A draft of the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” was introduced by Ndorwa West MP, David Bahati on October 14, 2009 providing for a death penalty for those engaging in homosexuality.

Homosexuality is already a crime in Uganda (introduced into the penal code by the british), but the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo has been complaining that the law is inadequate to curb homosexuality that is reported to be on the increase in Uganda.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ugandangays/#detail

Life imprisonment is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex, under an anti-homosexuality bill currently before Uganda’s parliament. If the accused person is HIV positive or a serial offender, or a “person of authority” over the other partner, or if the “victim” is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty.

Members of the public are obliged to report any homosexual activity to police with 24 hours or risk up to three years in jail – a scenario that human rights campaigners say will result in a witchhunt. Ugandans breaking the new law abroad will be subject to extradition requests.

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/29/uganda-death-sentence-gay-sex

The theme for this year’s World AIDS Day is universal access and human rights. The two are inextricably linked. To be able to access services, including treatment, people need to be able to enjoy certain rights and freedoms. It is a violation of human rights to deny people this access.

Yet legislation that makes same-sex sexual relations a crime continues to threaten lives in many parts of the world. Out of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth, 40 have failed to follow Britain’s suit in repealing archaic colonial legislation that makes same-sex sexual relations an offence – in some cases punishable by death. Stigma, fear, invisibility and exclusion are serious barriers to access to services, including advice, information, condoms and treatment. The violent face of homophobic discrimination, experienced the world over, is especially toxic in contexts like these.

Article continues at http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/news/world-aids-day-uganda-s-new-anti-homosexuality-bill-violates-human-rights

Sexual violence is everywhere in Uganda. A new bill punishing homosexuals is part of that culture

I recently reorganised the books in my study, and collected my remnants of feminist theory on a separate shelf; a fragment of another world. There were copies of Feminist Review, work by Betty Friedan, Simone de Beauvoir, Andrea Dworkin and Mary Daly. There was also Adrienne Rich’s pamphlet, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”, a dense and learned tract about the repression of lesbians.

Consciousness-raising made little distinction between street and boardroom thuggery and the effects of laws in repressive states. We didn’t doubt Adrienne Rich when she said that lesbianism had been “crushed, invalidated, forced into hiding and disguise”. We forgot the lesson of the Holocaust, which is that if the law and the power of the state supports discrimination and violence, you end up with genocide. Many minorities around the world still face discrimination, but only lesbians and gay men still face significant international legal discrimination.

Article by Sigrid Rausing continues at http://www.newstatesman.com/human-rights/2009/11/sexual-gay-uganda-bill-person

The protection and promotion of the good health of women, in particular women who are HIV positive or who are at risk of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV by:

(a) promoting prevention and treatment for women living with HIV, both in the UK and internationally;

(b) increasing awareness and understanding of women’s sexual health, HIV and AIDS amongst health and other professionals, service providers and the public.

In all our work, Sophia Forum endeavours to uphold the principle of “GIPA” – ie the meaningful involvement of women living with HIV in all that we do.

Sophia organises awareness-raising events, shares experiences and best practice, informs decision-makers and opinion-formers, and provides an open forum for anyone concerned about HIV and how it affects women and girls. Many of our current supporters are individuals active in development, health and HIV work, and many others contribute experience from business, law and education.

Take action for positive change: find out more, use your influence and talk to your colleagues, friends and family members.

Use these web pages to find links to organisations taking a stand on HIV, to get the latest news about HIV and women, and to find out what action you can take.

Sign up to Sophia at http://www.sophiaforum.net/

See also: HIV: both the cause and the consequence of violence against women

In the UK the number of women living with HIV has been steadily growing since the beginning of the epidemic. Newly diagnosed women were only twenty percent of the new infections in 1996, but over forty percent in 2007. There are now more than 25,000 HIV positive women in the UK, but while government policy fails to address the link between HIV and violence against women, it is left to under-funded and under-staffed support groups to campaign for the human rights of women living with HIV.

article continues at http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/silvia-petretti/hiv-both-cause-and-consequence-of-violence-against-women

The NUI, Galway Femicide Awareness Campaign ‘…Because She Was A Woman’ will run for 16 days and is made up of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It seeks to raise awareness on campus as well as in the wider community of the issue of female killings (femicide) in Ireland and violence against women.

A number of events will take place throughout the campaign, which runs until Thursday December 10. A series of six foot tall, wooden female figures, each carrying a message about violence against women, will be located at 16 places throughout the campus.

‘…Because She Was A Woman’ will also see the launch of Women’s Human Rights, a new publication by Dr Niamh Reilly. On Friday December 4, the students of BA Connect/Women’s Studies will launch their journal Damsel in Room 333 in Aras Moyola.

Leaflets and information about the work of groups like Irish Women’s Aid, Cope/Waterside House Refuge, Domestic Violence Response, Galway Rape Crisis Centre, and the Childline Galway Office will also be distributed.

“The campaign aims to be as accessible and inclusive of all in the university population as possible,” a spokeswoman said. “It aims to disseminate practical information and knowledge of local and national support services to the student population, while identifying the potential and demand for further education, workshops, and discussions on campus.”

For further information email becauseshewasawoman@gmail.com or call Aura Lounasmaa on 085 – 3124910.

http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/19508

Ireland’s domestic violence legislation fails to protect many abused women and falls short of UN guidelines on international best practice, writes Margaret Martin

Every day in Ireland women are beaten, raped and abused by those closest to them – their boyfriends, husbands and partners. One in five women experience domestic violence and it can affect any woman from any walk of life. Quite often the abuse continues even after the relationship has ended.

Research conducted by the National Crime Council in 2005 estimated that 213,000 women in Ireland are living with severe abuse. Without exception, a woman’s greatest risk of violence is from someone she knows and Women’s Aid hears from thousands of women each year suffering in abusive relationships.

Domestic violence is a serious crime and can lead to injury, often serious, and in some cases death. Of the 159 women murdered in Ireland since 1996, 51 per cent were killed by a partner or ex-partner. During the 16 Days of Action Campaign, Women’s Aid is joining with thousands of organisations around the world in calling for an end to all forms of violence against women and for better protection for women living with abuse.

Domestic violence legislation in Ireland is inadequate and offers no protection to certain groups of women whose circumstances fall outside current strict eligibility criteria. It could be your daughter who is being stalked and harassed by her ex-boyfriend months after finishing with him, or your sister who is being victimised every time she sees the father of her child, or your work colleague who left her partner last year but is still being physically and emotionally abused by him.

Women in these situations, who often try to access the justice system to end the violence, find that they fall outside the law because they do not fit the cohabitation requirements for domestic violence orders. This falls short of UN guidelines for domestic violence legislation, which state that legislation should apply at a minimum to individuals who are or who have been in an intimate relationship, including marital, non-marital, same-sex and non-cohabiting relationships.

The Domestic Violence Act 1996 was framed to offer legal remedies for women living with domestic violence. Women’s Aid statistics show that marriage is the most common context for domestic abuse and under the Act, married women experiencing abuse can avail of full protection of the law.

It is a unique piece of forward-looking legislation in that it recognises the need to protect women from ongoing violence and abuse, unlike other legal remedies which are designed to address violence and abuse incidents in the past. However, under the same legislation, women who are not married to their abusive partner have to satisfy strict eligibility criteria, particularly in relation to cohabitation, in order to secure protection.

A number of groups including Women’s Aid, the Law Society, the Law Reform Commission, the Government Task Force on Violence against Women and Amnesty Ireland, have called for the Act to be amended in order to address these issues.

During a Dáil debate in December 2002, then minister of state in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Willie O’Dea, made a commitment to examine these issues within 12 months and, if amendment was deemed necessary, through legislative change. Despite these commitments, no amendments have been enacted.

Women in a cohabiting relationship must have been living with their partners for certain periods of time depending on the level of protection they need. Some may have been living with their partner for too short a period or may be separated from him too long. Others may not have lived with their abuser at all.

We know from women accessing support from our national freephone helpline that domestic violence does not always end when the relationship does. In 2008, 10 per cent of callers to the Women’s Aid helpline disclosed that they were being abused by former partners to whom they were not married. It is a common belief that leaving an abusive partner will end the violence but in many cases the opposite is true. Separation is often the most dangerous time for a woman with the abuse becoming more frequent, severe and dangerous.

There are no legal provisions for women in dating relationships, like Orla*, a young college student from Cork who is being bullied, stalked and threatened by her ex-boyfriend. The law is powerless to protect her because she was never married to him and has never lived with him. We know that domestic violence can affect women, regardless of age or marital status.

But despite this, women in dating relationships are left vulnerable and fighting the abuse alone. Orla has been told that the Garda can only respond once her ex-boyfriend “does something”.

Melanie* has also been told the law cannot protect her from the father of her child who abuses her each time he sees her. Because they have not lived together for the required six months in the past year, she is unable to get a domestic violence order against him.

Accessing the legal system for domestic violence orders is never an easy journey but thousands of women do so each year to get protection from future violence. This can send a clear message to abusive men that their behaviour is wrong and that the justice system will not sanction their behaviour.

Women’s Aid believes that everyone experiencing abuse at the hands of an intimate partner or ex-partner deserves legal protection. During the 16 Days of Action, Women’s Aid will call on the Government to act to protect vulnerable women by removing all cohabitation requirements from the current legislation.

* Orla and Melanie’s stories are based on real accounts as told to Women’s Aid. Details have been changed to preserve the confidential nature of Women’s Aid services.

Margaret Martin is director of Women’s Aid. Its Action Campaign runs until December 10th

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/1126/1224259481291.html

On a Friday night, 14 months before Julia and Will were murdered, Alan made cold chilling death threats to my sister. Julia had not long told him that she wanted out of the marriage, which had been abusive, and she’d had enough. Alan replied: “I’m going away for a few days and when I come back, you have a decision to make. We will live as man and wife for a specified amount of time, after which, I will decide if this is working”. He had pointed a finger at Julia and leaning towards her said: “Or, this is fact, I will take your life and I will take my life”.
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On the November 18 2003, Alan went to the house with a gun. Will received him outside but sensing danger barred his way in and was shot. When Julia heard gun shots, she rang the police, was told to keep hidden and that officers were on the way. In fact the police weren’t on their way to help and when they did finally arrive, they didn’t go into the house for nearly seven hours. Julia’s call to the police lasted 16 minutes during which loud bangs can be heard and then the line went dead.

At about 3am, I got a phone call and was told what had happened. The shock was physical – like being hit with a sledgehammer. It was obliteration. Being exposed to extreme shock was followed by a huge urge to be with other people for comfort but also a surge of adrenalin, to act. I felt I had a responsibility to organise and make sure information was coming in.

The inquest took place the following September. We’d hoped it would answer our questions, but it left us with more. The coroner didn’t know what could be expected of a police force by a victim of domestic violence. He still heard enough to suspect system failure yet in essence the inquest exonerated the police. The review found that the coroner had not been supplied with all the relevant information. We were frustrated, but we readily pursued a Domestic Violence Homicide Review to establish the facts and force change.

It took our family and friends five years after the murders to reveal all the ways in which Julia and Will were failed. The review was fearless. It confirmed that they were let down by the standards of basic policing and the failures went right to the top, being a “service and system failure”. They should have investigated when a frightened woman reported threats. The review cited many missed opportunities over 14 months and although it was not certain the police could have saved my family on the night, and unarmed police did attend to Will, the review found the firearms policy to be overly cautious and their delay entering the house unacceptable.

There have been positive changes as a result of the review. Thames Valley Police and the council are engaging much more openly with us now and have apologised for the difficulties they caused my family. We set up AAFDA to help other families who’ve experienced these tragedies. Families are in turmoil after a loved one has died and can need information and guidance, particularly on inquests and homicide reviews. Victim’s and families voices must be heard.

Ten days before the murders Julia said to me: “Alan is coming for me”. I replied: “Don’t worry, he won’t do it while I’m alive”. My brotherly messages weren’t the ones my sister needed. Women rarely underestimate the risks and Julia knew the threats were real but the lack of police response wore her down.

Extract of a longer article at http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1360&catID=6

See also: Patrick Stewart: the legacy of domestic violence

As a child, the actor regularly saw his father hit his mother. Here he describes how the horrors of his childhood remained with him in his adult life

Our house was small, and when you grow up with domestic violence in a confined space you learn to gauge, very precisely, the temperature of situations. I knew exactly when the shouting was done and a hand was about to be raised – I also knew exactly when to insert a small body between the fist and her face, a skill no child should ever have to learn. Curiously, I never felt fear for myself and he never struck me, an odd moral imposition that would not allow him to strike a child. The situation was barely tolerable: I witnessed terrible things, which I knew were wrong, but there was nowhere to go for help. Worse, there were those who condoned the abuse. I heard police or ambulancemen, standing in our house, say, “She must have provoked him,” or, “Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.” They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.
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No one came to help. No adult stepped in and took charge. I needed someone else to take over and tell me everything was going to be all right and that it wasn’t my fault. I wanted the anger to go away and, while it stayed, I felt responsible. The sense of guilt and loneliness provoked by domestic violence is tainting – and lasting. No one came, but everyone knew. Our small houses were close together. Every Monday morning I walked to school with my head down, praying that I would not encounter a neighbour or school friend who had heard the weekend’s rows. I felt ashamed.

Full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/27/patrick-stewart-domestic-violence

He urged all men to join the campaign, saying about 70% of women experience some form of physical or sexual violence from men.

The 14 men currently in the network include Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Wednesday was the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women and was the 10th anniversary of the founding of the day.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho and Norwegian Justice Minister Knut Storberget are also among those chosen for the new list.

They had all demonstrated a commitment to oppose violence against women, said Mr Ban, adding that the group was expected to grow.

“These men will add their voices to the growing global chorus for action,” he said.

Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, the secretary-general called on men and boys around the world to join the campaign.

“Break the silence,” he said. “When you witness violence against women and girls, do not sit back. Act. Advocate. Unite to change the practices and attitudes that incite, perpetrate and condone this violence.”

He said it was unacceptable that so many women experienced some form of physical or sexual violence from men – mostly from their husbands, intimate partners, or someone they knew.

He said men must teach each other that real men do not violate or oppress women – and that a woman’s place is not just in the home or in the fields but in schools, offices and boardrooms.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African Nobel Peace Laureate, said: “You are a weak man if you use your physical superiority to assault and brutalise women.

“I will continue fighting until the end of my days for the right of women and girls to live a life free from violence and abuse.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8377837.stm

Events

Home Truths: The Social Impact of Domestic Violence – JWA – 25th Nov 2009

Grunwick and Gate Gourmet Study Day at the Women’s Library – 28th Nov 2009

The Greatest Silence – special screening to mark 16 Days of Action – WAN – 3rd Dec 2009

Consultation for organisations working in the field of violence against women and children – WRC – 24th November 2009

Notices

New free legal advice clinic at Account3 in Tower Hamlets – first session 24 Nov 2009

Children’s Rights Photography Competition – Alternative Arts – 14th December 2009

Victory in lap dancing campaign – Object and Fawcett

Fawcett comments on new pay gap figures

Vacancies

Amina Scheme Seeks Volunteers

Female Independent Domestic Violence Advocate p/t – Woman’s Trust – 7th December 2009

Researcher – WRC – 7th December 2009

4 vacancies – Kiran – 2nd December 2009

National Peripatetic Domestic Violence Workers – Refuge – 24 Nov 2009

WiL Calendars

Events Calendar – including 16 Days events – updated 25th Nov 2009

Training Calendar – updated 25th Nov 2009

Funding Calendar – updated 25th Nov 2009

Index to postings at http://www.womeninlondon.org.uk

# UN expert calls for strengthened cooperation to intensify efforts to eliminate violence against women

# 16 Days of Activism for the Elimination of Violence Against women – 25 November to 10 December

# Commit • Act • Demand: We CAN End Violence Against Women! 2009 theme