AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
Embargoed for 00.01GMT 6 March 2014
Sexual and reproductive rights under threat worldwide
The health and lives of millions of people across the globe are being threatened by government failures to guarantee their sexual and reproductive rights, Amnesty International said today as it launched a global campaign on this issue.
“It is unbelievable that in the twenty-first century some countries are condoning child marriage and marital rape while others are outlawing abortion, sex outside marriage and same-sex sexual activity – even punishable by death,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“States need to take positive action – not just by getting rid of oppressive laws but also promoting and protecting sexual and reproductive rights, providing information, education, services and ending impunity for sexual violence.”
Amnesty International’s new campaign My Body My Rights is about people being empowered to enjoy their sexuality.
A briefing published by Amnesty International highlights the increasing repression of sexual and reproductive rights in many countries around the world that prioritise repressive policies over human rights and basic freedoms.
The briefing points to research findings and statistics that signal a perilous future for the next generation should the world continue to turn a blind eye to the repression of sexual and reproductive rights.
The My Body My Rights campaign encourages young people around the world to know and demand their right to make decisions about their health, body, sexuality and reproduction without state control, fear, coercion or discrimination. It also seeks to remind world leaders of their obligations to take positive action, including through access to health services.
Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty marked the launch by meeting women in rural communities in Nepal - where many girls are forced to marry as children and more than half a million women suffer from a debilitating condition known as uterine prolapse, or fallen womb, as a result of continuous pregnancy and hard labour.
Khumeni lives in one such community in Nepal. She was 15 when her parents decided it was time for her to get married. She has had 10 pregnancies and was banished to the family’s cowshed each time she gave birth. She had to carry heavy loads while pregnant, and sometimes only had a week to rest after giving birth. As a result of all this, she suffered a uterine prolapse - or “fallen womb” - but was left without surgical treatment for eight years.
In the course of the two-year campaign, Amnesty International will publish a series of reports on a number of countries where sexual and reproductive rights are denied.
This includes girls forced to marry their rapists in the Maghreb; women and girls denied abortion despite the threat of ill health and even death in El Salvador and other countries; and girls forced into childbirth at a young age in Burkina Faso.
Amnesty International believes that everyone should be free to make decisions about if, when and with whom they have sex, whether or when they marry or have children and how to best protect themselves from sexual ill-health and HIV.
“With My Body My Rights, we want to help the next generation realise and claim their sexual and reproductive rights. Together we want to send a clear and unequivocal message to governments that this kind of over-reaching control violates human rights and is simply unacceptable,” said Salil Shetty.
/ends
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Embargoed for 00.01GMT 6 March
My Body My Rights
Country stories
11 years old, forced into marriage, abused for resisting sexual exploitation
Sahar Gul told Amnesty International she was just 11 years old when her family sold her as a child bride to a 30 year-old man. Her husband, Ghulam Saki, was a soldier serving in the Afghan national army. He bought her for some 260,000 AFN (about $4,600 USD), and took her to the house he lived in with his family.
“I was married when I was just 11 years old. I was very little I didn’t know how married life is and what happens after the wedding. When I saw women coming to our home to take me I cried and I didn’t want to go, but no one really cared about my tears and no one was listening. I didn’t want to go and live in another place with other people, it was frightening.”
Shortly after the marriage, Sahar disappeared for several months. Eventually her family reported her disappearance to local police. Officers discovered her barely conscious, covered in bruises and unable to speak or stand.
She had been locked in the dark, wet cellar of her in-laws’ house, and they had beaten and abused her when she resisted being forced to have sex with other men.
Sahar later told Amnesty International that her in-laws repeatedly beat her, burned her with cigarettes and an iron, and pulled out her fingernails and hair. This went on for six months.
After she had told neighbours about the abuse, her husband’s family locked her in the cellar. They barely gave her any food and water. Although neighbours informed the police, officials did not immediately step in to protect her, but left her with the abusive in-laws.
Sahar’s husband and brother-in-law fled when police finally arrived at their home. They are still at large. Her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and father-in-law were arrested, found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Although their convictions were upheld on an initial appeal, the Kabul Appeal court later overturned them, and her in-laws were released from prison after one and a half years behind bars. After a further appeal, they were given a five year sentence.
Stories like Sahar Gul’s are widespread in Afghanistan, where authorities usually dismiss reports of domestic abuse as a family matter and often refuse to intervene to protect the victims.
Now aged 16, Sahar is living in a women’s shelter and studying at a local school. She is determined to stop other girls suffering the same experience and has ambitions to become a politician in Afghanistan.
“My aim is to become a women rights activist, open shelters for women at risk in Afghanistan and help women who suffered from violence. I want to protect other women. I think about how I could have been killed by my in-laws and there was no one to protect me. I want to end violence in Afghanistan… I don’t want to see other women suffer the same way I did or in any other way.”
Three years behind bars for a gay text
In 2011 Roger Jean-Claude Mbede texted someone to tell them he loved them.
Because he was texting in Cameroon, and because it was to another man, Roger was arrested. The police interrogated him for days, stripping him naked and beating him.
After a trial where he was denied legal representation, Roger was jailed for three years on charges of ‘homosexuality and attempted homosexuality’. He was locked away in an overcrowded prison where he was sexually assaulted, refused vital medical treatment and beaten by prison guards.
Amnesty International supported Roger’s case, adopted him as a prisoner of conscience, encouraged people around the world to stand beside Roger and ask Cameroon’s authorities to release him immediately.
He was released from prison in summer last year on medical grounds; according to his lawyer, the family who’d rejected him also rejected his medical treatment plan. Roger died last month.
Whatever the cause of his death at the age of 34, the vilification Roger experienced at the hands of the police, prison authorities, neighbours, and his own family led to him being denied the treatment he desperately needed, in prison and at home.
The cost of confusion
In 2012 Savita Halappanavar was hospitalized with a threatened miscarriage. She asked for an abortion, but it was denied. Savita went into sepsis and died a few days later.
While an investigation found Savita’s death was primarily caused by medical failure to recognize her condition was deteriorating to the point where her life was at risk, the case again threw Ireland’s restrictive anti-abortion laws under the spotlight.
Abortion is illegal in Ireland, except in cases where there is a “real and substantial” risk to the life – rather than the health – of the woman. This exception was established in 1992 by a Supreme Court ruling on the case of a 14-year-old girl who was pregnant as a result of rape, and was suicidal.
But abortion is still illegal for women who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest, where their health is at risk or in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities. Women face up to 14 years in prison for having an unlawful termination.
As a result more than 150,000 women travelled to the UK for a termination from Ireland between 1980 and 2012; an average of 12 a day. In 2012 alone, 3,982 women travelled to the UK for an abortion.
Raped, pressured into abortion
Kopila’s husband beats her and forces her to have sex with him. She lives in a rural community, and they were married when she was 17. She had her first child a year later. Kopila is from a poor family in rural Nepal and she never went to school.
Three of her four children were born at home and one was born in hospital. Kopila told Amnesty International that she was only able to take between 10 and 12 days rest after giving birth before she had to start working again.
If Kopila is feeling unwell, her husband decides whether she can go to the health post. Kopila told Amnesty International she had other pregnancies but her husband decided she should end those pregnancies through abortion.
The family has a small amount of land so Kopila works in the fields and looks after the cattle. She does all the household work and takes care of her four children. In her family the practice is that Kopila feeds the children first, then her husband eats, finally she eats.
She had to carry heavy loads, including wood, grass and cow dung throughout her pregnancies and soon after giving birth.
As a result, Kopila first experienced uterine prolapse when she was 24. She told Amnesty International “Twelve days after the birth, I was cutting wood with an axe. My husband asked for water and we had an argument. He beat me hard. I don’t know whether my uterus came out during the time I was cutting wood or after I was beaten. It was the same day that I first got the problem. That was six years ago.
“After that I started feeling back pain and stomach pain and I couldn’t stand straight or sit or do work. I feel pain in my lower abdomen and generally I have back pain when I work hard.” Kopila said her husband forces her to have sex when she doesn’t want to. And when she tries to refuse, he beats her.
The only time Kopila was able to seek medical assistance for uterine prolapse was shortly after she first experienced the condition. Her husband had gone away and she asked her brother to accompany her to see a doctor.
“The doctor told me to rest but I can't because I have a lot of work to do - work in the field, look after the cattle, take care of the children, heavy work. I didn’t go back when my uterus came out again”.
Kopila explained that previously when she had sought medical help for a different condition while her husband was away, he found out and beat her so badly that she was frightened to go back to the doctor.
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國際特赦組織：在全球範圍內的威脅性和生殖權利
國際特赦組織
新聞稿
禁運對00.01GMT 2014年3月6日
在全球範圍內的威脅性和生殖權利
• 1.5億女孩18歲以下的今天被性侵犯
• 1.42億女孩子可能嫁兒童2011年和2020年間
• 1400萬青春期少女生育，每年，主要表現為強迫性行為和意外妊娠的結果
• 2.15億婦女無法獲得避孕，即使他們想阻止或延緩生育
•同性性行為是非法目前至少在76個國家，其中36個在非洲
數以百萬計的世界各地的人們的健康和生命受到威脅的政府失靈，以保證他們的性與生殖健康權利，國際特赦組織今天表示，因為它發起了一項全球運動在這個問題上。
“這是令人難以置信，在二十一世紀的一些國家縱容童婚和婚內強姦而有些則是立法禁止墮胎，婚姻和同性性行為以外的性行為 - 甚至被處死， ”薩里爾謝蒂，國際特赦組織秘書長說。
“各國需要採取積極的行動 - 而不僅僅是擺脫壓迫性法律，而且促進和保護性和生殖權利，提供信息，教育，服務和制止對性暴力”
國際特赦組織的新的運動我的身體我的權利是人被有權享受他們的性傾向。
國際特赦組織發表的一份簡報突出的性和生殖權利在世界各地的許多國家，超過的人權和基本自由優先鎮壓政策越來越壓抑。
簡報點的研究，預示著危險的未來，為下一代結果和統計數據應世界繼續視而不見的性和生殖權利的壓制。
我的身體我的權利運動鼓勵世界各地的年輕人知道，並要求他們的權利，使他們的健康，身體，性和生殖無狀態控制，恐懼，強迫或歧視的決定。它還試圖提醒的義務世界各國領導人採取積極行動，包括通過獲得醫療服務。
國際特赦組織秘書長薩里爾謝蒂標誌著通過推出滿足農村社區婦女在尼泊爾 - 在很多女孩子都被迫嫁給兒童和超過50萬婦女從被稱為子宮脫垂或子宮倒下一種使人衰弱的疾病的困擾，作為一個連續懷孕和辛勤勞動的結果。
Khumeni生活在一個這樣的社區在尼泊爾。她是15時，她的父母決定是時候讓她結婚。她已經有10懷孕和生下每次都被放逐到家庭的牛棚。她不得不搬重物，而懷孕的，有時一個星期才不得不休息產後。由於這一切的結果，她遭遇了子宮脫垂 - 或“墮落子宮” - 但被留下，不用手術治療了八年。
在為期兩年的運動過程中，國際特赦組織將公佈一系列對數，其中的性和生殖權利被剝奪的國家報告。
這包括被迫在馬格里布嫁給強姦犯的女孩，婦女和女孩拒絕墮胎，儘管健康狀況不佳，甚至死亡的薩爾瓦多和其他國家的威脅;和女孩在年輕的時候在布基納法索被迫分娩。
•在摩洛哥， 16歲的阿米娜被迫娶誰強姦她的人後自殺。當時，摩洛哥法律允許她攻擊者逃避起訴他的犯罪，如果他娶了她。
•在布基納法索公開談論性是禁忌。避孕不普及和意外懷孕現象很普遍。 Hassatou只是13時，她懷孕了。她不知道，性愛會導致分娩。之後，寶寶出生後，她的家人把他們走上街頭。
•在薩爾瓦多墮胎是非法的，即使是在強姦或當一個女人或女孩的生命或健康處於危險的情況下，對婦女和女童的暴力行為仍然很普遍。
•在愛爾蘭，婦女和女孩面臨最多14年監禁，有墮胎時相比，他們的生命危險等。
國際特赦組織認為，每個人都應該可以自由地做出決定是否，何時，與他們發生性關係，不論他們何時結婚或生孩子，以及如何最好地保護自己免受性疾病和艾滋病。
“我的身體我的權利，我們希望幫助下一代實現，並聲稱他們的性和生殖權利。我們一起想發出一個明確無誤的信息向政府，這種過度龐大的控制違反人權，是完全不能接受的， “薩里爾謝蒂說。
/結束
國際特赦組織
禁運對00.01GMT 3月6日
我的身體我的權利
國家故事
11歲，被迫進入婚姻，虐待用於抵抗性剝削
薩哈爾·居爾告訴國際特赦組織，她只有11歲的時候，她的家人賣了她作為童養媳到30歲的男子。她的丈夫，吳拉姆·薩基，是一名軍人在阿富汗國家軍隊中服役。他給她買了一些260,000 AFN （ 4600美元美元） ，並把她帶到他住在與他的家庭的房子。
“我結婚時，我只有11歲。我是個小不點，我不知道如何生活是結婚和結婚之後會發生什麼。當我看到婦女來我們家拿我，我哭了，我不想去，但沒有人真正關心我的眼淚，沒有人在聽。我不想去，住在與其他人另一個地方，那是可怕的。 “
婚後不久，薩哈爾消失了好幾個月。最終，她的家人把她告失踪當地警方。官員發現她幾乎沒有意識到，渾身瘀傷和不能說話或站立。
她一直鎖定在公婆的房子黑暗，潮濕的地窖裡，他們曾遭到毆打和虐待她，當她拒絕被強迫發生性關係的其他人。
薩哈爾後來告訴國際特赦組織，公婆多次打她，燒她的煙，鐵，掏出她的指甲和頭髮。這種情況持續了六個月。
之後，她講述了一個關於虐待的鄰居，她丈夫的家人把她鎖在地窖裡。他們幾乎沒有給她任何食物和水。雖然鄰居通知了警察，官員並沒有立即走進來保護她，但是留給她的虐待公婆。
薩哈爾的丈夫和哥哥在法律逃離時，民警終於來到了他們的家。他們仍然在逃。她的母親在法律，妹妹女婿和岳父岳母被逮捕，被判犯有謀殺未遂罪，判處有期徒刑10年。
雖然他們的信念是堅持在初始上訴，喀布爾上訴法院後來推翻他們，公婆從監獄經過多年的一年半鐵窗被釋放。經過進一步上訴，他們分別獲得五年的刑期。
像薩哈爾居爾的故事是廣泛分佈於阿富汗，當局通常解僱家庭暴力作為一個家庭問題的報告，並往往拒絕進行干預，以保護受害者。
現年16歲，薩哈爾是生活在一個婦女庇護所，並在當地一所學校就讀。她決心阻止其他女孩遭受同樣的經驗，並有志向成為阿富汗政客。
“我的目標是成為一個婦女權利活動家，開放庇護的婦女在阿富汗的風險，幫助婦女從誰遭受暴力。我要保護其他婦女。我想我怎麼可能被打死了我的姻親，也沒有人保護我。我想結束在阿富汗的暴力......我不希望看到其他婦女遭受同樣的方式，我做了或以任何其他方式。 “
三年鐵窗一個同性戀文本
在2011年羅傑·讓 - 克洛德· Mbede發短信給別人，告訴他們他愛他們。
因為他發短信喀麥隆，因為它是另一個男人，羅傑被逮捕。警方審問了他好幾天，剝了他的衣服，並毆打他。
審判在那裡他被剝奪法律代表後，羅傑被判入獄三年，罪名是“同性戀和同性戀未遂” 。他被鎖在一個擁擠的監獄，在那裡他被性侵犯，拒絕了至關重要的醫療和獄警毆打。
國際特赦組織支持羅傑的情況下，採取了他作為良心犯，鼓勵世界各地的人們站在旁邊的羅傑，並要求喀麥隆當局立即釋放他。
他從監獄去年發布夏季基於健康理由，根據他的律師，誰願意拒絕了他的家人也拒絕了他的醫療計劃。羅傑上個月去世。
無論他的死亡在34歲的原因，中傷羅傑經歷在警方手中，監獄當局，鄰居和他自己的家庭導致他被否認他迫切需要的治療，在監獄裡和在家裡。
混亂的成本
在2012年Savita酒店Halappanavar住院了先兆流產。她要求墮胎，但被拒絕。 SAVITA走進敗血症而死亡幾天後。
雖然調查發現Savita酒店的死亡主要是由醫療不承認她的病情已惡化到這種地步，她的生命受到威脅引起的，案件再次扔在聚光燈下愛爾蘭的限制性反墮胎法。
人工流產是在愛爾蘭非法的，除非情況下，有一個“真正的和實質性的”風險對生活 - 女人 - 而不是健康。此異常成立於1992年，由上一個14歲的女孩誰懷孕了強姦的結果，並有自殺傾向的情況下，最高法院的裁決。
但墮胎仍然是婦女誰是懷孕的強姦或亂倫，他們的健康處於危險或致命的胎兒畸形病例的結果是非法的。婦女面臨最多14年監禁，有一個非法終止。
因此超過150,000名婦女前往英國1980年和2012年之間的終止來自愛爾蘭，平均每天12。僅在2012年3,982婦女前往英國進行墮胎。
強暴，被迫進行流產
Kopila的丈夫把她和強迫她與他發生性關係。她住在一個農村社區，而且他們結婚時，她是17 。她有她的第一個孩子一年後。 Kopila是來自一個貧窮的家庭在尼泊爾農村的，她從來沒有上過學。
三四個孩子都出生在家裡，一人在醫院出生。 Kopila告訴國際特赦組織，她只能在分娩後需要幾天休息10至12之前，她不得不重新開始工作。
如果Kopila感覺不適，她的丈夫決定她是否可以去衛生站。 Kopila告訴國際特赦組織，她有其他的懷孕，但她的丈夫，她決定要通過人工流產終止妊娠者。
家裡有少量的土地， Kopila工作在田間地頭，看起來牛後。她做所有的家務，並把她的四個孩子的照顧。在她家的做法是， Kopila餵孩子第一，那麼她的丈夫吃，最後她吃。
她不得不搬重物，包括木材，草和牛糞在她懷孕不久後生下。
因此， Kopila先經歷了子宮脫垂時，她是24 。她告訴國際特赦組織」誕生後12天，我砍柴用的斧頭。我的丈夫求水，我們發生了爭執。他打了我一下。我不知道我的子宮是否出來的那段時間我砍柴或者我被打之後。這是我第一次得到這個問題的同一天。那是六年前。
“從那以後，我開始感覺背部疼痛和肚子痛，我不能站直或坐或做的工作。我感覺疼痛在我的小腹，一般我有背部疼痛時，我努力工作。 “ Kopila說，她的丈夫強迫她進行性行為時，她並不想。而當她試圖拒絕，他擊敗了她。
唯一的一次Kopila能夠尋求子宮脫垂醫療援助後不久，她第一次經歷的條件。她的丈夫走了，她問她的哥哥陪她看醫生。
“醫生叫我休息，但我不能，因為我有很多工作要做 - 在外地工作，看牛後，帶著孩子，繁重的工作照顧。我沒有回去的時候我的子宮又出來了“ 。
Kopila解釋說，以前，當她為不同的條件尋求醫生的幫助，而她的丈夫不在家，他發現了，打她如此糟糕，她被嚇壞了回去看病。
/結束