11 October 2022 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & Women’s Rights

Articles

Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women Opens Eighty Third Session in Geneva
Mirage News, 10 Oct 2022

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this morning opened its eighty-third session, hearing a statement from Andrea Ori, Director of the Groups in Focus Section, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and adopting its agenda for the session, during which it will review the reports of Armenia, Belgium, Finland, Gambia, Honduras, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

 

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Liberia: Lawmakers Linked to Facilitating Female Genital Cutting in Gparpolu County
Front Page Agfrica, 10 Oct 2022

The campaign against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Liberia seems to be leading to a complete fiasco as some lawmakers in the country are said to be heavily facilitating the practices. Despite Merck Foundation’s campaign against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), it has been disclosed that two members of the legislature have been identified as those reportedly facilitating the harmful traditional practice in the country.

 

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Thousands march in US women’s rallies for abortion rights
Al Jazeera, 09 Oct 2022

Thousands of people have marched across cities in the United States, demanding abortion rights ahead of next month’s key midterm elections.

 

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Women, life, and the pursuit of liberty in Iran
Arab Weekly, 08 Oct 2022

The September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, while in the custody of Iran’s morality police has sparked an unprecedented wave of national anger against the Islamic Republic of Iran and a violent government response. Today, “Mahsa,” who went by her Kurdish name, Zhina, is synonymous with Iranians’ fight for freedom and liberty.

 

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#MeToo 5 years on: What has changed in Europe since the start of the movement?
EuroNews, 08 Oct 2022

It's already been five years since the #MeToo movement exploded in the US, shaking Hollywood to its core and sparking worldwide conversations about the sexism, sexual harassment and abuse suffered by women across the planet, no matter their industries. Behaviour that five years ago was commonly considered acceptable, if not merely tolerated as a necessary evil, would never fly on an international stage today, as it used to at the Cannes or Berlin film festivals. But further away from the intense media scrutiny on such high-visibility events, has our society really changed, and if so how?

 

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Why Students Joining Iran's Protest Wave Matters
Time, 07 Oct 2022

Since the early days of the Islamic Republic, Iran’s student movements have been a spark for broader protests, says Reza Akbari, a Ph.D. candidate of modern Iranian history at American University in Washington, D.C. The most prominent example was perhaps in July 1999, following the government’s decision to close down the reformist newspaper Salam. Students at Tehran University protested the closure, prompting security forces to raid dormitories on campus—leaving at least one student dead and hundreds wounded. The protests soon morphed into a broader movement calling for government accountability. For this reason, “The protests are gaining multiple levels of meaning,” adds Akbari.

 

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