Amnesty International released a report in November, Women, HIV/AIDS and human rights, arguing that a failure of governments to tackle violence against women in AIDS-ravated regions of the world is contributing to the spread of that disease.
According to the report,
The increasing spread of HIV/AIDS among women and sexual violence are interlinked. If governments are serious in their fight against the disease they also have to deal with another worldwide ‘pandemic’: violence against women.
The report cites three specific traditional practices which Amnesty International says contribute to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. They are early marriage, in which very young girls are entered — often against their will — into marriage; wife inheritance, in which a wife is passed along to her husband’s brother in the event of the husband’s death; and female genital mutilation.
The report also notes that rape and violence against women are a major outcome of persistent wars in some parts of the world, especially Africa which has been hit hardest by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Sources:
Amnesty: Violence against women is spreading AIDS. Reuters, November 24, 2004.
Women, HIV/AIDS and human rights. Amnesty International, November 24, 2004.