NEWS FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP (Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz).
Number 498, October 17, 2003

This week´s issues of SEJUP focuses on the issues of Sterilization of
Brazilian Women and Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of Children:

-45% of Brazilian Women are Sterilized during Their Childbearing Years
-Feminine Sterilization in Brazil
-October 12: Children´s Day with Exploitation and Sexual Abuse

45% of Brazilian Women are Sterilized during Their Childbearing Years
Four of every ten Brazilian women are surgically sterilized during their
childbearing years. These are the statistics used by specialists who
declare that this culture was disseminated in the 1960´s when women´s
bodies became a political battleground.
This Brazilian phenomenon, unique in the world, is due to a culture of
tube-cutting (tubal ligation) as the preferred method of avoiding
conception, including among young women, said physician Dr. Antonio Carlos
Rodrigues da Cunha, who studies the subject at the University of Brasília.
He states that in Italy sterilizations among women of childbearing age do
not reach even 1%.
In 1996, the Civil Society for Family Welfare made a broad study of women
between the ages of 15 and 49 and determined that among those that sought
to avoid pregnancy, 52% chose sterilization. About 80% of Brazilian women
of childbearing age use contraceptive methods, and almost always the
methods are either hormonal (pills or injections) or surgery, in almost
equal proportions, according to Cunha, who emphasizes the need to diversify
alternatives and stimulate reversible forms.
In studies in the central-west of Brazil, the new agriculture frontier of
the country, registered sterilizations reach 59% of these women, and many
such surgical interventions are clandestine, i.e., not registered. In the
poorest areas of Brazil, politicians frequently offer women free
sterilizations as a means of buying their votes.
Often the sterilization option is chosen because of lack of information
about other contraceptive means. This results in a large proportion of
regrets among women who attempt to reverse the tube cutting. Surgery to
reverse tubal ligation has only a 50% success rate.
The sterilization culture was created beginning in the 60´s when women´s
bodies became the field of political disputes, said Solange Rocha,
coordinator of projects for SOS Corpo (SOS Body),a feminist
non-governmental organization in Recife. She remembers that, at that time,
the U.S.A. promoted Latin American birth control based on the idea that
this would avoid new revolutions like that in Cuba, while at the same time
the Brazilian military dictatorship wanted for national security reasons
more people to populate the country´s immense territory.
In Brazil, sterilization shows a marked disequilibrium between the genders.
Fewer than 3% of men have vasectomies. In the U.S. their proportion reaches
12%, about half of the proportion of sterilized women.
By Cabichui, published by Adital, Oct. 9, 2003

- Feminine Sterilization in Brazil
SOF (Sempreviva Organização Femininista), a non-governmental women´s
organization, studied the issue of female sterilization in Brazil and and
found that in certain parts of the country (Maranhão, Goiás), the incidence
of tubal ligations was as high as 71% of child-bearing women. SOF found
that the practice of female sterilization is higher among poor, non-white
women, a number of whom were sterilized after having a caesarian birth in a
public hospital or clinic. In the recent past, many women had to "prove"
that they were sterilized in order to be employed in certain jobs (an
illegal practice).
The high incidence of caesarian births in Brazil is also documented. Brazil
is the world champion for caesarian births even though it is know that a
caesarian procedure greatly increases the risks to the life of mother and
baby. According to a study in Osasco and Mauá, two municipalities in the
Greater São Paulo area, 88% of tubal ligations were performed during or
directly after a woman gave birth and for every 100 births, 77 were
caesarian. (Osis, Berquó study, 1993). This study also found that
arrangements for tubal ligation usually occur with doctors during the
prenatal period, even though Brazil´s Penal Code states that it is a crime
" to provoke corporal lesions that include the loss of function of an
organ" and the Brazilian Ethical Code of Medicine states that sterilization
can only be realized in exceptional cases, when there is a medical need,
and only with the consent of two doctors.
In order to guarantee women´s health, SOF states that all women have the
right to have information and orientation about sexuality and reproduction
as well as access to contraceptives that do not damage their health and
that is appropriate for their phase of life. SOF continues to work to
improve health services for women at the local level and in the public
policies.
Published in Feminine Sterilization, SOF, Volume 1

-October 12: Children´s Day with Exploitation and Sexual Abuse
In Brazil, children represent a population of 50,266, 176 inhabitants and
statistics related to them are very depressing with respect to
maltreatment, sexual exploitation and child labor, among other crimes. Last
Sunday, when Brazil celebrated Children´s Day, it was a moment to reflect
on the numbers that illustrate how the country is treating its population
of children.
Exploitation and sexual abuse represent the major problem for children. The
National System for the combat of Abuse and Child Exploitation in Brasília,
which can be reached by a national toll-free number, provides an annual
X-ray of this type of violence committed daily against children. From
February, 1997 to January, 2003, the system received a total of 2,937
denunciations; the Southeastern region had the most, 46%, and the
Northeastern region came in second with 28%.
The Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry that deals with sexual exploitation
in Brazil began on June 12 of this year and is working on 300 cases coming
from Brazilian cities such as João Pessoa, Salvador, Natal, Porto Velho,
Manaus and Rio Branco. Last week a public hearing took place in Foz do
Iguaçu, where there are denunciations of child trafficking from here to
Argentina and Paraguay. In this Triple Border area, according to a study by
the International Labor Organization, there are approximately 3,500
children and adolescents who are victims of sexual exploitation as workers
in nightclubs.
There is no lack of research on the subject. One study coordinated by
Professor Eva Silveira Faleiros, of the University of Brasília, and with
support from the federal government´s Special Secretary for Human Rights,
shows that 69% of the victims of sexual abuse are children. The study
considered 40 cases from the cities of Belem, Recife, Victoria, Goiania and
Porto Alegre. The study adds that only a third of the victims are not
living with their aggressors; in a majority of cases the violence is done
within the very home of the young person. Furthermore, 95.7% of those who
sexually abuse were men and in the majority of cases (70.9%) women made the
denunciations. According to the study´s coordinator, the number of
denunciations is insignificant with respect to the reality and the
insufficient attention given to the victims. The study is published in its
entirety in the book Abuso Sexual Contra Crianças e Adolescentes e os (des)
Caminhos da Denúncia (Abuse of Children and Adolescents-Bypassing the
Denouncements)
Created in 2002, the National Committee to Confront Sexual Violence against
Children and Adolescents agrees that the installation of the toll-free
number and the installation of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry
demonstrate genuine willingness to combat the problem. For the first time
the Supreme Court of Justice opened a discussion on the theme and included
new topics such as sexual trafficking, sexual tourism, internet
pornography, and pedophilia, affirms Neide Casanha, the committee´s
coordinator.
By Rogéria Araújo, published by Adital, Oct. 11, 2003

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