium), Chair     ann-marie.ragin@diplobel.fed.be
H.E. Julio Peralta (Paraguay), Bureau     paraguary@un.int
H.E. Nell Stewart (Canada)         nell.stewart@international.gc.ca
Representative to the CSW, (USA)  usa@un.int

Dear _________________:
We join the call for a greater response to the shameful increase in human trafficking around the world.  Women and children are most often the victims of human trafficking, and too little is done to protect those vulnerable to exploitation, to increase the risks to traffickers and to lower the demand for persons traded as commodities.

Background information:

• Human trafficking is a $10 billion+ growth industry with conservative estimates ranging from 700,000 to 2 million people – primarily women and children – trafficked into prostitution and slavery annually.
• Human trafficking is the third largest criminal business worldwide, after trafficking in drugs and weapons.
• For traffickers it has been a high profit, low risk enterprise. Laws against trafficking in persons do not exist or are not enforced in many countries.
• The most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls.
• In 30% of the countries which provide information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women trafficking women is the norm.
• Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. However, in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, children are the majority (up to 100% in parts of West Africa).

For more information go to:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html
http://www.un.org/apps/news/photostories_detail.asp?PsID=39
http://crs.org/public-policy/trafficking.cfm?utm_source=google-grant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=human-trafficking

–Partnership for Global Justice March Alert, 2009

Awá Massacre Highlights Desperate Need for Fresh Approach to Drugs in Colombia

I want to share the following information:

Early this month, a brutal massacre of Awá indigenous people left 27 dead in Colombia’s southern Pacific region of Nariño. According to various media sources, 17 were killed in an armed attack on February 4, during which 120 community members were captured and held against their will. Ten more were killed two days later. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group claimed responsibility for eight of the killings in an online statement. The guerrillas described the murders as acts of retaliation against the Awá for cooperating with Colombian Military forces, but confusion and fake information may also have played a role, and several sides share the guilt.

Location of Massacre

According to a statement released by the Awá People’s Indigenous Unity (UNIPA) and the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), on February 1, a military battalion “abusively entered people’s homes and, through various mistreatments, obligated members of the community to give information about the location of the FARC-EP guerrillas. ”Three days later, the FARC began their horrendous attacks in “retaliation.”

This tragic massacre is not an isolated event. In fact, over 200 indigenous people have been killed and thousands displaced as a result of similar attacks in the region over the past decade. In July 2006, fighting between Colombian army units and an “irregular armed group” caused more than 1,300 civilians to flee their homes, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. During this particular incident, a group of 92 indigenous people were trapped in the crossfire. Unable to flee, they took refuge in a local school and were without food or basic humanitarian assistance for more than a week. Refugees International (RI) reported in July of 2008 that fighting between the Colombian military and guerrilla forces in Nariño had brought about the displacement of almost 95,000 people who were forced to abandon their homes in an attempt to escape violent attacks. Also, RI reported that the FARC as well as right-wing paramilitary groups extensively used landmines and other terror techniques against local communities.

At the center of the turmoil in Nariño is the coca factor, the ancient crop which today is used, among other things, for the production of cocaine. The “war on drugs,” funded largely by the United States and to a large extent carried out by the Colombian government, has been a major factor in bringing violence to the region in the course of the past decade. Under the U.S.-government funded Plan Colombia, aerial fumigations, starting in 2000, significantly reduced coca cultivation in the region of Putumayo, which neighbors Nariño. In the first two months of the operation, fumigation destroyed 75,000 acres of coca crops in Puntamayo. As the result of spillage and drift, many farmers lost all of their crops. One migrant told a reporter in 2001 that the chemical attacks ”got everything, my plantains, my coca, all of it.” Within the first six months, an estimated 10,000 had fled the region, many of whom would establish new coca fields in Nariño. Soon after, reports of increased murders and other violent acts in the region began to surface, and have been relayed ever since.

Colombian authorities have chosen to employ draconian measures to crack down on coca cultivation. As cocaine production has increased in Nariño, so has the destructive presence of the Colombian military and security forces. Through his “Democratic Security Strategy,” President Uribe has dramatically increased the military presence in Colombia’s remote rural regions. The Awá, along with other rural communities in the area, have inadvertently found themselves caught in the middle of the conflict between the military and narco-trafficking groups. At the same time, Bogota has failed to adequately respond to the deteriorating human rights situation in the region. On January 8, 2009, about a month before the most recent massacre, the local government issued a report through its Early Warning System, that the community was at risk as a result of increased fighting between the Army, FARC, National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, and other paramilitary groups. Rather than taking action to protect the indigenous, Colombian government forces caused a dangerous situation to escalate into targeted attacks.

The tragic events of this month reveal a pressing need for the United States and Colombian governments to re-evaluate their anti-drug strategies. In 2006, community councils in the country’s Pacific coast region proposed a plan of crop-replacement, in which the government would convert money currently funding fumigation to subsidize the cultivation of traditional crops in the area. The government still has not responded to the proposal. A characteristically indifferent
President Uribe failed to address these underlying issues in his reaction to this month’s massacres, stating that his government “must reinforce [its] anti-terrorist policies.” Harry Caicedo, a refugee community leader in Nariño, told the Colombia Journal “so far, instead of an answer, we have been subjected to repression, imprisonment and displacement.”

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Fellow Mary Tharin
February 25th, 2009

Fistula: Child Brides = Destroyed Lives

DODOMA, Tanzania — Lying side by side on a narrow bed, talking and giggling and poking each other with skinny elbows, they looked like any pair of teenage girls trading jokes and secrets.

But the bed was in a crowded hospital ward, and between the moments of laughter, Sarah Jonas, 18, and Mwanaidi Swalehe, 17, had an inescapable air of sadness. Pregnant at 16, both had given birth in 2007 after labor that lasted for days. Their babies had died, and the prolonged labor had inflicted a dreadful injury on the mothers: an internal wound called a fistula, which left them incontinent and soaked in urine. – The New York Times

Obstetric fistula can occur when a woman or girl does not receive adequate medical treatment during obstructed labor. It is a condition common in child brides, who often have hips too narrow to pass a baby. The mother’s bladder, uterus, and vagina are crushed between her pelvic bones and the baby’s head. The damaged tissue dies, leaving a hole that lets urine stream out through the vagina. Sometimes the rectum is damaged and stool leaks out. Some women suffer nerve damage to the legs and have difficulty walking for the rest of their lives.

Fistula destroys girls and ruins families. Husbands and families sometimes reject the ‘damaged’ girl because of the smell and she becomes an outcast. Often families who are already poor will impoverish themselves completely to try to fix the girl.

Fistula afflicts 2 million women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia with 100,000 new cases every year. Fistula is treatable. Reconstructive surgery can mend the injury, and success rates are as high as 90 per cent for uncomplicated cases. (For complicated cases, the success rate is closer to 60 per cent.) Non-profit groups, hospitals and governments have created programs to provide the surgery, but the capacity of these programs cannot meet the demand. Many women are not even unaware that treatment is available.

The key to ending fistula is prevention. Ending child marriage would be a significant step toward this goal.

To learn more about fistula visit UNFPA Campaign to End Fistula.

Learn more about child marriage at NOW on PBS “Child Brides: Stolen Lives.

Bride Shortage in India

The NGO Committee on UNICEF Working Group on Girls organized an event at the United Nations yesterday on child marriage. I have posted about child marriage before. See Tiny Voices Defy Fate of Yemen’s Girls and Saudi judge refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8 - CNN.com.

Yesterday, though, I learned of a disturbing trend involving child marriage and sex trafficking that has resulted from sex-selective abortion and infanticide. UNICEF  estimates that more than 60 million women are demographically ‘missing’ from the world as a result of sex- selective abortions and female infanticide in China, South Asia and North Africa.

Infanticide has been practiced throughout human history in societies where boy children are valued, economically and socially, above girls. Advances in technology permit the modern horror of selectively aborting female fetuses. Medical testing for sex selection, although officially outlawed, has become a booming business in China, India and the Republic of Korea.

Sex ratio by country for total population. Blue represents more women, red more men than the world average of 1.01 males/female.

In India, census data from 2001 show that among children younger than 6, there are just 927 girls per 1,000 boys. UNICEF calculates that “7,000 fewer girls are now born in India each day than nature would dictate, and 10 million have been killed during pregnancy or just after in the past 20 years.” For more numbers see: Female Foeticide – Still Rampant!!!

This practice of sex-selective abortion and female infanticide is coming home to roost in a way that people should have anticipated. There is a now a bride shortage in many parts of India. In many villages it is nearly impossible for families to find brides for their sons.

As a result, many families are turning to trafficking to solve the problem. Young girls from countries like Bangladesh and from poorer areas of India are being bought and sold as child brides. Even more horrifying is that some of these girls are made to bear children for one man and then sold to another to bear more.

Sadly, having fewer women and girls has not meant that their importance or value has increased in India. On the contrary, brides are frequently subjected to increased domestic violence and abuse, forcibly cloistered inside their homes to cook, keep house and, above all else, produce more boys.

Bill Gates Unleashes a Swarm of Mosquitoes

Bill Gates unleash swarm of mosquitoes at TED 2009 – Telegraph.

Prophets make us uncomfortable. The gospel reading today from Mark is about the death of John the Baptist. Herod killed John the Baptist  because he made his wife uncomfortable.

Today, Bill Gates made some people uncomfortable.

“Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,” he yelled to the crowd attending the  elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference today, before unleashing the insects, which were not carrying the disease. “I brought some. Here I’ll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO):

• Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
• A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.
• There were 247 million cases of malaria in 2006, causing about 880,000 deaths, mostly among African children.
• Malaria is preventable and curable.
• Approximately half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, particularly those living in lower-income countries.
• Travellers from malaria-free areas to disease “hot spots” are especially vulnerable to the disease.
• Malaria takes an economic toll – cutting economic growth rates by as much as 1.3% in countries with high disease rates.

Gates said that more money was being spent finding a cure for baldness than developing drugs to combat malaria. “Now, baldness is a terrible thing and rich men are afflicted,” he joked. “That is why that priority has been set.

“The market does not drive scientists, thinkers, or governments to do the right things. Only by paying attention and making people care can we make as much progress as we need to.”

He called for greater distribution of insect nets and other protective gear, and revealed that an anti-malaria vaccine funded by his foundation and currently in development would enter a more advanced testing phase in the coming months.

It would be easy to have an argument about whether or not Bill Gates is a prophet, but today he performed a prophetic act. He spoke up for what is right. Those of us who call ourselves Christians need to be more like John the Baptist, and Bill Gates.

How can you help? Visit http://www.malarianomore.org/ to donate or get involved in advocacy.

Saudi judge refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8 – CNN.com

Saudi judge refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8 – CNN.com.

(CNN) — A Saudi judge recently refused to annul a marriage between an 8-year-old girl and a 47-year-old man — a union apparently arranged by the girl’s father to settle his debts — a lawyer in the case told CNN.

The judge said that the girl may sue for divorce herself when she reaches puberty. The husband has been asked to refrain from sexual relations with her until puberty.

See also: Top Saudi cleric: OK for young girls to wed

It is incorrect to say that it’s not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, the kingdom’s grand mufti, said in remarks quoted Wednesday in the regional Al-Hayat newspaper. “A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she’s too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her.

Some Facts About Child Marriage

Child marriage is a violation of human rights whether it happens to a girl or a boy, but it represents perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls. The harmful consequences include separation from family and friends, lack of freedom to interact with peers and participate in community activities, and decreased opportunities for education. Child marriage can also result in bonded labor or enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation and violence against the victims. Because they cannot abstain from sex or insist on condom use, child brides are often exposed to such serious health risks as premature pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and, increasingly, HIV/AIDS. – UNICEF

Facts and Figures

• More than 100 million girls in the developing world will be married during the next 10 years.
• Although the definition of child marriage includes boys, most children married under the age of 18 years are girls.
• An estimated 14 million adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth each year. Girls is this age group are twice as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth as women in their twenties
• While the practice has decreased globally over the last 30 years, it remains common in rural areas and among the poorest of the poor.
• In Southern Asia, 48%—nearly 10 million—of girls are married before the age of 18.
• In Africa, 42% of girls were married before turning 18.
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, 29% of girls are married by age 18.

Child brides are more likely than unmarried girls to die younger, suffer from health problems, live in poverty and remain illiterate. Child marriage is both a response to poverty and a harmful practice that perpetuates poverty. Despite devastating consequences for girls and their communities early marriage persists because of economic and social pressures and tradition.

Child Marriage is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that free and full consent by both partners is required for marriage. A child is not sufficiently mature to give such consent. Saudi Arabia is a signatory of both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Child Marriage violates both.

The Saudi Arabian government has been known to reverse such rulings when international pressure is brought to bear.  Information about how you can take action can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/341/take-action.html