A Los Angeles, in California, 12.000 rape kits rimangono giacenti in attesa di essere testati. Questo significa che 12.000 donne e ragazze vittime di violenza sessuale attendono di avere delle possibilità concrete che i loro assalitori vengano trovati e, di conseguenza, processati e condannati.

La ricercatricce Sarah Tofte ha svolto un'indagine per conto di Human Rights Watch che ha anche pubblicato una relazione.

Women who are raped have a right to expect police to do all they can to thoroughly investigate their case, but in LA they often feel betrayed to learn that their rape kits are never even tested. And in some cases, failure to test means that a rapist who could have been arrested will remain free.

Sarah Tofte, researcher for the US program at Human Rights Watch

 

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/03/31/us-los-angeles-county-should-test-thousands-rape-kits

 

12,000 Untested Kits Undermine Investigations and Justice for Victims

Women who are raped have a right to expect police to do all they can to thoroughly investigate their case, but in LA they often feel betrayed to learn that their rape kits are never even tested. And in some cases, failure to test means that a rapist who could have been arrested will remain free.

Sarah Tofte, researcher for the US program at Human Rights Watch

(Los Angeles) - Los Angeles County officials should move urgently to test a backlog of more than 12,000 rape kits - the physical evidence collected after a sexual assault - to ensure justice for rape victims, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 68-page report, "Testing Justice: The Rape Kit Backlog in Los Angeles City and County," reveals that the backlog of untested rape kits in Los Angeles County is larger and more widespread than previously reported. Through dozens of interviews with police officers, public officials, criminalists, rape treatment providers, and rape victims, the report documents the devastating effects of the backlog on victims of sexual abuse.

"Women who are raped have a right to expect police to do all they can to thoroughly investigate their case, but in LA they often feel betrayed to learn that their rape kits are never even tested," said Sarah Tofte, researcher with Human Rights Watch's US program and author of the report. "And in some cases, failure to test means that a rapist who could have been arrested will remain free."

Women who report being raped are asked to undergo a lengthy, extensive examination to collect DNA and other physical evidence that might identify their attacker, corroborate testimony about the assault, or connect their case to other rape crime scene evidence. The resulting rape kit is then booked into police evidence. However, although rape victims may believe it is automatically tested, that is often not the case in Los Angeles County. Rape treatment providers told Human Rights Watch that victims assumed silence from the officers investigating their case simply meant no evidence was found, or that there was no DNA match.

But Human Rights Watch analyzed data from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, and Los Angeles County's 47 independent police departments, and found that as of March 1, 2009, there were at least 12,669 untested rape kits sitting in storage facilities. In those cases, officers never sent the kits on for forensic testing.

Of these 12,669 untested kits, at least 1,218 are from unsolved cases in which the attacker was a stranger to the victim. And 499 kits are attached to cases past the 10-year statute of limitations for rape in California, making it impossible to prosecute the alleged assailants even if they were to be identified. Under California law, if those 499 kits had been opened within two years of the attack, the statute would no longer apply. Thousands more rape kits were destroyed untested.

The backlog grew even as the Police and Sheriff's Departments received millions of federal dollars from the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant, a program the US Congress created to address rape kit backlogs, the effect of which is blunted by the fact that grantees can use the money to test any kind of DNA backlog.

Human Rights Watch's report also contains previously unpublished data on the extent of the rape kit backlog in the 47 cities in Los Angeles County that have independent police departments. For example, records obtained by Human Rights Watch show that the City of Long Beach booked 1,911 rape kits into evidence in the past 15 years. Of those, 51 were sent to the crime lab, an estimated 780 untested kits were destroyed, and 1,072 currently sit untested in their police storage facility. (A chart of data from the 47 cities is available in chapter VI of the report.)

Backlogs of rape kits exist at police stations and crime labs throughout the United States, but nowhere is the problem known to be more acute than Los Angeles. The accumulation of rape kits in Los Angeles County is due to a combination of police discretion regarding which rape kits get tested; a lack of financial commitment to testing; and the length of time it took officials to acknowledge the nature and extent of the problem, Human Rights Watch said.

"Failing to test rape kits denies justice to women who've suffered sexual violence," said Tofte. "If officials had spent federal money to test more kits, they might have prevented future rapes and allowed for prosecution in cases that are now beyond the statute of limitations."

The backlog can have tragic results. In one case documented in the report, in the time it took police to test one woman's rape kit, the alleged perpetrator had attacked at least two other victims, including a child.

 

Per leggere tutto l'articolo cliccate sul link riportato sopra.

Per chi avesse interesse a leggere la relazione nella sua interezza ecco il file pdf:

http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/rapekit0309web.pdf

 

 

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Nel disinteresse generale continua, in Congo, la mattanza di orrore che va ben oltre la violenza sessuale.

Sono personalmente "infastidito" che tutto ciò non abbia lo spazio che meriterebbe nei media. "Merito" di quegli uomini e anche di quelle donne che sono nelle varie stanze dei bottoni e che decidono quale notizia vale la pena sia pubblicata. Non commento oltre e mi limito a fornirvi materiale informativo in merito.

http://newsite.vday.org/drcongo

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/end-the-humanitarian-crisis-of-violence-against-women-in-dr-congo

http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/about

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog/view/violence_against_women_in_the_congo

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090325/stage_nm/us_play_congo

 

 

 

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L'organizzazione Men can stop rape ha cominciato una collaborazione con Department of Defence per combattere la violenza sessuale nei ranghi militari.

La Campagna è intitolata Our Strengh is for defending: preventing sexual assault is part of our duty. Un'iniziativa lodevole della quale sarebbe auspicabile si parlasse di più, se non altro perchè potrebbe essere presa a modello presso gli eserciti di altre nazioni.

In support of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and as part of their recent efforts to create a “culture of prevention” to reduce sexual violence, this week the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) is launching a social marketing campaign it developed with internationally recognized expert, Men Can Stop Rape, Inc. (MCSR). 

Patrick McGann, MCSR’s Project Director for the development of the DoD campaign adds, “While the realization of a culture of sexual assault prevention is still off in the distance for the military and for us all, we take hope in what the Department of Defense and all of us are doing starting in April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month and throughout the year to prevent sexual assault.”

http://www.mencanstoprape.org/info-url2699/info-url_show.htm?doc_id=872912

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53377

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Le aderenti alla sezione di Louisville del National Council of Jewish Women hanno monitorato per due anni il locale sistema giudiziario presentando proposte che utili per una migliore e più rispettosa gestione dei casi giudiziari in cui sono coinvolte le donne vittime di violenza. Il Court Watch Program ha ottenuto i risultati sperati ed ora queste infaticabili donne ebree sono disponibili per far conoscere nei dettagli l'esito della loro opera.

the Jefferson County Judge Executive and The Office for Women approached the NCJW Louisville Section about going into the Jefferson County District Court to monitor how the courts handled domestic violence cases.

Following our research in the courts, our section recommended that a program be initiated to provide support and advocacy to women and families in their time of need that would ensure that all parties are treated justly and respectfully. Our recommendation led to the creation of the separate Enhanced Family Supervision Docket in the Louisville/Jefferson County courts. This docket takes a therapeutic approach to solving the cycle of domestic violence by intensely supervising select domestic violence cases and supporting the individuals involved in the cases.

Both the NCJW Louisville Section and Judge Bisig are proud to be able to share our programs and efforts with the world community. It warms our hearts, knowing that we are not only making a difference in our local community, but also internationally.

Potete leggere l'articolo nella sua interezza qui:

http://www.ncjw.org/content_3442.cfm?navID=216

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Ci sono diverse iniziative tese a migliorarre le condizioni di vita delle donne sudanesi, in particolare quelle del Darfour. Tra la guerra civile, la violenza, la povertà e l'estremismo islamico la situazione per queste donne è decisamente drammatica. Eppure c'è speranza per il cambiamento.

Si può sostenere una delle iniziative che segnalo o, per chi lavora nei media, srivere articoli ed editoriali sull'argomento.

An example of how our small-scale projects can translate into large-scale impact is evident through the experience of Rajaa. Rajaa was a determined young woman whose goal was to start a business--an International calling center. When she met Sudan-Reach in 2005 she was given a grant to start taking classes and soon thereafter she started a small business selling cosmetics. By the following year, she had almost saved enough money to start her calling center.  With an additional grant from Sudan-Reach in 2007 she purchased the equipment needed to start her business and today she is the proud owner of Manshia Telephone Communications Center--which enables clients to place long distance and local telephone calls. 

Rajaa's success would not have been possible without the generous support of Sudan-Reach's donors who fund the Empower-a-Woman campaign which makes employment and business opportunities available to women. Donor's to this campaign give $5, $10, or $20 a month to help us continue our work. Rajaa's story is proof that these contributions really do make a difference.

http://www.sudanreach.org/campaign.htm

 By UN statistics, about 1.8 million southerners were forced by the prolonged strife to desert their villages and townships and flock to refuges in the north as displaced citizens. The majority of these are innocent women and children.

 

 

In Sudan, a girl is more likely to die in childbirth than complete primary school. And yet, education in Sudan is desperately needed to break the cycle of poverty.

• 86% have no formal education
• 96.5% cannot read or write than their name
• 99% have no electricity
• 98.5% have no access to running water
• 93% have lost at least one family member
• 68% of married women live in a polygamous marriage

Literacy is the key to their future Once a woman learns to read, write and do simple addition in our program, she can take the next step to run her own business, join a woman’s cooperative and pass her literacy skills on to her children.

A woman's value in Sudan is based on the number of cows paid for her dowry. To divorce, a woman must pay back those cows - a nearly impossible task.

http://www.womenforwomen.org/global-initiatives-helping-women/help-women-sudan.php

Facilitating recreational and social activities in two IDP camps to improve the psychological and social well-being of children, youth and women, and build community leadership.

Decreasing women's dependency on aid through livelihood initiatives directly tied to health programs and ensuring strong collaboration between host community and IDP families.

http://ajws.org/emergencies/darfur/sudan_relief_and_advocacy_fund.html

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The Los Angeles City Council's approval on May 18 of funds for testing the physical evidence in rape cases is a major step toward reducing a huge backlog of "rape kits," Human Rights Watch said.

The new funding, while very positive, only addresses one element of the problem. The City Council's allocations only affect the testing of rape kits under the Los Angeles Police Department's jurisdiction, but will not help reduce the backlog of about 7,000 more rape kits stored by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and independent police departments in the 47 other cities in Los Angeles County.

The new funding enables the Los Angeles Police Department to allocate more resources and expedite testing. New York City was able to eliminate its backlog of over 17,000 rape kits through similar means within three years.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/05/19/us-la-vote-rape-evidence-backlog-major-step

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-tofte/making-rape-victims-pay_b_203212.html

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 Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), in partnership with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), has published a report documenting the scope and long-term impact of rape and other sexual violence experienced by women who fled attacks on their villages in Darfur and are now refugees in neighboring Chad. This scientific study, corroborates women’s accounts of rape and other crimes against humanity that they have experienced in Darfur, as well as rape and deprivations of basic needs in refugee camps in Chad.

http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/sudan/news/nowhere-to-turn.pdf

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 Whether it's perceived sorcery-related killings of women in Papua New Guinea (PNG), the frequency of murders of women in Tonga, outdated laws in Solomon Islands or cultural attitudes in Kiribati, women in the Pacific continue to face challenges in working toward violence-free communities.

    The Fifth Pacific Regional Meeting on Violence Against Women also outlined some of the challenges they faced in their work.

Participants from the Solomon Islands raised concern about the narrowness of criminal laws to cater for specific forms of violence against women and girls, apart from assault.

    The Kiribati participant, Maere Tekanene, described the challenge of convincing male leaders of the reliability of alarming statistics on violence against women gleaned from a national survey.

    Apart from male attitudes, some women also accepted violence perpetrated against them, blaming themselves for being beaten.

    However, with all the depressing challenges, there have been some achievements in moving towards a violence-free Pacific in the four years since the last Pacific Regional Meeting on Violence Against Women.

    Vanuatu has made major headway with a Family Protection Act, the redefinition of rape to include rape with objects, and the amendment of the Penal Code to include child pornography.

 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/09/content_11513812.htm

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One in four men in South Africa have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim, according to a study that exposes the country's endemic culture of sexual violence.

Three out of four rapists first attacked while still in their teens, the study found. One in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.

South Africa is notorious for having one of the highest levels of rape in the world. Only a fraction are reported, and only a fraction of those lead to a conviction.

Anti-rape campaigners said the shocking figures demonstrated the need for reform. Dean Peacock, co-director of the Sonke Gender Justice project, said: "We need to make sure the criminal justice system is held to account. We have lots of discussion in this country, but not enough action is taken to ensure that perpetrators will face consequences."

A report published by the trade union Solidarity earlier this month said that one child is raped in South Africa every three minutes, with 88% of rapes going unreported. It found that levels of child abuse in South Africa are increasing rapidly.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/17/south-africa-rape-survey

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Continuo a chiedermi come mai non si trova mai spazio per queste notizie.

With small budgets and poor facilities, Congolese prisons are generally overcrowded. Malnutrition and easily preventable illnesses are common. In many cases, soldiers, women, and children are mixed in with the general inmate population.

"The rape of female prisoners in a government institution is deeply distressing. This is a horrific example of what has been happening across the prison system throughout Congo," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, HRW's senior Congo researcher.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090623/wl_nm/us_congo_democratic_rape

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31231&Cr=democratic&Cr1=congo

http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2009/06/23/rioting_congo_prisoners_rape_20_women/

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Inmates-Raped-In-DR-Congo-Jail-Break-Prisoners-Attacked-Women

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Joe Biden continua il suo lodevole impegno nel campo della lotta alla violenza contro le donne.

Vice President Biden, the author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act, announced today the appointment of Lynn Rosenthal as the new White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. Ms. Rosenthal is one of the nation’s foremost experts in domestic violence policy, and has worked at the local, state and national levels to create an environment where violence against women is not ignored and perpetrators are held accountable. This is a newly created position at the White House, dedicated specifically to advising the President and Vice President on domestic violence and sexual assault issues.

"President Obama and Vice President Biden could not have named a more qualified, visionary leader to advise the White House on violence against women," said Sue Else, President of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. "Lynn Rosenthal is a pioneer in the movement against domestic abuse and sexual assault. Her expertise will help to shape federal policies that will serve countless survivors of domestic and sexual violence."

In this new position, Ms. Rosenthal will serve as an advisor to the President and Vice President on domestic violence and sexual assault issues; be a liaison to the domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy community; coordinate with the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) on implementation of Violence Against Women Act programs; coordinate with the Department of Health and Human Services on implementation of Family Violence Prevention Act services (including the National Domestic Violence Hotline); coordinate with the State Department and USAID on global domestic violence initiatives; and drive the development new initiatives and policy aimed at combating domestic violence and sexual assault with advocacy groups and members of Congress.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Violence-Against-Women

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Syria has scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences handed down to men convicted of killing female relatives they suspect of having illicit sex.

Women's groups had long demanded that Article 548 be scrapped, arguing it decriminalised "honour" killings.

Activists say some 200 women are killed each year in honour cases by men who expect lenient treatment under the law.

The new law replaces the existing maximum sentence of one year in jail with a minimum jail term of two years.

Reports say women's rights activists have given a cautious welcome to the change, with one group calling it a "small contribution to solving the problem".

Their objection remains, however, that the new law still apparently invites men to murder women if they catch them having sex or suspect them of doing so.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8130639.stm

 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/275820,syria-changes-honour-killing-law.html

 

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The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Monday passed the first reading of a bill on domestic violence against women, severely increasing the penalties for such violence.

Up until now, there has been no such crime as domestic violence on the Mozambican statute book. When a husband beat up his wife, this was treated as

 

The bill states that in any case of domestic violence, the minimum and maximum prison terms established for crimes such as assault and causing grievous bodily harm will be increased by a third. But, after assessing the family situation, the court may replace a prison sentence by a period of community work.

The bill defines domestic violence as a "public crime" - which means that prosecuting the offender does not depend on a complaint from the victim. The police can act without waiting for a complaint, and anybody else who becomes aware of the violence can denounce it to the police or prosecution service.

Helena Zitha pointed out that widows in the Mozambican countryside are victims of pitiless violence from their late husbands' relatives. "Everything that a widow managed to obtain when she was living with her later husband is torn away from her", she said.

Nobody pushed their objections to a vote, and so the bill passed unanimously and by acclamation. It will now be amended in committee before coming back to the plenary for a final vote in mid-July.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200906291384.html

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Vorrei sapere quanti articoli vengono dedicati a questo argomento....

Congo must crack down on rampant sexual violence perpetrated by military generals and other top officers, a prominent international human rights group said Thursday.

Congolese authorities have failed to prevent widespread rapes, Human Rights Watch said in a new report, citing U.N. data showing 7,703 cases of sexual violence by the army were reported last year. Most victims were adolescent girls.

While soldiers now face legal action for rape, senior officers "continue to be untouched," said Juliane Kippenberg, Africa researcher for the group.

"Their own crimes and their command responsibility for the crimes of their soldiers must be investigated and held to account," she said.

 Tens of thousands of women and girls in Congo have suffered from abuse, including gang rape and other violent sexual acts that have led to unwanted pregnancies, serious injuries and death.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_CONGO?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Per chi avesse un minimo di interesse per la sorte di queste donne riporto sia il comunicato stampa che la ricerca di Human Rights Watch.

 http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/07/16/dr-congo-hold-army-commanders-responsible-rapes

 http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/07/16/soldiers-who-rape-commanders-who-condone-0

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Silence is violence è la nuova ricerca preparata dall'Alto Commissariato per i Diritti Umani dell'Onu. 

Riporto il link diretto al documento.

http://unama.unmissions.org/Portals/UNAMA/vaw-english.pdf

Wednesday's report, titled "Silence is Violence," documents the increasingly insecure environment for women in public spaces and the failure of state institutions to deal with it.

Despite claims to the contrary, say advocates, women's rights have been viewed as a luxury by an international community reluctant to question those in power for fear of upsetting Afghanistan's fragile coalition government and delaying stability. But this document, which was co-written by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (UNHCR) and the UN's Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), treads new ground by directly confronting the issue.

 "The pattern of attacks against women operating in the public sphere sends a strong message to all women to stay at home," says the report. "This has obvious ramifications for the transformation of Afghanistan, the stated priority of Afghan authorities, and their international supporters."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0708/p06s13-wosc.html

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Human rights violations are a global phenomenon. However, as a result of long standing discriminatory practices against women and the girl child and the non recognition of their rights as human rights, much remains to be done to eliminate laws and customs that violate their most fundamental human rights in Nigeria.

As a state party to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on Women’s Rights in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the United Nations Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Nigeria must adopt specific and comprehensive legislation protecting women and girls from violence, which should encompass preventive, protective, criminal, compensatory and rehabilitative measures.

Moreover, Nigerian parliamentarians should immediately address gender-based violence, by adopting the necessary laws, by granting the necessary financial resources for the implementation of preventive measures (including training of law enforcement, judicial, health and social service personnel and awareness-raising campaigns), access to legal assistance and shelters, and by establishing qualified, independent and well-resourced institutions to receive and handle complaints in a gender-sensitive manner.

http://www.omct.org/pdf/VAW/2009/African_Women_s_Day_Nigeria_310709.pdf

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On July 1, 2009, President Bashar al-Assad abolished Article 548 of the Penal Code, which had waived punishment for a man found to have killed a female family member in a case "provoked" by "illegitimate sex acts," as well as for a husband who killed his wife because of an extramarital affair. The article also lowered penalties if a killing was found to be based on a "suspicious state" concerning a female family member. The article that replaced it still allows for mitigated punishment for "honor killings," but requires a sentence of at least two years.

"Two years is better than nothing, but it is hardly enough for murder," said Nadya Khalife, Middle East and North Africa women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Syrian government should punish all murders alike - no exceptions."

The new text of Article 548 reads: "He who catches his wife, sister, mother or daughter by surprise, engaging in an illegitimate sexual act and kills or injures them unintentionally must serve a minimum of two years in prison." In the previous text, the killer benefited from a complete "exemption of penalty".

"The recommendations set out at the National Forum showed the government the way forward," said Khalife. "But there is a long way to go to rid Syria of this vicious practice."

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/07/28/syria-no-exceptions-honor-killings

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Over 400 young women to date have been killed in the booming border town, home to dozens of corporations’ factories.  Their stories have been memorialized in novels, films, and other art, but artist Andrea Arroyo has chosen a different way to draw attention to the women of Juarez.

 “As I thought about the theme, I was increasingly intrigued by the idea that these women died before their full potential was realized, and that each victim may have become a modern day Joan of Arc, Marie Curie, Rosa Parks or Frida Kahlo.”

http://www.andreaarroyo.com/artwork.html

http://www.andreaarroyo.com/artistsinfo.html

http://thatbrowngirl.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/women-of-juarez-art/

 

 

 

 

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The bill outlawing domestic violence passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday is a step in the right direction. The abuse of women and children is endemic in the country, particularly in the domestic sphere where some estimates put the figure over 95 per cent for various forms of physical and emotional violence taken together.

Once enacted into law, the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill will make Pakistan one of the few dozen countries to adopt specific legislation on the issue. The 28-clause bill lays out provisions for protection orders and monetary and other forms of relief for victims, and punishment in the form of fines and jail terms for those who violate protection orders.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/16-a-step-forward-hs-01

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Negli Stati Uniti un numero importante di donne non riceve assistemnza dai centri antiviolenza. Alcune di loro hanno organizzato una petizione per chiedere un maggiore controllo dei fondi pubblici ed un maggior rigore riguardo all'utilizzo degli stessi. 

Tutti i centri contro la violenza alle donne dovrebbero essere opportunamente finanziati in modo che nessuna donna e nussun bambino si trovi in condizione di non ricevere aiuto. Al contempo ci deve essere trasparenza di come i fondi vengono inpiegati.

Survivors In Action, Inc. the leading national Crime Victims advocacy organization for all victims of crime is asking all victims that have been re-victimized by their local or State Domestic Violence Coalitions to sign their petition for Domestic Violence Reform.

Organizations like the Coalition to end Family Violence are federally funded by the Department of Justice to assist victims of domestic violence, so if they are turning away victims, where is the money going? These questions need to be answered and the only way this will take place if we the people take action and hold them accountable. Reform is the only answer, Domestic Violence Reform is the only solution, get active, get involved, sign the petition and let’s fight together for the solution.

http://www.womenslegalresource.com/blog/archives/1466

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The shadowy threat circulated in city streets and village bazaars in the days before Afghanistan's historic presidential vote: The Taliban would cut off the ink-stained fingers of those who had dared to cast a ballot.

On Saturday, election observers disclosed that they had confirmed two such cases in southern Afghanistan and were investigating a third report in an eastern province.

The fingers of two female voters in Kandahar province, a stronghold of the Taliban, were cut off because the women voted, Nader Naderi, director of the Free and Fair Elections Foundation, told CNN.

At least 650 women's polling centers that were planned didn't open on election day, according to Free and Fair Elections, the largest Afghan observer organization. In the southern province of Oruzgan, of 36 centers for women planned, only six opened, Naderi said. In certain polling centers in the south and southeast of the country almost no women voted, according to the National Democratic Institute, an American-financed group that promotes democracy abroad.

Officials asked that the district where the two women had their fingers severed not be disclosed because it could endanger the observer who reported the grisly act. The other reported amputation case under investigation was in an Afghan province bordering Pakistan's volatile tribal areas.

The two female voters in question, whose fingers were stained with telltale purple ink, were attacked by insurgents soon after voting Thursday, Naderi said. No further details about the attack were disclosed.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/2009/08/23/0823afghanwomen.html

Come se questo non bastasse l'ultima tornata elettorale afghana è stata quanto meno problematica per le donne.

The insecurity also led to greater proxy voting, in which male family members vote for the women, further robbing women of their rights, observers said.

Women received almost no coverage in news reporting, and topics concerning women’s rights were virtually never featured in news coverage of the electoral campaign, the European Union mission said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/world/asia/23afghan.html?_r=1&em

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The practice of bride gifts has been relabelled "bride price", demanded by families and fiercely negotiated. It has reduced young women to commodities and has made families see their daughters as a source of income. Today bride price isn't a bag of potatoes, it's a list of demands for money, animals or clothing made by fathers and older brothers, who might want to throw in requests for new shoes or school fees. The mother gets nothing because she was more or less purchased herself, and the sisters are ignored too as they are all set to be exchanged for commodities when they reach 12 or 13.

The impact of this commodification on young women is catastrophic. It breeds misery and reduces them to chattels.

Despite the Ugandan constitution according equal rights to women, the law is not protecting young girls from being used as economic commodities

Mifumi is attempting to go through the courts to try to get women's constitutional rights upheld and to get bride price banned or regulated, but it is an uphill struggle. Women's economic disempowerment is upheld and entrenched by this tradition. And it has to be stopped.

http://www.mifumi.org/index.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/katineblog/2009/aug/18/money-women

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V-Day’s latest V-Moment comes to us from eight Congelese who are working every day to end violence against women and girls in the DRC. We are honored to have Jeanine Gabrielle Ngungu, Justine Masika Bihamb, Kongosi Onia Mussanzi, Chantal Moboni, Drocele Mugomoka, Nounou Booto Meeti, Lydia Masimango and Kenneth Enim Ampi share their words of strength, determination and faith with us.

http://www.vday.org/vmoment/congo

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Between 2001 and 2009, Chile registered 392 cases of murdered women. Most of the victims were killed by men with whom they had a close, intimate relationship. Only a small number of the deaths could be attributed to unfamiliar perpetrators.

In the face of this crisis, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile (IELCH) is providing a safe place for women and their children who are threatened by domestic violence.

The Vida Plena (“life in fullness”) shelter in Providencia, a suburb of the Chilean capital Santiago de Chile, offers a way out of this situation, giving protection to women and children in life-threatening situations due to domestic violence. The refuge run by the IELCH in cooperation with the Chilean Ministry for Women (Servicio Nacional de la Mujer – SERNAM) is a safe place where women can live for a period of time. 

IELCH president Rev. Dr Gloria Rojas attributes this cooperation to government recognition of the church’s commitment to defend human rights from its prophetic ministry during the period of Chile’s dictatorship.

The church is committed to equal rights for men and women, and opposes discrimination, she stresses. “In a society debating women’s abilities and the defense of equal opportunity, this stance is highly valued,” according to Rojas. 

“Violence against women is a sin,” states Rev. Dr Elaine G. Neuenfeldt, secretary for Women in Church and Society at the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Overcoming it requires a holistic, collective effort, she says, emphasizing that the church is called to be a safe place for women living and suffering in violent relations. 

http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/2409.EN.html

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Over the past year women human rights activists have faced repeated attacks in the Serbian media including being threatened with lynching.

Such attacks are made by parliamentarians, members of ultra-right organizations and members of the security services indicted for war crimes. Other defenders have had their property destroyed, their offices attacked or been beaten by members of neo-Nazi groups.

The briefing also focuses on those who defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT). Since 2001 the LGBT community in Serbia has been unable to hold a Pride Day parade due to serious threats by right-wing and religious organizations. Such organizations have already made unveiled threats against the organizers of this year’s parade, scheduled for 20 September.

"The LGBT community is marginalized even within civil society and criminal investigations into assaults on LGBT people, even where the perpetrators have been identified, are rarely resolved," Sian Jones said. 

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/human-rights-activists-under-threat-serbia-20090914

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR70/014/2009/en/62eed1a1-0150-4999-aca5-6909720e053b/eur700142009en.pdf

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Indonesia's province of Aceh has passed a new law making adultery punishable by stoning to death, a member of the province's parliament has said.

The law also imposes severe sentences for rape, homosexuality

Married people convicted of adultery can be sentenced to death by stoning. Unmarried people can be sentenced to 100 lashes with a cane.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8254631.stm

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No comment!

Male rioters in a suburb here on September 11 attacked about 20 women wearing trousers.

The men, in Rubaga, a Kampala suburb, began detaining women during their protests, police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said at a press conference that took place that same day.

Women wearing skirts were allowed to pass, Nabakooba said, but those wearing trousers were forcibly undressed and left to walk home in their underwear.

The abuse occurred amid violence in the Ugandan capital, which officials say has claimed 14 lives and injured about 70.

Women's rights advocate Jackie Asiimwe denounced the rioters for using the clash to abuse women and commit criminal acts in New Vision, a Kampala-based newspaper. "It is an invasion of women's privacy," the newspaper quoted Asiimwe as saying.

"Traditionally, trousers are not acceptable and are a Western thing," Rizzan Nassuna, a writer and human rights advocate in Kampala told Women's eNews. "In (the kingdom of) Buganda, you are supposed to wear long skirts. This is coming out of a local belief that women are not supposed to wear trousers, but this has never been formalized or really come out in the open. They violated their dignity as women, making them walk naked, because they are wearing trousers."

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/4140/context/archive

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Afghanistan is a country where for centuries women have been considered property -- not equals, like the constitution states. They are often beaten, raped and even sold to the highest bidder. There are very few places women can turn to.

Authorities brought Shameen to a shelter run by Women for Afghan Women (WAW). The organization started in New York to provide humanitarian assistance to women who do not know they have rights.

n this safe house, WAW is currently providing care, security and an education for 54 women and children.

Nearly 90 percent of Afghan women suffer from domestic abuse, according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Despite that, there are less than a dozen shelters like this one in Afghanistan, usually run by non-governmental organizations.

Abusers are rarely prosecuted or convicted, and most women are afraid to say anything.

"Their mothers are beaten by their fathers. They're beaten by their fathers, by their brothers. It's a way of life," said Manizha Naderi, director of WAW.

Naderi is an Afghan-American who grew up in New York and has returned to Afghanistan to work with other women in hopes of bringing a change, although she said it will take generations.

"They see their mothers being beaten, they see their sisters their aunts, everybody," Naderi said. "So that's what they expect."

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/23/afghanistan.women.abuse/index.html

 

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Continuo a non capire come mai notizie come questa non trovino spazio nei giornali. Evidentemente non sono considerate importanti. Per me invece lo sono.

Darfuri refugee women and girls face high levels of rape and other violence on a daily basis both inside and outside refugee camps in eastern Chad, despite the presence of UN security forces, a new Amnesty International report reveals.

In No place for us here: Violence against refugee women in eastern Chad, Amnesty International documents rape and other violence against women and girls in the camps, who face attacks carried out by villagers living nearby and members of the Chadian National Army.

“The rape that countless women and girls experienced in Darfur continues to haunt them in eastern Chad,” said Tawanda Hondora, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.

“These women fled Darfur, hoping that the international community and Chadian authorities would offer them some measure of safety and protection. That protection has proved to be elusive and they remain under attack.”

The report says that refugee girls also experience sexual harassment at the hands of their teachers at schools in the camps.  Some girls have reportedly been threatened that they would receive poor marks if they refused to have sexual intercourse with their teacher, leading some to drop out of school.

A 13-year-old girl in Farchana Refugee Camp was raped by a Chadian nurse working for an organization that manages health centres in the camp. She became pregnant following the rape and gave birth in January 2009. The man accepted that he was responsible for the pregnancy and negotiations were conducted with him, after which he agreed to marry the girl and pay a dowry to her family. He later fled the area. Despite complaints being filed with Chadian officials, by May 2009 it did not appear that there had been any effort to find him, nor had any legal action been initiated against him.

Amnesty International said that it is not possible to know the exact number of women and girls who have been victims of rape and other violence inside and outside refugee camps in eastern Chad, as women rarely report such crimes primarily because of fear of stigma, including from their own family members, and trauma.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/chad-refugee-women-face-high-levels-rape-inside-and-outside-camps-despit

 

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Acts of violence against women accounted for more indictments against off duty police officers than any other crime in the last decade.

In all, 48 cases dealt with either assault or the related crime of gross violation of a woman's integrity (gvov kvinnofridskränkning). The majority of cases in recent years have led to convictions.

"We are the first to admit that this is a difficult situation. We must not hide the issue," said Liljemor Melin-Sving, deputy chairperson of the Swedish Police Union, to the newspaper.  

http://www.thelocal.se/22506/20091007/

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Ma ovviamente nella stampa italiana la notizia ha poco spazio. Già, evidentemente gli stupri brutali contro le donne sono inezie, cose di poco conto...

Eyewitnesses told New York-based Human Rights Watch that security forces stripped female protesters and raped them in the streets. The rights group, citing eyewitness reports, said soldiers also stabbed protesters Monday with knives and bayonets.

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/29/guinea-protest-soldiers-r_n_302633.html

“They raped me. I went out of the stadium naked, naked, naked,” said one political activist, recalling the brutal clampdown by the soldiers of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinea's new strongman.

Another eye-witness told FRANCE 24 that she saw a group of soldiers gang-rape five girls. "I went back behind the gate, I found another soldier there. He took his gun (…) and he forced it into the vagina of a girl,” she said.

Around 30 women have given testimonies to human rights activists corroborating these accounts, saying they were raped and beaten during a massacre of opposition supporters in a Guinea stadium on September 28.

They are a horrifying array of claims. Unable to run and escape soldiers’ shots, the women say they were beaten and raped, their clothes stripped off with knives and their genitals mutilated with guns.

  http://www.france24.com/en/20091005-harrowing-tale-rape-bloodbath-guinea-conakry-africa-violence-women-massacre-rights-activists

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Some 5,400 women have reported being raped this year in one province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

"Night-time attacks against civilians by unidentified armed elements, and rape against women, remain widespread," Byrs said, describing in particular an Oct. 5 rape of five women "by armed men believed to be members of the national army".

"One of the victims was killed, while the four survivors are being treated in a health centre," she told a news briefing in Geneva, where most U.N. aid agencies are based.

At least 5,387 cases of rape against women have been reported in South Kivu in the first six months of 2009, Byrs said, calling for the violations to stop and the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the biggest U.N. aid operations. Hundreds of thousands of people in the east of the country have been driven from their homes due to government fighting, many of whom need protection from violent attacks.

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLK397891._CH_.2400

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Uccidere una persona a causa dell'odio motivato dalla disabilità, dal genere, dall'orientamento sessuale e dall'identità di genere della vittima sarà un'aggravante.

Questi crimini non solo solo attacchi personali ma mandano un messaggio ad un determinato gruppo sociale, ad esempio le donne, con il quale si intende trasmettere la paura ad entrare negli spazi pubblici.

US President Barack Obama Wednesday condemned crimes meant not to break only bones "but to break spirits" as he celebrated a landmark hate crimes law as a new step forward for US civil rights.

Obama signed an act outlawing offenses motivated by a person's race, gender, identity, color, sexual orientation, or mental of physical disability, ending a years-long crusade by crime victims and relatives.

"Today, we have taken another step forward," Obama said. "This is the culmination of a struggle that has lasted more than a decade."

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091028/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticssocialrightsobama

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/28/hate.crimes/index.html

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A domestic violence hotline initiated and supported by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat opened officially in Turkmenistan today.

The new hotline will be run by the non-governmental organization Keik Okara and will be operational six days per week, 11 hours per day. The number will be publicized through information flyers.

http://www.osce.org/ashgabat/item_1_39430.html

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E, come al solito, nessuno ne parla....

Rape victims in Sudan's Darfur region have lost vital medical and psychological support since Khartoum expelled aid agencies working against sexual violence this year, the United Nations and aid workers said.

A Sudanese minister on Wednesday dismissed the reports as "propaganda" saying there was no widespread rape in the region and that foreigners were free to come and investigate.

Ten out of the 13 expelled foreign groups were doing work related to protection and sexual violence, said an official from one of the ousted organisations who asked not to be named.

"Women are now feeling a lot less safe in reporting rapes and there's been a resurgence of the bad old days when women victims are treated like criminals if they report it," the official said.

Rights groups say women who report attacks risk prosecution for having sex outside marriage under Islamic law in Sudan.

A U.N. report this month said sexual violence was "rampant" in Darfur. The conflict surged in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels revolted, accusing Khartoum of neglect.

Even before the expulsions, aid workers in Darfur say authorities harassed them if they spoke openly about abuses.

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSMCD134075._CH_.2400

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A specially-designed refuge to protect women at risk of forced marriage and "honour-based violence" has opened in east London.

The Saranaya Refuge is one of only two of its type in the UK.

They are operated by the Ashiana Network, with Waltham Forest Council providing financial support for both.

The Association of Chief Police Officers estimates 17,000 women in the UK are subject to "honour-based violence", including murder, each year.

Ashiana Network director Shaminder Ubhi said: "It is unacceptable that young women should be told who they can and cannot marry in the 21st Century.

"It continues to shock and sadden me that women are still being brutally punished by their own relatives for bringing 'dishonour' on their families.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8351976.stm

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At a ceremony today, Verizon Wireless presented checks for $1,000 each to two Virginia community groups working to address domestic violence, an issue that devastates many families: the Chesterfield County Domestic Violence Task Force and the Rappahannock Council on Domestic Violence. Chesterfield and King George Counties were recognized for their contributions through the Attorney General's Safe in Our Communities program. To date, Verizon has provided a total of $10,000 in grant funds for the program.

Both programs join four other community programs -- Fairfax County's Women's Group of Mount Vernon, Inc.; Loudoun County's Abused Women's Shelter; the YWCA of Richmond; and the Tazewell County's Clinch Valley Community Action -- which received monetary awards from the Safe in Our Communities initiative in April of this year.

Verizon Wireless, through the company's HopeLine Phone Recycling program, provided $10,000 in initial funding for Safe in Our Communities in October 2008. Each of the six programs certified to date through Safe in Our Communities has also received $1,000 in funding through HopeLine. Additional nonprofits chosen for recognition in the next round of applications will share the remaining $4,000, from the original $10,000 HopeLine grant.

"We're pleased to partner with Verizon Wireless in honoring two more communities which are taking a stand against domestic violence," said Attorney General Mims. "Chesterfield County and King George County now bring the total to six programs across Virginia which are being recognized for the innovative solutions they have implemented to help bring an end to domestic abuse."

Verizon Wireless regional president Mike Maiorana noted, "We're proud to continue our longstanding partnership with Virginia's Office of the Attorney General and Virginia's Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, and applaud the important work being done by communities across the Commonwealth that has resulted in improved response, enhanced protections and enabled victims of domestic violence to become survivors."

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=PR&Date=20091116&ID=10727605&Symbol=VOD

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Ottima idea.

Members of the public would be told if partners had a history of domestic violence – similar to the pilot, established after campaigning in the wake of the murder of Sarah Payne, where parents could check if someone who has access to their children has a history of child sex or violence offences.

The move would be backed up by a second proposal from The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) to set up a register for up to 25,000 serial wife-beaters where they would have to keep police up to date with their movements and activities.

The proposals come as part of a Home Office review of how to best deal with abuse and violence against women and girls.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6582192/Police-want-women-to-know-if-their-partner-has-violent-past.html

 

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Con piacere riporto la comunicazione che mi è arrivata dalla sezione pakistana dell'organizzazione White Ribbon. Non posso che complimentarmi con questi bravi ragazzi che meritano appoggio e visibilità.

White Ribbon Campaign Pakistan

Men for Ending Violence Against Women

Project of Women’s Empowerment Group and Vision2015 International

 

 

Nationwide Celebration of White Ribbon Day in 54 Cities at 5:00 pm. on 24th November 2009

 

 

25^th November, International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women, is globally celebrated as the White Ribbon Day.

 

White Ribbon is an anti-violence campaign aimed at raising awareness among men and boys to sensitize them regarding women’s human rights.

 

In the current wave of terror we find it more appropriate to execute the White Ribbon Day 2009 nationwide simultaneously in 54 cities across Pakistan to create ripples of PEACE. The program is as follows

 

Date            24^th November 2009

Time            5:00 pm. Sharp

Venue:         Local Press Clubs in 54 Cities (list attached)

 

Banners with messages on ending violence against women will be displayed in these cities followed by a Candlelit Vigil outside Press Clubs in each city to show solidarity with the women who are victims of violence in any form and to show men’s pledge to end violence against women.

PUNJAB	SINDH	NWFP	BALOCHISTAN	ISB,  LHE, KHI
Gujrawala	Nawabshah	Peshawar	Quetta	Islamabad
Jehlum	Sukhur	Chitral	Hub Lasbela	Karachi
Multan	Umer Kot	D-I-Khan	Turbat	Lahore
Nankana Sahib	Dadu	Mahsehra	Mastung
D-G Khan	Sanghar	Kohat	Jafferabad
Bhawalnaagar	Shikarpur	Upper Dir	Nasirabad
Sahiwal	Badin	Malakand
Faisalabad	Hyderabad	Lakkit Marwat
Bahawalpur	Jacobabad	Charsadda
Sargodha	Ghotki	Gilgit
Sialkot	Kashmore	Tank
Vehari	Mirpurkhas
Rajanpur	Mirpurmathelo
Rahim Yar Khan	Larkana
Muzaffargarh
Kot Addu
Pak Pattan
Khanewal
Toba Tek Singh
khushab
20	14	11	6	3

 

http://www.whiteribbon.org.pk/index.php

 

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Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

For their part, the families are often extremely poor, and sometimes even relieved to have one less mouth to feed. Poverty, conflict and poor education lay the foundation for accusations, which are then triggered by the death of a relative, the loss of a job or the denunciation of a pastor on the make, said Martin Dawes, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund.

"When communities come under pressure, they look for scapegoats," he said. "It plays into traditional beliefs that someone is responsible for a negative change ... and children are defenseless."

The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered. In the past month alone, three Nigerian children accused of witchcraft were killed and another three were set on fire.

Nigeria is one of the heartlands of abuse, but hardly the only one: the United Nations Children's Fund says tens of thousands of children have been targeted throughout Africa.

 

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/african-children-denounce_n_324943.html

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At least 90% of women in Lebanon are, or have been in the past, victim of physical or psychological abuse. This statement was made on the occasion of the tenth international day for the elimination of violence against women, by the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women

For the Lebanese law, cases of maltreatment and abuse are part of family law, and are therefore handled directly by the confessional communities. 

http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME03.XAM14302.html

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Amnesty International has accused Tajikistan of failing to protect its women, saying nearly half are raped, beaten or abused by their families.

According to Amnesty, women are regularly subjected to humiliation not only from their husbands but also in-laws, causing many to turn to suicide.

The report's authors say the government should introduce laws and support services to tackle domestic violence.

"Women are being treated as servants or as the in-laws' family property," Amnesty's Tajikistan expert Andrea Strasser-Camagni said in a statement.

"They have no-one to turn to, as the policy of the authorities is to urge reconciliation, which... reinforces their position of inferiority."

Many women are driven to commit suicide but relatives usually cover up such incidents by presenting them as accidents, our correspondent says.

Violence against women is widespread across the entire Central Asian region, where most societies are patriarchal.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8375617.stm

Amnesty said many girls were being denied the opportunity to receive proper education, dropping out of school early to enter marriages, often polygamous or unregistered.

It urged the government to introduce laws and support services to tackle domestic violence and carry out public awareness campaigns addressing illegal marriage issues.

 http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5AN01820091124

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On the occasion of the 19th annual 16 Days Campaign, CWGL is celebrating the work and dedication of civil society organizations worldwide. We have asked partners from around the world to describe their activism and commitment to ending violence against women during the campaign.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-16-Days-of-Activism-Against-Gender-Violence-Campaign/134783551561

http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/kit09/voices.html

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Norah Niland, the United Nations' human rights representative in Afghanistan, said field research conducted late last year and early this year found rape affected all parts of Afghanistan, across all communities and social groups.

"Women and girls are at risk of rape in their homes, in their villages and in detention facilities," Niland said at a news conference in Kabul, as part of a 16-day activism campaign against gender violence.

"It is a human rights problem of profound proportions."

Niland said feelings such as shame exacerbate the problem and are often attached to victims rather than perpetrator.

Rape occurs within the family and beyond and victims are often prosecuted for committing adultery, she said.

"Democracy and peace in Afghanistan is dependent on the elimination of violence and the full participation of women, as well as men of course, in decision-making processes that affect their lives and the future of the nation," Niland said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AT26N20091130

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Police have seen 'honour' crime surge by 40 per cent due to rising fundamentalism, new figures show.

Honour-based violence, including crimes like murder, rape and kidnap has rocketed in London during the past year.

Reported instances of intimidation and attempts at forced marriage have also increased by 60 per cent.

A report into the scale of the problem by Scotland Yard found there were 161 honour-based incidents recorded in 2007-8, of which 93 were criminal offences.

But in 2008/9 the number of incidents had risen to 256, with 132 being criminal offences.

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The pictures, along with photographs of ten other women, are now part of the show called "Behind the Doors" which be will touring all around Lebanon.

From semi-surrealist self portraits, to a series called "the instruments of torture", to blurry almost mystical images of rooms that are forever linked with violence - the images fuse confusion, anger and pain.

The pictures are the result of a three-month workshop sponsored by the Italian government.

However campaigners estimate that at least three quarters of Lebanese women experience domestic abuse at some point in their lives.

The biggest problem according to Ms Anani is that domestic violence is not even part of the Lebanese penal code and marital rape is legalized.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8392475.stm

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Non posso che rallegrarmi di buone notizie come queste. Per fortuna non ci sono solo i talebani ma anche uomini e ragazzi illuminati che considerano uno spregio la violenza contro le donne. Ed il fatto che manifestino in Pakistan è un fatto degno di nota.

Riporto il comunicato stampa che ho ricevuto e alcune foto tratte dalle manifestazioni.

On the eve of the International White Ribbon Day, the 25^th of November, 2009, the White Ribbon Campaign Pakistan – WRCP a project of Women’s Empowerment Group – WEG celebrated the Day by holding a Candle Light Vigil in 50+ cities all across the country, touching all localities, areas urban and rural, from the Northern areas of Pakistan, NWFP, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and SWAT to Baluchistan and cities across the Punjab and Sindh till the port city of Karachi.

 

The event was held at all Press Clubs and places where there wasn’t. Participants wore white ribbons, lit candles and added their signatures to the Petition that is to be presented to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on 8^th March, International Women’s Day. This petition is to reinforce and apply peaceful pressure on the Government of Pakistan for its commitment to improve legislation and practices that support women.

 

People all across the nation lit candles on the eve of White Ribbon Day – and they represent the voice of those who wish to end all forms of violence.

 

White Ribbon Pakistan presently has an outreach in 54 towns and cities across Pakistan, 142 organizations and over 3958 volunteers.

 

We hope that with this vigil, we have not only initiated a movement towards ending violence against women but have also collected the civic voices everywhere in the country of people that wish to end the violence and mobilize for PEACE in Pakistan.

 

 

 

 

 http://www.whiteribbon.org.pk/index.php

 

 

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Bene. Ben gli sta. Speriamo che maturi e cambi atteggiamento nei confronti delle donne.

A Berlin rapper who goes by the stage name of Frauenarzt – or "gynaecologist" – was fined €8,400 by a court on Monday for distributing violent pornographic writings and depictions of violence.

The Tiergarten district court found the 31-year-old guilty of producing two CDs in 2006 containing songs that describe the torture, mutilation and murder of women in excessive detail.

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091221-24095.html

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The vast majority of women in Gaza face violence of varying types, a new survey has found.

The study found that 77.1% of Gazan women have experienced violence of various sorts, with almost half experiencing violence of more than one type.

A quarter of the women said they do not feel safe in their own homes because of violence and more than a third said they were unable to fight back as they had more urgent priorities to deal with. 

67% of the women surveyed said they had encountered verbal violence, 71% mental violence, 52% physical violence and more than 14% sexual violence.

"I think the levels [of violence] are higher than they were in the Gaza Strip in previous years and compared to other countries, the rates are certainly higher," Huda Hamouda, Director of the PWIC told The Media Line. "It's hard to imagine a family living in dignity when seven family members are living on less than three dollars a day." 

 The women's rights advocate said the Hamas government is trying to impose a certain ideology, which includes forcing women to wear the hijab, religious head covering, implying that this has eroded the standing of Gazan women.

"They're imposing their directives and they're encountering opposition from certain groups, human-rights organizations and unions," Hamouda said. "It's understood that in society there is no pluralism or freedom of thought. It's one side imposing its understandings on those under its control."

There are few shelters for battered women in the Palestinian territories.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1261364538889&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

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Alors qu’elle se rendait au théâtre, à la Maison des métallos, pour jouer dans la pièce dont elle est par ailleurs l’auteure, Rayhana a été agressée dans la rue par deux hommes qui l’ont aspergée d’essence avant de lui jeter une cigarette qui, fort heureusement, ne s’est pas enflammée. Et ces mots, emplis de haine  : « On t’avait prévenue. » Quelques jours auparavant, deux individus, les mêmes au vu de leurs propos, l’avaient déjà molestée, lui lançant  : « On te prévient, on sait qui tu es. » Il faut dire que la Maison des métallos, rue Jean-Pierre-Timbaud, dans le 11e arrondissement de Paris, fait face à une mosquée d’intégristes et de fondamentalistes.

http://www.humanite.fr/Rayhana-aspergee-d-essence

Selon son entourage, Rayhana a été aspergée d'essence et ses "agresseurs lui ont ensuite jeté une cigarette au visage, fort heureusement sans enflammer la jeune femme". "L'agression physique s'est doublée d'une agression verbale qui laisse peu de doutes sur le lien existant entre cette tentative d'homicide et les représentations en cours qui se poursuivront jusqu'a la fin", a indiqué la même source.

"Indigné par ce terrible événement, qui semble trouver son origine dans le sujet même de ce spectacle [qui donne la parole à neuf figures féminines aux prises avec le refoulement et la violence, réunies dans un hammam à Alger], je condamne avec la plus grande fermeté ces agissements d'une extrême gravité", écrit le maire dans un communiqué.

http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2010/01/14/l-auteure-et-comedienne-rayhana-agressee-a-paris_1291857_3224.html

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The Pakistani government should quickly reintroduce legislation to protect women and children from domestic violence, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill was passed unanimously by the National Assembly on August 4, 2009, but the bill lapsed after the Senate failed to pass it within the three months required under the country's constitution.

"Victims of domestic violence have long faced a double injustice - abuse at home and then no protection from the government," said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The proposed law has widespread support in Pakistan, and the government should make passing it a priority."

Human Rights Watch said that an amendment to the penal code passed in November that criminalizes the sexual harassment of women is a step forward.

The measure makes sexual harassment or intimidation punishable by three years in prison, a 500,000 rupee fine [US $6,000], or both. The bill includes protection in public places such as markets, public transport, streets, or parks, and more private settings, such as workplaces, private gatherings, and homes.

"The new sexual harassment protections in the penal code are some of the most impressive and extensive in South Asia," Hasan said. "If it displays the will, Pakistan's government can be a regional leader in safeguarding women's rights."

"Pakistan's parliament has passed only half the legislation needed against sexual harassment," Hasan said. "If the government is serious about protecting women, it should present the companion measure for parliamentary approval immediately

 http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/01/11/pakistan-expedite-domestic-violence-legislation

 

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Honour violence is relatively rare in Finland, but support centres have been set up to help women from immigrant families who become victims of their relatives' wrath. For the first time, they're now seeing Finnish women fleeing the threat of honour violence.

"I'm afraid of my ex-husband, his brother and all his relatives," one woman told YLE's current events programme Ajankohtainen Kakkonen. She married a foreign man who believes that the family has the right to control its women's behaviour, and take punitive action to correct perceived digressions.

The Multicultural Women's Association Monika, which runs a safehouse for immigrant women and their children, says that more and more Finnish women are turning to them when Finnish authorities fail to understand the threat of honour violence. 

One problem is that Finnish authorities in social services and on the police force treat honour violence just like any other case of domestic violence. They don't take into account the fact that instead of a dispute between two individuals, honour violence pits a single woman against the wrath of a large group of people. 

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/01/finnish_women_victims_of_honour_violence_1376762.html

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Quanto spazio avrà questa notizia nei media generalisti? C'è da essere terrificati da come possa essere misogina e violenta una cultura da indurre un padre, con la complicità di tutta la famiglia, a seppellire viva la figlia.

Turkish police have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl they say was buried alive by relatives in an "honour" killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys.

The girl, who has been identified only by the initials MM, was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman.

Police made the discovery in December after a tip-off from an informant, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on its website.

The girl had previously been reported missing.

The informant told the police she had been killed following a family "council" meeting.

A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried. Her body showed no signs of bruising.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/04/girl-buried-alive-turkey

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Maryam, figura di spicco del movimento delle donne in Iran, è solo l'ultima di una lunga serie di persone, donne e uomini, perseguitati dal regime teocratico.

On the morning of Monday 8 February, 3am local time, Maryam Ghanbari, a 27 years-old lawyer and an active member of Meydaan (Women’s Field), was arrested at her home in Tehran by five Iranian security officers, according to her lawyer, Mina Jafari. The location to which Ms. Ghanbari was taken and where she is currently being held is unknown, as well as any formal charges she might be facing.

Ms Ghanbari has been very active in the national women’s movement’s struggles against the draft of a new family law that includes laws on divorce, fixed-term marriage contracts for men, child custody, and legislation that would allow a man to take a second wife without the permission of the first in certain circumstances. She is also part of the Volunteer Lawyers Network, which is a voluntary legal service for vulnerable women.

http://www.wluml.org/node/5953

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Ma tanto questa notizia non è considerata cosi' importante....

 The number of women raped in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where sexual violence committed by warring factions has become endemic, topped 8,000 last year, according to fresh estimates released by the United Nations Population Fund

 http://www0.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33703&Cr=democratic&Cr1=congo

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Women have always had it bad in Haiti. Now things are worse.

"I try not to sleep," says Chamblain, 22, who lost her father and now lives in a squalid camp with her mother and aunts near the Port-au-Prince airport. "Some of the men who escaped from prison are coming around to the camps and causing problems for the women. We're all scared but what can we do? Many of our husbands, boyfriends and fathers are dead."

Reports of attacks are increasing: Women are robbed of coupons needed to obtain food at distribution points. Others relay rumours of rape and sexual intimidation at the outdoor camps, now home to more than a half million earthquake victims.

The government's communications minister, Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, recently acknowledged the vulnerability of women and children but said the government was pressed to prioritize food, shelter and debris removal.

Women have long been second-class citizens in Haiti.

According to the United Nations, the Haitian Constitution does not specifically prohibit sexual discrimination. Under Haitian law, the minimum legal age for marriage is 15 years for women and 18 years for men, and early marriage is common. A 2004 U.N. report estimated 19 per cent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 were married, divorced or widowed.

Rape was only made a criminal offence in Haiti in 2005.

Before the earthquake, the government set up a panel to look at ways of empowering Haitian women. But the Women's Ministry was among the government buildings destroyed.

Three Haitian women working on important judiciary reforms to protect women against sexual violence - Myriam Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan and Magalie Marcelin - died in the earthquake. Many view their deaths as setbacks for all Haitian women

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5g_Uistb-pTaPILQCAYMan7nm_Rpw

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A 16-YEAR-OLD girl is in shock after she was punched and beaten with a stick by her village headman for wearing a singlet and three-quarter pants.

But police in the Northern Division yesterday backed the girl's right not be assaulted over the clothes she wore.

Mr Tagiwavoli admitted to the Fiji Times he beat the girl, saying she had broken the village dress code for females and had "talked back" at him.

"I also did that to teach her a lesson because, as daughter of the turaga ni Yavusa of Naqai, who is my elder brother, she couldn't be breaking the law while other girls were abiding by it," Mr Tagiwavoli said.

"I can't believe I was beaten up over what I was wearing," she said. "He slapped me and punched me in the back before hitting me with a stick.

"Times have changed and they are trying to enforce the traditional way of dressing which is hard for the young generation to accept."

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=137446

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Between 6,000 and 8,000 women in Austria have been forced to undergo genital mutilation, according to Social Democratic MP Petra Bayr.

Bayr, a member of the Austrian Platform against Female Genital Mutilation, said today: "Many parents believe they are doing their daughters a favour by forcing them to undergo it."

 Bayr said the Platform wanted 6 February - proclaimed "International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation" at the Inter African Committee conference seven years ago - to become a UN commemorative day to increase public awareness of the problem.

The Platform will also begin a Europe-wide campaign against genital mutilation with an event on 17 February at Palais Epstein in Vienna.

Greens’ women’s spokeswoman Judith Schwentner called for asylum for all prospective victims of genital mutilation, "a serious assault on the physical and sexual integrity of women and a serious violation of human rights."

The Platform claims 155 million women around the world have been subject to genital mutilation, and Amnesty International says three million women a year, or 8,000 a day, are forced to undergo it.

http://www.austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2010-02-04/20323/Female_genital_mutilation_remains_problem%2C_group_warns

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La haine des hommes s'est abattue sur elles comme sur des centaines d'autres femmes seules, en 2001, dans la grande ville pétrolière du désert algérien. Fatiha et Rahmouna ont été parmi les seules à se battre pour demander réparation du lynchage collectif. Ces femmes du peuple, sans instruction, témoignent du calvaire qu'elles ont vécu pendant les années noires du terrorisme.

Le 12 juillet, le paradis se transforme en enfer. Des centaines d'hommes de Hassi Messaoud se déchaînent. Des dizaines, peut-être des centaines de femmes sont insultées, battues, humiliées, violées aux cris d'Allah Akbar. Parmi les agresseurs il y a le voisin, l'épicier du coin. Fatiha et Rahmouna sont transportées quasi-mourantes à l'hôpital.

Fatiha et Rahmouna font partie de ces femmes battues, veuves ou répudiées par des maris tout-puissants, l'opprobre de leur famille en plus. De 1991 à 2001, le terrorisme gangrène l'Algérie. « La situation des femmes a connu une énorme régression, dit Nadia Kaci. Elles étaient désignées comme la raison de tous les maux. Les courants religieux ont fait un travail terrible. 3 000 à 7 000 femmes auraient disparu, probablement enlevées par le GIA. » Hassi Messaoud, sécurisée grâce aux sociétés étrangères qui s'y trouvent, est un refuge. « Leurs familles les laissent y aller seules car la crise économique sévit, et l'argent qu'elles y gagnent est bienvenu. »

« Il y a eu un tel désir d'étouffer l'affaire ! Deux femmes au moins ont disparu, mais il y en a sûrement beaucoup plus. 39 blessées, parmi de nombreuses autres certainement, ont accepté de porter plainte. Certaines se sont directement enfuies en bus, en taxi, pour ne plus revenir, et sans jamais demander réparation. » 3 000 femmes, peut-être, vivaient seules à Hassi Messaoud.

La situation est toujours difficile pour les femmes d'Algérie. Nadia va enquêter sur d'autres lynchages, qui ont fait quelques lignes dans la presse. Fatiha et Rahmouna retournent en Algérie. « Ça nous fait peur. Mais nous avons dit notre vérité. »

quelques lignes dans la presse! qualche riga nei giornali....vergognoso!

http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actuDet_-Le-martyre-des-Algeriennes-de-Hassi-Messaoud-_3639-1267188_actu.Htm

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Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the sentences were carried out on February 9 after a religious court found them guilty of having sex out of wedlock. Two of the women were whipped six times.

"It was carried out perfectly."" Hishammuddin said in a statement. "Even though the caning did not injure them (the women), they said it caused pain within them."

The canings come at a time when the National Front Coalition is trying to win over Malay Muslims who make up 55 percent of the 28 million population to stay in power after Chinese and Indian minorities deserted the coalition in 2008 elections.

That means that the linchpin of the governing coalition, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), cannot afford to offend conservative voters who are mostly Malay and live in rural areas.

But this could further alienate the sizeable ethnic minorities who are concerned about the rise of Shariah laws and increasing Islamisation in Malaysia, analysts have previously said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61G2OJ20100217

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What does it tell us that female soldiers deployed overseas stop drinking water after 7 p.m. to reduce the odds of being raped if they have to use the bathroom at night? Or that a soldier who was assaulted when she went out for a cigarette was afraid to report it for fear she would be demoted — for having gone out without her weapon? Or that, as Representative Jane Harman puts it, "a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire."

The problem is even worse than that. The Pentagon estimates that 80% to 90% of sexual assaults go unreported, and it's no wonder. Anonymity is all but impossible; a Government Accountability Office report concluded that most victims stay silent because of "the belief that nothing would be done; fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule; and concern that peers would gossip." More than half feared they would be labeled troublemakers

 Women are often denied claims for posttraumatic stress caused by the assault if they did not bring charges at the time. There are not nearly enough mental-health professionals in the system to help them. Female vets are four times more likely to be homeless than male vets are, according to the Service Women's Action Network, and of those, 40% report being victims of sexual assault.

But there are some signs that both Congress and the Pentagon are getting serious about this problem. It is now possible for victims to seek medical treatment without having to report the crime to police or their chain of command.

 The failure to provide a basic guarantee of safety to women, who now represent 15% of the armed forces, is not just a moral issue, or a morale issue. What does it say if the military can't or won't protect the people we ask to protect us?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1968110,00.html

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Se gli eserciti Nato partono dall'Afghanistan, chi difenderà queste donne? I pacifisti? 

Not every Afghan is hoping the Americans soon leave their country. Some are actually dreading it.

"You can't leave Afghanistan," Manizha, who helps run a shelter for battered women, recently warned "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer. Behind Manizha, women who were beaten, bruised and badly scarred shake their heads in urgent agreement. 

Among the most heartbreaking is the story of Bebe. She is 17, and she says her face was mutilated by her husband, a Talib. Bebe's nose and ears were cut off as punishment for running away to escape the constant pummeling by her husband and his family.

She was married to the radical Muslim when she was 12, Manizha told Sawyer. Her marriage was the result of an outlawed tribal custom called "baad" in which the daughter was given away as compensation for a crime or offense committed by a male member of Bebe's family.

Girls given away in baad transactions are often little more than slaves. Bebe was forced to sleep in a stable with the animals, and beatings and pain became part of life for her.

Bebe tried to escape but was captured. Her husband was ordered by the Taliban to punish her by disfiguring her face. While her brother-in-law held her down, her husband sliced off her nose and ears.

Left for dead, she crawled to her uncle's house, but he refused to help. Bebe staggered on to her grandfather's house. He called her father. The local Afghan hospital was unable to treat her wounds, and suggested her father take her to the nearby U.S. military base, Forward Operating Base Ripley in Oruzgan province.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/abused-women-afghanistan-helped-secret-shelters/story?id=10074409

 

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Violence, and in particular, sexual violence against women and girls in Haiti is pervasive and widespread. This report focuses on the experiences of girls. While their experiences reflect the continuum of gender-based violence against women in general, international law recognizes the particular protection needs of children. Amnesty International is urging the Haitian authorities to take all necessary steps to fulfil their obligations under regional and international human rights law and to enable the National Plan to Combat Violence Against Women to be implemented effectively.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR36/004/2008/en

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR36/004/2008/en/f8487127-b1a5-11dd-86b0-2b2f60629879/amr360042008eng.pdf

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The anti-honor killing demonstration was attended by Israeli MKs (Members of Parliament), the mayor of Nazareth, (a city in northern Israel and protected by Israel), and other prominent figures. Many demonstrators were young, many were not; most wore western clothing, many wore hijab. They carried amazing signs and banners in Arabic: “Your Silence Equals Permission to Kill”; “A Civilized Society Does Not Kill Women”; “The Hands are the Killer’s, but Silence and Understanding are a Society’s Crime”; and signs which bore the name of Palestinian honor murder victims such as Reem Abu Ghanem (murdered in 2006), Halima Ahmed (murdered in 2009), and Abeer Abu Damous (murdered in 2010).

The demonstrators called for an “end to the murder of women who are thought to sully the honor of their families by violating traditional, patriarchal restrictions on relationships between men and women. A young woman who dates a young man without her parents’ consent falls into this category.”

“There is no honor in this crime” declared MK Masoud Ghanayem.

http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2010/03/18/major-palestinian-demonstration-against-honor-killings-in-palestine-never-heard-about-it/

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Brava Ashely! E' davvero un piacere far sapere che una famosa attrice, invece di pensare solo a cambiare vestiti ogni giorno e fidanzato ogni settimana (a chi mi riferisco?) usi la propria celebrità per la causa della lotta alla violenza alle donne. Ce ne fossero di più di donne come lei....

"What I have learned is that gender-based violence is not deviant and perverted and the acts of a few monstrous individuals," she said.

"What I would posit is that that kind of violence against women is really the norm, and once we accept it's the norm, then we can broaden the scope of the solutions that we're willing to throw at the problem," she said.

Judd joined two of the lawmakers who introduced the bill, Democrats Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts, in calling for the legislation to come to a vote before the end of the current congressional session.

The act would integrate efforts to tackle gender-based violence into US foreign assistance programs as a key US diplomatic priority, supporters said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100324/en_afp/uswomenrightspeople

 

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Women's civil society groups were noticeable by their absence from the landmark Haiti donor conference on 31 March, which secured pledges of US$5.3 billion over the next two years to support the country’s post-quake recovery.

Their lack of a presence at the meeting was indicative of a broader missing voice in Haiti’s long-term reconstruction prospects, gender activists argued.

“Why are we not there right now, where are the women at this conference?” questioned Marie St. Cyr, a Haitian human rights advocate. “We still don’t have full participation and we certainly don’t have full inclusion. Haitian women are still being raped…they are supporting more than half of the households, and yet they are not being heard.”

Women in Haiti, however, do not have the luxury of waiting for action, St. Cyr noted. Before the earthquake, they were running half the households – and those numbers have now risen, with women taking in children from other families.

The issue of sexual violence also remains an enormously grave, though largely undocumented one.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88662

Violence against women is not surprising in Haiti's male dominated society rife with gender stereotypes. Sadly, efforts have not been made to secure equal participation and development of women at any level. For example, of the 18 ministries governing Haiti, only two were headed by women pre-earthquake, and the level of professional women working in Haiti's public administration positions barely reached a dismal 7.2%.

All this must change in the rebuilding process of Haiti to ensure sustainable development and prosperity. A change of culture must also happen within the highest levels of decision makers focused on Haiti's recovery plans in and outside of the country to recognize the urgent need to ensure gender equality in the establishment of Haitian institutions, norms and policies

A group of individuals in the Haitian Diaspora and international women's rights advocates recently formed Poto Mitan: Rebuilding Haiti, an initiative to promote the rights of women and girls. Working with women's groups in Haiti, they also joined forces with Rele Fanm Ak Fi (A Call to Women and Girls): Haiti Gender Equality Collaborative to draft a preliminary "shadow report" that maps out a blueprint for putting women at the center of Haiti's recovery.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taina-bienaime/haitian-women-enter-at-ce_b_519103.html

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Semplicemente dei bravi ragazzi, di cui si dovrebbe parlare di più.

When Mbuyiselo Botha decided to take the African National Congress League President, Julius Malema, to court for hate speech against women, he was confident from the start that the case had merit. But he also knew that this would be the most challenging test of his 15 years of gender activism.

"My colleagues from back during the anti-apartheid activism days warned that I had taken a career damaging move; I was seen as challenging the black leadership," said Botha.

"After the end of apartheid in 1994, I thought we cannot claim to have total freedom when women are still subjected to suffering through unnecessary cultural practices and perceptions." 

When Sonke Gender Justice Network (Sonke) was formed in 2006, the organisation found that a majority of men they surveyed in Johannesburg believed they were not doing enough to end domestic violence. Since then the organisation has been educating and training boys and men to "realign their thinking".

"We have been working in six of the country’s 10 provinces and we are looking forward to expand our foothold," said Regis Mtutu, the organisation's National Programmes Coordinator.

Sonke means "Together" in Nguni languages. And this is the strategy of the organisation in its bid to realise gender equality. "We simply believe that working in the context of men, talking to them together with organisations that push for women's rights, we can attain our goal," added Mtutu.

Elsewhere in Africa, Sonke is working in collaboration with like-minded organisations such as Padare/Enkundleni in Zimbabwe, the Kenya-based Men Can and the Rwanda Men's Resource Centre. Together, the organisations resolved at a 2009 symposium to assist African governments through capacity building and implementation of policy.  

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50853

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specialised division for victims of violence against women, children and adolescents at the seventh police precinct, one of the two stations in Asunción where the initiative has first been implemented.

The plan is to gradually set up such units around the entire country.

”Normally you receive all kinds of complaints in police stations, with domestic violence cases being mixed in with the rest, which means the people filing this kind of complaint often don’t receive the proper attention and follow-up,”

Based on 2008 data, the Paraguayan Centre for Population Studies found that 17 percent of girls and teenagers suffered physical violence before the age of 15 and 20 percent saw or heard their father or stepfather physically abuse their mother.

The new police units are the creation of an ”inter-institutional committee for integral care for victims of violence”, set up in 2008 by the ministries of the interior and public health and the secretariats of women and children and adolescents. 

Cantero said that he is now aware that domestic violence is a serious problem in Paraguay, and that a different kind of treatment by the police is needed.

”The victims are treated as vulnerable people – you have to be patient and help them feel safe and get them to understand that they will receive support,” he said with conviction.

The unit has a staff of 30 officers between the ages of 24 and 30, who after they were selected received two months of training on issues like human rights, a gender perspective and avoiding behaviour that ”revictimises the victim.”

Colmán said the abuse victims make their complaints in private, and that they are given detailed advice on what steps to take.

Since it opened, her unit has received 110 domestic abuse complaints, with the largest number coming from women, and a smaller number from youngsters. The complaints included physical, sexual and psychological abuse, as well as death threats.

http://globalgeopolitics.net/wordpress/2010/03/25/paraguay-new-police-units-for-domestic-violence-victims/

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A 13-year-old Yemeni girl has died of injuries to her genitals four days after a family-arranged marriage, a human rights group said.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has drawn the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages. Legislation that would make it illegal for those under the age of 17 to marry is in serious peril after strong opposition from some of Yemen's most influential Islamic leaders.

More than a quarter of Yemen's females marry before age 15, according to a report last year by the Social Affairs Ministry. Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.

Last month, a group of the country's highest Islamic authorities declared those supporting a ban on child marriages to be apostates.

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100408/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen_child_bride

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Ma questa notizia non credo apparirà nella stampa a grande tiratura. A chi può mai interessare la sorte di queste donne?

Depuis deux semaines, chaque soir, le scénario de l’horreur se répète, face à l’impuissance ou l’inertie des services de police, alors qu’un commissariat se trouve à quelques centaines de mètres de ce quartier situé dans la ville pétrolière censée être la plus surveillée du pays. Les maisons ne sont pas choisies au hasard. Elles sont repérées dans la journée, puis mises à sac la nuit. La plupart sont habitées par des femmes originaires du nord, qui vivent loin de leurs familles. Rares sont celles qui déposent plainte, car les plus téméraires ont payé cher leur acte. Elles ont fini par abandonner leur domicile, errant d’un quartier à un autre à la recherche d’un lieu plus sûr. Rencontrées sur place, les témoignages de certaines d’entre elles font froid dans le dos et font craindre le pire. Terrorisées, les victimes ont toutes refusé de révéler leur identité. « C’est la misère qui nous a fait faire des centaines de kilomètres à la recherche d’un emploi pour nourrir nos familles.

Nous ne voulons pas perdre le pain de nos enfants. Nous voulons juste gagner notre vie avec dignité et dans la sécurité. Nous sommes des citoyennes au même titre que les autres,et nous avons droit d’aller n’importe où pour travailler », déclare Souad, âgée d’une trentaine d’années.

 Elle avait entendu parler des attaques nocturnes contre les femmes qui résident seules, mais elle pensait qu’elle ne serait jamais parmi les victimes, parce qu’elle était appréciée et respectée au quartier des 40 logements. « Pour moi, c’était le choc. Au deuxième coup de pied, la porte d’entrée a cédé. Ils étaient cinq ou six, encagoulés et armés de couteaux, de sabres, de haches de boucherie et de barres métalliques. J’étais comme tétanisée. Les cris de ma colocataire ne les ont même pas dérangés. Ils étaient comme sous l’effet de la drogue.

De nombreux agresseurs vivent tranquillement chez eux, protégés par les leurs, souvent des notables aux traditions très conservatrices qui n’acceptent pas que des femmes habitent seules au milieu des leurs ou qu’elles « arrachent le travail des hommes ». Les assauts répétés contre leurs maisons sont pour eux « une expédition d’épuration » que même les services de sécurité ne peuvent empêcher. Une réalité qui se confirme sur le terrain. Depuis près d’un mois, les femmes des quartiers des 36 et 40 Logements vivent l’enfer. L’inertie des services de police fait craindre le pire en ces lieux livrés à des bandes organisées de délinquants aux visages masqués. A ce rythme, si les pouvoirs publics n’interviennent pas, un autre drame beaucoup plus grave que celui d’El Haïcha pourrait avoir lieu.

http://www.elwatan.com/Elles-sont-attaquees-de-nuit-par

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Le comité de solidarité avec les femmes violentées à Hassi Messaoud annonce son intention de se restructurer en instance ou observatoire de veille pour alerter sur les violences à l’égard des femmes et les dénoncer. Composé d’une quinzaine d’associations de défense des droits de l’homme en général et des droits des femmes en particulier, ce comité exige de l’Etat qu’il assume son devoir de protection des travailleuses…

A signaler que ce comité est composé des représentants du réseau Wassila, de l’Association pour la défense et protection des droits des femmes (ADPDF), de l’Association pour l’émancipation des femmes (AEF), de l’Association du planning familial (APF), de l’Anadde, de l’Atustep, d’Amusnaw, de l’Association d’aide aux victimes de violence femmes et enfants (Avife), du Centre d’information et de documentation des droits des femmes et des enfants (Ciddefe), du Collectif des femmes du printemps noir, de Djazaïrouna, de Femmes en communication (FEC), des Femmes PLD, de la Ligue algérienne de défense des droits de l’homme (LADDH), de la Ligue algérienne des droits de l’homme (LADH), de Rachda, de SOS Femmes en détresse, de Tharwa Fatma n’Sumer, de l’Association de défense des libertés syndicales. Une liste qui reste ouverte, y compris aux personnalités, selon son porte-parole.

http://www.elwatan.com/Affaire-des-femme-agressees-a?page=plan

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Un plauso alla Spagna che dimostra di avere a cuore la sorte delle donne.

Spain adopts measures to provide protection for battered women in domestic violence.

The justice minister, Francisco Camaño, managed today, despite opposition from the European Commission, supported by a sufficient majority of Member States to adopt the European order of protection for battered women, one of the priorities of the Spanish presidency. His goal now is to conclude in the coming weeks the details of the new standard and reach a political agreement in June, which must be ratified by the Parliament. 

http://www.barcelonareporter.com/index.php?/news/comments/spain_adopts_measures_to_provide_protection_for_battered_women_in_domestic_/2504100903am

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Le dimanche 2 mai à 11h du matin, les militants du Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles (Mali) se sont donné rendez-vous près de la fontaine aux pigeons, au centre-ville de Casablanca, pour faire un sit-in pacifique contre le harcèlement sexuel qui sévit dans les villes du royaume. La manifestation prévoyait des slogans humoristiques et s'adressait directement aux jeunes pour les sensibiliser au respect de la femme et à sa liberté d'occuper l'espace public.

A quelques mètres des lieux, les deux co-fondatrices du Mali, Ibtissame Lachgar et Zineb El Rhazoui, sont interpellées par des dizaines de policiers en civil. Elles étaient accompagnées par Pauline Beugnies, photographe de nationalité belge qui travaille pour le Monde magazine.

Sur place, elles ont été conduites dans le hall, empêchées de téléphoner. D'autres policiers les attendaient. Ils ont fouillé le sac de banderoles, vérifié les deux téléphones confisqués, l'appareil photo, et noté les slogans. Après avoir relevé leurs identités, les trois jeunes femmes ont été relâchées, et suivies par des voitures de police jusqu'au domicile de Zineb El Rhazoui. Le militant Rahime Mouktafi, ainsi que d'autres, présents à la fontaine aux pigeons, ont vu se dérouler la scène de loin.

http://www.prochoix.org/cgi/blog/index.php/2010/05/03/2280-sit-in-contre-le-harcelement-sexuel-repression-inacceptable-contre-les-militants-du-mali

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Che dire? Sconvolgente? Allucinante? Pazzesco? Incredibile? Quali altri sinonimi dovrei usare?

Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest." Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women" according to its website. 

As word of Iran's intention to join the women's commission came out, a group of Iranian activists circulated a petition to the U.N. asking that member states oppose its election.

"Iran's discriminatory laws demonstrate that the Islamic Republic does not believe in gender equality," reads the letter, signed by 214 activists and endorsed by over a dozen human rights bodies.

The letter draws a dark picture of the status of women in Iran: "women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women's admission at universities, and are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of such laws."

The Commission on the Status of Women is supposed to conduct review of nations that violate women's rights, issue reports detailing their failings, and monitor their success in improving women's equality.

The activists' letter sent to the U.N. Tuesday argued that it would be better if the Asian countries proffered only one candidate, instead of elevating Iran to the commission.

"We, a group of gender-equality activists, believe that for the sake of women's rights globally, an empty seat for the Asia group on (the commission) is much preferable to Iran's membership. We are writing to alert you to the highly negative ramifications of Iran’s membership in this international body."

A spokeswoman for the U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which oversees the commission, did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/29/elects-iran-commission-womens-rights/

 

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Thus, wherever an honor killing is committed, it is primarily a crime against young people. Just over half of these victims were daughters and sisters; about a quarter were wives and girlfriends of the perpetrators. The remainder included mothers, aunts, nieces, cousins, uncles, or non-relatives. Honor killings are a family collaboration. Worldwide, two-thirds of the victims were killed by their families of origin. (See Table 1). Murder by the family of origin was at its highest (72 percent) in the Muslim world and at its lowest in North America (49 percent); European families of origin were involved almost as often as those in the Muslim world, possibly because so many are first- or second-generation immigrants and, therefore, still tightly bound to their native cultures. Alternatively, this might be due to the Islamist radicalization of third or even fourth generations.

Worldwide, 42 percent of these murders were carried out by multiple perpetrators, a characteristic which distinguishes them considerably from Western domestic femicide. A small number of the murders worldwide involved more than one victim.

In the non-immigrant West, serious domestic violence exists which includes incest, child abuse, marital rape, marital battering, marital stalking, and marital post-battering femicide. However, there is no cultural pattern of fathers specifically targeting or murdering their teenage or young adult daughters, nor do families of origin participate in planning, perpetrating, justifying, and valorizing such murders. Clearly, these characteristics define the classic honor killing of younger women and girls.

One might argue that the stated murder motive of being "too Westernized" may, in a sense, overlap substantively with the stated and unstated motives involved in Western domestic femicide. In both instances, the woman is expected to live with male violence and to remain silent about it. She is not supposed to leave—or to leave with the children or any other male "property." However, the need to keep a woman isolated, subordinate, fearful, and dependent through the use of violence does not reflect a Western cultural or religious value; rather, it reflects the individual, psychological pathology of the Western batterer-murderer. On the other hand, an honor killing reflects the culture's values aimed at regulating female behavior—values that the family, including the victim's family, is expected to enforce and uphold.

It also suggests that gender separatism, the devaluation of girls and women, normalized child abuse, including arranged child marriages of both boys and girls, sexual repression, misogyny (sometimes inspired by misogynist interpretations of the Qur'an), and the demands made by an increase in the violent ideology of jihad all lead to murderous levels of aggression towards girls and women. One only has to kill a few girls and women to keep the others in line. Honor killings are, in a sense, a form of domestic terrorism, meant to ensure that Muslim women wear the Islamic veil, have Muslim babies, and mingle only with other Muslims.

  http://www.meforum.org/2646/worldwide-trends-in-honor-killings

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Positivo. E' un inizio, speriamo bene.

The first ever pan-Arab training guide on practical ways to engage men and boys in the fight to end violence against women throughout the region, titled ‘Women and Men…Hand in Hand Against Violence,’  was unveiled in Beirut at a high level event.  It was hosted by His Excellency the Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Dr. Salim El-Sayegh, and attended by UNIFEM regional office’s representative Ms. Rania Tarazi and other government ministers, top UN officials and key ambassadors, among others.  KAFA and Oxfam have also today released a comprehensive study, ‘Women Facing Violence in Lebanon’ that reveals a shocking absence of men’s involvement in the struggle to combat abuse directed at women and girls.

Ghida Anani, KAFA programme coordinator of the joint project, said:  “Men are part of the problem, but they are also part of the solution. We are against violence, not men.  But men in the Arab world almost always dominate the public and private spheres so working with them is strategically critical.  If we want to begin making real change in ending violence against women it is simply nonsensical to leave men and boys out of the equation whether it’s in Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen or anywhere in the world for that matter.” 

Last week, men and women ministers in the Lebanese Cabinet passed a law that, for the first time, would criminalise violence against women in the country.  KAFA campaigned tirelessly for the new law – which still needs to be passed by parliament.

http://www.wluml.org/node/6286

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Noa Raz was physically assaulted Tuesday morning by a fervently Orthodox man in Beersheba's Central Bus Station, where she was waiting for a bus to her job in Tel Aviv, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the Israel Religious Action Center.

According to the release, the man asked Raz twice if the imprints were from tefillin. When she told him that they were he began to kick and strangle her while screaming “women are an abomination.” Raz reportedly broke free from the man and boarded her bus.

The fact that this man thought it acceptable to attack a woman for performing a religious act in private is an example of the escalation of violence targeted against women and against religious pluralists in Israel." 

http://www.irac.org/NewsDetailes.aspx?ID=584

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The Kentucky Domestic Violence Association (KDVA) offers no-interest microloans to Individual Development Account (IDA) participants and secures the loan with the borrower's IDA savings. The microloan program was launched in January 2009 with grant support from the Allstate Foundation.

The microloan program builds on KDVA's existing IDA program, taking the concept of asset accumulation one step further by helping their clients build credit. Women who experience domestic violence often face financial burdens that make them vulnerable to having poor or no credit. They may have been barred from having their own accounts or may have left a spouse or partner who had poor credit. Many also have developed poor financial behaviors after years of no access to their own money. 

To date, only one participant has missed consecutive payments. 

http://www.creditbuildersalliance.org/toolkit-innovations/kentucky-domestic-violence-association.html

http://www.kdva.org/

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While a nationwide study has yet to be undertaken, regional data from Cologne and Frankfurt shows that young women of Turkish background try to kill themselves twice as often as their German counterparts, daily Die Welt reported on Friday.

But a cooperation between Berlin’s Charité hospital and the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf that began in early 2009 aims to find out the reasons behind the disturbing numbers.

Both facilities are now monitoring the statistics for suicide attempts by young women from Germany's largest immigrant population that are treated in their emergency rooms – in particular the reason the patients say they wanted to die, the paper said.

Papatya, an help centre for young female immigrants in Berlin, told the paper that it frequently helps women who already have already attempted suicide in the past.

“Often it’s a desperate attempt to give the family a sign that something must change that isn’t being heard, or that the family doesn’t want to believe,” a spokeswoman said. “Sometimes the girls have told us, ‘I’d rather kill myself than let my brother do it’.”

Charité’s Schouler-Ocak said that many of the women who try to kill themselves are completely dependent on their family or husband – particularly those young those who have come directly from Turkey as “import brides.” 

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100521-27341.html

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In an alleged attempted "honour killing", a man poured acid on his daughter and threw her into a canal for planning to marry a man from another religion Tuesday, police said. The girl is in critical condition in hospital.

Gulistan, 18, daughter of Asghar Ali of Charaura village in Bulandshahr district, 350 km from Lucknow, fell in love with Ravinder, 20, who ran a medical store in the village and often came to their house to deliver medicines.

The couple eloped 10 days back but were traced to Delhi and Gulistan was taken back to the village. Her parents then pretended that they had agreed to let her marry Ravinder and asked her to come with them to Delhi to buy clothes for the marriage.

The girl left with her father and brother. When they reached near the upper Ganges canal on Grand Trunk Road, they stopped and dragged her out. First they poured acid on her face, strangulated her and then threw her in the canal. Assuming that she had died, they left the place.

Sahi said a case under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and investigations are on. 

http://www.siasat.com/english/news/man-throws-acid-daughter-love-outside-faith

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Almost seven years after Naila Farhat, 20, became another victim of an acid throwing attack by a spurned suitor, she is finally seeing more vigorous efforts toward the passage of a law seeking to amend existing legislation to reinforce protection of women against violent assaults.

Yasmeen Rehman, advisor to the prime minister on women’s development and a legislator, told IPS that the Ministry of Women Development (MoWD) was doing further research on a draft law against acid attacks.

"It is seeking help from the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women, she said.

The ASF, in turn, is getting assistance from its parent organisation in Britain and Cornell Law School in the United States, said Sana Masood, a lawyer working with the Foundation, which provides medical, psychosocial, socioeconomic and legal aid to acid survivors. "We are currently involved in extensive research to help the MoWD in coming up with another bill," she revealed

"Realistically speaking, I should say we will be able to present it in tShahnaz Bokhari, president of the Islamabad-based Progressive Women’s Association, which assists victims of domestic violence, said she has supported 8,886 acid attack female survivors since 1994.

The incidence of acid attacks is particularly high in the southern part of Punjab, the south Asian country’s cotton belt and second largest province, said Khan.

"Lack of a regulating and monitoring framework regarding acid, cheap price, low level of socio-economic development" are some of the factors underlying these crimes, said Khan.

A bottle of concentrated sulphuric acid generally costs only 20 Pakistani rupees per litre (about 23 U.S. cents), said Bokhari.

"Acid is used for textile industry and cleaning cotton seeds before being replanted," explained Khan, whose organisation has provided medical, psychosocial, socioeconomic and legal aid to about 300 acid survivors in Punjab since 2006 when it was formed. he (legislative) assembly by July," said Rehman 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51644

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Dove sono le manifestazioni? Dove sono le condanne? Dove sono le navi cariche di aiuti umanitari che partono alla volta del Sudan? Dove è lo sdegno?

Perchè a solo a pochi interessa la sorte delle donne del Darfour?

A group representing women from Sudan’s war-scarred western Darfur region has denounced the nearly two- year-old conflict, and called on the UN to act against those responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses in the region.

The fighting between the government troops and the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Darfur has claimed some 70,000 lives and left 1.6 million people homeless, according to figures from relief groups.

In the name of all Darfur women, the widowed and those who have lost their children, the orphaned, displaced and refugees, we appeal to the government and the armed groups to stop hostilities and commit themselves to signed agreements and UN resolutions concerning the ceasefire and delivery of humanitarian assistance," the women said.

http://ns211683.ovh.net/spip.php?article7586

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Parole sante. Non ci può essere pace se i diritti delle donne non sono garantiti.

Dr. Massouda Jalal once embodied all the possibility that was promised by the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Now, the former cabinet minister and presidential candidate, says she is in danger of being silenced once again, as are all the country’s women.

“Taliban do not recognize rights and even they don’t recognize women as human beings,” she told reporters Tuesday.

“Their engagement will be bad news to our values and to the women of Afghanistan, so I hope it doesn’t happen. We need to depowerment of the Taliban and extremism,” she said.

“It’s not good for … the democratic processes that we have created and we have insisted on and it’s not good for the peace and security of the world. We have to be careful with this.”

“In the beginning a lot of hope was created… We thought that a government made of civilians will be made a civil government,” she said, noting that laws have been passed prohibiting violence against women or affirming women’s rights.

But there have been more, and more prominent, steps backward in the last few years. More schools being burned, more female students being threatened and attacked, more instances of local laws barring women from travelling outside the house unaccompanied

So she has hopes for the country that, for now, rely heavily on outside help. Canada’s military may be packing up and leaving Kandahar in a year, but the country can still make an impact if it redirects even a fraction of the money spent on military might toward development assistance and aid.

“Afghanistan is very sick, it’s very sick. It cannot stand on its feet,” she said. “We need to care for Afghanistan, otherwise this wounded body will be used by negative energy.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/afghanmission/article/820480--women-s-advocate-warns-against-peace-with-taliban?bn=1

 

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Quanti coraggiosi pacifisti sarebbero pronti a partire per liberare o difendere queste povere ragazzine? Cosi'....giusto per chiedere....

n disturbing video images, a 14-year-old girl is purportedly being flogged. She is alleged to have run away from a forced marriage in a remote village. Just as disturbing to Dr. Sima Samar, chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission? "The other sad part I have to say was the reaction of the people," she says. "The lack of sensitivity of the people." 

No one has an exact figure exactly how many girls are forced into marriage. Estimates vary as high as 60 percent or more and attitudes here are so engrained that one government minister was recently reported as saying shelters that try to help these girls and women are an evil.

At one shelter in Kabul, they deal with the fallout of these everyday attitudes about women.

"Since January alone we've had 115 cases of forced or underage marriages," says Manizha Naderi, with the Women for Afghan Women organization who runs the shelter. 

Sukaini is typical of the recent cases. She is 15 years old now but was 13 when her family forced her to marry her 45-year-old cousin.

 One of the newest arrivals is a 15-year-old girl who ran away from a forced marriages. Within hours of arriving at the shelter, several parliamentarians called the shelter to demand she sent back to her family. At the shelter, though, they fear if they do that, she'll be killed.

http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/10/shelter-tries-to-help-abused-child-brides/?hpt=C2

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Ebbene si. Le donne sono capacissime di violenza e crudeltà ai danni di altre donne. E sono le più feroci, a volte, sostenitrici di una cultura tribale e misogina.

Per fortuna la ragazza è riuscita a salvarsi.

The 19-year-old daughter remains in hospital with knife wounds to the head, shoulders and arms.

It’s believed that the daughter came home late, Pentefountas, a prominent name in the Montreal legal community, indicated to the court.

Police based their theory that it was an honour crime on “what we saw at the scene of the crime,” said Olivier Lapointe, spokesperson for the Montreal Police Service, and especially on interviews with people inside the house and the victim herself.

It appeared related to the “behavior of the victim,” Lapointe said.

The woman, 38-year-old Johra Kaleki, faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.

According to Amnesty International, there are more than 5,000 honour crimes in the world each year.

They are an “ancient practice” in a number of countries tied more so to culture than religion. Typically the woman is murdered by a member of her own family after tarnishing the family’s honour for ostensibly “immoral” behavior, often in relation to virginity or modesty.

The three other daughters in the family are currently in the custody of provincial youth protection authorities.

The family, which is Afghan in origin, moved to the neighbourhood in Dorval, near Montreal’s main airport, about five years ago, according to neighbour Emery Dora.

The family was pleasant, but “mostly kept to themselves,” Dora said. For instance, the father and the girls would play together but not with other children in on the street. The father, Ebrahim Ebrahimi, wouldn’t let a younger daughter play soccer with other girls in their backyard, Dora added.

Last summer, after a car was found submerged in the Kingston canal, a Montreal-area couple of Afghan origin were accused along with their son of killing their three daughters and another relative in what was also believed to be an honour crime. Their trial will begin next year.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/823509--mother-stabbed-daughter-in-honour-crime-police?bn=1

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Narges Mohammadi, a journalist who works closely with Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi and who is the spokesperson of the Tehran-based human rights group founded by Ebadi, Human Rights Defenders Centre, was arrested at her home last night by intelligence ministry officials. Her family does not why she was arrested or where she is being held.

Mohammadi is the wife of fellow journalist Taghi Rahmani, who has spent a total of 16 years in the Islamic Republic’s prisons. Both have been hounded by the authorities for the past ten years and have been summoned and interrogated several times by intelligence ministry officials since the disputed presidential election of June 2009.

A few hours before Mohammadi’s arrest, state television broadcast a programme attacking Ebadi that included video of Ebadi’s husband making extraordinary “confessions.”

http://en.rsf.org/iran-journalist-who-works-with-shirin-11-06-2010,37727.html

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Per favore vi chiedo di scrivere in modo da intercedere per la sua salvezza!

Change for Equality: Iran’s Supreme Court approved the death sentence by execution of Zeynab Jalalian in November 2009. The sentence has been submitted to the implementation office and is scheduled to be carried out. The exact date and time when the sentence will be implemented is unclear, but it may take place in a matter of hours or days. Khalil Bahramian, a prominent lawyer, who has represented others sentenced to death, and who efforts to represent Zeynab by the courts was rejected, explained in news reports yesterday that Zeynab faces imminent execution and may be hanged in only a few hours.

Zeynab Jalalian, from Maku, a town in the north-west of Iran, was sentenced to death for “Enmity against God” in January 2009 by the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court. Before that, she had spent eight months in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility, during which time her family had no information concerning her fate. She is reported not to have been granted access to a lawyer during her trial, which she said lasted only a few minutes. Zeynab Jalalian’s death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on 26 November 2009.

http://www.sign4change.info/english/spip.php?article722

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2010/06/jalalian-risk-execution/

Please write to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urging immediate action:

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Ms. Navanethem Pillay
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

General inquiries:
Email: Questo indirizzo e-mail è protetto dallo spam bot. Abilita Javascript per vederlo.
Tel: +41-22-917-92-20
Fax: +41-22-917-9008 or +1-212-963-4097

Civil Society Unit:
Email: Questo indirizzo e-mail è protetto dallo spam bot. Abilita Javascript per vederlo.
Tel: +41-22-917-9656

 

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Un passo in avanti importante. Vive la France!

 La création d'un délit de "violence psychologique" dans un Code pénal qui réprime déjà violences, menaces et autres faits concrets, suscite de vives critiques dans la magistrature, où l'on craint des problèmes de définition et de preuve.

Le délit de violence psychologique est défini par "des actes répétés, qui peuvent être constitués de paroles et/ou d'autres agissements, d'une dégradation des conditions de vie entraînant une altération de la santé physique ou mentale".
La peine maximale encourue est de trois ans d'emprisonnement et 75.000 euros d'amende.

La ministre de la Justice Michèle Alliot-Marie et Nadine Morano, secrétaire d'Etat à la Famille, défendent cette nouvelle disposition. "Le juge pourra statuer au regard de lettres, de SMS, de messages répétitifs puisqu'on sait très bien que les violences psychologiques sont faites d'insultes", a dit cette dernière.

On pourra aussi avoir recours aux témoignages des proches et à des certificats médicaux démontrant l'existence de dépressions nerveuses, par exemple, a-t-elle estimé.
La proposition de loi entend répondre à un phénomène jugé préoccupant.

Selon le gouvernement, 675.000 femmes ont été victimes de violences ces deux dernières années en France, 166 femmes sont décédées en 2007 et 156 en 2008.
Les meurtres au sein du couple représentent près de 20% de l'ensemble des homicides.

Le texte adopté comporte d'autres mesures comme la possibilité d'imposer le port du bracelet électronique à un conjoint violent ou bien encore la création d'une "ordonnance de protection" pour les victimes.

Il prévoit également la possibilité de retrait de l'autorité parentale au parent auteur ou complice d'un meurtre sur la personne de l'autre parent et instaure une journée nationale de sensibilisation aux violences faites aux femmes le 25 novembre. 

http://info.france2.fr/france/un-delit-de-violence-psychologique-conjugale-cree-63866781.html

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Per favore firmate l'appello. Please write to save her!

 The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women (SKSW) and the International Solidarity Network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) urge all concerned to immediately contact the Iranian officials to express their concern over the planned stoning to death of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani. Under Iranian law, execution by stoning is prescribed for adultery. Stoning is one of the most brutal punishments; the Islamic Penal Code of Iran states that the stones used should “not be large enough to kill the person by one or two strikes” – clearly aiming to inflict a slow and painful death. Attached is a sample letter to the authorities.

On 13 June, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, published an article entitled “Sakineh on the Threshold of Stoning” and pointed out that there is no legal obstacle to her execution being carried out at any time. Her lawyer stated that with all the complexities and confusion over her case, his client should not be executed, let alone stoned to death, and that her repentance is enough to warrant a pardon. 

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women and the International Solidarity Network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws oppose all forms of cruel and degrading punishment most especially including those that are being justified in the name of religion, tradition, and/or culture. The freedom of belief does not mean freedom to kill.

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Speriamo bene! Vi aggiornerò...

A woman convicted of adultery has been spared execution by stoning after Iran backed down in the face of rising international outrage.

A statement issued by the Iranian embassy in London said that 'according to information from the relevant judicial authorities in Iran [Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani] will not be executed by stoning'.

But it did not say whether Ms Ashtiani, a mother-of-two, would be spared or executed by hanging instead.

Mohammed Mostafaei, the 43-year-old's lawyer, told The Times: 'This is a positive development but nothing is clear yet.

'There have been cases in Iran of stonings being changed to hangings.

Ahmad Fatemi, of the International Committee against Stoning and Execution, which has campaigned for her release, said: 'It's a tactical retreat... they never expected this kind of pressure, so they want to buy time.'

British politicians have been lending their support to efforts to stop the stoning as the international outcry increased.

Foreign Minister William Hague described stoning as a 'medieval punishment that has no place in the modern world', adding: 'If the punishment is carried out it will disgust and appal the watching world.'

Actors Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and Juliette Binoche, fashion designer Katherine Hamnett and playwright Sir David Hare are among a host of celebrities who have signed up to the campaign for her release.

Author Philip Pullman, film producer Lord Puttnam, director Sir Richard Eyre and philosopher A.C. Grayling are also backing calls for clemency.

Stoning was officially introduced into the penal code after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1293297/World-fury-forces-Iran-spare-adulterous-mother-stoned.html#ixzz0tB6IWaZ6

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Vergogna!

 

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Women's Action Forum (WAF) is outraged at reports of yet another "judgement of stoning to death due to illicit relations", pronounced by a self-styled jirga convened in Kala Dhaka, wherein it was alleged that a man and a woman were seen walking together in a field in Madakhail.

WAF noted that Kala Dhaka was a Provincially Administered Tribal Area (PATA) until it was converted into a settled area and renamed 'Torghar' last week, after which it might be excused for demanding the writ of the state, the pronouncements of the judiciary, and the provincial law enforcement system to be de jure and de facto functional.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\07\09\story_9-7-2010_pg7_17

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According to HRANA, Elnaz Babazadeh, a 26 year old woman was raped and murdered by Basij forces in the city of Tabriz (northwestern Iran) last week. According to the reports, Basij forces stopped Babazadeh in her car for not following the Iranian regime’s dress code. Elnaz resisted the forces and ignored orders given by the Basij forces.

Then the Basij forces who had initially stopped her jumped into her car and threatened her with a gun. Two other Basij members joined in and all together they beat and raped her. They murdered Babazadeh and dumped her body close to Emamiyeh cemetery.

After local investigation was conducted by HRANA members in Tabriz, it was confirmed at Babazadeh’s funeral that the person who killed her was the son of a high-ranking Revolutionary Guards member.

The intentions of the savage Basij members was to put a stop to the “improper” way women in society dressed. Basij members believe this is their duty to God.

http://persian2english.com/?p=12659

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Please sign to support Sakineh! Vi invito a firmare l'appello per la salvezza di Sakineh!

 http://stopstonningnow.com/sakine/sakin284.php?nr=50326944〈=en

I who write this letter, Sajjad Ghader-zade, 22 years old, want to first of all tell you about my mother and the way she was convicted.

My mother, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, was arrested in the city of Oskoo on charges of adultery. She was prosecuted in the Oskoo criminal court. My mother and Mr. Naser and Mr. Ali Nojumiha were each sentenced to 99 lashes there, and the sentences were fully served at the executive office on everyone convicted in this case. Then as to why the case was sent to Branch VI of Eastern Azerbaijan retribution court in Tabriz for review, I have no idea. Here my mother’s case was reviewed by five judges, after which Mr. Imani, the head of Branch VI, and two of his colleagues, based on their own wisdom sentenced my mother to death by stoning, while two others found my mother innocent of the charges and stated this verdict clearly. Mr. Mostafayi (Sakineh’s lawyer) says there are a lot of uncertainties and doubts in this case. Mr. Mostafayi refers to two judges in the panel who clearly stated that there was neither evidence nor legal grounds whatsoever in the file to sentence Mrs. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, and the existing indications and evidence could not provide basis for any assumptions by the panel, and one accused should not stand trial twice on the same charge. The case was then sent to the Supreme Court, which unfortunately upheld the sentence. This was a summary of the case but I want to point out other uncertainties regarding the case. We have traveled more than 6 times to Tehran to visit Mr. Larijani, or Khamenei, or Ahmadi-Nezhad, and written more than a hundred times to them but have not received any response, so I have no option but reaching out to them this way. I want to ask the country’s authorities a few questions and hope they hear me.

I ask you to send the letter of my mother’s pardon to Tabriz and return my mother’s life back to her. I hope that you see to it that justice in my mother’s case prevails, for thanks to your judges’ wisdom, my mother is in a bad psychological state, and in 5 whole years has been imprisoned without a day of permission [ed note – a day of leave from the prison].

I have now said all that should have been said; my mother and I are asking the people of the world to help us, and are deeply grateful for what has been done thus far.

Many thanks,

Sajjad Ghader-Zadeh

 http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/07/letter-to-mina-ahadi-and-all-those.html

http://iransolidarity.org.uk/Sangsarha%20lst-farshad-july2010.pdf

 http://notonemoreexecution.org/

 

Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani is a forty-three year old mother ofhhttp://stopstonningnow.com/sakine/sakin284.php?nr=50326944〈=enttp://stopstonningnow.com/sakine/sakin284.php?nr=50326944〈=en two children, 16 & 20 year old respectively. Both Sakine's children and her lawyer tried everything they could to stop the stoning sentence, as a result of committing adultery. However, her stoning is finalized by the Iran's court. Sakine is in Tabriz prison awaiting her imminent stoning sentence.

The barbaric act of stoning must stop now!
Do not allow our nightmare become a reality,
Protest against our mother’s stoning!

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I suggest you all to read carefully this report, it is compelling and informative.

Highlights from the report:

[C]ulturally driven violence… is condoned and even facilitated by kinship groups and the community.“

 “South Asian culture glorifies self-sacrifice in girls and women and puts a premium on their chastity. In addition, tensions around dowry expectations, the idolization of males and arranged or forced marriages — traditions that run directly counter to Canadian values — all play a role in creating a favourable climate for the abuse of girls and women.“

[T]he most insurmountable obstacle of all: a community-wide conspiracy of silence… Community leaders point to cultural traditions, religious values and norms in defending their way of life. Thus, they consciously exploit multiculturalism-inspired fears of appearing racist or of perpetuating cultural stereotypes” — fears, that is, among members of wider society, from feminists to journalists to police officers to judges. For example:

* “[T]here are more than a few cases in Canada of crimes committed in the name of cultural values where judges imposed lesser penalties on the perpetrator in deference to his cultural motivation.“

http://www.fcpp.org/files/1/Culturally-Driven%20Violence%20Against%20Women.pdf

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Pleaze sign to save Sakineh!

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43 year old mother of two, was convicted in May 2006 of having an “illicit relationship” with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence. Despite already having been punished, she has now been further convicted of “adultery” and she and sentenced to death by stoning.

She is currently being held on death row in Tabriz Prison, north-west Iran, and faces imminent execution. Around July 7th , following international protests, officials in Tabriz asked the head of Iran’s judiciary to agree that her sentence of stoning to death be converted to execution by hanging.

On 10 July, the head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights said that her case would be reviewed, although he affirmed that Iranian law permits execution by stoning.

On 14 July Sajjad Qaderzadeh, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s son, was summoned to Tabriz’s Central Prison, and is believed to have been questioned by Ministry of Intelligence officials who possibly threatened him not to give further interviews about his mother’s case.

Please help our mother return home!

We especially stretch our hand out to the Iranians living abroad. Help to prevent this nightmare from becoming reality. Save our mother. We are unable to explain the anguish of every moment, every second of our lives. Words are unable to articulate our fear…

Help to save our mother. Write to and ask officials to free her. Tell them that she doesn’t have a civil complainant and has not done any wrong. Our mother should not be killed. Is there any one hearing this and rushing to our assistance? 

http://freesakineh.org/#signatures

And it is for all of these reasons that, in Europe, I am urging the friends who have fought alongside me for so many years to join the movement. I am appealing to the readers of my review, La Règle du Jeu and to the men and women of good will who read my weekly columns in the Corriere della Sera, El Pais, the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung or, of course, The Huffington Post. I ask these readers--I ask you--to contact the Iranian authorities responsible for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's case and to request that they rule out execution of the accused by any means, clarify the legal status of the accused and inform her lawyer of that status, and rethink their opposition to removing from the penal code a punishment--stoning--that is a shame for Persian culture, a punishment that enlightened Muslims everywhere know to belong to an age long, long past.

Your appeal should be addressed to Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose e-mail address has been made public by Amnesty International: Questo indirizzo e-mail è protetto dallo spam bot. Abilita Javascript per vederlo. . Or you may send a letter through the supreme leader's website.

Letters should also be sent to Iran's minister of justice, Ayatollah Sadegh Ardeshir-Larijani, at the following address, as provided by Amnesty International: Office of the Head of the Judiciary, Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Copies may be sent to the head of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, Mohammad Javad Larijani, at the same address.

These officials must be inundated with communications.

They must be made aware that the world's eyes are fixed on Iran and on the fate of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and the eleven other individuals (eight women and three men) who wait on death row to know whether they will be stoned.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernardhenri-levy/an-international-appeal-t_b_642265.html

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Plans to give defendants in rape cases anonymity appear to have been dropped by the coalition Government.

Instead, according to a report in The Guardian, ministers will negotiate with the Press Complaints Commission to persuade newspapers and websites to allow suspected rapists to remain anonymous.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman yesterday denied that the move was a step back from the coalition's initial stance, saying: "The Government never said it would bring in legislation. It said it would consider the options."

Plans to give anonymity to rape suspects and defendants were strongly criticised by MPs from all sides.

Shadow minister Maria Eagle had warned that by singling out one offence for anonymity, ministers were in "danger of sending a clear signal to victims: you will not be believed".

Corby Tory MP Louise Bagshawe had also said there were concerns on all sides of the Commons that by "singling out rape in this way ministers are sending a negative signal about women and those who accuse men of rape".

The Guardian reported that Blunt told MPs last week that while the current PCC guidance on reporting rape cases was not strong enough, the answer was not to introduce fresh legislation.

PCC guidance on reporting on people accused of crime says that Clause 7, covering children in sex cases, and Clause 11, covering the victims of sexual assault, are relevant when publishing articles about people accused of sexual offences.

In addition, the Editors' Codebook, a guide to the Code of Practice, warns of the dangers of publishing details which might lead readers to be able to identify victims of sex attacks.

But it does not suggest giving anonymity to defendants.

Defendants in rape cases were given anonymity by the Sexual Offences

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45759&c=1

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A bill giving American Indian tribes more authority to combat crime on reservations has cleared Congress and is headed to President Barack Obama, who said he looks forward to signing it.

Obama said the Tribal Law and Order Act, which passed the U.S. House Wednesday, is an important step in addressing the "unique public safety challenges" that confront reservations.

"The federal government's relationship with tribal governments, its obligations under treaty and law, and our values as a nation require that we do more to improve public safety in tribal communities," Obama said. "And this act will help us achieve that."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/21/ap/national/main6699681.shtm

And all of you believe, like I do, that when one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes, that is an assault on our national conscience; it is an affront to our shared humanity; it is something that we cannot allow to continue.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-signing-tribal-law-and-order-actl

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 Six months after the earthquake in Haiti, we see a continued crisis of safety and security in the displacement camps that has exacerbated the already grave problem of sexual violence.

In May and June, MADRE joined delegations coordinated by the Lawyers' Earthquake Response Network (LERN) to Haiti to investigate the problem of rape and other gender-based violence in the camps. We found that women are being raped at an alarming rate—every day—in camps throughout Port-au-Prince. The Haitian Government, the UN and others in the international community have failed to adequately address the situation. Women, especially poor women, have been excluded from full participation and leadership in the relief effort.

Today, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), MADRE, TransAfrica Forum and the Universities of Minnesota and Virginia law schools released this Report, Our Bodies Are Still Trembling: Haitian Women's Fight Against Rape. The report aims to bring to light the crisis and guide governments, international organizations and other stakeholders in providing for even more effective protection and promotion of women’s human rights in Haiti.

http://www.madre.org/index/press-room-4/news/new-report-released-on-haiti-our-bodies-are-still-trembling---haitian-womens-fight-against-rape-473.html

 http://www.madre.org/images/uploads/misc/1280239955_2010.07.26%20-%20HAITI%20GBV%20REPORT%20FINAL.pdf

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A 22-year-old nursing student was treated for head injuries after she suffered a fall from the first-floor kitchen balcony of a doctors’ colony suite inside Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Tuesday.

According to conflicting reports, student M was allegedly subjected to sexual abuse and had jumped to escape. A Medico-Legal Officer (MLO) is now in police custody in connection with this case.

Some children witnessed the fall. “I heard my children scream as they saw the girl fall from the balcony,” reported Dr Saleem, who lives in the area. “When I went there I saw her lying face down, bleeding from her head.” He said her clothes were torn and the MLO was looking down from his balcony. According to officials, the incident took place around 5:30 pm.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/27661/rape-alleged-after-nursing-student-falls-from-jpmc-balcony/

M has been visited by government and political officials. She has refused to take any financial compensation or help and has said that she only wants justice.

On Tuesday, MPA Humera Alwani said that M told her that more than three people raped her. She said that M was thrown from the window of the flat.

Doctors said she could be discharged in the next three to four days. Her family has demanded security for her.

Earlier on, judicial magistrate South has extended the physical remand of the prime suspect Dr Abdul Jabbar Memon. Memon’s lawyer said that his client was too ill to be presented in court.

 http://tribune.com.pk/story/29219/jpmc-nurse-names-classmate-driver-in-statement/

On July 13, 2010, 23-year-old Magdalene Ashraf, a nurse trainee at the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center in Karachi, Pakistan, was lured to the home of a hospital doctor and brutally gang raped by three doctors before being tossed from the balcony apartment onto the street. Police made little effort to register a report, begin an investigation or apprehend two of the doctors who fled the scene. The chief culprit, Dr. Abdul Jabbar Memon, was arrested but will only be held until July 31, 2010 against the dictates of Pakistani law which lists rape as a non-bailable offense. With the double marginalization of being a women and a Catholic minority, Ashraf faces an arduous uphill battle in her fight for justice as the police have given her no protection and her lawyer has withdrawn from the case. Show your support for Magdalene Ashraf by signing our online petition and writing an email to the following people:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/234/justice-for-magdalene-ashraf

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Video footage filmed in September of 2009 shows Sidika outside of the hospital in the provincial capital of Van. Her face was horribly bruised; her head encased in bandages. Part of Sidika's right ear had been sliced off. The woman could barely walk and leaned on her brother for support, as she hobbled a few short steps into the hospital.

After the incident, Turkish authorities separated Sidika Platin and her children from her husband and placed them in a state-run women's shelter. But barely two months later, a local criminal court asked that Sidika and her children be handed back to Faruk Platin. He had not served any jail time for beating his wife.

"At that time, because he showed regret and because his [criminal] record was clean, his sentence was postponed," said Meral Demirbas, the governor of Saray district where Kapikoy is located.

"Also, the wife withdrew her complaint."

Sidika Platin is an ethnic Kurd who speaks no Turkish. According to eyewitnesses, when she appeared in court, she could not understand the judge or prosecutor, and relied on her husband to translate legal proceedings.

On a snowy day last December, local women's rights activists like Hamide Yeni could do little more then watch helplessly, as Faruk Platin led his mutilated wife away from the courtyard, back to the village where they lived.

"This kind of thing happens in every village," says Yeni, one of the founders of a grassroots local family protection association in the Saray district of southeastern Turkey. "There are thousands of women like Sidika out here."

In fact, according to a 2009 Turkish government report, 42 percent of women surveyed said they had been the victims of either physical or sexual abuse by their husband or partner. The report concluded that one in four married Turkish women had been injured by partner violence. Meanwhile, one in ten Turkish women were injured by such violence while pregnant.

Some Turkish activists fear the real statistics for violence against women may actually be much higher.

"In all domestic surveys there are 'shadow figures.' That is because women are not willing to tell about the violence, it's a very sensitive issue," says Pinar Ilkkaracan, a co-founder of the Istanbul-based group Women for Women's Human Rights.

"We think it's much higher than 42 percent."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/30/turkey.domestic.abuse/index.html?hpt=C2

 

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A British holidaymaker has been charged with indecency in Dubai after walking through the world's largest shopping centre in a bikini.

The woman was buying clothes and gifts in the Dubai Mall, fully dressed but in a low-cut top, when she was accosted by an Arabic woman and criticised for wearing 'revealing clothing'.

The pair then became embroiled in a heated row in front of hundreds of bemused shoppers.

Incensed by the Arabic woman's comments, the British woman told her to 'mind her own business' before stripping out of her clothes and 'taunting' the locals by walking around in only her bikini, it is alleged.

The mall's security team then intervened and called the police, who arrested the British holidaymaker.

The woman, whose identity is unknown, was still being questioned by officers in Bur Dubai police station last night.

A source within Dubai police said: 'The British woman was wearing a very low top and most of her legs were on display.

'The Arabic woman stopped to criticise her and that's when she stripped off. That's when things started to get out of hand.

'We ended up questioning both women after receiving a call from the mall security staff.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1300477/Briton-held-wearing-bikini-Dubai-shopping-mall.html

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No comment! In un mondo migliore qualunque rapporto commerciale e diplomatico con una nazione che tratta cosi' le donne dovrebbe cessare immediatamente!

“The court at Al-Jumoum outside Makkah city set five hearings in my case, but each time I went the judge refused to see me or listen to my case because I had no male guardian with me,” said the woman, Um Hasan.

She and her estranged husband have been married for 17 years during which time they have had six children.

“My married life changed from a loving one to one in which physical and verbal abuse became the norm. I was left with no option but to leave my husband and run away with my six children,” she said.

She added that all her attempts to obtain a divorce have failed because of the judge’s refusal to listen to her. “I have medical certificates from Makkah’s King Abdulaziz Hospital proving I have been physically abused but the judge has refused to even look at them because I had no male guardian with me,” she said.

Muhammad Al-Suhali, a professor of Shariah at the Um Al-Qura University in Makkah, said if the woman is saying truth the judge is doing something wrong. “Judges are there to see justice being done. They should help victims and not the assailants,” he added.

He advised the woman to take her case to the highest authorities and to human rights organizations. “Human rights organizations will first verify the woman’s claim and, if it turns out to be true, they will try to reconcile her with her husband and try to get them to end their problems peacefully. If these efforts fail they will take the matter to the governorate, which will not allow any type of injustice,” he said.

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article83130.ece

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The Taliban publicly flogged and then executed a pregnant Afghan widow by shooting her three times in the head for alleged adultery, police said.

Bibi Sanubar, 35, was kept in captivity for three days before she was shot dead in a public trial on Sunday by a local Taliban commander in the Qadis district of the rural western province Badghis.

The Taliban accused Sanubar of having an "illicit affair" that left her pregnant. She was first punished with 200 lashes in public before being shot, deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Mohammad Sayeedi told AFP on Monday.

Since their ouster in 2001, the hardline Taliban militants have executed many people they accused of spying for foreign forces, including at least one woman who was shot dead in Kandahar.

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/taliban-execute-pregnant-woman-20100809-11tzz.html

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In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the woman whose sentence of death by stoning triggered an international outcry has accused the Iranian authorities of lying about the charges against her to pave the way to execute her in secret.

They're lying. They are embarrassed by the international attention on my case and they are desperately trying to distract attention and confuse the media so that they can kill me in secret."

Yesterday, Mossadegh Kahnemoui, a senior Iranian judicial official, told the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: "This lady, in addition to double adultery, is also found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband."

Mohammadi Ashtiani said: "I was found guilty of adultery and was acquitted of murder, but the man who actually killed my husband was identified and imprisoned but he is not sentenced to death."

"The answer is quite simple, it's because I'm a woman, it's because they think they can do anything to women in this country. It's because for them adultery is worse than murder – but not all kinds of adultery: an adulterous man might not even be imprisoned but an adulterous women is the end of the world for them. It's because I'm in a country where its women do not have the right to divorce their husbands and are deprived of their basic rights."

Describing life inside Tabriz prison, Mohammadi Ashtiani said she has been subject to constant mistreatment by prison guards. "Their words, the way they see me – an adulterous woman who should be stoned to death – is just like being stoned to death every day."

She thanked campaigners for highlighting her case and said international pressure was her only hope for release. "For all these years, they [the officials] have tried to put something in my mind, to convince me that I'm an adulterous woman, an irresponsible mother, a criminal but with the international support, once again I'm finding myself, my innocent self."

She pleaded: "Don't let them stone me in front of my son."

Twelve women and three men have also been sentenced to death by stoning in Iran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/06/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-iran-interview

 

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Iran will not send a woman who had faced death by stoning on an adultery conviction to Brazil, which has offered her asylum, the president said in a TV interview broadcast Monday.

The stoning sentence for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, has been lifted for now after it prompted an outcry from the United States and other governments as well as rights groups. Brazil, which has friendly relations with Iran, offered her asylum.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told state-run English-language Press TV he did not think there was a need to send her to Brazil and that he hoped the issue "will be solved," without explaining.

"There is a judge at the end of the day and the judges are independent. But I talked with the head of the judiciary and the judiciary also does not agree" with Brazil's proposal, Ahmadinejad said. "I think there is no need to create some trouble for President Lula and take her to Brazil," he added, referring to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The office of Brazil's president and its Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on Ahmadinejad's remarks.

Though Iran has lifted the stoning sentence, it is now accusing the woman of playing a role in her husband's 2005 murder. She could still be hanged.

Iran's Embassy in Brazil sought to explain the rejection of the asylum proposal in a statement addressed to the Brazilian public.

"If the granting of exile for criminals and murderers became a habit for nations, would this not affect the role of the legal systems of these nations?" the statement said.

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_stoning

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Continua la mostruosa barbarie talebana.

A man and a woman in their 20s have been stoned to death at the order of a local Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan, just a week after a pregnant widow was subjected to the same brutal punishment for alleged extra-marital relations.

A man and woman have been stoned to death in northern Afghanistan after being accused by the Taliban of having an affair, a witness and an official said Monday.  

http://www.france24.com/en/20100816-afghan-couple-stoned-death-taliban-love-affair

Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said a local Taliban commander confirmed that the man was a married 28-year-old, while the woman was in her early twenties, engaged to marry someone else.

"The couple were brought into an open field and about 100 Taliban or supporters of the Taliban gathered and began stoning them just after a Taliban supporter read out a statement of their confession."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/2010816171115397111.html

 

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Many women in Russia's volatile Chechnya region said on Friday they had been harassed and some physically harmed by bands of men for not wearing headscarves during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Residents and witnesses told Reuters that bearded men in traditional Islamic dress have been roaming the streets both on foot and in cars since Ramadan started on Aug. 11, demanding bare-headed women wear a headscarf.

"Two men came up to me, one furiously fingering a prayer bead, and said it wasn't pretty to have a bare head during Ramadan," 38-year old Markha Atabayeva told Reuters in the Chechen capital Grozny. "They instilled such fear in me".

Atabayeva was one of at least a dozen women who told of harassment or attacks. One of the women's assailants told Reuters "hundreds" of women had been warned.

Atabayeva said earlier she had seen a group of men with automatic rifles taunting women for not wearing headscarves. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE67J13Q

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Trois jours après, c'est une jeune femme de confession juive qui portait plainte après avoir été agressée dans une grande surface de Toulouse. La victime affirme avoir été prise à partie par deux adolescents qui lui reprochaient d'acheter de la nourriture pendant le jeûne. La jeune femme aurait alors fait valoir qu'elle était de confession juive, ce qui n'aurait fait que redoubler la colère de ses agresseurs, lesquels, après l'avoir traitée de "sale juive", l'auraient frappée à la tête, la faisant lourdement chuter. Un vigile a assisté à la scène sans intervenir. Interrogé par les enquêteurs sur les raisons de sa passivité, l'homme a expliqué qu'il respectait le ramadan et qu'il était donc pressé de partir pour pouvoir s'alimenter, dès le coucher du soleil.

http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/agresse-parce-qu-il-n-a-pas-respecte-le-ramadan-23-08-2010-1227824_23.php

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The bodies of five people working for a female candidate in Afghanistan's parliamentary election have been found in western Herat province.

They were among a group of 10 people kidnapped by armed men on Wednesday. Five were later released, say reports.

The Taliban later said they carried out the abductions. No group has said it carried out the killings.

Taliban insurgents opposed to the elections in general - and female candidates in particular - have been blamed for the murder of a number of candidates.

On Saturday, candidate Haji Abdul Manan was shot and killed as he was leaving a mosque on the back of a motorcycle.

The Taliban have also been blamed for the kidnap of four women working at a drug treatment centre in northern Faryab province. Officials were reported to be negotiating to secure the women's release.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11125517

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As human rights activists around the world marked the International Day of the Disappeared by focusing on Peru, Iraq, Nepal and Mexico, Leslie Spillett sat in her office in Winnipeg, contemplating the fate of more than 500 indigenous women who have disappeared in Canada.

The violence, primarily targeting young women from disadvantaged backgrounds over the past three decades, is "truly appalling" according to Amnesty International and, say human rights groups, has not been properly addressed by security forces in one of the world's richest countries.

Most of the disappeared indigenous Canadians are thought to have been killed by sexual predators or serial killers like William Pickton, who was convicted of murdering six women and is thought to have killed dozens more.

But there have been isolated cases of security forces actively attacking indigenous people - hauling them to the outskirts of cities and leaving them to freeze in a process that has become known as the "starlight tour".

When young women leave their families in search of work or a better life, they can become vulnerable to predators, addiction and other forms of marginalisation.

But regardless of the historical roots, not knowing what has happened to their loved-ones is often the hardest part for family members.

"It is a universal phenomenon and something needs to be done," Engelbrecht says. "The families must be able to retain the remains and mourn."

http://english.aljazeera.net/quoteofday/2010/08/201083018253280225.html

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Semplicemente disgustoso!

Mohammadi Ashtiani wrote her will and embraced her cellmates in Tabriz prison just before the call to morning prayer, when she expected to be led to the gallows, her son Sajad told the Guardian.

"Pressure from the international community has so far stopped them from carrying out the sentence but they're killing her every day by any means possible," he said.

The mock execution came days after prison authorities denied family and legal visits to Mohammadi Ashtiani. Her children were told she was unwilling to meet them while she was told, also falsely, that no one had come to visit her.

Mina Ahadi of Iran Committee against Stoning (ICAS) said: "Look how easily they are accusing and insulting Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and you would realise how bad they are treating Sakineh and women in general in Iran and how they can build up dossier against people out of nothing and sentence them to death by stoning."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/31/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-mock-execution-stoning

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