'Now, Few Takers for ‘Government Condoms’ as Users Look for Other Options'
Times of India, India, 6/30/2018
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a reply to an RTI dated June 13, 2018, has stated that the number of condom users have gone down in 19 States over the last six years. The States where the number of government-distributed condoms has gone down are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattigarh, Haryana, and so on. The reduction of condom use can be attributed to social taboos around both sex and condoms, but it could also be attributed to the popularity of other contraceptive methods like pills, injections, vasectomies and tubectomies. However, the fact remains that the non-usage of condoms can also expose one to potential sexual health risks, so the drop in the number of condom users is worthy of concern.
Teenager’s Suicide, after Sexual Harassment by Teacher Goes Unpunished, Sparks Soul-Searching across China
Japan Times - Beijing, China, 6/28/2018
The suicide of a teenager in China whose sexual harassment case was dismissed, has triggered nationwide soul-searching over her treatment, and anger at onlookers who encouraged her to jump off a building. Li Yiyi, 19 – who had been upset because prosecutors cleared a high school teacher whom she had accused of sexual harassment after a court case spanning nearly two years – died last week when she jumped off the eighth floor of a department store, in full of view of multiple witnesses. The case has put a new spotlight on the struggle among Chinese women to get legal help in sexual abuse allegations, and the country’s lack of awareness when it comes to the mental health needs of abuse survivors.
India among Most Dangerous Countries for Women, Says Poll
The Tribune - London, United Kingdom, 6/26/2018
According to a global ‘experts’ poll’ conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, India, Libya and Myanmar have been voted the world’s ‘most dangerous countries’ for women forced by human traffickers into non-consensual marriage, labour or sex work. The survey was conducted among 550 experts in women’s issues, and was meant to analyse the countries where women are trafficked the most. Women and girls account for seven in 10 victims of a trafficking industry estimated to affect 40 million people worldwide and generate illegal profits in billions, says the United Nations. Women and girls in India face trafficking threats because of the existence of a large-scale culture of misogyny in the country, experts said.
LGBT & Women's Groups Seek Review of Anti-Trafficking Bill
Times of India - Chennai, India, 6/26/2018
Pushing the government to order a review of the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, members of the South India Aids Action Programme (SIAAP), along with organisations such as Nirangal, National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW) and Orinam came together, to discuss labour, consent and agency of women workers against its context. In February 2018, the Union cabinet approved the anti-trafficking bill, leading to hostility from various human rights groups that allege that it overrides several crucial legislations surrounding bonded labour, juvenile justice, and doesn’t take into consideration the aspect of consent among sex workers. The meeting, organised by SIAPP, was aimed at discussing possible ways forward if the bill were to pass.
Bishops Reject Sexuality Education in Schools
Daily Monitor - Kampala, Uganda, 6/25/2018
The Catholic Church leadership in Uganda has slammed the Government’s National Sexuality Education policy, and said they will not allow it to be ‘introduced nor taught’ in their Church-founded schools. The bishops under the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC), the apex assembly of Catholic leaders in the country, said they have rejected the policy. The primary gripe of the bishops is the policy doesn’t include enough ‘christian values’, i.e, those highlighting the importance of ‘family’ and ‘children’, and they also don’t approve young children and adolescents being exposed to comprehensive sexuality education. As a primarily catholic country, the backlash to the progressive sexuality education policy put in place by the Ministry of Education earlier this year was predictable, but it’s also unfortunate.
Philippines LGBT Church Holds Mass Wedding for Same-Sex Couples
Business Standard - Manila, Phillipines, 6/24/2018
A LGBT church in the Philippines' Quezon city held a mass wedding for same-sex couples on June 24, 2018. The Church, which had been at the forefront of a campaign urging the Philippines Government to pass a marriage equality bill, holds mass LGBT weddings, known as Holy Unions, every year. However, since the law granting marriage equality is yet to be passed, the marriages are based on pure rituals, and don’t have legal sanctity. This year, the mass weddings are more significant, because since June 19, the country's Supreme Court has begun hearing a petition urging the Government to legalise same-sex marriage. If the petition is successful, the marriages could very soon have legal legitimacy.
Chinese Adverts Linking Alcohol to Female Promiscuity Banned By Watchdogs
The Independent, China, 6/22/2018
China’s media regulators have called on broadcasters to stop airing alcoholic beverage ads which show women getting a confidence boost with men by drinking it. Several advertisements for Want Want China Holding’s Sawow drink – a malt-based beverage specifically aimed at women – depict women gaining the confidence to approach men after drinking the product. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has since issued a statement claiming that the Taiwanese company’s ads ‘misguide the development of young people.’ While on the surface, this move seems like the censorship of something portraying female sexuality, but it’s worthy to note that the ad is problematic in its portrayal, because it shows that women can only confidently express or approach their sexuality after drinking alcohol.
The World Health Organisation Will Stop Classifying Transgender People as Mentally Ill
CNN, USA, 6/20/2018
The United Nations health agency announced on June 18, 2018, in its 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD) catalogue, that ‘gender incongruence’ – the organisation's term for people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were assigned at birth – has been moved out of the ‘mental disorders’ chapter and into the organisation's sexual health chapter. The change will be presented at the World Health Assembly, the WHO's legislative body, in 2019 and will go into effect on January 1, 2022. The WHO said the change is expected to improve the social acceptance of transgender people worldwide, while still making important health resources available to them. Multiple LGBT groups hailed the move, praising the WHO’s decision to finally stop considering transgender identity a ‘mental illness’.
Prisons Across Maharashtra to Get ART Facility for Testing, Treatment, Counselling for HIV/AIDS
Indian Express - Maharashtra, India, 6/20/2018
Taking into account the higher proportion of HIV positive persons in jails, as compared to the general population, central prisons and district jails across the state of Maharashtra are set to get Link Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) centres along with facilities for HIV and AIDS testing, counselling and raising awareness. The programme also has provisions for inmates to be trained as ‘peer educators’ for HIV and AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. Prison department officials said that the medicines in the Link ART Centres in prisons will be provided by the National AIDS Control Authority and Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society (MSACS), and the centres and will be operational within a month’s time. Inmates will undergo regular HIV-related tests and screenings and will have special programmes tailored towards educating them about HIV and AIDS.
Dalit Women’s Rights Activists to Present Accounts of Caste Violence at UNHRC
Indian Express - New Delhi, India, 6/20/2018
In a first, Dalit women rights activists will present witness accounts of ‘aggravated caste based-violence and impunity in India’ at the United Nations Human Rights Council in the present week, along with releasing a report titled ‘Voices Against Caste Impunity; Narratives of Dalit Women in India’. Using data from the National Family Health Survey, and several individual testimonies, the reports highlight caste-based sexual violence and instances of the misogyny and casteism faced by survivors at the hands of the police and the courts. It highlights that, of all kinds violence faced by Dalit women, brutal sexual violence is the most common. A panel of experts hearing the testimonies at Geneva will look at ways for reform through the UN system.
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