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 *************************************************************** >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). *************************************************** >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 **************************************** >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 **************************************** >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 ***************************************************** >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 ******************************************** >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 ************************************************ >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). ____________________________________________________________________________ >NAD Regional News: a newsletter that covers current Arab issues and press news on development and gender. To subscribe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For info on NAD write to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>