Losing women's rights

The Dominican Republic has added a clause to its constitution effectively prohibiting abortion. But Dr. Milton Cordero, according to a DR1 article, notes that approximately 90,000 abortions occur in the Dominican Republic annually, contributing to the third leading cause of maternal death. These are mainly self-induced, or at the hands of an untrained practitioner.

I know from my lifelong work in public health (maternal and child health, family planning and HIV/AIDS) that those abortions which were previously done by a trained physician are now likely to go underground. The Dominican Republic in 2000 already had about 150 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births - higher than many of its peers in the Caribbean and Latin America. One can expect more deaths of pregnant women if clandestine abortion becomes the norm.

According to an article online in Latina, Aldrian Almonte, president of the Dominican Gynecology and Obstetrics Society has warned that the number of maternal deaths will increase considerably once the new laws are enforced and women are no longer able to gain access to safe and medically supervised abortions. Even if the pregnancy endangers a woman’s life, abortion will no longer be a feasible option for physicians. “I would like the honorable legislators to tell me: What are we going to do before the presence of a woman with severe eclampsia, convulsing in any emergency room around the country? What must we do, see her die to protect ourselves from the repercussions this law stipulates?” Almonte asked.

According to Dominican Today (April 29, 2009), the national focal point for the UNDP Human Development Report, Miguel Ceara Hatton, has further said that the new Constitution excludes the women’s right to life and encourages the incidence of clandestine abortions and maternal deaths in the country.

The work of the UN's agencies to educate about and promote safe women's reproductive health must continue in support of women's reproductive rights in the D.R., while the draconian new policies are reviewed by the country's people.

Reflections

2009 is a real year of change for America and US-UN relations and also now for UNA-USA. Dr. Thomas J. Miller, recently named UNA-USA's new president, will take his position on May 11. He's a former U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia & Herzegovina and to Greece, taught at George Mason University, and, most recently, was CEO of Plan International (formerly Foster Parents Plan), a large non-profit with headquarters in the UK which works with children and their families. Tom is an advocate of the Model UN Program, having established one in Washington, DC, and another in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The National Convention, scheduled for June 12-14 in Washington, DC, will give an opportunity for UNA members, Council of Organization members, and others from throughout the country to meet and get to know him. Chapter / National Relations will be an important topic for discussion, and I am especially interested in the development of outreach to students through the Student Alliance program, which is being revamped. I understand that Tom is a strong advocate for Chapters, and plans to visit many in the coming months. In June I'll be stepping down from four years as a Middle Atlantic Representative to the Council of Chapters and Divisions Steering Committee, but will remain active with the Southern New York State Division of UNA. For more, see http://www.unausa.org/ and http://www.unasouthernny.org/

UNA-USA, like most non-profits, is experiencing shortfalls in fundraising. How to take advantage of the new national spirit toward working multilaterally is bound to be a major focus of discussions at the Convention.

Meanwhile, the Public-Private Alliance Foundation is planning an event on ethanol, especially sugar-cane based ethanol, that will take place at the UN on May 7. This will be PPAF's third annual Partners Against Poverty event, which will bring together people from the business world, UN agencies, non-profits, academic institutions and foundations and others. The purpose is to develop new business models that will contribute to reaching the Millennium Developmen Goals and help people lift themselves out of poverty. The website is: http://www.ppafoundation.org/ Focusing on a small, high-level group of participants, PPAF expects the event to result in practical actions toward sustainable development that will benefit local economies and boost peoples' incomes as well as improving availability of biofuel.

PPAF's Executive Director, David Stillman, will speak at a UNA Council of Organizations event at the Church Center for the UN on April 23. The panel's topic is The Changing Nature of Corporate-Civil Society Partnerships in the Global Economic Downturn. Olajobi Makinwa, Civil Society Coordinator, UN Global Compact will also speak. The third speaker is Tom Kadala, President of ResearchPAYS, which is partnering with PPAF on the Ethanol event.

It is fascinating to be involved in work that can directly affect the top universal issue of climate change through promoting sustainable development, and at the same time improve lives of families. Corporate social responsibility, research-based decision-making, ecology, globalism, technology, family economics, the global financial crisis, social and cultural preservation, two billion people living in poverty, international flow of capital and goods are all relevant topics. Passions run high around all these issues and their political and economic ramifications, and the resulting debates and actions are vital to our future.

Going Global with the UN Videos

You can now watch Bill Miller's interviews with UN and related notables on your computer! Bill (Global Connections, UNA Frankfort, UNA-USA Board member and Rotary International) creates his programs at UN Headquarters, working with UNTV. These 30-minute programs are great for anyone who wants to learn about the UN through the eyes of those involved, or for students active in Model UN. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, UN historian Stephen Schlesinger, Ambassador Francis Lorenzo of the Dominican Republic, David Stillman of the Public-Private Alliance Foundation, Bettina Luescher of the World Food Program and Pera Wells of the World Federation of United Nations Associations are just a few of those Bill has interviewed.

The Dallas Chapter of UNA and Richland Community College, with the Lecroy Center for Educational Communication, have just uploaded videos 53to 70 of Going Global with the UN. I want to thank Noeli Biggs and all others involved. You can watch the videos at http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/modelun/videos.htm

I want to thank the UNA Southern New York State Division for its financial support for the series. The videos are again being shown in fall 2008 in Westchester County, New York on many cable TV networks, sponsored by the UNA Westchester Education Committee, whose chair is Marcia Wallace.

I also want to thank, again, the people involved in production of the series: Dan Hamilton, who is responsible for all of the technical work, making many disparate videos into seamless 30-minute productions. Dan also created the "bumpers" - the front and end pieces of the series, and Gregory Stillman's voice is heard in these. Nicoletta Barolini generously created the lovely Going Global with the UN logo.
Several interns, starting with Julianna Koch, have worked the series, sifting through many hours of potential source material, and obtaining permissions. Vanessa Van Arendonk, Ebi Spahiu, Declan Galvin, Samantha Young, Charlotte Ambrozek, Kristyn Kadala and others have supported the project.

If there is demand in future, we'll create more videos for "Going Global with the UN". Bill Miller interviews several notable UN-related people each month, so that content is available, and after a year's hiatus from looking at other source materials, I'm sure we can find many excellent new videos from throughout the UN System.

Special thanks go to David Stillman, who was president of the UNA of Westchester when the project started, and who has lived with hundreds of videos and dvds in our home and office!

Now the job is to market these across the country. I'll be glad to answer questions, and to ensure that any order you may place is quickly filled (with Dan's help, of course). DVD's are $10 each plus shipping and handling. Contact me at jbs@stratdev.com, or phone 914-478-3450. For a full list of all 70 videos, see a related article earlier in this blog, or look at the Richland Community College Model UN website.

"Ginger" Stillman