Global Voices » Health

Mozambique: “Who wants to give birth here?”

Janet Gunter — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:01:43 +0000

Knight International Journalism Fellow Mercedes Sayagues published a video (with versions in English and Portuguese) which takes viewers on a sad tour of maternity clinics in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The province has the highest maternal mortality rate in Mozambique.

Brazil: ‘Hands That Cure, Words That Heal'

Paula Góes — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:13:13 +0000

[All links lead to Portuguese language pages except when otherwise noted]

With their herbs, gestures, prayers and comforting words, the “doctors of the people” are an important element of Brazilian popular culture and religious syncretism. Folk healers are found throughout the country, but play a special role in remote areas, where medical professionals are scarce and allopathic medicine is inaccessible.

In a post called ‘Hands that cure, words that heal', Ricardo Câmara recalls the history of faith healing and highlights the work of benzedeiras (women who pray for and bless the ill), usually a free and voluntary activity that has spread throughout Brazil as an alternative to traditional medicine since the sixteenth century:

Terço e folhas nas mãos, oração na ponta da língua e muita fé em Deus. As benzedeiras e benzedores que surgiram no Brasil com a chegada dos Jesuítas, no século XVI, são figuras presentes na cultura popular até os dias de hoje.
A benzeção, como várias outras práticas religiosas e médicas populares, aflorou-se com intensidade no período Colonial Brasileiro e os fatores que propiciaram o desenvolvimento da prática da benzeção, com certeza, remetem à precariedade da vida material, destacada pela raridade de médicos, de cirurgiões, de produtos farmacêuticos, e ao sincretismo dos povos em geral, que também contribuíram, e muito, para que a prática da benzeção se propagasse ainda mais.

Rosaries and leaves at hand, prayers on the lips and much faith in God. Folk healers, who emerged in Brazil with the arrival of the Jesuits in the sixteenth century, are present in popular culture up to now.
Blessing, like many other popular religious and medical practices, surfaced with intensity in the Brazilian colonial period and the factors leading to the development of the practice refer, of course, to the precariousness of material life, highlighted by the scarcity of doctors, surgeons, pharmaceutical products, and by the syncretism of the population in general, which in turn contributed to spread the practice of blessing even further.

Blessing woman Dona Izabel. Photo by Fredox Carvalho, for Agência de Notícias Cavaleiro de Jorge (used with permission).

The training of folk healers, individuals who according to Maria Luiza Benitez are usually “predestined and born with a special gift of power, talent or knowledge”, requires great dedication:

O estudo do curandeiro difere grandemente dos estudos e práticas da medicina convencional. Não há livros de medicina, nem notas de aprovação. Mas é preciso vencer todos os testes e provações. E é exclusivamente por meio da dor, do sofrimento, da doença e da própria morte que o curador adquire acesso ao universo das realidades extraordinárias. O mundo do além é o terreno onde se pode obter o conhecimento, a experiência, as qualificações e o poder para auxiliar os demais.
O chamado costuma vir em sonhos ou por intermédio de um acidente, doença, injúria sofrida, ameaça de morte eminente, da morte e mesmo morte clínica temporária.

Studying to become a healer differs greatly from the study and practice of conventional medicine. There are no medical books or passing grades, but you have to overcome all tests and trials. Additionally, it is only through pain, suffering, disease, and death itself that the healer gets access to the world of extraordinary realities. The world beyond is the land where you can obtain the knowledge, experience, skills and power to help others.
The call usually comes in dreams or through an accident, illness, injury, suffering, threat of imminent death, even death itself, and temporary clinical death.

Shaman in a Pataxó indigenous tribe in Bahia. Photo by Flickr user Mario Niveo (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Teacher Glauco Ricciele Ribeiro reveals how women become folk healers:

Benzedeiras senhoras de coração puro, servem ao próximo sem interesses ou cobiça. O dom adquirido por elas são passados de geração a geração. Mas em nosso mundo atual, tal prática cada vez mais desaparece e junto dela a fé popular perde suas características. […]
Mas poucos sabem como uma benzedeira inicia seu “sacerdócio”. Tradicionalmente a Sexta-feira Santa é a única data onde se ordena o Dom de ser Benzedeira a uma mulher de bom coração e sem impedimentos. Esta pessoal deve ajudar através das rezas todo tipo de necessitado sem distinção de classe ou credo.

Folk healers are women with pure hearts, who serve others without self-interest or greed. The gift they acquire is passed from generation to generation. But in our world today, such practices are increasingly disappearing and, together with them, the popular faith loses its characteristics. […]
But few people know how a healer began her “ministry”. Traditionally, Good Friday is the only day in which the gift of healing is given to a woman of good heart and without hindrances. Through all kinds of prayers, she ought to help people in need without distinction of class or creed.

The Blessing Culture. Photo from the Etnia Brasil website by Livia Zaruty (CC BY-NC-ND).

Journalism student Angélica Weise disagrees that the art of healing is disappearing:

Elas fazem parte da cultura popular. A maioria é de uma generosidade incrível. Por mais antiga que seja a tradição, as benzedeiras se encontram mais vivas do que nunca. Basta ter vocação e força de vontade. Mesmo com a medicina avançada, muitas pessoas recorrem a elas para os diversos tipos de cura. […]
Para encontrá-las não há endereço. Basta perguntar nas ruas que logo alguém conhece ou já ouviu falar delas. Na maioria são velhas e simples. É olhando para o rosto e contando suas rugas que encontramos a idade delas. Quem acredita em benzedeira, jura que elas fazem milagres.

They are part of popular culture. Most are incredible generous. No matter how old the tradition is, folk healers are more alive than ever. It only takes calling and will. Even with the advancement of medicine, many people turn to folk healers for various types of healing. […]
To find them, you need not to have an address. Just ask in the streets and you will find someone who knows or has heard of them. Most are elderly and humble. It is looking at their faces and counting their wrinkles that we find out their age. Those who believe in spiritual healing, swear that they promote miracle cures.

Conventional doctors are not so convinced of the miraculous power of spiritual healing and are concerned about the practice, considering that “the scientific safety should not be set aside”.

Meanwhile, traditional healers of two cities in the Brazilian state of Paraná, Rebouças and São João do Triunfo, have seen their activity recently recognized by pioneering municipal laws in Brazil. This resulted in a project of Social Mapping of Folk Healers, whose unprecedented legislation was celebrated as a victory by the local network of traditional communities and peoples:

Num processo de continua luta e organização social das benzedeiras articuladas no Movimento Aprendizes da Sabedoria (MASA) em 22/02/2012 o Presidente da Câmara Municipal de São João do Triunfo promulgou a lei municipal nº 1.370/11, a qual reconhece a identidade coletiva das benzedeiras de Triunfo, regulariza o livre acesso as plantas medicinais por parte dos detentores de ofícios tradicionais de cura e propõe a construção de política municipal especifica de acolhimento das práticas tradicionais de cura nos sistema formal de saúde.

After a process of continuous struggle and social organization of folk healers from the Learners of Wisdom Movement (MASA), the president of São João do Triunfo's City Council passed City Ordinance No. 1,370/11 on on February 22, 2012, a law which recognises the collective identity of the folk healers of Triunfo, regulates free access to medicinal plants by the holders of traditional healing craft, and proposes the elaboration of municipal policy specifically to bring traditional healing practices in the formal health system.

City ordinance recognises the work of folk healers of Triunfo. Photo by Rede Puxirão de Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais published by Flickr user Cultura Viva (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Regardless of whether the cures are a reality or the result of a placebo effect, the act of healing through non-traditional means is considered an intangible heritage of Brazilian culture by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) [en], which belongs to the federal government of Brazil as part of the Ministry of Culture.

In addition to bringing spiritual comfort, folk healers inspire artists, like the writer Sinval Santos da Silveira, who tells us the story and secret of a woman who lived in a very humble house, with no electricity or running water:

Mulher de idade avançada, magrinha, mal alimentada,
e de um coração cheio de bondade…
Sobre uma pequena mesa, a imagem da Santa, em
quem deposita sua fé e a sua vida.
Benze, em nome da Santinha, curando torcicolo, arca
caida, dor de dente, dor nas costas, dor de olhos, de
garganta, de cabeça, mal olhado, inveja, etc.
Seus pacientes ou clientes, pelo trabalho milagroso,
nada pagam, nada devem.
O prazer de poder ajudar alguém, que lhe procura,
está acima de qualquer outro valor.
Só agora entendo, que o poder de cura daquela mulher,
sempre residiu numa única coisa, que tinha em excesso,
em sua humilde casinha: muito amor…

Elderly, skinny, malnourished woman,
whose heart was full of goodness…
On a small table, there is an image of the Saint in
whose care she places her faith and life.
She blesses, on behalf of the sweet Saint, healing stiff neck,
lumbago, toothache, backache, sore eyes and throat,
headache, evil eye, envy, so on.
Her patients or clients pay nothing, nothing owed
for the miraculous work.
The pleasure of helping someone who looks for her
is valuable above anything else.
Only now I understand that the healing power of that woman
was always based on the only one thing that her humble house
had in excess: lots of love…

Costa Rica: The Circus that Saves Children's Lives

Juliana Rincón Parra — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:39:27 +0000

To the south of Costa Rica lies the town of Perez Zeledon, home to the Fantazztico Circus that is giving children and youth in the region a chance to stay out of drugs and trouble while opening doors to international travel.

In a video documentary, the story of this 12 year old project by the New Life Asociation (Asociacion Vida Nueva) takes shape. In an interview, a mother explains how young people are left to their own devices, and they end up getting in trouble or addicted to drugs due to lack of opportunities to study or work. The circus gives them a chance to learn skills, discipline and become part of a group where they become valued. It is also the story of Josue, who drifted away from the circus, and almost died from a drug overdose. As he says, he returned to the circus where he knew he'd find the support to go on, and now he tries to steer clear from peer pressure.

The Circo Fantazztico has had the opportunity to travel overseas to Europe, presenting their show and work to audiences while also discovering new cultures and places.

The Sula Batsú Cooperative of Costa Rica which works in training and skill building for cooperatives and other non-government organizations shared through their facebook page a link to the promotional video with the comment:

El viernes pasado nos visitó la agrupación Circo FantazzTico, en este proyecto social se usa la pedagogía circense como medio del trabajo preventivo con niños, niñas y jóvenes en riesgo social. La idea del proyecto es crear un lugar seguro para los niños, niñas y jóvenes que están en una situación social difícil, y que puedan aprender habilidades corporales al igual que adquirir competencias sociales…

Last Friday the Fantazztic Circus group visited us, this social project uses the circus training as a means to do preventive work with children and youth in social risk. The project's idea is to create a safe place so that boys, girls and young people in difficult social situations can learn physical movement skills while they learn social skills…

The Circus is also well received nationally: the following video shows their presentation in the National Stadium of Costa Rica in the capital city of San Jose, to an audience of 10 000 people. The presentation included aerobatics of people twisting on ropes, fabric and tumbling as well as floor exercises and pyramids.

Egypt: Historical Arabic Manuscripts Put Online

Mohamed Adel — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:15:37 +0000

Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Wellcome Library and King’s College London Digital Humanities Department have recently launched the Wellcome Arabic Manuscript Cataloguing Partnership (WAMCP). The manuscripts collection comprises around 1000 manuscript books and fragments relating to the history of medicine. All content is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0).

South Korea: Continuing Mad Cow Controversy Over US Beef Imports

Lee Yoo Eun — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:35:10 +0000

Since last week, South Korea has seen continuing protests against importing beef from the United States after mad cow disease broke out in California. The Korean government dispatched its inspection team to the US to quell the public anger incited by the government's unkept promise to halt the beef imports immediately the disease was detected. However, the inspection team's lack of control over the investigation process and the biased member selection process further deepened South Korean's distrust of the government.

South Korea's Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries sent a nine-person inspection team that checked infected cattle and meat packing facilities in the United States right after the disease was detected. They returned only to announce on May 11, 2012, there is no real human health threat posed by American beef and concluded that the country will maintain its quarantine inspections regime on the beef without halting imports, a solution that totally contradicts the government's promise made in 2008. The Korean public responded to this result with heated discussions and criticism online.

One of South Korea's prominent political bloggers IamPeter clarified [ko] the reason for public distrust of the government's version of the story:

원래 광우병 미국 현지 조사단은 정확한 실태 파악을 위해 발병 농장 방문, 사체의 조직 검사 등 모든 의혹을 밝힐 수 있는 조사를 하기로 되어 있었습니다. 그러나 지금 광우병 미국 현지 조사단은 미국 측이 허용하는 장소만 가서 구경만 하고 있습니다. 광우병 발병 현지 목장 방문은 아예 하지도 못했고, 광우병 소의 사체 조직 검사도 미국 측에 의해 좌절됐습니다. 도축장 방문도 수출용이 아닌 내수용 도축장에만 갔다 왔습니다. 결국 광우병 미국 현지 조사단이 했던 일은 아무것도 없습니다. 그저 미국이 보여주는 지정된 코스를 충실하게 견학만 하고 있습니다.

The inspection team was supposed to carry out a thorough inspection including visiting the farm where the disease was detected and having a biopsy on the dead cow in order to dispel every suspicion. However this inspection team merely toured around some places which the US side allowed them to visit. They never even made it close to the farm where the disease broke out and the biopsy was also turned down by the US. And the visit to meatpacking facilities was limited to the domestic facilities and not the one handling beef which will be exported internationally. In summary, the inspection team did nothing. They had a field trip to some spots and stayed on a travel route all planned out by the US.

A brochure of anti US beef import protest planned on May 12 (left). Image shared by twitter user @hudanchu

Sarcastic comments ridiculing the inspection team inundated blogs and the twittersphere. Lee Hyang-ah commented [ko] below a related news article:

세금으로 미국여행 잘하고왓지뭐…자기들이 미국가서 광우병조사한다고하면 아이고 오시느라고 고생많았습니다. 앉아서 커피나 먹으면서 같이 얘기해봅시다. 이럴줄알앗나?? 뭔 뜻으로 조사단을 보냇는지 모르겟다.

They had a quite a good trip to the US with the taxpayer's money. Did they really think the US would welcome them when they came over to inspect for mad cow disease? Did they really think the US would say, “What a trip you had. Come and take a seat over here and discuss this issue over a coffee”? Really? I don't see the reason for dispatching the inspection team.

A net user @555773 tweeted [ko]:

[…]농장에도 방문도 못하고 조사한 결과가 이상이 없다며 검역 강화에만 치중하면서 중단은 하지 않고 국민의 불안감만 안기고 있는 정부를 신뢰할수 없다

They (referring to the mad cow disease inspection team) did not even visit the farm (where the disease broke out). The government is trying so hard to persuade us that US beef is safe and want to focus on continuing the quarantine regime, instead of halting the imports. And this kind of behavior makes South Korean people more anxious and harder to trust the current government even more.

Baek Chan-hong (@mindgood) tweeted [ko]:

헛물만 켜다온 광우병 조사단 “미국산 쇠고기 안전” 결론…그럴거면 이메일로 조사하지.

The dispatched team's inspection was totally useless. And they concluded that US beef is safe. Is this all we can get? Then it could have been better to inspect the case via email.

Another Twitter user @korea486 tweeted [ko]:

광우병 조사단 귀국,미국 쇠고기 이상 없다고 발표했군요! 광우병 조사단? 관광단 유람단 아니였나? 이 이인간들 미국소 먹을까요? 안 먹을까요?

The mad cow disease inspection team returned from the US and announced there is nothing wrong with US beef. Did they just call themselves an inspection team? I thought they were a tour team. What do you think- will they eat US beef in the future?

Cho Neung-hee(@mbcpdcho), a producer at MBC who is also a former chief producer of investigative journalism show “PD Notebook” tweeted [ko]:

조사단장을 맡은 주이석 질병방역본부장은 지난 2008년 4월 미국쇠고기 졸속협상시 협상단 실무담당자였다. 2008년 6월에는 PD수첩 제작진을 형사처벌해달라며 대검찰청에 수사의뢰서를 제출하고 관련 진술을 한 사람으로 조사의 객관성과 공정성이 의심된다.

The leader of the inspection team Joo E-suk, also the head of the animal quarantine office, was actually the one who handled the administrative stuff during the US beef import negotiation process back on April 2008. On June 2008, he even requested an investigation of PD Notebook reporters (who covered the danger of the mad cow disease) by the Supreme Prosecutor's Office and indeed testified against us. I highly doubt this investigation's objectivity and fairness.

Some news reports revealed that scientists and scholars who are against the US beef imports were excluded from the team.

The government argues the most recent case in California is a very rare atypical case and the case is unlikely to have caused by animal feed. However, another tweet [ko] by Cho made references to some US officials from the Clinton and Obama administrations who said they cannot verify for the moment whether there is any possible connection between the disease and the animal feed and they can't confirm the origin of this atypical case. Cho added [ko]:

[…] 학자들의이 반론으로 미국정부도 그 원인을 모른다고 후퇴했는데.. 유독 한국 농식품부는 사료가 원인이 아니라고 ‘추정'된다며.. 그러니 안전하다며.. 국민을 설득하려는지 참으로 안타깝군요. 사전예방의 법칙! 어디갔어?

Due to scholars arguments, even the US government have stepped back and acknowledged that they don't know clear reasons for the disease outbreak. But South Korea's Food/Agriculture Department alone ‘assumes' that the animal feed is not the cause of the problem, so it is safe. It is so pathetic to see them trying hard to persuade Korean people. Where did the rule of “Prevention” (in health policy) go in this country ?

IamPeter added [ko] after his analysis:

“정형 광우병은 없어졌다”고 했는데, 세계동물보건기구(OIE)의 2011년 광우병 통계에는 총 광우병 29건 중 정형 26건, 비정형 3건으로 나와 있습니다. […] 광우병에 대한 과학적인 결론은 100% 진실이 없습니다. 아직 정확하게 규명되지 않은 일들이 많기 때문입니다. 그렇기에 더욱 위험합니다. 과학적으로 규명되지 않았기에 위험하지 않다는 주장은 ‘바다의 깊이를 현재 모른다'라고 말해놓고, ‘그러니 빠져도 괜찮다'라는 말과 다를 바가 없습니다.

The government said that the ‘typical' disease case has disappeared. But according to OIE's [note: OIE refers to International Office of Epizootics which still known by its French acronym Office International des Epizooties] statistics on mad cow disease in 2011, among the total 29 mad cow disease cases, 26 cases of were ‘typical' and three were ‘atypical' cases […] There is no 100 percent verified scientific truth in the mad cow disease controversy yet, since there are lots of parts that need to be proven. That is what makes this situation more dangerous. (The current South Korean government's) logic is, ‘It is not dangerous since the risk of the disease has not yet been scientifically proven'. To me it seems like saying, “We don't know the depth of the ocean yet, so it is okay to fall into it”.

Argentina: Lawmakers Approve Gender Identity Law

L. Finch — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:05:30 +0000

[All links lead to Spanish-language websites unless otherwise noted]

On May 9, 2012, after two hours of debate, the Argentine Senate approved the Law of Gender Identity with 55 votes in favor and 1 abstention. The law recognizes the right of transsexual people to an identity that corresponds with their expression of gender.

The publication AG Magazine recounted the history behind the push for such a law:

El proyecto de ley de Identidad de Género ingresó por primera vez al Parlamento argentino de la mano de la Federación Argentina LGBT y la Asociación de Travestis, transexuales y transgéneros de Argentina (ATTTA) en el año 2007. El texto aprobado, que es el mismo que obtuviera media sanción en Diputados en noviembre de 2011, contempla el reconocimiento de la identidad de las personas trans en su documentación personal, así como el acceso a la atención sanitaria integral en el sistema de Salud.

The plan for a Gender Identity law was submitted for the first time to the Argentine Parliament by the Argentinian LGBT Federation and the Association of Transvestites, Transsexuals and Transgender People of Argentina (ATTTA) in the year 2007. The approved text, which is the same as the one that obtained preliminary approval in the lower house of Congress in November 2011, provides for the recognition of the identity of transgender people in their personal documentation, as well as access to comprehensive health care within the health care system.

The National Front for the Gender Identity Law (FNLIG), formed in 2010 with the purpose of working toward the passage of the law, commented on the reason why it is so important on their website:

photo: Laura Schneider

Con este paso, Argentina inicia el proceso de reparación histórica y democrática con toda la población trans del país, cuyos derechos más elementales, como el derecho a la identidad y a la salud integral, han sido sistemáticamente vulnerados. El proyecto prevé tanto el acceso a los cambios registrales como el acceso integral a la salud. Este tratamiento no diferido de todos los derechos enunciados fue el logro más importante que sostenemos desde el Frente Nacional por la Ley de Identidad de Género (FNLIG), que elaboró el proyecto en el que fue basado el dictamen firmado tanto por las comisiones de diputadxs como de senadorxs.

With this passage, Argentina begins the process of historic and democratic reparation with the entire trans population in this country, whose most elemental rights, such as the right to identity and to comprehensive health care, have been systematically vulnerable. The law provides both access to registry changes and access to comprehensive health care. Having treatment that is no different than what all stated rights mandate was the most important success that keeps us going here at the National Front for the Gender Identity Law (FNLIG), which devised the law in which was based on the signed opinion of both the lower house commissions and the senators.

Access to comprehensive health care

One of the items in the new law to consider is access to comprehensive health care, which includes access for those over 18 years old to partial and total surgical interventions and/or comprehensive hormonal treatments to alter the body, including genitalia, without the need of obtaining judicial or administrative permission.

The webpage for the Ministry of Health for the Province of Buenos Aires, whose province was a pioneer in sexual reassignment surgery, posted an interview with the Provincial Minister of Health, Alejandro Collia:

“La Provincia es pionera en garantizar, a través del acceso a la salud pública, el derecho de las personas a su identidad de género. La adecuación genital a la identidad de género percibida por cada persona es un derecho que venimos garantizando desde el hospital Gutiérrez”, afirma el ministro de Salud provincial, Alejandro Collia.

El Hospital Gutiérrez de la Provincia es el único efector público, junto con el Hospital Duran en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, en realizar cirugías de reasignación genital.

The Province is a pioneer in guaranteeing, through access to public health care, people's right to their gender identity. The conforming of genitalia to perceived gender identity for each person is a right that we continue guaranteeing within the Gutiérrez hospital,” the Provincial Minister of Public Health Alejandro Collia, affirmed.

The Provincial Gutiérrez Hospital is the only public provider, together with the Duran Hospital in the city of Buenos Aires, to perform genital reassignment surgeries.

One of the first criticisms, [es] before the law's approval, came from Daniel Fernández, bishop of the Diocese of Jujuy, in Argentina:

“La iglesia desde un principio hizo conocer su opinión, creemos que el ser humano es creado por Dios, varón o mujer, que viene constituido con nuestra naturaleza humana y a partir de ahí queremos empezar a dialogar, con respeto, sin ningún tipo de intolerancia, manifestando nuestra opinión, que en este caso, es contraria a la de tantos”, ha manifestado el religioso.

“La identidad viene dada por el sexo que recibimos y por la identidad que traemos desde el seno de nuestra madre”, defendió el obispo argentino, condenando el avance de la Ley de Identidad de Género.

“The church from the beginning has made its opinion known, we believe that the human being is created by God, male or female, and comes established with our human nature and from there we want to start to dialogue, with respect, without any type of intolerance, expressing our opinion, that in this case, it is contrary to that of many”, the bishop has said.

“Identity is given from the sex that we receive and from the identity that we take from our mother's womb”, the Argentine bishop said, condemning the advance of the Law of Gender Identity.

On the other side, the blog Unificacionistas, in its post “Equality for few” wrote about the rights of minorities in Argentina:

de seguro las minorías irían rápidamente por más y más derechos, ya que se ve hoy día un terreno más que fértil para conseguir esas leyes que durmieron en oscuros cajones por décadas. A pesar de criticar las formas, en mi caso y en el de muchos, avalamos en principio que todo ciudadano tenga derechos y sea contemplado como un igual por otros ciudadanos ante la ley. El problema es que, me temo, esa igualdad no pareciera ser aplicable en todos los casos.

for sure the minorities would quickly go for more and more rights, inasmuch that nowadays one can see that the ground is more than fertile for acquiring those laws which slept in dark drawers for decades. Despite criticizing the form, in my case and in the case of many, we endorse in principle that every citizen has rights and is considered equal to other citizens in the eyes of the law. The problem is that, I fear, that equality would not be applicable in all cases.

Reactions on social networking sites

Once word spread of the law's passage, users across the social networking spectrum echoed the reactions of the citizenry. Some, such as Juancho (@Juanx1984), want more rights, while Jose Castiglione (@JoseCastiglione) wrote:

Me parece una aberración la Ley de#IdentidadDeGenero. Que me disculpen los q resulten ofendidos por el comentario, pero esto es INADMISIBLE

The Law of #IdentidadDeGenero [Gender Identity] seems to me to be an aberration. To those who are offended by the comment, pardon me, but this is INADMISSIBLE.

However, Paulo Yudewitz (@Pauloyudewitz) celebrated the law's approval:

#IdentidadDeGenero Felicidades para todos! Otro día histórico!

#IdentidadDeGenero [Gender Identity] Congratulations to all! Another historic day!

Finally, on Facebook the page “I am in favor of the law of gender identity” celebrated:

Amig@s, es imposible transmitir toda la alegría que sentimos por esta conquista!

Friends, it is impossible to relate just how much happiness we feel because of this victory!

Argentina Approves Death with Dignity Law

Chellsy Alis Manning — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:20:23 +0000

After four hours of debate in the Argentine Senate [es], on May 9, 2012, the Death with Dignity [es] project was converted into law with wide-ranging support, even from the opposition.

The newspaper Infobae [es] reported just after the law was passed:

Tras más de cuatro horas de debate, el Senado convirtió en ley por 55 votos a favor el proyecto de muerte digna que reconoce el derecho de los pacientes “a aceptar o rechazar determinadas terapias o procedimientos médicos o biológicos con o sin expresión de causa, así como también a revocar posteriormente su manifestación de voluntad”.

La iniciativa indica que el paciente terminal puede rechazar procedimientos, cirugías y “medidas de soporte vital, cuando sean extraordinarias o desproporcionadas en relación a las perspectivas de mejoría” pero lo obliga a expresar su postura al facultativo, quien antes lo habrá informado sobre su real estado de salud, los tratamientos posibles y sus consecuencias.

After more than four hours of debate, with 55 votes in favour, the Senate passed the death with dignity law which recognises patients' rights “to accept or reject particular treatments or medical or biological procedures with or without justification, as well as revoking their past wishes”. The initiative indicates that a patient with a terminal disease can reject procedures, surgery and “vital support methods, when they are extraordinary or disproportionate in relation to the chances of improvement”. The patient is obliged to express their wishes to their doctor, who beforehand should tell the patient about their true state of health, the possible treatment options and their consequences.

The debate surrounding dying with dignity is even more important now following the wishes of the parents of Camila, a two-year old girl who has been in a vegetative state since her birth. The website Legislarweb [es] reports on the case:

Camila es un caso emblemático de la situación por la que atraviesan muchas familias y que hasta ahora encontraban un vacío legal sobre el tema de la muerte digna. […]

Tres comités de bioética aseguraron que su estado es irreversible, pero los médicos dicen que, sin legislación, no pueden desconectarla

Camila is emblematic of the current situation facing many families who up until now have found a loophole regarding dying with dignity. Three bioethic committees have assured that Camila's state is irreversible, however the doctors say that without legislation it is not possible to disconnect her from her life support.

The website continues quoting Camila's parents:

“La situación por la que estamos pasando como familia es desgastante y dolorosa, considerando que tenemos una beba de 2 años y 3 meses en Estado Vegetativo Permanente. La situación de mi hija es irrecuperable e irreversible, y hay un vacío legal que impide retirar el soporte vital”, decía en varias oportunidades la madre de la pequeña, Selva Herbón.

“What we are going through as a family is both exhausting and painful, considering that we have a baby of 2 years and 3 months currently in a Permanent Vegetative State. My daughter's condition is irretrievable and irreversible and there is a loophole that is preventing us from withdrawing her life support” as said by the girl's mother, Selva Herbón, on several occasions.

But this has not been the only case in Argentina. Susana Bustamante, the mother of Melina Gonzalez, has also fought until the end for her daughter. The news agency Telam [es] tells of Susana's situation:

“Ella me dijo que durar conectada a un respirador artificial no es voluntad de Dios sino el capricho del hombre” y que “cuando una persona llega a un estado terminal e irreversible se debe permitir que acontezca el hecho natural” de la muerte, recordó Bustamante.

Melina, quien falleció el 2 de marzo de 2011, a los 19 años, padecía neurofibromatosis, una enfermedad degenerativa del sistema nervioso e incurable que afecta principalmente el desarrollo, que le paralizó totalmente el cuerpo y redujo su peso a sólo 20 kilos.

“She told me that to survive by being hooked up to a ventilator is not the will of God, more that it is the wish of the man” and that “when someone reaches the terminal and irreversible stage one must allow the natural event to happen after” meaning death, Bustamante recalled. Melina died on March 2, 2011, aged just 19 years old. She had neurofibromatosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system. It is incurable and principally affects the nervous system. An incurable disease, it paralised her body completely and made her drop to weighing just 20 kilos.

On Twitter the hashtag #Muertedigna (death with dignity) became a local trending topic after news broke out about the new law. There have been many different opinions. Twitter user Lean Fernández (@leanfe4) [es] says that the passing of this law is an historical event, and Lou A. Salomé [es] (@Lou_A_S) tweets:

Vivir es un derecho, no una obligación #muertedigna

Living is a right, but not an obligation #muertedigna

However, Martin Ferro (@Martin_Ferro), similarly to other Twitter users, expresses his discomfort:

Autorizar el retiro de alimentación e hidratación no es #MuerteDigna, es #Eutanasia, estaba seguro q iban a votar cualquier cosa

Allowing the withdrawal of food and drink is not #MuerteDigna (death with dignity), it is #Eutanasia (Euthanasia). I was sure they were going to vote whatever.

Argentina finds itself on a list of countries that have a law about dying with dignity. According to the newspaper Clarin [es]:

Holanda, Bélgica, Luxemburgo fueron de los primeros países en reglamentarla. Tres Estados de EE.UU la permiten. También Suiza. En Colombia fue autorizada por la Corte.

Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg were the first countries to rule for it. Three states in the USA allow it, also in Switzerland. In Colombia a law was authorized by the Court.

Cuba: Remembering the Dissidents

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:05 +0000

This week, members of the Cuban diaspora have been blogging about two main things: the one-year anniversary of the death of dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto, and the re-arrest of human rights activist Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia.

Of the former, babalu places blame for Soto's death squarely on the shoulders of the Cuban government:

Mercilessly beaten in a park by agents of Cuba's political police, Soto died three days later from the injuries he received. His murder at the hands of the Castro dictatorship, like that of Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, caused an uproar in the international community and forced the regime and its defenders here in the U.S. to mount a campaign seeking to blame his death on natural causes and diminish the role Castro police had in his murder.

One year after the murder of Juan Wilfredo Soto, things have have changed Cuba, but for the worse. The rate of arrests of human rights activists on the island has skyrocketed…One year later, the Castro regime is as repressive and violent as ever, if not more so…

Pedazos de la Isla corroborates his account of increased numbers of arrests in this post, quoting a “Lady in White and independent journalist” who claims that:

The Cuban police, as well as State Security and other watchdog branches of the regime, prefer to unleash this kind of repression against peaceful activists who demand freedom and democratic changes in Cuba instead of pursuing and detaining those who rob, rape, and even kill other citizens.

The recent re-arrest of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, as Uncommon Sense reports, also appears to support this claim:

Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was arrested in Havana on Wednesday.

Ferrer, who had been released April 29 after almost a month in jail, was on his way to the Czech embassy to access the Internet, when the Castro police swept in and arrested him.

Details of his whereabouts were not known, but human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez, with whom Ferrer was staying while visiting the capital said he thought Ferrer would be returned to his hometown of Santiago de Cuba.

Finally, Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter, which gives a detailed history of the case, says that Soto Garcia, who died on Mother's Day last year, should never be forgotten:

Juan Wilfredo Soto García, 46, belonged to the Central Opposition Coalition (Coalición Central Opositora) and the previously unrecognized opposition organization Foro Antitotalitario Unido, (United Anti-totalitarian Forum) and according to Amnesty International Juan Wilfredo ‘had previously been imprisoned for 12 years for his political activities.'

Amnesty International called for an investigation into his death which over a year later has not been conducted. The Cuban dictatorship has sought to deny Juan Wilfredo Soto García's status as a former political prisoner and human rights defender in order to portray him as a common criminal.

In addition to Amnesty International, 12 former Cuban prisoners of conscience from the 2003 Black Cuban Spring met on Saturday, June 4, 2011 and petitioned the Cuban regime for an independent investigation into the May 8, 2011 death of Juan Wilfredo Soto García in a document called The Declaration of El Roque. Others continue to [be] badly beaten and denied adequate medical care in Cuba and their lives remain at risk. It is for that reason and the continuing demand of justice for Juan Wilfredo Soto García that we must never forget.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “Fragile”, is by fabbio, used under an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit fabbio's flickr photostream.

Bolivia: Protests Sweep Across the Country

Pablo Andres Rivero — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:40:16 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

A wave of different protests are sweeping across Bolivia, affecting at least six of the largest regions in the country. Although the conflicts are not initially linked to each other, they have generated a climate of political instability, raising challenging questions for the government of left-wing, coca-growing leader, President Evo Morales.

The Andean Information Network has published a calendar with the conflicts and protests that have taken place over the last couple of weeks.

In order to understand this climate of conflict it is important to look at these protests individually.

Transport unions strike

Photo by Mario Duran under CC licence

A 48-hour transport strike took place in La Paz, Bolivia's seat of government, and El Alto on May 7 and 8, 2012. Transport unions reject the recently passed Municipal Transport Law that attempts to deal with the chaotic transport system and also proposes a network of public buses to be launched in 2013.

Digital journalist Wilfredo Jordan (@wilofm) commented on Twitter [es]:

Buenos días, jornada difícil en La Paz y El Alto por la Ley de Transporte, para seguirlo en twitter ver#parotransporte

Good Morning, tough day in La Paz and El Alto due to the Transport Law, follow it on Twitter under #parotransporte (”transport strike”)

The 48-hour strike deployed thousands of buses and minibuses that blocked the streets of La Paz and El Alto and restricted any transit, even emergency services.

Several citizens criticized the blockades and showed their support for the Mayor's initiative to implement the local Transport Law.

Moreover, in only 48 hours a group on Facebook [es] emerged and gathered over 4,000 members who called for a “pedestrians strike”. They encouraged citizens to share cars, use bicycles or just walk instead of commuting for one day as a protest against the transport strike and the blockades.

Paginasiete uploaded this citizen video of citizens confronting the transport workers during the strike:

Luis Revilla, the Mayor of La Paz who is championing the Law, is a member of Movimiento Sin Miedo (”Movement without Fear” in Spanish) a left-wing party that stands in opposition to Evo Morales' party MAS (”Movement for Socialism”).

La Paz and El Alto rely on a private bus and minibus system that provides poor and unsafe services with previously set tariffs to almost 2 million inhabitants.

Netizen Fernando Cabezas wrote on the Facebook Page [es] of the Observatory “La Paz Cómo Vamos” (How are we doing La Paz), an independent watchdog for issues in La Paz:

Una de las observaciones de los choferes al Proyecto de Ley Municipal del Transporte es que para renovar el parque automotor, el Estado debería liberar de impuestos y avalar los créditos para la importación de nuevas movilidades. La pregunta es ¿Por qué, los choferes deberían tener estos privilegios si el transporte público se ha convertido en un negocio privado? Los actuales operadores deben brindar un servicio seguro, cómodo y puntual; y evaluar si pueden hacerlo o no.

One of the observations by transport drivers on the Municipal Transport Law is that the state should release and endorse tax credits for importing new vehicles in order to renew existing ones. The question is, why should transport drivers have these privileges if public transport has become a private business? Current operators must provide a safe, comfortable and punctual service; and it must be assessed if they can provide this or not.

Indigenous march against road through TIPNIS

As closely reported on Global Voices, The TIPNIS issue is one of the most challenging ongoing conflicts for Bolivia's government. Indigenous people from the Indigenous Territory National Park Isiboro Sécure are marching for the second time in one year towards La Paz, demanding the cancelling of a road project attempting to cross right through the middle of their National Park, a constitutionally protected area.

Over 600 marchers are in Puerto San Borja, approximately 300 kilometres from La Paz, at the time of writing this post. Fundación Tierra enabled a widget [es] screening the latest news on the indigenous march.

Health sector protests

Unionised Doctors, health workers and medicine students have been protesting and holding a strike for almost six weeks against the Decree 1126 passed by President Evo Morales. The regulation attempted to include all health workers into the General Labour Law, forcing them to complete an 8-hour work day, and not a 6-hour work day as is currently established. The reform also restricts cashing more than one salary from public funds.

Although president Morales “suspended” Decree 1126 on May 4 and called for a “Health Summit” in July, protesters demand a repeal instead of a suspension and reaffirm their claim to be part of the General Labour Law under full payment and benefits for extra hours.

As explained on a blog post by Videourgente [es], Medicine students support the strike, claiming that the government is capping lecturers' salaries and reducing practice hours.

Blogger Mario Duran, based in El Alto, commented on the Health Sector strike:

Analicemos las demandas y expliquemos las mismas:

8 horas. Sí. Esta medida merece nuestro apoyo, en Bolivia, obreros o profesionales, deberian trabajar ocho (8) horas.

Ley General del Trabajo. Sí. Todas las relaciones laborales deberian establecerse segun la Ley General del Trabajo […]

Nivelación Salarial a la CNS. Si.

Aqui se encuentra el meollo del paro medico, la Caja Nacional de Salud, al ser una entidad autarquica (en los hechos, aunque no en la reglamentación), sucesivamente ha destinado mayores recursos a la partida presupuestaria de sueldos y salarios,[…] hay que tener presente que en Bolivia, el salario mínimo es de 805 Bs.-. En promedio, los sueldos de la CNS superan entre un 20 - 40% al sueldo que se paga en otras instituciones.

Entonces, la movilización del gremio medico, no busca mantener el trabajo de 6 horas, sino exigir la elevación de sueldos y salarios.

Let's analize and explain the demands:

8 hours. Yes. This measure deserves our support, workers or professionals, should work eight (8) hours in Bolivia.

General Labour Law. Yes. All labour relations should be established according to the General Labour Law […]

Wage leveling for CNS (National Health Fund in Spanish) workers. Yes.

This is what the strike is about, the National Health Fund, being an autonomous entity (in fact, although not in the regulations), has successively increased the budget for salaries and wages, […] it must be taken into account that in Bolivia, the minimum wage is 130 US dollars. On average, the salaries at the National Health Fund are between 20 - 40% higher to the salary paid in other institutions.

Consequently, the protest by the health sector is not seeking to maintain the workday of 6 hours, but demands raising wages and salaries.

YouTube user davidangelcaballero1 shares the following citizen video of the march:

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Stunned by Suicides

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:55:59 +0000

And Still I Rise is saddened by “news of three suicides by hanging have stunned the nation.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Three Score and Ten

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:31:47 +0000

Two Trinidadian bloggers - one living on island and the other a member of the diaspora - have come to the difficult realisation that their parents are growing old. In this post, they discuss the issue of ageism while sharing their mixed emotions and fears…

Denesia Venus, blogging at Outlish, says:

As adults, we sometimes neglect our parents. We get so caught up in our lives that we forget to look out for the same people who took care of us, without expecting too much in return.

When we were sick, who was the one person we wanted to take care of us? Our mummy, daddy, or a guardian who would dutifully be at our side, whether it was to rub us down with Vicks, feed us soup, or coax us to swallow some sort of ungodly concoction they conjured up, thinking it would make us better.

But, I often wonder about how many of us would be willing to reciprocate this, when our parents have aged, and they become ill (God forbid). When incontinence has set in, and they can no longer take care of themselves. What is it worth the life of a man, if, when he becomes ill, he is abandoned by his offspring, or his relatives?

Trini Like Salt, who lives in Boston, is aware that the geographical distance between him and his parents “doesn’t really allow one to observe their aging”:

I see that in intervals. I won’t see my mom for a year, my dad for longer than that (that’s a long story in and of itself), and when I do see them, I’m struck by what’s happening. My mom, especially, gives me pause. She was always the energetic one. She had to be, with 2 kids to raise pretty much on her own. But now, she’s definitely slowed, and slowing, down. She takes longer to get anywhere. She sometimes has to pause on steps.

I know it’s the order of things, but it’s still a helluva thing to watch your parents age - especially when you can see it clearly because you don’t see them for months at a time, and when you do, they’ve visibly changed.

Outlish, meanwhile, finds the number of elderly patients in hospitals to be a disturbing phenomenon:

I have realised that most of the warded patients are elderly persons, who have passed the designated three score and ten, and who have contributed what they could…until society casts them aside. They became ill, and their care quickly becomes the responsibility of someone else – especially if they live in homes. Not everyone has a spouse who is alive and well enough to take care of them, or children who can care for them.

There are the persons who live alone or with family, who are taken to the hospital, and are warded, and their relatives do not visit them. It is ironic, though, that when a warded patient’s pension cheque is received, relatives turn up for them to sign it.

She tells a sad story about “a lovely, yet severely ill, aged man [who] was hospitalized”:

His condition eventually improved steadily. Hospital staff even grew quite fond of him. A relative might visit him every other day or so – until, one day, he was discharged.

The patient was quite happy and excited to go home, after all he had been anticipating it for some time. The only thing is…no one ever came to pick him up. Calls to his relatives remained unanswered. The patient eventually realized what was taking place, grieved, and died a few days later. I was surprised to learn that this was not an unusual case in the hospital.

For the blogger, the story raises an important question:

Not that many aged people have relatives who are concerned enough to go the extra mile to care about them, and this got me thinking…Do we love and respect our elders the same way we did, as children? If your parents or grandparents were to become really ill, would you sacrifice your usual routine to take the time to care for them to the best of your ability?

I think that we do still love and respect our elders, but the relationship certainly is not the same. At times we are rude, disrespectful and impatient with our parents, but the reality is that – at times – when we are far from our parents, we tend to cherish and appreciate them more.

Trini Like Salt certainly seems to cherish his parents, especially his mother:

I think my mother is aging, but happily. I can’t know what it’s like to reach an age where the statistical fact of death is staring you in the face - but she has, and she doesn’t seem phased by it. I will someday, though, if I’m lucky.

Outlish ends by suggesting that distance - both physical and emotional - can be reduced by forging meaningful cross-generational relationships:

Sometimes if you take a little time to sit and have a chat with an elderly person, you will be amazed by how much they can tell you. Their stories may fascinate you, while bringing feelings of warmth, joy and nostalgia to them. Even if you heard the story a thousand times, let them have their moment. They have lived the very same lives we live, and they have struggled the same way we struggle. What makes me laugh is that sometimes we grow up to be almost just like them.

Taking care of your elderly loved ones is a serious responsibility, but I’m sure that when they pass on, you’d be much more comforted knowing that you did your best to help them, when they needed you the most.

In my humble opinion, just because we are young, and moving on, that doesn’t mean that we should turn our backs, and ignore the elderly. And we should be prepared for the day, when our parents need us to return the favour, and take care of them in their weakened years, just as they did for us.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “Elderly hands”, is by Rosie O'Beirne, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit Rosie O'Beirne's flickr photostream.

Video: Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards Voting Open

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:15:40 +0000

The Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards is a competition to showcase the work the Adobe Foundation is doing with underprivileged communities around the world. Empowering youth in school or out of school programs where they can learn how to use multimedia tools to express themselves, show their potential, share their ideas and lead change in their communities.

The Adobe Youth Voices global network currently includes more than 750 sites and a large, expanding number of grantees and organizations in 50 countries. Since its inception, Adobe Youth Voices has engaged over 150,000 youth and 8,200 educators in schools and out-of-school programs.

The 160 finalist products including video can be viewed and voted on by sharing them through online social networks such as facebook and twitter. Every category, such as documentary, music video, poetry, audio, graphic design, narrative, animation and photography has an audience award, for which each share, tweet, retweet and like count as one vote. Voting closes on 8 June, 2012.

For example, this documentary by 18 year old Stella in Uruguay, sharing her experience with her sister with Down Syndrome, raising awareness about what it means to have this syndrome for their lives.

Finding Home is a narrative by Iraqi Mair Maher tells the story of his family's immigration due to violence and war, with many stops around the world before finding a new home in Canada.

Jeanvier Janga from Bonaire shares an animation on how change starts by one person changing themselves.

The Adobe Youth Aspire Awards

Democratic Republic of Congo: Clandestine Abortions on the Rise in Goma

Georgi McCarthy — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:05:56 +0000

[Testimonies for this post were collected by email or face-to-face interviews in French and all links forward to French articles]

Illegal abortion is a common practice in several provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in Goma, Nord-Kivu, where the number of deaths recorded as caused by these back-door procedures is increasing day by day at a worrisome rate. Several foetuses have been found in recent weeks in parts of Goma, located in the east of the D.R.C., alarming many in the community.

Local administrator Mapendo Victorine said in an email she is very concerned about this “criminal” act:

Il y a une semaine dans le quartier Mikeno à Birere un de plus grands quartiers de la ville de Goma un fœtus de 5 mois a été retrouvé emballé dans un sachet dans une poubelle publique. La mère ou jeune fille responsable de cet acte est inconnue.

A week ago, a 5-month-old foetus was found in a public bin in one of the largest neighbourhoods in Goma, wrapped up in a plastic bag. The mother is unknown.

Congolese law prohibits abortion in all parts of the country, and as such severe punishments are sanctioned to all those involved in the elicitation of illegal abortions. Lawyer Alain Lushule, a member of the bar in Goma, explained to us that Articles 165 and 166 of the Congolese Penal Code (Book II) mandate a punishment of 5 to 10 years' imprisonment for having an abortion, and 5 to 15 years for participation in the act.

Health Centre in Goma, D.R.C., by Julien Harneis on Flickr CC-license-BY)

Photojournalist Alain Wandiwoji expressed his concerns on his blog over the distressing situation in Goma:

Depuis décembre dernier, 11 fœtus ont été ramassés dans des caniveaux, et trois bébés étranglés retrouvés dans des poubelles publiques de certains quartiers de Goma : “Trop c'est trop ! Laisse entendre un pasteur de la ville de Goma.

Since December 2011, 11 foetuses have been found in gutters and 3 strangled babies have been found in public bins. A pastor from Goma suggests: “Enough is enough!”

A mother, indignant after seeing the foetus, told us in a face-to-face interview:

La personne qui a commis cet acte doit être recherchée par la police et être punit sévèrement pour ce meurtre. Des enfants ont été les premiers à découvrir cet enfant alors qu’ils pensaient trouver un ballon. Entendant cette foule nombreuse du quartier autour de ce fœtus, il y a une forte tristesse mais personne ne veut comprendre et s’interroger sur le pourquoi de ces pratiques d’avortement qui prennent de plus en plus de l’ampleur. Tout le monde condamne cet acte.

The person who committed this murder should be sought by the police and severely punished. A group of children came across the bag, thinking it was a balloon. The discovery of this foetus has caused a great deal of sadness, but no one is trying to understand by asking themselves why these abortion practices are gaining more and more momentum. They are condemned by everyone.

Fortuna Lufungula, a human rights activist in Goma, in an email touched on the cultural and moral reasons behind many in the community's denunciation of abortion:

Les traditions africaines et congolaises sont fondées sur des principes selon lesquelles avorter est un meurtre. Nul n’est censé tué et personne n’est autorisé de mettre fin à une vie d’un fœtus même quand celui-ci est d’un jour. Si on l’élimine, c’est un meurtre et il doit être sanctionné.

African and Congolese traditions are based on the principal that abortion is murder. Nobody should be killed, and nobody should be able to terminate the life of a foetus, even if it is only a day old. Termination is murder, and as such should be punished.

Can it be said that abortion is a crime without identifying the causes, issues and consequences of an act that is carried out by many young women and even some married women in Goma? What are the main reasons that lead these women to have abortions?

Challenges of women in Goma by Passy Mubalama for Uhaki News

Parents' inflexibility

Many parents in Goma still find it difficult to accept their daughters falling pregnant, even if they are not minors. When parents discover that their daughter is pregnant, she is many times immediately removed from the family home and taken to the man responsible for the pregnancy, forced into starting her own family.

Mwamini Bujiriri, the mother of a family from Goma, drove her 14-year-old daughter from their family home after discovering she was pregnant by a young man from the same village. Bujiriri explained in an interview:

Je ne peux pas rester avec ma fille lorsqu’elle est enceinte car elle m’a ridiculisé elle doit aller rejoindre son mari responsable de sa grossesse. Nous ne pouvons pas rester deux femmes dans la même maison c’est impossible.

I cannot let my daughter stay knowing she is pregnant because she has made a fool out of me. She is now the responsibility of the man who made her pregnant. It is impossible for two women to live in the same house.

Many parents do not want to hear the word “abortion” because, according to many of them, abortion is murder.

A woman in Goma by @RachelBayoli

The irresponsibility of young men

Irresponsibility of the young men involved, often alongside religious beliefs, force many young women into underground abortions and even infanticide.

A young girl, who does not want to be identified, gave us her account:

Lorsque je suis tombée enceinte, je n’ai pas eu le courage d’en parler à mes parents car ils devraient seulement me chasser de la maison et ou me tuer. J’ai décidé de me taire. En même temps, le garçon responsable de ma grossesse ne voulait pas croire que c'était lui le vrai responsable. Je me suis alors retrouvé entre deux mondes car je ne pouvais rien dire à mes parents et en même temps je n’avais nulle part où aller. C’est ainsi que j’ai décidé d’avorter, mais en même temps aussi je ne pouvais pas aller à l’hôpital car l’avortement n’est pas autorisé dans notre pays et donc les médecins ne pouvaient pas accepter de le faire. Je suis donc partie voir un médecin qui a fait la procédure dans la clandestinité loin de mon quartier.

When I got pregnant, I was too scared to tell my parents because they would have thrown me out of the house or killed me. I decided to keep quiet. At the same time, the boy involved didn't believe that he was the father. I was stuck because I couldn't say anything to my parents but I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I decided to have an abortion. I couldn't go to the hospital because abortion is illegal in our country and so doctors can't agree to do it. I had to go to a doctor far away from my neighbourhood who did the procedure illegally.

There are a lot of other young girls who, like her, are forced into illegal abortions that are carried out in secret and bring with them many associated risks, including death.

Many cases are recorded by the CONDE medical clinic in the Karisimbi neighborhood in Goma. A doctor from the clinic, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us:

Au mois de Mars dernier, une jeune fille d’une vingtaine d’année est morte de suite d’un avortement qu’elle a provoqué elle est arrivé à l’hôpital dans un très mauvais état elle a provoqué la grossesse. On a tous fait pour l’aider mais elle a fini par mourir. Beaucoup des jeunes filles meurent simplement parce qu’elles ont tenté d’avorter clandestinement.

In March, a 20-year-old girl died after having an abortion. She arrived at the hospital in a very bad state. We did all we could, but she passed away. A lot of girls die from trying to perform abortions illegally.

Beliefs and abortion

Many girls who are raped, sometimes by armed men, do not have abortions for fear of committing a sin against God. These girls suffer in silence, both with their unwanted pregnancies and the difficulty of upholding their religious beliefs.

A victim of sexual violence told us about her ordeal in the Lydia Centre, where she is receiving support. The centre, which oversees victims of sexual violence, was created by the ASLPC, Action Sociale pour la Promotion des Laissés pour Compte (social action association to help those left behind) in Goma. She explains:

Quand j’ai été violée, c’était insupportable à vivre et très douloureux pour moi. Malheureusement quelques mois après je me suis retrouvé enceinte. Je n'ai pas su quoi faire, je ne voulais même pas car c’est un péché. Mais comme je ne peux pas avorter, je garde quand même mon bébé. Même si quand je le vois je me rappelle de beaucoup des choses douloureuses.

When I was raped, I found life unbearable and it was very painful for me. Unfortunately, I found out I was pregnant a few months later. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want the baby because it was a sin. But having an abortion was also a sin, so I kept the baby. The painful memories come back every time I see him.

The situation according to medical specialists

A gynaecologist from the Provincial Hospital of Goma gave his point of view:

La jeune fille devrait pouvoir avoir le droit, dans le cas où elle se sent pas prête moralement et physiquement d’avoir un enfant de choisir d'avorter.

The girl should have had the right to choose abortion, given that she was physically and mentally unready to have a child.

Given the degree of the situation, it seems that the Congolese government should consider an alternative to the current law, the gynecologist explained:

Les victimes sont encore trop souvent sujets à recourir aux avortements dans la clandestinité qui comporte beaucoup des risques. Que le gouvernement autorise officiellement l’avortement afin que tous ces actes cessent et que si on veut avorter, qu’on le fasse sans aucune crainte dans des hôpitaux qui peuvent assurer une bonne prise en charge médicale. Il faut aussi renforcer la sensibilisation des femmes et des jeunes filles sur l’utilisation des méthodes contraceptives, afin d’éviter les grossesses indésirables.

The victims still have to resort to extremely risky illegal abortions too often. The government should officially authorise abortion so that this stops. If a girl wants an abortion, it should be done with good medical care and without fear in a hospital. Awareness should also be raised about contraceptive methods to avoid unwanted pregnancies.

South Korea Seized Infant Flesh Capsules Made in China

Lee Yoo Eun — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:47:47 +0000

South Korean authorities had confiscated tons of dried flesh of dead infants that was being capsuled and smuggled out of China. Whilst almost every blog and media responded to this horrendous news with pure disgust and accusation against Chinese high abortion rate, one PR and communications agency defined this case 'a sad story of misinformation and miscommunication'.

Indonesia: Documenting HIV/AIDS in Papua

Mong Palatino — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:27:16 +0000

Against All Odds is a Tumblr blog of Andri Tambunan who has been documenting the HIV/AIDS epidemic among indigenous Papuans in Indonesia.