Chastity Rule Shifts Responsibility on to Swazi Women

SWAZILAND: HEALTH/ /19/06/02 Sabanews

MBABANE – A new chastity rule to curb HIV/AIDS in SWAZILAND discriminates against women, Inter Press Service (IPS) reports.

“A pregnant girl is fined a cow, which represents the monthly net income of the average Swazi wage earner. The boy or man who impregnates her is also liable to pay a fine, but he can simply deny responsibility,” says attorney Jason Nxumalo.

SWAZILAND has no facility for DNA testing. The onus of guilt is exclusively on the woman. Violations of the recently revived chastity custom, ‘umcwasho’, are dealt with in the chief’s court. Lawyers are barred from the hearings.

‘Umcwasho’, the headgear that unmarried girls and women have to wear, was expected to change the sexual behaviour of young Swazis. One in three people in SWAZILAND are infected with the HIV virus.

“Most girls adhere voluntarily. But in some instances there has been coercion on the part of the authorities,” Beauty Dlamini, a counsellor for sexually abused women in Manzini, told IPS.

Police are very concerned about growing incidents of girls using the pretext of ‘umcwasho’ violations to blackmail families into giving them cows to slaughter and eat. /Sabanews/an

..ENDS SABANEWS..

Stigma Makes Living with HIV Hard in KENYA

KENYA:HEALTH/ /19/06/02 Sabanews

NAIROBI – Living with HIV/AIDS is hard, says Eunice Odongo, an HIV positive AIDS counselor in KENYA. Odongo works for Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya.

“A woman came to me weeping. She said her daughter is sick and the nurse in the hospital told her that the family should not share cups with her at home. I explained to her that you can’t catch HIV by sharing cutlery,” Odongo is quoted by Inter Press Service (IPS).

It is 20 years since AIDS was first isolated and classified. Millions of Africans have died, but people’s attitudes towards the disease have barely changed.

Eunice is a Luo, KENYA’s third largest tribe. The Luo practice wife-inheritance, which is a major contributor to HIV/AIDS in their community. When a woman’s husband dies, she must be ‘cleansed’ and ‘inherited’ by another man. For the cleansing ritual to work, a condom cannot be used.

In Lao culture, a widow who is not inherited is cursed. She is not allowed to fetch water or enter people’s houses.

“When my husband died, I refused to be inherited. I said my husband died of AIDS and I was HIV positive,” says Eunice.

Eunice was not worried about these old taboos. But, she says, “for women who live upcountry, they are under a lot of pressure to agree. They have no choice.” /Sabanews/an

..ENDS SABANEWS..

AIDS Turns Children into Sex Workers in BANGLADESH

BANGLADESH:RIGHTS/ /19/06/02 Sabanews

DHAKA – Mere children in BANGLADESH are already into sex work. Sex workers in BANGLADESH have the highest number of partners in Asia.

“The clients favour the young girls,” says Rizwanul Karim, a doctor who is teaching them about sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, in a report by Inter Press Service (IPS).

A 12-year-old girl who is already seven months into prostitution says she knows about HIV/AIDS.

“This is a new disease that kills people. If my client does not use a condom during the sexual act I may get the disease. I prefer them to use condoms because then I'll not get pregnant. I think syphilis and gonorrhoea are two names for AIDS.”

Two other teenagers join in. They started a few years ago as bonded sex workers. One of them says: “Some clients can be persuaded to use condoms but some just refuse to see reason.”

“It is more difficult for young girls to negotiate condom use, especially so if the girl is a bonded sex worker,” says Dr Karim. “She is forced to take as many clients as possible, even 20-25 men a day.”

“The madam wants to quickly recover the amounts spent on obtaining the girl and on other expenses,” the doctor in BANGLADESH is quoted by IPS. /Sabanews/an/

..ENDS SABANEWS..