An Opportunity for Women Rights in Zambia

The time is crucial for Zambians. Their decisions today will determine the years or perhaps decades ahead. The country is drafting its new Constitution. Zambians especially women should be more watchful as the choices made now will decide the kind of life they and their next generation will be living. The Constitution Review Committee’s proposal to repeal gender discriminatory Article 23 should be welcomed whose clauses (4)(5) and (7) allowed for discrimination on the basis of custom and other traditional practices in areas of marriages, inheritance and death (burial rights). The Committee has taken a step to repeal the Article 139 (13) that subsumed feminine gender in the masculine gender and rendered women invisible. But there is more that can done for the women of Zambia.

Women must be provided full rights relating to their health and reproduction. First draft of the Constitution provides contradictory provisions for the reproductive rights of women. Article 52 states that without limiting any right or freedom guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, women have the right to reproductive health. But in Article 28 (1), the proposed draft says that a person has the right to life, which begins at conception. Determining the point of fertilization is medically difficult and if assumed that life begins at conception, it would compromise the human rights of women. These two articles contradict each other and if read with Article 317, the latter can lead to restrictions as a result of which reproductive health services and procedures may become unconstitutional in Zambia.

Photo Credit: Richard Mulonga/IPS

Other African constitutions have provided women these rights too. In South Africa, although the Constitution does not mention abortion but the two sections of the bill of rights give women these reproductive rights. Section 12(2) and section 27(1)(a) implicitly guarantee this right to women. Constitutions of Tanzania and Uganda also accept the rights if the life of a woman is in danger. Kenyan Constitution approved in 2010 accords women this right in Article 43 (1) (a).

The Republic of Zambia is also under international commitment to guarantee this right to women. Article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that Zambia ratified in 1985 provides that states Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning.

The Constitution must also provide equality and non-discrimination as a non-derogable right. First draft does not expressly mentions equality or proscribes unfair discrimination as a non-derogable right. Article 69, relating to non-derogable rights and freedoms proposes does not mention equality or nondiscrimination as a non-derogable right. Other African constitutions have guaranteed provision of such equality among genders. Constitution of South African expressly provides against unfair discrimination and counts it as a non-derogable right. Article 9 says there cannot be any discrimination on the grounds of race, color, ethnic or social origin, sex, religion or language. This article is a part of the Table of Non-Derogable Rights. In Malawi according to Article 45.3 of the Constitution women rights are non-derogable rights that are included in the Chapter IV.

The Constitution does not provide for specific women representation in National Assembly and District Councils. Article 136 of the proposed draft that deals with the composition of the National Assembly does not specify any seats for women. Although the initial draft ensures women representation in Parliamentary Service Commission, Judicial Service Commission, Provincial Assembly but it does not guarantee women representation in National Assembly and District Council. The constitution is vague on women representation and it is possible that there won’t be enough numbers in Parliament if the Constitution does not specifically provide for the seats for women. The proposed draft is also vague about representation of women in political parties.

The number of women in National Assembly has declined over the years. In the 2011 Elections, there were only 17 women elected as compared to 141 men that make for 10.76% of the total seats. Zambia is a party to the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development (SADCGD (1997) which provides for, amongst other measures, the achievement by member States of a minimum target of 30% women in politics and decision-making positions by 2005. It is time to fulfill the commitment now.

Moreover, some Constitutions in Africa do ensure women representation in their Parliaments. The Constitution of Tanzania allows for reserved seats through its Article 66. 1(b) and Article 78.1. Ugandan Constitution also ensures women representation in Parliament for each district through Article 78(1) and one-third membership in its local governments through Article 180. The new Kenyan Constitution passed in 2010, through its Article 81 (b) of maintains a one third requirement for either gender in elective bodies giving women of Kenya at least 1/3 minimum in elective public bodies.

The proposed draft must also specifically include the right to be free from ‘gender-violence’. It does not mention gender violence expressly in the Bill of Rights. Its Article related to security rights does not include ‘gender violence’.  Although addition of “gender violence” was considered and reviewed by the Constitution Review Committee (mentioned in report on page 136,137) but it was recommended that the provision should be maintained without addition.  

Zambia is required by Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to ensure measures to eliminate violence against women. Although CEDAW does not contain an explicit reference to violence against women, the CEDAW Committee has issued a General Recommendation (No. 12 eighth session, 1989) that states that violence directed against a woman recognized and addressed as discrimination under the convention.

The proposed draft interestingly, does not guarantee provision of socio economic rights. The language is vague is Article 61, which provides that Parliament shall enact legislation that provides measures, which are reasonable, to achieve the progressive realization of the economic, social and cultural rights and in such matters, where the state cannot fulfill its duty, the constitution court cannot interfere. Zambia is under commitment to ensure provision of socio economic and cultural rights especially to women. Article 3 of CEDAW says that States Parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political, social, economic and cultural fields, all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women.

The making of the Constitution is a choice to decide about the future. The proposed draft should reflect the future goals and aspirations of Zambians especially its women. Zambia also has this opportunity to fulfill its international commitments and follow the leading examples of other African constitutions. The making of this Constitution is a chance to rectify discriminatory elementsembedded in customs, laws and mindsets and Zambians, should view this as an important opportunity.

Dichotomy of Laws in Pakistan

Equality Now is an international human rights organization that works to  protect and promote the rights of women and girls worldwide. I focus specifically on promoting the legal rights of women and advocacy against sexual violence. Through its Discrimination in Law program, Equality Now supports and publicizes selected laws prevalent in legal codes and statutes of different countries addressing the most common and significant gender based discriminations in law.

Rights and benefits arising out of citizenship are an essential concept to every legal framework. It is the duty of the State to treat all its citizens equally and guarantee the provision of rights they are entitled to. These duties of the State are also referred to as fundamental rights. However, sometimes these fundamental rights are violated  by the parallel set of laws framed to achieve a particular purpose. Such a contradiction exists in Pakistan, for example, where the Citizenship Act of 1951 violates the basics of the Constitution. Its section 10 provides for the process married women can acquire citizenship in Pakistan. A married man can earn citizenship for his spouse but a woman cannot do the same. She is not entitled to pass on her [the right of citizenship to her spouse even by fulfilling all the other requirements, if her spouse is a foreigner.

The Constitution of Pakistan, the supreme law of the land, provides for non-discriminations on the basis of sex. Article 25(1) states that all citizens are equal before law and entitled to equal protection of law. Its Section 2 prohibits any gender discrimination and prescribes that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone.

The Citizenship Act should not withstand this paradox however it still exists. There had been efforts in Pakistani Parliament to change it but they all ended in a pigeonhole. Dr. Attiya Inayatullah, a PML-Q member, introduced a private member bill to amend the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 on June 10, 2008. It sought to amend the section by adding that a man who is married to a Pakistani woman shall be eligible to apply for registration as a citizen of Pakistan after fulfilling the conditions as laid out in section 10 of this Act, for a foreign woman. A private member bill was also tabled by the ANP member National Assembly Bushra Gohar on February 17, 2010 that sought to amend the section to provide the married women right of citizenship for their spouses. The Ministry of the Interior opposed both bills in the house. They are now pending in Parliament either because committees have not taken any action or members did not show further interest in such legislation.

In 2006, Federal Shariat Court in its original jurisdiction took suo motu notice using its powers under Article 203-D after a news item reported that citizenship was denied to a Pakistani woman’s foreign husband. The court asked the Ministry of Law, the Ministry of the Interior and the Attorney General for an explanation on the matter. The ministry responded with the approval of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights and gave the following bizarre concerns for upholding the provision:

1.     Afghan refugees and Biharis will misuse it.

2.     Unemployment will go up.

3.     After divorcing Pakistani women a foreign man will be able to roam around in Pakistan freely.

4.     Foreign women marrying Pakistani men cannot be equated to foreign men marrying Pakistani women in our society

5.     It will provide ingress to Indian male citizens into Pakistan.

However, the Court rejected these concerns and decided on December 19, 2007 that the Act is discriminatory against women and asked the President of Pakistan to amend the Pakistan Citizenship Act within six months so that a Pakistani female's non-Pakistani husband could also get Pakistani citizenship, just like a foreign woman married to a Pakistani man. Although the Federal Shariat Court is an apex level court for Islamic laws in Pakistan, still the aforesaid act will remain the same until Parliament/President approves changes to it.

Citizenship of any country is a sacred and earnest commitment of allegiance towards the constitution and laws of the State. It cannot be ensured if laws relating to citizenship are not appropriately designed or are discriminatory. This dichotomy of laws and discrimination do not hold valid ground as it violates the Constitution of Pakistan and the country’s international commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminations against Women (CEDAW). One can only hope that Parliamentarians and the Commission on Status of Women (a body formed to recommend laws related to women) with its new powers will take note of this to ensure that women in Pakistan are guaranteed their legal rights.

This blog reflects the personal views of the author and not necessarily those of Equality Now.

It's Only The Beginning!

Although the Middle East has long been viewed by many in the Western hemisphere as a haven for despotism and the rule of harsh dictatorships, if the Arab Spring has taught us anything it would be that this region can pleasantly surprise us with sudden changes of course and humanistic endeavors.

I worked this summer with the Maria Cristina Foundation (MCF) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates to secure registration for our charitable mission: to provide excelling children from Bangladesh the opportunity to attend some of the UAE's most reputable private schools. MCF began over six years ago in Dhaka, Bangladesh where Maria Conceicao, a flight attendant based out of Dubai, was moved by the level of poverty she saw in Bangladesh. She began to collect resources and school supplies and distribute them in the slums each time one of her flights landed in Dhaka. The support she received from the Dubai community, eventually allowed her to set up a school and day program, aptly named "The Dhaka Project", that has now grown to provide education for 500 children and their families.

Just over a year ago, the Dhaka Project was in full swing when Maria realized that several of the children had exceeded all of their teacher's and curriculum's expectations. The question she faced was whether the Dhaka Project could afford to encourage the children to keep maximizing their full potential and support their dreams of attending high schools that could lead them to potentially attend world-class Universities. Before it even seemed like a plausible idea, Maria knew the answer would have to be an unequivocal, yes.

Maria's decision to support this new endeavor led to the setting up of the Maria Cristina Foundation in Dubai. The opportunities for Maria's children to come to Dubai and enroll in school were overwhelming. Several Dubai private schools were competing for the children and even offered to pay for their transportation. However, the challenge she faced is that the UAE has a strict policy for registering charities and NGO's. In fact, there are no "local' or grass roots NGO's permitted in the the UAE. Each NGO that wants to set up an office in Dubai must have been registered abroad for at least five years and register under one of five government organizations. Furthermore, the office must be set up in one of the emirates "free zones" and have at least ten branches abroad.

Fortunately for MCF, the Ministry of Higher Education ("Ministry") agreed to sponsor the children's visas and made an edict that MCF could partner under the Red Crescent Society in Dubai. When I arrived, the Ministry had already sponsored seven children's visas, but the main problem for MCF was getting all the paperwork for the Red Crescent Society underway so that MCF could open a bank account, open an office and hold fundraising events.

Because MCF had been "brought" to Dubai under edict by the Ministry, our humble organization did not fulfill many of the requirements that would ordinarily already have been satisfied by an NGO by the time they partnered with the government office. To add to the mix, MCF would be the first autonomous "grass-roots" NGO to ever open in Dubai let alone be sponsored by the Ministry. Thus, our task of coordinating all the essentials for the smooth running of an organization proved to be quite challenging. No formula, or road map existed to guide us to the best solutions to our problems. My days were spent running around the Emirate organizing all the paperwork that Red Crescent needed to open a bank account for MCF, get us approved for an office space outside of a free zone, and secure Red Crescent's partnership so that we could get approval from the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department for fundraising events.

All in all, this pursuit took up the better part of my summer, but eventually we managed to accomplish everything that we needed for the efficient running of an office and and a registered NGO.

The latest pursuit of MCF, is to take recent graduates of the Dhaka Project school in Bangladesh and partner with Emirates Airline to sponsor their training in various fields of company and thereby, find them long-term employment. This new endeavor has proved challenging both for MCF and the Dhaka graduates. First, we had to convince Emirates that this proposal was not a waste of time and that providing free training to our candidates would be in their best interest. Second, the teenagers would have to combat the language barrier and homesickness. Third, MCF has to satisfy the requirements of the Bangladeshi Embassy in the UAE and verify that the children are not being used for underage labor.

Fortunately, we couldn't have chosen our first two candidates better. Robin and Al Amin keep our office lively and fun. Although, they can be a handful at times, and need to be continually reminded to do their homework, everyone in the office enjoys their zeal and exuberance for life. The two 18-year old's have never traveled outside of Bangladesh, been on a plane or seen a shopping mall. Every day they have new questions for why things are he way they are and we have to continually remind them to speak English to each other. At the end of their six-week course with Emirates, they will have to take an exam and pass with 80%. On top of that they will have to pass an interview with the Emirates HR department.

I truly do not envy the pressure that these two young boys must be under. Although they are young, they do understand that their success or failure with Emirates will decide the fate of many other young Dhaka school graduates that might be able to find employment with Emirates in the future. Besides this, however, they know that they will have to return home to Dhaka if they are not employed with Emirates. Unfortunately, returning to Dhaka would mean that their options for upward mobility in employment would be severely limited by social status and economic conditions. The boys dreams of having a families of their own and being able to help their parents small businesses in Dhaka would almost certainly be shattered if they don't pass their final. Robin, in particular, has a girlfriend in Dhaka that he desperately wants to marry someday, and continually reassures me that he has to pass if he ever wants to face her again. Al Amin, similarly comes from a large slum family and says that no girls will talk to him if the does not get a job. Everyday as he heads out from the MCF office to the Emirates program, myself and the other ladies in the office tell him to "lighten up on the cologne" but, honestly, he thinks it's the best thing, ever, and never listens.

Besides the utter joy I've received from partaking in a project that is dedicated to helping children reach their full potential, by far the most important thing I have done in my work with MCF is help establish the beginning of a system where grass roots NGOs may be able to set up in Dubai and establish the first inklings of an organic UAE civil society. My work with MCF has proved that there is a sliver of hope, however narrow, for movers and changers in the Middle East to make a difference in the institutions that at first glance seem like immovable mountains. With hard work and perseverance it is possible, I believe, for this generation of Middle Easterners to expand the horizons for humanistic principle in their societies.

Twitter & Feminism in Transitional Justice

My experience as a Leitner Intern this summer was about flight. Flight of ideas, flights from New York to Paris and back again, flights across the web.

I worked at the International Center for Transitional Justice for the Gender Justice program under the guidance of its fantastic director, Kelli Muddell. For the month of June, I was in the New York office every day, conducting research on gender and transitional justice in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). I read, compiled, and provided feedback on a list of sources that were then used for a conference in Beirut to help implement transitional justice measures for women in the region. The documents covered transitional justice generally through a gendered lens, truth seeking commissions, civil society participation in truth seeking commissions, reparations, civil society and participation in the international criminal justice system, criminal justice generally, and security sector reform (including civil society participation). I also provided feedback and extensive editing on a number of other related documents to help activists prepare for implementation of transitional justice measures.

At the end of June, I went to Paris where I studied French language, Human Rights, Comparative Family Law, and World Trade and Development. I took classes at the Sorbonne (Paris I) with Cornell University's Summer Law Institute along with students from all over the world.

In addition to my coursework, I continued to work for ICTJ on a monthly gender situation report. ICTJ sends monthly situation reports from and to its various offices all over the world, allowing staff and interns a window into the global work in transitional justice. This project was and is becoming one of the most valuable experiences in my career. My assignment was to follow the news on gender and transitional justice and write up a summary of the relevant articles I found.

I ended up turning it into something much more fascinating than I ever anticipated. I created a list on Twitter of different organizations and news media that I wanted to follow - a list that included organizations like UN Women, Equality Now (an NGO I interned at in the Spring), Al Jazeera, the International Justice Tribunal, the ICC, Global Fund for Women, and more.

I followed this list regularly for updates. Not only was I reading the news; I was also watching the revolution in Libya un

fold. So I did more than summarize the articles I found - I analyzed and critiqued them.

In particular, I was interested in the way

s states use sexual violence and oppression to silence women's voices and participation in democracy and revolution. The following is an excerpt from my summary and analysis:

"This article demonstrates how different forms and degrees of sexual violence are used to reinforce gendered boundaries and keep women in the private sphere...By exploiting cultural norms about female sexuality, the state is able to use sexual violence, assault, and harassment to keep women out of public life...The article treats information accessibility and the link between democracy and patriarchy as separate issues, and runs the risk of the incorrect assumption that democracy results in major improvements for women. For democracy to benefit women, it must be accessible and inclusive. However, as the article contends, the advent of accessibility through social media is important. Not only is information through social media available across the public/private boundary, anyone with Internet access can participate in it. This means that social media could help women gain access to democratic debate, and also enable them to play a more substantial role in shaping it."

Internet access is still privileged and subject to censorship, but it is still an incredible platform on which a vast number of people who otherwise wouldn't have access to

voice can stand. What's more, it can happen publicly or privately, and often simultaneously. By reading and writing the mon-

thly situation report, I was circulating this knowledge through a powerful NGO, and by retweeting posts and adding a few of my own, I was perpetuating the circulation of knowledge that was forming the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, or more generally, the ideas that are shaping current feminist and human rights work.

This was particularly fascinating for me, because in college I wrote about problems of ascribing nationhood to women's bodies (see above for the Delacroix painting of La Liberté guidant le peuple), and left for a work of art incorporating the Statue of Liberty that I saw near ICTJ's headquarters in downtown Manhattan. (Or just think of the Statue itself). I should note that I think the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) is very different from the French Lady Liberty, or at least has the potential to be: she represents the Roman goddess of freedom and isn't sexualized. She holds a torch, a symbol of light, a crown evoking the seven seas, continents, and sun, and a tablet with writing, which of course enables the transmission of knowledge. Instead of representing American identity, (as Marianne does in France) she welcomes immigrants and travelers to New York City ... and New Yorkers back home.

Instead of finding national identity in a female symbol, it is imperative to a fairly functioning democracy that women's ideas, not bodies, enter the public sphere. This brings me to a project I am finishing for ICTJ, a note for the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) commission with UN Women. In this note, I am being asked to identify links between transitional justice and CEDAW to give a stronger foothold in gender-sensitive transitional justice measures. Rape must be seen as a state perpetrated crime, truth commissions must ask women at all levels about their experiences. Success in transitional justice efforts depends upon the full and fair participation of women, and opening up democratic processes to all women harmed by violence and affected by revolution.

Overall, I find the widespread use of women's bodies in museums and public places as a way to articulate political, cultural, social, and philosophical ideas to be offensive and problematic, although as someone who loves art, I can still appreciate the message and beauty of the art for its own sake. However, I demand entry into the conversation. Graffiti to me is a brilliant way to assault the established order and shock the conscience. It requires no ticket for admission, and does not ask for the viewer's permission. Therefore, I end my post with this image (another welcome home!) in the hope that my post will inspire readers to fight for women's rights, for fighting for women's rights is ultimately fighting for everyone's rights. Change begins in the home, and the writing is on my own street ;)

Iraqi Refugees in Egypt

“If you need help with it, just ask Abu Layla,” Amir told me.

Later, responding to a different question, he added, “Abu Layla should know where it is.”

And even later, “When you’re finished, put it in Abu Layla’s box."

All of which would have been helpful information, but I didn’t know who Abu Layla was. (By the way, names have been changed because, who knows?) I was too embarassed to ask, since everyone else seemed to know. However, by the end of the day I needed to know and approached our Iraqi office manager, Malik. "Malik, Amir keeps talking about Abu Layla. Who is that?"

The office manager is a stout, balding man who always dresses in trousers and an ironed polo shirt and sports a pair of large, gold-framed engineer-style glasses that I secretly covet. They have thick lenses and are super-retro-cool. They look like those worn by Walt in “Breaking Bad.” I thought about all of this as he grinned mischievously. “Jonathan,” he put a hand on my shoulder and laughed good-naturedly, “Abu Layla is me."

And so I had another embarassing lesson in Arabic culture. “Abu Shada” means father of Shada, and Iraqi adults are often called with reference to their first-born children.

Malik is a helpful and attentive office manager, and genial (he didn’t laugh at me too much). He is also a refugee from Iraq (most of the staff at the office are refugees). He speaks very good English, which has been common with my Iraqi clients, though with none of my African clients. And, of course, Iraqis speak Arabic, while Somalis, Ethiopians, and Eritreans do not (Sudanese do, for the most part).

Some of these Iraqi refugees government jobs and perhaps even joined the Ba’ath Party (which was often necessary to get a promotion if you worked for the government), which made them targets after Saddam Hussein’s government collapsed under the weight of U.S. bombs. Others aided or worked for American or Multi-National Forces, or translated for a U.S. media company, and were endangered because of their association with Westerners. Most are well-educated, middle-class folks, or at least they were back home. Which is to say that, for the most part, they have an easier time than other refugees in Egypt, but their lives here might be a far cry from what they had in Iraq. (This also means that Iraq is losing a lot of its educated professionals.

Well over two million Iraqis have fled their country since Hussein was deposed in 2003, and many others have been displaced internally. Of those who left, many have gone to Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. A smaller number went to Egypt, but this is a still a lot of people: there are estimates of 150,000 as of September 2008, and it’s surely increased since then. I’ve heard reports of people returning; after all, it’s not nearly as dangerous as it was a few years back. But violence continues in Iraq (28 people, including an MP, were killed at a mosque bombing on Saturday) and for many of these refugees, it is not safe to go back now.

Even for those with a middle-class background, being a foreigner is difficult in Egyt. For the most part, Iraqis are not legally permitted to work. Doctors, engineers, it makes no difference. They cannot enroll in public schools, so expensive private institutions are their only option. Many are drawing from dwindling savings accounts. Some have substantial government pensions, but Egypt does not allow these accounts to be transferred in-country, unlike the policies of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Many feel unwelcome in Egypt. And the revolution, by creating instability and by undermining the authority of the police, has unnerved many of the Iraqis I’ve spoken to. This may be why, according to the accounts I’ve heard, the number of Iraqis applying for resettlement is increasing.

Many apply to the quote-unquote normal refugee resettlement program of the UNHCR; others apply directly to a country’s immigration authority, for instance if they have a close relative who lives there and is willing to sponsor them. But those who fled Iraq because they worked with Americans are eligible to apply to the Direct Access Program (DAP). DAP is supposed to make it easier for these Iraqis to apply for resettlement to the US, for instance by not requiring a referral from the UNHCR or other agency. Iraqis who worked with Americans for more than one year (and were thusly endangered and had to flee, of course) can also apply for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV).

These are very different than the UNHCR resettlement mechanism. Eligibility for the UNHCR program is based on vulnerability in the country of refuge, whereas DAP and SIV criteria don’t address that at all. They’re almost merit-based programs; the key to assembling an application is getting proof that the applicant did in fact work for the American military, or USAID, or whoever. Of course, they must have been targeted because of this association, as well, but that's not usually hard to prove. Stories of black Xs painted on doors and bullets in envelopes are all too common.

The process itself is fairly complex, which is one reason that many have not applied. Some (by now outdated, surely) stats I read reported that only 20,000 applications had been received, though 150,000 Iraqis are eligible for either DAP or SIV. Of those 20,000, only 4,500 or so had been resettled. There is a huge backlog of SIV applications waiting on approval from the US Chief of Mission; this step alone often takes more than a year. Both DAP and SIV require the applicant to provide documentation of their employment by USG or other eligible organizations, which they may not have. (In some cases, the USG insists on copies of contracts to which it is itself a party! The idea that it doesn’t have a copy already is unsettling.) These and other bureaucratic issues seem mundane enough, but since this is a program for people who may still be in mortal danger, such delays are very important. Consider that some people are applying while still in Iraq, where simply approaching the US Embassy in the Green Zone might not be safe. NYT ran an article about delays in the SIV program earlier this month, though I don’t think this issue gets a lot of media attention on the whole.

Working Globally...Locally

Where's Kelly?
I experienced an earthquake and now a hurricane, have teleconferenced with colleagues in Geneva, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Bahamas, arranged a conference in Thailand, and gone into work early to make calls to Turkey. Where was I? In New York, of course! It's been quite an exciting summer working with the United Nations Development Programme ("UNDP") in the Gender Cluster of the HIV/AIDS Group of the Bureau for Development Policy ("BDP"). I had the privilege of touching livesglobally from the UN headquarters in New York this summer.

Part of the UNDP BDP HIV/AIDS Group, Evacuated for the August 23rd earthquake. (I am third from the right)

Reflecting on last year's work:

Last May 2010, I worked in as a Leitner intern in New Zealand in refugee family reunification, with the Wellington Community Law Centre. This was a direct client services position working through the legal process of New Zealand to refugees who had been resettled to New Zealand from parts of East Africa and South America.

This summer's experience was much different, not only because I was locally situated in New York, but also because I had the opportunity to work with an inter-governmental organization ("IGO") as opposed to an non-governmental organization ("NGO"). My involvement this summer was also more focused on policy than on direct client services. Each experience developed a different set of legal skills, and has allowed me to see the benefits of each working environment.

The facts on HIV & gender:

Much of my work has focused on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women ("CEDAW"). (Get used to the acronyms--this is the UN). CEDAW is the primary international human rights treaty establishing the framework around which discrimination against women can be addressed. Through its focus on gender equality, CEDAW is a particularly helpful tool for enforcing the rights of HIV-positive women and girls. Article 12 of the Convention specifically addresses equality of the right to health, which in the context of HIV translates to equality in access to not just treatment but also to preventative care. Worldwide, about 50% of all people living with HIV are women. In the Caribbean 53% of HIV-positive individuals are women, and in sub-Saharan Africa it is closer to 60%. In Asia, while in 1990 only 21% of those living with the virus were women, this jumped to 35% in 2009. In short, women and girls bear an increasingly significant burden of the epidemic, and this extends beyond just these numbers.

Gender inequality is both a cause and a consequence of HIV. Women and girls' lack of sexual and reproductive health rights contributes to HIV vulnerability. In example, social norms suggesting sexual health education is inappropriate for women and girls, legal barriers requiring women to be accompanied by their husband to visit a sexual health center, and economic challenges preventing women from accessing the financial resources needed to travel to a clinic or pay for services all contribute to increased vulnerability of women and girls to HIV. An estimated 18% of material mortality globally is attributable to HIV. The effects of HIV also fall disproportionately on women and girls: taking on roles as caretakers for HIV-positive family members, experiencing heightened stigma within communities, becoming more likely targets for violence, and being coerced or into sterilization by medical professionals.

The work, an example:

With these realities in mind, one of my primary projects has focused on working with specific countries to augment their monitoring and reporting for CEDAW. Governments and civil society organizations like NGOs both contribute separate reports to the CEDAW Committee every four years. We are working to directly target three Caribbean countries who will be reporting in July 2012. To do this, we analyzed past reports for where HIV was addressed and looked for entry points where HIV could have been discussed and should be monitored in the future. Based on these conclusions, we will hold workshops in each of the countries meeting with NGOs working with HIV-positive women and provided technical support to develop strategies for monitoring discrimination and then for drafting the reports. For the government actors responsible for the report submissions, we will work with them separately in workshops in the same way.

Another aspect of the work has been targeting the CEDAW Committee, a panel of 23 experts on women's rights. Last month, we held a briefing with a plurality of the Committee members to brief them on the HIV dimensions of discrimination against women and develop a framework for moving forward with the Committee on incorporating HIV into the CEDAW report review process. This involvement will heighten in advance of the January 2012 and July 2012 CEDAW sessions as well.

The future:

This summer's work has been inspiring, and I will continue to work part-time throughout the 2011 fall semester.

For more information on HIV/AIDS and for support of the statistics referenced in this entry, see UNAIDS. Global Report on HIV. 2010, available at http://www.unaids.org/documents/20101123_GlobalReport_em.pdf

Summer Internship in Port-au-Prince, Haiti at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux

This summer I was an Ella Baker law intern with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and was based at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. BAI is a public interest law firm that, in coordination with its US affiliate, IJDH, "strive[s] to work with the people of Haiti in their non-violent struggle for the consolidation of constitutional democracy, justice and human rights con­ditions in Haiti, pursuing legal cases, and cooperating with human rights and solidarity groups in Haiti and abroad." BAI works on the following issues, among others: Rape Accountability and Prevention, Housing Rights, the Right to Vote, Haitian Immigration Rights, and Health and Human Rights in Prisons. In order to bring about change and strengthen Haitian-led rights advocacy, it works with Haitian grassroots organizations to organize people around the right to housing, gender-based violence, and other issues. It also works on the international level, raising awareness of rights violations in Haiti, pushing for policy change in the US, and influencing the Government of Haiti to improve its respect for Haitian human rights through the Human Right's Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process and submitting petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

While I supported various projects of the BAI/IJDH, I spent most of my time working on the Housing Rights Advocacy Project. One component of this project was to visit internally displaced person (IDP) camps in and around Port-au-Prince, to investigate instances of threatened and actual forced evictions from the camps. According to international law, the Government of Haiti has special obligations to protect IDPs' from rights violations. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement provide for "protection against arbitrary displacement, offer a basis for protection and assistance during displacement, and set forth guarantees for safe return, resettlement and reintegration." The violent threats and illegal forced evictions occurring in Haiti, sometimes at the hands of private purported landowners and their hired thugs and other times at the hands of local government (such as the Mayor of Port-au-Prince), violate the human rights of IDPs.

The forced evictions also violate the domestic right to housing, which the Government of Haiti is bound to respect. The Haitian Constitution of 1987 provides that the "State recognizes the right of every citizen to decent housing, education, food and social security." Moreover, the Government of Haiti is bound to fulfill the right to housing because it can be said to be incorporated within the right to life, which, per the Haitian Constitution, is an "absolute obligation." The Haitian Constitution provides in relevant part that the "State has the absolute obligation to guarantee the right to life, health, and respect of the human person for all citizens without distinction, in conformity with the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man." According to article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man (now the UDHR), every person has the right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to housing. Accordingly, the Haitian Constitution's guarantee of the right to life can be said to incorporate and make the right to housing an absolute obligation as well.

On fact-finding trips to the IDP camps, which I conducted along with BAI attorneys, I was able to learn first-hand the plight of IDPs left homeless by the earthquake of 2010. Not only are IDPs living in tents and other makeshift shelters that neither provide people privacy nor protect them from the elements or crime (as most have no locks), but they are also usually not provided access to potable water or food (this, in the context of a cholera epidemic), and must spend what meager funds they have on these essentials. Toilets are in short supply and are often unhygienic and at the point of overflowing. I spoke with IDPs who had experienced violence at the hands of private and public actors, who feared the imminent loss of their temporary homes, and who had no idea where they would go if they were kicked out of their camp. Most IDPs who are evicted from camps end up on the streets, squeezed into other precarious IDP camps, or in "red" buildings, which are structures in danger of collapse at any moment from earthquake damage.

After visits to IDP camps, I helped draft press releases for the Haitian and international press and co-author opinion pieces for media outlets. I also used Twitter to help disseminate news of ongoing threats of evictions, violent evictions and arbitrary arrests, and IDP/grassroots protests against these rights violations. The articles I co-authored, as well as one podcast I recorded, can be accessed at the following links:

Podcast on Illegal Eviction, http://ijdh.org/archives/20417

Final Whistle for 514 Families as Haitian Government Illegally Closes Stadium Camp, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beatrice-lindstrom/final-whistle-for-514-fam_b_911638.html

Hundreds of Displaced Families Face Violence and Threats of Unlawful Eviction in the Carrefour Neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, http://ccrjustice.org/hundreds-of-displaced-families-face-violence-and-threats-of-unlawful-eviction-carrefour-neighborhood

Displaced Women Demand Justice in Port au Prince, http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/30

Another component of my work on the Housing Rights Advocacy Project was to conduct research on comparative constitutional law (South African and Indian) on the right to housing and draft a memorandum discussing what could be learned from this to enhance advocacy and litigation on housing rights in the Haitian context. One purpose of this research was to help support the BAI statement on the Government of Haiti's report to the Universal Periodic Review (including its inadequate treatment of the housing rights of IDPs). Another purpose is to support the BAI in upcoming litigation on the forced evictions of IDPs from their camps.

Living in Haiti and seeing the current human rights situation with my own eyes--such as by visiting IDP camps, speaking with IDP victims of the earthquake, and attending grassroots groups' press conferences at the BAI office--was absolutely invaluable to understanding the issues I was working on and motivating me to continue working for social justice with my legal education. I was greatly inspired by the work of CCR, BAI, IJDH, and the Haitian grassroots groups they partnered with, and am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work in Haiti this summer.