Resources
This page includes resources we believe are relevant to the theme of culturally-justified violence. We have included both VNC-led publications as well as those by allies. If you have a resource you think should be on this page, please contact
Prostitutes of God
In Prostitutes of God, VBS travels deep into the remote villages and towns of Southern India to uncover an ancient system of religious sex slavery dating back to the 6th century. Although the practice was made illegal more than 20 years ago, we discover there are still more than 23,000 women in the state of Karnataka selling their bodies in the name of the mysterious Hindu Goddess Yellamma. They are known as Devadasis, or ‘servants of God’. From city red light districts to rural mud huts, we meet proud brothel madams, HIV positive teenage prostitutes, and gay men in saris. Our intimate exploration into the life of the Devadasi reveals a pseudo-religious system that exploits poverty-stricken families to fuel modern India’s booming sex trade.
Challenges of Change Symposium Considers Religion, Secularism and Rights
A glance at any day's headlines makes it clear that cultures and religions worldwide are and have always been in constant flux. A day-long WLP symposium September 21 in Washington DC sparked debate, laughter, and cheers as participants vowed new commitment to steering that change toward broader human rights for women.
As If We Weren't Human: Discrimination and Violence against Women with Disabilities in Northern Uganda
(Kampala) - Women with disabilities in northern Uganda experience ongoing discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Many are unable to gain access to basic services, including health care and justice, and they have been largely ignored in post-conflict reconstruction efforts.
The 73-page report, "," describes frequent abuse and discrimination by strangers, neighbors, and even family members against women and girls with disabilities in the north. Women interviewed for the report said they were not able to get basic provisions such as food, clothing, and shelter in camps for displaced persons or in their own communities. One woman with a physical disability who lived in such a camp told Human Rights Watch that people said to her, "You are useless. You are a waste of food. You should just die so that others can eat the food." The research was conducted in six districts of northern Uganda - a region recently emerging from over two decades of brutal conflict between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and the government.
Looser Rein, Uncertain Gain: A Human Rights Assessment of Five Years of King Abdullah’s Reforms in Saudi Arabia
This 52-page report assesses five years of Saudi reforms under King Abdullah from a human rights perspective. It finds that reform has manifested itself chiefly in greater tolerance for diverse opinions and an expanded public role for women, but that royal initiatives have been largely symbolic, with only modest concrete gains or institutional protection for rights.
Human Rights Crisis in Iran Press Conference
On Friday, September 17, 2010, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, in partnership with Human Rights Watch and the Nobel Women's Initiative, held a panel discussion in New York on the human rights crisis in Iran. Panelists included Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Mairead Maguire, Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch Faraz Sanei, and Campaign Director Hadi Ghaemi.
Negotiating Gender Justice, Contesting Discrimination: Mapping Strategies that Intersect Culture, Women and Human Rights
This report documents diverse strategies adopted by community groups in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Nepal to negotiate women’s rights in the context of culture, while grounding the strategies in the specific political - historic local and national contexts. It looks at secular strategies along with the more recent responses to fundamentalism, that use cultural identity and religious/ cultural resources. The report provides a rich account initiatives that promote culture as relational, transforming, plural and accommodating of women’s rights, and in doing so, challenges dominant static and fundamentalist assertions of culture. This documentation assumes significance in relation to human rights with the creation of the new mandate of the Independent Expert in the field of Cultural Rights in 2009, in that it gives content to the term cultural diversity and participation and contribution to cultural life, both integral part of Cultural Rights.
Rights in Intimate Relationships: Towards an Inclusive and Just Framework of Women's Rights and the Family
The resource book ‘Rights in Intimate Relationships’ seeks to understand rights in intimate relationships within a framework that recognizes rights for all women regardless of their sexuality, marital status, or legality of relationship. In proposing a framework based on ‘intimate relationships’ it moves beyond the boundaries of the exclusivist, marriage centric framework of conjugality in the law. The resource book examines customary and contemporary non normative initimacies in rural and urban India from a feminist perspective, relies upon constitutional, comparative and human rights law, to explore a transformatory rights agenda in respect of the family.
Orders can be placed with PLD
Feminists on the Frontline: Case Studies of Resisting and Challenging Fundamentalisms
This collection of case studies is a testament to the women and men around the world who have stood up to reject the imposition of norms and values in the name of religion as well as to expose and challenge the privileged position given to religion in public policies. In 2008 AWID launched a call for proposals to document the strategies of women's rights activists confronting religious fundamentalisms. The final 18 case studies presented here are drawn from a wide range of religious and geographical contexts, and cover various fields of activism. We hope that this collection will inspire, inform and encourage discussion and debate. Please visit this page again for updates, as finalized case studies and a brief summary of each case study will be posted on a rolling basis. We will also soon be posting a paper that introduces the trends and themes that are threaded through the various case studies.
Unveiled Views: Muslim Women Artists Speak Out
In this revealing documentary five extraordinary women talk about their occupations, aspirations, and the rights and status of women in their Muslim countries.
Death by Stoning - Interview with Anne Harrison from Amnesty International & Ziba Mir Hosseini from SOAS
Judicial Stoning: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was found guilty of adultery by an Iranian court and was due to be stoned to death. Following a concerted campaign by her family and lawyers, it now seems that that sentence has been lifted, and campaigners are waiting to hear what will happen next.
Advancing Gender Justice: A Call to Action
At a press conference held on 31 May 2010 during the , the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice released an advocacy paper titled . Joining Women's Initiatives' Executive Director Brigid Inder to speak at the launch of the paper were three women's rights activists from ICC conflict situations who comprised part of the Women's Initiatives delegation: Gladys Oyat, Greater North Women's Voices for Peace Network, from Kitgum, Northern Uganda; Jeanine Bandu, Director of the Collective of Indigenous and Vulnerable Households, from Goma, Eastern DRC; and Albertine Tonnet, Coordinator of the Women's Section of the United Trade Union, from Bangui, Central African Republic. Susanah Sirkin, Deputy Director of the US-based NGO Physicians for Human Rights, also offered her reflections on the Call to Action.
At the press conference, women from the conflict situations spoke of the urgent need for justice through both international and national accountability mechanisms. Gladys Oyat from Northern Uganda asked, 'Shall the (Ugandan) victims get justice within the given time frame? We have evidence in Uganda that sometimes issues of importance may not be taken with the seriousness they deserve. They start with high flames but soon die out like a candle in the wind. Who can give assurance to the hurting people that justice will be done as fast as possible? Remember, Justice Delayed is Justice Denied.' Read Gladys' full .
Girls Speak: A New Voice In Global Development
Girls have a fundamental right to be heard, valued and respected. Moreover, by listening to girls’ voices, policymakers and program managers can help bridge the gaps between girls’ aspirations and their actual experiences. In this report, the authors outline six themes that arise from girls’ aspirations, including the desire to be healthy and educated with viable livelihoods and career opportunities, financial security and independence; and to marry and have children at the appropriate time. Underlying all the themes is one universal: a shared inability to make decisions about their own lives even though they know what they need.
Creating cultures of non-violence in Latin America
The notion of masculine domination and the concept of women as men’s property is widespread and deeply rooted in our societies, and violence against women is commonly accepted. The idea that women can be punished when they fail to meet expectations regarding their gender identity persists in many sectors, and men feel justified in exercising control through the use of force and explicit violence. As a result and because women are seen as dependent upon some male superior – be he partner, spouse or boss – it seems only “natural” that they be punished for not fulfilling their expected female roles such as ironing a shirt poorly or refusing to have sex.
The “Ten-Dollar Talib” and Women’s Rights: Afghan Women and the Risks of Reintegration and Reconciliation
Summary: For Afghan women these are anxious times, caught between war and the prospect of a foreboding peace. Women and girls are paying a heavy price in the conflict areas of Afghanistan: killed and wounded by insurgents and airstrikes; local codes of honor violated by intrusive “night raids” by international soldiers; their movement sharply hindered by insecurity; and for many the loss of their families’ breadwinners. Insurgents regularly deny Afghan girls the right to education via attacks on schools and threats against teachers or students. They deny women the right to pursue their own livelihoods, attacking or threatening women working outside of the home.
List of Stoning Cases in Iran
Below is a list of those known to have been sentenced to stoning and or executed by stoning in Iran.
FAQs about the sentencing of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani
Read our Call for Action Relating to Sakinah Mohammadi-Ashtiani
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the case of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani and the practice of stoning in Iran.
(Attached is the PDF version for download)
Roles and Challenges for Muslim Women in the Restive Southern Border Provinces of Thailand
The report “Rules and Challenges for Malay Muslim Women in the Restive Southern Border Provinces of Thailand” was first presented at the Conference on Religious Activism & Women’s Development in Southeast Asia: Highlighting Impediments, Exploring Opportunities, organized by Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA), Singapore National University, on 20 November 2009. This report focuses on the roles of Malay Muslim women in the Southern Border Provinces of Thailand who have to face life amidst problems, obstacles and difficulties in bringing up their families in a time when violence forces them to stand forward as leaders.
Angkhana Neelapaijit has written this report with the objective to draw a picture of the problems of women in various dimensions, including women affected by violence from governmental officials or by unidentified armed groups, women in families that have experienced enforced disappearance, and
women who are in groups who use violence.
The Quest for an "Islamic State" as a Response to the Secular State
This article examines a particular variety of Islamic responses to the advent of the secular state in Asia. The secular state arose historically in Europe through the separation of church and state from the seventeenth century onwards. The notion of political secularism was brought to Asia (and elsewhere) through the experience of European colonialism. The post-colonial secular states of Asia are thus derived from experiences of European colonialism, even when such experiences did not result in total colonisation (for example, in China, Korea, Japan and Thailand). Although the secular politics of the new nation-states in the Asian region has been anti-colonial and nationalist in content, the secularism of politics nevertheless comes not from indigenous sources, but from historical origins in Europe, regardless of whether such secularism is democratic, fascist or communist.
A Wall of Silence: The Limits of Public Discourse in Israel. The Case of Gaza (Feminist Perspective)
Ella from Bat-Yam: “I would like to see women express themselves in the peace talks. Since they (the men) sit and discuss economics and security, my idea is for a ‘women’s room’ in peace talks. This space would give voice to women who would sit and talk about peace, and their voices and opinions would have entree to the main discussion as well.”2
Read the full report in , , or .
“They Took Me and Told Me Nothing”: Female Genital Mutilation in Iraqi Kurdistan
I remember my mother and her sister-in-law took us two girls, and there were four other girls. We went to Sarkapkan for the procedure.