In Cairns, Queensland, a 20-year-old woman is being prosecuted for intending to terminate her pregnancy. Tegan Leach and her partner, Sergie Brennan, 22, are expected to stand trial on October 12 for importing the abortion drugs RU486 and Misoprostol from Ukraine in order to terminate Leach’s pregnancy (in December 2008). While police did not prove […]
Global
Do Women Win or Lose with India’s New Birth Rate Initiative?
According to the The New York Times this week, India has introduced a new method of birth control: $106 dollars in the hands of a young bride. It’s up to the newlyweds to choose and implement a method of family planning, but one condition of this “honeymoon package” is non-negotiable: no pregnancies for at least […]
Global News Roundup: Congo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Israel, Kenya
This week: reports of mass rape in Congo; poison gas at an Afghanistan girls’ school; desperate straits for Pakistani women who survived the floods; Indian women paid to delay pregnancy; Jerusalem’s gender-segregated trains; and a revolutionary constitution for Kenya. CONGO: Last Monday, the mass rape of almost 200 women in Congo was reported. The rapes were carried out systematically […]
Newsflash: Hundreds Raped in Congo
A United Nations mission will begin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today to investigate reports of nearly 200 rapes across 15 villages in the eastern part of the country. According to U.N. workers in the area, the violence occurred between July 30 and August 3 in villages near the mining center of […]
Floods and Feminism: The Plight of Pakistan’s Women
As Pakistan’s flood crisis continues into its fourth week, it is the women who are suffering the most. Millions displaced by the flood waters languish with few resources to alleviate their suffering. According to statistics compiled by the Reproductive Health in Crisis Consortium, nearly 85 percent of flood survivors in camps are women [PDF]. In […]
Global News Roundup: China, Southern Europe, Japan, Bangladesh, Indonesia
This week, ‘fake virgins’ are the next big thing in China; gender equality becomes an economic necessity in Southern Europe; women suffer most from Japan’s economic recession; Bangladeshi prostitutes are given much-needed recognition; and Indonesia launches a women-only train line to fight sexual harassment. CHINA: A growing number of women in China are undergoing hymenoplasty, […]
Argentina Says “Don’t Cry” About Unsafe Abortion
In the land of gauchos, pampas, the tango, grilled beef, Evita and now legal same-sex marriage, unsafe abortion is the leading cause of maternal mortality. In 2008, more than 20 percent of deaths resulting from obstetric emergencies were caused by unsafe abortions, according to a report issued by Human Rights Watch. The administration of Cristina […]
Global News Roundup: Iran, Afghanistan, Jamaica, Pakistan
This week, the Iranian woman facing stoning allegedly “confesses” on state-run TV; the Taliban executes a pregnant Afghan widow; a gay Jamaican man is granted asylum in Canada; and a maternal health hotline in Pakistan offers some questionable recommendations. IRAN: Amidst international media coverage condemning the stoning sentence of Iranian woman Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, Iran […]
Now’s the Time to Prosecute the Taliban for War Crimes
It is this view that perceives only nation states to be human rights abusers that must change drastically for groups like the Taliban to be held accountable for their brutality. The lack of an existing system of justice in Afghanistan means that unless international mechanisms of justice get actively involved in the situation, Afghan civilians will remain helpless before the bloodthirsty campaign of the Taliban. Women like Sanam Gul will continue to die at their hands in acts of political theatre that manipulate faith to keep a population in constant fear. Because of this Amnesty International is calling for the investigation of Taliban crimes so that they may be prosecuted for war crimes.
Kenya’s New Constitution Protects Women’s Rights
On August 5th, jubilant supporters celebrated a new dawn for Kenya. Sixty-seven percent of votes cast endorsed the new constitution, passed more than two decades after reform was first proposed. Soon after the results were announced, Senior Counsel Paul Muite, a former member of the Kenyan parliament, expressed joy at the victory, equating it to […]