http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbTue, 16 Mar 2010 16:34:08 GMTNAIROBI/DAR ES SALAAM Tuesday, March 16, 2010 (IRIN) - New maps pin-pointing the exact location of "wellness centres" in sub-Saharan Africa are improving truck drivers' access to treatment and care for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).NAIROBI/DAR ES SALAAM Tuesday, March 16, 2010 (IRIN) - New maps pin-pointing the exact location of “wellness centres” in sub-Saharan Africa are improving truck drivers' access to treatment and care for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Oil giant Shell, with risk specialist Maplecroft http://www.maplecroft.com/ and the North Star Alliance [http://www.northstar-alliance.org/], which builds roadside clinics at truck stops, have developed and printed 20,000 maps for distribution to truck drivers in Kenya, South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Guinea, Mali and Namibia. The maps show the locations of more than 160 clinics.

"Many of us want treatment but at times you might not know where to get it when you are on the road but these maps can help us now," Eliud Musili told IRIN/PlusNews at Mlolongo, a truck stop in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "Now you can even advise other drivers where to get [health services]."

In East and Central Africa, the maps are being distributed to truckers at “SafeTStops” [http://www.fhi.org/en/HIVAIDS/Video/redso.htm] where wellness centres provide a range of services, including screening of STIs, HIV testing and counselling and tuberculosis screening, for truck drivers and communities with whom they interact.

"The wellness centres have been put up in areas where these high-risk groups converge to provide information about HIV and other STIs, prevention methods like condoms, diagnosis of STIs and testing and counselling," says Dorothy Muroki, project director for the Regional Outreach Addressing AIDS through Development Strategies II, a project of the NGO, Family Health International (FHI). "For high-risk groups, information is critical."

There are eight SafeTStops serving an estimated 230,000 people annually in Djibouti, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

Living dangerously

For more than six years now, Julius Mwapele*, 35, a father of five, has worked as a loader at Dar es Salaam port; three months ago, he visited a clinic to treat a persistent rash on his penis.

"At first I wanted to [ignore] it but when it continued, I decided to go to a clinic here at the port," he told IRIN/PlusNews. "At the clinic, they told me I had gonorrhoea; I was afraid but they told me it can be treated."

While his job is not particularly well paid, compared with many of the residents around the port, Mwapele is well-to-do. He suspects that he contracted the STI from a local woman.

"I have three mistresses here - I buy food from them," he said. "I get into sexual relationships with them so that at times I can get free food when I don't have money but when I get money, it is my turn to give them a treat."

Sex stops

Sex work is widespread at truck stops along sub-Saharan Africa’s transport corridors; a 2006 University of Manitoba study [http://sti.bmj.com/content/83/3/242.full#ref-3] found an estimated 8,000 female sex workers on the trans-Africa highway from Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa to the Ugandan capital, Kampala. It also reported that truckers and their assistants had high rates of reported STIs and many exhibited high-risk sexual behaviour.

The SafeTStops aim to provide truck drivers and sex workers with information and other services in a non-judgmental way. "Women do not get into commercial sex work for fun but due to economic needs, just like truck drivers seek sexual services from commercial sex workers because they are rarely with their spouses," said FHI's Muroki.

The centres are also a source of entertainment. "We provide facilities like pool and offer reading material and TV so when one walks in, nobody knows for sure what has brought them except the clinic personnel," said Victoria Jonathan, head of the wellness centre in the port of Dar es Salaam. "This gives a sense of privacy; the uptake of the services is very impressive.

Alcohol a factor

"The centres are alcohol-free to send the message that alcohol abuse is one of the key drivers for risky sexual behaviour," she added.

Ben Manyala, an HIV-positive trucker in Dar es Salaam, agreed that alcohol was an important factor in HIV transmission among truck drivers.

"Alcohol is contributing [to the spread of HIV]; we have a joke that after five bottles of beer, every woman is beautiful," he said.

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* Not his real name

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88443GAZA CITY Tuesday, March 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Nahla*, aged 30, from Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said she was physically and mentally abused for more than 10 years by her husband before being granted a divorce three months ago.GAZA CITY Tuesday, March 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Nahla*, aged 30, from Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said she was physically and mentally abused for more than 10 years by her husband before being granted a divorce three months ago.

Fear and cultural factors prevented her from seeking help from women’s organizations.

“I never tried to go to the police to complain about my husband's criminal acts, because he threatened to kill me if I did,” Nahla told IRIN. “And I never went to complain to any women’s rights organizations because I didn’t think they would be able to solve my problem - and I was also scared that my husband would find out.”

Rights activists blame the economy, Hamas-Fatah tensions and the conflict with Israel for the rising number of cases of violence against women. Disinterest in domestic abuse by the judicial authorities and the apparent impunity of violators have made matters worse, they say.

A March 2010 report by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) explores women’s perceptions of the organizations or legal bodies designed to protect them, based on focus group discussions and interviews with women and girls in the West Bank and Gaza between June and November 2009.

Social stigma

“Women and girls revealed that their feelings of insecurity are related to the ongoing conflict, society’s tacit acceptance of violence against women, their own lack of awareness of service providers, and their distrust of the available services,” the report said.

“Women and girls explained that they were reluctant to resort to women’s organizations, human rights organizations, or security and justice providers, such as the police and courts, because of the strong social stigma attached to reporting abuse.”

The report said women recommended more awareness-raising events and education campaigns for all segments of society about women’s rights and the institutions in place to uphold them. They also felt better training was needed for members of the social services, women’s and human rights organizations and hospital staff and police - in addition to increased female representation in these organizations and political life in general.

AWRAD survey

A 2008 survey of 2,400 Palestinians by Ramallah-based independent research centre Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) found that 74 percent of Palestinians did not know of a women’s or human rights organization working in the field of women’s rights; and 77 percent of respondents believed that laws needed to be enacted to protect women from domestic violence.

Nahla’s brothers called the police to report the fact that she was being beaten regularly and kept locked in her home without access to a telephone to make contact with her family. The police arrested her husband, kept him in custody for five hours and then released him, she said.

The police then took Nahla to her mother’s house, where she stayed until she was granted a divorce by a local court, which ordered that her five children remain with their father. Against his will, the court has given her the right to visit her children one day a week.

“My heart is torn apart because I live away from my kids, but my life with him was hell,” Nahla said. “I could never go back.”

Gaza study

In December 2009, a report by the Gaza-based Palestinian Women’s Information and Media Center (PWIC) noted an upsurge in violence against women since Israel imposed an economic blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007, after Hamas became the de facto authority there.

The study - based on 24 workshops and interviews with 350 other women in the last quarter of 2009 - found that 77 percent of women in Gaza had experienced violence of various sorts, 53 percent had experienced physical violence and 15 percent sexual abuse.

"The levels of violence against women in the Gaza Strip are higher than they were in previous years, and compared to other countries the rates are certainly higher," Huda Hamouda, director of PWIC, said. “Women are exposed to hardships in every sphere, be it financial, social, political or lack of security.”

She said widespread unemployment was one of the biggest contributors to household stress, and in turn male violence towards females.

"It's hard to imagine a family living in dignity when they live on less than three dollars a day. Many say they don’t feel respected and suffer depression. Poverty affects education and public participation. It limits their social standing,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Commission on the Status of Women, a commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), on 12 March approved a text on the status of and assistance to Palestinian women, to be sent to ECOSOC for adoption.

The draft resolution expresses concern about the “grave situation of Palestinian women in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, resulting from the severe impact of the ongoing illegal Israeli occupation and all of its manifestations”.

(*not her real name)

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88446AWKA Monday, March 15, 2010 (IRIN) - Interceptions and convictions of human traffickers and smugglers have risen year-on-year in Nigeria since the government passed legislation to ban the trade in 2005, but the volume of trafficking is still high and progress on convictions needs to speed up, say government officials.AWKA Monday, March 15, 2010 (IRIN) - Interceptions and convictions of human traffickers and smugglers have risen year-on-year in Nigeria since the government passed legislation to ban the trade in 2005, but the volume of trafficking is still high and progress on convictions needs to speed up, say government officials.

"Trafficking rates have come down,,,and convictions are up," Ego Uzoezie, Commissioner of Women Affairs in Anambra State Ministry told IRIN, "but the progress is not as high as we'd like when we compare it to the efforts the government has put in."

Nigeria uses the UN definition of trafficking, which includes recruiting, transporting, harbouring or receiving people through use of force or coercion, abduction, or fraud; and exploiting a person in a position of vulnerability for forced labour or servitude.

How many men, women and children are trafficked each year in Nigeria is unknown – the only figures on record are the number of people law enforcement officers have intercepted since the National Agency Prohibiting Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) was set up in 2004.

Over 4,000 victims were intercepted between 2004 and the end of 2009, with the number rising each year to reach 1,000 in 2007 and 1,269 in 2008, according to NAPTIP.

Most children trafficked and smuggled in Nigeria are sent by families to work as domestic labourers, with a minority used as street beggars, or sold into marriage or to illegal orphanages, according to NAPTIP. Families pay middlemen to take children across the borders to West African destinations like Togo and Cameroon, or north to Saudi Arabia, said Simon Chuzie Egede, the head of NAPTIP.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) child protection specialist in Abuja, Sharon Oladiji, said poverty was still the main reason families pushed children to leave home to find work.

"I was sold by my mother because of a 20,000 naira [US$137] debt she owed a yam-seller. Later I was forced into early marriage by him [the seller]," said Grace Ikede (not her real name), from Rivers State. She was lucky - the man she married helped her trace her family when he heard her story. "We are on the look-out for the seller, but he is on the run," she told IRIN.

Convictions up

The government has been making progress in the fight against traffickers and smugglers, partly because the Ministry of Women's Affairs, NAPTIP, the police, immigration services, and child protection agencies such as UNICEF, have started working closely together, Egede told IRIN. Prosecutions have steadily risen since 2006, with 67 traffickers convicted between 2004 and the end of 2009, UNICEF said.

On the US State Department list rating countries' efforts to eliminate the worst forms of trafficking, Nigeria rose from tier-two to tier-one status

"This is a clear sign Nigeria has made progress in preventing trafficking, punishing traffickers and protecting children," UNICEF's Oladiji told IRIN.

In 2009 the government also set up a Victims Trust Fund, through which assets confiscated from traffickers are transferred to victims. NAPTIP said so far the assets of two traffickers in Sokoto State had been seized.

But prosecuting traffickers was still "achingly slow", Oladiji said, with dozens of cases awaiting trial. A 2009 report on Nigeria's justice system noted that detainees could wait up to nine years for conviction. NAPTIP's southern zonal coordinator, Ijeoma Okoronkwo, said it would take state-by-state reform of the prosecution system to speed up the rate.

Next steps

Oladiji told IRIN that preventing trafficking would have to be stepped up in view of the sluggish prosecution service, and stressed that this must be a community effort, not a family-by-family attempt. UNICEF has been working with communities in at-risk border areas to encourage them to protect vulnerable families from turning to child smugglers.

A human rights lawyer in Anambra State, Ben Nwosu, told IRIN that punishments should be made more severe to deter traffickers. "The fines and jail terms given to those convicted and sentenced are still not enough compared to the inhumane treatment that the traffickers subject their victims to."

NAPTIP is evaluating the impact of its recent efforts – including the Victims Trust Fund, among other tools – to better prioritize its funding, Egede told IRIN.

To attract more funding for the fight, NAPTIP and all other agencies involved should develop clear action plans on prevention and prosecution, so that donors could peg funding to the initiative, UNICEF's Oladiji told IRIN.

The governments of Italy, Switzerland, Finland and the United States have recently supported anti-trafficking activities in Nigeria.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88424ADDIS ABABA Monday, March 15, 2010 (IRIN) - Ethiopia has made some headway towards improving maternal and child health, but more needs to be done to reduce the high number of preventable deaths, says an official. "I know that we have gaps in effectively addressing maternal health, but previous assessments are showing us that if we [make a] concerted effort, we can achieve goal number five of the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals]," Kebede Worku, State Minister for Health, said.ADDIS ABABA Monday, March 15, 2010 (IRIN) - Ethiopia has made some headway towards improving maternal and child health, but more needs to be done to reduce the high number of preventable deaths, says an official.

“I know that we have gaps in effectively addressing maternal health, but previous assessments are showing us that if we [make a] concerted effort, we can achieve goal number five of the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals],” Kebede Worku, State Minister for Health, said.

The ministry has just concluded a two-month campaign to promote safe motherhood but public relations officer Ahmed Emano said the campaign would continue in various forms in upcoming months.

“We are not only working to achieve the MDGs, but to have even more ambitious targets to improve maternal health in the country,” the minister told IRIN at the end of the first phase of the campaign, No woman should die while giving life.

The campaign, according to the health ministry, is being positioned as the start of a long-term mobilization initiative - ultimately to be extended through 2015 in line with the MDGs.

It aims to raise public awareness, facilitate dialogue on the importance of improving maternal health and secure commitments for accelerating reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality.

Dire situation

Ethiopia’s 2009 demographic and health survey showed that 25,000 women died every year giving birth, while 300,000 babies died annually across the country. In terms of personnel, the country had only one midwife and three doctors for every 100,000 citizens. Only 6 percent of births occurred in a health facility attended by skilled health personnel, a report by the UN Population Fund stated. As a result, many women deliver under the care of traditional birth attendants – which can be risky.

Amina Nuri, 32, for example, lost two of her children due to complications. “The traditional birth attendant was very much respected in my area,” she told IRIN in Hawassa Referral Hospital in the Southern Region. “I don’t know what went wrong with my delivery twice.”

Eventually, Amina undertook a difficult three-hour journey to the hospital to deliver another child. “I had to walk some three hours to reach here [Hawassa Referral Hospital],” she said. “I am bleeding now; the nearby [medical centre] could not stop it. I am afraid that I might lose this one as well.”

Million Getachew, a gynaecologist at the hospital, however, said Amina’s case was not common because there were relatively better facilities in the Southern Region. “We are trying our level best to address maternal health,” he said. “The hospital is equipped with all the necessary equipments and the regional government has also given attention to address maternal health. We are providing the best treatment in the country.”

Improvements

Earlier this year, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Sofian Ahmed, told parliament that out of eight MDGs, improving maternal health was a big challenge for the government.

“We need to be able to provide modern health facilities to every district in the country,” he said. “This requires a lot of focused effort and development partners’ support.”

Despite the challenges, international partners say Ethiopia will achieve this goal. “I am confident that Ethiopia is on the right track towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal and child mortality,” Ted Chaiban, representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said.

The MDGs are eight international development goals that all 192 UN member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include reducing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development.

According to Ethiopia’s ministry of finance and economic development, the country has made “astounding” progress on the goals. In the early 1990s, indicators of poverty, malnutrition, and basic health were among the worst in the world, with widespread hunger and food insecurity, a literacy rate of only 26 percent, and an infant mortality rate of 123 per 1,000. Fewer than a third of children were in school.

By 2008, primary school enrolment had topped 91 percent, infant mortality fell to 77 per 1,000, while the proportion of the population with access to clean water increased to 52.4 percent, according to a government report.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88428NAIROBI Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there.NAIROBI Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there.

FARDC is trying to rout the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from the Kivu region and Oriental province in eastern Congo, but operations have been criticized for their impact on civilians.

“Armed groups such as the LRA and FDLR commit atrocities that amount to grave breaches of international humanitarian law and, in some instances, may also constitute crimes against humanity,” according to the UN experts.

“In North Kivu, an assistance provider for victims of sexual violence recorded 3,106 cases between January and July 2009; half of these cases were perpetrated by FARDC members,” a group of seven UN experts said in their second report on the situation in DRC, submitted to the Security Council on 8 March.

Many of the FARDC troops used to be members of rebel groups who joined the army as part of peace initiatives.

In 2009, groups still under arms “continued to commit numerous, serious abuses - some of which may have constituted war crimes - including unlawful killings, disappearances, and torture”, according to the US government’s annual global human rights report, released on 11 March.

The UN experts added arbitrary arrest, forced labour and extortion to this litany of abuses.

In Dungu territory of Oriental Province, according to the US-based Enough Project, soldiers committed 116 rapes in a single neighbourhood last October.

“A particularly egregious case involved the gang rape of a pregnant woman by five Congolese soldiers near the market of Bangadi on 8 October, 2009,” it said.

FARDC commander General Leon Mushale told Enough the problem was isolated: “It is the fault of the man, not of the organization … we are dealing with the problems on a case–by-case basis,” he said.

“There is a correlation between peace and rape,” Bora Kawende, acting head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) office in North Kivu, recently told IRIN. “During war, soldiers here commit collective, massive rape.”

Legal gaps

The UN experts’ report said impunity, absence of the rule of law and women’s subordinate social and legal position reinforced a climate of general acceptance and tolerance for violence against women and girls in increasingly militarized societies, such as eastern DRC.

"The application of the law is weak," Kawende said. “And if a perpetrator is sentenced, the government must have a good jail where he can stay,” she added. In Mbandaka, a soldier was sent to jail for rape, but could not be locked up because the prison had been destroyed during the war.

Congo’s military justice system, the experts said, had retained jurisdiction over most cases involving serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, but was weak and susceptible to executive interference by military or political decision-makers.

“The solution is justice, justice, justice,” said Esteban Sacco, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in North Kivu. “There has to be a system that brings to justice those who commit the crime of rape.”

Speaking at a seminar in Goma, North Kivu prosecutor-general Mulumba Kifulya said arrests and prosecutions took too long, and many victims were too poor to pursue cases or preferred to keep quiet.

Involving men

The charity, Women for Women, called on men to help reduce sexual abuse. “In December, we held a seminar for 550 trainers of trainers, including soldiers, clergy, traditional rulers and local administrators,” Clovis Mulungula, sponsorship assistant, told IRIN. “In the seminars, we noticed that some men did not know the consequences.”

At least 1.36 million are displaced by violence in the Kivus, according to OCHA. In Hauts Plateaux, Uvira region of South Kivu, thousands of civilians have been trapped by conflict since February, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said.

"We heard from people who have reached our medical structure that there are many civilians who are afraid to come to the hospital,” Philippe Havet, MSF's head in DRC noted on 11 March. “They are in constant fear of being attacked.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88410LUSAKA Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Parity Zulu, 17, constantly recited a Biblical verse asking God for protection from her persecutors while her mother ferried her to hospital following complications from the teenager's illegal abortion.LUSAKA Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Parity Zulu, 17, constantly recited a Biblical verse asking God for protection from her persecutors while her mother ferried her to hospital following complications from the teenager's illegal abortion.

Her mother, Margaret, was unaware that her daughter had paid K350,000 (US$74) for a back-street abortion three days earlier. "All the way to the hospital I asked my child what happened. She wouldn't tell me. Then she began to sing Psalm 57, a cry for help. I began to suspect she was aborting a pregnancy," she told IRIN.

At the hospital's emergency admission desk, Zulu's medical condition was immediately apparent to Nurse Serephina Moonde. "I can tell a botched abortion as they come in through the doors - on average I see up to ten new patients a day. Women and young girls coming in, bleeding - sometimes we can save them; other times, like in Parity's case, it's too late - their wombs are rotting and they have lost too much blood."

Moonde said she had seen the results of the horrific methods women sometimes used to induce abortion: drinking crushed glass boiled with coca-cola, inserting crudely sharpened wooden sticks into the cervix, taking heavy doses of anti-malaria tablets, and even ingesting poisons such as battery acid.

Zambia's maternal mortality rate of 591 per 100,000 live births is one of the highest in the world, according to the 2008 Demographic Health Survey (DHS), the most recent.

One-third of maternal deaths are thought to be the result of abortion, but a shocking statistic is that 80 percent of the women who die from abortions are under the age of 19.

Abortion law

The Zambian Termination of Pregnancy Act 1972 is based on British colonial legislation, which permits abortion when continuation of the pregnancy can be proved to be detrimental to the mother, or the child, or both.

The law states that those wanting a termination must seek the consent of three physicians, but this requirement may be waived, if the abortion is deemed an emergency, to save the woman's life or prevent grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health.

In 2009 the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in the capital, Lusaka, the country's largest medical facility, recorded 5,295 abortions, of which 5,246 were a consequence of incomplete abortions; 31 women died as a result of complications.

Only nine terminations of pregnancies were performed at UTH in 2009, according to the provisions of the law, down from the 2008 figure of 126 legally performed terminations.

Dr Peter Mwaba, UTH's managing director, told IRIN that the hospital was a place of last resort, and the statistics did not include women seeking help for complications from an abortion at other public or private clinics.

He said many women did not have access to effective contraception, and there were gender inequalities as well as deeply entrenched stigmas around abortion, which contributed to women practicing self-abortion or seeking other unsafe procedures. Women seeking to terminate pregnancies were also making use of the greater availability of a variety of drugs at pharmacies and private clinics.

It was the attempts to procure abortions this way [unsafely] that brought on the complications - it was basically guesswork, and that was why women arrived at hospitals "half dead", he said.

Holo Hachoonda, a clinical director at the Planned Parenthood Association (PPAZ), told IRIN that many health practitioners did not understand the abortion law, and were reluctant to provide these services.

"People still do not see abortion as a right backed by law. They still also have not gotten used to the thinking that a woman has rights over her own body, and can make decisions about something like abortion," he said.

Mary Beth Jones, 46, decided to seek an abortion after falling pregnant with her fifth child. At the clinic she was asked why, as a married woman who had no health issues, she wanted an abortion. Had she had committed adultery?

"They wanted me to tell my husband, go through couple counselling, etc. I also felt they were judging me, and I was afraid that there would be no confidentiality, as we were being lumped together like naughty children and lectured. I can imagine how horrible it must be for a young girl seeking an abortion," she told IRIN.

Jones resorted to a herbal remedy from a traditional healer to induce a miscarriage. "I haemorrhaged so badly I ended up in hospital and had to have my womb removed. Needless to say, I am now a divorcee."

Religious barriers

In an effort to improve the efficacy of the Act, in June 2009 the government launched the Standards and Guidelines for Reducing Unsafe Abortion Morbidity and Mortality in Zambia, for interpreting the 1972 legislation.

The guidelines provided for abortions to be performed in the interests of a women's physical or mental health; nurse practitioners had been trained to provide medical abortions and first-trimester abortions; women no longer had to stay overnight in hospital after the procedure. Family planning services, including abortion services, have been extended throughout the country.

However, the biggest challenges to abortion are the deeply held religious views that think girls engage in sex when they should not, and see abortion as a sign of promiscuity.

Zambia's more than 11 million people are predominantly Roman Catholic, but conservative evangelical churches have grown considerably in recent years; in combination these represent a formidable degree of social disapproval of terminating pregnancy.

Suzanne Matale, Secretary-General of the Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ), the Catholic Church's mother body in Zambia, told IRIN that life began at conception. "There are no grey areas, no room for discussion. We condemn abortion. It's an absolute no-no."

Government spokesman Ronnie Shipakwasha, a Pentecostal church elder, told IRIN the abortion law would not be touched until there had been wide consultations with medical authorities, policy-makers and religious bodies.

He did not provide a timeframe, and there has been no call for this dialogue; he said the law, read in conjunction with the guidelines, was sufficient to ensure safe abortions.

"We just need to make this information available," he said. "We are a Christian country, so the church's teachings on morality are a major factor in how we deal with the issues of abortions."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88393KYAKA II REFUGEE CAMP Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Inadequate healthcare is just one of many challenges facing the 16,200 refugees in this sprawling camp in western Uganda, which is served by a single doctor.KYAKA II REFUGEE CAMP Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Inadequate healthcare is just one of many challenges facing the 16,200 refugees in this sprawling camp in western Uganda, which is served by a single doctor.

Among those waiting in one of the camp’s two health centres when IRIN visited was Mirian, 30, whose child was shivering with fever, most likely caused by malaria. “I walked two hours to reach the clinic this morning and have been sitting here for three. I hope the doctor can help my child – he is getting worse and worse every minute,” she said.

"We are very stretched in terms of resources to meet all our needs," Juliet Muhumunza, project manager with the German development agency (GTZ), the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) implementing health partner, told IRIN. "Lack of medical staff is only the tip of the iceberg of our humanitarian assistance gaps.”

Kevin Tsatsiyo, UNHCR's public health officer, told IRIN that conditions in the camp deterred many health professionals from working there.

Only basic services are available at the two health centres inside the camp.

For emergency services such as caesarean sections, minor surgery and blood transfusions, patients must go to Kyegegwa Health Centre 15km away. Patients requiring major surgery are referred to Fort Portal, a government hospital about 140km from the settlement.

Because Kyaka II sprawls over 209sqkm, some residents end up walking for hours to reach the facilities. Moreover, there is only one ambulance serving the whole settlement, complicating and delaying emergency services.

"By the end of 2010, we may have some bicycle ambulances and some stretchers but, so far, all the referral services are limited to the use of the one ambulance," Tsatsiyo said.

Medical gaps

At the nine-bed paediatric ward in Kyaka II, senior nursing officer Prisca Asiimwe told IRIN that on 6 March, 27 children had been admitted - three patients to a bed.

"The facility also lacks an isolation ward, and in case of epidemics or infectious diseases like TB, patients are accommodated in beds in the corners of the ward," Asiimwe added. "This is not an ideal solution but though a proper isolation ward is among our priorities, we do not have funds yet to build one."

Asiimwe said the needs to be addressed included a proper storage room for drugs, another generator for a third refrigerator storing medicines, vaccines and another laboratory.

Tsatsiyo said: “There is a new, bigger laboratory being constructed at the HIV clinic, where there will be two laboratory staff. It will not only be used for HIV/AIDS, but many kinds of blood tests.”

According to GTZ officials, available medication was sufficient, although procurement was, at times, slower than expected.

Food shortages

Asiimwe said: "Though we have enough anti-retroviral [drugs] in stock to supply the demand, we often receive complaints from our patients who say they find the medicine hard to swallow without having eaten anything.”

Food security inside the refugee settlements is very fragile, especially among Rwandan refugees, and this is likely to affect their health, Asiimwe said.

According to an agreement between the Ugandan and Rwandan governments, after July 2009 Rwandans were prohibited from farming in a bid to ensure their voluntary repatriation. The situation is dire, especially for those Rwandans who have been in Uganda longer than two years, as they no longer receive food rations from the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Other challenges

Asiimwe said about 50 percent of the diseases common among patients in Kyaka II were malaria and waterborne diseases such as dysentery.

Another issue of concern is the prevalence of sexual gender-based violence (SGBV), especially among the Congolese refugees.

Muhumunza said one or two cases of SGBV were reported every month in the settlements. However, she expressed concern that many more cases may be going unreported for fear of shame and stigmatization.

"Last week, a 14-year-old Congolese girl was raped in one of the villages," she said. "Her neighbours informed the community workers and we went to her family to investigate. However, we couldn't find the girl and her parents denied that the incident took place. We were later told by the family's neighbours that the case was solved between the two families with an exchange of money."

Since 2009, GTZ has increased sensitization of the refugee communities towards reporting of rape and SGBV.

Muhumunza said: "We recorded an increase in reported cases in 2009, but we cannot tell whether it is the number of crimes committed that has increased or the number of reported cases."

According to a sentinel surveillance conducted by the Uganda Virus Research Institute in 2008, the HIV incidence in Kyaka II was 7.6 percent – compared with a nationwide average of 5.4 percent in 2009.

Muhumunza told IRIN that among the refugees, who comprise nine nationalities, most HIV cases had been recorded among Congolese. More than 45,000 Congolese refugees live in Nakivale and Kyaka II settlements.

Counselling needs

Both health facilities at Kyaka II offer counselling services for patients with HIV/AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder and psycho-trauma.

According to GTZ, there is one counsellor for the whole settlement, but another was to be employed by the end of 2010.

"The problem is the lack of staff; we have only one counsellor in the camp, and the demand for psycho-social support is very high," a Congolese refugee, who requested anonymity, told IRIN. "Our traumatic experiences [in DRC] are not taken into due consideration. We need more doctors, not more Panadol [pain killer]."

UNHCR’s Tsatsiyo said the lack of staff with skills in mental health and psycho-social support was among the gaps identified during the agency's public health annual workshop.

"We are trying to respond to our challenges with the means we have," she said. "But again, because of funding issues, we can only afford visiting specialists who come to Kyaka II once a month and refer people to facilities where they would provide follow-up and the appropriate treatment and support."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88396YANGON Wednesday, March 10, 2010 (IRIN) - In Myanmar, where abortions are illegal, complications arising from unsafe terminations are the third leading cause of maternal deaths after post-partum haemorrhage and eclampsia, according to the government's 2006-2011 National Health Plan.YANGON Wednesday, March 10, 2010 (IRIN) - In Myanmar, where abortions are illegal, complications arising from unsafe terminations are the third leading cause of maternal deaths after post-partum haemorrhage and eclampsia, according to the government's 2006-2011 National Health Plan.

The latest survey by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Department of Health in 2005 shows that Myanmar's maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is persistently high at 316 per 100,000 live births. Nearly 10 percent of all maternal deaths are abortion-related.

Pansy Tun Thein, assistant representative of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Myanmar, said the government recognised that abortion-related deaths were one of the leading causes of maternal mortality.

"The government is currently promoting the reduction of maternal mortality. It's high on their agenda and abortion is one of the issues being addressed through improved quality services for maternal health," she told IRIN.

Some gains

The government's 2006-2011 National Health Plan lists addressing abortion as a priority.

While data remains grim, there have been gains over the past two decades, when unsafe abortions were considered the leading cause of maternal mortality, according to the World Health Organization. (See: http://www.whomyanmar.org/EN/Section3/Section15_9.htm#tab2)

As part of efforts to address reproductive health issues, the government is undertaking several activities, including research and advocacy, and has made birth spacing methods publicly available since 1991.

One initiative is a reproductive health information telephone hotline set up last year in the Department of Medical Research.

Ko Ko Zaw, research scientist for the project, said birth spacing was the second most asked about topic after infertility. He said 20 percent of callers were between the ages of 15-24, who mostly asked about birth spacing.

"It is good if we can provide information which can prevent the problem of unwanted pregnancy, because it's important in reducing MMR," he told IRIN.

Contraceptive use growing

In Myanmar, there is almost universal knowledge of at least one modern method of contraception, although usage varies widely according to where women live and their level of education.

The 2007 Fertility and Reproductive Health Survey (FRHS), released in October 2009 and conducted by the Department of Population and UN Population Fund (UNFPA), found increased use of contraception among married women, although figures were still relatively low.

Single women were not included in the survey questions on contraception use, since pre-marital sex is discouraged and considered a sensitive issue.

The survey found the proportion of married women who use modern contraceptive methods increased from 32 percent in 2001 to 38.4 percent in 2007. In urban areas, 49 percent of married women use modern contraception, compared with only 34 percent of rural women. Modern contraceptives such as the birth control pill are also more widely available and easier to access in urban areas. About 70 percent of the country's population of about 57.5 million is rural.

The survey also found that 17.7 percent of married women had an unmet need for contraception for either preventing or spacing births.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88383PORT-AU-PRINCE Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Many women at the Jean-Marie Vincent site for displaced people (IDPs) in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince wash themselves inside their makeshift tents because the only alternative is to do so out in the open. Given the overcrowding and meagre security, this exposes them to the risk of attack or rape.PORT-AU-PRINCE Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Many women at the Jean-Marie Vincent site for displaced people (IDPs) in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince wash themselves inside their makeshift tents because the only alternative is to do so out in the open. Given the overcrowding and meagre security, this exposes them to the risk of attack or rape.

Going to the site's latrines is also risky, especially at night, for there is no lighting and some toilets are isolated.

“We have not yet reached a standard of organization that respects women’s rights,” Smith Maximé of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Haiti told IRIN.

“We have registered rape cases that occurred when women were in the latrines. When toilets are not secured – as in many of the camps – women are often attacked there,” he added.

“We are not safe here,” one woman in the Jean-Marie Vincent camp told IRIN, holding her two-month-old baby. “Three men attacked me as I walked to a latrine. They covered my face and my mouth and raped me.” Initially she said nothing but her pain was so intense, after three days she told some relatives.

The failure to meet established minimum disaster relief standards [http://www.sphereproject.org/content/view/44/83/lang,english/] is “creating serious security, privacy and dignity concerns”, according to the Gender in Humanitarian Response Working Group*.

“Increased lighting surrounding those latrines should be an immediate priority to ensure the safety of women and girls using sanitation facilities at night,” the Group said in a statement issued in late February.

“Increased attention must be paid to the provision of dedicated and private bathing facilities to reduce women’s current vulnerability to sexual violence. Though many women and girls bathed outdoors prior to the earthquake, the nature of many IDP sites (crowded living conditions, living near strangers) is creating new vulnerabilities to violence and exploitation, in particular at night, that did not necessarily exist before,” it said.

Crowded and dark

Overcrowding and lack of lighting in camps are part of the problem. In many camps there is no space between tents. Aid organizations and the government plan to move people from 21 of the most congested sites either back home, to host families or to land recently allotted by the authorities. In the meantime aid agencies are putting some security measures in place, such as installing lights.

“Protection is one of the major issues of concern when sites are over-congested,” Sara Ribeiro, protection coordinator with the International Organization for Migration, told IRIN. IOM is the lead agency for the group of agencies collectively tasked with organizing the management of camps for displaced people.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), [http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/pageloader.aspx] a group of UN and non-UN organizations that since 1992 has worked to harmonize humanitarian best practice, stipulates [http://oneresponse.info/crosscutting/gender/Documents/Gender%20ABC%20Haiti%20emergenc%2020100121.pdf] that humanitarian actors must ensure that the route to water and sanitation facilities is safe and that latrines are well lit and lockable from the inside.

Management

Ribeiro said another major problem was a lack of camp management agencies. As of 4 March just one-fifth of the 400 camps for displaced families had such agencies in place, she said.

“More agencies… need to take over site management,” she told IRIN. “That is the only way to prevent these things from happening. Because no amount of service delivery [medical care, food rations, water] is going to be able to respond to what happens when the sun sets.”

Community watch groups are forming in many sites; OCHA states in a 4 March report that these groups will need training to increase the protection of women and girls.

UNFPA is working with the authorities and local NGOs to revive a system of reporting sexual violence cases. “But our immediate focus is to disseminate information on available medical and psycho-social support, and to [put first] the rights and choices of the survivor,” Lina Abirafeh, GBV coordinator for UNFPA in Haiti, told IRIN.

The agency is compiling a list of hospitals and NGOs that provide medical and counselling services for distribution in the camps.

UN aid workers say no comprehensive statistics of rape in the camps are available but rape and impunity have long been widespread in Haiti, as IASC notes. In 2008 Amnesty International reported “shocking levels” of sexual violence against girls. [http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20081201001]

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* The group comprises representatives of MINUSTAH-Human Rights, MINUSTAH-Gender Unit, UNIFEM, UNFPA, World Food Programme, IOM, UN Children’s Fund, and several NGOs, including the International Rescue Committee, American Refugee Committee, and International Medical Corps.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88360PORT-AU-PRINCE Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Josephine*, 17, was living alone on the streets of Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit. She lost the few belongings she had - mostly clothes. She now stays at the Jean-Marie Vincent camp for displaced families.PORT-AU-PRINCE Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Josephine*, 17, was living alone on the streets of Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit. She lost the few belongings she had - mostly clothes. She now stays at the Jean-Marie Vincent camp for displaced families.

She has no family members in the camp. One night around midnight, she told IRIN, she was looking for somewhere to sleep when two young men - one with a machete, the other with a wooden club - grabbed her.

"They came towards me and then I realized there were four others with them. They dragged me into a tent. They held my mouth closed and blindfolded me. They took off my underwear. I was on the ground and one by one they raped me.

"Each time I tried to scream they pressed even harder on my mouth. They hit me.

"At about 2am they put me outside. A young man found me and helped me find somewhere to go.

"Now whenever I see the youths who raped me they whisper and point at me. I avoid walking by the tent where they did this.

"I want to leave this camp but before that I want to have these men arrested. The day I see policemen in the camp I will bring them to where these men live. I know about bringing people to justice because in cases of violence in my neighbourhood I have seen police come and arrest people.

"I used to go to church but I no longer go because I don't have nice clothes to wear. I miss it a lot but one must look nice to go to church."

* Not her real name

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88365KABUL Monday, March 08, 2010 (IRIN) - As the world marks International Women’s Day, ambivalence, impunity, weak law enforcement and corruption continue to undermine women’s rights in Afghanistan, despite a July 2009 law banning violence against women, rights activists say. KABUL Monday, March 08, 2010 (IRIN) - As the world marks International Women’s Day, ambivalence, impunity, weak law enforcement and corruption continue to undermine women’s rights in Afghanistan, despite a July 2009 law banning violence against women, rights activists say.

A recent case of the public beating of a woman for alleged elopement - also shown on private TV stations in Kabul - highlights the issue.

In January domestic violence forced two young women to flee their homes in Oshaan village, Dolaina District, Ghor Province, southwestern Afghanistan. A week later they were arrested in neighbouring Herat Province and sent back to Oshaan, according to the governor of Ghor, Mohammad Iqbal Munib.

“One woman was beaten in public for the elopement and the second was reportedly confined in a sack with a cat,” Munib told IRIN.

According to the governor, the illegal capture of the women was orchestrated by Fazul Ahad who leads an illegal armed militia group in Dolaina District. Locals say Ahad, a powerful figure who backed President Hamid Karzai in the August 2009 elections, has been running Oshaan as his personal fiefdom.

“When the roads reopen to Dolaina [closed by snow] we will send a team to investigate,” said the governor, adding that he was concerned that arresting Ahad could cause instability. “We have asked the authorities in Kabul for support and guidance.”

IRIN was unable to contact Fazul Ahad and verify the charges.

Self-immolation

“I poured fuel over my body and set myself ablaze because I was regularly beaten up and insulted by my husband and in-laws,” Zarmina, 28, told IRIN. She, along with over a dozen other women with self-inflicted burns, is in Herat’s burns hospital

Over 90 self-immolation cases have been registered at the hospital in the past 11 months; 55 women had died, doctors said.

“People call it the `hospital of cries’ as patients here cry out loudly in pain,” Arif Jalali, head of the hospital, told IRIN.

Beneath the cries lie cases of domestic violence and/or disappointment with the justice system.

“Self-immolation proves that the justice system for female victims is failing,” said Movidul-Haq Mowidi, a human rights activist in Herat.

Barriers to justice

Despite laws prohibiting gender violence and upholding women’s rights, widespread gender discrimination, fear of abuse, corruption and other challenges are undermining the judicial system, experts say.

“Women are denied their most fundamental human rights and risk further violence in the course of seeking justice for crimes perpetrated against them,” stated a report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on the situation of Afghan women in July 2009.

Orzala Ashraf, a women’s rights activist in Kabul, blames the government: “Laws are clear about crimes but we see big criminals thriving and being nurtured by the state for illicit political gains,” she told IRIN, pointing to the government’s alleged failure to address human rights violations committed over the past three decades of conflict.

“Because no one is put on trial for his crimes, a criminal culture is being promoted: violators have no fear of the law, prosecution and a meaningful penalty,” said Ashraf.

Deep-seated ambivalence to women’s rights is evident from a law signed off by President Hamid Karzai in early 2009: The Shia Personal Status Law, dubbed a ‘rape legalizing law’, was amended after strong domestic and international pressure.

“The first version [of the law] was totally intolerable,” said Najia Zewari, a women’s rights expert with the UN Fund for Women (UNIFEM). “Despite positive changes in the final version, there are articles that still need to be discussed and reviewed further,” she said.

Another example of this ambivalence is the case of the men who threw acid in the faces of 15 female students in Kandahar city in November 2008: Karzai publicly vowed they would be “severely punished” but court officials in Kandahar and Kabul have said they are unaware of the case and do not know where the alleged perpetrators are.

“Judges say the men were wrongly accused and forced to confess,” Ranna Tarina, head of Kandahar women’s affairs department, told IRIN.

Violence database

Over the past two years more than 1,900 cases of violence against women in 26 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces - from verbal abuse to physical violence - have been recorded in a database run by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and UNIFEM.

One recorded case is the murder, by her in-laws in Parwan Province north of Kabul, of a young woman who had refused to live with her abusive husband. Another is the regular physical and mental torture meted out to a woman by her husband and mother in-law in Kabul.

“The database does not give a perfect picture but it helps to highlight some of the common miseries of Afghan women,” UNIFEM’s Najia Zewari told IRIN.

UNIFEM is keen to make the database publicly available on the internet.

“Violence against women is not a new phenomenon in Afghanistan but it is good to see crimes do not remain confined to a home and a village,” said activist Orzala Ashraf.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88349CAIRO Monday, March 08, 2010 (IRIN) - “It is a day I don’t want to remember. Whenever it comes to my mind, it sends shivers down my spine,” said Aya Abdel Aati, aged 17, recalling the painful experience of her circumcision at the age of 12. She says she bled for several days. CAIRO Monday, March 08, 2010 (IRIN) - “It is a day I don’t want to remember. Whenever it comes to my mind, it sends shivers down my spine,” said Aya Abdel Aati, aged 17, recalling the painful experience of her circumcision at the age of 12. She says she bled for several days.

Despite efforts by the authorities, NGOs, and international agencies to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), the practice is still widespread in Egypt and deeply rooted in the minds of the people, according to a study funded by World Health Organization (WHO) entitled Investigating Women’s Sexuality in Relation to Female Genital Mutilation in Egypt.

“The main reason we found for the continuation of the practice is a drive to control a woman’s sexuality before marriage as a means of ensuring her virginity and therefore her marriageability by delivering an intact bride to her prospective husband,” the study said.

The study said many of those surveyed saw FGM/C as a “family affair” and a personal decision, in which the government should not interfere. “Therefore they are highly skeptical that regulations and laws recently introduced to stamp out the practice will actually succeed,” it said.

In 2008, Egypt passed a law criminalizing FGM/C with punishments ranging from three months to two years in prison, and a fine of 1,000-5,000 Egyptian pounds (US$183-912).

Experts believe that although female circumcision is widespread, considerable progress has been achieved. “The Demographic Health Survey of 2008 [published in 2009] showed that 72 percent of girls aged 15-30 were circumcised, compared to 96 percent of the same age group in the Demographic Health Survey of 1995,” said Azza Shalaby, gender adviser at Plan Egypt, a children’s development NGO.

However, the Demographic Health Survey of 2008 also indicated that 91 percent of women aged 15-49 were circumcised.

Elaine Bainard, head of UNICEF Egypt’s Child Protection Section, believes the prevalence of FGM/C is high but decreasing. “We believe that as more and more families publicly declare their position not to cut, and as their daughters are successfully married, the momentum will grow further.”

Religious leaders, both Muslims and Christians, are playing an important role fighting in FGM/C, preaching that the practice is not related to Islam or Christianity.

However, there are conflicting views among them, according to the WHO-funded study. “This was particularly true for Muslim leaders, who are bombarded with contradictory messages from official religious scholars and so-called 'tele-sheikhs', religious figures on TV and other media,” the study said.

Physical, psychological damage

Meanwhile, circumcised girls and women are suffering physically and psychologically.

“The process of FGM/C can be very traumatic for girls, as they are compelled or forced to comply with the procedure. They must endure the physical pain but also the emotional aftermath of being subjected to the cutting by those she loves,” Bainard said.

In extreme cases, where the cut has been extensive, girls could face increased risks during childbirth, and incontinence, she added.

“Some women have urinary tract problems and others severe bleeding during delivery,” said Plan Egypt’s Shalaby. “But circumcised women worry less about health complications than the psychological effect and shock. They say they became more secluded and fearful.”

“Giving them [people] solid information about the benefits of abandoning FGM/C within the context of social pressure to abandon it, is achieving success, but it takes time,” Bainard said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88352MINGORA Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Girls in Swat District, northwestern Pakistan, have gone back to school, and most women who had been prevented from working have returned to work, but people are still fearful.MINGORA Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Girls in Swat District, northwestern Pakistan, have gone back to school, and most women who had been prevented from working have returned to work, but people are still fearful.

"We worry the Taliban will return and the persecution will start again. In every neighbourhood there are people who are linked to the militants and who keep an eye on the activities of us women," Sumira Bibi, 20, who works at a cosmetics factory, told IRIN in Mingora, Swat's main town.

According to the government's National Commission on the Status of Women, there were 1,000-1,200 women factory workers in Mingora before the Taliban takeover in 2009. It is unknown how many have returned to work.

Tens of thousands of civilians were displaced from Swat in the spring and summer of 2009 due to intense fighting between government forces and Taliban militants. Most returned after the army regained control in July. (See Swat timeline) [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82864]

Razia Khalid, 35, dons her blue 'burqa' each morning before accompanying, on foot, her two daughters to the nearby school where she teaches. She had never worn a 'burqa' till 2007 when local Taliban militants forced all women to wear one.

"I mentally feel like discarding it. My husband, an educated man, wants me to give it up. But I am afraid to do so," Razia told IRIN.

A deep sense of trauma exists in many places. Since November 2009, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has set up 10 welfare centres, known as "Friend's House" to offer support and counselling to those affected by conflict.

"When you live through a war, the fear stays for a long time," said Sumira Bibi. For her, and for many others, it has not faded away yet.

"My mother is still afraid to send my younger sister to school, because there have been continued attacks on schools across the tribal areas. We see reports in the media almost daily. She would also like me not to work, but we need the money," Sumira said.

Tension

There are also reports from Swat that state action against militants is continuing, adding to the tension.

"We have credible reports of arbitrary detentions, including female relatives of militants," Asma Jahangir, chairperson of the autonomous Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told IRIN.

Peace is still elusive in Swat: Thirteen people were killed and at least 40 injured in a suicide attack [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C02%5C23%5Cstory_23-2-2010_pg1_5] in Mingora's Nishat Chowk area earlier this month.

"It could have been any of us, or our children. So many women go there to shop, or run errands and collect children from school," said Uzma Bano, 50. She said there was a sense of increased militant activity, as the official focus switches to other places where militants are entrenched. "We fear the Taliban could attempt a comeback of some kind".

Meanwhile, Sardar Hussain Babak, education minister for the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), has told the media in Peshawar that since December 2009 there has been a 1 percent increase in female enrolment. This is a significant development in a part of the country where, according to official figures, the literacy rate for women stands at below 23 percent.

"Parents are now bringing in girls to enrol at schools every day. They are more confident about this," Zubaida Khan, the head of a local private school for girls, told IRIN.

School infrastructure, however, is "in ruins", according to Ibrash Pasha, an activist with the NGO Khwendo Kor, which works for the education of girls.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88282NAIROBI Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Medical male circumcision is now widely recognized as an important HIV prevention tool, and several African countries have included it in their national HIV strategies.NAIROBI Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Medical male circumcision is now widely recognized as an important HIV prevention tool, and several African countries have included it in their national HIV strategies.

IRIN/PlusNews lists the progress of 13 nations in eastern and southern Africa identified as priority countries for male circumcision scale-up by the UN World Health Organization.

Kenya: An estimated 85 percent of men are circumcised, but just 40 percent of those in Nyanza province, which has the country's highest prevalence, have had the procedure. In 2008 the government launched a national campaign and by the end of 2009 more than 90,000 men had been circumcised, 40,000 of them during a two-month "rapid results" initiative in Nyanza.

The government aims to have all uncircumcised men - an estimated 1.1 million http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87074 - undergo the procedure by 2013. Kenya is the only African country to have successfully rolled out male circumcision on such a large scale.

Zambia: Male circumcision prevalence is 13 percent, and Zambia aims to circumcise about 250,000 men every year. More than 16,000 men were circumcised at 11 sites in 2009, and the goal is to have 300 sites offering the services by 2014.

Swaziland: The Ministry of Health and Human Services plans to provide circumcision to 80 percent of men aged 15 to 24 by the end of 2014 http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86444. Just eight percent of Swazi men are circumcised. The country - which has the world's highest HIV prevalence - developed a male circumcision strategy in 2008; by the end of 2009 more than 5,000 men had undergone the surgery.

Botswana: Five centres of excellence have been identified to scale-up circumcision services, and Botswana's Ministry of Health aims to reach at least 460,000 HIV negative men and boys below the age of 49 by 2012. More than 4,300 men have been circumcised since April 2009.

Zimbabwe: In April 2009 the pilot phase of service delivery began, during which 1,818 men were circumcised at four sites. A national male circumcision policy was launched in November 2009.

Rwanda: Since 2008 the government has been rolling out male circumcision in the army, where prevalence is 4.5 percent compared to a national rate of three percent. A recent study http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000211 suggested that Rwanda should also be scaling up circumcision across a broad range of age groups, especially the very young, where the procedure was found to be highly cost-effective.

South Africa: The government has been criticized for moving too slowly http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87315 in developing a national circumcision strategy. By December 2009 the country had a draft policy but no mechanisms for training, quality assurance, or monitoring and evaluation.
South Africa has the world's largest HIV-positive population.

About 35 percent of men are circumcised. Data from the only site currently providing free circumcision - Orange Farm, near Johannesburg - reveals that 14,253 men were circumcised in 2009.

Namibia: A draft policy was submitted to parliament and training of surgical health professionals is underway. Five circumcision pilot sites have been identified, two of which are in operation. A 2009 field analysis http://www.malecircumcision.org/programs/documents/Namibia11209.pdf showed that the unit cost per procedure was very high: US$88 for adults and $72 for newborns.

Lesotho: About 4,000 men are circumcised annually at government and private clinics. A policy has been approved but is yet to be launched, and formal scale-up has not yet started. The Puisano Outreach Organization, a local NGO, is engaged in male circumcision campaigns throughout the country.

Tanzania: A 2009 situation analysis http://www.malecircumcision.org/programs/documents/TanzaniaMaleCircumcisionSituationAnalysis_September_09.pdf found male circumcision was accepted, even among traditionally non-circumcising communities, and 70 percent of Tanzanian men were circumcised. A national policy is being developed and three demonstration sites have been set up.

Mozambique: No formal policy for male circumcision has been developed, but an existing operational plan for HIV prevention includes circumcision. Five pilot sites have been selected for scale-up in 2010.

A 2008 study found that rolling out adult male circumcision in Mozambique would put undue pressure on health workers, which would limit the scale and effectiveness of the programme.

Malawi: The country is conducting data analysis to inform its male circumcision strategy. A local NGO, Banja la Mtsogolo, http://www.banja.org.mw is providing male circumcision services in its clinics, where it has 19 trained clinicians performing the procedure.

Uganda: This is one of the three countries where studies showed the link between male circumcision and HIV, but only 25 percent of men are circumcised and HIV prevalence is rising. There has been some criticism for failing to start male circumcision quickly enough - the country still has no policy, nor has it started service delivery.

A 2009 situational analysis http://www.malecircumcision.org/programs/documents/MC_situation_analysis_Uganda_full.pdf found that most practitioners would need additional training to perform male circumcision.

kr/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88286MANILA Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - The controversial issue of family planning is taking a prominent role in campaigning for the general election in the Philippines.MANILA Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - The controversial issue of family planning is taking a prominent role in campaigning for the general election in the Philippines.

Family planning advocates in the predominantly Catholic country are calling on voters to ditch candidates opposed to government funding of contraceptives before the 10 May poll for presidential, legislative and local representatives.

“If they want us to vote for them, they should allocate funding for contraceptives. We want a real reproductive health programme here in Manila,” said Fe Nicodemus, 50, a reproductive health campaigner.

Nicodemus has been fighting Manila’s local government over an executive order issued in 2000 by then Mayor Lito Atienza, which prohibits the provision of modern contraceptives and sterilization at the city’s public health facilities.

The city has since selected a new mayor, but calls to repeal the order have been ignored - which Nicodemus said was contributing to a worsening reproductive health situation in the capital.

"In Manila, girls as young as 14 get pregnant. There are 18-year-old girls who already have four children,” Nicodemus told IRIN. “They come to my house to ask for help. In spite of the [order], we make a stand to help these children, even if the village officials threaten to arrest us."

Unwanted pregnancies

The availability of contraception is hotly contested in the Philippines, where the Catholic Church holds sway over 80 percent of the population.

Reproductive health advocates, however, say family planning and modern contraceptive methods such as condoms and birth control pills are sorely needed.

"The poorest are [most] affected because of the lack of contraceptives," said Clara Rita Padilla, executive director of EnGendeRights, a women’s rights NGO. [http://engenderights.wordpress.com/about/]

In a 2008 national demographic survey [http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2010/pr1027tx.html] released on 14 January 2010, the National Statistics Office said about one in three births in the Philippines was either unwanted or unplanned.

It also said the country’s total fertility rate was 3.3 children per woman, but that four out of 10 women said they preferred to have only two children. Poorer women, or those with less education, wanted more children.

The Philippines’ population is projected by the National Statistics Office to have reached 92.2 million in 2009, compared with neighbouring countries Malaysia, with 28.3 million, and Thailand, with 65.4 million.

Family planning advocates are now pressing presidential candidates – including incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - to support a comprehensive nationwide family planning programme.

“Presidential candidates should make a clear stand on reproductive health now,” said Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development [http://plcpd.org.ph/], a non-profit group that assists lawmakers in pushing for reproductive health legislation.

“We need a national policy on reproductive health that will make sure that the likes of Mayor Lito Atienza will not be able to curtail our reproductive health rights," he said.

Lost opportunity

Reproductive health advocates almost scored a victory when a bill was presented to Congress in January this year that mandated the government to fund modern contraceptives. The government only supports natural forms of birth control.

An October 2008 nationwide survey conducted by polling firm Pulse Asia showed that 63 percent of Filipinos supported the bill.

However, intense debate among legislators, including pro-Church lawmakers, delayed a vote on the bill, which expired after the congressional session ended.

“That's why it's important to have a president who can stand up to the Catholic Church in favour of reproductive health rights," said Benjamin de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc, an NGO [http://www.forum4fp.org/html/about-us.html].

The advocates have vowed to file the same bill in the next Congress after the elections.

Church campaign

In December, the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a paper advising Catholics not to vote for candidates who support government funding for contraception [http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/12037]. "It would not be morally permissible to vote for candidates who support anti-family policies, including reproductive health … Otherwise one becomes an accomplice to the moral evil in question,” it said.

Out of nine presidential candidates, only one, Benigno Aquino III, son of the late president Corazon Aquino, favours government funding of contraceptives.

Former Department of Health Secretary, Alberto Romualdez, lamented that the presidential candidates appeared to have “meekly acquiesced to the CBCP dictates”.

"Not a single politician has dared to question any of the contents of the issuance while at the same time avoiding the subject as much as possible,” Romualdez told IRIN.

“Interference of a religious body in civil and political affairs is a violation of our constitution's section on the separation of church and state and candidates should take a stand on this issue,” he said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88257DAR ES SALAAM Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - A Tanzanian project is integrating family planning and HIV messages via community health workers who teach HIV-positive couples how to avoid unwanted pregnancies or infecting their unborn children.DAR ES SALAAM Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - A Tanzanian project is integrating family planning and HIV messages via community health workers who teach HIV-positive couples how to avoid unwanted pregnancies or infecting their unborn children.

“I talk to them and they tell me they are afraid,” Margaret Mapunda, a trained community health worker in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, told IRIN/PlusNews. “Some want [children] but they don’t know what to do and just conceive and go to traditional birth attendants to deliver.

“Many are taking antiretrovirals and they don’t even know which contraceptives are good and bad,” she added. “They do not ask because of stigma. Some say they are abused at health facilities.”

Since 2008, more than 3,000 couples have received family planning services from home-based care service providers in the areas of Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Kilimanjaro under the Tutunzane – Swahili for “let’s care for each other” - project, run by reproductive health NGO, Pathfinder International [http://www.pathfind.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Programs_Tanzania_Projects_Tutunzane].

Family planning needs

A 2009 study [http://journals.lww.com/aidsonline/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2009&issue=11001&article=00004&type=abstract] conducted in the northern Tanzanian region of Mwanza and published in the journal, AIDS, found numerous potential benefits of offering family planning counselling as a part of antenatal services, particularly in clinics offering HIV testing.

According to Children and AIDS, Fourth Stock Taking Report 2009 [http://www.unicef.org/aids/files/B230stocktaking_06Nov09_FINAL_loRes.pdf], by the UN Children’s Fund, as many as 130,000 HIV-positive Tanzanian women become pregnant every year; 53 percent of these have access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission services.

A study carried out by Pathfinder International in 2008 found that 90 percent of home-based care providers were willing to add family planning services to their activities but lacked adequate training. So far the project has trained about 250 community health workers to integrate family planning messages into their HIV counselling.

“Community home-based care service providers are very low cost and they interact more with people living with HIV than anybody else; they therefore provide a perfect opportunity to reach out to them, including with family planning services,” said Judith Rwakyendela, reproductive health and family planning programme officer at Pathfinder International.

“When you give people antiretrovirals, the objective is to make them live longer, yet many of them become strong, active and engage in sex without necessarily aiming at having a baby,” she added. “It is important that they are given the opportunity to prevent unwanted pregnancies, which plays the twin role of improving their health and preventing mother to child transmission.”

Johannes and Vivian Murliryianga*, from the Dar es Salaam suburb of Sinza, have five children; they are now receiving counselling from a community health worker as they try to prevent more pregnancies. Unfortunately, they learned about prevention of mother-to-child transmission too late to stop their youngest child from contracting HIV.

“I normally did not go to a government hospital, I just had my babies at a clinic run by some lady to whom we give small money and she allows you to give birth at her place. We just call her shangazi [auntie],” Vivian said. “I was surprised when my child tested positive; I didn’t even know children could get HIV.”

Under the Pathfinder programme, couples like Vivian and Johannes are given family planning advice according to their situation and needs.

“As you know family planning methods are many - we just give them choices depending on what they prefer and the situation,” Mapunda said. “You will get some married couples telling you they prefer condoms, especially among discordant ones; some want pills. We counsel them on the merits and demerits of each.”

Involving men

She noted that while counselling had been largely successful, encouraging men to participate had been a challenge. “We have seen more success where fathers agree to join the programme but not all are willing and it becomes very difficult because it means the mother does many of the things secretly,” she said.

“Imagine trying to give these services to a woman who fears disclosing her status or whose husband’s status is unknown; it is a challenge but we try what we can,” she added.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88263BAMAKO Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - A husband and wife can keep separate homes, but only with the husband’s approval. A divorcée can keep her ex-husband’s name – if he agrees. A girl should be able to marry at 15. These and a dozen other changes to the family code are being proposed by Mali’s top Islamic council, even though they were blocked last August after strong opposition from some Muslim leaders. BAMAKO Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - A husband and wife can keep separate homes, but only with the husband’s approval. A divorcée can keep her ex-husband’s name – if he agrees. A girl should be able to marry at 15. These and a dozen other changes to the family code are being proposed by Mali’s top Islamic council, even though they were blocked last August http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85960 after strong opposition from some Muslim leaders.

Legislative efforts to update a decades-old family code sparked nationwide protests from Muslim associations, which said the new code would threaten religious values.

“Without these amendments, it would be an open road to debauchery,” the head of the group within the council created to propose changes to the family code, Mamadou Diamouténé, told IRIN. He said that while Koranic law allowed spouses to keep separate homes, “it is not that anyone can go wherever she wishes without her husband’s approval, because we cannot forget that the man is the head of the family”.

However, Bakary Togola, a teacher and Malian Association of Human Rights member, told IRIN that Council members pushing for the amendments had to face reality. “The world is evolving every day and we must change with it… there are countries all over the world passing laws to authorize marriage between homosexuals and we Muslims are moving heaven and earth over details that are not worth anything.”

These amendments risk pushing people to extremism, said Rokia Traoré Sanogo, a housecleaner who is Muslim. “Here in Mali, not everyone is Muslim… They [High Islamic Council] are acting as if Mali were an Islamic state. At this rate, they will soon demand that Sharia law be imposed.”

Article 291 currently states that marriages are celebrated publicly in front of a government registrar, to which the Islamic council wants to add “and religious and traditional leaders”. Diamouténé said that otherwise, “it is as if we were trampling over religious and traditional marriage ceremonies”.

Article 311 of the draft currently puts spouses on an equal footing. “Spouses owe each other fidelity, protection, relief and assistance. They commit themselves to the community of life on the basis of affection and respect." The council wants to add: “The wife must obey the husband.”

The council is proposing amending articles on inheritance, marriage, adoption and family responsibilities, which are at the core of Mali’s social and religious values, said the council’s Diamouténé.

April vote

Parliament is treading more carefully this time in trying to pass a new family law. “We recall that the Islamic associations, led by the High Islamic Council, sparked unprecedented protests http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85676 throughout the country to remove language [they] considered blasphemous,” the head of the national assembly, Dioncounda Traoré, told IRIN.

Two lawmakers, one of whom is a religious leader, are to reconcile the proposed amendments, the code under draft and the existing law, which they will present to parliament for approval in April.

Political analyst and University of Bamako professor, Badra Alou Macalou, told IRIN that lawmakers were hoping to reach a consensus on the contested articles. “The president of the assembly… was clear in saying that the legislators will never adopt a code that will affect again the social climate. I think that in April if the code is not voted [on] and adopted unanimously, it will simply be shelved.”

Domestic worker Sanogo is not optimistic of any significant change even if the code is passed. “Whether or not the code is adopted, it does not matter much to me because we know here in Mali, laws are not enforced. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85737”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88251MBABANE Thursday, February 25, 2010 (IRIN) - The High Court of Swaziland ruled on 23 February 2010 that some married women will be allowed to register property in their own name. It has been five years since the new Constitution granted women equal status, after centuries of being classified and treated as minors.MBABANE Thursday, February 25, 2010 (IRIN) - The High Court of Swaziland ruled on 23 February 2010 that some married women will be allowed to register property in their own name. It has been five years since the new Constitution granted women equal status, after centuries of being classified and treated as minors.

Gender activists greeted the ruling as a small victory; despite the 2005 enactment of the Constitution, the second-class status of women in the country ruled by sub-Sahara's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, has largely remained intact, denying women their inheritance rights and hobbling their progress as entrepreneurs and traders.

"I went to apply for a bank loan, and I was shocked to find that nothing has changed for women in this country. The loan was approved for my business, the bank was in support of my project, but the bank manager asked me, 'Where is your husband? He must sign the loan forms,'" Thabsile Masuku told IRIN.

"The bank did not recognize me as an adult who can enter into a contract. Legally, I am just a minor who is dependant on my husband. He is a good man but the situation is galling - I am not dependant on my husband, I am an independent person, but in Swaziland I don't exist," she said.

A woman who declined to be identified told IRIN that a house she had built from the proceeds of her chicken-breeding business was sold by her husband without her knowledge. In Swaziland the husband remains the legal administrator of the marriage estate, to use as he likes - with or without his wife's knowledge or consent.

Lack of political will

Although the Constitution has granted women equal rights with men, in practice old laws still on the statute books continue to define gender relations. Observers blame a lack of political will for the slow progress in replacing laws that conflict with the Constitution.

Lomcebo Dlamini, director of the Swaziland branch of Women in Law in Southern Africa - one of the legal bodies advising the Mswati-appointed Constitutional Review Commission during the 10 years it took to create the Constitution - told IRIN that gender equality could be partly achieved with a new law that defined modern marriages.

"The Marriage Act No. 47 of 1964 dates from the colonial era before Swaziland's independence [in 1968] and was really written with European residents in mind. Under the law, Swazis are assumed to be wed according to the traditional practice, which falls under the rules of Swazi Law and Custom that Swazis have always lived by," said Lomcebo Dlamini.

When the Constitution took effect, it stated that all laws counter to the Constitution were null and void, yet a recent ruling by the High Court of Swaziland said government must be given time to revise or repeal all non-compliant laws, but failed to provide a timeframe.

Activism has contributed to eroding gender-prejudiced legislation, and this week the High Court amended the 1968 Deeds Registry Act by making it possible for a Swazi woman to register immovable property, like a home or business, in her own name.

Justice Qinisile Dlamini, the High Court's sole female judge, ruled that "Section 151 (2) of the Constitution states that the High Court has jurisdiction to enforce fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed by (the Constitution). This includes the right to equality, which is guaranteed by section 20 and 28 of the Constitution."

However, the ruling only applies to women married in a civil ceremony, and with a community of property agreement. About 80 percent of Swaziland's one million people live on communal Swazi Nation Land under customary law administered by chiefs.

"The marriage law must be changed because it assumes that all Swazi women are married the traditional way, which is really arranged marriages that unite two families. A woman is a minor under her parent's homestead until she goes to her husband's homestead, where she is also a minor. The law considers the husband the administrator of the marital property," said Lomcebo Dlamini.

Polygamy

Social historian Anita Magongo told IRIN: "Traditional marriages are polygamous, which is one reason why a man is given administrative control. How do you divide administration of family property amongst any number of wives? ... A traditional homestead is a communal affair, without any real property."

The question of land ownership was also problematic. "The land belongs to the King, and Swazis reside on a piece of land at the pleasure of their chief. There was no wage-earning or commerce, no material objects beyond blankets and pots, and no need for loans or savings - but that was then."

With increasing numbers of women widowed by HIV/AIDS and in need of family property on which to live and raise their children, AIDS activists object to Swazi Law and Custom that results in the family of the deceased husband inheriting all marital property.

Widows are often left destitute, but custom dictates that a widow must mourn for at least six months, during which she is forbidden to leave the home, preventing her from working to support her children and compounding the vulnerability of the family.

"A new Marriage Act is essential," said Lomcebo Dlamini. "Fewer women are entering into traditional marriages, and it is wrong for the law to assume that 21st century Swazi women live as the Colonial-era lawmakers assumed they did long ago."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88230GOMA Monday, February 22, 2010 (IRIN) - A year ago, Goma town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was temporarily home to tens of thousands displaced by fighting between government forces and various armed groups. Now, many have returned to their villages.GOMA Monday, February 22, 2010 (IRIN) - A year ago, Goma town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was temporarily home to tens of thousands displaced by fighting between government forces and various armed groups. Now, many have returned to their villages.

"It does not mean peace has come to Kivu region," a military observer in Goma, capital of North Kivu Province, said. "Some villagers are relatively safer, but the general situation is still very volatile."

Goma hosted about 140,000 displaced people (IDPs) in camps at the height of violence in North Kivu in 2008 and 2009, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. In early 2009, some started voluntarily leaving the camps and now 77,000 have left.

"Places like Goma have improved, but you can put concentric circles around the town," Karl Steinacker, UNHCR coordinator for eastern DRC, said. "The further you go, the worse it gets. It is a situation of return, displacement and movement."

There are 47 camps in North and South Kivu, hosting more than 117,000 IDPs at present. These include 15,000 who were displaced by clashes between armed groups in December.

The violence is the bane of the Kivu region. In a recent attack, on 11 February, the FDLR, a Rwandan rebel group based in eastern DRC and the target of UN-backed FARDC (DRC army) operations, reportedly killed seven women who were going to Bisembe forest market in Rutshuru area. Eight escaped, but only three reached home.

Alan Doss, head of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), said it was an act of cowardice because the FDLR targeted the most vulnerable. MONUC is working with the FARDC to secure that zone.

"Armed men still roam the villages," said a former IDP from Bukavu in South Kivu who now lives in Goma. "There is no effective government in much of North and South Kivu. Until government arrives, it is a free-for-all."

Most of the recent violence is blamed on the FDLR, whose strength, according to military observers in Goma, is about 5,000.

"The FDLR are like bees in a corner," Esteban Sacco, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in North Kivu, told IRIN. "Nothing happens when you don't touch them, but if you poke them, trouble will break out."

NGOs targeted

Some 1.36 million people are displaced in Kivu region, according to OCHA, one million of whom fled their homes in 2009.

UNHCR is worried about the situation in some camps. "In Kichanga, IDPs are being used for forced labour," said Masti Notz, head of the UNHCR North Kivu office. "We have increasing concerns about what is going on."

Attacks against aid workers are another source of worry. On 13 February, local NGO employees were ambushed and lost property in Rutshuru, according to security sources.

In January alone, some 20 attacks targeting humanitarian actors were recorded in North Kivu.

"We have had 14 incidents in Masisi alone since the year began," Sacco said.

Raphael Wakenge, head of the civil society group Congolese Coalition for Transitional Justice, said that "people may be willing to return but worry" about insecurity.

"The return conditions are not attractive; there is no guarantee of security," he told IRIN. "When you visit Fizi territory there are military operations that are hindering population return."

New offensive

A new offensive was launched in January to rout the FDLR. The operation, code-named Amani Leo, Swahili for “Peace Today”, replaced Kimia II, which was strongly criticized [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84943] by human rights watchdogs for abuses against civilians.

According to Wakenge, Kimia II was "a good initiative" that was spoilt by "civilian protection issues".

Koen Vlassenroot of the University of Ghent wrote in a paper that it complicated the local political and military situation, and had a dramatic humanitarian impact.

"Even more worrisome was the conduct of the new integrated Congolese army brigades, which were reported to be increasingly involved in gross human rights violations, including random killings of civilians in the new territories of control," Vlassenroot noted.

Amani Leo has so far attracted cautious optimism. "The formal concept of this... offensive [puts] a strong emphasis on [the] protection of civilians, common planning, and conditionality of MONUC support linked to respect of human rights by FARDC," Guillaume Lacaille, a senior analyst for Central Africa with the International Crisis Group (ICG), told IRIN.

According to MONUC, the operation will give priority to civilian protection, especially of children and women, holding territory liberated from armed groups and helping to restore state authority.

"Protection of civilians has been the central concern in our planning," MONUC commander Lt General Babacar Gaye told the Security Council in January. A zero tolerance policy on human rights violations will be enforced.

"Whether Amani Leo will succeed is something one should wait to see," said Nelson Alusala, senior researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. DRC and Rwanda would, however, want to fast-track it ahead of possible MONUC cuts, and Congolese and Rwandan elections in 2011.

"The FDLR have two options - go back voluntarily or force their way back because Rwanda cannot negotiate with them," a security source in Goma told IRIN. "These were regular soldiers and they remain capable of destabilizing parts of the Kivu region."

Resource battle

The conflict in the Kivus is fuelled by vast natural resources in the region, including gold. The main warring parties, according to Global Witness, control much of the lucrative mineral trade.

"Natural resources must be recognized not only as part of the problem but also as an essential part of the solution," the group's Mike Davis wrote in a recent report.

"Numerous armed groups in DRC thrive on unregulated trade in minerals," Alusala said. "Minerals are also exchanged for weapons, and that sustains the conflict."

The Bonn International Centre for Conversion [http://www.bicc.de/] argues that those interested in the DRC's natural resources still "possess a spoiling potential". These include influential former fighters who are now part of informal power and trading networks.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88193SANAA Sunday, February 21, 2010 (IRIN) - It was every little girl’s dream - she was to get a new dress, jewellery, sweets and a party for all her friends. What 10-year-old Aisha* did not know was that after the wedding party she would have to leave school, move to a village far from her parents’ home, cook and clean all day, and have sex with her older husband.SANAA Sunday, February 21, 2010 (IRIN) - It was every little girl’s dream - she was to get a new dress, jewellery, sweets and a party for all her friends.

What 10-year-old Aisha* did not know was that after the wedding party she would have to leave school, move to a village far from her parents’ home, cook and clean all day, and have sex with her older husband.

“He took out a special sheet and laid me down on it,” Aisha told IRIN, wringing her small plump hands. “After it, I started bleeding. It was so painful that I was crying and shouting, and since then I have seen him as death.”

After a week of fighting off her husband every night, Aisha’s father was called. He had received 200,000 Yemeni Rial (US$1,000) for his daughter in `shart’, a Yemeni dowry, which he could not pay back.

“My Dad made a cup of tea and put some pills in it, which he gave me. The pills made me feel dizzy,” said Aisha. “My Dad told me to sleep with my husband, or he would kill me, but I refused.”

Instead Aisha broke a glass bottle over her head in a desperate attempt to stay awake. “My Dad hit me badly. I was bleeding from my mouth and nose,” she said.

After spending a few months in her husband’s home, where she said he would regularly drug her and beat her, Aisha managed to escape. Now, two years later, aged 12, she is unable to divorce him.

No child protection

A bill passed in parliament in February 2009 setting the minimum age for marriage at 17 was rejected by the Islamic Sharia Codification Committee which said it was un-Islamic, according to local women’s rights organizations.

So, for now, there is no law protecting children against early marriages in Yemen.

”I don’t call it marriage, but rape,” said Shada Mohammed Nasser, a lawyer at the High Court in Sanaa. She has represented several child bride divorce cases in court, but admits she has lost most of them. Only a handful of child brides have successfully managed to divorce their husbands.

“The law on marriage stipulates that a girl should not sleep with her husband until she is mature,” said Nasser, which according to the law is the age of 15. “But the law is not enforced.”

A girl can be married at just nine, but cannot legally seek a divorce until she is 15 or older. The money paid by the husband for his “wife” is a further obstacle to divorce, while the case can only be heard in a court in the governorate where the marriage took place.

“Usually the marriage will have been signed in the husband’s governorate and the judges may look more favourably on their own kinsmen,” said Nasser. “Many judges are governed by arcane views on women.”

Just under half of Yemeni girls, 48 percent, are married before they turn 18, according to the Washington DC-based International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW). This is classified as underage, according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In some governorates as many as half of all girls under the age of 15 are married, according to an unpublished study from 2007 on early marriage by Sanaa University’s Gender Development Research and Study Centre. 

Yemen has signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

A glimmer of hope?

"The greatest problem facing Yemeni women today is child marriages," said Wafa Ahmad Ali from the Yemeni Women’s Union, which has long campaigned for a raise in the minimum age of marriage.

"These early marriages rob the girl of the right to a normal childhood and education. The girls are forced to have children before their bodies are fully grown instead of going to school and playing with other children," she said.

However, Minister for Human Rights Huda al-Ban told IRIN that President Saleh had recently agreed to put forward - for discussion in parliament in May - the bill with 17 as the minimum marrying age. “If the bill is successful it could be passed as a law in September,” she said.

While politicians wrangle in parliament, young girls like Aisha are caught up in a violent world of adults which they are too young to understand, let alone escape.

”These are our traditions,” said Aisha’s father. However, he admits that Aisha might have been too young for marriage. Though she now has a lawyer, Aisha cannot divorce until the two men who control her (her father and husband) agree on how much money each will receive.

What Aisha wants is clear: “I’d rather die than go back to him,” she said, wiping a tear from behind her veil.

(*not her real name)

asf/hm/ed/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88138NAIROBI Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - The Kenya Prisons Service has won praise for its HIV programmes, including education, testing and the provision of anti-retroviral drugs to prisoners, but specialists say unless the issue of unprotected sex is addressed, HIV transmission will continue unchecked.NAIROBI Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - The Kenya Prisons Service has won praise for its HIV programmes, including education, testing and the provision of anti-retroviral drugs to prisoners, but specialists say unless the issue of unprotected sex is addressed, HIV transmission will continue unchecked.

"The truth is there is sex going on in prisons; research shows that sex among male prisoners happens through different ways, including coercion, forced, and consensual sex," Lorna Dias, the men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) coordinator at LVCT Care and Treatment NGO http://www.liverpoolvct.org/, told IRIN/PlusNews. "The government should recognize this and provide condoms in prisons."

According to a study, Sexual Health and HIV Knowledge, Practice and Prevalence among Male Inmates in Kenya, http://www.aidsportal.org/repos/Research%20Summary%20-LVCT.doc conducted by LVCT, the Kenya Prisons Service and the African Medical and Research Foundation in 2008, of the 9 percent of male prisoners interviewed who admitted having sex in prison, 74.6 percent said it was unprotected.

Legal pitfalls

Kenya's government has long argued that because both homosexual sex and sex in prison are against the law, its hands are tied when it comes to condom distribution in jails.

"There are numerous HIV-related services that are being offered to prisoners... but we cannot provide condoms because the law as it is today regards them as contraband; you can't take condoms into prisons because you will be breaking the law," said Nicholas Muraguri, head of the National AIDS and Sexually transmitted infections Control Programme.

"Prisoners are very transitional … if they leave infected then they stand a chance of infecting others in the wider population," he added. "Condoms would be more effective, but there is no policy on them as regards to prisons ... we target them with the services like testing and treatment."

Robert Onyieno*, 30, walked free in 2009 after serving a five-year prison sentence for theft in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. He has since discovered he is HIV-positive, and suspects he contracted the virus through unprotected sex in prison. "I had sex with older prisoners. Later one of them took me as his 'wife'.

"I had no choice but to agree, because that is the only way I could get food and even water to bathe. He acted as my protector and I provided sex in return," he added. "Before he finally took me, I had engaged in sex with two other prisoners... my partner was not faithful; he had sex with other prisoners too."

The Kenya National AIDS Control Council's Modes of Transmission survey http://www.unaidsrstesa.org/files/u1/Kenya_MoT_Country_Synthesis_Report_22Mar09.pdf 2008 reported that MSM and prison populations were responsible for about 15 percent of new HIV infections. HIV prevalence rates in prison are about 10 percent - against the national average of 7.4 percent.

"The slow response to high HIV/AIDS levels in prison is mainly due to weak and outdated legislation, as well as religious and cultural inhibitions," the study reported. "It is recommended that in the immediate and short term, ways be examined that will improve and hasten provision of services; in the long term, discuss changing policies and laws that criminalize and discriminate against these groups."

HIV risks

"Let us not talk [openly] about distribution or provision if the law is against it; condoms can be made available in a manner the prisoners can access them," Dias said.

"It is time the government realized that using punitive measures will not work," she added. "It is incumbent upon policy makers to push for the removal of the legal hurdles that prevent provision of condoms in prisons."

Aside from sexual activity, inmates in Kenya's prisons - which are estimated to hold as many as 47,000 prisoners, three times their intended capacity - risk HIV through shared needles for intravenous drug use, razors and tattooing needles. Overcrowding also puts prisoners at high risk of tuberculosis.

The recently launched third Kenya National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS 2009-2013 highlights the need to scale up interventions among “most-at-risk” populations, including prisoners, but notes that the criminal nature of the activities of these populations posed a serious challenge to programming; the strategy aims to "alleviate" the constraints that have hampered programmes for these groups.

"Condoms can help because many engage in sex with fellow prisoners; just give them the condoms to save others," Onyieno said. "Many of them have wives and they go back to them and they infect them - I did that to mine."

* Not his real name

ko/kr/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88117KIGALI Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Doreen Uwimana, in her early 20s, carries condoms in her bag even when she goes to classes at a college in an upmarket suburb of the Rwandan capital, Kigali.KIGALI Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Doreen Uwimana, in her early 20s, carries condoms in her bag even when she goes to classes at a college in an upmarket suburb of the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

"You never know," she told IRIN/PlusNews. "I carry them just in case I find myself in a difficult situation... I don't want to get pregnant or ill."

Uwimana learned the consequences of unprotected sex the hard way. Five years ago, a sexual encounter without protection left her pregnant. Unable to care for her daughter in the city, she had to send her to live at her parents' home up-country.

"The father is at school out of the country and I am a mere student who is equally struggling," she told IRIN. "There was no way I could cope, so my parents are helping out."

But despite her best intentions, she admitted to occasionally failing to use protection.

"Sometimes, it depends and sometimes one gets so excited," she said.

High awareness, low use

Uwimana is typical of many young Rwandans who have heard about HIV and condoms, but still fail to use them consistently.

According to a 2008 health ministry survey, sexually active Rwandans use, on average, just three condoms every year.

A 2005 survey by social marketing NGO, Population Services International [http://www.psi.org/], found that more than 80 percent of Rwandans had seen a condom, had heard about condoms, and were aware of them as an HIV prevention method.

Officials say awareness about HIV has increased, but infection rates have not declined by the same proportion. Rwanda's HIV national HIV prevalence is just over 3 percent - 2.2 percent in rural areas and 7.3 percent in urban areas.

A three-month campaign to advance the condom agenda and distribute 10 million condoms ends this month, but senior government officials say it is only the beginning of national efforts to popularize condom use.

Intensifying the campaign

"The use of condoms is a new national strategy," Anita Asiimwe, executive secretary of the National AIDS Control Commission, CNLS, told IRIN/PlusNews, adding that the idea was to make sure "condoms are available when needed and that they are correctly and consistently used".

According to Minister of Health Richard Sezibera, the target is young people because studies [http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/6/1090] show that youngsters who use condoms the first time they have sex are more likely to engage in subsequent protective behaviour and experience fewer sexually transmitted infections than those who do not.

The current campaign involves a raft of activities, including condom distribution by village health workers, as well as in offices and health centres; and installing vending machines in “hot spots” such as bars and night-clubs.

In Kigali, posters have sprouted at various places across the rolling hills to encourage condom use and warn against risky sexual behaviour. “Nkoresha Agakingirizo... Ni uburenganzira bwanjye kwirinda” – “I use a condom... it's my right to protect myself”, they proclaim.

Some of the city's residents say the message is slowly taking root. "More and more people are using them... it is not worth the risk," said Kigali taxi driver Joseph Barigye.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88121KIGALI Thursday, February 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Sixteen years after the Rwandan genocide, many women are struggling to come to terms with the violence they endured. KIGALI Thursday, February 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Sixteen years after the Rwandan genocide, many women are struggling to come to terms with the violence they endured.

According to the association of genocide widows NGO, Avega Agahozo, sexual violence was used to humiliate, degrade and abuse women during the 6 April to 16 July 1994 killings. In many cases, the violence was meted out before, during or after the women had witnessed the killing of a relative.

“Some of the women are only coming out now because they are sick,” said Sabine Uwase, the head of advocacy, justice and information for Avega. "We also receive special cases suffering from cancer or with damaged sexual organs.”

Avega has turned into a refuge for some of these women. Founded in 1995 by 58 widows, it now has three branches and 25,000 members. More than 47,400 women are receiving medical treatment through its programmes.

Each day, 20 to 30 women come knocking on its doors. Asked why it took some of the women so long to seek help, Uwase said: “Many of the women were ashamed to come out. We had to counsel them first. Many of them were victims of rape and are traumatized.”

One study carried out by the organization in Rwanda’s 12 provinces found that in a sample of 1,125 widows, about 80 percent showed signs of trauma and 67 percent had HIV. The study was limited by inadequate resources.

Legal aid

Apart from healthcare, Avega provided legal services for widows who wished to testify against those accused of genocide in the traditional gacaca courts.

The 12,103 courts, which were started in 2001 and modelled on Rwanda’s traditional justice mechanisms, are being wound up after handling more than a million cases. At least 800,000 perpetrators have been convicted nationwide.

However, human rights organizations have criticized the gacaca courts, saying they did not provide adequate legal services to suspects, were plagued by unfairness and have been used to settle scores.

Government officials strongly deny the criticism, saying 94 percent of Rwandans believe in the courts. The process, they argue, has promoted reconciliation and reunited communities.

“Previously, the widows were unwilling to testify,” Uwase told IRIN on 8 February. “We have trained 419 trainers of trainers who go back to the villages to teach others how to testify. In Kigali, we have helped testimony in 150 cases. Now, we are also teaching the widows and orphans about land law.”

Avega also built 919 houses for widows and orphans between 2007 and 2008, and tackles gender-based violence. Over the years, it has encouraged the women to engage in income-generating activities, such as basket-weaving. The baskets are sold internationally and help to supplement the US$60 monthly government grant provided by the Assistance Fund for Genocide Survivors.

Genocide widows form a significant percentage of survivors because the genocidaires targeted mainly men and boys. Data compiled by the genocide survivors fund shows that between 250,000 and 500,000 women were raped during the 100 days of violence in which 800,000 to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.

Trauma

While some women were gang-raped, others were violated with sharpened objects, resulting in extensive damage to their reproductive systems.

Up to 20,000 children were born from rape. Across the country, there are 10 times more widows than widowers among the 300,000-400,000 survivors.

Some 100,000 survivors are categorized as vulnerable, including 40,000 who lack shelter. There are also 75,000 orphans.

According to Avega, the widows and orphans who survived the genocide bear the burden of the atrocities committed. Having witnessed or suffered extreme violence, many of them have a very negative attitude towards life.

“Many of the women still find it difficult to talk about their experiences,” a Kigali-based journalist said. “They are haunted by [the genocide].”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88069SANAA Wednesday, February 10, 2010 (IRIN) - Nearly a decade after a ban on health workers performing female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Yemen, the harmful practice continues unabated, with the government saying more research is needed before an outright ban can be imposed.SANAA Wednesday, February 10, 2010 (IRIN) - Nearly a decade after a ban on health workers performing female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Yemen, the harmful practice continues unabated, with the government saying more research is needed before an outright ban can be imposed.

“Nine years after the ban we see that it works the opposite of what was intended,” said Wafa Ahmad Ali, a leader of the Sanaa-based Yemen Women’s Union (YWU). “Now instead of going to the hospital where the tools are at least clean, FGM is carried out at home.”

The Ministry of Human Rights supports a new study on the practice. “If the study proves that the practice is still being carried out, we will push for a new law,” Huda Ali Abdullatef Alban, minister of human rights, told IRIN. “We hope this new law can be in place within the next four years,” he said .

FGM/C is a practice which includes the mutilation, scarring, partial or full removal of a woman’s genitals for non-medical reasons. It leads to a range of serious reproductive and other health problems, according to the WHO.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently estimated that worldwide 120-140 million women have been subjected to the practice and three million girls continue to be at risk each year.

“The practice persists because it is sustained by social perceptions, including that girls and their families will face shame, social exclusion and diminished marriage prospects if they forego cutting. These perceptions can, and must, change,” said a joint UNFPA, UNICEF statement on 6 February, the international day against FGM.

A study of over 2,000 women in Yemen in 2001, carried out by the Ministry of Heath in coordination with the Women’s National Committee, found FGM/C particularly widespread in five coastal governorates.

In Hodeidah, Hadhramaut and al-Maharah an average of over 96 percent of women had undergone FGM/C. In Aden it was 82 percent, and in al-Amanah 46 percent of women.

The waiting room in a Sanaa health clinic is full of women waiting to see a leading gynaecologist, Arwa Elrabee. The doctor has just seen a patient who has undergone FGM/C.

“She is married, but she does not want to have intercourse with her husband because of the pain,” she said. “In many cases the pain is physical, but often it is psychological.”

“I view it as a criminal attack on children,” said Elrabee. “Often people don’t use anaesthetic and they risk giving the girl both physical and psychological traumas.”

“Simply put, FGM/C is violence against girls,” said the YWU’s Ali. “There are laws against it in Yemen, but they are not adequate and they are not enforced.”

Meanwhile, the YWU argues the position of the government on FGM/C has “never been assertive” and allows for the custom to continue being carried out privately.

Ali and others acknowledge that ending FGM/C in Yemen will require changing society’s attitude towards women in a country which in 2009 was rated by the World Economic Forum as having the world’s largest gender disparity for a third consecutive year.

“At the heart of this problem is the lack of equality between men and women,” said Ali. “We are struggling for our rights in Yemen. Personally I am angry, but we need to take baby steps when it comes to changing Yemeni society.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88058KISUMU Tuesday, February 09, 2010 (IRIN) - If you were a fishmonger in Kisumu, a city on Lake Victoria in western Kenya, you would have to sleep with the fishermen to get stock to sell so you could make a living. A year ago Lucy Agoya got fed up with the practice and rallied a few women to take a stand against it.KISUMU Tuesday, February 09, 2010 (IRIN) - If you were a fishmonger in Kisumu, a city on Lake Victoria in western Kenya, you would have to sleep with the fishermen to get stock to sell so you could make a living. A year ago Lucy Agoya got fed up with the practice and rallied a few women to take a stand against it.

So far the group has only attracted 28 members. "Many tell me my work is like rain in a lake - it has no value ... Selling fish here makes money, and I know many women say they would rather have sex and have the money than not do it and remain poor," Agoya told IRIN/PlusNews.

"Many women selling fish have died of HIV and many are sick; we have been living at the mercy of fishermen who demand sex before they can give you fish. We have resolved to only buy fish with money and not with our bodies."

The widespread practise of exchanging sexual favours for fish, known as 'jaboya', has been associated with the high HIV prevalence in Nyanza Province, where the fish in Lake Victoria are the main source of income for more than 286,000 fishermen, fish traders and processors, boat builders and net manufacturers, and a host of other people in fish-related activities.

A 2008 Modes of {HIV) Transmission Study http://www.unaidsrstesa.org/files/u1/Kenya_MoT_Country_Synthesis_Report_22Mar09.pdf, put prevalence in the fishing communities at between 25 and 30 percent, nearly double Nyanza's average infection rate of 15.3, which was twice the national average.

The study also found that fishing communities were not being adequately covered by national HIV programmes, but those implemented so far seem to have had little impact.

"We have in place programmes ... that educate the fishing community on the benefits of condom use, having one partner, and the male circumcision programme," said Dr Charles Okal, provincial control officer for AIDS and sexually transmitted infections.

"We also support the approach of offering alternative means of earning income for women; I know the programmes in place addressing the problem will succeed, but it needs time."

Grinding poverty

Okal acknowledged that poverty was the biggest obstacle to ending jaboya; more than half of Nyanza's people live on less than a dollar a day.

"I have children to feed and take to school, and I also have rent to pay; selling fish is the only business I know ... if having sex with a fisherman will make it easier, let it be," said Mary Owenga, a single mother whose four children were fathered by different fishermen. "I know when I am old they will not want me; because I still look like a girl, let me use the opportunity."

Eliud Mboya, who started working as a fisherman when he finished high school four years ago, said there was little chance that jaboya would be eradicated any time soon.

"We do not force these women into having sex with us - it is a willing seller, willing buyer kind of thing. A man gives you fish, which is hard to come by these days, and further treats you to a dance in the evening with his money, just for having sex with him," he told IRIN/PlusNews. "Now tell me, what could be more attractive than that? Tell people to use condoms, but don't tell them, 'don't sleep with these people'."

Jennifer Kere, director of Women in Fishing Industry Project Trust, a local NGO, commented: "Many of the women fishmongers are single mothers and some are widows providing for their families - at times they take fish on credit, putting them at the mercy of the fishermen who use this opportunity to demand sexual favours."

She said female fishmongers often had little choice. "I believe that educating them to start other businesses alongside selling fish can help, because selling fish really doesn't have to be a matter of life and death. It is not easy for them to resist the appeal of easy money, but with time it might succeed."

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