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News and Views
USA: Laws "Not Enough" to Tackle Violence Against Native Women
WASHINGTON, Jul 25, 2011 (IPS) - Juana Majel Dixon, first vice president of the National Congress of American Indians, said earlier this year that, "Young women on reservations live their lives in anticipation of being raped…They talk about 'how I will survive my rape‚' as opposed to not thinking about it at all."
"We shouldn't have to live our lives that way," she added.
But this is the harsh reality that a majority of all American Indian and Native Alaskan women face.
Uganda: Former FGM Surgeons Given New Employment Opportunity
At least 254 former traditional surgeons of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Sebei have received grinding machines to start up alternative means of living.
The machines were donated by Inter-African committee Uganda (IACU), one of the NGOs based in Kapchorwa District with funds from Danida.
While handing over the machines to the former surgeons in Kapchorwa last week, Mr Geoffrey Sande the program coordinator Inter African Committee Uganda, said the machines were procured in form of support to former FGM surgeons who have left the practice so that they can continue with their daily living since they have been claiming the practice was their source of living.
Morocco: Civil Society Organizations Make Recommendations to Combat Violence Against Women at the Upcoming United Nations Committee Against Torture
Geneva, Switzerland – On Monday, October 31, 2011, in collaboration with an alliance of Moroccan civil society organizations from diverse regions across the country1, Global Rights, and The Advocates for Human Rights will issue a joint statement to the 47th Session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT).
“The Advocates is happy to be working with these organizations to improve human rights conditions for women in Morocco,” said Robin Phillips, The Advocates’ Executive Director. “Our joint report to the Committee Against Torture provides compelling recommendations that the Moroccan government can implement to protect women against violence.”
Iran: Release of Actress Highlights Plight of Film Makers
The release of an Iranian actress sentenced to 90 lashes and a year in prison after appearing in a banned film highlights the need to release other detained filmmakers in Iran, Amnesty International said today.
Marzieh Vafamehr, who was arrested after starring in the Australian film My Tehran for Sale was released Monday night. One scene in the film shows her without the head-covering Iranian women are required to wear, while she appears to drink alcohol in another.
The actress seems to have been released after an appeal court reduced her imprisonment to three months and overturned the flogging sentence.
Iraq: Unchanging Laws Enable Abuse with Impunity
BAGHDAD -- Salma Jassim was beaten, kicked out of her marital home with her newborn daughter on her shoulder and then deserted by her husband. But she says the threat she faces from her own family, who feel shamed because of her divorce, is just as bad as the abuse.
There are few places in Iraq where Jassim can turn for help. Iraqi experts believe that domestic abuse has increased during the years of war and economic hardship since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But attempts to strengthen laws to protect women have gone nowhere in the face of heavy cultural and religious resistance.
Pakistan: Push to Pass Provincial Domestic Violence Bill
If your husband raises his hand on you, , humiliation and verbal abuse, a time may come when you say “enough is enough”.
Whether it is an urban, educated women or a woman from an under-privileged rural background, social pressures and conditioning can keep her tongue-tied and stop her from complaining to anyone about the abuse. But one fine day, if the beats her and her children black and blue, and she decides that it is time to stand up for her right, what is she going to do? Does she know what to do? Whom to complain to? And as this is regarded as “a family matter”, will the law side by her?
Tunisia: Islamist Party Wins Big In Elections
TUNIS, Tunisia - A moderate Islamist party claimed victory Monday in Tunisia's landmark elections as preliminary results indicated it had won the biggest share of votes, assuring it will have a strong say in the future constitution of the country whose popular revolution led to the Arab Spring.
The Ennahda party's success could boost other Islamist parties in the North Africa and the Middle East, although Ennahda insists its approach to sharia, or Islamic law, is consistent with Tunisia's progressive traditions, especially in regards to women's rights.
Party officials estimated Ennahda had taken at least 30 percent of the 217-seat assembly charged with writing a new constitution for the country.
Mexico: Women Reject Normalisation of Gender Violence
NEW YORK, Oct 24, 2011 (IPS) - Ninety percent of the non-governmental organisations in Mexico are founded and run by women, says journalist and women's rights activist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, even as crimes against women remain cloaked in impunity.
Cacho was recently in New York, where she was awarded the Civil Courage award from the Train Foundation, and also spoke at a special event hosted by Columbia University.
When Felipe Calderón became president in 2006, he deployed the military in a federal offensive against drug cartels and criminal groups, resulting in a virtual war in which more than 40,000 people have died.
WLUML: Statement on Libya
Women Living Under Muslim Laws Statement on Libya
October 25 2011
WLUML is deeply concerned that the first public act of the Libya's National Transition Committee has been to proclaim on October 23rd, 2011, that henceforth, a number of laws will be considered annulled and that 'sharia law' is to replace them. Libya’s National Transition Committee is an interim government – what it has responsibility for – and what its first action should have concerned, is to put into place a mechanism for elections for the new government after the fall of the Gaddafi regime.
Yemen: Women Burn Veils To Stop Crackdown On Protest
SANAA, Yemen - Hundreds of Yemeni women on Wednesday set fire to traditional female veils to protest the government's brutal crackdown against the country's popular uprising, as overnight clashes in the capital and another city killed 25 people, officials said.
In the capital Sanaa, the women spread a black cloth across a main street and threw their full-body veils, known as makrama, onto a pile, sprayed it with oil and set it ablaze. As the flames rose, they chanted: "Who protects Yemeni women from the crimes of the thugs?"
USA: Women Ride in Back on Sex-Segregated Brooklyn Bus Line
On the morning of October 12, Melissa Franchy boarded the B110 bus in Brooklyn and sat down near the front. For a few minutes she was left in silence, although the other passengers gave her a noticeably wide berth. But as the bus began to fill up, the men told her that she had to get up. Move to the back, they insisted.
They were Orthodox Jews with full beards, sidecurls and long black coats, who told her that she was riding a “private bus” and a “Jewish bus.” When she asked why she had to move, a man scolded her.
Yemen: 'Tawakkul Karman as Cause and Effect'
Political activist Tawakkul Karman has brought Yemen’s revolution to New York, speaking directly on October 20 with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and organizing rallies at the United Nations headquarters in lower Manhattan, the largest of which is slated for the afternoon of October 21. The purpose of her visit is to keep pressure on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution that reflects the aspirations of the overwhelming numbers of Yemenis who have sustained peaceful calls for change for the nine long months since protests began in late January. Arriving newly anointed by the Nobel Committee, which named her as one of three recipients of the 2011 Peace Prize, Karman fears -- as does much of the Yemeni opposition, in its many forms -- that the UN will merely reiterate the approximate parameters of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative put forth in April.
Tunisia: 'In the Name of Democracy - What Secularists and Women Have to Lose in the Tunisian Elections'
On the eve of the elections in Tunisia that will shape the future of the country and even that of the Arab world as well, Western do-gooders and Islamic fundamentalists hand in hand rejoice in ‘Tunisia’s first free elections’ and its access to ‘ democracy’. The recent history of Iran and Algeria have taught us better… And women in Tunisia watch in horror the rise of Muslim fundamentalists, as a possible replication of the Algerian scenario of 1989 .
Bahrain: Rula al-Saffar Tells How She Was Tortured and Jailed for Treating Injured Protesters
Rula al-Saffar describes her arrest and mistreatment in jail:
When a Bahraini hospital started to take in casualties from the violent crackdown on protesters earlier this year, Rula al-Saffar was one of the first to volunteer. As a medical professor and president of the Bahraini Nursing Society, she was not on the staff of the overwhelmed Salmaniya hospital, but doctors needed all the help they could get.
Saffar could not have known at the time that in stepping in to help save lives she was endangering her own.
Tunisia's Election Through the Eyes of Women
Al Jazeera speaks to Tunisian women from across the political spectrum about their hopes and fears for Sunday's poll.
The role of women in the new Tunisia has been a controversial issue throughout the transitional period, with some fearful that they would lose precious rights from the previous era, and others arguing for a return to traditional values.
Early on in the democratic transition, an ambitious was introduced to ensure women would have a voice in the constituent assembly.
For some, however, this law did not go far enough. There are no gender quotas for seats in the assembly, for example.
Iran: 280 Activists Condemn Flogging Sentence for Marzieh Vafamehr
A issued on behalf of 280 Iranian cultural and social activists is expressing their support for Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr, who has been sentenced to flogging for her role in “My Tehran for Sale.”
Vafamehr has been sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes for playing the lead role in the film by Geranaz Mousavi.
The project was conceived as a 40-minute film, for which the filmmaker had acquired permission from Iran’s Ministry of Guidance. It was completed as a feature-length film and was distributed in Tehran after completion.
UN: General Assembly Holds Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
On October 10, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, presented her to the Third Committee at the 66th session of the . Ms. Manjoo opened by giving a summary of her report on the continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress. The meeting was then opened for comments and questions from delegations. Overall, the dynamic of the discussions during the interactive dialogue was friendly, with most delegations welcoming the Special Rapporteur’s work and report.
Germany: Support & Counselling for Muslim Women in Germany
Cologne (WeNews\WFS) – Most of Louise Becker's 12-hour workdays are hidden behind a bright orange door in suburban Cologne, Germany. There she counsels Muslim women through family and marriage problems. The meetings are secret to prevent harassment from the women's husbands, fathers and brothers.
Becker, 70, a German who converted to Islam 45 years ago, has helped women with crises of sexuality, faith and abusive relationships.
Iran: A Long Run to Comply with Human Rights Obligations
Geneva, 18th October 2011. The Human Rights Committee sent a clear message to the Iranian delegation during the review of the third periodic report on 17 and 18 October 2011. The lack of transparency in the written information sent by the State, as well as the deviating responses during the review, prevented this mechanism to yield its potential as a space for constructive dialogue.
The Committee had a fruitful exchange with the civil society on issues of concern in Iran hours before the Review.
Senegal: Progress in Movement to End Genital Cutting
SARE HAROUNA, Senegal — When Aissatou Kande was a little girl, her family followed a tradition considered essential to her suitability to marry. Her clitoris was sliced off with nothing to dull the pain.
But on her wedding day, Ms. Kande, her head modestly covered in a plain white shawl, vowed to protect her own daughters from the same ancient custom. Days later, her village declared it would abandon female for good.
Across the continent, an it.