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06 June 2017 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & women's rights
Articles
Little wounded women: A new generation of Bohra Muslim women is speaking out against female genital mutilation
By The Indian Express, 05 Jun 2017
A recent Supreme Court notice is forcing the community to confront these accounts of violence. Last month, the court sought a “detailed reply” from the Centre and four states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi — in response to a petition seeking a ban on FGM. While Bohra Muslim women have been working to mobilise the community against the practice for a few years now, the petition was filed independently by Delhi-based advocate Sunita Tiwari, who works in the field of child rights. “This practice violates children’s rights. I have nothing to do with the religious aspect but children should not suffer.” There is disagreement within the community whether seeking a judicial fiat on khatna is the way to go. Ranalvi admits that the petition, which will come up for hearing in June, has left her unsettled. “Although it quotes us, we were never consulted. We have been working with the community, sensitising them, speaking out for a long time now. I am just apprehensive that if it is rejected, the doors of judiciary will be completely shut for us.” Ranalvi, with the help of senior counsel Indira Jaising, has just released a law report. They plan to intervene in the petition in the Supreme Court to strengthen the case for a ban on FGM by demonstrating that only a separate law is the way forward. It has been submitted to the Women and Child Development Ministry. “Since we are right at the centre of this storm, we are in a better position to put facts on record. Most importantly, our voices should be heard,” she says. The petition has also led to a backlash against activists by staunch supporters of the religious head, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin. Many women have been abused and threatened on social media. Another group, called the Dawoodi Bohra Women for Religious Freedom (DBWRF), has been formed to counter the anti-FGM campaign. “Yes, many of us may well be circumcised, as were our mothers and grandmothers before us. The Constitution of India gives us this right to freedom of conscience and religion,” says Rashida Diwan, founding member.
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Saudi Arabia detains rights activist who defied women’s driving ban
By Amnesty International, 05 Jun 2017
Responding to news about the re-arrest of Saudi Arabian women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul at King Fahad International Airport in Dammamin Saudi Arabia on 4 June, Samah Hadid Director of Campaigns for Amnesty International in the Middle–East said: “The Saudi Arabian authorities’ continuous harassment of Loujain al-Hathloul is absurd and unjustifiable. It appears she is being targeted once again because of her peaceful work as a human rights defender speaking out for women's rights, which are consistently trammeled in the kingdom. If so she must be immediately and unconditionally released. “Instead of upholding its promise of a more tolerant Saudi Arabia, the government has again shattered any notion that it is genuinely committed to upholding equality and human rights.” Amnesty International learned that Loujain al-Hathloul is due to travel from Dammam to Riyadh at 17:30 local time to be interrogated by the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution. She has no access to a lawyer and has not been allowed to contact her family. The exact reason for her arrest remains unknown, however Amnesty International believes it is in relation to her human rights activism.
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A Virginia imam said female genital mutilation prevents ‘hypersexuality,’ leading to calls for his dismissal
by The Washington Post, 05 Jun 2017
A Virginia mosque has publicly condemned the words of its leading imam, highlighting lingering divisions among Muslim leaders over the controversial and widely rejected practice of female genital mutilation. The Board of Directors at the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church said Monday that Imam Shaker Elsayed’s seeming endorsement of the outlawed practice as “the honorable thing to do if needed” ran afoul of both U.S. and Islamic law. Elsayed’s comments during a lecture on child rearing and family life last month sparked a brief controversy last Friday after a right-wing watchdog group circulated a video clip of his speech online. In his lecture, a video of which appeared on the mosque’s YouTube channel, Elsayed spoke about circumcision as the cutting of “the tip of the sexually sensitive part of the girl so that she is not hyper-sexually active.” He warned about the dangers of more serious forms of the procedure, but advised congregants to seek the advice of a Muslim gynecologist to see whether minimal action was necessary. He also warned that “in societies where circumcision of girls is completely prohibited, hyper-sexuality takes over the entire society and a woman is not satisfied with one person or two or three.” Dar al-Hijrah’s Board of Directors on Monday said it rejected Elsayed’s opinion, and that FGM is “prohibited in Islam as well as the laws of the land.” “We at Dar Al-Hijrah, DO NOT condone, promote, or support any practice of FGM,” the Board said in a statement. “The reference to “Hyper-sexuality” is offensive and it is unequivocally rejected. The Board of Directors is particularly disturbed by such comments.”
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Authorities stifle women's protest in Morocco's Rif
By Al Jazeera, 05 Jun 2017
Moroccan authorities stifled a women's protest in the coastal city of Al-Hoceima, campaigning for access to jobs, health services and infrastructure in the northern Rif region. Police encircled hundreds of female protesters in a public park late on Saturday, impeding others from joining, as the women chanted "freedom, dignity and social justice," Reuters news agency reported. Female police officers and riot police pushed the leader of the protest Nawal Ben Aissa - a prominent member of Hirak - away from the group. She was accompanied at the protest by the mother of Nasser Zefzafi - the 39-year-old leader of the protest movement who was arrested last week for "undermining the security of the state" and other criminal acts. "We go to sleep in fear and we wake up in fear," Fatima Alghloubzari, who tried to join the protest, told Reuters. "We never imagined our city would become like this." One woman fainted after police suppressed the protest. A heavy security presence has been in place around the city's Sidi Abed square. According to organisers, police have been increasingly preventing people from joining protests and blocking access since Zefzafi's arrest. "Women in northern Morocco were usually confined to their homes. They never participated in politics even if they were educated," Mohamed Chtatou, a political analyst told Al Jazeera. "But now women are leading protests, which is significant."
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Rwanda: 'It's Not Good for a Girl to Go Into Politics'
By All Africa: The East African, 03 Jun 2017
"I have many meetings. So let's do the interview quickly, or unless it can wait?" asks Diane Shima Rwigara, the newest voice on Rwanda's political scene. The 35-year-old accountant and businesswoman recently announced her intention to stand for president against incumbent Paul Kagame in the forthcoming election. The announcement caught many off guard, and elicited a massive debate. Unlike in neighbouring Uganda or Kenya, elections in Rwanda don't trigger pandemonium and hype. Less than two months to the General Election, there is little on the ground to show that the country is headed for the polls. However, the May 3 announcement by Diane caused more of a stir than the earlier announcement by Frank Habineza, the president of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, who also revealed his intention to contest. Diane says she was always interested in politics when she was growing up, though she had not anticipated that one day she would vie for the country's top office. "Some family members used to tell me that it was not good for a girl to have such strong political opinions, or that it was not good for a girl to be so vocal," she says. "It took me time to make peace with the fact that I am a girl who loves politics. It is who I am, I cannot change it," Diane said, adding; "I decided to go into politics because I felt that there was no politician in the country who was speaking on my behalf, or on behalf of many other Rwandans."
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