Migration Category: Global Old Site

Numerous Vatican cardinals have spoken out in defense of Pope Benedict XVI, claiming he was wrongfully accused of the sex abuse allegations made against the Catholic Church in recent months and is the target of an anti-Catholic “hate” campaign due to his anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage positions. Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, told the Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, “The Pope embodies moral truths that aren’t accepted, and the shortcomings and errors of priests are being used as weapons against the church. It’s not a bishop’s fault if one of his priests is stained by grave wrongdoing. And certainly the [Pope] is not responsible,” reported the Telegraph.

According to the Associated Press, Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the disciplinary commission for Holy See officials, said on the Vatican radio, “The pope defends life and the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, in a world in which powerful lobbies would like to impose a completely different” agenda. “Defense of life” is the phrasing used by the Vatican to describe anti-abortion efforts.

Rebecca Voelkel, a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based minister of the United Church of Christ and faith work director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, found the cardinals’ comments to be “diversionary counterattacks” that are offensive both to the victims of sexual abuse by clergymen and to gays and lesbians. “It makes me heartsick,” she told the Associated Press.

The Pope has been criticized for his encouragement of secrecy in regard to child sex abuse allegations in his many years as a Catholic leader: not only in his first five years as Pope, but also in his 20 years as head of the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and as Archbishop of Munich in the 1980s, said the Telegraph. Decades of pedophilic activities on the part of clergy have previously been reported in the United States, Canada, and Australia. In recent weeks, thousands of new cases were reported in Germany, Italy, Denmark, and Switzerland.

In Germany, the church’s sexual abuse hotline received almost 2,700 calls in its first three days of operation. Trier Diocese spokesman Stephan Kronenburg told the Associated Press that a team of psychologists and other experts have spoken to almost 400 individuals so far, many of whom “reported cases of sexual abuse.”

A Muslim Malaysian woman’s sentencing to a caning and a 5,000 ringgit ($1,400) fine for drinking beer in public was changed to a community service sentence today. According to CNN, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, who pleaded guilty, was originally sentenced in July to six strokes by a rattan cane after she was caught drinking beer at a resort in December 2007.

However, Shukarno’s case originally caught the attention of the media and civil rights activists because she would have been the first woman ever to receive a caning in Malaysia, reported Al Jazeera. Sultan Ahmad Shah changed Shukarno’s sentence to community service Wednesday night. The three-week community service sentence begins Friday, during which time Shukarno will be separated from her two children, who both require special medical care.

Approximately 60 percent of Malaysia’s 28 million citizens are Muslim, and alcohol consumption is forbidden under sharia law. Malaysian court decisions are made by both Islamic lawmakers and civil courts. A decision made by the Islamic court may be overruled by a sultan, as in the case of Shukarno, but not by a civil court.

Only three Malaysian states- Pahang, Perlis and Kelantan- use caning as punishment for alcohol consumption by Muslims. Caning is usually implemented for harsher crimes, such as drug dealing, kidnapping and so forth, reported Al Jazeera.

A report compiled by the US-based Guttmacher Institute and endorsed by a coalition of Canadian groups stated that the funding of family planning, which has been left out of Canada’s foreign aid plan, would save the lives of millions of women and children in developing nations. According to the Canadian Press, the United Nations Population Fund and a leading international health organization released the report soon after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to make maternal and child health care a priority in Canada’s coming health initiative. Currently, this initiative will not include family planning funds.

At a Foreign Affairs committee meeting on March 16, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said that Canada’s foreign aid plan “[would] not deal in any way, shape or form with family planning,” reported The Globe and Mail. There was speculation that government leaders were avoiding the issue of family planning and abortion in an effort to appease those across the political spectrum. Moreover, the Canadian International Development Agency stopped funding the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) in December, and a request for renewal of its $6 million yearly grant has reportedly been ignored, said The Globe and Mail earlier this month.

The Guttmacher Institute’s report stated that “the direct health benefits of meeting the need for both family planning and maternal and newborn health services would be dramatic. Unintended pregnancies would drop by more than two thirds, from 75 million in 2008 to 22 million per year. 70 percent of maternal deaths would be averted – a decline from 550,000 to 160,000. Forty-four percent of newborn deaths would be averted – a decline from 3.5 million to 1.9 million,” according to an IPPF press release.

The IPPF’s Director-General Dr. Gill Greer said in the press release, “The evidence is indisputable: family planning saves lives. Too many women and girls die in pregnancy and childbirth because they had no access to good health services including family planning. Family planning is crucial to achieving better maternal and child health. There is already global consensus that the ability to plan if, and when to become pregnant, must be central to efforts to improve maternal, newborn and child health. No country has made significant inroads to improving maternal, newborn and child health without also ensuring widespread access to family planning.”

Canadian government officials stated this week that their initiative to save the lives of women and children in developing nations will not include family planning supplies or services of any sort.

At a Foreign Affairs committee meeting Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said that Canada’s plan “does not deal in any way, shape or form with family planning,” reported The Globe and Mail. There is speculation that government leaders are avoiding the issue of family planning and abortion in an effort to appease those across the political spectrum.

According to The Star, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda made a statement at the Commons Wednesday, “We have chosen to focus the world’s lenses on saving the lives of mothers and children. When we know what we can do by providing clean water, vaccinations, better nutrition, as well as the most effective way of the training of health care workers and improving access for those women, that is what we are going to do.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was questioned recently about inclusion of contraception and family planning in the initiative and he repeatedly responded that its only focus would be “saving lives.” Abortion issues have not been brought up directly since January, when Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff compared the proposed initiative to the “global gag rule,” which cut off US funding for organizations that provided family planning or abortion services in the developing nations, reported The Globe and Mail. The global gag rule was repealed by US President Barack Obama in 2009.

Executive Director of Action Canada for Population and Development Katherine McDonald told The Globe and Mail, “I’m very concerned that they’re equating family planning with abortion.” She believes this maternal health effort cannot succeed without empowering women to space out pregnancies, which would help prevent maternal mortality caused by too many consecutive pregnancies. According to a Feminist Majority Foundation fact sheet, 215 million women worldwide wish to either delay or prevent pregnancy, but lack access to contraceptives. In addition, 529,000 women and girls die each year from complications of pregnancy and childbirth and 70,000 die from botched abortions in developing nations.

The Canadian International Development Agency stopped funding the International Planned Parenthood Federation in December, and a request for renewal of its $6 million yearly grant has reportedly been ignored, said The Globe and Mail.

Liberal Member of Parliament and physician Keith Martin told The Star that men and women have no way of protecting themselves from STDs and unwanted pregnancies without the “full array” of contraception and birth control options.

“As a result, you have higher abortion rates, more disease, more maternal deaths and more maternal injuries. [Conservatives] can’t say on the one hand they want to save lives…yet on the other, deprive people of having the tools to be able to reduce the death rate. The government is slaughtering good medical practice on the altar of ideology.”

Egypt’s Constitutional Court ruled to allow the appointment of women judges to the State Council Monday. The State Council, the governing body in charge of administrative disputes regarding public power, voted overwhelmingly against appointing women to their ranks in February, according to Bikya Masr News. However, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and the country’s top governing body, the Constitutional Court, ruled that the decision was not within the State Council’s authority.

An anonymous State Council judge told the Agence France Presse that the Constitutional Court’s decision was “wise and good.” Legal expert Nasser Amin told the Associated Press he is concerned the ruling was not “decisive” and will deepen existing disagreement between court officials.

Amin stated, “This is a conflict between liberals and conservatives within all institutions of the state. The Constitutional Court could have put an end to it by saying discriminating against women in public office is unconstitutional and must stop.” The case will be reviewed on March 22, reported Bikya Masr News.

The first female judge in Egypt was appointed to the Constitutional Court by the president in 2003, and 31 others were appointed in 2007, according to the Associated Press. Egypt falls behind on appointment of women judges when compared to other Arab nations like Tunisia, Iraq, and Syria, according to the American Bar Association.

Deutsche Telekom, the German telecommunications giant behind T-Mobile, announced plans Monday to introduce a gender quota for management positions. The company aims to have 30 percent of its middle and upper management positions filled by women by 2015.

Deutsche Telekom’s CEO Rene Obermann told the Institute of Commercial Management, “taking on more women in management positions is not about the enforcement of misconstrued egalitarianism. It is a matter of social fairness and a categorical necessity for our success. Having a greater number of women at the top will quite simply enable us to operate better.”

Currently, there is a debate between whether self-regulation by companies such as Deutsche Telekom or legislation is the best way to increase the number of women in managerial positions in European companies. Elke Holst of the German Institute for Economic Research told Deutsche Welle that “as an economist, [she is] for self-regulation and creating voluntary incentives for companies to hire women,” but personall feels “too little has happened and stronger action, such as legislation, may be necessary.” Kristina Schroeder, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth disagrees. Schoeder told the Institute of Commercial Management she believes “A legally prescribed quote for women on supervisory boards must be the very last resort.”

According to Deutsche Welle, women are only 32 percent of the company’s 130,000 employees in Germany and hold only 13 percent of middle and upper management positions. In the 200 largest German companies, only 2.5 percent of executive board members are women, despite the fact that women are 60 percent of the countries business school graduates, reported the BBC.

The Indian Parliament’s upper house passed a bill today that would require one-third of all parliamentary seats to be reserved for women. The bill passed on an overwhelming 186 to 62 vote, giving it far more than the minimum two-thirds support it required, according to the Vancouver Sun. A similar bill was blocked by numerous political groups in 1996, but the current bill is supported by a strong alliance of parties.

According to the BBC News, the 545-member lower house, Lok Sabha, currently contains 59 female members, a number that would rise to 181 with the passage of this bill. The bill would not impact the upper house, Rajya Sabha, because members are elected indirectly by state assemblies, reported BBC News. Currently, 10 percent of the upper house members are women.

Those opposing the bill spoke at the parliamentary session, stating concern that the bill will favor only upper-caste women. Mulayam Singh Yadav, leader of one of the opposition parties, told the New York Times, “We are in favor of women reservation, but first give it to the women of minorities and [then] backwards” to include women of lower castes or Muslim women.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the Vancouver Sun, “The bill is a historic step, joyous step forward. It is celebration of our womanhood. This is a momentous development in the long journey of empowering women.”

In order to become law, the bill must be passed by the lower house followed by more than 50 percent of India’s state legislatures before India’s President can sign it into law.

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis were among those in the US government who honored International Women’s Day yesterday.

Among her remarks, Michelle Obama said, “We’re here today not just to pay tribute to leaders and icons and household names…we honor the women who traveled those lonely roads to be the first ones in those courtrooms, to be the first ones in those boardrooms, to be the first ones on those playing fields, and to be the first ones on those battlefields.” She continued and said we must “recommit ourselves to carrying on their work for our own daughters and granddaughters, and also for our sons and our grandsons too.”

President Obama listed a number of his administration’s achievements within international women’s issued, including “pursuing a global health strategy that makes important investments in child and maternal health,” sponsoring “a UN resolution to increase protection for women and girls in conflict-torn countries,” creating “the first Office of Global Women’s Issues at the State Department,” “investing $18 million to combat the unconscionable cruelties being committed against girls and women in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” and more. He said, “We’re doing all of this not only because promoting women’s empowerment is one of the best ways to promote economic development and economic success. We are doing it because it’s the right thing to do. I say that not only as a President, but also as the father of two daughters, as a son and a grandson, and as a husband.”

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis issued a statement honoring the day. She said, “As a product of the women’s movement, the social justice movement and the civil rights movement, I have seen how far we have come in advancing the role of women in our country and around the globe. I also see how much further we have yet to go in supporting women and girls to ensure equality and opportunity in our workplaces, our schools and in our communities as a whole…History has always shown us that when women work together and advocate for a common purpose, we can ensure the well-being of our families, our country and the world. It is clear that our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons. Our shared prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity – irrespective of gender – to reach their full potential.”

At the US State Department, an exhibit entitled The Colors of Warka: Paintings by Iraqi Women of Muthanna Province opened in honor of International Women’s Day. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will present the 2010 International Women of Courage award to 10 honorees tomorrow.

A Saudi Arabian woman, Sawsan Salim, has been sentenced to 300 lashings and one and a half years in prison for filing harassment complaints about government officials and appearing in court in the northern Qasim region without a male guardian present. In 2007, Salim filed 118 harassment complaints against local officials, who allegedly mistreated her when she appeared in their offices unchaperoned, according to Business Week. Salim appeared without a male guardian because her husband, her sole male family member, was in prison at the time. She initially approached a local court in 2004, when she sought help to release her husband from prison.

The legal guardianship system in Saudi Arabia requires that women, both minors and adults, must be accompanied by a male guardian outside the home. If women wish to conduct themselves in public business, work, or to drive, they must obtain permission from or be accompanied by their male guardian, who may be her husband, father, brother, or even a minor son, according to Human Rights Watch. The Saudi Arabian government promised in June 2009 to follow United Nations suggestions to remove this restrictive system, but has not made this change.

“In Saudi Arabia, being a woman going about her legitimate business without a man’s protection is apparently a crime,” said Nadya Khalife, a women’s rights researcher for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to free Sawsan Salim and keep its promise to end this discriminatory system.”

A similar case occurred in March 2009, when Khamisa Sawadi, an elderly Saudi woman, was accused of fraternization with men after two men outside of her family brought her bread. She was sentenced to 40 lashings, 4 months jail time and deportation. In February 2008, an American business woman was arrested for being in the family section of a Starbucks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a male colleague.

The United States Navy plans to allow women on submarines for the first time, military officials announced yesterday. According to the Los Angeles Times US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates informed Congress Monday of the Navy’s intended policy change. The policy will go into effect as early as mid-April unless Congress objects during a 30 day waiting period.

Due to the lifting of some combat bans in 1993, women in the Navy have been able to serve on surface combat ships and combat aircrafts. They have not been not allowed to serve on submarines, in part due to living space issues. In the past, the Navy claimed the high cost of separate accommodations as the reason for the ban, reported the LA Times.

However, Missouri Representative and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Ike Skelton (D) stated that the current “decision to allow women to serve on submarines will present challenges, but these challenges should not be insurmountable for the Navy,” according to the LA Times. Service on a nuclear submarine requires great expertise and the Navy no longer wanted to limit its prospective applicant pool.

Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former Navy chief of operations, first requested the change in testimony to Congress last year. At the time, he stated that he hoped to “continue to broaden opportunities for women” in the military.

According to the Daily Mail, US Army Chief of Staff General George Casey also told the U.S. Senate Tuesday that the ban on women in the Army’s infantry will be reassessed, particularly due to women’s demonstration of combat skill in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Skier Marjan Kalhor, 21, is the first woman to represent Iran in the Winter Olympics. She was Iran’s flag bearer at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver last week. There are three other athletes in the Iranian delegation.

Kalhor is competing in the giant slalom and Alpine slalom events. She told Ennahar Online that “skiing is a sport where you have to be fully dressed. So there is no problem with clothes: I shall observe the Islamic dress code.” She will wear a headscarf under her helmet during her events.

Aside from her skiing pursuits, Kalhor is training to become a physical education teacher. She told Reuters, “the number of women who are interested in ski[ing] is increasing quickly…This generation and the next one are thinking about competing, not just having fun, and…I am so happy about being here to be a role model for all of them.”

Daniel Tsadik, assistant professor of Sephardic and Iranian Studies at New York’s Yeshiva University, said to CNN that the Iranian government is trying to “exemplify to the people of Iran the fact that Iran is not as isolated as foreign and internal enemies would have one believe…to get across the message that their leadership therefore should be trusted and followed.”

A group of Iranian feminists and activists are asking women’s rights groups and feminists worldwide for support in demanding “an end to state-led violence and repression” and “immediate release of all political detainees in Iran.” Thus far, more than 40 women’s rights groups from 9 countries are supporting partners. Under the name Gender Equality for Iran, the Iranian activists are asking for international solidarity through the organization of initiatives using the slogan “freedom and gender equality in Iran” throughout March of this year. The Feminist Majority Foundation and Ms. magazine are supporters of Gender Equality for Iran.

In a petition, the group states: “Over the past thirty years, the Iranian women’s movement has been at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and equality in Iran. Gender discrimination intersects with other forms of subordination – whether based on class, ethnicity, political orientation, religion, and so on. Thus, the peaceful resistance of women and men in defense of gender equality in all social spheres – legal, political, cultural, economical, etc. – has profoundly impacted the Iranian movement for democracy. Iranian women have long demanded freedom and gender equality; they have employed both individual and group strategies, initiated various campaigns, and faced insults, threats, arrests and imprisonment in the process. Many of these women are currently in prison.”

The petition continues and says, “Over the past eight months, the grass-roots protest movement that emerged following the disputed presidential elections has been suppressed by mounting violence. Physical and psychological violence – through arrest, torture, rape, extended imprisonment, and even execution – has been exercised against civil and political activists in Iran. As of now, numerous women activists from various movements – women’s, workers, students, civil, and political – are detained and/or have received heavy sentences. The list of detainees grows everyday.” Act now and sign the petition to support the Iranian feminist movement.

In a landmark victory on Sunday, Laura Chinchilla was elected as the first woman president of Costa Rica. She obtained 46.8 percent of the vote, far exceeding the 40 percent needed to win the election outright without runoff elections. Chinchilla ran on the National Liberation Party ticket.

According to English News, Chinchilla’s campaign platform on the included promises to create more jobs, improve the standard of living for children and the elderly, and to concentrate efforts to reduce drug trafficking and other crimes. The New York Times reports that she is socially conservative, opposing gay marriage and abortion. She is expected to continue many of the policies of out-going President and Nobel laureate Oscar Arias.

Her election to the presidency is not the first time Chinchilla has broken through the glass ceiling in Costa Rica. In 1996, she became the first female minister of public security and held that position until 1998. She later served as Vice President under Oscar Arias from 2006 to 2008. She resigned from this position only to run for the presidency. Ms. Chinchilla was quoted on Democracy Now as saying “Costa Rica is my beloved fatherland. I defend her, I love her, I adore her, and I give my life to her.”

The Pentagon will begin providing emergency contraception (EC) at US military base health facilities worldwide, the Department of Defense announced yesterday. The change is a result of a recommendation from the Pentagon’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, which voted in November 2009 that both Plan B and generic Next Choice should be included on the basic core formulary, a list of medications that are required to be stocked at all military health facilities, according to the Washington Post.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, (NARAL Pro-Choice America Press Release 2/4/2010) stated in a press release: “I firmly believe that this decision marks an end to the political intrusion of the previous administration that blocked military women from having this guaranteed access. It’s a tragedy that women in uniform have been denied such basic health care. We applaud the medical experts for standing up for military women.”

EC is effective up to five days (120 hours) after unprotected sex, birth control failure, or rape, but it is most effective (95 percent) if taken within 24 hours. Because of the time-sensitive nature of EC, over-the-counter access is crucial to its effective use. EC does not terminate an existing pregnancy.

The bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) was reintroduced today in both the US House and Senate. IVAWA would be the first of its kind to comprehensively incorporate US foreign assistance programs to help stop gender-based violence and poverty, promote economic opportunities for women, halt violence against girls in schools, and ultimately empower women.

John Kerry (D-MA), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women’s Issues; Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME); and Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Ted Poe (R-TX) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the legislation today.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), said in a press release, “Every day, too many women and girls across the globe endure horrific acts of violence. They are disfigured by acid, raped and beaten, or they are denied the opportunity to see a doctor. This important legislation gives the United States government the tools to make international violence against women and girls a top diplomatic priority.”

IVAWA was originally drafted by then-Senator Joe Biden (D) and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) in collaboration with over 40 women’s groups and 100 non-governmental organizations worldwide. The bill would centralize women-related state departments into one office; create a five-year strategy to fight domestic violence in 10 to 20 countries and back it up with funds; and require training in emergency measures for organizations working with populations susceptible to violence.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced her support of Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s re-election bid late last week. Sirleaf had previously announced that she will run for re-election in 2011, despite previously stating that she would only serve one term.

Clinton mentioned her support of Sirleaf during a meeting at the US State Department commemorating her one-year anniversary in office. She said that she “was delighted to hear that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said she will stand for reelection. She has been one of the champions on [gender-based violence and inequality] in her political and governmental career,” according to the Analyst. Clinton’s statements are causing some Liberians to ask whether her endorsement is “an act of female solidarity” or whether it “forebode[s] the support of the Obama Administration.”

In Liberia, there have been mixed reactions to Sirleaf’s announcement. A draft report from Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission reportedly calls for banning President Sirleaf from holding public office for 30 years because she had at one time supported former rebel leader Charles Taylor. According to Voice of America News, Sirleaf has testified that she ended her support of Taylor after learning of his association with human rights abuses and was initially misled into supporting him.

Darius Dillion, an opposition politician, told Voice of America News “It is her right to contest again…Her being in the race has brought even more added value and flavor. It should be taken seriously so that those who call ourselves the opposition who want state power, we should meet the challenge.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke briefly yesterday about the need for Afghan women and girls to be involved in the transition of security to the Afghan military. Clinton made these remarks at an international conference yesterday in London on the subject of Afghan security.

During her remarks, Clinton announced a Women’s Action Plan that “includes initiatives focused on women’s security, women’s leadership in the public and private sector; women’s access to judicial institutions, education, and health services; women’s ability to take advantage of economic opportunities, especially in the agricultural sector.” She described the program as “a comprehensive, forward-looking agenda that stands in stark contrast to al-Qaida’s recently announced agenda for Afghanistan’s women, attempting to send female suicide bombers to the West.”

Under Taliban rule, women and girls were not allowed to be educated, employed, go outside their homes without the company of a close male relative, go to a male doctor (female doctors were forbidden to work), or go to a hospital. Girl babies were even forbidden treatment by male doctors. Women were beaten and killed for violations of intolerable restrictions.

Since 2005, deadly attacks on Afghan civilians, relief workers, teachers, and private contractors have been increasing. Women who are aid workers, elected officials, government employees, and journalists have been especially targeted by extremists with the Taliban often claiming responsibility. Today, where the Taliban holds sway, atrocities are regularly committed against Afghan women and girls. Over 1,000 girls’ schools have been destroyed.