Sex Education Helps Young Be Responsible
The Star, Philippines, 2/29/2012
Without access to sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services, adolescents and youth, especially girls, face daunting reproductive and sexual health problems: unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, maternal mortality and morbidity, violence, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, exploitation, and discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation. All these have prompted the Federation of Reproductive Health Associations Malaysia (FRHAM), a leading sexual and reproductive health NGO, to develop a comprehensive module called Reproductive Health of Adolescent Module.
Privacy Right is no Cover for Unlawful Act: Counsel
The Hindu - New Delhi, India, 2/29/2012
When there is a conflict between individual right on homosexuality and societal interest in morality, the latter will prevail, counsel Harshvir Pratap Sharma argued in the Supreme Court strongly opposing the Delhi High Court judgment de-criminalising homosexuality. Mr. Sharma told the Bench that fundamental rights should not be read in isolation. They should be read along with the Directive Principles of State Policy. Pointing out that India is a country of different religions and cultural identities, counsel said the Supreme Court, while deciding the question of legalising homosexuality between two consenting adults, should take this factor into consideration.
Film Focuses on Lesbian Life
Viet Nam News - Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 2/29/2012
The first documentary film about lesbian communities in Viet Nam titled Duong Nao Di Toi Bien (Which Way to the Sea) has been screened at the second ASEAN Lifescape Festival in Thailand. However, the 35-minute documentary, produced by the Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women and Adolescents (CSAGA) hadn`t been presented widely at home because sexual issues were not talked about openly in Vietnamese society, said Nguyen Van Anh, director of the centre. The piece features the lives of four lesbian couples who represent lesbian communities in three regions in Viet Nam. It also explores how Vietnamese women cope after coming out of the closet.
China Wants More Co-Op with US in Gender Equality
China Daily, China, 2/28/2012
China called for more cooperation with the United States in gender equality, green development and well-being of women, an official of China`s biggest women`s organization said. Meng Xiaosi, vice president of All-China Women`s Federation (ACWF), made the remarks at a China-US meeting on sustainable development and the rights of rural women, a sideline event of the 56th UN Commission on the Status of Women. Meng said people from China and the United States have a common aspiration for gender equality, green development and well-being of women.
Child Protection Unit Mooted for Victims of Sexual Abuse
The Times of India - Kochi, India, 2/27/2012
The rights of child abuse victims in the state are not protected due to the absence of a child-friendly legal network. Most of the law machinery here, be it the police or the judicial system, are not sensitized to the required level while dealing with children. This was a common perception expressed at a meeting of experts to discuss the setting up of a protection system against child abuse organized by the Kochi-headquartered Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) Kerala.
China Softens Line on Single Child Policy
The Guardian, China, 2/27/2012
The single child policy is unlikely to be rescinded soon, because doing so would cause uproar among those denied second children. But it has frayed at the edges, with multiple groups, including ethnic minorities and the mothers of disabled children, being allowed a second child. Family planners are also seeking subtler approaches, such as more teenage sex education. According to the People`s Daily, the aim is to ‘make family planning work keep pace with the times and go deep among the masses’. An unintended consequence of the single child policy has been widespread, though illegal, sex-selective abortion, and infanticide.
Laws to Ease Sexual Minorities` Plight
The Himalayan Times - Kathmandu, Nepal, 2/27/2012
The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and the Blue Diamond Society (BDS), an NGO working for sexual monitories, are reviewing 25 Acts to guarantee lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders rights, to which every Nepali is entitled to. The move comes five years after the Supreme Court directed the government to revoke all laws that discriminate against LGBTs. Nepal is the only country in South Asia to recognise third gender rights. However, no official figure of the LGBT population is available till date.
All About Films and Friendship
The Hindu - Bangalore, India, 2/27/2012
While in Delhi, the Union Government made it clear that it has ‘no stand’ on the topic of decriminalising homosexuality, in Bangalore, members, friends and activists of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community met, socialised and participated in a festival that celebrated their varied identities. The Bangalore Queer Film Festival, in its fourth edition, drew to a close here on Sunday. The three-day event saw students, activists and film aficionados spending their days, and long evenings, at the Alliance Française de Bangalore, which has played host to the festival for years now.
Love’s Death
The Telegraph - Calcutta, India, 2/27/2012
The government lawyer, P.P. Malhotra, has enabled Indians to view homosexuality in an entirely new light. While arguing in the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court verdict that had decriminalized consensual sexual acts between adults in 2009, he declared with gusto, ‘HIV causes homosexuality and I will prove it.’ Does he mean that if a person has the misfortune to be affected by the dangerous virus, his sexual orientation changes, and he suddenly starts looking for lovers of the same sex?
Outside US Bases, Former Bar Workers Fight Sex Trafficking
The Korea Times - Pyeongtaek, Korea, 2/27/2012
According to United Nations protocol, human trafficking includes the recruitment and transportation of persons by means of coercion or deception for the purpose of exploitation including prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation. Park Su-mi, director of My Sister’s Home, a shelter for sex trafficking victims, said the trafficking begins when the women are still in the Philippines, where locals work with Korean promoters to recruit and deploy them. ‘Nobody explains to them the situation in Korea. Their contract does not comprehensively tell what it will be like,’ she said.
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