Platform for Action of Fourth World Conference on Women,
Beijing, 1995

On June 14th Agata and her mother has left the hospital, where the girl was staying for the last few days after she had strong abdominal pains. During that stay the drugs to sustain pregnancy has been administered to her.

Finally the Court gave her a permission to temporarily come back home under custody of her parents until final decision is made.

On 16^th June late night the Minister of Health announced on TV that one of the state clinics was identified where abortion would be performed. The name and the location of the clinic was to remain secret for the sake of Agata and her family. The next day in the early afternoon abortion was finally carried out. In the afternoon the Catholic Information Agency informed that the abortion was performed in Gdansk city. Who gave the information to the Catholic Agency it remains unclear. This information about abortion was repeated in every tv station.

On June 18^th Court decided to prolong the Agata stay at home with her parents until the final Family Court decision. The case (accusation of her mother that she doesn’t provide adequate care to her) will be examined later on.

Soon after that news reported that pro-life activists appealed to Bishop Zygmunt Ziomowski to excommunicate the Minister of Health from Catholic Church. The idea of excommunication has been debated for a couple of days in the media.

The prosecutor is investigating the case whether nobody pressured the girl to abort. The head of the Federation for Women and Family Planning has been already interviewed by the Police on this very topic.

Previous informations about Agata's case: http://www.astra.org.pl/news.php?id=11235 and http://www.astra.org.pl/news.php?id=11457

In October 2007 ASTRA Network submitted the petition to the European Parliament Commission on Petitions for consideration on the issue of access to comprehensive sexuality education in EU Member States. The Petition can be found at: www.astra.org.pl/note_sexedu.pdf 

The petition presents benefits of comprehensive sex education and recommends the European Union to guarantee access to sexuality education throughout Europe.

However, the Petition's Committee consistently refuses to consider the Petition. It has been forwarded to the Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.

Answers from the Committee on Petition: http://www.astra.org.pl/Libicki.jpg and further http://www.astra.org.pl/skanuj0009.pdf

The police took me to the emergency child care center. That was the most horrible moment in this entire story. I couldn’t believe they were separating me from mom and grandma – 14-year-old Agata tells us.

Agata is, more or less, 11 weeks pregnant with a boy from school. – It was rape. He forced me to do it, there were bruises on my body after it was over – she told us.

A 14-year-old girl who had been raped was admitted to a hospital in Warsaw to terminate the pregnancy. However, a priest and activists of pro-life movements followed her every step. They have made the accusation of coercing a minor to have an abortion, the prosecution is investigating the case. And the procedure has not taken place.

14-year-old Agata is entitled to a legal abortion, because her pregnancy results from rape. The Lublin Prosecution has confirmed this.

In May the very conservative law on family was set in Lithuania. It provoked a lot of discussions about the status of abortion act that is going to be decided soon. Lithuanians NGOs were afraid that this conservative tendency is going to be sustain while voting on restricting abortion regulations. The letter of support was also prepared by other organizations and sent to Lithuania.

After the comments on Family Policy Conception from Lithuanian Parliament Legal Department, the Parliament decided that final discussion and voting about the abortion law will be on the 3rd of June.
Legal Department provided very good comments and  now it is a hope that conservative document will be changed.

Source: Esmeralda Kuliesyte

On May 16th Wanda Nowicka – Polish feminist and human rights activist - received prestigious the University in Exile Award granted by the New School – the University in New York.
The University-In-Exile Award was established to commemorate the distinctive heritage of The New School and to recognize individuals and groups who’s actions, public service, or writing have helped advance the cause of democracy and human rights. 
Nowicka received the Award in recognition of her engagement in the struggle for women’s reproductive rights, both, in Poland and in international arena. She is a cofounder of ASTRA – Central and Eastern European Women’s Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.
During the Commencement Ceremony New School President Bob Kerrey stated:
“In a long tradition, The New School has honored justice fighters in adversarial relationships with their repressive governments, and we have a special and treasured history of such support to Polish dissidents. We are proud to honor you for what you do at home and how you carry that work out into the world. For your dedication to increased freedom for women; to human, sexual, and reproductive rights; and to the growth of democratic institutions, it is The New School’s great honor to bestow upon you its University in Exile Award."
During the Commencement President also conferred honorary degrees on  sociologist Zygmunt Bauman; urban strategist Majora Carter, theater director Elizabeth LeCompte; and management educator Henry Mintzberg.

The year before the University in Exile Award was granted to Shirin Ebadi - 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner. 

The New School is notorious for undertaking in 1933 an unusual rescue mission.  It established a University-In-Exile as a refuge for scholars who were being driven out of their position by Europe’s new fascist governments.  For reasons of religion, nationality, and political ideology, the governments of middle Europe persecuted many of their most distinguished minds.  During that period of barbarism, The New School rescued over 170 scholars and their families. 
In the past faculty members included Bertrand Russell, Hannah Arendt, Erich Fromm, Jacques Derrida.

To see the speech about Wanda Nowicka click HERE

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has just adopted a new Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine concerning Genetic Testing for Health Purposes.

Biological and medical research has led to remarkable progress in the field of human health. The rapid developments in this sphere have prompted the Council of Europe to consider the ethical and legal aspects of applications of genetics, particularly genetic testing, and to draw up legal rules to protect fundamental human rights with regard to these applications.

The new Protocol sets down principles relating inter alia to the quality of genetic services, prior information and consent and genetic counselling. It lays down general rules on the conduct of genetic tests, and, for the first time at international level, deals with the directly accessible genetic tests for which a commercial offer could develop in future. It specifies the conditions in which tests may be carried out on persons not able to consent. Also covered are the protection of private life and the right to information collected through genetic testing. Finally, the Protocol touches on genetic
screening.

The Protocol will be opened for signature at a date to be fixed around mid-November at the handover from the Swedish Chair to the Spanish Chair.

Source: wcd.coe.int

Are you confronting religious fundamentalisms or regressive political-religious movements in your daily life and work?  Are you witnessing important links between different types of fundamentalisms (economic, national, social, cultural and religious) and seeing similarities in how these work across religions and regions? Have you or your organization been involved in actions to resist and challenge religious fundamentalisms that you would like to share more widely with women’s rights advocates from around the world?

To read more go to: Learning from experience