FUSsa-talk Mailing List: Fwd: [Americas Updater] Special Updater on Violence Against Women in the Americas: Honduras: Violations of Womens' Rights, Abortion in Argentina and Mexico, Gender in Workplace

[Robert Tapp (tappx001]

THis is a good information source for our international concerns. Subscription 
is free.

Bob

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Americas Program" <americas [at] ciponline.org>
> Date: November 25, 2009 12:54:47 PM CST
> 
> Subject: [Americas Updater] Special Updater on Violence Against Women in the 
> Americas: Honduras: Violations of Womens' Rights, Abortion in Argentina and 
> Mexico, Gender in Workplace
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Americas UPDATER
> Vol. 7, No. 22 | November 25, 2009
> available online at http://americas.irc-online.org/updater/6605
> 
> “A New World of Citizen Action, Analysis, and Policy Options”
> http://www.americaspolicy.org/
> 
> 
> 
> New Content from the Americas Program
> 
> 
> Report to the IACHR on Women's Rights in Honduras
> Abortion Phone Line: More Information, Fewer Risks | Lucia Alvarez
> Gender in the Workplace: The Fight for Inclusion | Fabiola Torralba
> Abortion in Mexico | Natanya Robinowitz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dear Friends,
> 
> Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. 
> As we take stock of the situation in the Americas several situations jump 
> out. The first is the massive violations of women's human rights in Honduras 
> under the coup regime. In this Special Issue of the Updater we present the 
> full report presented before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
> 
> The second is the wave of anti-abortion legislation, particularly in Mexico. 
> These bills not only roll back small gains made over the past decade, but 
> force women who wish to terminate unwanted pregnancies into dangerous, 
> unregulated abortions.
> 
> Finally, the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras crossed a milestone by 
> taking up the issue of gender-based violence in the workplace and the need to 
> build an inclusive movement.
> 
> For a complete, if chilling, overview of these threats and others, we present 
> the following pronouncement from our partners at the Petateras (read entire 
> document here):
> 
> Mesoamerican Declaration Against Violence Against Women
> 
> "* Gender is behind two in every three cases of women murdered in Central 
> America. In Costa Rica, 30 women die in femicide cases each year while in 
> Nicaragua and Panama 67 and 68 women respectively have been murdered so far 
> this year. In El Salvador, in September of this year alone, 31 women were 
> murdered.
> 
> * Guatemala has the highest number of women murdered in Latin America and has 
> the second highest number of attacks against female human rights defenders.
> 
> * In Honduras, between January and October of this year, 325 women died 
> violent deaths. Almost half of the femicide cases this year, along with an 
> alarming number of cases of women sexually harassed and abused in acts of 
> repression, took place during the coup d'etat.
> 
> * In Nicaragua, numerous feminists have been harassed, threatened, physically 
> harmed, illegally detained, and publicly slandered.
> 
> * In Mexico 90% of perpetrators of female homicide cases go unpunished. 
> Dozens of perpetrators of rapes involving women (mainly indigenous women) by 
> the army and security forces in the context of repressive actions (such as 
> the events at Atenco and Oaxaca) also go unpunished.
> 
> * In Nicaragua, Mexico, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic, women who 
> have abortions (many of the pregnancies are a result of rape) are persecuted 
> and imprisoned. Of the four countries on the continent where therapeutic 
> abortions are criminalized, three are located in Central America. Sixteen 
> states in Mexico have reformed their constitutions in the last two years in 
> order to prohibit abortions under the pretext of protecting life from the 
> moment of conception, and are imprisoning women who continue to have 
> abortions. In the Mexican state of Guanajuato, more than 100 women have been 
> imprisoned for having abortions.
> 
> * In the United States more than three women are murdered by their partners 
> or ex-partners each day.
> 
> * Fifty-eight percent of Costa Ricans have been the victim of at least one 
> act of physical or sexual violence by the age of 16.
> 
> We women have historically been at the center of the struggle against 
> violence. The feminist and women's struggles around the world have brought 
> attention to and denounced the oppression, the patriarchal pacts of impunity 
> and silence that many try to perpetuate.
> 
> However, violence is a problem for both men and women. The state must comply 
> with its obligation to the rights of women and cease to be an accomplice and 
> promoter of violence. It should reaffirm its commitment at the meeting of 
> presidents and heads of state during the summit on "Gender, Integration, and 
> Development," to be held in Costa Rica on Dec. 8 and 9.
> 
> Society should work to change all practices that subordinate women and put 
> their lives, dignity, and health at risk. Social movements, regardless of the 
> issues or sectors we represent, should take up the struggle against violence 
> toward women as a central component of our agenda—as it is fundamental to the 
> construction of a just and united world—and avoid all practices of 
> discrimination and violence in our organizations.
> 
> That is why, in the context of the regional launch of the UN campaign "UNiTE 
> to End Violence against Women" (Nov. 2009, Guatemala) we are calling on 
> states, social movements, and citizens to come together to assume the urgent 
> task of eradicating all forms of violence against women."
> 
> Laura Carlsen
> 
>  
> WHAT'S NEW ON AMERICAS PROGRAM BLOGS:
> 
> Report on Women's Human Rights Violations Shows Systematic Attack on Women 
> Under Honduran Coup
> http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/11/report-on-womens-human-rights.html
> 
>  
> New from the Americas Program
> 
> Hearing at the IACHR on the Situation of Women's Rights within the Context of 
> the Honduran Coup d'Etat
> 
> Feministas en Resistencia was born on the same day as the coup, June 28, when 
> a large number of women gathered at the home of the president to protest the 
> coup. Although they were driven away with bullets and tear gas, they returned 
> to meet again the following day, outraged at what had happened. The various 
> feminist organizations joined together immediately and began to call 
> themselves Feministas en Resistencia. They then joined the National 
> Resistance Front (Frente Nacional de Resistencia) against the coup.
> 
> For its part, the Observatory of Transgressions and Feminist Resistance 
> (Observatorio de Transgresión y Resistencia Feminista), which came into being 
> in 2006, has participated in observation teams in different countries to show 
> solidarity and to contribute to the progress feminism has made in attaining 
> recognition of the rights of women.
> 
> During the week of Aug. 17-21 of this year, both groups shared a day of 
> observation in order to compile testimonies about the violations against 
> women's human rights after from the coup. With the input gained from this 
> process, they succeeded in establishing what the violation practices are. The 
> groups have continued to compile testimonies right up until this hearing 
> today…
> 
> Read more
> 
>  
> Abortion Phone Line: More Information, Less Risks
> By Lucia Alvarez
> 
> According to the Ministry of Health, on the average we women abort twice in 
> our lifetimes, including spontaneous and induced abortions. In Argentina, 
> between 460,000 and 700,000 abortions are performed annually. Abortion is an 
> undeniable reality.
> 
> Faced with this scenario, the organization Lesbians and Feminists for the 
> Legalization of Abortion (Lesbianas y Feministas por la Legalización del 
> Aborto) decided to move from making demands to taking action. Fifteen 
> activists from several movements got together for a common purpose, the 
> "Abortion: More Information, Less Risk" telephone line. They investigated how 
> pregnancies can be terminated by pharmacological means, specifically with the 
> use of Misoprostol and Mifepristone, medication that has been around for more 
> than 20 years and is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and 
> other groups because of its efficacy and low risk of fatality…
> 
> Read more
> 
>  
> Gender in the Workplace
> By Fabiola Torralba
> 
> Our forms of understanding sexuality and gender are social constructions, 
> invented concepts that can change. We know that as Americans we are the 
> minority when we examine the many forms of understanding gender and sexuality 
> that exist in different cultures, principally indigenous and non-European 
> communities. For example, there are communities that accept and think about 
> sexuality and gender not as fixed concepts but as identities that they can 
> change over the course of an individual's life. Queer, then, turns into a 
> form of expressing identity and orientation beyond the concepts of gender and 
> sexuality. It is also a critical method that challenges sexism and patriarchy.
> 
> Gender is an instrument used to subordinate and control maquila workers and 
> society in general. For example, the requirement of some bosses that women 
> dress in skirts is an unjustified gender norm. If a woman files a labor 
> complaint against her boss, they can fire her. But for women who are believed 
> to be homosexual because they dress like a man, in pants and shirts, the 
> results can be aggression or sexual assault. For a trans-gendered man, the 
> consequences can even be death.
> 
> Read more
> 
>  
> Abortion in Mexico
> By Natanya Robinowitz
> 
> On Nov.16, 2009 the legislature of the Mexican coastal state of Veracruz 
> passed a law declaring that life begins at conception and ends at natural 
> death. Veracruz now becomes the 17th state in Mexico to criminalize abortion 
> in a string of hotly contested and reactive measures set off by Mexico City's 
> April 2007 legalization of abortion.
> 
> The debate in Veracruz, fueled by passion and anger, is characteristic of the 
> larger fight throughout Mexico on the issue of abortion that spans the 
> personal and the political. The abortion wars in Mexico involve political 
> issues, such as the direct intervention of the Catholic Church in a secular 
> state, and health issues deriving from the high incidence of complications 
> from clandestine abortions…
> 
> Read more
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> If you would like to reproduce our articles for free, please cite the source, 
> and let us know at americas [at] ciponline.org. We also welcome comments 
> about our materials.
> 
> 
> 
> The Americas Program is a fiscally sponsored program of the 
> Center for International Policy 
> http://www.ciponline.org/
> Email: americas [at] ciponline.org
> Tel. in Mexico: (52 55) 5324-1201, U.S. phone: (202) 536-2649
> 
> Donations can be mailed to: (please specify Americas Program)
> 
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> 
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