Agency and vulnerability in the intersection of abortion law and refugee experience in Kenya
Posted: 23 September, 2024 Filed under: Pawi Fortune | Tags: abortion, abuse, Africa, Dadaab, defilement, displaced persons, Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida – Kenya) & 3 others v Attorney General & 2 others, forced prostitution, foreign domination, gang rape, health care services, healthcare services, Kakuma, Kenya, maternal deaths, mental health, Ministry of Health Guidelines on the Management of Sexual Violence in Kenya, physical trauma, rape, refugees, safe abortion services, Sexual Offences Act, sexual violence, state of unrest, unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, unwanted pregnancy Leave a comment
Author: Pawi Fortune
Kabarak University Law School
The number of refugees in Africa has been on the rise[1] with many people being morphed into refugee status by various reasons such as a state of unrest, foreign domination and internal/external aggression.[2] In pursuit of safer grounds, ‘aspirant refugees’ flee to other countries hoping for better conditions than that from which they fled. However, even in countries of asylum, displaced persons face a precarious existence devoid of guaranteed safety or survival. Dadaab and Kakuma, critical refugee sanctuaries in Kenya, shelter a diverse population of refugees fleeing instability in countries such as Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.[3] Nonetheless, mistakenly believing this new land to be a haven, refugees are subjected to unimaginable sexual violence, a cruel irony that erodes their dignity and sense of self to a degree that renders their prior persecution almost preferable. This paper aims serve as a lamentation, a call for help reflecting the pain of survivors of sexual violence in refugee camps who have succumbed to the dangerous consequences of unsafe abortions or lack of it due to inaccessibility of the appropriate health care services.
The Zimbabwean government’s measures to address maternal mortality have little prospects of success
Posted: 30 July, 2013 Filed under: Linette du Toit | Tags: Abuja Declaration, African Union, CARMMA, constitution, Maputo Protocol, maternal deaths, maternal mortality, public health, reproductive rights, right to health, right to reproductive healthcare services, women, women's rights, Zimbabwe 2 Comments
Author: Linette du Toit
LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa) candidate, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa
It is a universal and timeless reality that women face the risk of death in the process of giving life. In recent years, this risk has been virtually eliminated for those who have access to the necessary prenatal care and emergency medical assistance. Contrary to the global trend, Zimbabwe has seen a stark increase in its number of maternal deaths and currently sits with a figure that is 50% higher than the sub-Saharan average.
This state of affairs is not surprising in light of the disintegrated nature of Zimbabwe’s public health system, which reached its lowest point in 2008. At that time, government policies led to the closure of public hospitals and a medical school in Harare. Basic resources and emergency care have not been consistently available and the government’s failure to remunerate healthcare professionals with set salaries left many of them with no choice but to leave the country. The continuing epidemic of deaths which could have been prevented indicates an alarming disregard for a variety of rights and obligations on the part of the Zimbabwean government. Questions arise as to whether the government is taking appropriate measures to address the plight of Zimbabwean women.
AfricLaw 