ICC Office of the Prosecutor Weekly Briefing 24 July – 7 August 2012, Issue #128
Brazilian Women Rebel Against Mandatory C-Section Births
By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BRASILIA, Brazil—Mariana Mignon knew that she wanted her child born through a natural birth since the day she discovered that she was pregnant. Only weeks before her due date, Mignon completely abandoned her obstetrician, health plan, and her own private hospital room to have a chance at a real vaginal birth in a free public hospital in Rio.
In Brazil, natural childbirth has fallen out of favor, with about 82 percent of children born via cesarean section among women with private health insurance. “If I’d stayed with my health care plan and my doctor, I would have had a C-section,” said Mignon. Brazil, on its own, has one of the highest cesarean section rates in the world.
The trend toward the C-section method may be shifting throughout the country as more women push for more of a say in their childbirth options—whether it be C-section or naturally, home or in the hospital, or with a midwife or a medical doctor. Olimpio Moraes Filho, a head doctor with the Brazilian Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists noted that, “We need to have a serious discussion in this country to see what can be done to change this culture.” “Women are starting to rebel, and they should,” Filho also noted.
The catalyst to this rebellion began in July when a medical regulating agency in Rio made it forbidden for doctors to conduct home births and for labor coaches from helping out in hospitals. In defense of this new rule, the agency argued that “there are many complications possible during labor that require immediate medical attention.”
Responding to this, women began to organize marches in 13 cities around Brazil. In the city of Sao Paulo, women bared their breasts, marched with posters that said “Our Children, Our Decision,” and chanted “Brazil, don’t follow Rio’s example.” By the end of the month, the resolution was reversed by court order and over 200 people gathered in Rio to celebrate the news.
According to the World Health Organization, people should avoid unnecessary surgeries, especially during childbirth—as there are many risks for a mother including infections, complications form anesthesia, hemorrhage, dangerous clots and an even longer recovery.
To reverse the trend toward C-section, Brazil’s federal government has decided to create a program called “The Stork Network” with the goal of “humanizing” the birthing process and teaching mothers and heath practitioners about the benefits of natural childbirth.
For further information, please see:
Mercury News – Brazilian Women Rebel Against C-Section Births – 12 August 2012
MSNBC – Brazilian Women Rebel Against C-Section Births – 12 August 2012
The Sun – Brazilian Women Rebel Against Cesarean Births – 12 August 2012
Yahoo News – Brazilian Women Rebel Against Cesarean Births – 12 August 2012
Syrian Revolution Digest – Friday 10 August 2012
From the Road!
Friday August 10, 2012
Cities & Towns Under Shelling: Harasta, Arbeen, Moadamiah, Harran Al-Awameed, Deir Al-Asafeer, Ain Terma, Zabadani, Madaya, Eltal, Dmeir, Hameh, Yelda, Rankous, Qarrah (Damascus Suburbs), Sit Zeinab, Al-Qadam, Midan, Tadamon, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Yarmouk, Kafar Sousseh, Mazzeh, Qaboun, Barzeh, Salhiyeh, Ruknaddine, Dafelshawk (Damascus City), Daraa City, Khirbet Al-Ghazaleh, Tafas, Bostra Al-Sham, Na’eemah, Mseifrah, Jimreen, Hraak , Saida, Tal Shihab (Daraa), Rastan, Talbisseh, Houla, Tal Kalakh, Al-Qusayr, Al-Hosn, Al-Ghanto, Al-Bouaydah, Old Homs (Homs Province), Hreitan, Elbab, Eizaz, Marei, Bayanoun (Aleppo Province), Haffeh, Jabal Al-Akrad (Lattakia), Deir Ezzor City, Mouhassan, Albou Kamal (Deir Ezzor Province), Kafar Zeiteh, Hawash, Shahshabo, Hama City (Hama Province), Jabal Al-Zawiyeh, Ma’rrat Al-Nouman, Saraqib, Maar Shoureen, Ariha, Kafroumah, Al-Rami, Khan Shaikhoon (Idlib).
News
Former Lebanese minister arrested for planning attacks for Syria’s AssadMichel Samaha, a former Lebanese minister, reportedly confessed to helping plan attacks on Sunni targets in Lebanon. If true, it illustrates how far Syria’s Assad regime can reach into Lebanon.
Op-Eds & Special Reports
How, when and whether to end the war in Syria Spillover may force Washington to contemplate real solutions to the Syrian conflict, rather than indulge in frivolous sideshows. If that day comes, our choice will almost certainly be between picking a winner and leading a multilateral intervention.
Syria’s Rebel Judges Promise Sharia Justice With Mercy In Tal Rifaat, the Assad regime has been replaced by a local tribunal of clerics, guided by Islamic law and the pursuit of political reconciliation
Syria: buried besides his fields – a farmer who fought for freedom The cemetery where the Unity Brigade buried Omar Ismail looks out over the wheat-fields he once worked. One of four brothers who farmed their father’s rented land, he had volunteered for the amateur army that took him to the big city an hour away, whose lights and tourist souqs were alien to him.
In Their Own Words: Human Rights Violations Against Iran’s Kurdish Minority
9 August 2012
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran routinely violates domestic and international law in the course of arresting, interrogating, and prosecuting Kurdish civil and political activists.
Although armed opposition groups do exist in Iran’s Kurdish region, many of the targets of government repression are peaceful activists operating within the framework of the law who are indiscriminately subjected to intimidation, torture and the deprivation of their rights to due process.
As part of its on-going effort to document human rights violations perpetrated against Iran’s Kurdish minority, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) has compiled a package of witness statements that evidences the abuses against Kurdish activists in the prisons, detention centers, and judicial apparatus of the Islamic Republic.
The fifteen witnesses in this package were interviewed in the course of investigations for IHRDC’s recently released report, “On the Margins: Arrest, Imprisonment, and Execution of Kurdish Activists in Iran Today” and include former Kurdish Iranian political prisoners and the relatives of current and former death row inmates. All the witnesses included in this release have intimate experience with government violations of the basic rights of prisoners.
For further information, please contact:
Gissou Nia
Executive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: GNia@iranhrdc.org
Phone: (203) 654-9342
Libya’s National Transitional Council Transfers Power
By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
TRIPOLI, Libya — On Wednesday, Libya’s interim National Transitional Council (NTC) handed over power to the new national assembly elected in July. The transfer of power comes almost a year after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
At the late-night ceremony in Tripoli, NTC head Mustafa Abdul Jalil symbolically passed the reins to Mohammed Ali Salim, the oldest member of the 200-seat legislature. Jalil, speaking at the event, acknowledged the failure of the NTC to restore security in the country. He added that the NTC governed in “exceptional times” and “mistakes” had been made.
“The National Transitional Council hands over the constitutional duties for leading the state to the general national congress, which from now on is the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people,” Jalil said.
The NTC served as the political arm of the opposition forces that toppled Gaddafi. Formed in the midst of the revolution last year, the NTC was dissolved on Wednesday.
After the ceremony, the assembly held its first meeting, but did not appoint a leader at that time. On Monday, assembly members informally agreed to choose a new prime minister and two deputy chiefs within a week. The new prime minister will select his government, enact laws, and direct the country until full parliamentary elections occur subsequent to the drafting of a new constitution next year.
Elected on July 7 in Libya’s first free and fair polls in years, the assembly is made up of a mixture of political parties and independent candidates. Of the its 200 seats, 80 belong to political parties, while the remaining 120 are held by independents of varying allegiances. Mahmoud Jibril, who previously served as the country’s interim prime minister, heads a mostly secular liberal coalition known as the National Forces Alliance (NFA). Holding 39 of the 80 party slots, the NFA has more seats than any other group. The NFA’s Islamist rivals, the Justice and Construction Party (JCP)–which acts as the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing–holds 17 seats.
The NFA and the JCP are in a struggle to have influence over the assembly. With important decisions requiring a two-thirds majority of the assembly, the two major parties are both maneuvering to form coalitions with independents and smaller parties. Some independents have expressed interest in forming their own coalitions, as they distrust both the NFA and JCP.
The peaceful transfer of authority was the first in Libya’s modern history. Wednesday’s date, corresponding to 20 Ramadan in the Islamic calendar, served a symbolic purpose. 20 Ramadan last year was August 20, the date when rebels forced Gaddafi to flee Tripoli.
For further information, please see:
BBC News – Libya’s NTC Hands Power to Newly Elected Assembly – 9 August 2012
Christian Science Monitor – Libya Celebrates First Peaceful Transition of Power – 9 August 2012
Libya Herald – NTC Reign Ends as Race for Power in National Congress Begins – 9 August 2012
Tripoli Post – Libya NTC Hands Power to National Congress, Chairman to be Elected Soon – 9 August 2012