INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
In honor of the United Nations celebration of International Women's Day,
March 8, 2004, the 8th Day Center for Justice would like to solute women
everywhere. By their very nature women are loving and nurturing as
well as very talented, strong and courageous. And it is these characteristics
that have help women survive and overcome the very toughest of situations.
Situations like HIV/AIDS, the trafficking of women and violation of girls
and women in war torn areas continue to plague our society. Below are
three issues calling for international attention regarding women and girls.
- "In poor countries, women and girls have become increasingly vulnerable
to HIV/AIDS. They currently exhibit the highest new infection rates
globally. In the Sub- Saharan Africa women and girls comprise 90% of
the new infections." (http://www.womensedge.org)
Although they continue to fight this disease through courage and faith, there
are other ways of prolonging their life. Anti-retroviral drugs made by big
pharmaceutical companies are proven effective. However, some pharmaceutical
companies refuse to sell their drugs at reasonable prices. Their choice
of private profit over public health is unethical. Something must be done
now, or we will soon regret the loss of a whole generation of people (especially
women and girls) and wonder why we allowed this to happen.
- Trafficking in women and girls is a modern-day form of slavery, and
one of the fasted growing areas of criminal activity in individual countries
and worldwide. According to the 2003 U.S. State Department Report on Trafficking,
at least 800,000-900,000 people annually, mostly women and children, are
trafficked across borders worldwide, including 18,000-20,000 persons into
the United States. This estimate does not include trafficking within
a given country and is likely only a conservative estimate of across borders
trafficking. Sex trafficking, in particular, that targets women and
girls is yet another manifestation of the persistent gender inequality and
subordination of women globally. Many countries fail to seriously address
this problem by failing to enact, enforce or comply with local laws or international
conventions or treaties.
- Women and girls as victims of war: rape, disembowelments, mutilations
of sexual organs, and the intentional spreading of AIDS are weapons
of violence to demoralize and control populations of women internationally.
Young girls become sex slaves for soldiers. Amnesty International reports
that children have been forced to participate in these monstrous acts so
as to separate them from their normal lives. In the Republic of the Congo,
in Burundi in Iraq and Afganistan to name some key locations, the proliferation
of abuse against women calls for worldwide attention to denounce and organize
against these military strategies. The rape and sexual abuse stigmatizes
women in their home communities. Shaming of women through violent sexual
abuse has effectively destroyed their lives. See Amnesty International
for specific reports and actions.
ACTIONS
1. Donate money to the following groups:
World Health Organization http://www.who.int
United Nation AIDS program http://www.unaids.org
2. Educate yourself on the issues by visiting the following sites:
http://www.hrw.org
http://www.amnesty.org
3. Go to Amnesty web page http://www.amnesty.org
and click on article “Burundi: Women under Attack.” Write a letter to the
president of Burundi (a sample letter is provided), urging him to make the
prevention of sexual assault, the provision of care and treatment for victims
and the bringing to justice of perpetrators a national priority.