Bulletin 21 - April/May 2007

WELCOME to the ARHA e-newsletter, updating you on ARHA news and activities,
and bringing you a selection of general news about population and
development and sexual and reproductive health issues.
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Productive week for UN heads
Full schedule for UNFPA'S Asia-Pacific directors

AusAID policy on gender equity
Downer: gender equality "front and centre"

Mr Downer said women in the developing world were particularly disadvantaged.

"In the Asia Pacific region, women have less access to paid employment than men, and in most areas unemployment rates are higher among young women than men," he said.

"Women remain under-represented in public office. In the Pacific in particular, women hold on average just three per cent of seats in national parliaments and an average of 19 per cent in East Asia.

"The White Paper on our overseas aid program which I released last year, places gender equality front and centre in the effort to reduce poverty and increase the effectiveness of aid.

" The new gender policy outlines how Australia will support partner countries to achieve greater gender equality over the next 10 years."

                              >>>Minister's announcement
                              >>>DOWNLOAD report

Violence against women can
be stopped: case studies
Entire communities can change their attitudes

NEW evidence shows that carefully targeted and planned interventions can succeed in reducing violence against women. A publication titled Programming to address Violence Against Women - 10 case studies, containing this evidence was launched in March by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

"What is unusual about this publication is that we have actually demonstrated how entire communities can change their attitude to violence against women as the result of a few, specifically targeted interventions," said Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director.

"In many of these cases, the extent of violence against women was so prevalent and so entrenched that it first seemed impossible to budge the prevailing mindset," she said. "What we learned is that persistent advocacy targeting community leaders and the larger public can bring about huge changes in a relatively short time."

As well as working with national and community leaders - including religious authorities, doctors and politicians - UNFPA and its partners assist victims to seek legal redress and, if young, return to school.
                          >>>DOWLOAD publication

ARHA goes to New York

ARHA's Manager of Policy and Advocacy, Jenny Goldie, was among 3,000 delegates - most of them women - at the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York in late February and early March.

The CSW is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). ARHA is privileged to have ECOSOC status, which is maintained by active participation.

CSW meets annually to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.

Ms Goldie arrived to heavy late winter snow on Saturday 25th and attended daily briefings for NGOs as well as observing the official meeting in the UN assembly room every weekeday.

She attended NGO seminars on sex trafficking, violence against women in South Asia, empowerment of adolescent girls in Asia, media exploitation of girls and a workshop on indigenous reproductive health.

She was a guest at a number of receptions, including a reception on 1 April by the Australian Ambassador to the UN, Robert Hill, at the Australian Mission, and also fitted in visits to the Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA.

Ms Goldie said attending CSW gave her a much broader appreciation of international women's issues, as well improving her understanding of UN processes, and networking with people from like-minded NGOs around the world.

          >>>FURTHER information on CSW
          >>>READ the conclusions

ONE OF Afghanistan's most popular MPs, Malalai Joya, was guest speaker at International Women's Day (IWD) functions in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra in March.  Her visit, organised by UNIFEM Australia, helped make this year's IWD Australia's most successful yet, with proceeds expected to reach up to $130,000, compared with $80,000 last year.

"International Women's Day this year rose to a whole new level, " said UNIFEM Australia's Interim Executive Officer Sarah Shores. "There were 1,500 at the lunch in Sydney, compared to 1,000 last year, 1,000 in Canberra compared to 800 last year, and in Adelaide there was a record 1,800 - there's really quite a different feel in the community."

Last year's proceeds went directly towards projects and programs that support full participation of women in the under-developed states to achieve gender equality and sustainable economic and social development. This year, IWD proceeds will go to support a major UNIFEM Pacific project to help members of regional networks and other organisations to work to end violence against women. The project will involve focused training for NGO leaders in a regional workshop in midd-2007.

Ms Joya, who at 28 is Afghanistan's youngest MP, has survived four assassination attempts and became a national hero for her opposition to former Taliban warlords. She is also director of the Organisation for Promoting Afghan Women's Capabilities in the western Afghanistan provinces of Herat and Farah.

She rose to fame in 2003 when she spoke out against the domination of warlords. At a time when few would dare to say the word "warlord" aloud, she courageously objected to the appointment of fundamentalist leaders to guide planning groups, suggesting they should be tried as war criminals instead. She travels in Afghanistan under a burqa and with armed guards, but speaks at rallies where thousands wave her photo.

As well as speaking at IWD events, Ms Joya met AusAID officials, gave talks to AusAID staff and spoke to many university and community groups during her two-week visit.

UNIFEM sponsored the visits of two other speakers, Victroia Tauli-Corpuz (Philippines) and Slorri Alalo (Solomon Islands) speak at some of the 65 events it was involved in.

First, understand the culture: UN officials
Studies in Kiribati and Solomons to follow Samoa

A deep understanding of local cultures is of key importance in designing and implementing programs to curb violence against women, according to Sultan Aziz, Director of the Asia Pacific Region of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Mr Aziz and the UNFPA Representative in Fiji, Mr Najib Assifi, visited Australia from 20-23 March, meeting ARHA staff, parliamentarians, senior AusAID personnel, diplomats, representatives of NGOs and academics.

Mr Aziz said cultural understanding can often enable designers and implementers of programs to identify humane and positive values inherent to the culture that can be emphasised when "sensitizing" host communities to the harm caused by rape and other forms of sexual violence.

For example, before beginning a program in Samoa, UNFPA conducted a comprehensive study in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) which showed that 46.4% of the 1212 women interviewed had experienced some form of violence in the relationship that they were in or had been in.

Following this study UNFPA initiated another project with UNFPA and NZAID funding with the aim of reducing gender-based violence in that country. The project interventions include awareness raising, drafting supportive policies and strengthening the capacity of service providers in dealing with the victims of violence.

A second large-scale study has been funded by UNFPA and AusAID to study the root causes of gender-based violence in the Solomon Islands and Kiribati. When this study is completed in 2008 it will be followed with appropriate interventions to reduce the incidence of gender-based violence.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS CLIPS  

Global population (ARHA letter to editor)
— The Canberra Times, 19 March 2007
It was pleasing that The Canberra Times put the subject of world population growth on its front page ("2050 population 9 billion:UN", Thursday 15 March). The story reported that the expected 2.5 billion increase from now until 2050 will be equivalent to the world's entire population in 1950, but missed the UN's qualification that it could be twice that figure unless birth rates continue to fall.
                                                 >>>more

New ring to rival Pill
— The Daily Telegraph - 20 March 2007
A FUTURISTIC device no bigger than a 50 cent piece will rival the pill as being the contraception of choice among Australian women. Hailed as the biggest revolution since the birth control pill more than 40 years ago, the new monthly method is a soft, plastic ring that contains the same hormones as the pill and has a similar success rate.                                                >>>more

A world being choked by people
— The Canberra Times, 19 March 2007
YOU LOOK at the numbers and you think, "That's impossible." Uganda had about seven million people at independence in 1962, and in only 45 years it has grown to 30 million. By 2050, just over four more decades, there will be 130million Ugandans, and it will be the 12th-biggest country in the world, with more people than Russia or Japan. Its population will have increased eighteen-fold in less than 90 years.   >>>more

2050 population 9 billion: UN
— The Canberra Times, 15 March 2007
The world's population was likely to reach 9.2 billion in 2050, with nearly three times as many people over the age of 60 and almost all the growth in the developing world, the United Nations Population Division reported.   >>>more

Australia provides support for the
displaced in the Asia Pacific
Relief Web — 7 March 2007
Australia will provide over $14.4 million to help conflict-affected populations in the Asia Pacific. Australia's International Refugee Fund will support seven new projects that help reduce the adverse impacts of crises in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, East Timor and on the Thai-Burma border.   >>>more    

              >>>more domestic news

Harradine restrictions a 'terrible' policy that needs to be changed

THE CHAIRMAN of the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, Dr Mal Washer, said recently that Australia's overseas aid abortion policies were "terrible" and needed to be changed. Speaking on the ABC's Late Night Live program, Dr Washer said the policies dated from the era of former Senator Brian Harradine.

"Brian was a fabulous guy but he had some hangups and one of those hangups was of course abortion," he said. "I'm a doctor and I don't like abortion any more than he does, but we've got to be realistic -- unfortunately what Australia condones in its aid policies is that if you have an unwanted pregancy then you do not get any help in the way of a safe termination.

"In other words what we do is, after you've had an illegal or unsafe termination then we'll treat you. Well that's good, if you don't die - I mean dead people don't get treated well."

Dr Washer agreed that the Australian policy was a "pale echo" of the global gag policies of President George W. Bush, and described it as "absolutely tragic."

He was interviewed just after his return from the 23rd Asian Parliamentarians Meeting on Population and Development in Tokyo, where he said a parliamentarian from the Philippines had expressed anger that the Cathholic Church had not addressed the reproductive rights of women.

"They have poor sexual education, high levels of fertility, high levels of poverty that result from uncontrolled pregancy, lots of abortion and lots of death - it's a basket case quite frankly," he said.
                        >>>DOWNLOAD podcast (5Mb)

ARHA funding renewed

Young Women's Gathering 13-14 July Registration open $40 students/unwaged $60 standard ABSTRACTS CLOSE ON 4 APRIL

ARHA Mother's Day Luncheon
"Issues for mothers  and daughters today" NSW Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney Friday 11th May Guest Speaker: Wendy McCarthy AO $95 per person For more information, email Naomi@arha.org.au or phone 02 6282 8922

ARHA's International Women's Day luncheon

Thanks to the efforts of ARHA’s fundraising sub-committee chairperson, Amanda Lopez, the International Women's Day luncheon on Thursday 8 March was a great success.

A combination of a great venue (Parliament House, Sydney), excellent food and a wonderful and welcoming host - The Hon Dr Meredith Burgmann - created a sense of occasion.

It was also one of Dr Burgmann’s last official functions as she has now retired from her position of President of the NSW Legislative Council. Dr Burgmann has been an invaluable supporter of ARHA. We wish her all the best for her future directions and hope we can continue to work with her in a new capacity.

"Your sex health"
Informative new website for young people

A new and informative website, Your Sex Health, has been launched after a year's hard work by a team at Melbourne University led by Professor Doreen Rosenthal. The website is aimed at young people (16–25), and plays out scenarios based on many real-life dilemmas they face, such as becoming pregnant, being pressured into sex, and relationship problems.
                          >>>GO TO WEBSITE
                          >>>ARTICLE in The Age  

ARHA joins approach to Amnesty International on abortion rights

ARHA is one of 50 signatories to a letter sent to Amnesty Inter national's headquarters in New York on 2 March asking for its support for women's right to safe abortion. The letter described unsafe abortion as a 'silent and persistent pandemic'.

INTERNATIONAL CLIPS

Fiji praised for sex education classes
— The Fiji Times, 1 March 2007
FIJI is the first Pacific Islands Forum country to begin incorporating Family Life Education (FLE) or sexual and reproductive health into its national secondary school curriculum. The United National Population Fund representative and Director Country Technical Services Team (CST) Najib Assifi applauded the Education Ministry "for serving as a role model for other Pacific Island Countries"           >>>more

Leader of Controversial 'Pro-Choice Catholics' Retires
— CNSNews.com, 2 March 2007
The president of Catholics for Free Choice is set to retire Friday after 25 years of leading a group that promotes a woman's "right" to have an abortion and other issues that are in opposition to church teaching.
Frances Kissling was director for one of the nation's first legal abortion clinics in New York City, founder of the National Abortion Federation, and has headed CFFC for more than two decades.
          >>>more

Prioritising Women's Health
— Medical News Today, 2 March 2007
Sustainable solutions to the world's economic, health, political, and social problems will not be found until the rights and full potential of women are achieved. Something to reflect on for International Women's Day.
          >>>more

Biggest challenge facing world — population growth and location
— The International Herald Tribune, 1 March 2007
The head of the U.S. weather and climate research agency says the biggest challenge facing the world is population growth and people's desire to live in coastal areas where they can be endangered by storms.          >>>more

Rwanda: Protecting Women's Rights for Sustainable Development
— The New Times (Kigali), 12 March 2007
Many women were and many are still unable to take advantage of available resources because of the obstacles placed in their way by traditional beliefs and practices, most of which are gender based. Article by Dr Isifanus A. Joshua on International Women's Day.           >>>more

World population will increase by 2.5 billion by 2050
— UN press release - 13 March 2007
The world population continues its path towards population ageing and is on track to surpass 9 billion persons by 2050, as revealed by the newly released 2006 Revision of the official United Nations population estimates and projections.          >>>more

Mr Gore Goes (Back) To Washington
— Viewpoint (Population Action International), 19 March 2007
This Wednesday, March 21, former Vice-President Al Gore will testify before both houses of Congress to discuss the growing threats posed by global warming. With top scientists and world leaders in agreement that human-induced climate change will have dire consequences if left unaddressed, Congress has an opportunity to address one element that Mr. Gore has consistently cited as a leading contributor to this crisis: rapid global population growth.          >>>more

Rwanda: Country Needs Frw7 Billion for Population Control
— The New Times (Kigali), 16 March 2007
The Government of Rwanda requires approximately Frw7 billion for population control. The revelation was made by the Health minister Dr Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo on March 13 at Hotel Novotel. Ntawukuriryayo said this while opening a one-day workshop discussing the bill on Family Planning, which was organised by the Network of Rwandan Parliamentarians of Population and Development (RPRPD).          >>>more

Projects on Youths in Shadow: RHIYA
— The Himalayan Times (Kathmandu), 27 March 2007
The termination of Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in Asia (RHIYA) project for Nepal has affected programmes with proven track record of benefiting the youths in case of gender based violence, sexual abuse and other forms of violence.           >>>more

                          >>>More International News

The Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA)
www.arha.org.au
Our mission is to promote public support for enhanced reproductive and sexual health in Australia and internationally, and promote the advancement of the status of women and girls.