About Le Anne Clausen Expertise I can answer questions about human rights work as a vocation, human rights as they pertain to the Middle East and/or Muslim world, particularly Palestine/Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan. While in Iraq, I helped to investigate prisoner abuses, including those at Abu Ghraib. I can also answer questions on women's rights in the Middle East. I cannot give you legal advice.
Experience I was a human rights worker for four years in the Middle East, including Palestine, Israel, and Iraq. I also participated in a human rights delegation to Afghanistan in summer 2005. I have an MA in Christian-Muslim relations, with special study on women's issues; I also worked one year for an Arab women's grassroots human rights organization. I am currently working to build an interfaith peace-teams based human rights organization
Publications "Be the Healers" (considering next steps for addressing the Abu Ghraib scandal), July 2004 edition, "The Lutheran" magazine.
Also: www.christian-muslim.net; www.young-activist.blogspot.com; additional interviews and articles about me are available via Google search.
Question could u tell me all the reasons why parents in china would abort a female foetus in favour of a male one?
Answer Hi Michael, thanks for your question. In parts of China, due to heavy population density, there is a law limiting parents to only one child. A male is preferred because he can earn money, make a name for himself/ carry on the family name/inherit, etc. (traditionally speaking). I recall that the parents of the bride also end up with a greater financial burden at the child's wedding. Some couples have responded by aborting female fetuses so that they can try for a male child. However, this has led to other problems in recent years, such as not having enough potential wives. That in turn has led to some trafficking of women/kidnapping to meet the demand. Some clinics have refused to tell the expectant parents the gender of their child to prevent the abortion phenomenon. Briefly, here are some websites where you could get more information, from a Google search:
ps--copy and paste the codes into your browser as needed. Amnesty is a very credible human rights organization, and two perspectives can be had with the Washington Post and London Telegraph.
