domestic violence
Afghanistan: Government Campaign Against Self-Immolation
The Afghan government has launched a national media campaign to address the growing problem of self-immolation. Most people who set fire to themselves, on purpose or by accident, are women. Many try to commit suicide because they are victims of domestic violence and other forms of abuse.
Listen to the BBC interview with women's rights activist Horia Mosadiq on why women are setting themselves alight here:
Council of Europe Convention calls for hotlines, shelters, medical and forensic services
Hamiyet, a member of Turkey’s Kurdish minority, was a 15-year-old newlywed when her husband began beating her every evening after work. He hit her when she was pregnant with each of their nine children, and he raped her almost nightly. She sought help from the police, but they always sent her back home, more concerned with preserving “family unity” than with her safety.
Religiosity, Christian Fundamentalism, And Intimate Partner Violence Among U.S. College Students
Student survey data show general religiosity did not correlate with violence approval, psychological aggression, or intimate partner violence, but Christian fundament
Saudi Arabia: Call for Family Courts
16 August 2011 - Family courts should be set up in the Kingdom and couples undergo pre-marital counseling to help counter increasing instances of domestic violence and help save marriages. This has been proposed by Dr. Waleed Al-Sadoon, an adviser at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call (Dawah) and Guidance. “This will help curtail family violence cases that have spread in our society.”
Half Widow, Half Wife? Responding to Gendered Violence in Kashmir
.thumbnail.gif "Half Widow, Half Wife? Responding to Gendered Violence in Kashmir (July 2011)")
This report is the result of discussions with ‘half widows,’ widows, and married and unmarried women in Kashmir. It also draws upon conversations with Kashmiri men and women, including academics, students, homemakers, tailors, farmers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers. No consultations were made with any politicians in or outside Kashmir.
It is authored by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), a member organization of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS).
Link to full report:
Australia’s Honour killings – In the end, they’re just as dead
was released from prison last Friday, after only eight years following his conviction for and burying her in a shallow grave. The details of the case reveal a textbook case of a controlling, abusive spouse who killed his wife rather than let her leave.
One reason the Ramage case has been in the news so much is that it was the last time the defence of “provocation” was used in a court case in Victoria.
Bride's Death in China Spurs Anti-Violence Bill
SHENZHEN, China (WOMENSENEWS)–When other brides would have been enjoying their honeymoons, Dong Shanshan was calling the police.
In the next 10 months, her calls became more and more desperate as her husband, Wang Guangyu, repeatedly beat her till she passed out and kidnapped her when she escaped. Her eight calls to the police did nothing. They declined to intervene in the affairs of a married couple.
Indonesia: Using religion to strengthen gender equality
DENPASAR, Indonesia, May 12, 2009 (IPS) - ‘My husband rapes me repeatedly. I asked the ulama (religious leader) for help, but he sided with him, saying that according to Islam, a woman has to obey her husband. I have nowhere else to go. I have no tears left to shed. I no longer scream.’
It was while recording stories like this that staff at Indonesia’s National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), a branch of the country’s Human Rights Commission, decided in 2007 that they needed to focus on religious leaders if they wanted to protect women.
That insight led to intense brainstorming, studies and analysis, which with time has morphed into three books written by female scholars and religious leaders representing Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism.
Lebanon: Clerics attack domestic violence law
New legislation intended to combat domestic violence in Lebanon has run into opposition by the country's religious establishment.
Dar Al-Fatwa, the country's highest Sunni religious authority, claimed that the new law contradicted Islamic law (Shariah) and would deprive Muslim women of the ability to turn to religious courts for protection. It warned the legislators against "religious innovations" such as the concept of rape within the marital framework.
Intimate Partner Violence: High costs to Households and Communities
ICRW and its partners, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) in Uganda and Hassan II University in Morocco, with support from UNFPA, undertook a three-country study in Bangladesh, Morocco and Uganda to estimate the economic costs of intimate partner violence at the household and community levels, where its impact is most direct and immediate. The focus on intimate partner violence was motivated by the fact that this is the most common form of violence against women. A household and community level analysis helps to shed light on intimate partner violence's relationship to both household economic vulnerability and the extent to which scarce public resources for essential health, security and infrastructure services are diverted due to such violence.