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Sexual Health Exchange, 1998 - no. 1 Worldwide actions to combat abuse Protesting child abuse In April 1997, some 200 people from organizations, including the African National Congress Women's League, marched to the South African Parliament to demand action against violence affecting women and children. Memoranda were given to the President's administrative secretary and the Western Cape police services; the demands included compulsory sensitivity training for police; staffing of township police stations with a surgeon and child protection unit; and reprioritizing budgets to address such issues. Sapa/Streetkid e-mail list About 3000 people participated in a protest against child prostitution organized by churches and human rights organizations in Belem, Brazil, in August 1997. They called for implementation of public policies to combat unemployment, violence and social marginalization as an overall approach to dealing with the problem. SEJUP/Streetkid e-mail list On 21 November 1997, students of the National University of Lesotho demonstrated in the capital city to protest the rising incidence of child sexual abuse. After marching through the main streets, they presented a petition to the offices of the registrar of the High Court, the clerk of the National Assembly and the regional commander of police. Sapa/Streetkid e-mail list Preventing abusive behaviours The University of Cape Town in South Africa recently studied the appropriateness and Using the Internet to trace paedophiles At an international meeting of the Interpol police organization on 20 November 1997 in Budapest, Hungary, police officials from the USA announced development of a strategy to assist Asian and Eastern European countries to use the Internet to trace paedophiles who use the computer network to find children. Training programmes will also focus on combating child pornography on the Internet. Voice of America/Streetkid e-mail list
Women in South Africa are warned that they are not to blame fot date rape and informed how to take measures to prevent it (Planned Parenthood Association) Combating violence against women in Indonesia The Rifka Annisa Women's Crisis Centre in Yogyakarta provides a wide range of services to women subjected to harassment, domestic and sexual violence. Counselling is provided by phone, letter and in person; legal and medical aid are arranged through networking with specialized organizations. To disseminate information and campaign against violence, the Centre conducts public lectures and discussions; it also produces brochures and flyers for the general public and information materials for the mass media. Training focuses on broadening women's skills and insights into the issues. Guiding peer support groups and visiting homes complement the other activities. Rifka Annisa Women's Crisis Centre, Jln. Kenari 10, Demangan Baru, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia Media campaign increases awareness of help centres The NGO Ezrat-Nashim ("Women's Aid") in Israel comprises leading female media workers who have campaigned to raise awareness of and public support for women's help centres. Using the slogan "They cannot force you to keep silent" in billboards, television and radio announcements, they publicized a national toll-free telephone number that provides assistance to persons in need. This resulted in a sevenfold increase in calls, a commitment from the Prime Minister to match the funds they raised, a promise from the Labour Minister to triple allocated funding for women's help centres and work by the Treasury Ministry to permanently allocate funds for the centres in the national budget. FAVNET/Beijing95 e-mail list Government action to address violence In Bangladesh, the government's Department of Women's Affairs established a Cell Against Violence Against Women that provides legal counselling and assistance for civil and criminal cases related to violence against women. In districts, committees against such violence have been set up to help handle cases and provide counselling. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs is preparing an integrated project to improve the effectiveness of agencies responsible for dealing with such crimes, to provide especially poor women with better access to the justice system and to create general awareness through public education campaigns. Beijing95 e-mail list King Hussein, opening Parliament in Jordan in November 1997, condemned violence against women, stressing the importance of women's role. He said, "We should look with great concern to some of the dangerous phenomena that are making women suffer and unfortunately make them exposed to inhumanitarian violations of their basic rights." He was referring to socalled "crimes of honour" in which women are killed, usually by family members, on suspicion of having extramarital relationships. An average of 25-30 women are killed yearly in this way. UPI/Beijing95 email list WHO and FIGO collaborate The International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FIGO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) held a joint workshop in July 1997 to explore how violence against women can be eliminated and how the health sector and organizations such as FIGO and WHO can contribute to this elimination. The workshop asked: 1) what do we know about the problem and its consequences on women's health, particularly reproductive health; 2) what are the underlying factors that increase women's risk of violence; 3) how do we prevent violence and provide care for those women suffering its consequences, particularly as reproductive health practitioners; and 4) how can we encourage collaboration between FIGO and other organizations addressing violence against women. Copies of this report and its conclusions can be obtained free of charge from: Documentation Centre, Family and Reproductive Health, World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. Nadine France for WHO |
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feasibility of a 12-week intervention programme for 15 delinquent boys aged 10-16 years. Their evaluation showed that short-term community-based group therapy may be effective in treating delinquent behaviour, thereby contributing to prevention of violence. Sapa/Streetkid e-mail list
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