[Egemtraining] Discussion topic for this week

[lindiwe nkutha]

I'm feeling so iffy about doinf this, but I'll do it anyways. A coalation of NGO's working in the area of gender violence in Southern Africa yesterday launched the 16 days of Peace campaisn which will run until the 10 December this year. as part of the activities we's set aside space on our webpage www.genderlinks.org.za to discuss these issues. Please visit our site, and sign the Peace Pledge committing yourself to a 16 Days and 365 days and a lifetime of Peace. Also leave a message on the memorial wall in memory of loved ones who may have lost their lives to gender violence, find out what activities are happening which you could become a part of and if there is inspiration still, share with us you creative expresssions in the section called your own words. Please let as many people as possible know that this happening during this period, and encourage them to commit themselves to Peace. We look forward to having you there.

Regards

Lindiwe Nkutha
Having finished "marketing" :-) I will come back and contribute to the on going discussion.  
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: research 
  To: Barbara Lopi ; egemtraining at lists.sn.apc.org 
  Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 5:20 PM
  Subject: Re: [Egemtraining] Discussion topic for this week


  Dear All
  thanks very much Barbara for giving us something to kickstart the discussion. I agree that this is a challenging issue we have at hand and that we have a lot f challenges as communicators to. Some of the issues that you mention which i think we need to grapple with are issues of legal and constitutional provisions vs the reality on the ground (where mechanims are to ensure the legal provisions are not available), culture, custom and tradition vs the human rights of women (especially in marital relationships), the whole issue of rape and how we can begin to recognise the rights of survivors to infection. These, I think are some of the issue that we need to be reviewing and I am looking forward to what others think about these!!!!! Lets continue to talk!!
  Alice

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Barbara Lopi 
    To: research ; egemtraining at lists.sn.apc.org 
    Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 3:32 PM
    Subject: Re: [Egemtraining] Discussion topic for this week


    Dear All
    This is another complex issue to which I could like to submit the following:
    HIV/AIDS is one pandemic that is posing a lot of challenges to our social, cultural and human rights practices. As individuals and communicators operating in an environment where anti-retroviral drugs are beyond the reach of many a people in our countries, we have a challenge to ensure that cultural and social practices that expose us to the risk of contracting the HIV/AIDS virus are revisited and revised. But this is not an easy task because it is one that encompasses dealing legal aspects, such as awareness, reform and dealing with stigma. For instance, in most of our southern African countries, despite the guaranteeing of fundamental freedoms to all citizens and the placing of strong emphasis on the equal worth of men and women, including the mentioning of sex and marital status in the non-discriminatory clauses in most constitutions, women continue to experience the most differential and unequal treatment when compared to men when it comes to the application of personal laws relating to marriage. This is, because most constitutions in the region also uphold that enjoyment by persons of their culture, tradition, custom and language should not be inconsistent with the constitution. This is why we so often read in the newspapers about most of our local court justices castigating women who experience marital problems for refusing to have had sex with their spouses especially when women suspected "foul play" on the part of their spouses. I think in view of the increasing HIV/AIDS epidemic, governments and indeed our societies in general should start taking the issue of marital rape seriously. This should also be coupled by revision of processes required before one is "certified as having been raped." The current procedure in many countries is so cumbersome and torturers that most "victims" of rape would rather suffer in silence than go through the process. Because of the cumbersome procedures, even if governments were to be obliged to treat access to anti-retroviral drugs as a right for survivors of rape, majority of the targeted group might not be able to benefit. While I support the idea of obliging governments to treat access to anti-retroviral drugs as a right for survivors of rape, more should be done legally, by recognizing marital rape as a crime and simplifying the procedures currently at play before one is certified to have been raped. 
    Let's talk.
    Barbara
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.sn.apc.org/pipermail/egemtraining/attachments/20021125/59e5894a/attachment-0002.html