Campaign against gender-violence launched in Africa

November 23 marked the beginning of a 16-day campaign against gender violence, which for 2007 has the theme: “Demanding Implementation, Challenging Obstacles: End Violence Against Women,” IRIN reported Monday.

At the launch of the campaign in Nairobi, Kenya, Fartun Abdi Ahmed, a Nairobi-based community outreach worker, described her personal experience with female genital mutilation, which she underwent while living in Somalia. “One cannot imagine the pain, the fear and the stress I went through; thank God it was a rural area and so we did not get some of the infections that are common nowadays,” such as HIV. She called FGM the most prevalent form of gender-based violence in Somalia, and said the practice leads to complications such as infections and the need for additional surgery during childbirth, which may lead to the death of the baby or mother.

Men and boys “must be engaged at the grassroots level in order to come up with community-based solutions” to gender-based violence, said Eddie Gedalof, the acting representative of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Besida Tonwe, the head of U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ regional support office in Nairobi, said that: “Sexual violence is widespread in central and eastern Africa; in conflict areas such as eastern [Democratic Republic of] Congo, it has reached almost grotesque proportions.” She added: “Sexual and gender-based violence should be addressed robustly on several fronts simultaneously, not least because the violence does not end when armed conflict ends – it must be addressed also in post-conflict settings.”

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a statement made Sunday (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), said: “Violence against women is always a violation of human rights; it is always a crime; and it is always unacceptable. Let us take this issue with the deadly seriousness that it deserves – not only on this International Day, but every day.”

The campaign ends on December 10, International Human Rights Day, to reinforce the message that violence against women is a human rights abuse.

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Afghan garment factories pose health risks for women workers

IRIN reported on Wednesday that workers in Herat garment factories are exposed to microbes from fur and wool that harm the respiratory system and cause chest infections.

In the past year, seven Afghan women workers employed at wool and fur factories in Herat have died due to respiratory diseases and chest infections, according to Mohammad Ibrahim Ghafori, an official at the Safi factory.

Although Afghan labor law dictates that employers should provide medical insurance to those who work in hazardous conditions, the law is not adequately enforced.

Due to their low wages, workers are also unable to afford medical treatment. However, they continue to work out of dire economic need.

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New poll reveals top concerns among Afghans

A poll sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development and conducted by a team of Afghans concluded that security issues, including terrorism and violence, were the single biggest problem in Afghanistan, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

According to the article: “The main goal was to gauge public sentiments on social and political issues, ‘in a country that is undergoing rapid changes,’ the authors said.”

“Insecurity is the main reason for the people to believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction,” the authors of the poll wrote. “In the eyes of men and women of Afghanistan, the security situation in the country has deteriorated.”

The poll found that this view remained unchanged from the previous year.

In terms of political sentiment, the poll revealed that the ideas of political tolerance and freedom of expression were not fully realized in society; many still felt reluctant to speak freely and critically about their government.

Some confidence was expressed with regard to national institutions such as the media, aid groups, security forces, and tribal and provincial councils. However, confidence in the justice and political system is weak.

In terms of empowerment of women, the results remained mixed, with 53 percent of respondents strongly agreeing that women should have equal rights while 32 percent “somewhat agreed.”

Religion remains an important issue in Afghan society. Sixty-six percent of respondents said democracy could be Islamic, while 29 percent said that democracy challenged Islamic values.

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Vietnamese women participating more in national development, state-run news agency says

Vietnamese women participating more in national development, state-run news agency says
Vietnamese women are becoming more active in national development by participating more in almost all social aspects and the state apparatus, Mathaba.net reported today, citing the state-run Vietnam News Agency. Women make up 50 percent of the population and labor force in the country.

The United Nations Development Programme recently placed Viet Nam at 80 out of 136 on a list for gender development. Women account for nearly 26 percent of the National Assembly in Viet Nam.

Viet Nam has created a National Committee for the Advancement of Women, and set up a national strategy for the development of women’s role in society between the years 2001 and 2010. So far, 10 out of 22 benchmarks have been met, according to VNA. These include goals such as providing jobs, abolishing illiteracy, reducing the mortality rate of childbirth, and increasing the number of female representatives in the people’s councils at all levels.

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Wilson Center event highlights connections between environment and conflict in Sudan

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted a discussion on September 21 examining the environmental links to peace and conflict in Sudan. The speakers, Ibrahim Thiaw and Andrew Morton, presented the United Nations Environment Program’s “Sudan Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment” to a packed auditorium.

Thiaw, director of the division of environmental policy at the UNEP, first highlighted the different environmental landscapes within Sudan: the north is arid and the scarcity of natural resources there leads to competition and conflict, whereas the southern provinces boast a more tropical environment where numerous resettlement communities have flourished – pressing resources as well as the limited infrastructure.

Thiaw also emphasized that the connections among the environment, climate change, and poverty are indisputable and that this relationship – one that is certainly not unique to Sudan – requires greater attention from the international community, specifically in the form of peace-keeping forces.

Andrew Morton, the Sudan project coordinator at the UNEP’s post-conflict branch, presented the research methods and findings of the environmental assessment. He highlighted the positive findings, some of which included the decentralization of the government, the recently signed peace agreement between northern and southern Sudan, the local recognition of environmental problems, and the fact that 75 percent of the country is at peace. Morton also noted the widespread recognition of environmental problems among local Sudanese and their marked commitment to addressing these issues.

Negative findings included desertification in the northern regions, internal displacement of numerous Sudanese citizens, a 30 percent drop in rainfall that led to drought, a 20 to 70 percent decrease in food production capacity, and the absence of substantial policies to address these challenges.

Both scholars addressed the causes for these negative findings, but cautioned against conflating the issues. They cited examples of conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, two groups that have historically practiced reconciliation. However, recent legal reforms no longer recognize the tribal bodies from each group that once served as a forum to settle disagreements, leaving the groups resentful and without political resources.

Thiaw and Morton also highlighted the displacement of people due to certain agricultural practices, such as when groups abandon fields after a few years of planting because it is cheaper to migrate than to rehabilitate the field. These practices simultaneously reduce land availability in Sudan and prevent environmental sustainability. The resultant north-to-south migrations are also creating tensions within urban areas.

No comments were made concerning the difficulties of Sudanese women, who face danger on a daily basis while traveling long distances to collect firewood.

Recommendations (the report cited 85 in total) to remedy Sudan’s environmental problems included a call for investment in environmental management, with funds being directed to the Sudanese government. Morton also pointed out that while it is easy to obtain relief funding, he argued that it is imperative that this short-term funding be transformed into longer-term development funding in order to promote sustainability in the region.

The forum concluded with the assertion that the UNEP cannot and does not strive to solve all the problems in Sudan alone, but rather seeks to initiate dialogue and encourage collaboration with many other groups.