Posts Tagged ‘abortion’

Acquittal of activist Vanessa Mendoza Cortés on defamation charges in Andorra

January 19, 2024

The acquittal of abortion rights activist, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, on defamation charges is an important victory, but she should never have been charged in the first place, said Amnesty International following a court decision. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/11/16/andorra-should-drop-charges-against-woman-human-rights-defender-vanessa-mendoza/]

In a joint public statement with the Centre for Reproductive Rights, Women’s Link Worldwide and Front Line Defenders the organisations welcome today’s decision acquitting Vanessa Mendoza Cortés and remind the authorities that she should face no further intimidation or reprisals for carrying out her important and legitimate human rights work.

“Today’s acquittal upholds Vanessa Mendoza Cortés’ right to freedom of expression and affirms the legitimacy of the efforts of all those defending women’s rights and sexual and reproductive rights. However, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés has paid a high price for defending human rights. She has endured an unjust and protracted judicial process lasting more than four years. This has impinged on her crucial work and that of the organisation she represents.  

Vanessa Mendoza Cortés has paid a high price,  enduring an unjust and protracted judicial process lasting more than four years.

“We call on the Andorran authorities to publicly recognize the legitimacy of the human rights work carried out by Vanessa Mendoza Cortés. The authorities must take concrete measures to ensure she and other activists can defend the human rights of women and girls in Andorra, including the right to safe and legal abortion, without intimidation and fear of reprisals.

“Andorra should comply with its obligations to decriminalize abortion and make access to it safe and legal in the country.”

Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, President of the women’s rights organisation Stop Violence (Stop Violències), was charged with criminal defamation after voicing concerns about Andorra’s total abortion ban at a meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to examine the country’s record on women’s rights in 2019.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/01/andorra-acquittal-of-activist-who-raised-concerns-about-total-abortion-ban-at-a-un-meeting-an-important-victory/

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Sakharov Prize 2023: finalists announced

October 18, 2023

On 18 October, 2023 European Parliament published the names of the finalists of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. For more on this and other awards, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/BDE3E41A-8706-42F1-A6C5-ECBBC4CDB449. The finalists were chosen in a vote by the foreign affairs and development committees on 12 October.

The 2023 Sakharov Prize finalists are:

  • 19 October: Parliament President Roberta Metsola and the political group leaders decide on the winner  
  • 13 December: the Sakharov Prize award ceremony takes place in Strasbourg.

2023 Sakharov Prize: finalists chosen

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Andorra should drop charges against woman human rights defender Vanessa Mendoza

November 16, 2020

It is not often that Andorra figures in this blog but on 6 November 2020 the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) refers to the case of Vanessa Mendoza, the president of Associació Stop Violències, who demands that all women in Andorra are able to enjoy their rights to sexual and reproductive health, in particular the decriminalisation of abortion. Due to her advocacy including with the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), she is facing intimidation, judicial harassment and defamation.

Vanessa Mendoza, President of Associació Stop Violències, is facing at least two judicial proceedings related to her activism. In one case where she received formal notification, she is facing charges of slander against the government, defamation against the co-princes and crimes against the State institutions due to statements she made to the media and her engagement with CEDAW. These charges carry up to four years imprisonment. In a separate case in relation to organising a protest in September 2019 calling for decriminalising abortion, she was brought before the police to testify in November 2019, but has not yet received a formal notification of the charges she is facing

During the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Andorra, which took place on 5 November 2020, the State delegation of Andorra said that Mendoza ‘is not risking in any case a jail sentence’. ISHR urges Andorra to drop all charges against Mendoza, provide assurances that she will no longer face any intimidation, threats or judicial harassment, and guarantee her right to an effective remedy for the reprisals that she was subjected to.

ISHR welcomes the Netherlands’ statement at the UPR raising concerns about the reprisals against Mendoza for her engagement with CEDAW, and recommending that the Andorran government ‘stop the judicial harassment, the reprisals and intimidation against human rights defenders in relation to the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms and engagement with the UN’.

The UN Secretary-General, in his 2020 annual report on reprisals, documented that the Andorra Government is taking ‘disproportionate measures’ against Stop Violències and its President for their participation with the CEDAW.

https://www.ishr.ch/news/andorra-drop-charges-against-vanessa-mendoza-and-guarantee-safe-and-enabling-environment-women

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“Fly So Far” film portrays women jailed under Salvador abortion laws

September 16, 2019

Teodora Vasquez is photographed during an interview with AFP in San Salvador on September 12, 2019

Teodora Vasquez spent 10 years in jail for murder in El Salvador. Her crime? Giving birth to a dead baby. Now a new film tells her story and highlights the plight of 16 women still serving long sentences, as pressure grows for legislative change. Vasquez, who served more than one-third of her 30-year sentence, will present the 90-minute documentary “Fly So Far” at a festival in Sweden on 23 September. “After being locked up for so long, you can fly, you can go far,” Vasquez told AFP in an interview, explaining the film’s title. Vasquez, who will be in Stockholm to launch the film has become an outspoken human rights defender.

Sixteen women are currently in prison in El Salvador for what human rights groups describe as obstetric emergencies. Under Salvadoran law however, they were convicted of having abortions. “Even if those 16 women regain their freedom, we will continue the fight because we don’t want future generations to end up in jail because of the kind of obstetric problem that happened us,” said Vasquez.

The film by Swiss-Salvadoran director Celina Escher hopes to highlight their plight on the world stage. The film focuses on Maria Teresa Rivera, who was given political asylum in Sweden after being jailed in El Salvador. It portrays her life inside as well as after her release, showing the difficulties experienced by these women integrating back into society, particularly given the stigma of the crime for which they were convicted.

Vasquez currently directs a project that provides ex-prisoners with the chance of a fresh start — offering healthcare, psychological help, employment assistance and legal advice. “We have the problem that when we recover our freedom we leave with a criminal record, and having a criminal record, prevents us from getting any job.“

https://au.news.yahoo.com/film-portrays-plight-women-jailed-under-salvador-abortion-013850604–spt.html

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In Memoriam for Mwatha, human rights defender disappeared and killed in Kenya

February 22, 2019
Caroline Mwatha Ochieng
Caroline Mwatha Ochieng

Gacheke Gachihi, coordinator of Mathare Social Justice Centre and member of the Social Justice Centre Working Group, celebrates the life of a fellow activist, Caroline Mwatha Ochiengwho was a tireless campaigner against police brutality and illegal arrests in Kenya, and was involved in documenting these cases. Through the documentation of these systematic injustices, Caroline, a founding member of Dandora Social Justice Centre and member of the Social Justice Centre Working Group (the collective voice of social justice centers in the informal settlements in Nairobi), was exposed to police harassment and threats, but she never gave up and continued to fight for social justice. Earlier this month, she was murdered. Her disappearance and murder sends a terrifying message to human rights defenders and social justice activists who are fighting against systematic extrajudicial killings and police brutality in Kenya.

I recall a recent event that illustrates Caroline’s tireless commitment. On December 13, 2018, at 9 p.m., I received a distress call from an activist who had been illegally arrested and detained at the Kwa Mbao Administrative Police (AP) camp — an informal settlement where the Dandora community Social Justice Centre was monitoring human rights violations. Carol Mwatha was our team leader at the notorious Kwa Mbao AP camp, which is under the jurisdiction of the Dandora Social Justice Centre. She was responsible for monitoring and documenting cases of human rights violations and extrajudicial killings by security agencies.

Under the leadership of Carol Mwatha, we spoke to the officer in charge of the AP camp, who was supervising those who had been arrested in the raid that evening. We demanded the unconditional release of our comrades. They were being detained illegally for refusing to bribe a police officer, something that exposes many youth in these areas to extrajudicial killing. As a result of Carol Mwatha’s intervention, our comrades were released unconditionally.

……

The struggle against social injustice and deplorable living conditions exposed Carol Mwatha to dangers that eventually led to her disappearance on February 6 and her subsequent murder. Caroline’s body was dumped in the city mortuary under a different name on Tuesday, February 12, and the police reported a story of a botched abortion to cover up her murder.

Caroline Mwatha Ochieng was a tireless campaigner against police brutality and illegal arrests, and she was involved in documenting these cases and referring them to the independent Police Oversight Authority and other organizations that have been mandated to seek accountability and redress against human rights violations in Kenya. Through the documentation of these cases, Carol was exposed to serious police harassment and threats, but she never gave up and continued to fight for social justice.

In a rather bizarre twist, it turns out that the Catholic Church on Thursday refused to hold a requiem Mass for Caroline Mwatha on the grounds that postmortem results showed that she died as a result of excessive bleeding caused by possible abortion. Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops General Secretary Father Daniel Rono on Friday told the Star that life begins at conception and that abortion is wrong. Similar sentiments were shared by National Council of Churches of Kenya Deputy General Secretary Reverend Nelson Makanda. “The sanctity of the foetus must be protected and that starts from conception. Once fertilisation occurs that is a human being and the child must be protected to its natural death. Anyone who aborts is a murderer,” he said.

https://socialistworker.org/2019/02/22/a-fighter-for-justice-in-kenya (First published at the Review of African Political Economy)

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019/02/22/mwatha-was-killed-says-activist-kegoro_c1898545

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019/02/22/anti-abortion-catholic-church-declines-to-hold-requiem-mass-for_c1898757

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Systematic Digital Harassment of the Latin America and Caribbean Women’s Health Network denounced

October 21, 2013

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition [WHRD IC] expresses its deep concern at the recent hacking of the website of the Latin America and Caribbean Women’s Health Network’s (LACWHN).  The attack is emblematic of the serious threat that on-line harassment presents to sexual and reproductive rights activists and constitutes a malicious violation of LACWHN’s right to freedom of expression and association. women human rights defenders
On 21 September the LACWHN’s website was hacked and disabled: http://www.reddesalud.org/.  The attack occurred immediately following the launch of several campaign activities on 19 and 20 September  including the #28SAbortoLegal social media campaign as well as the posting of a photo album and some posters.

The WHRD IC believes the digital attack is a deliberate attempt to silence legitimate feminist voices, suppress dissent and stifle women’s political participation in the public sphere on these issues by stigmatization and sabotage.   The spaces where WHRDs working on sexual rights provide information and communicate from on the right to information on health and bodily integrity are being systematically attacked. In 2013 APC conducted a global survey (http://www.genderit.org/articles/survey-sexual-activism-morality-and-internet) on risks facing WHRDs working on sexual rights, including reproductive health and rights, LGBT rights, access to safe abortion, sexual violence and rape, and sex education. 99% of activists stated that the internet was a crucial tool for advancing their human rights work. And yet, 51% reported receiving violent or threatening messages online. About one third of the sample mentioned intimidation (34%); blocking and filtering (33%); or censorship (29%). This resulted in 27% of them discontinuing the work they were doing online.” Given the importance and relatively new area of human rights, the WHRD IC notes the importance of advancing regional and international jurisprudence, and contributing to a better understanding by the international community of the risks that exist on-line, particularly in relationship to the protection of the right to defend rights.

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