Abortion. [Colombia] Colombia, which until May 10 had completely banned abortion, has legalized it in cases when the pregnancy endangers the life or health of the mother, or results from rape or incest, or if the fetus is unlikely to survive. Along with El Salvador and Chile, Colombia had been one of three countries in Latin America where abortion was completely prohibited. The decision adds to a string of legal rulings relaxing abortion rules in Latin America, and will encourage abortion-rights advocates elsewhere. Almost as important as the ruling itself, however, are the reasons behind it. In Colombia, as in most of Latin America, abortion is a huge public health problem. It is shockingly common, ending one in four pregnancies in Colombia. Women there average more than one abortion over their fertile years. By the government's rough estimate, unsafe abortion is the third leading cause of maternal mortality. Catholic Church leaders have threatened to excommunicate the judges, along with women who undergo abortions and doctors who perform them. But most of Colombia's politicians who have spoken out, including the conservative president, Álvaro Uribe, say they respect the court ruling. Colombia must now ensure that abortion is truly available to poor women in public hospitals. It should also address the lack of sex education and high rates of rape that have made abortion so tragically common.

Selling Chic With Safety. [Colombia] Are you worried, as a high-profile VIP, that you may be assassinated but you can't bear the thought of going around like a Michelin man wearing layers of armour plating over your finely-tailored suit? Colombian entrepreneur Miguel Caballero may be able to bridge the gap between your security concerns and your wardrobe requirements. From a small factory in the centre of Bogotá, Colombia's capital, Mr Caballero produces a range of finely-tailored blazers, raincoats, stylish shirts, casual denim jackets - and even protective underwear - resistant to a spray of bullets from an Uzi sub-machine gun or a forceful lunge by a knife-wielding attacker. Beyond Latin America, the company now also has representatives selling high-security fashion in the US, in Europe and in Asia. Such is the attractiveness of the product, that it is no longer the exclusive domain of burly male bodyguards and powerful men, but also the high-powered female executive at risk and in search of high-security fashion. "The line of products for women is taking on ever greater importance," Mr Caballero says. "Beforehand it would account for barely 1 per cent of exports. Feminine high-security apparel now makes up 30 per cent of total exports."

AHC for Operations Winds Up Mission. [Ecuador] This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 9 June 2006, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Concluding a four-day mission to Ecuador, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Judy Cheng-Hopkins has called for more international attention to be paid to the humanitarian impact of the Colombian conflict on the whole region. Our latest statistics released today show that with more than 2 million internally displaced people, Colombia is now the country with the largest population of uprooted people of concern to UNHCR in the world. And, it's not only Colombia, but the entire region that's affected – as well as the quarter of a million Colombians in need of protection in Ecuador, there are also tens of thousands more Colombians of concern to UNHCR in other countries in the region, such as Venezuela, Panama and Costa Rica. These numbers, which continue to rise, make the Colombian situation not only the largest UNHCR operation in the Americas but also one of the world's biggest and most forgotten humanitarian tragedies. On Wednesday and Thursday, Cheng-Hopkins visited UNHCR's two field offices in Ecuador – Lago Agrio and Ibarra – both located in the north of the country near the Colombian border. She was especially worried about the difficulty of reaching out to a large population of concern scattered over a wide in difficult and remote terrain. Her greatest concern was the many women and children in need of protection.  

The Enemy at Home. [Peru] The plot of the film "Sleeping with the Enemy" is not fictional in essence. Close to 70 percent of all the women killed in one year in Peru died at the hands of their husbands, partners, lovers or boyfriends, and the murders were committed at home or in a place that was frequented by the couple. Violence against women has reached alarming levels in Latin America. More than 300 women have been murdered in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, in the last 11 years, while in Guatemala, 500 women suffered the same fate in the 2000-2004 period. Peru's case is also dramatic, to the point that people have begun to talk of "femicide," or the murder of a person based on the fact of the victim's being female. But the biggest danger is not out on the street. According to the study "Violence Against Women: Femicide in Peru," carried out by Amnesty International-Peru and the non-governmental Flora Tristán Centre for Peruvian Women, femicide in this country takes the shape of domestic violence. The press tends to describe killings resulting from domestic violence as "crimes of passion," because the perpetrators usually claim to have committed them in a fit of jealousy or because the relationship had broken up.