The World Health Organization’s representative to Sudan, Mohammad Abdur Rab, told reporters yesterday that 10 percent of children in Darfur and in South Sudan die before their first birthday, and that 15 percent of children in western Darfur were malnourished. This immense figure provides a quantitative background to PHR’s work on food security issues, as well as sanitation and health needs of displaced Darfuris living in UNHCR camps for the past five years.
In meetings held with members of Congress in Washington, DC last week, PHR doctors briefed co-Chairs from the House Commission on Human Rights, Congressional Women’s Caucus and Congressional Caucus on Sudan on the urgent health, food and security needs in Camp Farchana. The camp was the site of PHR’s 2008 investigation into the impact of sexual violence on survivors of the Darfur conflict (see the report here), which found high levels of malnourishment, lack of healthcare, insufficient sanitation and lack of protection for women and girls in the face of daily risk of attack.
The food security issues and the health needs are closely linked — and an integrated strategy between UN agencies and aid organizations on the ground is desperately needed — on both sides of the Sudan/Chad border. Although the World Food Program (WFP) target caloric intake of 2,100 kilocalories is formally being provided to the refugees by WFP rations, the type and quantities of food apparently are seriously inadequate.
WFP rations consist of only five items (sorghum, oil, salt, sugar, corn-soy blend) and the sorghum rations are distributed in an un-ground form, which means that the refugees themselves have to pay the cost of grinding the grain.
The lack of milk, meat or vegetables has consequences for the health needs of refugees, particularly vulnerable groups like children and pregnant women. Even where fortunate refugees receive the target caloric intake, they don’t receive sufficient nutrients because of the limited diet.
We must commit to reducing child malnutrition by providing milk and meat to pregnant women and children. PHR has been working to encouraging UN agencies to coordinate sufficiently so that refugees themselves can be involved in the solution to this issue.
Currently, women are forced to sell their meager sorghum rations for milk or meat, travelling to a local market where they receive a vastly reduced price for their sorghum due to market saturation. However, if UN peacekeepers would provide protection for women and girls outside the camps, they could collect the necessary hay and water and raise livestock around the camp. This would give them a supply of milk and meat to add to their diet, and also provide them with the opportunity to provide for their family’s livelihood.
In his briefing yesterday, Abdur Rab also mentioned that international donors need to increase their support for fragile health services in Sudan, with special attention to secondary and tertiary care centres. Next week PHR will be doing more work on the issue of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGV) programming, and the need to provide emergency assistance for injuries, documentation of injuries, access to HIV/AIDS prophylactic treatment, pregnancy testing, psychological and social support — none of which are currently being provided to women and girls in Darfur.
Posted in: camp farchana, chad, Conflict, Darfur, food security, gender-based violence, Health Rights Advocate, mohammad abdur, sexual violence, sudan, UN, unhcr, united nations, us congresss, wfp, WHO, Women, world food program, world health organization
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Women all over the world are facing discrimination, abuse and systematic inequities that make then especially vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Until we protect women from sexual violence and exploitation, provide health and prenatal care and education, and provide all women the socioeconomic power to negotiate safer sex practices, HIV/AIDS will continue to disproportionately affect women in many parts of the world.
This year, in keeping with the 2009 theme of Universal Access and Human Rights, we’re dedicating World AIDS Day and Human Rights Day to getting the United States to ratify the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Join us for the 10,000 in 10 campaign, which aims to collect ten thousand signatures for US ratification of CEDAW during the ten days between World AIDS Day (Dec 1) and Human Rights Day (Dec 10)!
There are a variety of opportunities to join the national action, depending on your interest and capacity:
- Mobilize the health professional student and faculty communities to urge the US to ratify CEDAW as a step forward in protecting women’s rights and health. PHR is doing this in partnership with a number of other organizations, allowing for a greater national movement. Our challenge to each PHR chapter: collect 100 signatures of support for CEDAW from your community.
- Host educational events on campuses nationwide about women, HIV, and the human rights context/approach.
- Organize an in-district meeting with your Senator to personally deliver the signatures you collect and urge him or her to support CEDAW.
As you plan your school’s involvement in World AIDS Day, download our 2009 World AIDS Day Toolkit to receive educational & organizing resources to reach out to students and faculty, organize successful events, and educate members of your community. And stay tuned to the Student Blog for more hands-on advocacy resources available mid-November.
Posted in: Action Alerts, advocacy, aids, campaign, CEDAW, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Day, Official PHR Posts, prevention for women and girls, strengthening health systems, Student Blog, Women, World AIDS Day
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Sudan, Qatar, Tonga, Palau, Nauru, Iran, Somalia…United States? The US has the dubious distinction of being one of only eight United Nations member states (out of 192) who have failed to ratify the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
CEDAW, which was adopted by the U.N. general assembly in 1979, is the premier document in international law dealing with women’s rights. CEDAW addresses a diverse array of women’s rights and human rights issues including equality in civil, social, political and economic life, protection from sexual violence, and reproductive freedom. As President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton work to move the United States to the forefront of international human rights and women’s rights work, it is imperative that we ratify CEDAW and demonstrate that we are serious about our obligations to the international community and to women worldwide.
This year, in recognition of both World AIDS Day (Dec 1) and Human Rights Day (Dec 10), PHR and other partnering organizations will mount a 10,000 signatures in 10 days campaign. Join us in letting your senator know that it’s time for the United States to ratify CEDAW and commit to women’s rights worldwide. We’ll be posting an educational and event planning toolkit next week, with many more World AIDS Day resources to follow, so stay tuned!
Posted in: aids, CEDAW, discrimination, Human Rights Day, obama, Official PHR Posts, prevention for women and girls, strengthening health systems, Student Blog, Women, World AIDS Day
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You may have seen the news last week that the Obama Administration unveiled its long-awaited Sudan policy.
PHR welcomed the renewed sense of urgency in the policy but took a skeptical position on the Khartoum genocidal regime’s ability to fulfill the role of trusted partner envisioned in the new policy.
The new policy relies heavily on offering incentives to the Bashir regime to improve the situation on the ground. PHR urged the Administration and international community to build strong multilateral pressure on the regime and give a higher priority to the accountability for genocide and atrocities.
As an independent medical organization which has documented, from 2004 to 2009, the Sudan government’s mass killing and rape, pillage, forced displacement and destruction of all means of survival for hundreds of thousands of Darfuri civilians, PHR has repeatedly called for an end to impunity for this genocidal campaign.
An immediate goal for US policy which is not explicitly addressed in the new comprehensive approach is an end to the gender-based violence occurring inside and outside camps in Chad and Darfur and an end to impunity for the crime of rape.
In line with US Strategic Objective #1, “a definitive end to conflict, gross human rights abuses and genocide in Darfur,” UNAMID and all UN agencies must be tasked with specific reporting on the problem of gender-based violence and must be free to report without obstruction by local authorities. The current system, which discourages women from reporting rape and seeking justice, must be reformed and existing rape laws must be strengthened.
The US and UN must also immediately demand a commitment from the Government of Sudan to cease impeding support programs for victims of gender-based violence and remove any obstacles to gender-based violence programming in technical agreements between the government and humanitarian NGOs. It is essential that the US monitor the ongoing situation on the ground in Darfur and not allow Omar al-Bashir’s government the opportunity to further deceive the international community over human rights abuses. The Government of Sudan must accept an independent fact-finding mission to assess the human rights situation in Darfur, and the State Department should immediately encourage a high-level congressional delegation to perform this role.
As the US engages with the Government of Sudan and international partners to attempt to reinvigorate the peace process, US policy must remain committed to safely return refugees in Chad and displaced in Darfur to their homes and rebuilding of their villages and livelihoods. This goal should not be lost in efforts to achieve short-term forward progress in the peace process and immediate improvements in humanitarian assistance to the millions of displaced Darfuris.
The renewed commitment by the Obama Administration to end the conflict in Darfur and move forward with implementation of the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement must not deter the US from supporting the UN Security Council and the ICC in pursuit of justice by enforcing the arrest warrant for President Bashir.
More soon: PHR briefing on rape and sexual violence in Sudan/Chad in DC this Wednesday (Oct 28)!
Posted in: briefing, chad, Conflict, Darfur, gender-based violence, Health Rights Advocate, icc, international criminal court, khartoum, obama administration, omar al-bashir, rape, sudan, UN, un security council, unamid, united nations, Women
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World AIDS Day is coming up, and this year’s theme is Human Rights and Universal Access. To stop AIDS, we must promote and protect human rights—especially those of women and girls. Therefore, to celebrate World AIDS Day 2009, PHR is launching a campaign to urge the US Senate to ratify CEDAW—and to officially recognize that protecting women promotes their health and the health of societies worldwide.
CEDAW, or the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, is an international convention adopted by the United Nations in 1979. It serves as an international bill of human rights for women, specifically extending provisions laid out by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to women while also addressing issues unique to women worldwide. Many of the provisions laid out in CEDAW, such as the right to health for women, the right to civil and domestic equality, and the right to reproductive freedom, directly pertain to controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS. Although women all over the world have used CEDAW to enact positive changes in their own countries, the United States remains one of only eight member countries of the U.N. that have not ratified CEDAW—the others include Iran, Sudan and Somalia. This World AIDS Day, we’re looking to change that.
To gear up for your school’s involvement in World AIDS Day, here are a few introductory factsheets on CEDAW and U.S. Ratification. Use these as articles for discussion groups, addendums to relevant course reading, informational handouts during tabling or events, etc. These serve as a great way to familiarize yourself, your chapter, and your peers with what CEDAW is and how the United States can join the international community in supporting women’s rights:
For a more in depth read, check out these sites:
If you’re wondering how exactly CEDAW and the global AIDS pandemic relate:
Finally, check out some of PHR’s material on the feminization of the pandemic:
Posted in: aids, Amnesty International, CEDAW, HIV, Official PHR Posts, prevention for women and girls, strengthening health systems, Student Blog, UN, Women, World AIDS Day
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PHR will join the globe in celebrating World AIDS Day (WAD) on December 1, 2009. This year’s WAD theme is Universal Access and Human Rights. The critical message: access for all to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care is a fundamental human right we all must fight to protect.
Given this year’s theme, PHR and other partnering organizations will bridge World AIDS Day (Dec 1) with Human Rights Day (Dec 10) with a 10,000 signatures in 10 days campaign, mobilizing American’s to advocate for U.S. ratification of the Convention to Eliminate All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2010.
What does CEDAW do for women’s right?
CEDAW creates a legal, universal definition of women’s rights and discrimination against women. It includes: direction for ratified countries to ensure national laws respect the universal standards, monitoring processes for women’s rights standards worldwide, and forums for handling grievances and holding governments accountable. Learn more about CEDAW.
If the US wants to play a credible and influential leadership role on health, human rights and women’s empowerment—As president Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have promised—it must ratify the most prominent international law for women.
Why push for CEDAW on World AIDS Day?
Women and young girls presently comprise more than 60% of those who are living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and the numbers continue to grow. Any solution to the epidemic must acknowledge the devastating gender dynamics of AIDS and place women’s empowerment at the center of the solution. To halt the feminization of AIDS, we must address the root causes of HIV/AIDS transmission, many of which are based on human rights violations such as widespread gender-based violence, stigma and discrimination, and inequalities and violations of economic, social, legal, health and educational rights.
The most vexing and intolerable dimension of the pandemic is what is happening to women. Gender inequality is driving the pandemic, and we will never subdue the gruesome force of AIDS until the rights of women become paramount in the struggle.
-Stephen Lewis, Keynote Speech at International AIDS Conference, Toronto
Join us!
Mark your calendars for Dec 1-Dec 10 to:
- mobilize your campus to participate in this national action by urging your Senators to support U.S. ratification of CEDAW and helping PHR collect 10,000 signatures
- educate your community about the feminization of AIDS and its direct connection to women’s rights standards.
Throughout the next few weeks, we will launch a series of educational and organizing resources to help you plan your national WAD action. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with any questions and requests for further information.
Posted in: aids, CEDAW, Official PHR Posts, prevention for women and girls, Student Blog, WAD, Women, World AIDS Day
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During his campaign, President Obama promised to end the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs.
Call President Obama TODAY at (202) 456-1414 or (202) 456-1111 and tell him to keep his promise to save lives.
This summer, the House of Representatives took a historic step by removing the ban on federal funding for needle and syringe exchange programs (SEPs). Now, the Senate must act, but they are not making this policy a priority.
Senators need to hear from President Obama that his Administration supports syringe exchange. Now is the time to urge President Obama to fulfill his campaign promise to end the ban and to urge the Senate to act.
SEPs promote health and human rights. More than a dozen scientific reviews of SEPs have shown that when implemented as part of a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention strategy, SEPs help reduce HIV transmissions without increasing drug use.
Indeed, SEPs do more than provide clean syringes and properly dispose of used ones; they link people into the health care system and drug treatment programs that save lives.
President Obama’s leadership is key to moving this issue forward in the Senate. His support could help save the lives of thousands of people. 20 years is too long—help us end the ban today!
Call The White House Comment Line TODAY at (202) 456-1414 or (202) 456-1111 and tell Obama to fulfill his promise and END THE BAN.
Phone Script:
Tell the operator where you are from and if you are a health professional and/or have any specific expertise relevant to needle exchange, AIDS, and/or harm reduction. It is okay if you don’t have specific expertise—Obama needs to hear from everyone, in every state, about this issue!
Ask the operator to tell President Obama:
- The research is clear – syringe exchange programs work. The presence of syringe exchange programs in communities does not increase rates of drug use, nor does it lead to a rise in crime. What it does do: decrease transmission of HIV, Hepatitis C and other diseases.
- Now is the time for the President to make good on his promise to support lifting the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange. We are calling on President Obama to let key congressional members know that the White House supports Chairman Obey in fully revoking the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange.
- The President must also urge the Senate to refrain from adding any language or amendments to the Senate bill that would place undue restrictions on SEPs. The detrimental “1,000 Foot Rule” contained in the House bill may seem innocuous, but in reality it severely and unnecessarily limits the locations of SEPs. In some cases, the rule makes it impossible for urban communities to have needle exchange programs at all.
Posted in: aids, congress, General Human Rights, Health, Health Rights Advocate, House, needle exchange ban, obama, Senate, syringe exchange programs, Take Action, Women
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