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26 Jul 2016 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & women's rights
Articles
No amnesty for war rapists: Colombia peace talks turn to women's rights
by Thomson Reuters Fondation, 25 Jul 2016
BOGOTA, July 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Colombia's government and FARC rebels have pledged to improve access to land for women and ensure perpetrators of sexual violence, including rape, will not be eligible for amnesty as part of ongoing peace talks to end five decades of civil war. The government and leftist rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a historic ceasefire deal in June, bringing Colombia ever closer to signing a final peace accord to end Latin America's longest-running conflict. As part of peace talks, which have been going on in Cuba for almost four years, a commission on gender issues has been set up to ensure women's voices are heard and their suffering during half a century of war is recognised. "We are aware that the conflict has shown no mercy on women, bringing about unimaginable horrors," Colombia's lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle said in a statement on Sunday. "The torch of reconciliation rests with the women of Colombia," he said. Nearly half of Colombia's 7.8 million war victims officially registered by the government are women, the majority of whom have been forced to leave their homes by warring factions.
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The trauma of Syria's married children
by Aljazeera, 23 Jul 2016
The war in Syria has killed more than 10,000 children. More than one million have fled the country to escape the violence, while millions more are displaced inside the country. Less publicized is the impact of the crisis, particularly regarding the increase in numbers of girls who have been forced to marry. Three years into the conflict, official statistics show that among Syrian refugee communities in Jordan the number of child marriages has soared, and in some cases, doubled. Data collected by UNICEF shows a quarter of all Syrian refugee marriages registered in Jordan now involve a girl under the age of 18. The proportion of child marriages among the Syrian refugee community in Jordan where the bride was under the age of 18 rose from 12 percent in 2011 to 25 percent in 2013. The number of Syrian boys registered as married are far lower showing that girls are being married off to older males.
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Police and charities launch anti-FGM campaign at Manchester airport
by The Guardian , 23 Jul 2016
At 3am on Thursday morning, a group of police, border officers and charity workers joined the throng of holidaymakers at Manchester airport of to begin their summer campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM). Sometimes known as the ‘cutting season’, the school summer holidays are the most common time for girls in the UK to be taken abroad, usually to their family’s country of origin, and subject to mutilation. Operation Limelight will see Greater Manchester police and their partners speaking to outbound passengers in July about FGM and again to inbound passengers at the end of August and into September. Travellers will be made aware of the signs that indicate someone could be at risk and informed that it is illegal for UK nationals or permanent residents to perform FGM in the UK or abroad, with a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment.
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African Union Launches first Report on the Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa at 27th AU Summit
by allAfrica, 22 Jul 2016
Addis Ababa – 21 July, 2016 - The African Union Commission, in the margins of the 27th AU Summit in Kigali, launched the first ever report on the "Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa". The report which was launched on the 9th of July, 2016, during the Third AU High Level Panel on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, seeks to form the basis for enhanced dialogue and engagement with AU Member States and Regional Economic Communities, civil society, and other key stakeholders on accelerating implementation, as well as better informing the African Union's engagement with international interlocutors and partners on the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Africa. The report canvasses the legislative and administrative mechanisms and machineries put in place at all levels to support the advancement of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda in Africa, as well as progress made on performance where data and information exists. It includes various case studies of achievements on participation in the nineteen Member States that have adopted UNSCR 1325 National Action Plans, including on parliamentary representation, leadership, and special measures; ministerial level representation; participation in peacekeeping; and in peace agreements.
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South Africa: Abuse of Sex Workers by Police Rife Report Finds
by allAfrica, 22 Jul 2016
Women's Legal Centre details hundred of cases of rape, assault, harassment and unlawful arrest.Over 400 sex workers reported cases of abuse at the hands of the police between 2011 and 2015. This is according to the Women's Legal Centre's (WLC) latest report detailing cases of physical assault, rape, harassment and unlawful arrest that were reported to the centre. "The police officer pretended to arrest me and then raped me. After being raped I went to lodge a complaint at the police station. The police just made as if they were taking a statement by pretending to write in a book, but nothing came of it," said a sex worker from the Western Cape in the report. There were 682 instances of abuse, mostly harassment and verbal abuse at the hands of the police, reported to WLC by 414 sex workers. Almost 20% of the sex workers reporting police abuse said they had been physically assaulted and 3% had been sexually assaulted.
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Zika emergency pushes women to challenge Brazil's abortion law
by The Guardian, 19 Jul 2016
Women’s groups in Brazil are set to challenge the abortion laws this summer in the hope of making a safe and legal termination possible for women at risk of delivering a baby born with defects after exposure to the Zika virus. “Women should be able to decide and have the means to terminate pregnancies because they are facing serious risks of having babies with microcephaly and also suffering huge mental distress during their pregnancies. They should not be forced to carry on their pregnancies under the circumstances,” said Beatriz Galli, a lawyer on bioethics and human rights who works for Ipas, a group dedicated to ending unsafe abortion. Lawyers for the organisations will present a legal challenge at the supreme court in the first week of August, when the court sits again after the winter break. They are co-ordinated by Anis Instituto de Bioética which campaigns for women’s equality and reproductive rights.
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