Citing the absence of clemency procedures and concerns about racial and geographic disparities in death penalty cases, President Clinton is planning to postpone what was to be the first federal execution in almost 40 years. The Justice Department is compiling a report that will try to determine if members of racial minorities or individuals in […]
On July 5th President Clinton signed two United Nations (U.N.) documents that protect the role of children in armed conflict, sex trafficking and slavery. One document includes the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which raises the international legal age of children serving as soldiers from 15 to 18 years of […]
According to a Washington Post report, global organizations and national governments ignored the warnings of an imminent AIDS plague in Africa. Despite the World Health Organization’s warnings that tens of millions would be infected with the HIV virus by 2000, the Washington Post charges that the US Congress, global organizations, and foreign capitals resisted funding […]
The sex-trafficking trade, which deceives and coerces women and children into sexual slavery, continues to flourish as a highly profitable enterprise for the criminals who capture and sell their victims. The United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) recently decried the increase of sex-trafficking in Austria, Lithuania, Moldova and Romania. The […]
The international war crimes trial of a Bosnian Serb accused of raping four Muslim women marks the first international prosecution for wartime sexual enslavement. On July 3rd, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal rejected the defense’s motion to dismiss 11 torture counts against two defendants. The prosecution, supported by the courageous testimonies of 16 Muslim women, […]
Afghan refugees living in Pakistan face severe consequences if they outwardly criticize the Taliban regime, which has instituted a brutal system of gender apartheid. Human Rights organizations fear that last months shooting of an Afghan writer living in Pakistan is not an isolated incident and that extremist groups, with a presence inside Pakistan, are preparing […]
Dr. LeRoy Carhart, the sole plaintiff in Stenberg vs. Carhart, the U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent 3-4 decision, is facing possible eviction by three abortion opponents who recently purchased his clinic building in Bellevue, Nebraska. The buyers purchased the property for $325,000 in spring of 2000 and used a clause in Carhart’s lease to request […]
A recent Los Angeles Times Poll reported that 68% of Americans favor laws to protect lesbians and gays from job discrimination and 66% reported their support of laws protecting against housing discrimination (LA Times Poll/Nation 6/8-6/13). The survey indicates a shift in public opinion that supports a more open acceptance and understanding of individual sexual […]
Analysts predict that the growing concern of women, particularly those under the age of 50, over the crisis in the quality, affordability, and supply of early child-care in the U.S., will make the subject a serious campaign issue in the upcoming presidential election. According to the Washington Post 64% of mothers of preschoolers are employed […]
For two hot days last February, Zimbabwean Georgina Muziti sat inside a voting tent and slept on the floor next to the ballot box at night. She went without a bath, a hot meal, or a change of clothes. With charges of voting irregularities flying during Zimbabwe’s first-ever constitutional referendum, women like Muziti would not […]
On June 30th, 800,000 people marched in Toronto’s annual gay and lesbian parade, many of whom were there to show their support for the world’s first official gay and lesbian Scout troop. The cheers and encouragement drew sharp contrast to the US Supreme Court decision last Wednesday, which gave Boy Scouts of America the right […]
On July 4th, the Constitutional Court of Kuwait refused to grant Kuwaiti women the right to vote and hold political office based on claims of procedural flaws. After the all-male Parliament rejected a suffrage bill last year, women’s rights activists turned to the courts in hopes that the 1962 election law, which bars women from […]
Although Vicente Fox Quesada’s presidential victory on July 2nd has been seen as an advancement for democracy, he has failed to clearly outline a position promoting women’s rights in his policy priorities. Fox, whose campaign was heavily funded by the Catholic Church, has vocally opposed abortion and gay and lesbian rights. Fox’s conservative stance on […]
In a severe setback to women’s reproductive rights, France’s highest administrative court overruled a decision that had permitted the distribution of “morning-after pills” at schools. In November of last year, Deputy Education Minister Segolene Royal allowed high schools to hand out the Norvelo pill. The Norvelo pill can be used 36 hours after unprotected sex […]
A study by the National Stroke Association and the National Institutes of Health suggests that the contraceptive benefits of birth control pills, taken in low doses, outweigh the increased risk of stroke found in earlier studies. Sixteen previous studies showed that women taking the pill suffered from stroke twice as much as those who did […]
Colorado voters could have the opportunity to vote on a ballot initiative that, if passed, would regulate gun sales at weekend gun shows. Currently, private dealers at gun shows are exempted from conducting the criminal background checks required for licensed dealers. The ballot initiative would allow voters to overturn the recent move by Colorado’s Republican-led […]
The Supreme Court last week rejected an appeal by male athletes from Illinois State University, which recently eliminated the men’s wrestling and soccer teams in an effort to balance opportunities for both men and women in the university’s sports system. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which was gutted by the Supreme Court […]
On July 6, 2000, forty-three young women representing forty-one college campuses nation-wide, gathered at the 4th annual Feminist Majority Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia to learn pro-choice organizing strategies. The intense and exciting four-day Institute involved twelve hours of workshops per day, covering topics ranging from How to Fight the Right-Wing Backlash to How to […]
Exposing the deception behind the pro-life movement’s assault on a woman’s right to choose, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Nebraska’s ban on so-called “partial-birth abortion” an unconstitutional violation of Roe v. Wade. The ban, which potentially prohibited many types of abortion (erroneously deemed “partial-birth abortions” by anti-choice activists) was declared unconstitutional by a close 5-4 […]
Female circumcision is a brutal and debilitating ritual that governments and international organizations must eliminate, women’s rights activists asserted at the UN headquarters on Thursday. Approximately 130 million women, the majority of whom live in Africa, survive the practice of genital cutting or female genital mutilation – with an estimated 2 million increase each year. […]
