A brainstorming meeting was organized
on 23rd of December to share the latest efforts which the
various child rights and women’s rights groups have been independently or collectively
undertaking as part of their work. The meeting brought together
the Alliance on ECCD, NAMHHR, SAHAYOG, CHSJ, and other women’s rights, child
rights and health rights groups and campaigns .The focus of the meeting was to
identify common mandates and possible advocacy agenda, particularly in the
context of ‘care’. It was decided that this
group would work jointly on the issue under the umbrella of ‘women’s unpaid
work’, of which care work constitutes a big chunk. A concept note will be
developed on this group’s framework for understanding women’s unpaid work,
including a brief review of select national laws/policies/schemes. Another, round table meeting
will be organised tentatively on 12th of February for discussions around the concept note.
“Towards Attaining Highest Quality of Maternal Health for the Marginalized In India”
December 29, 2013
Organisational Convention of RTF Campaign: Revisiting membership and Key Campaign Priorities
The 'Organisational Convention' of the RTF Campaign was organized
on 19th and 20th of December 2013 in New
Delhi. 80 participants from various states participated in the meeting. The meeting discussed the membership
structure and key campaign priorities post the passage of the National Food Security Act 2013 and the recently concluded Bali WTO Ministerial Meeting.
Dates
of the Right to Food
Campaign's Fifth National Convention on the Right to Food and Work was
also finalized for the 1-3 March 2014 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This
Convention will aim to
consolidate the membership base of the campaign and build broad
alliances to
ensure the centrality of the right to food, work, livelihoods and social
protection as political priorities in the 2014 general elections and
beyond.
Ms.Aditi Sood and Ms.Neeti Singh (HealthWatch Forum UP) attended the meeting
on behalf of NAMHHR.
.
Functioning of the NHRC Critically Examined: Has it been effective?
Independent People’s Tribunal on the Functioning of the
National Human Rights Commission of India, 14-16th December, New Delhi
NAMHHR
member, Human Rights Law Network organized an Independent Peoples’ Tribunal jointly with All India Network of NGOs and Individuals
working with National / State Human Rights
Institutions on the functioning of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the occasion of the 20 years of Paris Principles [1993] and 20 years of the Protection of Human Rights Act [1993] and 20 years of the Vienna Conference [1993].
The Tribunal
brought together group of 9 panelists included Justice (Retd.) Hosbet Suresh, Former Judge of the Mumbai High Court, Justice (Retd.) Surendra Bhargav, Former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court,
Justice (Retd.) W A Shishak, Former Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh
High Court,
Justice (Retd.) K Sukumaran, Former judge of the Mumbai and Kerala
High Court,
Prof. Vimal Thorat, Social Activist, Mr.
Yambem Laba Former Member of Manipur SHRC, Prof. Babu Mathew, National
Law University, Prof. Kamal Chenoy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. Anuradha Chenoy , Jawaharlal
Nehru University.
The
three day event included sessions on -NHRC’s compliance to UN standards, Police
encounter, custodial torture, custodial death, Killings and torture by armed
forces , Attack on human rights defenders , Communalism , Violation of Women’s
Rights, Dalit issues, Tribal Rights, Environment, housing and displacement ,Health
rights, Child rights and Disability. Each session included a section in which the
response of NHRC to their issue was presented to the panelists.
NAMHHR
convenor,
was invited to be a panelist in the session on reproductive rights
violation. She began by recounting the meeting with the UN-Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Health who came to
India in 2010. Although an NRHC member attended the meeting, yet the
NRHC did not take the recommendations of the UNSR seriously. Recounting
the submissions made by NAMHHR to the NHRC in connection with the
Barwani cases (Madhya Pradesh) and Godda cases (Jharkhand), although the
NHRC filed a case, no real action resulted; this despite the regular
follow done by NAMHHR. This session also saw the presentation of a
testimonial by a victim of forced sterilization from
Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh), supported in her efforts to seek justice by
NAMHHR member HealthWatch Forum, UP. The HealthWatch Forum had filed
her case with NHRC on 21st of December 2012 and the NHRC in
turn forwarded it to the State Human Rights Commission Uttar Pradesh,
which has not taken any concrete action on it as yet.
However
appreciating the initiative made by the NHRC in the Universal Periodic
Review 2, the NAMHHR convenor lauded their efforts at designing a
monitoring tool to monitor the implementation of the recommendation made
by member countries to the Government of India. However she stressed
that much more needs to be done by this important commission to protect
the human right of the citizens of our country.
Aditi
Sood, Nibedita Phukan and Leena Uppal also attended the event on behalf of
NAMHHR.
December 19, 2013
Recommendations for Odisha State Policy for Girl Child and Women Health and Well being
Thrust
Area
|
Issues
/ Concerns / Barriers
|
Recommendations
|
Health
and Well being
|
Maternal
health and nutrition
Maternity
Benefits and entitlements
|
·
The
Public Distribution System must be made universal with protein items included
·
As per the final NFSA, it is
mentioned under Chapter II PROVISIONS FOR FOOD SECURITY, clause 4, Subject to such schemes as may be framed
by the Central Government, every pregnant woman and lactating mother
shall be entitled to—
(a) meal, free of charge, during pregnancy and six months after the child birth, through the local anganwadi, so as to meet the nutritional standards specified in Schedule II; and (b) maternity benefit of not less than rupees six thousand, in such instalments as may be prescribed by the Central Government: Provided that all pregnant women and lactating mothers in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force shall not be entitled to benefits specified in clause
·
Universal
health care coverage should be provided to all women to protect them from
devastating out of pocket expenses
·
Regularize
Village and Health Nutrition Day (VHND) and ensure that they provide women
with full ANC including per abdomen examination, checking hemoglobin, weight
and blood pressure, TT injection, IFA tablets, counseling on diet, rest,
birth planning & complication readiness
·
Maternity
entitlements should be unconditional - the Age Eligibility and Parity
Criteria should be done away with in Mamata Scheme
·
Maternity benefit should be linked to wages
foregone, they should not be arbitrarily fixed, rather they should be
compiled on the basis of highest minimum wages and should be periodically
reviewed
·
Maternity Benefits should be provided for 9
months (beginning from the third trimester of pregnancy till six months after
birth) to enable women to rest before pregnancy and promote six months of
exclusive breastfeeding
|
Livelihood,
Employment and Work
|
· Absence of crèche facilities
· Loss of wage during pregnancy
months
·
Money
is not disbursed in regular installments
·
Lack
of availability of channels for grievance redress system
|
·
Free
Crèche facilities be made mandatory in communities and the workplace
· Setup easily accessible Grievance Redress Mechanisms
|
December 01, 2013
NAMMHR submits Suggestions on the New Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013
MANUAL SCAVENGING PICTURE (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The National Alliance for
Maternal Health and Human Rights (NAMHHR) is a civil society Alliance that
works on strengthening rights-based approaches for preventing maternal
mortality and promoting the highest quality of maternal health for the
marginalized in India. The
group recognizes that there is an urgent need for women's organizations, health
organizations, groups working on law and human rights, and mass-based
organizations to come together on this issue. The Alliance currently has members from twelve
states of India, as well as expert advisors working with research, Right to
Food, public health, right to medicines and budget accountability.
We are pleased that the Government has drafted
the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation
Act, 2013” and has invited comments on it from stakeholders. We think that this
act is an important one because this inhuman practice of manual scavenging is a
profanity not only on those involved in this practice but also on the country
and putting an end to it is the responsibility of the country as a whole. Those
who are involved in manual scavenging suffer from the inhuman pain of
scavenging human faeces and also go through the unbearable pain and humiliation
of discrimination, untouchability and social exclusion. A very small percentage
of children of these communities are in schools not because they 'drop out' but because they are 'pushed out'
from there.
However, the proposed rules drafted by Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment (Government of India) in “The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their
Rehabilitation Act, 2013”, need further strengthening to eradicate manual
scavenging totally and ensure comprehensive rehabilitation of liberated
scavengers
In this view, NAMHHR strongly recommends
the following suggestions to the draft rules :
1. Chapter - 4 of the act is focusing on the
rehabilitation component of liberated manual scavengers, but in the Rules they
have not discussed single point of the rehabilitation. Even they have not used
the word – “Rehabilitation” in the draft rules (apart from in the name of
the rules).
2. Section – 13 of the new law is providing
provisions related to rehabilitation of the liberated manual scavengers, like
scholarship for the children, residential plot and financial assistance for
house construction or a ready–built house, training in a livelihood skill with
monthly stipend, subsidy and concessional loan for taking up an alternative
occupation on a sustainable basis and other legal and programmatic assistance.
But the Rules do not provide any of these provisions.
3. Draft rule – 3 says “No person shall be engaged
for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank” and same time
rule – 4 says “Any
person engaged to clean a sewer or a septic tank shall be provided by his
employer the following protective gear and safety devices. Like Safety body
clothing/ safety body harness/ safety belt, normal face mask, safety torch,
hand gloves, safety helmet, etc. This rule is violating the provision of total
eradication of manual scavenging.
4. Rule no. 38 of the Draft Rules says about the quantum of initial, onetime cash
assistance. But they are not providing provision about the amount of the cash
assistance, time period providing cash assistance, as well as the responsible
authority.
5. Rehabilitation of the former manual scavengers
who are liberated from this inhuman practice in the period before passing the
law, are not covered under the rules.
6. Not clear and concrete provisions have provided in the Draft Rules for
enforcement of the law in government institutions like Indian Railways,
Defense, etc.
7. Liberated manual scavengers often face
discrimination, caste-based
atrocity or violence, Non-SC scavengers (Dalit Muslim, Dalit Christian) is not
protected under the SC/ST (PoA) act 1989. Unfortunately neither the, new Act and nor the Draft Rules mention any provision of the protection for
these communities.
8. Rules are very technical and gender-blind, despite the fact, that Lakhs of Dalits and Dalit Muslims as well as
very high proportion of them are women, who are
forced to continue in this inhuman practice. Yet the proposed rules do not focus Caste as an important aspect of
the issue.
9. In many States, Administration and local authorities like
Municipal Corporation and Gram Panchayats as well as the local Railway stations
force Dalit or Safai Karmcharies to do manual scavenging. But, under the Draft
Rules they are responsible for enforcement of the law, which includes grievance
redress. This will lead to conflict of interest as we cannot expect them to
effectively eradicate the practice.
10. In many states
like Maharashtra, Manual Scavenging in Open Toilets (not in the dry toilets)
are institutionalized. The rules are not covered this form of manual
scavenging.
September 28, 2013
The 6th APPC sets Rights Anew
The 6th Asian
and Pacific Population Conference (APPC) held in Bangkok in the third
week of September 2013 saw the battle for inclusion of 'rights language'
in the outcome document. This resulted in a polarisation among the 130
odd participants on whether rights and inclusion were important enough
to be a mandate in the States' agenda. What was interesting was the face
that human rights and discrimination in the 21st Century was still being fought for.
The
strength of this conference was evident as all the civil society
organisations unanimously sort to push forward these critical issues and
advocate for a language that promotes sexual rights, sexual identity
and gender orientation, elimination of discrimination based on
motherhood status, limited access to important services which include
safe abortion and ensuring the need to include comprehensive sexual
education in school curriculums across the region. For
the civil society organisations, this was an opportunity to include
human rights within the framework of the outcome document as this will
be presented in the UN General Assembly special session in 2014 on the
global 20 year review of the ICPD.
Many
of the civil society organisations strongly felt that the ICPD POA did
not explicitly recognise sexual rights, including the right to diversity
of sexual expression and orientation. They felt that this was a huge
gap and a loophole for the government to avoid inclusion of rights in
improved quality of care, especially pertaining to reproductive health
services. The week saw intense and passionate debate and negotiation
from the Asia Pacific region to push forth progressive language and the
need to address discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,
gender identity and the stigma associated with woman especially with
regards control over her reproduction. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/171620903/APPC-Final-Outcome)
What
was interesting for me was the case study presented from one lone
representative from Philippines, Janette Garin (Under Secretary,
Department of Health, Manila). Though Filipinos are predominantly Roman
Catholic but they have been struggling to achieve the rights language
through the Reproductive Health Bill since 2011. This lone
representative was the strongest proponent of human rights and the need
for inclusion of human rights within sexual reproductive health
services. Coincidentally
the Constitution of Philippines protects the “life of the unborn”.
Abortion rights are still not a fundamental right for the Filipino.
Blog post by Leena Uppal, NAMHHR member and advocacy officer Centre for Health and Social Justice
August 16, 2013
National Consultation on Maternal Health
NAMHHR in collaboration with
Commonhealth, SAMA, CEHAT, SOCHARA, SAHAJ
organised a two day National Consultation on Maternal Health on
12th-13th of August in New Delhi.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/labouring-for-a-cause/article5050752.ece http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/coordinated-efforts-will-improve-maternal-health-care-113081301042_1.html
On the first day, health activists
and civil society organizations came together from various states including
Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu to share
experiences on various government schemes and policies as well as concerns with
implementation and accountability within health systems. The following concerns
came out during the discussions:
●
In spite of the fact that the poorest and most vulnerable
women are the most affected, the government has fallen short in addressing
maternal health with a comprehensive strategy and being accountable for it.
Specific issues need specific focus for example malaria prevention, sickle cell
anemia screening, blood storage, hot cooked meals.
●
Undignified treatment of women during childbirth from
minorities particularly has been reported from various parts of the country,
which makes them reluctant to use public health facilities.
●
Several issues that affect maternal health - such as access
to abortion services, access to choice of contraception, dignified childbirth,
domestic abuse, nutrition, poverty, caste and gender – remain blind spots in
policy. Thus, the solutions proposed often fail to capture or be relevant to
the lived realities of women.
●
Maternal death reviews, though mandated since 2010, are not
being carried out in several states, especially in rural areas or in the
private sector.
A
set of recommendations were then developed on the cross cutting themes about some aspects of the maternal health
care situation that were presented to the policy makers on the following day.
Key
recommendations:
- Maternal health cannot be improved in isolation without looking into health systems and social determinants.
- Since many women continue to deliver at home, we need to continue investing in trained dais and dai kits.
- Verbal and physical abuse by health care providers, during labour in public health facilities must be stopped and action taken against concerned health care providers.
- Mechanisms to address grievances must be put in place in health systems.
- Maternal death reviews should be done in a women centred way with the inclusion of social and technical factors in the analysis. Greater transparency and accountability is needed in sharing the reports as well as remedial measures being instituted to ensure that other women will not die for the same reasons in that area.
Addressing the gathering Shri Keshav
Desiraju, stated that while the Government’s policy had led to a reduction in
maternal mortality, it was also true that focusing on Institutional delivery
numbers alone had led to neglecting what happened to women and children after
the birth. He also acknowledged that it
was important to strengthen a team in communities to support safer home births,
such as ASHA, ANM, SBA and local TBAs. He promised to revive the Technical
Resource Group on Maternal Health that had been set up by the MOHFW two years
ago.
The event received favourable press
coverage. Please
click on the links to read media coverage:
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/labouring-for-a-cause/article5050752.ece http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/coordinated-efforts-will-improve-maternal-health-care-113081301042_1.html
August 14, 2013
Domestic Workers demand for Better working Conditions and Fair wages
More than a thousand of
domestic workers from 14 states demonstrated at Jantar Mantar, demanding a law to protect their rights and
provide them social security. They demanded for better working conditions,
which will include fixation of wages, child care facilities, housing, training
and skill formation for the domestic help.
Organized by the National
Platform for Domestic Workers (NPDW)[1]
the rally held at Jantar Mantar on 31st of July demanded for the implementation
of comprehensive rights and workplace benefits under the National Policy on
Domestic Workers formulated by the Labour ministry.
A petition drafted for the Petition Committee of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and signed by thousands of domestic workers across the country was handed over to the Prime Minister and the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Ministry of Labour.
Many eminent people attended the dharna expressing solidarity with the domestic workers including Basudev Bhatacharya – CPM member of Parliament, Ali Akbar Ansari of the Janata Dal United, Sanjay Paswan - a former minister in the NDA government, Mohini Giri - former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Vijayalakshmi Reddy from AITUC and Annie Raja of NFIW.
A petition drafted for the Petition Committee of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and signed by thousands of domestic workers across the country was handed over to the Prime Minister and the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Ministry of Labour.
Many eminent people attended the dharna expressing solidarity with the domestic workers including Basudev Bhatacharya – CPM member of Parliament, Ali Akbar Ansari of the Janata Dal United, Sanjay Paswan - a former minister in the NDA government, Mohini Giri - former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Vijayalakshmi Reddy from AITUC and Annie Raja of NFIW.
Ms. Aditi Sood, on behalf of NAMHHR Secretariat participated in the rally in solidarity to support the cause of domestic workers.
Click on the link below to read the petition.
[1] NPDW is
the umbrella forum of 17 unions of domestic workers and action groups scattered
across the country. It was created in 2012 to pursue a Comprehensive Legislation
for Domestic Workers in India.
Revamping Jan Swasthya Abhiyan in Delhi
Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) is a network of 22
different organizations which includes other networks, organizations working
only on health issues, those working on women’s rights and issues as well as
academic bodies such as the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health
(CSMCH), Jawaharlal Nehru University.
JSA provides a platform to organizations that work
on many different issues to come together on issues of health and health care.
JSA has state units and each state unit has its own activities. The National Secretariat rotates across the
state units. Currently the National Secretariat is being hosted by JSA Delhi.
JSA organized a meeting on 12th of July to discuss
revival strategies for JSA, Delhi and also to create a support group for the
secretariat of the JSA at the National level.
NAMHHR members including Dr. Mira Shiva and YK Sandhya attended the
meeting who raised the issue of maternal health and maternity benefits.
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