22 February 2022 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & Women's Rights

Articles

Liberia: Female Genital Mutilation Practices Suspended for Three Years
Front Page Africa, 22 Feb 2022

 The head of the Traditional Council of Liberia, Chief Zanzan Karwor, on Monday suspended the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) for three years.
Chief Karwor announced the suspension during the official launch of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection National Anti-Sexual Gender-based Violence (SGBV) Call Center and the turnover of 15 motorbikes and four cars to be used by the Anti-Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) taskforce headed by the Ministry of Justice.

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Colombia: Decriminalization of abortion is a triumph for human rights
Amnesty International, 21 Feb 2022

 The Colombian Constitutional Court’s ruling in favour of the decriminalization of abortion during the first 24 weeks of a pregnancy is a great triumph for human rights, said Amnesty International today.
“We celebrate this ruling as a historic victory for the women’s movement in Colombia that has fought for decades for the recognition of their rights. Women, girls and people able to bear children are the only ones who should make decisions about their bodies. Now, instead of punishing them, the Colombian authorities will have to recognize their autonomy over their bodies and their life plans,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

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As Kuwait Cracks Down, a Battle Erupts Over Women’s Rights
VoANews, 21 Feb 2022

It all started over yoga. When an instructor in Kuwait this month advertised a desert wellness yoga retreat, conservatives declared it an assault on Islam. Lawmakers and clerics thundered about the “danger” and depravity of women doing the lotus position and downward dog in public, ultimately persuading authorities to ban the trip. The yoga ruckus represented just the latest flashpoint in a long-running culture war over women’s behavior in the sheikhdom, where tribes and Islamists wield growing power over a divided society. Increasingly, conservative politicians push back against a burgeoning feminist movement and what they see as an unraveling of Kuwait’s traditional values amid deep governmental dysfunction on major issues. 

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The abortion travel agents: ‘Some women know what they need, others just say: help’
The Guardian, 19 Feb 2022

With reproductive rights being increasingly restricted in Europe, people are relying on a network of volunteers to help them.

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‘Elephant in the room’: Jordanian women and equal rights
Aljazeera, 18 Feb 2022

A political feud in parliament erupted into a fistfight during a discussion to add “Jordanian women” to a constitutional clause on equal rights.
The new amendment, which passed with 94 votes of 120 parliamentarians present last month, changed the title of the constitution’s second chapter to “Rights and duties of Jordanian men and Jordanian women”, adding the feminine pronoun for Jordanians, “al-urduniat”. 

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Ecuador legislators approve regulations allowing abortion in cases of rape
The Guardian, 17 Feb 2022

Ecuadorian legislators have approved regulations to allow women and girls access to abortions in cases of rape, following a constitutional court ruling that decriminalized such abortions.
Previously, Ecuador allowed abortions only when a woman’s life was endangered by pregnancy. 

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