Embargoed for Release Only Until:
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
At 00:01 GMT (for papers before or during World AIDS Day, December 1,
2003)

Africa: Gender Inequality Fuels AIDS Crisis
Success in Fighting AIDS Hinges on Protecting Rights of Women and Girls

(New York, December 1, 2003) - Violence and discrimination against women

and girls is fueling Africa's AIDS crisis, Human Rights Watch said in a
report released today on World AIDS Day. African governments must make
gender equality a central part of national AIDS programs if they are to
succeed in fighting the epidemic.

The 40-page report, "Policy Paralysis: A Call for Action on
HIV/AIDS-Related Human Rights Abuses Against Women and Girls in Africa,"

documents human rights abuses that women and girls suffer at each stage
of their lives and that increase their risk for HIV infection. Girls
face sexual abuse and violence, in and out of school. Women in
long-term relationships risk violence if they insist on condom use or
refuse sex. Widows are discriminated against in property and
inheritance rights. And women and girls are raped in war and civil
conflict, where rape is used strategically as a weapon.

"Women and girls in Africa are dying by the millions, partly because
their second-class status makes them vulnerable to violence and unsafe
sex," said Joanne Csete, director of the HIV/AIDS Program at Human
Rights Watch. "In the fight against AIDS, protecting women and girls
from sexual abuse and ensuring their equal rights under the law are as
crucial as keeping the blood supply clean."

The report sharply criticizes governments for allowing these abuses to
continue and ignoring the critical link between them and HIV/AIDS among
women and girls. Legal and judicial remedies for violations of the
rights of women and girls are often inadequate or nonexistent. Even
where such laws exist, they are poorly enforced. Women and girls who
are courageous enough to file complaints are often laughed at or
mistreated by officials.

"There is near paralysis in African governments' response to HIV/AIDS
among women and girls," said Csete. "State failure to protect women and

girls from such abuses is fueling the AIDS epidemic in Africa. And
studies suggest that this is a global phenomenon."

Women and girls represent 58 percent of people living with HIV in
sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries, women and girls are seven times
more likely to be HIV positive than their male counterparts. While
Africa is the only region where females outnumber males among the newly
HIV-infected, studies show that women and girls in other parts of the
developing world-including the Caribbean, Central America, South Asia
and Southeast Asia-have greater susceptibility to the virus as it moves
from "high risk" groups to the general population.

Human Rights Watch made detailed recommendations to African governments,

the United Nations and donors-including the Global Fund to Fight
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria-to take immediate action to address
gender-based violence and discrimination. Human Rights Watch called on
all governments to make gender equality a central element of national
AIDS programs.

"Even Uganda's widely heralded success in fighting AIDS will unravel as
long as women face violence when they refuse sex or demand safer sex,"
said Csete. "These abuses don't go away by themselves; well funded
programs are needed. The Global Fund and other donors should promote
protection of women's and girls' rights as a central part of AIDS
programs."

The report covers abuses in countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa:
West Africa (Sierra Leone and Togo), Central Africa (Democratic Republic

of Congo), East Africa (Kenya and Uganda) and Southern Africa (South
Africa and Zambia).

Human Rights Watch recommended that African governments take urgent
action to:
. Enact and enforce legislation to protect women and girls from sexual
and domestic violence and marital rape.
. Provide training and resources to police, judicial officers and other
government officials to facilitate reporting and prosecution of sexual
and gender-based violence to ensure that perpetrators are held
accountable for their crimes.
. Enact and enforce legislation to ensure gender equality in property
ownership, inheritance and divorce.
. Prohibit application of customary law or practice to undermine women's

rights to property.
. Abolish customary practices for widows such as "widow inheritance,"
where women are "inherited" by one of their male in-laws, and ritual
"cleansing," where women may be forced to have sex with men of low
social standing to cleanse them of "evil spirits."
. Ensure equal access to health services and education, and take
measures to protect girls from sexual violence at school.

--
Policy Paralysis:
A Call for Action on HIV/AIDS-Related Human Rights Abuses Against Women
and Girls in Africa

is available during the embargo period at:
http://docs.hrw.org/embargo/africa1203/
username: Africa, password: hivaids2k3

After the launch of the report, it will be available at:
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/africa1203/

Testimony of African Women Featured in the Report (pseudonyms are used
to protect privacy)

Patricia M., 16, who lost her parents to AIDS, Lusaka, Zambia:
After my mother died, I went to my mother's mother. In 2001 she died,
so I stopped school. . . . Then we went to my auntie, my mom's younger
sister. . . . Most girls find that they start 'keeping up with' [having

sex with] stepfathers or uncles. Most are raped. They have no say.
They think if you bring them to the police, there will be no one to keep

me. So they keep quiet.

Sara K., 32, from Naguru, Uganda:
My husband would beat me often. . . . He used to beat me when I refused

to sleep with him . . . . He wouldn't use a condom. He said, "When we
are man and woman married, how can we use a condom?" . . . It's a wife's

duty to have sex with her husband because that is the main reason you
come together. But there should be love . . . . When I knew about his
girlfriends, I feared that I would get infected with HIV. But he didn't

listen to me. I tried to insist on using a condom but he refused. So I

gave in because I really feared [him].

Imelda O., a 25-year-old widow living with AIDS in Kenya:
I told my in-laws I'm sick . . . but they took everything. I had to
start over. . . . They took sofa sets, household materials, cows, a
goat, and land. I said, "Why are you taking these things when you know
my condition?" They said, "You'll go look for another husband." My
in-laws do not believe in AIDS. They said that witchcraft killed my
husband.

For more information, please contact:
In New York, Joanne Csete: +1-212-216-1224,
English, French
Rebecca Schliefer: +1-212-216-1273, English
In London, Urmi Shah: +011-44 20 7713 2788
Vanessa Saenen: +011-322-732-2009