Scary Legislation Pending in Rwanda

Blog It! Take Action Get Involved

My Sistahs - A webite by and for young women of color

Youth Resource - A website by and for lgbtq youth

Advocates for Youth - A website for parents, health professionals and educators

Scary Legislation Pending in Rwanda

by:

Abbey824

Friday, July 3, 2009 at 1:53:00 PM EDT

Rating:

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:

compulsory HIV testing
sterilization of all individuals with intellectual disabilities

These two provisions are not only counter to human rights, but counter to the interests of better reproductive health.

The HIV testing language is specific to three provisions: it would require all individuals who want to be married to undergo testing first and present a certificate, would force individuals to be tested again later if thier spouse asks, and would allow a doctor to test children or "incapacitated" individuals to be tested without consent or confidentiality.

Both the HIV and the sterilization provisions run counter to human rights and are widely recognized to run counter to interests of public health as well- forcing people to do anything leads to more people taking more risks to get around doing it, and singling out groups and times in a persons life to target stigmatizes people, which makes marginalization even worse. According to Reuters:

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.

Hopefully, the Rwandan parliament will take out this problematic language and respect the rights of Rwandans.

Comments (1)
Share this entry:

del.icio.us |

Facebook |

MySpace |

Digg It! |

Linking Blogs

Comments

[Add New Comment]

Thanks for posting this. I would like to continue to follow up on this story. I am curious as to what their motive was for the compulsory HIV testing before marriage-- how does that help those who are in sexual relationships but are not married? Regardless, compulsory testing brings up all kinds of issues of confidentiality and as you mentioned human rights.

# Posted By

vanessaaishacoleman | 7/4/09 10:43 AM | Report | Reply

[Add New Comment]

<< July 2009 >>

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Goodbyes & Hellos
By Music_And_Musings
2 comments

Kenyan Men Arrested for Attempting Gay Marriage
By vanessaaishacoleman
1 comments

Phenomenally, Phenomenal Women
By elizabeth
1 comments

Commodity for Sale
By justifiable
1 comments

Utah: Prosecuting women is a “national model” for the anti-abortion movement
By AFY_Will
2 comments

Prom Cancelled Because a Girl Wanted to Bring Her Girlfriend
By RyAnYWOC
3 comments

Guest Post: The Fight for Sex Education in Utah
By Amplify_Staff
0 comments

My Love Letter to Feminism
By Jill
2 comments

Midwest Unite + Fight Conference is This Weekend
By Mahayana
0 comments

Girl Child Education in Nigeria; Why Not?
By kiki
1 comments

Little Freak, Really??
By Reneex10
0 comments

Why Would Somebody Abandon Their Baby?
By lilraheem
1 comments

Abandoned Naked Baby Found in the Cold
By bigkev
1 comments

Baby Found in the Cold
By dstyles3
0 comments

Blog about a man who to gave his wife Hiv
By CP3
0 comments

Dedicated to Haiti
By NicoleSheri
0 comments

Abandoned New Born
By WillTheSpacekid
1 comments

Hey It's Nicole!!!
By NicoleSheri
0 comments

Lobbying In Springfield,Illinois March 11-12 ,2010 experience with ICAH
By latinablueeyes
0 comments

Open Mic:"Something you probably didn't know..."
By Exclusive1
0 comments

The beging of My story (With REALLY bad grammar)
By Bella_Faye
0 comments

Global Youth Service Day "tujijue" Expedition camp 2010
By Pok
0 comments

Dear White House: Please add this to your website.
By allyouneedislove
1 comments

Australia Recognizes Persons with "Sex Not Specified"
By kirbygirl87
1 comments

Tiger Woods Wood for Sell: Glamorizing Sexual "Infedelity" or "Having Fun"
By kirbygirl87
0 comments

Goodbyes & Hellos
By Music_And_Musings
2 comments

Abstinence Comes to Albuquerque
By lexitexas
0 comments

dumb notes. don't read.
By snorkamaiden
0 comments

Respect, Empower, Include: Some Lessons from RootsCamp
By AFY_Nikki
0 comments

"Ghetto" Mothers and Their Newborn Are Denied Comprehensive Maternal Health Care in Jamaica
By Nekeisha
0 comments

Inspired in Albany-Latino AIDS Activists Unite!
By AFY_Sarah
0 comments

san francisco! where great things are combined
By Leightd
1 comments

Teen Health Now Event: Online Organizing and Advocacy Training for Youth!
By dandaman6007
0 comments

My Belief About Sex
By susanacuellar
0 comments

Phenomenally, Phenomenal Women
By elizabeth
1 comments

365 Gay
Akimbo
Daily Kos
F-Bomb
Feministe
Feministing
Huffington Post
Nuestra vido, Nuestra voz
Open Left
Pam's House Blend
Pandagon
Planned Parenthood
RH Reality Check
Scarleteen
Shakesville
SistersTalk

	Avatar for Best Picture
	Gabby Sidibe
	Up in the Air for Adapted Screenplay
	Anna Kendrick for Supporting Actress
	Fantastic Mr. Fox for Best Animation
	Johnny Weir! Still bitter.