Day: February 11, 2004

WHO Launches Cholera Vaccination Test in Mozambique

In January the World Health Organization announced it was launching its efforts at mass vaccination against cholera using a new oral vaccine against the disease.

For this demonstration project, WHO is focusing on Mozambique which has been hit particularly hard by the disease in recent years. In 1999, it reported 45,000 cases out of a world total that usually hovers between 100,000-200,000 annually.

The vaccination project will focus on the city of Beria and will vaccinate about 50,000 of the half million people living there against the disease. WHO will be able to gauge the success of its efforts there in early 2005.

Should the vaccine prove effective, it is likely to play a key role in reducing worldwide cholera incidence.

Source:

WHO launches first oral-vaccination cholera campaign. UN Wire, January 15, 2004.

Mozambique mass campaign tests the theory. Press Release, World Health Organization, January 14, 2004.

Imam Sentenced in Spain for Book with Wife Beating Advice

The BBC reports that Muslim cleric Mohamed Kamal Mustafa was sentenced to 15 months in jail by a Spanish court for writing a book that included advice on the proper way to beat one’s wife. Under Spanish law, however, the sentence will be suspended and Mustafa will not serve any time in jail provided he doesn’t commit another similar offense.

The book in question, Women in Islam, was published in Spain in 2000 and offered advice for men on how to assault their wives without landing in trouble with Spanish legal authorities. For example, Mustafa advised that when men physically discipline their wives,

The blows should be concentrated on the hands and feet using a rod that is thin and light so that it does not leave scars or bruises on the body.

Women’s groups in Spain were outraged by the publication of the book, and the state agreed, charging Mustafa with inciting violence against women. This was the first successful prosecution of inciting violence against women in Spain.

Muslim groups in Spain were quick to distance themselves from Mustafa’s claims that he was simply interpreting the Koran. Mohamed Halhoul, director of the Islamic Council of Catalonia, told the New York Times,

We respect the sentence. In Islam, there does not exist any type of call for aggression, either towards men or women.

Sources:

Imam rapped for wife-beating book. The BBC, January 14, 2004.

Spain Sentences Imam for Book Offering Advice on Wife-Beating. Dale Fuchs, The New York Times, January 15, 2004.

Amnesty International: Violence Against Women “Most Pervasive Human Rights Challenge”

In November, Amnesty International marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women by arguing that violence against women is the “most pervasive human rights challenge” facing the world today. Unfortunately, Amnesty International appears to be relying on inflated activist figures for some of its claims.

Here’s a couple paragraphs from the BBC, for example, on Amnesty International’s take on women and human rights,

‘Violence against women and girls is the most pervasive human rights challenge of our times,” said Amnesty International.

According to the organization, 120 million women around the world are subjected to brutal female circumcision every year and in the United States alone 700,000 women are raped annually.

Huh? According to the National Crime Victimization Survey — which relies on interviews to estimate crime rates, including those that are never reported to police — in 2000 there were roughly 100,000 rapes in the United States. Even if you add in the crimes labeled as sexual assaults by the NCVS, you still end up with a number that’s more than 2/3rds lower than the Amnesty International figure.

If Amnesty International is willing to rely on such specious figures for its estimates of violent crime against women in the United States, how can its estimates for crime in other parts of the world be trusted?

Source:

Attacks on women ‘biggest issue’. The BBC, November 26, 2003.