Britain's unwanted girls

by Sanjiv Buttoo

Cultural pressure to have a boy is leading some British women of Asian origin to travel to India for abortions to avoid having a girl.

Among them is Meena, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. She describes what led her to do such a thing.

"As soon as you're pregnant everyone sits there and looks at you and constantly says: 'you're going to have a boy. We'll do this and we'll do that and we'll have celebrations'," she said.

But when the child is actually born and it's a girl, everyone around you feels disappointed - they say: 'well, never mind'."

Meena, an office worker in her 30s, is from a middle-class Punjabi family and was born and brought up in the UK.

She has three daughters under 13. But says she has been made to feel a failure for not producing a son.

Meena says Indian culture can still exert a huge pressure on women to have boys - to carry the family name and because girls are expensive - and that the pressure exists on Indian women living in Britain too.

"It is all up to the husband and it's usually the husband's side of the family who - you know - are putting the pressure on."

So last year, when Meena became pregnant for the fourth time, she and her husband decided to go to India to find out what sex their unborn child was.

Sex test

"We were worried about what would happen if it was another girl, because obviously it has consequences on the family as well as financial implications, so we decided to see what we were having this time."

Meena was able to look up the best gynaecologists in India on the internet.

"Once we approached them, they seemed fairly understanding when they realised that we had three other daughters already and we wanted to know what the sex of this child was."

After Meena and her husband had the test in Delhi, they were told it was another girl. They thought the burden and pressure would be too much, so decided to terminate.

"Personally it was very upsetting for me. I didn't really want my other children to know, and I don't mean it in a bad way, but my husband seemed rather blas‚ about it. I think I felt bad because I knew I shouldn't be doing this - for the reasons I was doing it - it wasn't nice."

Female foeticide

Sex selective abortion - female foeticide, as it is known - has been illegal in India since the early 1980s. Having a scan to find out the sex is also against the law.

But the law has simply forced the practice underground and UN figures state that 750,000 girls are aborted every year in India.

Now it appears that some Indian women in Britain are travelling from the UK to India to have abortions.

Meena says that she is not alone - she knows other women who have terminated girls. But it is a taboo subject.

"I've heard of other people who have done it, but if you start showing interest in things like that, especially when you've had three daughters yourself, people will start thinking 'Oh yes, she must be interested in doing that as well,' so you try and keep away from it and deal with it yourself."

For Meena, it got harder after her sister-in-law produced boys. In a Punjabi family, how highly you are thought of frequently depends on the children you have.

"I believe that's why I'm getting more and more pressure: if she can do it, I should be able to do it." Meena has four sisters.

"I know they do sometimes think 'her mother was like that as well'.

It is really not a nice feeling when you've had your baby and you are really proud of her and they turn around and dismiss her as just another mistake."

It is not just the family that applies pressure. Meena says it is a preoccupation amongst her friends - her generation - as well.

"I look around and think the people who are doing this, you're women as well, surely you must have gone through this?

"I don't think I would ever do this to my daughters. Obviously they're not going to stay with me - they're going to get married and who knows what pressure they'll be put under - but they'll certainly never get it off me."

'No choice'

It has been a year since Meena had her abortion. She still thinks about how the child would have been now, how she would have fitted in with the family and with her sisters.

"I do have regrets. I don't know why that particular daughter ended up having no part of my life. I had no choice."

She has not decided whether she is going to have another child - it depends on how much pressure she is put under.

But Meena is scared. She is worried for her health, and how going through another abortion will affect her. Her eyes are sad.

"If we decide that we're going to try for another child, I know that I'm going to have to go through the same thing again."

BBC

Rudd takes Australia inside Kyoto

Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd was sworn in as prime minister, following a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last week.

Immediately after the ceremony, he signed documents to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, reversing the previous administration's policy.

"This is the first official act of the new Australian government," he said.

Australia's new stance on Kyoto will isolate the US as the only developed nation not to have ratified the treaty.

Mr Rudd is due to attend the UN climate change conference in Bali next week with four of his ministers.

When they heard of Mr Rudd's decision, delegates at the conference erupted in applause.

Mr Rudd's appointment as prime minister ends more than 11 years of conservative government under his predecessor John Howard.

As well as signing up to the Kyoto Protocol, the new government is committed to withdrawing Australia's combat troops from Iraq.

A new approach

Mr Rudd and 29 other ministers took the oath of office at a ceremony in Canberra on Monday morning.

The new line-up has many differences from Mr Howard's administration. Mr Rudd, a 50-year-old former diplomat, is the first Australian born after the end of World War II to hold the office.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is the first woman to hold the post, and the new government also includes a former rock star, Peter Garrett, as the environment minister.

The minister with responsibility for climate change, Penny Wong, is not only the country's first openly gay minister but the first to be born in Asia.

The new approach to the environment is one of the main ways in which Mr Rudd is signalling a definitive break with the past.

He made the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol one of his key election pledges, and has lost no time in signing the paperwork to bring it into force. Australia will be an official signatory of the Kyoto treaty in 90 days time.

Signing the Kyoto Protocol is "a significant step forward in our country's efforts to fight climate change domestically - and with the international community," Mr Rudd said on Monday.

He said his government would do "everything in its power" to help Australia meet its Kyoto obligations - and has set a long-term target of cutting carbon emissions by 60% of 2000 levels by 2050.

Mr Howard steadfastly refused to sign the Kyoto agreement, arguing that there was no point unless big polluters among developing countries such as China and India were also subject to similar targets.

BBC

Kremlin insists election was fair

The Kremlin has rejected concerns about Sunday's parliamentary election which gave President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party an overwhelming victory.

Mr Putin called his party's two-thirds share of the vote a sign of political stability and thanked the electorate for turning out in high numbers.

International observers and some western governments have expressed concern about the poll's conduct.

The German government said Russia was not a democracy.

BBC Moscow correspondent James Rodgers says the main question now is what Mr Putin will do with his big majority.

Political stability

With nearly all ballots counted, Mr Putin's United Russia had 64.1% of the vote, the electoral commission said. Turnout was about 63%.

The Communist Party, with 11.6% of the vote, was the only opposition party to gain seats in the State Duma, while liberal opposition parties looked certain to fall below the 7% threshold needed to enter parliament.

Two parties allied to the Kremlin - A Fair Russia and the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party - were also poised to win seats.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC the election had been free and fair and that any allegations of voting irregularities would be investigated.

"In general what we saw yesterday is just and fair democratic elections," he said. Mr Putin described the election as a "good example of domestic political stability".

Foreign observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe said the election was "not fair".

It "failed to meet many OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections", they said.

The independent Russian monitoring group, Golos, reported various violations during the voting, which it said amounted to "an organised campaign".

In some cases, it said, state employees and students were pressured to vote, and those voting for United Russia were entered into a prize lottery in St Petersburg.

The German government said the elections were neither free nor fair and it called for Russia to embrace multi-party politics.

The White House said it urged the Russian authorities to investigate alleged violations.

Putin's influence

Mr Putin is constitutionally obliged to stand down after his second term as president ends in March next year.

The BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says his party's win will enable him to continue wielding great influence in politics - even if he is no longer in high office.

Mr Putin announced this year he may seek the office of prime minister after his presidential term ends.

Even Kremlin insiders admit to being in the dark about what their boss is thinking, our correspondent says.

President Putin could become prime minister or take up another post while his opponents suspect he may use this new mandate to change the law and stay in office, he adds.

BBC

At home with Israelis and Palestinians

by Hugh Sykes

Following the Middle East peace conference in the US city of Annapolis, most Israelis and Palestinians yearn for a resolution that will allow them to live normal, peaceful lives.

On the stone paving around the Dome of the Rock - its golden dome gleaming in the autumn sunshine above the site that it shares with Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque - two 10-year-old boys were selling postcards to tourists.

And when there were no customers, they played with two small kittens, chasing them in the shadows of the trees nearby and picking them up and stroking them and smiling. Below the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, there is the Jewish holy place, the Western Wall.

One day I saw an Orthodox Jew praying intently there, his face to the wall, and bowing rhythmically and rapidly as he prayed.

A moment later, he picked up his small daughter and, standing on the stone paving near the wall, he swung her round and round by her arms.

And he smiled and she laughed with delight.

I experienced a similar symmetry of affection and cheerfulness during two evenings here in the past few days: one with a family in a Jewish settlement, the other with a Palestinian family in mostly Arab East Jerusalem.

I was invited to the settlement for Shabbat evening, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, 24 hours of pause and reflection and family life and no work which starts at sundown on a Friday evening.

Jewish welcome

My host took me to the synagogue and he promised me a lot of cheerful singing. And that is how it was.

The congregation prayed and chanted and sang facing Jerusalem. On my left, a Moroccan Jew with his son on his lap smiled and shook my hand and asked me where I was from.

And on my right, my host gave me a quiet running commentary, and his three-year-old daughter wandered about playing with a small toy spring (a Slinky, it is called and, if you get it right, it will coil and uncoil down steps).

Then we all formed a line and shuffled along, hands on the shoulders of the man in front, swaying and singing.

A psychologist who came to settle here from New York gave a sermon about Jacob and Esau, and the lesson that Jews should gather food, offer gifts and prepare for war.

And my host and I walked back home, talking about the phenomenon of fragmentation, the regrettable effect that many aspects of modern life can have on the family and the community.

How for instance, the stress of insecure employment can undermine stability by generating unhealthy competition, individualism and isolation.

And then the Shabbat meal - my host's wife and their four daughters and three sons at a long table with napkins in rings.

But first he blessed each child one by one in order of age, holding their heads in his hands, murmuring a prayer and kissing them on the forehead.

And we tucked into humous and tahini and tomatoes in vinaigrette and aubergine salad with raw garlic and chicken soup with chicken neck and potatoes and carrots.

And another course - chicken breast with mushrooms and garlic - and pudding too - chocolate brownie cake baked by one of the girls. There was wine as well - good local wine - and beer for the teenagers.

There was warm, loving family banter and prayers and singing, and we rounded the evening off playing table-tennis in the garage.

I drove back to my hotel in the cold night air, enriched by the love and laughter of their home.

Palestinian hospitality

Twenty-four hours later, in East Jerusalem, I was sitting at a Palestinian family table with my host and his wife and their two sons and daughters, eating tomato and cucumber salad, green bean salad, knuckle of lamb with rice and almonds, and fruit and mint tea.

And the 10-year-old boy brought out a chess board and I beat him, but then he sat at the computer to play chess again and he won.

And we played the card game Uno where the aim is to end up with an empty hand. And he giggled with delight when I trumped him with the card that meant he had to pick up two more, and I teased him that the extra cards (that meant he might lose) were a gift from me.

And throughout the entire game we spoke in French. He goes to a bilingual Arabic-French school.

And I drove back to my hotel in the cold night air, enriched by the love and laughter of their home.

We did not speak about Annapolis or the peace process at either meal but I left both thinking that there could be real reconciliation and peace if only the enmity that the two families theoretically feel for each could be supplanted by the heart-warming warmth and decency of each of them.

BBC

Sarkozy says colonial rule unjust

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said during a visit to former colony Algeria that his country's colonial rule was "profoundly unjust".

Mr Sarkozy was recently attacked by some in Algeria over his refusal to apologise for France's colonial past.

Mr Sarkozy said both France and Algeria should fight "all forms of racism".

France invaded Algeria in 1830. An eight-year war of independence in the 1950s and 1960s cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

'Jewish lobby'

Mr Sarkozy expects to finalise a series of big business deals during the visit. In a speech to Algerian business leaders, Mr Sarkozy condemned colonialism.

"Yes, the colonial system was profoundly unjust, contrary to the three founding words of our Republic: freedom, equality, brotherhood," he said.

"But it's also fair to say that inside the system, there were many men and women who liked Algeria, before having to leave it."

He said numerous crimes had been committed on both sides during Algeria's independence war from 1954 to 1962.

"The moment has come to entrust Algerian and French historians with the task of writing this page of tormented history together," Mr Sarkozy said.

A minister in Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's government attacked Mr Sarkozy last week, saying he had been elected thanks to the "Jewish lobby", alluding to the Jewish origins of his maternal grandfather.

Mr Bouteflika later said those comments did not reflect the official position. Mr Sarkozy said on Monday: "There is nothing that more closely resembles anti-Semitism than Islamophobia. Both have the same face: that of stupidity and hate."

He has concentrated on the increasing economic ties between the two countries, expressing the hope of signing contracts worth 5bn euros (œ3.55bn).

The contracts include billion dollar investments in the Algerian oil and gas business by the French energy companies Total and Gaz de France.

France is already the biggest investor in Algeria outside the energy sector.

BBC

Chavez defeated over reform vote

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has narrowly lost a referendum on controversial constitutional changes.

Voters rejected the raft of reforms by a margin of 51% to 49%, the chief of the National Electoral Council said.

Mr Chavez described the defeat as a "photo finish", and urged followers not to turn it into a point of conflict.

Correspondents say the opposition could barely hide their delight and that the victory will put a brake on Mr Chavez's self-styled "Socialist revolution".

Celebrations by the opposition began almost immediately in the capital, Caracas, with activists cheering, beeping car horns and waving flags.

"Venezuela won today, democracy won today, and I am sure that this victory for the Venezuelan people will have a very important impact in the rest of Latin America," Leopoldo Lopez, opposition mayor of Caracas' Chaqua municipality, told the BBC.

Don't feel sad

The BBC's James Ingham in Caracas says Mr Chavez had expected a big win and will be very disappointed.

However, he swiftly conceded and urged the opposition to show restraint.

"To those who voted against my proposal, I thank them and congratulate them," he said. "I ask all of you to go home, know how to handle your victory."

He insisted that he would "continue in the battle to build socialism".

"Don't feel sad," he told his supporters, saying there were "microscopic differences" between the "yes" and "no" options.

He said the reforms had failed "for now" but they were "still alive".

Our correspondent says that some of Mr Chavez' loyal supporters have gone against him on this occasion.

Though some of them may still support him, he says, they think he has gone a little too far in a country which has a history of dictatorships.

Too much power

The result marks the president's first electoral reverse since he won power in an election in 1998.

Since then he has set about introducing sweeping changes in the country's laws aimed at redistributing Venezuela's oil wealth to poorer farmers in rural areas.

Just a year ago, he was re-elected with 63% of the vote.

But analysts say the defeat should cause him to rethink the pace and scope of his reforms. With his constitutional reform proposals, Mr Chavez was seeking an end to presidential term limits and the removal of the Central Bank's autonomy.

Having lost the vote, the current rules state that he will have to stand down in 2013. The main opposition parties had claimed during the referendum campaign that Mr Chavez was seeking to give himself too much power, and was trying to establish a dictatorship.

Mr Chavez said the package of reforms was necessary to "construct a new socialist economy".

BBC