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Mexico: Doing justice now

By Sara Lovera López

Mexico, September.- The army is all over the country and the war on drug trafficking has led to human-rights violations.

Time has come to act, either through legislative measures or effective care for victims.

There have been over 60 rapes by the military in the last 14 years, human rights- organizations, including Amnesty International, estimate.

"Those found guilty have not been taken to prison and there is little information about the victims’ suffering", said feminist MP Marina Arvizu.

"The situation is likely to change, however. We can now move from reporting to legislative action", she added.

The idea is not to accuse the army or amend the Constitution. This text clearly says that the military involved in common law crimes should be tried by common law courts. "Rape is indeed a common law crime under the local code", she noted.

The aim is also to amend supplementary laws that go against the Constitution and provide effective care for victims. "This is a responsibility of all women working for parliament or government", she emphasized.

After nine months of investigation, she came to a substantive conclusion: there is an imperative need to formulate a comprehensive policy, establish a solidarity fund and amend the Military Justice Code.

"There is also a need to remove patriarchal culture. In the meantime, however, justice should be done, especially now that the army is all over the country under the so-called war on drug trafficking", she remarked.

Jurist Bárbara Yllán, former assistant prosecutor in the Federal District, indicated that the current Military Justice Code provides protection to those involved in crimes that should be dealt under civil justice. This leads to rapes and human-rights violations.

Eight members of the Mexican army are currently being tried because they raped 13 women in July 2006, in Castaños (Cohauila), 1,000 kilometers away from the capital city.

The trial would have been completed long ago and the right sentences would have been imposed had it not been for so many inconsistencies.

Arvizu Rivas, a feminist and representative of the Social-Democratic Alternative Party in Congress, told WNS that the case in Castaños show how necessary it is to do justice now.

Not even the National Commission on Human Rights or the National Institute of Women's Affairs has addressed the victims' needs, including damage reparation and psychological support. "This is a responsibility shared by the army and the local government", she indicated.

She has helped those cooperating with the case and strongly believes that a trust fund should be set up for this purpose.

She is also working hard to introduce amendments into the Military Justice Code for the purpose of guaranteeing relevant sentences for those involved in rape, dealing with outstanding cases immediately, and putting an end to acts of violence against women.

Democratic Alternative, a local parliamentary group, recalled that political tension, the war on organized crime and growing militarization are leaving hundreds of women in a vulnerable situation.

We women become spoils of war and are often abused under the argument that the military should be tried by the military only, some Group members stressed.

Yllán provided a legal explanation: Article 13 of the Constitution clearly says that civil justice applies whenever there is a conflict between the military and civilians (appearing as victims or defendants). "The Supreme Court is currently facing a number of contradictions and any reform should try to return its true meaning to the Constitution", she added.

This article has remained unchanged since 1917, when the Constitution was developed.

Police and military forces have been involved in excessive actions over the last 12 months in Oaxaca, Atenco and Castaños. "Those found guilty should have been taken to prison a long time ago", she concluded.

Abortion: A local debate

By Mirta Rodríguez Calderón

Santo Domingo, September.– Local women do not favor the idea of legalizing abortion altogether, but merely therapeutic abortion. Those who think they should give birth to children after rape or incest, affected by genetic malformations or resulting from forced fertilization have attacked the women’s movement in an unprecedented manner.

A public hearing was recently held in Congress to discuss and eventually pass a number of reforms to the Criminal Code, which ways back to 1884 and is based on French legislation. Such an effort will be thwarted if the Church manages to impose its mystical theology, however.

The hearing sparked so much interest that the 150-seat room could not accommodate all those planning to attend the six-hour debate. There were over 150 speakers, including some who were interrupted by a believer who repeatedly said: Oh, my Lord, hallelujah! Parliament speaker José Ricardo Taveras found it really difficult to silence him.

It rained heavily that morning. As many women came in, some others thanked God because the rain symbolized the Lord's tears.

Outside the building, where journalists make interviews, other women surrounded those who were defending women’s rights. They were holding puppets of doctors stained with blood, posters condemning abortion, and gigantic fetus pictures. These actions were strongly criticized by the Dominican Medical Association.

Public-hearing speakers and WNS-interview guests advanced a wide range of opinions, however.

Opposing views

Writer Chiqui Vicioso told WNS: "I would like to know how the local parliament is really made up. Those who ask the State to implement literacy programs and build shelters for children who prostitute themselves in the street to eat are now trying to punish the poorest women in this country", she added.

"Those meeting in the hall are middle-class people who will make a decision on a matter they do not have the slightest idea about", she stressed.

A UNICEF study revealed that 75 percent of Dominican men are involved in pederasty. "They just leave girls pregnant", she emphasized.

Senator Francisco Domínguez Brito, who is an honorable member of the ruling party, put it differently: "I think this issue relates to life. Time does not determine when a human person has developed". "I believe we should preserve life at any cost. Genetic malformations can not be easily detected", he added.

"The State has certain mechanisms in place to take action right after a rape occurs", he noted.

On the other hand, jurists Eduardo Jorge Prats and Nassef Perdomo proved that there is legal entity only after birth.

A Women’s Support Group has been working for 20 years in Santiago de los Caballeros, 200 kilometers away from Santo Domingo. It is made up of outstanding feminists. Its general coordinator Manuela Vargas stated: This is a human-rights issue. We know that any action by Congress should seek to safeguard human rights, including women’s rights.

"We hope our legislators will respect the warranties contained in international conventions and treaties to which the country is a signing party. We are speaking of something that is not life yet, as has been scientifically proven. Pregnant women do have a life already", she remarked.

Federico Antún, president of the Association of Catholic Doctors in Santo Domingo, indicated: If we decriminalize abortion, we will open a door to kill a life under gestation and eventually promote euthanasia, as has been the case in other countries. When he was asked to elaborate, he could not mention any of these countries.

Sister Isaura, a representative of the Dominican Daughters of Charity, put it in this way: "We defend life because life is a God-given gift. Babies are not to blame. They do not have an independent life yet, but they are alive and we should protect them".

Healthcare under the Code

Several speakers representing women’s movements highlighted the fact that poverty is the cause of death for many women who have no choice other than resorting to abortion. They are later reflected in statistical data as having had pregnancy- and/or delivery-related complications.

Enorbina Doñé, coordinator of the Federation of Rural Women in San Cristóbal, indicated: "We Catholics feel that abortion should be performed whenever a woman's life is at risk. If you get pregnant from your own father, brother or neighbor, you should not be forced to give birth", she added.

María Peña Martínez is a peasant who has three children. "I was 15 when I first got pregnant. My husband and I were very happy. I had a very strong pain and a lot of bleeding six months later, however. When I was taken to a hospital, the doctors did not see me immediately. I was very close to death", she told WNS.

On the other hand, Roslín Cruz recalled that her grandmother had given her some potion to abort shortly after she had got pregnant from her own father.

Denisse Paiewonski, representative of the Women’s Health Association, stressed that 19th-century standards are still being observed in the country. "The local parliament is now in a position to modernize such rules", she added.

Is freedom of religion violated when religious principles are imposed by law? Religion has the right to say what is a sin, but not what is a crime in a democratic society, Fernando Savater stressed. Criminalizing therapeutic abortion does not only violate freedom of religion, but also other constitutional rights, he noted.

Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile and the Dominican Republic do not recognize women’s rights and punish women mercilessly. Around 100,000 abortions are performed every year in this country, however.

Mexico: Growing family violence

By Alicia Yolanda Reyes

Guadalajara, Mexico, September.– Angélica had been living with her sexual partner for a year. She went to help her mother out when her husband Manuel hit her. She had filed several complaints at the State Family Board, but no action had been taken.

The 17-year-old girl was eight-month pregnant. She was helping her mother put her belongings on a neighbor’s light truck that would take them to a small village in Jalisco when something unexpected happened.

Manuel (37) came in shouting, threatening them. Some minutes later, he shot at Ángelica, her grandmother, her mother and their two three- and five-year-old children. When he realized some neighbors had called up the police, he committed suicide. Ángelica was taken to a hospital and operated on. She died, but her baby did not.

Some neighbors told WNS that Manuel used to hit his wife and children. He had threatened to kill her if she left him, they stressed.

This event showed how insufficiently women are supported when they report such cases to the police, said Judith Rojas, president of the Gender Equality Committee at the local parliament.

Those responsible for such acts of family violence include governors, legislators, judges and attorneys. They have come up with no concrete proposal to abate this phenomenon in Jalisco, which ranks second on the list of Mexican states exhibiting a growing number of violent actions at home.

The State Council on Violence Prevention should have legal and financial autonomy to follow up reports, she stressed.

Guidance services for women who are physically, emotionally and/or psychologically abused have proven to be inadequate. Those working in this area have not always been properly trained, she emphasized.

On the other hand, Francisco Gutiérrez, director of the Psychological Research Center at the University of Guadalajara, indicated that the number of acts of violence and suicides in Jalisco has grown in a significant manner. "Although there are 12 mental-health institutions working in the state, family violence has not been eradicated", he remarked.

Officials at the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (INEGI) announced that 30 women are being violently killed every day. This is the fifth major cause of death in the country, they added.

Around 22 percent of these women are killed by their sexual partners or husbands at home. Most of them had reported their cases to the police, but no action had been taken. Forty-seven percent of the women who are over 15 years of age and live with their couples are subjected to emotional, economic, physical and/or sexual violence, INEGI data revealed.

Such acts are socially accepted because women "fail to behave". This means going out with friends, speaking over the telephone while their husbands are at home or not having dinner ready at a specific time.

While family violence had in the past affected low-income people only, it reaches all social strata today because wives and children are considered private property.

Although women are the main victims, children and older people are also at risk. Nine fathers have killed their children and nine children have killed their fathers in Jalisco alone so far this year.

An 80-year-old man who was recovering from a heart attack and his 78-year-old wife were murdered by their youngest son in Guadalajara earlier this year. When he was questioned by the police, he said his father had often beaten up and humiliated him when he was a boy, while his mother never defended him.

An 80-year-old lady was raped and assassinated by her children under the effect of alcohol and drugs. They said they had committed such a crime because she had not given them money to drink. "We were often abused and humiliated by our parents", they told the police.

Acts of parental violence, either physical or otherwise, are seen every day. Children get up in the morning in the midst of shouts and insults. Mothers pull their hair and blow their faces while dressing them. We are not violent; we are just educating them, they often say.

Dr. Arturo Abdalá, director of a local clinic for abused children, announced that ten percent of minors are sexually, physically or psychologically abused by some family member.

His clinic provides care for children with dislocated arms, detached retina and body burns. Most parents argue they just fell or hit themselves with a piece of furniture, he added. As we proceed to a check-up, we see they have actually been abused.

Doctors at the Guadalajara Civil Hospital often see children suffering from wounds, burns and/or sequels of sexually transmitted diseases. Most mothers do not report these cases to the police because they fear that their husbands would leave them or because they are unaware of the damage being caused to their children.

While mothers are the main abusers and are, in turn, abused by their husbands in urban areas, fathers set the rules and punish their wives and children in the countryside.

The federal government has just announced an additional money allocation for violence prevention programs put together by the Health Secretariat. Experts feel that prevention work should include children’s education and same treatment for boys and girls at day-care centers and schools.

Girls are still obliged to do house chores and care for their fathers and brothers, while the latter go out to play, they recalled.

Such a differentiated treatment makes them very vulnerable. A survey by the Institute of Youth and Women’s Affairs showed that nine every 10 women aged 12 to 29 have experienced acts of violence over their engagements. Half of them are aware of it; the other half takes it as something normal.

Earthquake in Peru: Emergency is over; unpleasant impressions remain

By Zoraida Portillo

Pueblo Nuevo, Chincha, Peru, September.– Three weeks after an earthquake destroyed the southern part of the country, the event no longer makes front-page news and many international-brigade members are leaving because rescue operations are over.

Devastation is still being seen in earthquake-stricken areas, and new sequels are surfacing everywhere, despite the push and courage shown from the very beginning. Women have got the worst of it.

Although the local authorities have ignored reproductive-health issues, international cooperation agencies have included them on their agendas.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) has urged donors to allocate over 850,000 dollars to provide healthcare for pregnant women who live in isolated areas and will give birth in the next few months.

The idea is also to supply dignity kits containing underwear, sanitary napkins and other toiletries, improve emergency reproductive healthcare services and protect vulnerable population groups like women, girls and older/disabled people.

Ten days after the earthquake occurred, there was an emergency situation still affecting the area. Children and senior citizens were suffering from gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases, dermatomycosis and louse, while women often developed vaginal fungi.

Life experiences

Mental health problems are affecting mostly women and children, specialists indicated.

"We have not been able to overcome distress, psychosis ands depression. We lost everything we had", said Rosa Ascensio, a representative of the Information Committee at the Women’s Federation in Ica.

Children do not want to move away from their families. They do not even want to go to school. Those who go ask to leave classroom doors open. When they hear some noise, they get terrified, a teacher in Pisco told a local radio station.

The international organization Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) indicated that earthquake victims are exhibiting sleep disorders, fear and anxiety. There are up to 40 people sharing one single tent. They feel forsaken, said Zohra Abaakouk, manager of the MSF mental-health program in the area.

The organization has facilitated over 500 mental-health consultations in Pisco alone, including group therapies and individual appointments. The aim is to provide psychological support to the local population because there is no government strategy under implementation along these lines.

The situation in earthquake-stricken areas is really shocking. Thousands of people are living in shelters poorly built in plains and sandy grounds.

They have no water, food and power supply available. Under such conditions, they can not overcome psychological traumas, experts believe.

Rural areas

The situation is even more serious in the countryside. Irrigation projects are stopped and many crops are about to be lost.

After so much destruction, nobody wants to plant asparagus, stressed a local producer and exporter.

Fishing boats in San Andrés were completely destroyed by the sea earthquake, and there is still a warning not to go out fishing.

FAO reports indicated that over 13 million dollars will be required to feeding the victims and helping them get back to their daily activities.

The rural population is made up of peasants, fishermen and other workers currently going hungry. The destruction of fishing communities and farms will have a negative impact on the local economy, an official anticipated.

President Alan García emphasized that the event will lead to a one-percent drop in the country’s economic growth rate this year. Many economists, however, do not agree with him.

Sociologist Sinesio López published an article in La República daily newspaper indicating that the earthquake has been like a test on economic performance. The State failed to pass it.

"If it does not operate as it should under normal conditions, how can it possibly do so in a disaster situation?", he wondered.

The event killed 500 people, destroyed 80 percent of the houses in Ica, Chincha, Pisco and Cañate, and left over 200,000 victims, international estimates show.

Despite chaos, local people are trying to move ahead. Field kitchens are supplying food to thousands, while community-based canteens, mothers’ committees and other women’s organizations are taking up such a responsibility in many districts, just as they have done in the last couple of decades.

Please write about us and indicate that we need further help, Rosa Ortega told WNS. She is a member of a mothers’ committee in Pueblo Nuevo, Chincha.

Colombia: Women against war

By Ángela Castellanos

Bogotá, September.– An armed conflict has been draining Colombia for around 40 years, despite government efforts to put an end to it.

Against this background, local women’s organizations united in 1996 to work for a negotiated solution and build peace through peaceful resistance, especially in the north-eastern region of Urabá. They convened a national march with the participation of hundreds of women. It culminated on November 25, the Day of No Violence against Women, in Mutatá, a municipality where fierce combats were being staged.

The march was followed by the establishment of the so-called Peaceful Women’s Route and the slogan: "We do not give births to children for war". It is today made up of 350 organizations working for armed-conflict victims and women's rights in nine different regions.

The Route has been kept alive thanks to active, constant mobilization. It organizes a national march every year, usually ending in a conflict-stricken district. It also organizes local demonstrations every month. They are called Women in Black, in keeping with the international movement under the same name, which is led by Eastern-European and Middle-East pacifists. These street demonstrations have become a sort of civil-resistance benchmark.

"This peace-loving, feminist movement is composed of indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant women, as well as political activists, artists and scholars", Marina Gallego told WNS. She is the Route’s national coordinator.

Local women are not only direct victims of the armed conflict, but also mothers, wives or colleagues of men who have been murdered, kidnapped or gone missing.

They are often attacked and intimidated. Last July, Wayuú women announced that some of their leaders were being threatened because they had revealed that illegal far-right armed groups were operating on the northern peninsula of La Guajira.

Human-rights and social activists have been murdered. Judith Vergara Correa, president of the Community-Based Action Group and representative of several NGOs working for peace, was assassinated on April 23 in Medellín city.

Women in rural areas are often raped, mutilated or subjected to sexual exploitation. All armed groups, including the army, far-right organizations and leftist guerrillas, have abused and exploited both civilian and military women.

This was corroborated by Radhika Coomaraswany, United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women. She visited Colombia in November 2001 and prepared a report indicating:

Armed groups are rarely involved in direct confrontation and often seek to attack civilians who are thought to support the opposing side. Violence against women, especially sexual violence, is a common practice, the text read.

The bodies of women have become spoils of war. They are the favorite target of armed groups imposing terror in and military control over communities, forcing people to leave areas of military or economic interest, and even taking revenge against the enemy. These crimes have been widely ignored.

"We have provided information on women who are armed-conflict victims or have been subjected to different forms of violence", Gallego stressed.

While local women are not often directly involved in military operations, they are forced to leave their land and possessions behind. Over three million people, mostly women, are estimated to have moved from rural to urban areas lately. They have managed to stay alive, but have lost their identity.

The People’s Women Organization (OFP) was established in Barrancabermeja city three decades ago to promote peaceful resistance and support displaced families.

"We have joined the Women’s Movement against War because we defend human rights and women’s rights, and implement projects seeking to resist all forms of violence: economic, social, cultural, civil and political", said OFP president Yolanda Becerra.

She has been threatened on several occasions, but her fighting spirit has remained unchanged.

"Some of our members have been at risk, particularly in areas under conflict. They have had to move to other cities, but we have always protected them", she added.

The organization has opposed the idea of forgetting the past and letting those found guilty go unpunished. It set up a court in 1998 to condemn acts of violence against women, and organized a seminar last year to discuss women’s views about truth, justice and damage reparation.

Last year, it published a research work containing local women’s stories in different regions of the country.

The Route had been granted the Peace Millennium Award by UNIFEM and Alert International in 2000.

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