WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT:[NAD Regional News] Week May 16-25 \ IssueFocus: G

Especially check out the child mortality figures, and number of women
loosing their lives during pregnancy and childbearing. 580,000 die during
"peregnancy and delivery" each year, 99% of them in developing countries.
In Morocco, maternal mortality is 25 times higher than Europe. It is HIGH
time to get alarmed about intensifying global inequalities and
injustices!!

United Arab Emirates, the capitalist oil state, is applying a program of
pre-marriage screening to prevent disease among new born in the same
family. Inter-marriage is a common practice in the United Arab Emirates,
however the idea here is to modernize patriarchy through capitalist
measures, without ensuring real safety for women and children. The purpose
is not to liberate women, but to conform oppressive gender practices to
the necessities of capitalist modernization! Beat your wives, but do the
western way kind of thing!

Mine


>NAD Regional News

>Week May 16-25 \ Issue Focus: Gender\Women 
>a newsletter that covers current Arab issues and press news on
>development and gender. 


>CONTINENTS 
>1. United Arab Emirates: Pre-Marriage Screening Aids Disease Prevention 
>2. Brother kills sister for 'honour' in Jordan
>3. Sudan's Bashir orders all female prisoners freed
>4. Kuwaiti women marked first anniversary of rights decree
>5. Bahrain jails women activists
>6. Morocco ponders plan to give women more rights
>7. Morocco: Maternal Mortality Is 25 Times Higher Than Europe


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>1. United Arab Emirates: Pre-Marriage Screening Aids Disease Prevention 

May 18,2000  UN Wire
Pre-marriage screening and diagnoses can help avoid 60% of malformations
 and nearly 100% of hereditary diseases in newborns, according to the
Central Maternity and Childcare Department of the United Arab Emirates'
Ministry of Health. "Marriage in the same family has social benefits in
the Arab world, but it leads to several health problems among children," a
department report said. "Screening of parents has become a significant
step to ensure the health of children." Intermarriage plays a major role
in the spread of genetic disease, like thalassemia and anemia, in addition
to other chronic diseases such as diabetes. The department's premarital
screening program includes registration of family medical histories.
Doctors also screen blood samples for potential blood diseases, assess
dietary systems of mothers for malnutrition, and offer advice and
medications to eliminate potential problems (Dubai Khaleej Times, 16 May).

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>2. Brother kills sister for 'honour' in Jordan

A 27-year-old mother of five was shot and killed by her brother to clear 
the family name because he suspected her of "immoral behaviour".

May 18, 2000  Arabia on Line
AMMAN (AFP English) - A 27-year-old mother of five was shot and killed by 
her brother to clear the family name because he suspected her of "immoral 
behaviour", newspapers reported Thursday quoting official sources. Hikmah 
Mohammad was shot several times near a mosque in eastern Amman by her 
30-year-old brother, who was then arrested by police, they said. The man 
had waited calmly by his sister's bullet-riddled body for police to come 
and collect him, one official told the English-language Jordan Times. "The 
brother told investigators he killed his sister because of rumours and 
suspicion of the victim's immoral behaviour," the daily reported, quoting 
an official source. "Her husband works in Ma'an (southern Jordan). Her 
brother told us that he suspected that his sister was seeing someone and 
decided to kill her," the source added. The state prosecution has launched 
an investigation into the murder. The latest case brings to eight the 
number of such killings since the start of t!
he year.
© 2000 AFP 

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>3. Sudan's Bashir orders all female prisoners freed

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has ordered the release of all female 
prisoners held in the country.

May 21, 2000  Arabia on Line
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan has ordered 
the release of all female prisoners held in the country, a newspaper 
reported on Sunday. "The woman bears the cost of economic reform during 
time of economic pressure and sanctions and in the absence of state 
support," the independent Akhbar al-Youm quoted Bashir as saying at a 
gathering in Khartoum. Bashir, who also announced that pregnant and nursing 
women would face no punishment, said women had suffered most from 
displacement in Sudan's 17-year civil war. Over 75 percent of women in 
Sudan's prisons are thought to be from mainly animist and Christian south 
Sudan, where rebels are fighting for autonomy from the Muslim, Arabised 
north. Most were convicted of making or selling alcohol, which is banned 
under Sudan's strict Islamic Sharia laws. Sudan's Islamist authorities 
usually order prisoner releases on national days and when the president 
meets women's groups. © 2000 Reuters 

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>4. Kuwaiti women marked first anniversary of rights decree

The decree, issued by Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah while parliament 
was dissolved, was rejected by the new legislature in November.

May 17, 2000  Arabia on Line
KUWAIT CITY (AFP English) - Kuwaiti women lit candles and old lamps to mark 
the first anniversary Tuesday of a decree by the Emir that granted them 
full political rights that was later rejected by the conservative-dominated 
parliament. "This is to show the world we're here and our cause is still 
alive," Hind al-Bahar, a woman activist, declared before a small group of 
men and women who gathered to mark the occasion. The decree, issued by Emir 
Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah while parliament was dissolved, was rejected 
by the new legislature in November for having violated the constitution in 
the way it was published. A substitute bill to grant women the right to 
vote and stand for office in parliamentary elections from 2003 as proposed 
by the Emir was narrowly defeated in the same month. A group of women 
activists also visited the Emir and crown prince, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah 
al-Sabah, on the anniversary and were given assurances the government would 
back their rights. "The cr!
own prince (and prime minister) assured us of total government backing when 
a new bill is resubmitted next October," Nabila al-Anjari, a woman activist 
and member of the group, told AFP. A Kuwaiti court is to rule on May 29 on 
a case filed by women activists against the interior ministry after they 
were turned away by ministry officials from registration centres opened in 
February to update the voter lists. © 2000 AFP 

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>5. Bahrain jails women activists

A Bahraini court has sentenced three women to a one-year jail term each for 
political activity.

May 14, 2000  Arabia on Line
LONDON (Reuters) - A Bahraini court has sentenced three women to a one-year 
jail term each for political activity, an exiled Bahraini opposition group 
said on Sunday. The London-based Bahrain Freedom Movement named the three 
women as Leeda Ahmed Isa al-Oreibi, Hanan Salman Ahmed Haider and Salwa 
Hassan Ahmed Haider and said they were sentenced on May 13. It said the 
women were arrested in 1998 "for demanding their rights", but were freed 
later. "The three women were led back to prison to serve the sentences 
issued against them," the statement said without giving exact details of 
the nature of the political activity. Political unrest in Bahrain, a small 
Gulf island, by members of the majority Shi'ite Muslim community erupted in 
December 1994. The disturbances abated in 1998. © 2000 Reuters 

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>6. Morocco ponders plan to give women more rights

The government said it has set up a 20-member panel, including conservative 
Muslim scholars, to give women more rights. 

May 13, 2000  Arabia on Line
RABAT (Reuters) - The Moroccan government said on Thursday it has set up a 
20-member panel, including conservative Muslim scholars, to seek compromise 
on a controversial plan to give women more rights. Unveiled last year, the 
plan triggered a heated debate between liberals and Islamic fundamentalists 
who denounced it as a "ticket to debauchery". Supported by half a dozen 
right-wing parties, the Islamists rejected in particular proposals to ban 
polygamy, raise the legal age for marriage from 14 to 18 and allow women 
half their husband's wealth in case of divorce or death. The plan also puts 
the right to divorce in the hands of a judge rather than the husband as is 
the case in Muslim countries. "The government has set up a 20-member 
consultative committee, including half a dozen Muslim scholars and five 
women to discuss the national plan to integrate women in the country's 
social and economic development," said a spokeswoman at the Prime 
Minister's office. The panel includes lea!
ders from the Islamist group al-Islah Wal Tajdid (Reform and Renewal), 
members of women groups, non-government organisations and the royal 
cabinet. The plan will later be presented to reformist King Mohammed for 
final approval, officials said. Since his enthronement in July, the 36-year 
old monarch has appointed three women to senior positions, including a 
royal adviser, in a move seen as a sign of his support to enhance women's 
status in the male-dominated North African society. The Islamists, who have 
launched a nationwide campaign, which aims to collect more than one million 
signatures against the plan, say it would "discourage men from marriage, 
incite prostitution and debauchery". It would also violate the sacred 
Sharia (Islamic law), they say. Nearly half a million Islamists and their 
supporters took to the streets in Morocco's largest city of Casablanca in 
March to protest against the plan while less than 100,000 others marched in 
the capital Rabat in favour of the proj!
ect.  © 2000 Reuters 

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>7. Morocco: Maternal Mortality Is 25 Times Higher Than Europe 

May 17, 2000 UN Wire
At least 228 women die per 100,000 births in Morocco during childbirth,
according to figures released Sunday at a meeting of the International
Planned Parenthood Federation in Rabat. According to a health survey
conducted in 1997, seven Moroccan women die each day during pregnancy or
childbearing. That rate is two to three times higher than some Arab
countries and 25 times higher than in Europe. Morocco's high rate has been
attributed to hemorrhaging, hypertension and infections. In addition, the
average fertility rate in Morocco dropped from 7.2 in 1962 to
 2.8 in 2000, while contraceptive use rose from 19.4% in 1980 to 58.8% in
1997. Worldwide, more than 580,000 women die during pregnancy and delivery
each year, 99% of them in developing countries (Panafrican News Agency, 14
May). 


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