Seeking Justice: How VAWA Reduced the Stronghold Over American Indian and Alaska Native Women.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), originally passed in 1994, was successfully reauthorized in 2000, 2005, and 2013. Over time, VAWA altered the environment for many victims who had previously suffered in silence. This article focuses on how VAWA impacted American Indian (AI) and Alaska Native (AN) victims of dating and domestic violence. AI and AN women experience these crimes at a rate higher than the national average, yet they are often denied justice due to the interplay of federal and state laws and tribal sovereignty. VAWA affirmed tribes' sovereign authority to exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit crimes against AI and AN victims on tribal lands. This article also discusses future steps to enhance justice reforms.

Sites of Exception: Gender Violence, Digital Activism, and Nirbhaya's Zone of Anomie in India.

Gender violence in India exists as a state of exception for the ways in which it occupies a nonlegal, liminal space of existence as "bare life" or "life itself." The rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey unprecedentedly brought this to the surface. This article aims to highlight the ways in which the movement that emerged out of this case engaged with gender violence as a state of exception while the use of new digital technologies by "digital subjects"/"digital parasites" has constituted "sites of exception," leading to new forms of organizing and creating an emerging politics of gender justice in India.

La interrupción legal del embarazo en Argentina / The legal termination of pregnancy in Argentina

En el contexto de la publicación por parte del Ministerio de Salud de la Nación de Argentina del Protocolo para la atenciónintegral de las personas con derecho a la interrupción legal del embarazo (ILE), resumido y comentado en este mismonúmero de EVIDENCIA, este comentario editorial ofrece: 1) una perspectiva amplia de lo que significa el aborto, desde lamirada estrictamente biologicista hasta definiciones basadas en el enfoque de género; 2) una descripción de los diferentesmarcos jurídicos respecto del aborto que imperan actualmente en Latinoamérica y Argentina, haciendo especial hincapiéen lo concerniente a las ILE; 3) información epidemiológica sobre la mortalidad materna en Argentina y la asociada alaborto inseguro; 4) estadísticas sobre la realización de ILE en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.Dada la situación actual de aislamiento social preventivo obligatorio en el marco de la pandemia de Covid-19, conside-ramos quienes integramos equipos de salud debemos estar más atentos/as que nunca a las situaciones de violenciapotencial que podrían suceder en este contexto, para dar las respuestas pertinentes -entre las que se incluyen las ILE-, alas víctimas de embarazos no deseados consecutivos a situaciones de coerción. (AU)

In the context of the publication by the Argentine Ministry of Health of the Protocol for the comprehensive care of people withthe right to legal termination of pregnancy (LTP), summarized and commented on in this same issue of EVIDENCIA, thiseditorial article offers: 1) a broad perspective of what abortion means, from a strictly biological point of view to definitionsbased on the gender approach; 2) a description of the different legal frameworks regarding abortion that currently prevailin Latin America and Argentina, with special emphasis on LTP; 3) epidemiological information on maternal mortality inArgentina and that associated with unsafe abortion; 4) statistics on the realization of LTP in the Autonomous City ofBuenos Aires, Argentina.Given the current situation of mandatory preventive social isolation in the framework of the Covid-19 pandemic, we considerthat those of us who are part of health teams should be more alert than ever to situations of potential violence that couldoccur in this context, to give the relevant responses - including LTP- to victims of unwanted pregnancies following coercivesituations. (AU)

Sexualised violence against children: a review of laws and policies in Kenya.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a major global health challenge. Extant literature shows that CSA is prevalent in Kenya. As a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Kenyan government is mandated to ensure that children are protected from sexual abuse through sound laws and policies. This paper reviews existing laws and policies on CSA and highlights their strengths and weaknesses. Our findings indicate that laws on child protection exist and are protective to a large extent, as harsh penalties are outlined for sexual offences. Survivors of CSA are entitled to free legal and medical services. However, there are no reparations offered to survivors in criminal proceedings. Moreover, there is no legislation on age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education which plays an important role in cultivating positive gender norms and describing what constitutes CSA and reporting procedures. The national standard operating procedures for the management of sexual violence against children lack CSA screening procedures. There is urgent need for review of these laws and policies and development of multisectoral protocols at the national and county level, that outline roles and responsibilities for various service providers, supervisory and accountability measures and referral networks.

Violence against women: historical trajectory of a care program (Curitiba - 1997-2014).

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the historical trajectory and the contributions of the Programa de Atenção às Mulheres em Situação de Violência (Program of Care to Women Victims of Violence) of Curitiba. METHOD: Research with documentary and local approach, inspired by the Dimension of Political History, to unveil power relations, political representations, symbols and discourses. Eighty-eight sources were used for the period 1997-2014. The data collection was performed in May 2016 and presented in the timeline modality. RESULTS: The historical trajectory of the program indicates intersectoral and interinstitutional experience that has been increasing and originating important innovations in care to women based on humanization and from the perspective of comprehensiveness. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: Historicizing the Program contributed to the reflection on the construction of practices aimed at confronting violence, the need for intersectoral actions and looks that involve its complexity.

Violence against women: historical trajectory of a care program (Curitiba - 1997-2014) / Violencia contra las mujeres: la trayectoria histórica de un programa de atención (Curitiba - 1997-2014) / Violência contra mulheres: trajetória histórica de um programa de atenção (Curitiba - 1997-2014)

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the historical trajectory and the contributions of the Programa de Atenção às Mulheres em Situação de Violência (Program of Care to Women Victims of Violence) of Curitiba. Method: Research with documentary and local approach, inspired by the Dimension of Political History, to unveil power relations, political representations, symbols and discourses. Eighty-eight sources were used for the period 1997-2014. The data collection was performed in May 2016 and presented in the timeline modality. Results: The historical trajectory of the program indicates intersectoral and interinstitutional experience that has been increasing and originating important innovations in care to women based on humanization and from the perspective of comprehensiveness. Final considerations: Historicizing the Program contributed to the reflection on the construction of practices aimed at confronting violence, the need for intersectoral actions and looks that involve its complexity.

RESUMEN Objetivo: Analizar la trayectoria histórica y las contribuciones del Programa de Atención a las Mujeres en Situación de Violencia de Curitiba. Método: Investigación con enfoque documental y local, inspirada en la Dimensión de la Historia Política, para revelar relaciones de poder, representaciones políticas, símbolos y discursos. Se utilizaron 88 fuentes para el período 1997-2014. La recolección de datos fue realizada en mayo de 2016 y presentada en la modalidad línea del tiempo. Resultados: La trayectoria histórica del programa indica una experiencia intersectorial e interinstitucional, que se ha ido ampliando y originando importantes innovaciones en la atención a mujeres pautadas en la humanización y en la perspectiva de la integralidad. Consideraciones finales: Historizar el programa contribuyó a la reflexión acerca de la construcción de prácticas dirigidas al enfrentamiento de la violencia, la necesidad de acciones intersectoriales y miradas que involucren su complejidad.

RESUMO Objetivo: Analisar a trajetória histórica e as contribuições do Programa de Atenção às Mulheres em Situação de Violência de Curitiba. Método: Pesquisa com abordagem documental e local, inspirada na Dimensão da História Política, para descortinar relações de poder, representações políticas, símbolos e discursos. Foram utilizadas 88 fontes referentes ao período de 1997-2014. A coleta de dados foi realizada em maio de 2016 e apresentada na modalidade linha do tempo. Resultados: A trajetória histórica do programa indica experiência intersetorial e interinstitucional que foi se ampliando e originando importantes inovações na atenção às mulheres pautadas na humanização e na perspectiva da integralidade. Considerações finais: Historicizar o Programa contribuiu na reflexão acerca da construção de práticas voltadas ao enfrentamento da violência, a necessidade de ações intersetoriais e olhares que envolvam sua complexidade.

Litigating to ensure access to quality maternal health care for women and girls in Kenya.

Access to comprehensive reproductive health care for women and girls, including access to quality maternal health services remains a challenge in Kenya. A recent government enquiry assessing close to 500 maternal deaths that occurred in 2014 revealed gaps in the quality of maternal care, concluding that more than 90% of the women who had died had received "suboptimal" maternal care. In Kenya, the Center for Reproductive Rights (the Center) has undertaken public interest litigation among other strategies to challenge human rights violations and systematic failures within the health sector. In 2014, before the High Court of Bungoma in Western Kenya, the Center filed a case on behalf of Josephine Majani who had been neglected and abused by the staff of the Bungoma County Referral Hospital, a public health facility where she had gone to deliver in 2013. This commentary addresses the situation of maternal health care in Kenya and the actions leading to litigation that was specifically aimed at enabling access to quality maternal health care. It provides an analysis of some of the outcomes of the litigation and highlights the implications thereof on implementation of maternal health care in Kenya and beyond.

Five years post Nirbhaya: Critical insights into the status of response to sexual assault.

It is five years since the fatal gang rape of Jyothi Singh (Nirbhaya), a physiotherapy student, on December 16, 2012, in New Delhi, the capital of India. The legal and policy reforms triggered by the Nirbhaya case will remain a watershed moment in the history of efforts towards seeking justice for survivors of gender-based violence in India. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 and the "Guidelines and protocols: Medico-legal care for survivors/victims of sexual violence" issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in March 2014 are two landmark reforms. March 2018 marks four years since the issuance of these Guidelines and five years since the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. Any reasonable tribute to Nirbhaya would constitute fair implementation of legal reforms, efforts to strengthen multi-sectoral response and sincere attempts to reduce crimes against women, gender and sexual minorities, and children. This paper reviews the issue, through a close study of recent cases of rape, police responses, court judgements, studies, news reporting and field-based observations. It brings forth the gaps in implementation that persist, and constitute a major obstacle in making these progressive policies and reforms effective. Given the fact that the reforms are intersectoral in nature, implementation has been particularly challenging. Lack of efficient implementation of such policies and reforms amounts to denying survivors their right to justice.

Need for gender sensitive health system responses to violence against women and children.

Five years since Nirbhaya, and nearly as long since the Justice Verma Committee Report, amendments to the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013, and the National guidelines and protocols on medico-legal care for survivors of sexual violence by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) 2014, we, concerned individuals, women's groups, health organisations, ethicists, and academicians, urgently demand the attention of the central and state governments - to the continuing injustice, violations and discrimination against survivors of gender-based violence (GBV).