Killer law | in Nicaragua

Last November it became a crime for a woman to have an abortion in Nicaragua, even if her life was in mortal danger. So far it has resulted in the death of at least 82 women. Rory Carroll reports on the fight to have the law changed.

María de Jesús González was a practical woman. A very poor single mother, the 28-year-old's home was a shack on a mountain near the town of Ocotal in Nicaragua. She made the best of it. The shack was spotless, the children scrubbed. She earned money by washing clothes in the river and making and selling tortillas.
That nowast quite enough to feed her four young children and her elderly mother, so every few months González caught a bus to Managua, the capital, and slaved for a week washing and ironing clothes. The pay was three times better, about £2.60 a day, and by staying with two aunts she cut her costs. She would return to her hamlet with a little nest-egg in her purse. She bought herself one treat - a pair of red shoes - but she would leave them with her family in Managua, as they were no good on the mountain trails she had to go up to get home.

During a visit to Managua in February she felt unwell and visited a hospital. The news was devastating. She was pregnant - and it was ectopic, meaning the foetus was growing outside the womb and not viable. The longer González remained pregnant, the greater the risk of rupture, haemorrhaging and death.
What González did next was - when you understand what life in Nicaragua is like these days - utterly rational. She walked out of the hospital, past the obstetrics and gynaecological ward, past the clinics and pharmacies lining the avenues, packed her bag, kissed her aunts goodbye, and caught a bus back to her village. She summoned two neighbouring women - traditional healers - and requested that they terminate the pregnancy in her shack. Without anaesthetic or proper instruments it was more akin to mutilation than surgery, but González insisted. The haemhorraging was intense, and the agony can only be imagined. It was in vain. Maria died. "We heard there was a lot of blood, a lot of pain," says Esperanza Zeledon, 52, one of the Managua aunts.
González was not stupid and did not want to die. She knew her chance of surviving the butchery was small. But being a practical woman, she recognised it was her only chance, and took it. The story of why it was her only chance is an unfolding drama of religion, politics and power that has made Nicaragua a crucible in the global battle over abortion rights. This central American country has become the third country in the world, after Chile and El Salvador, to criminalise all abortions. It is a blanket ban. There are no exceptions for rape, incest, or life- or health-threatening pregnancies.
González was told at the hospital that any doctor who terminated her pregnancy would face two to three years in jail and she, for consenting, would face one to two years. "Nicaraguan doctors are now afraid of going to trial or jail and losing their licence," says Leonel Arguello, president of the Nicaraguan Society of General Medicine.
"Many are thinking that instead of taking the risk, it is better to let a woman die."

For the Nicaraguan rich, a problematic pregnancy need not be a death sentence. You can fly to Miami or bribe a discreet private clinic in Managua. But in this wretchedly poor country most young women do not have money. Their choice is to go through with a pregnancy that may kill them, or attempt a DIY termination that may kill them.
As a result of the blanket ban enacted last November at least 82 women have died, according to advocacy groups. "This new law intentionally denies women access to health services essential to saving their lives, and is thus inconsistent with Nicaragua's obligations under international human rights law," says Human Rights Watch.
Nicaragua is famous for its misfortunes: the Somoza dictatorship, the civil war, the impoverishment, the natural disasters. Pro-choice groups say article 143 of the new penal code should be added to that list since it bucks the international trend towards greater abortion access and drags women back to the dark ages.


Partly Reproduction The Guardian guardian.co.uk

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The new complementary role of Diaspora in the visie of International cooperation in NL

13/06/2008,
S Megens

NetEcuNl-POLH

The term “diaspora” is used to refer to the dispersion of religious or ethnic groups from their homelands, either forced or voluntary. The word is also used to refer to those people as a collective group and community Diasporas organization should play an important and complementary roll in the new concept of international cooperation. Diasporas are not just a social platform of passive actors in the fight of poverty in their land from origin. It is also more that a questie of identity. They have a deeply and more closely understanding of their problems and changes in their societies. By some organizations point of view, the role of the Diasporas is just to deliver a contribution trough the develop of small projects, minimizing sometime the real impact in their local surrounding.

The knowledge and the contribution goes further in the work of the Diasporas. But how to ensure that the voice of diaspora organizations is heard and also the transnational role of the migrants organizations in the development process is recognize; A need of creating a strategic partnerships between the Diasporas and policy makers and other stakeholders, enhance the professional working and the capacities of diaspora organizations is necessary and also to promote their work as a key partner in the field of local development (sense of ownership and social project intervention).

Diasporas are also working in advocacy and lobby both at the national and international levels and are engage to a political change in their countries of origin. The role of migrant organizations representing Diasporas will be focused on to make better and effective use of the expertise and skills of them, with a view of empowering. They are looking an space to strength this contribution. In the new visie of International cooperation is important to include an action plan to play an active role in the execution of a national diaspora policy in a not very far period of time.

“International cooperation should start by home”