Around the world, even today, women and girls with disabilities are being sterilized without their consent – and sometimes even without their knowledge – simply because others want to control their sexuality…believing that they cannot, or should not, be Mothers.
Forced sterilization is a problem worldwide. My team and I at Women Enabled have been working with other sister organizations, globally, to lobby and publicize on behalf of the rights of women and girls with disabilities. For example:
● Organizations in several countries rejected the decision of the Colombian Constitutional Court allowing for sterilization of minors with disabilities without their consent.
"Forced non-consensual sterilization of women and girls with disabilities cannot be tolerated as it not only violates our core human rights, but also our physical and mental health. Empowering others to make such decisions for women and girls with disabilities is an unacceptable form of violence and control."
-- Stephanie Ortoleva
Read the CEDAW Committee's Recommendations to Colombia, October 2013, par. 30(e).
Read the full press release in English (PDF) (Word .docx file)
Read the full press release in Spanish (PDF) (Word .docx file)
Read the Columbia's Court's decision: Constitutional Court of Colombia – Press Release No. 08 – March 11, 2014.
Tips and advice for women who offer sex services ….
I. General advice for safe work
II. Safe work in clubs or studios
III. Working safely on the streets
I. General advice for safe work
Before you start …
• sign up for self-defence training/ de-escalation training (ask SOPHIE)
• programme your mobile phone so that the pre-selected number of a person you trust is dialled when you press one button.
• work legally = be less vulnerable: carry a copy of your passport/identity card with you. Don’t give the original to anyone!
Some principles…
• Do not use drugs or too much alcohol before or while you work
Intoxication may cause a relaxed situation to change drastically – even then you should always be in control of yourself and the situation.
• If possible, work only when you feel well and strong. Otherwise situations may arise that provoke the cliché of the prostitute as victim to become real. Therefore you will need a financial cushion to fall back on if for some reason you can’t work.
• Check your handbag for the following items: mobile phone with credit and memory space, condoms, maybe a pepper spray, whistle
• Do not wear jewellery or clothes that are too loose or too tight
Strasbourg – “On 1 March, Fox News presenter Clayton Morris had to apologise for his 'ignorant and stupid' comments mocking the new gender options for Facebook profiles which allow users to register as intersex. The TV presenter had ridiculed the move of the social media company referring to intersex by saying "whatever that is". This case illustrates the prejudice and ignorance surrounding the reality of individuals who cannot be clearly classified as male or female at birth. Most countries worldwide still neglect this human rights problem and intersex people remain invisible to the majority”, says Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, in his latest Human Rights Comment published today.
The International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia of 17 May is also aimed at highlighting the struggle against the discrimination and prejudice suffered by intersex people. The word “intersex” has replaced “hermaphrodite”, which was widely used by medical practitioners during the 18th and 19th centuries. The social expectations for either a girl or a boy at birth, or a woman or a man in society, are the source of the problems intersex people face. Society does not usually recognise a person without reference to their sex. Yet intersex individuals’ chromosomal, anatomical or gonadal characteristics do not belong exclusively to either sex. This is why intersex persons encounter huge barriers to the enjoyment of their human rights.
Извор: Европска Комисија – 09.05.2014
A child carrying water at the Tomping civilian protection site, 6 May 2014. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Despite a narrowing disparity in access to cleaner water and better sanitation between rural and urban areas, sharp inequalities still persist around the world, says a new United Nations report.
According to the 2014 Joint Monitoring Report on global progress against the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on water and sanitation, more than half of the global population lives in cities, and urban areas are still better supplied with improved water and sanitation than rural ones. But this gap is decreasing.
The report, produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), notes that in 1990, more than 76 per cent of people living in urban areas had access to improved sanitation, as opposed to only 28 per cent in rural ones. By 2012, 80 per cent of urban dwellers and 47 per cent of rural ones had access to better sanitation.
In 1990, 95 per cent of people in urban areas could drink improved water, compared with 62 per cent of people in rural ones. By 2012, 96 per cent of people living in towns and 82 per cent of those in rural areas had access to improved water.
Despite this progress, sharp geographic, socio-cultural, and economic inequalities in access to improved drinking water and sanitation facilities still persist around the world.
This May 2014, in commemoration of 30 years of struggle and activism reflected in the victories of the women’s rights movement in the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) and in the IV World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), women’s rights defenders and activists worldwide are re-launching May 28, the International Day of Action for Women’s Health, by calling on governments to ensure a holistic, inclusive, and human rights-based approach to women and girls’ health, which includes sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
On May 28 1987, during the IV International Women’s Health Meeting in Costa Rica, women’s rights activists proposed to celebrate May 28as the International Day of Action for Women’s Health, as a means to speak out on SRHR issues faced by women and girls all over the world.
Nearly 30 years on, activists warn that the full realization of all women’s SRHR remains far from being addressed, as “women’s health” has often been reduced to a limited understanding of maternal health, overlooking the actual needs of all women in their diversities. As a result, significant challenges persist, in terms of recognizing sexual rights in addition to reproductive rights, ensuring universal access to contraceptives and safe and legal abortion, as well as comprehensive sexuality education for young people, among other critical SRHR issues.
