TAG: criminalization

International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion’s report on the Human Rights Comittee discussion on “The Right to Life”

Human Rights Committee Open Hearing on Article 6 – The Right to Life to develop a General Comment Geneva, 14 July 2015 HERE ARE SOME OF THE SUBMISSIONS: THE FULL TEXTS CAN BE FOUND AT THE LINKS Joint Statement on behalf of human rights organizations from across the globe presented by Center for Reproductive Rights We […]

The gay sex worker who defied sharia law in Banda Aceh to organize

Faisal Riza is a national organizer for the Organisasi Perubahan Sosial Indonesia (the Organization for Social Change, or OPSI) — an Indonesian human rights initiative focusing on the welfare of sex workers. Anna Marie Sterling JAKARTA, Indonesia — Faisal Riza started as a sex worker in one of the riskiest possible places for any kind of transgressive behavior: Aceh, a […]

Taking Action to Combat State-Sanctioned Violence Against Women Worldwide

by Leila Hessini, Ipas / Global Fund for Women and Beatriz Galli May 28, 2015 – 12:23 pm May 28 is the International Day of Action for Women’s Health—a day advocates have commemorated since 1987. This year, the focus is on institutional violence. (Shutterstock) Violence against women is one of the most pervasive human rights […]

The majority of sex workers enjoy their job – why should we find that surprising?

Selling sex is not inherently harmful or dangerous. Criminalising it would be Prevalent discourse would have you believe that sex workers are problems to deal with, or victims to ‘save’. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, when you ask sex workers about their job satisfaction and working conditions – as a […]

Abortion in Brazil: a matter of life and death

The day after Jandyra went for an abortion her body was found mutilated beyond recognition. Donna Bowater reports on the plight of millions of women who put their lives in the hands of gangs running dangerous clinics ‘They don’t have consciences – they are monsters. These clinics are not thinking about the wellbeing of the […]

Egyptian Court Acquits 26 Men Charged With “Debauchery”

A Cairo court acquitted 26 men of charges of participating in a gay “sex party” at a public bathhouse in December. Click here, here and here to learn more about the importance of the decision.

El Salvador: Pardon for woman jailed for miscarriage, a triumph of justice

22 January 2015, 00:00 UTC A pardon granted by El Salvador’s Parliamentary Assembly to a young woman imprisoned after suffering a miscarriage is a triumph of justice and gives hope to the other 15 women languishing in jail on similar charges, said Amnesty International. In 2007 “Guadalupe” received a 30 year jail sentence after authorities […]

Canada’s Flawed Sex Trade Law

By JULIE KAYE JAN. 20, 2015 Photo CreditMark Blinch/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press EDMONTON, Alberta — In December, a new prostitution law came into force in Canada. The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, or Bill C-36, criminalizes the purchase (but not the sale) of sexual services, and restricts the advertisement of sexual […]

Letter to the Editor from members of the LGBTIQ community

Members of the Indian LGBTQI community issued an open letter to the editors of Bangalore Mirror, after the journal reported the arrest of a married man for violating Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a British colonial-era law that criminalizes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with a man, woman or animal”. The case […]

Unsafe abortion: another facet of femicide in Latin America

Every day women die of unsafe, illegal abortions. Two recent deaths provoked uproar in Brazil.Elisângela Barbosa, a 32-year old mother of three, died of hemorrhage after a failed clandestine abortion. Days before, 27 year-old Jandira dos Santos Cruz was disappeared after an abortion turned deadly in an illegal clinic. Her body was found burned and […]

Working Paper No.4 – Senegal: homophobia and Islamic political manipulation, by Codou Bop

Check out the Working Paper Senegal: homophobia and Islamic political manipulation by Codou Bop, a Senegalese journalist. She develops a particularly sharp insight analysis about on the Senegalese episode, which may also throwshed light into on the dynamics at play work beneath in other cases.

As Women Die from Illegal Abortions in Brazil, Presidential Candidates Remain Silent

By Lucy Jordan September 25, 2014 | 8:05 pm In late August, a 27-year-old woman named Jandira dos Santos Cruz went to a bus station in Rio de Janeiro and got into a stranger’s car. She was four months pregnant. Communicating via text, Cruz had arranged to meet a woman who would take her to […]