Discrimination in law

Canada: Saudi Arabian Refugee Fleeing Gender Discrimination Not Welcome in Canada

Action Number: 
2.1
Update: 
Not an update
Date: 
1992 Oct 1

The Saudi Arabian refugee known publicly as "Nada" arrived in Canada on April 5, 1991 seeking asylum as a refugee on the basis of gender discrimination she faced in her home country of Saudi Arabia. Despite the violence suffered by Nada in Saudi Arabia for her defiance of institutionalized gender discrimination, Nada's request for asylum has been denied by the Canadian Government.

What You Can Do: 

Please write to and/or call Mr. Bernard Valcourt, the Canadian Employment and Immigration Minister, and ask him to intervene on behalf of Nada to prevent her deportation to Saudi Arabia and to allow her to remain in Canada. Remind him that Canada holds itself out to the world as a leader in the promotion of gender equality and that the deportation of Nada and the remarks made by Commissioner Louis Dorion in his decision are inconsistent with Canadian obligations under international law and with the spirit of gender equality enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Human Rights. You may also wish to contact the Canadian Embassy in your country and convey your sentiments about this case to them. Please also contact your local media and ask them to publicize the plight of Nada. Letters, faxes, and telephone calls should be directed to:

The Honorable Bernard Valcourt
Minister of Employment and Immigration
140 Promenade du Portage, Phase IV, 14th Floor
Hull, Québec, K1A 0J9
Canada
Telephone: 819-994-2482
Fax: 819-994-0448

Poland: Medical Society Bars Doctors from Performing Legal Abortions

Action Number: 
1.2
Update: 
UPDATE
Date: 
1992 Jun 1

"We are living in a state of women's hell" is how the Parliamentary Women's Club described their situation in Poland since the new Physician's Code of Ethics entered into force on May 3, 1992. The new Code prohibits doctors in Poland from performing abortions, even though abortion is legal in Poland. For performing an abortion in violation of the Code of Ethics, a doctor could have his or her license to practice medicine revoked by the Polish Medical Society.

What You Can Do: 

Please alert the media to this crisis situation in Poland and continue to urge the Polish Medical Society to repeal the new Code of Ethics. Also, please contact the Constitutional Tribunal and request that they take immediate action to strike down the Physician's Code of Ethics on the grounds that it is inconsistent with Polish law. Letters, telex, telegrams and telephone calls should be directed to:

Dr. Tadeusz Chrusciel, President
Polish Medical Society
Naczelna Izba Lekarska
ul. Grojecka 65a
02-094 Warsaw, Poland
Tel: 48-22-22-15-73, 48-22-22-21-54
Fax: 48-26-58-17-01

Mieczyslaw Tyczka, President
Constitutional Tribunal
ul. Wiejska 4/6
Warsaw, Poland
Tel: 48-22-21-65-03
Fax: 48-22-29-49-22

Poland: Medical Society Bars Doctors from Performing Legal Abortions

Action Number: 
1.1
Update: 
Not an update
Date: 
1992 May 1

A new Physician's Code of Ethics, adopted in December 1991 by the Polish Medical Society, prohibits doctors from performing abortions, even though abortion has been legal in Poland since 1956. A bill to prohibit abortion was debated by the national legislature, the Sejm, during its last session and rejected. Several bills to restrict and prohibit abortion have been introduced in this session and are currently under debate in the Sejm.

What You Can Do: 

Please help Polish women protect their access to abortion, by alerting the media to this unusual situation in Poland, by contacting the Polish Medical Society directly, and by enlisting physicians and medical associations to contact the Polish Medical Society and express opposition to the provisions of the new Code of Ethics which would impose sanctions on physicians for performing health services in accordance with Polish law. Letters, telegrams and telephone calls should be directed to:

Dr. Tadeusz Chrusciel, President
Polish Medical Society
Naczelna Izba Lekarska
ul. Grojecka 65a
02-094 Warsaw, Poland
Tel: 48-22-22-15-73, 48-22-22-21-54
Fax: 48-26-58-17-01

Words and Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable in the Beijing +15 Review Process

Action Number: 
16.10
Update: 
UPDATE
Date: 
2010 Feb 1

Over sixty years ago, countries adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” That fundamental right has echoed for decades in conferences, treaties, and declarations. In 1995, in the Platform for Action adopted in Beijing, 189 governments agreed that laws that discriminate against women undermine equality, and pledged to “revoke any remaining laws that discriminate on the basis of sex.” Yet inequality, even in its most overt form, has not been vanquished.

What You Can Do: 

Please sign our petition, addressed to the heads of state indicated in our Beijing +15 report, calling on them to ensure that the laws mentioned, and any other discriminatory laws in force, are repealed or amended as a matter of urgency. Please call on your own government to undertake a comprehensive review, in conjunction with women’s groups, of existing laws to identify and amend any that continue to discriminate against women, as well as those which have a discriminatory impact on women. Ask them to finalize all review and implementation of all necessary legal and policy amendments as soon as possible. Appeals should be addressed to your Minister of Justice or Attorney-General, as well as your President or Prime Minister. Please also call on your government’s foreign ministry to support the creation by the Human Rights Council of a special mechanism on women’s equality before the law to accelerate the pace of legal reform around the world. Share this update and your concerns with the media and the general public to enlist their support in the campaign to hold governments accountable to the promises they made in Beijing. Please let Equality Now know about any discriminatory laws in your country and steps to change them.

Mexico: The abduction and murder of women in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua City

Action Number: 
28.1
Update: 
Not an update
Date: 
2006 Aug 1

Minerva TorresMinerva Teresa Torres Albeldaño, an eighteen-year-old woman from Chihuahua City in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, disappeared on 13 March 2001 after leaving home to attend a job interview. It took nine days for the police to initiate a search for Minerva. They maintained that she had run away, denying the urgent and repeated requests of her parents for intervention.

What You Can Do: 

Please write to the authorities listed below. Remind them of the government’s obligations under CEDAW to ensure equal protection of the law to women. Urge them to find ways to ensure that all cases of the murder of women in Chihuahua State are appropriately investigated and punished, in particular by prosecuting all those officials considered by the Special Prosecutor to be criminally negligent in their investigations. Mention the case of Minerva Torres as a clear example of investigative misconduct and ask what is being done to bring to justice those who were responsible for the delay or obstruction of justice in her case, including State Public Prosecutor Jesús José Solís Silva, who had oversight responsibility at the time. Call on the authorities to make clear by prosecuting the responsible government officials that obstruction of justice will not be tolerated. Address your letters to:

MDP Patricia González Rodríguez
Chihuahua State Public Prosecutor
C. Vicente Guerrero #616
Col. Centro C.P. 31000
Chihuahua, MEXICO
Fax: +52 614 4 29 33 0

President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Residencia Oficial de "Los Pinos"
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
C.P. 11850, México, D.F., MEXICO
Fax: +52 55 52 77 23 76
To send an email to President Calderón, go to: http://contacto.presidencia.gob.mx/en

Send copies of your letters to the recently appointed Special Prosecutor for Attention to Crimes Related to Acts of Violence against Women in Mexico, Dr. Alicia Elena Pérez Duarte, at Río Amazonas No. 43 Piso 9, Col. Cuauhtémoc, Delg. Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06500 México, D.F., MEXICO, Fax: +52 55 53 46 09 90, Email: atencionmujeres@pgr.gob.mx.

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