Draft language in a Rwandan reproductive health bill threatens the human rights of many Rwandan citizens. The Human Rights Watch has highlighted several provisions that they say should be struck from the bill, including:

1. compulsory HIV testing
2. sterilization of all individuals with intellectual disabilities

Ensuring that all HIV testing is confidential, conducted with informed consent, and accompanied by counseling is widely recognized as integral to effective HIV prevention and treatment strategies.
Systematic, forced sterilization has been recognized as a crime against humanity by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Recently, the UN and World Bank have expressed concern because family planning funding is falling off the radar of development aid in low-income countries.

“New preliminary figures from the World Bank show that official global development aid for health increased from $2.9 billion in 1995 to $14.1 billion in 2007, or roughly a five-fold increase in 12 years.

During the same period, aid for population and reproductive health made a more modest increase from $901 million to $1.9 billion.”

Of all the chains I spend too much money at, Cosi has been my favorite. I love their bread, their cookies, their TBMs, pretty much everything. There is one across the street from Advocates for Youth and I think our office probably contributes thousands a month to that place. I also love the idea that Cosi has free wireless, and I can get work done there.

Except I can’t. A couple months ago, I was doing some research that involved looking up SIECUS, but instead of the organization’s website I got a big “Access Denied: Sex Education” message. Curious, I tried to pull up Advocates’ website. It worked. I was annoyed and confused, but let it pass (after a lot of grandstanding and storming out the door).

Then today, I was trying to catch up on some blogging. It’s been a crazy month since graduation, and I’ve been driving all over the US without much internet. I moved into my new apartment a couple days ago, and still don’t have internet access. Searching for free wireless on a busy Friday morning, I didn’t have many options. So back I went to Cosi. When I went to pull up amplifyyourvoice.org, I again received the “Access Denied: Sex Education” message.

Cosi is a private company and can do what it wants with its wireless. But that choice also means the choice to lose all money I would be spending buying drinks and food while I work.

(ps: Thanks Busboys and Poets for your wireless working. And for being an awesome place!)

BBC News Reports:

"The ruling on Thursday overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an "unnatural offence". Homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison sentence. Many people in India regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate. Rights groups have long argued that the law contravened human rights."

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Not to be outdone by Burger King, Carl's Jr./Hardee's brings out their old stand by in their new "just a piece of meat" ad. (h/t Samhita)

 

I believe that Reproductive healthcare is pivotal during this time. Women need to be able to access resources to make sure their bodies are taken care of. If we are able to make daily decisions that concern our life, why can't we make decisions that concern our bodies? Recently, Anti-Choice Senators are working hard to prevent "reproductive health services" from being included in the new health-care system.

According to NARAL Pro-Choice, "Millions of women could lose coverage for abortion care – even if their private health insurance already covers it!" According to Politico, "House Republican leaders wrote to President Barack Obama on Wednesday to say that they see “areas for potential common ground on health care reform” that they would like to discuss." As much as I believe that people should be able to do what they believe, even based on religious views, I ask you to take a look at the millions of women who will lose their voice and their right to choose if we restrict the choice of Abortions in the new health-care system. Is the government trying to run everyone's life or are they trying to prevent people from making their own choices in their life. If you remove abortion from health-care many women will have to suffer the consequences of not getting the full benefits of reproductive healthcare.

Check out the letter the Republicans wrote to president:

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• The pregnancy is occurred due to rape or sexual intercourse between relatives
• The pregnancy is dangerous to the woman or fetus health.
• The fetus has been deformed and assured by medical checkup, and
• The woman is either mentally or physically disabled, or if she is too young to give birth, and unable to have the mental preparedness to feed and handle child care.

A fabulous friend and colleague working in her home region of Central/Eastern Europe sent me this video - so I thought I'd pass it along.  She is a volunteer sex educator with PONTON in Poland. 



If you enjoy the castration/STI treatment as much as I do, maybe you'd like to join me in signing 15andCounting, a petition that will be presented to the UN to demand that governments act now to fulfill their promises on access to sexual and reproductive health services, education and information for all young people.

This past week I had the privilege of viewing the world premiere of a new film, Youth Producing Change, at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York. As a visual compilation of life stories from young people all over the world, Youth Producing Change (YPD) captured the everyday struggles and triumphs young people deal with. Teen homelessness, HIV/AIDS, preserving an Islamic identity in a western culture, racial profiling, child labor and sexual assault were only a few of the topics these films exposed.

I first have to say that the stories in themselves were truly incredible. Each of the tales, some of which were done in documentary form while others were animations created by young people, told the story of a struggle, a triumph and a dream.

Struggles appeared in so many forms. Young people feeling forced to choose between homelessness and prostitution.  Adolescents being constantly subject to police brutality because of the color of their skin. A 13 year old working every day in a gravestone factory in Armenia to help support his family, instead of going to school.

Triumph was shown as homeless young people got themselves off the streets, into shelters, jobs and eventually their own homes. It was shown as a young man rising to the challenge of parenting his siblings after he lost his parents to AIDS. It was shown as a young woman choosing to be proud of her Islamic identity, even in the face of ridicule and hate she experienced every day in school.

The dream in each film was the same: a world free of discrimination and social inequity, defined by youth empowerment.

When I asked the young filmmakers, all of whom are under 19 years old, why they chose film as their medium and why they think it is important to use film as a tool for social change, their responses were passionate and inspired. They told me that film is an effective way to spread a message. Visualizing a person’s background helps you (the viewer) relate to their struggle. “Films show people the truth,” they said, “that is the best way to make a difference.”

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