News and Views
Child Marriage: Barrier to girls' empowerment
An adolescent girl living in poverty could be the most powerful person in the world. If she is reached early enough, she can accelerate economies, arrest major global health issues and break cycles of poverty.
When a girl gets a chance to stay in school, remain healthy, gain skills, she will marry later, have fewer and healthier children, and earn an income that she’ll invest back into her family and community. When she can grow into a woman and become an educated mother, an economic actor, an ambitious entrepreneur, or a prepared employee, she breaks the cycle of poverty. She and everyone around her benefits.
Indonesia: Government must repeal caning bylaws in Aceh
The Indonesian government must end the use of caning as a form of punishment and repeal the laws that allow it in Aceh province, Amnesty International said today after at least 21 people were publicly caned since 12 May.
In Langsa city, 14 men were caned outside the Darul Falah mosque on 19 May, following the caning of seven men a week earlier.
All 21 were found to have violated an Aceh bylaw (qanun) prohibiting gambling and were given six lashes each as hundreds of people looked on.
Yemen: Child brides, Too young to wed
Because the wedding was illegal and a secret, except to the invited guests, and because marriage rites in Rajasthan are often conducted late at night, it was well into the afternoon before the three girl brides in this dry farm settlement in the north of India began to prepare themselves for their sacred vows. They squatted side by side on the dirt, a crowd of village women holding sari cloth around them as a makeshift curtain, and poured soapy water from a metal pan over their heads.
Australia: A push for sharia
THE nation's peak Muslim group is using the Gillard government's re-embracing of multiculturalism to push for the introduction of sharia in Australia, but it says it would be a more moderate variety of Islamic law that fits with Australian values.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into the government's new multiculturalism policy, argues that Muslims should enjoy "legal pluralism".
UN Women: Bachelet says ending pandemic violence against women is priority
UN Women's Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, who was formerly Chile's president, has told Today's Zaman for Monday Talk that ending pandemic violence against women is one the top priorities of the United Nations, which created UN Women in September of last year.
Housemaids: The gap between our conduct and Islamic principles
Islam has advocated sublime human conduct. It came to polish the behavior of people, whether individuals or groups, and to ensure their human rights in the best possible manner and form of human conduct. It did not stop there. It also called for a better treatment of animals.
International: Bin Laden's wife and the stereotyping of Muslim women
We should focus on events in Bin Laden's home, but not sensationalise the details of Amal Ahmed al-Sadah's life. Women played an interesting role in the account of the final hours of Osama Bin Laden's life. Three wives, as well as nine of his children, where he was killed, along with the families of two Pakistani brothers. Initially, it was that Bin Laden had used one of his wives as a human shield.
Iran: Visualising Power, Documenting Resistance - an interview with Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh
Persistently harrassed by the government, Iranian film maker Mahboubeh Abbasgolizadeh has found her mode of resistance in her craft. Her films have not only dealt with women who are oppressed by a fundamentalist regime. Behind the otherwise simple plots are real relations of power, that tells us much about Iran.
Pakistan: Modern communication tools and young women
A close friend, 19 year old Nazira, wore her best dress one evening. She came to show me her outfit before she went out to see someone ‘special’. Three hours later, she returned devastated; she could hardly speak. She wore a ‘burqa’ on top of what was left of her dress. Her rosy cheeks looked pale and eyes were sore. She was gang raped by the person she went to see and his friends. A male member from her family had seen her in that condition.
Saudi Arabia: Women try to 'buy' their freedom to work
ABHA: Saudi workingwomen have embarked on new ways to win the consent of their male legal guardians or husbands to take a job. This is so in jobs where there are still strong taboos about women working in them.
Many Saudi workingwomen set aside a portion of their monthly income, which enables them to win the consent of their male guardians as well as to enjoy full freedom to do job, according to a report in Al-Riyadh Arabic daily.
Europe: New Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women
Istanbul, 11.05.2011 - The Council of Europe’s new (CETS n° 210) has been passed and also open to accession by non-European countries and by the European Union.
This new landmark Council of Europe treaty is the first legally binding instrument in the world creating a comprehensive legal framework to protect women against all forms of violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence.
Egypt: Revolution Women March Against Religious Strife
Arabic - Below
(Cairo, May 10, 2011) A large number of Egyptian women participated in a march entitled "No to sectarian strife" which appeared with its ugly face in the district of Imbaba. They participated in this march to stress the values of citizenship and tolerance and to prevent the strife that has been witnessed in the district and in many different places in Egypt after the revolution.
India: Top court urges death penalty for honor killings, calling them ‘slur on our nation’
NEW DELHI — India’s top court recommended the death penalty for perpetrators of “honor killings,” calling the practice barbaric and feudal in a ruling cheered Tuesday by activists who hope it will inspire opposition to a crime seen as anathema to a democratic nation.
Most victims were young adults who fell in love or married against their families’ wishes. In some cases, village councils ordered couples killed who married inside their clan or outside their caste. While there are no official figures, an independent study found around 900 people were killed each year in India for defying their elders.
Pakistan: National Assembly unanimously approves Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill 2010
QUETTA: The National Assembly on Tuesday unanimously approved the Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill 2010.
The bill was introduced last year by MNAs Marvi Memon, Begum Shahnaz Sheikh and Advocate Anusha Rehman in a bid to prevent growing incidents of violence against women.
Offenders will now be punished with life or up to 40 years imprisonment and will have to pay rupees one million to the victim.
Uganda: Gay activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera granted Martin Ennals award
Ugandan gay activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera has been given the prestigious Martin Ennals rights award.
The 10 organisations which make up the award jury said she was courageous and faced harassment because of her work. Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda, and can be punished by long jail terms.
Zambia: Young Women, Harmful Cultural Practices
Some cultural practices are progressive. Others are harmful to women and girls and they perpetuate abuse. These practices relegate women to inferior positions with respect to property, inheritance, marriage and decision making. In most cases, culture is used as an excuse to continue various forms of abuse that promote sexual, physical and psychological harm.
Armenia: Court Limits Mother's Rights over Religion - Appeal Granted
YEREVAN, Armenia—After a court decision jeopardized a mother’s parental rights with her young son, Margarit Hovhannisyan one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, appealed the ruling with Armenia’s Cassation Court. Her efforts paid off on April 1, 2011, when the Cassation Court, unanimously granted her request.
On November 10, 2010, the Court of Appeal upheld a trial court ruling which restricted Ms. Hovhannisyan’s parental rights and limited her access to her young son solely because she was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Cassation Court declared that the rulings of the lower courts were unlawful and ordered a new trial.
United Kingdom: Muslim women fighting extremism
Tehmina Kazi wears modest western dress and believes in plurality and diversity within her faith, . For her pains, she has been labelled a whore, admonished for not wearing the hijab and accused, inaccurately, of wearing short skirts by people she has never met, writing online.
When she defended after he said evolution was compatible with Islam, she had to go to police after receiving threats of her own.
Bangladesh: Women Defy Islamic Clergy
DHAKA, Apr 28, 2011 (IPS) - Bangladeshi women are pushing government to implement the recently approved National Women Development Policy (NWDP) 2011, which has met with strong resistance from Islamic clergy.
Leaders and activists of the Jatiya Mahila Sangstha (National Women’s Organisation) recently held rallies and formed human chains across major cities demanding the policy’s immediate enforcement.
Middle East/North Africa: Journalists & Cyber Activists In the Line of Fire
Article XIX Statement: From Morocco to Bahrain, everyday people have taken on the cast iron hold of dictatorships and absolute monarchies resulting in an extraordinary collective awakening that has paved the way for epochal change in the region. The youth movement, which lies at the core of the uprisings, continues to play a prominent role in the pro-democracy and pro-reform demonstrations, which have swept through the region, unabated by government clampdowns or concessions.