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UNFPA GLOBAL POPULATION POLICY UPDATE
Issue 22 - April 13 2004
As we mark the 10th anniversary of the 1994 Cairo International Conference
on Population and Development (ICPD) this year, this issue of the UNFPA Global
Population Policy Update takes a look at some of the laws and policies amended,
reviewed, or adopted last year on issues relating to sexual and reproductive
health/rights and gender.
On 12 August 2003, Mauritius amended the Courts Act, the Criminal Code,
and the Criminal Procedure Act to reinforce provisions relating to sexual
offenses. Among other things, the amendments provide for the following:
a) the trial before a judge without a jury of cases in which a person has
been raped by two or more individuals; b) the imposition of a minimum sentence
of five years hard labour upon conviction of certain sexual offenses; c)
the imposition of a maximum sentence of eight to 20 years hard labour for
the offense of rape; and d) the testimony of victims in sexual offense cases
through a live video or live television link system rather than in the presence
of the perpetrator.
http://mauritiusassembly.gov.mu/bills/2003/bill30.doc
On June 13, 2003, the Republic of Niger adopted Law No. 2003-025 amending
the Penal Code of 1961. Among the new offenses recognized by
the amended Penal Code is the crime of female genital mutilation (FGM), defined
as “any assault on the female genital organ by total or partial removal of
any of its parts, excision, infibulations, desensitization or any other means.”
The law calls for a minimum criminal sentence of six months in prison and
a fine, increasing penalties when FGM results in death and when the perpetrator
is a member of a medical profession. In its provisions on slavery,
the amended Penal Code recognizes as a form of slavery any institution in
which a woman, with no power to refuse, is promised or given in marriage
in exchange for money or goods, is transferred to a third party, or is forced
to engage in sexual relations with a “master.” Also characterized as
slavery is any institution or practice in which a minor under the age of
18 is given by a parent or guardian (or a person having control over a parent
or guardian) to a third party, with or without compensation, for the purpose
of exploitation or labour. It is also an offense to profit from the
prostitution of a woman in a “servile position.” In addition, the amended
Penal Code recognizes the crime of sexual harassment, defining it as “the
use of orders, threats or constraints to obtain favors of a sexual nature.”
Penalties, which include a minimum of three months in prison and a fine,
are increased when the harassment is an abuse of authority. Finally,
the law redefines the crime of rape as “any act of sexual penetration, in
any form, committed on the person of another by means of violence, constraint,
threat or surprise.”
On 23 May 2003, the government of Peru adopted Ministerial Resolution
No 573-2003-SA/DM approving regulations on the structure and duties of
directorates for both national health and decentralized health networks.
In describing the primary mission of the national health directorates, the
regulations call for the protection of all Peruvians “with respect to their
lives and fundamental rights from the moment of fertilization until death,
respecting the natural course of their lives, and contributing to the national
task of ensuring the development of all citizens.” Among the national
health directorate’s strategic objectives is ensuring “the protection of
the life and health of all persons from conception and throughout their life
cycles until their natural deaths.” There are also provisions for breastfeeding,
children’s nutrition, maternal and infant mortality and morbidity and universal
health insurance. However, the regulation’s most unusual feature is
a provision making national health directorates responsible for “protecting
the life and health of all unborn children from conception and officially
registering them as conceived and as subjects of constitutional rights.”
Further responsibilities include promoting prenatal care, maternal nutrition
and paternal participation in preparing for childbirth. Other prescribed
goals for the health directorates include giving all women access to prenatal
monitoring and a competent childbirth facility. The regulations assign
more specific duties to the different organs of the national health directorates.
A number of the national directorates’ duties, including those aimed at protecting
the unborn life, are repeated in regulations concerning the decentralized
health network directorates.
http://www.minsa.gob.pe/infodigemid/normatividad/RM57303.HTM
On May 1, 2003, Viet Nam issued a Population Ordinance that establishes
objectives, implementing measures and guiding principles for managing activities
relating to population. The ordinance also enumerates the rights and
duties of individuals and the responsibilities of government agencies with
respect to population-related activities. Several of the ordinance’s
provisions have implications for women’s reproductive health and rights.
The ordinance sets forth fundamental principles, including autonomy and equality
of all individuals and families in matters relating to family planning and
reproductive health care. It also prohibits certain acts, including:
obstructing or forcing the practice of family planning; practicing sex-selection
techniques; producing, dealing in, importing or supplying fraudulent, sub-standard
or unapproved contraceptives; and human cloning.
In addressing population size, the ordinance cites reproductive health care
and family planning programmes among its principal strategies to balance
population growth with socio-economic development, natural resources and
the environment. The government is required to: provide high quality,
accessible and safe family planning services; offer material and moral incentives
for family planning; and create favourable conditions for the implementation
of family planning programmes and give priority to low-income individuals
and minors, among others. The ordinance provides that couples and individuals
have certain rights related to family planning, including the right to decide
the timing, number and spacing of their children. At the same time,
the ordinance states that couples have an obligation to use contraceptive
methods and take steps to prevent Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs),
including HIV/AIDS.
Additional directives to the government include adopting policies and measures
to prevent sex-selection techniques and meeting the demands of ethnic minorities
for reproductive health care and family planning services. To advance
the health of the population, the ordinance requires the government to ensure
fundamental human rights, implement reproductive health measures and adopt
policies and measures to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination. It
also provides for the incorporation of population education into school curricula
and textbooks at all levels of education, to be coordinated by the Ministry
of Education and Training and the Committee for Population, Families and
Children.
A related government decision issued in September 2003 affirms and lends
clarity to many of the ordinance’s provisions.
This newsletter is issued by the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) in its capacity as secretariat for the biannual International
Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme
of Action (the first conference was held in November 2002, in Ottawa, Canada).
These dispatches are intended to highlight important developments taking
place around the world so that parliamentarians can be kept informed of and
learn from the successes, setbacks and challenges encountered by their fellow
parliamentarians in other countries and regions in their efforts to promote
the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference
on Population and Development (September 1994, Cairo, Egypt). It should be
noted that UNFPA does not necessarily endorse all of the policies described
in this newsletter.
Thanks to Center for Reproductive Rights and Harvard University School of
Public Health for their contributions to the content of this newsletter.
Please send mailing list update information to Ragaa Said at said@unfpa.org. If you have any questions or comments
on the content of this newsletter, please contact Harumi Kodama at kodama@unfpa.org or Richard Snyder at snyder@unfpa.org.
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