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Uruguay: Human trafficking, an issue that needs to be addressed

By Ángela Castellanos

Montevideo.- While human trafficking organizations in Uruguay are mainly after women and children for sexual exploitation purposes, the national government has failed to develop new prevention and protection standards. This statement is contained in a recent annual report of the U.S. Department of State.

The latest report has a chapter on the Uruguayan case and indicates that the legislation in force does not include adult traffic and minimum standards for its elimination. Under current laws, children are protected only from sexual violence.

Uruguay is a signing party to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and ratified the Palermo Protocol in March 2005.

This instrument has been ratified by 40 countries and defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer or reception of people resorting to threat or use of force and other forms of coercion, as well as kidnapping, for exploitation purposes.

Three traffickers involved in labor exploitation were prosecuted and sentenced in the country. The case had been detected in January 2005. Practically no additional efforts have been made ever since to prevent criminals from going unpunished, the U.S. government study indicated.

There is no case reporting because human trafficking is not considered a crime and is often hidden and presented as domestic violence. So, figures remain invisible, said Margarita Navarrete, executive director of the Human Rights Public Policy Observatory and author of a research work entitled Human trafficking in Uruguay.

“White slave trade in particular and human trafficking in general are crimes often committed by those who make decisions at border control points, inspection sites and airports”, she added.

“As there are no government data, records and public information, there is no way to go deep into the issue”, she noted.

Local press reports indicated last May that the police in Teramo (Italy) had disarticulated an organization involved in Uruguayan white slave traffic. Its members had been paying around 2,000 euros per young woman taken from Montevideo to Italy.

Spanish media also reported that local police agents had in the last 12 months arrested over 250 people involved in Latin American white slave traffic. Uruguayan youngsters were certainly some of the victims.

Local daily newspapers have featured reports on human trafficking in other parts of the country, mainly for child prostitution and sale (for adoption).

“Nevertheless, as the U.S. document indicates, there are no local government programs to support victims. Social assistance projects lack resources. Although the authorities are backing some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in this area, legal and health-care services for exploited children and women are not available in most of the country”, she noted.

International experts believe that only effective protection programs can help victims report cases to the police. “Many of them may have given their consent to travel and engage in prostitution, and this generates a feeling of guilt”, she emphasized.

Although the Uruguayan government is promoting TV spots seeking to discourage human trafficking, local women are still victims of criminal organizations “buying” emigrants for forced prostitution abroad.

In this context, the Iberian-American Summit Conference to be held in early November in Montevideo under the theme Migration and Development is expected to help Uruguay make further progress in this area.

“Some United Nations high-level meetings have been held prior to the Summit. The 2006 international agenda has certainly included human trafficking”, Navarrete concluded.

Argentina: Reproductive rights

By Norma Loto

Buenos Aires.- Speaking of sexual and reproductive rights in Argentina today is possible thanks to a battle won by the women’s movement. Demanding and exercising these rights had been pure utopia some years ago. Bold women, however, struggled to defend something as simple as the full exercise of sexuality by the entire population.

The Law on Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation came into force in October 2002. The discussion seeking to de-criminalize or legalize abortion is still sparking controversy.

WFS interviewed Dr. Graciela Rosso, who was deputy Health Minister in the 2002-2005 period.

In December 2005, she became an MP for the province of Buenos Aires.

A medical doctor known for her struggle in favor of human rights, Rosso belongs to the political group of current President Néstor Kirchner. From parliament, she has promoted a daily struggle for Argentinean women’s progress.

WFS: You helped set up the Gender Unit at the Ministry of Health. Many people say you worked hard to have women present in the local health-care system. Do you agree with them?

Yes, I do. I believe women’s struggle has to do with the need to reach leadership positions and take necessary actions from there. Society is not the same for men and women, and the diversity of views is important. That is why, having women in high-ranking positions is significant.

For example, it is very positive to have different views at the House of Representatives. I think women legislators both in the House and the Senate have managed to promote policies in keeping with the country’s realities, leaving political trends aside.

WFS: Does any of these realities have to do with the need to de-criminalize abortion?

Yes, it does. Abortion poses one of the most serious problems to public health in Argentina today. We are deeply concerned about increased violence, especially sexual violence against women. We feel it is possible to advance toward de-criminalizing abortion in cases of rape and non-viable fetuses (anencephalia and other serious pathologies).

The legislation is already in force in some provinces like Buenos Aires. Post-rape abortion is contained in some House bills and will be discussed very soon.

Abortion is thus one of the issues we should give priority to. (Reporter Note: Argentinean law allows this practice only in raped madwomen and mother lives at risk).

WFS: What do you think about legalizing abortion altogether?

I think we should go as slowly as social debate does. We should promote contraceptive methods and unwanted-pregnancy prevention. The discussion about legalizing abortion altogether is not mature enough in our society, including Congress.

We will not force the debate. In our view, the discussion should focus on access to safe abortion at public health institutions. Although it is an illegal practice, we know it is often performed privately.

WFS: In the midst of so much controversy about abortion, different positions have been taken.

On the one hand, the legislative power is against de-criminalizing it; and, on the other, Health Minister Gines González García is for it. Do you think a more uniform discourse is necessary?

Yes, I do. It is interesting to note, however, that public opinion and opposition groups are asking the President to take a stronger stance toward abortion. If he finally does so, he will be considered authoritarian. It should be made clear that all these positions are democratic.

For example, Representative Diana Conti and I have asked to try the Judge who opposed abortion in the case of a disabled young girl in the city of La Plata. I have not received any call from the President to tell me we have done something wrong. On the contrary, the government supported us because we were defending a citizen’s rights.

The executive power’s position has been clearly reflected in the demands we have made concerning international treaties, while domestically we have discussed laws on women’s rights and the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

WFS: Don’t you think, nonetheless, that the process to de-criminalize abortion is going too slowly?

Abortion is the most controversial issue of all, and we want to have the views of all the people. We should have a mature, responsible discussion, and the President is letting it to happen.

WFS: Would you say that sexual and reproductive rights provide a tool to guarantee full exercise of human rights?

Of course, I would. Sexual and reproductive rights are human rights. To this government, human rights are the mainstay for action. This has become evident in our ratification of the Beijing Platform and the Cairo Plan of Action.

WFS: Have these moves infuriated opposition groups?

Of course, they have. We are not interested in changing opposition dogmas, but in taking actions to cover population needs. These groups have opposed legal abortion in Argentina for 80 years.

If they have not changed in eight decades, I doubt they will do so in the future.

In a fair society, discussions take place. Some people like them, some others oppose them, but we are a pluralistic society.

WFS: You have served both in public and parliamentary quarters. Do you think women can easily accede to these historically male-dominated areas?

It is difficult to balance. Many women believe that everything is much easier after we get to these quarters, but it is not.

Uruguay: The number of poor and vulnerable girls is on the upswing

By Ángela Castellanos

Montevideo.- The number of poor women and girls in Uruguay has been growing for years.

A recent review of the National Social Emergency Care Plan (PANES) showed that the female population is one of the most vulnerable social sectors in the country. PANES is a government-promoted social assistance program for the underprivileged.

The plan was put together by President Tabaré Vasquez government and seeks to meet basic food and health-care needs of those who live under extreme poverty conditions.

PANES beneficiaries include people whose family income was lower than the food basket price on March 1, 2005.

The review conducted by social worker Silvia Fernández and schoolteacher Marta Pintos showed that 156,543 Uruguayan women are covered by the plan. They account for 52 percent of the overall number of beneficiaries. Out of the total, girls make up 40 percent.

A process of infantilization of poverty has taken place in Uruguay. In the previous legislature, a commission was set up to consider the issue and came to the same conclusions as the United Nations Children’s Rights Committee in 1996, said Luis Pedernera, UN representative in the country.

PANES assistance programs include money transfers for household heads, temporary employment, food support, disease prevention, shelters for those living in the streets, student support and housing improvement.

Last year, a study by the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Universidad de la República revealed that most social spending in the country benefits the adult population (those over 18 years of age).

Most poor families are being supported by women. Over 58 percent of the local women benefiting from PANES are household heads, and 94.8 percent of them are monoparental family heads.

In Uruguay, a country where the birth rate is very low, the biological reproduction of the population occurs in the poorer households, with many early pregnancy cases being reported. This closes a poverty cycle that is worsening the situation and making it difficult to redress the problem, Pedernera concluded.

Genital surgery: the “latest” in the beauty industry

By Mirta Rodríguez Calderón

Santo Domingo.- A Dominican newspaper supplement note was like a slap in my feminist face. It looked like a paid report because of the number of pictures and specialized views it contained, as well as its special design. What it said, however, was true.

A plastic surgeon described his procedure: The way I treat my patients makes them trust me. Their couples are part of my team. They have a say. They even bring me photos to show me how they want their wives’ vaginas to look.

I thought that what many women –wealthy, of course- are taking: liposuctions, implants and fashionable vagina surgeries (euphemistically called intimacy surgeries) is actually intensifying a process of victimization and self-violence.

Many stereotypes came to my mind: women as objects of pleasure for men, subordinated women, and beauty industry victims.

I recalled an assertion by Dominican scholar Denise Paiewonski: The body image and beauty model that is sold to us, beginning with Barbie and her inhuman proportions, are not only unattainable to most women, but also harmful to health. This is specially the case when the search for these sizes involves artificial diets and liposuctions, she added.

I reflected on this subject and decided to seek specialized criteria. My first approach to these realities was at a plastic-surgeon waiting room. There, I met a lady over 50 and two young girls who were unhappy with their breasts and had decided to put something “extra” on.

The spiny questions in my interviews seemed to include vulva surgery, labioplasty (to reduce or increase any of the folds at the margin of the vulva) and vaginal rejuvenation (to re-locate the clitoris to facilitate closer contact with the penis during sexual intercourse).

Do women keep silent or do they make comments about these issues?

Anyone could think discretion, shame, embarrassment and blushing always accompany silence in these cases. Inexcusable error: they do not.

“My mother would never talk about these issues, but women in my generation do. Why not? ”, wondered a patient who has just had a liposuction and was not sure about fitting in the panty girdle her doctor had recommended.

The assertion was corroborated in detail and in full by Dr. Severo Mercedes Acosta, an outstanding professor and director of the Plastic Surgery School at the Gautier Hospital.

“Women do not only talk about these matters, but also love to do so”, he said. In his opinion, women try to feel pleased with themselves much harder than men do.

“They do not do so for men. They do so because they think a lot about emotion and beauty. These feelings are more valuable to them than to men. Women make up 95 percent of my patients.

I have seen 26 today, including only one man and one boy”, he stressed.

We end up accepting the bustle and hustle of those trying to reduce their noses, mouths and bellies or have more breast. The so-called intimacy surgery remains something very eccentric, however.

Former president of the Dominican Medical College, Mercedes is categorical in this regard and gives further reasons: Women are the mainstay at home. “Genital esthetic surgery is now part and parcel of their spiritual lives”, he noted.

Everything has changed. Women used to have their surgeon appointments at a time of the day when they could go unnoticed. Now, they want other people to know about the surgery they have had.

“They make comments at beauty salons, amusement parks, everywhere. Technological progress has imposed cultural changes”, he emphasized.

“Liposuction is the most frequently used esthetic surgery in Iberian-American countries today. It is associated with other procedures to cover thighs and flanks when the main surgery focuses on the belly, the back when the gluteus is intervened, or eyelids in facial surgery”, the specialist remarked.

After having worked in reconstructive surgery for 22 years, Mercedes states that the number of post-surgery complications is very low, when compared to the number of operations performed.

With regard to ethical issues, he said that any kind of reconstructive surgery can be performed after a woman has her first menstruation. “A careful check up by a trained surgeon is of the essence”, he added.

There are many doctors working in areas they are not really specialized in. That is why, problems arise. “Reconstructive surgery poses a moral problem, and our professional conduct has to be civic”, he stated.

From rejection to bewilderment and, from there, to reflection

My initial distrust faded away. Changing the body is a right every woman has. If she feels OK and the procedure can help raise self-esteem, what objections can one make?

There are some objections, however. They are explained by Dr. Jenny García, a renowned gyneco-obstetrician many local professionals always resort to.

She is the director of Atabey Center. Atabey was the goddess of fertility and water and protected women in labor among the primitive inhabitants of Hispaniola, the first territory where Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas. She feels things are not as idyllic as those undergoing these self-violence procedures believe.

They are a different manifestation of alienation, a tribute to appearance in a technological world that gives priority to esthetics over any other value. Inner life is little or not cultivated at all, she told WFS.

I asked her: Shouldn’t we consider these practices a women’s right?

Of course, we should. If women want to and have the grand’s required (2,000 to 3,000 dollars) for it, they should go ahead. But why don’t they and the media, which in my view are to blame for this fashion, speak of sexual and reproductive rights?, she wondered.

When I asked her about women facing little risks over these operations, she smiled indulgently and solemnly declared: I would love to know if pre-surgery clinical evaluations include questions like: Do you have orgasms?

García feels that there is a need to re-conceptualize beauty and women’s self-esteem. I understand and fully agree with the idea of resorting to reconstructive surgery when a woman’s breasts are so big that she often suffers from back pain. I also think we should work harder on women’s strengths and acceptance of their bodies, teaching them to love themselves and think about themselves, and not following stringent diets, doing extenuating exercises or trying to get the latest in cosmetics.

The specialist has gained practical experience over the last 20 years. At the end of our conversation, she was categorical: I think we should promote the beauty that enhances women’s pleasure and makes them enjoy their own bodies.

Health: Struggling against AIDS, between hope and frustration

By Zoraida Portillo

San Diego, California.- Although some groups committed to the struggle against the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) had hoped that the 16^th International Conference on AIDS would reach specific agreements to deal with the pandemic, most of its 25,000 participants are still experiencing disappointment. The event was held on August 13-18, in Toronto (Canada).

Such a feeling is based on far-from-encouraging figures: there are 11,000 new cases and 8,000 people die of AIDS every day in the world. Only in sub-Saharan Africa, where 64 percent of world HIV-positive patients live, 800 people pass away due to this disease.

Frustration also comes from a lack of political will that became evident at the event, and prejudices that hinder coping strategies, such as the inferior status imposed on women, homophobia, and HIV, racism and inequality related stigma. This was highlighted by Peter Piot, executive director of the United Nations Programme to Combat AIDS (UNAIDS), in his opening speech.

Mark Heywood, representative of South Africa’s AIDS Law Project, said at a plenary session: With so many people dying due to lack of leadership, the world should speak more strongly. He made the statement at the session It is time to keep the promise: the price to be paid for inaction.

To face the HIV/AIDS challenge, the world requires leaders and citizens taking up responsibility for their actions, he added. I dream of a panel with Brazilian President (Ignacio) Lula, South Africa’s (Thabo) Mbeki and UK’s (Tony) Blair.

“Lula would tell Mbeki about Brazil’s experience in coping with HIV and Blair would supply the necessary resources to deal with the epidemic”, he indicated.

Dr. Mark Wainberg, chairman of the local Organizing Committee and director of the AIDS Center at McGill University, stressed: Our mission will fail if we do not manage to expand to millions the number of people in the world with access to anti-retroviral drugs, and implement large-scale prevention at the same time.

We will make no progress if the number of HIV-positive people grows faster than the number of people with access to treatment. This meeting will be successful only if we keep our promise, as the Conference theme indicates.

Stephen Lewis, United Nations special envoy for AIDS control in Africa, strongly criticized pharmaceutical companies and apathetic governments in his closing speech. “These drugs are already being successfully used in western countries to treat and prevent the disease from birth”, he said.

He specifically criticized the South African government. It is promoting a policy toward AIDS that is worthier of a group of lunatics than of a preoccupied and compassionate state, he noted.

“Dear colleagues, I challenge you to join the struggle for sexual equality. There is not a more honorable, productive and important call in this world. All roads lead to social change and involve women. They all aim to control the pandemic”, he underlined.

The international conference is the world’s biennial AIDS community meeting.

Convened by UNAIDS, the event in 2006 was organized by the AIDS International Society (AIS) –a world leader, independent organization gathering over 10,000 professionals-, the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, the International Council of Organizations Providing AIDS-Related Services, the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, and the Canadian AIDS Society.

The six-day conference made it possible for participants from 170 countries to present over 4,500 paper abstracts and provide information on a wide range of community and cultural activities under implementation.

An international team of over 60 rapporteurs worked on the Conference proceedings, including reports on major findings and discussions. The main topics included five scientific areas, key challenges and several youth, leadership and community programs.

Five grassroots organizations from Ukraine, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zambia and Zimbabwe were granted the Red Ribbon Award for the first time. Over 500 communities had been nominated.

Mette Marit, UNAIDS special representative and Norway’s heiress princess, granted a prize to Zimbabwe’s Girl Child Network, which supports girls in rural areas of the country, including sexual- abuse victims.

The Conference timing served to mark the 25^th anniversary of the first HIV reported cases.

Around 65 million people have been infected with and over 25 million have died of AIDS in the world ever since.

Inequality figures

Conference data show that over 55 billion dollars will be required to providing universal coverage against the pandemic by 2008. Last year, 4.1 million people got infected with and 2.8 million died of AIDS-related diseases like TB.

As usual, women and children face the worst situation. Only eight percent of the 800,000 children under 15 years of age requiring HIV treatment actually receive it. Although there are drugs available to prevent transmission during delivery, most women in the world have no access to them and their babies are unable to live for five years.

In this regard, Kercia Larkin, the first aboriginal woman in Canada to publicly declare that she lives with HIV showed up at the event with her teenage daughter and made a vehement call for the international community to include aboriginal populations and women in its projects.

“HIV is an epidemic affecting our communities and I will not keep silent about this reality”, she stated.

Access to anti-retroviral drugs is the weakest point in coping strategies. Estimates show that only 24 percent of the 6.8 million HIV-positive people living in low- and middle-income countries have access to these drugs.

Studies have revealed that the benefits of supplying anti-retroviral drugs would exceed costs by far.

Conference follow-up

Shortly after the Conference closed, Dr. Craig McClure, executive director of the International AIDS Society, made a reflection: To reach its true potential, our work in the Conference should be followed up.

The event organizers plan to prepare a report identifying the main topics discussed, and make it available at www.aids2006.org. It will be an integral part of preparations for the 2008 AIDS Conference in Mexico City.

Observers believe that the holding of the next gathering in Mexico will be highly assessed in the region.

Argentina’s Pedro Cahn is the new president of the International Society and the first Latin American and developing country representative to occupy such a position.

Having a president from a developing country conveys a strong message regarding the scope of the International AIDS Society and the Conference, he told press reporters after his election.

He added that the trend has so far been to attract donors for priority projects in Asia and Africa, while neglecting other geographical regions.

In Latin America, however, only 50 percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS and requiring treatment have access to it. Most of them do not know they have been infected, he stressed.

The Women's News Service from Latin America and the Caribbean, International News Agency, offers this weekly service. No reproduction without authorization. Any comment o suggestion please contact us: semlac@redsemlac.net