Water is a human right: End discrimination against Roma in Slovenia

In Slovenia, like the rest of Europe, nearly 100 per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water.

Yet today many Romani communities struggle to collect even small amounts of water for drinking, washing and cooking. This is not by chance or by choice – it is due to discrimination.

Silvana Hudorovac and her family live in an informal Roma settlement near Ponova vas, with no water or sanitation. She told us:

“We have to use the water from the stream which is very dirty. Children vomit and get diarrhoea. They don’t allow us to take water from the pipe at the cemetery and at the petrol station they say that Gypsies should go away.”

This is just one of the isolated Roma settlements where residents do not have adequate access to water, sanitation and other essentials like electricity. Many Roma are denied access to these vital public services because their homes are in “irregular settlements”.

But widespread discrimination against Roma in towns across Slovenia often means living in these settlements is their only option. Other communities and local authorities block Roma families from moving into their areas and very little social housing exists as an alternative.

Take action for Silvana, her family and many other Roma living in Slovenia.

Housing, water and sanitation are human rights. Call on the Slovenian government to uphold these rights for everyone in Slovenia without discrimination.

Sussi Punoo... (Las Bela)

Sassi , the daughter of a Hindu king of Sind, who on learning at her birth , the prediction by astrologers, that she would marry outside their religion, floats her in a basket. She's found by a washer-man of Bhambore. Sassi grows up to be a great beauty. Punnu, a prince of the Kech fiefdom of Baluchistan while passing thru Bhambore falls madly in love with her. Despite his families refusal to allow him to marry a girl of apparent humble background he marries her . On the wedding nite his brothers intoxicate him and whisk him away. Sassi, overtaken by sleep by the strain of the marriage festivities when awakes is devastated and runs out in search of Punnu. It is said she died in the desert while searching for her beloved. Punnu on recovering, rushes back and finding his Sassi dead dies of grief.They were both buried in a single grave.
The grave is still present in the Las Bela district of Baluchistan.

Ab Paish-e-Khidmat Hain International Beghairat

A Woman every 90 seconds

More than 300,000 mothers, sisters and daughters die each year from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth – one every 90 seconds. Most of these deaths could have been prevented. The complications are largely unpredictable, but they can be treated.
The vast majority of women who die are poor and come from developing countries. In rich countries, the women who do die are more likely to come from marginalized and poor communities.

This is not just a global health emergency; it is a human rights scandal.

Women have the right to life, but they are dying needlessly because of poverty, injustice and gender discrimination. Women have the right to the highest attainable standard of health, but they face financial and social barriers in access to health care. Women have the right to determine when they become pregnant, but many are denied contraception and control over their bodies.

Skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care are key to reducing maternal mortality. But in too many places health care services are of poor quality or are simply inaccessible, especially for women living in poverty and women living in remote areas.

Governments are responsible for ensuring these services are provided.

When women living in poverty have to pay for health care, delays in accessing it are exacerbated. There are delays in the decision to go to a clinic or hospital, delays in reaching the facility because of time spent raising money and delays in receiving treatment once they arrive. These delays can prove deadly.

Poverty drives maternal mortality, and maternal death and injury drive families further into poverty. The women who die leave behind families struggling to survive. More than one million children are left motherless each year.

Maternal mortality reflects the cycle of human rights abuse – deprivation, exclusion, insecurity and voicelessness – that defines and perpetuates poverty.

Lance Klusener: A forgotten hero...

Few would figure Lance Klusener to be a No. 11, but that's where he batted after breaking into first-class cricket as a fast bowler. A childhood spent among Zulu children on a sugar-cane farm and three years in the army contributed to a straightforward approach to bowling: hit the batsman's head if you can't hit his stumps. He spent a couple of years bowling just two lengths before a serious ankle injury in 1998 forced him to drop his pace and develop further skills. He was a revelation in his debut Test, ending with match-winning figures of 8 for 64 against India in Calcutta. He showed glimpses of his big-hitting in the years leading to the 1999 World Cup. His baseball-style backlift and thunderous hitting symbolised the tournament and his heroics nearly took South Africa to the final.

Around 2000 he began fulfilling the role of second spinner, bowling medium-pace cutters off just six paces that many batsmen find impossible to score from. Few would pencil Klusener in at the top of the order either, especially after his dismal form in West Indies (2000-01) and Australia (2001-02). But as his run of poor form became prolonged he lost his place in the side, and a recall for the 2003 World Cup failed to kick-start his career. His subsequent omission for the 2003 tour of England put his international career in doubt, and led to a bout of legal wrangling. However, after both parties settled their differences, he was recalled for the one-day series against West Indies in 2003-04, kept his place for the following series in New Zealand, and earned a Test recall to the tour of Sri Lanka in 2004. However, it was a short-lived comeback and he left international cricket for good to join the African influx at Northants under Kepler Wessels.

Contrary to his reputation as an unrefined slogger, set in stone at the 1999 World Cup, Klusener is one of the most skillful players in the game - which makes him one of the most adaptable. While his heavy bat sends the ball arcing to all fields, he is introspective by nature and happiest holding a fishing rod. Not talking to the media is another hobby of his, although when he breaks his silence he does so with quiet intelligence and impressive clarity of thought.

Klusener was one of the high-profile signings in the unofficial Indian Cricket League in 2007, and enjoyed reasonable success with the Kolkata Tigers. He quit the ICL in 2009 to embark on a coaching carrer with Cricket South Africa.