30 Oct 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & Women's Rights

Articles

Colombian Women’s Rights Activist Found Dead in River
TeleSur, 27 Oct 2018

Women's rights activist Maria Caicedo Muñoz was found dead in Rio Macay, Cauca department Friday. She was a Women’s Committee of the Association of Campesino Women of Argelia, as informed by the Peoples’ Prosecutor on Saturday.Caicedo was part of a group which championed women's rights, in the region, which is linked to the Campesino Association of Workers of Argelia.

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Vatican meeting ends with call for greater role for women in Church
Reuters, 27 Oct 2018

A major meeting of Catholic bishops ended on Saturday with a call for women to play a greater role in Church decision making as a “duty of justice”, but appeared to water down language that would have been more welcoming to gays.The role of women took center stage at the synod, which was focused on reaching out to young people but has been overshadowed by the scandal over sex abuse in the Church and acrimony between social conservatives and reformers. 

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Ethiopia Appoints Its First Female President
New York Times, 25 Oct 2018

A week after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia filled half of his new cabinet with women in a radical overhaul, the country’s Parliament took another step toward gender parity on Thursday by appointing the country’s first female president. Sahle-Work Zewde, 68, a seasoned diplomat who has held positions in the United Nations and worked in peacekeeping operations in Africa, accepted the position following the unprecedented appointments of women to lead the Defense Ministry and the secret intelligence agency, a long-feared state organ that recently got a face-lift. (It is now called the Ministry of Peace.)

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Russia: Unaddressed Domestic Violence Puts Women at Risk
Human Rights Watch, 25 Oct 2018

Russian authorities often fail to protect women from domestic violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Serious gaps in Russia’s laws, the lack of protection orders, and inadequate police and judicial responses leave women who face even severe physical violence with little or no protection. The 84-page report, “‘I Could Kill You and No One Would Stop Me’: Weak State Response to Domestic Violence in Russia,” details the barriers survivors face in reporting abuse and getting help. They include social stigma, lack of awareness, and lack of trust in police. Police often refuse to register or investigate women’s reports of domestic violence, instead funneling victims into the patently unfair and extremely burdensome process of private prosecution, for which the victim must gather all necessary evidence and bear all costs. Human Rights Watch also found that survivors face obstacles to finding emergency shelter.

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A young Saudi woman is facing execution — for taking part in nonviolent protests
The Washington Post, 23 Oct 2018

Israa al-Ghomgham, 28, first met the man who would later become her husband, Moussa al-Hashem in 2011, during the heady days of the Arab Spring. The couple’s dreams for a better future were shattered in 2015, when the Saudi State Intelligence Service raided their home and arrested them. The charges against Ghomgham and Hashem were based on their political chants, social media posts and involvement in demonstrations. None of the evidence suggested any participation in any violent acts. Yet the prosecutor demanded the death sentence for all of the detainees except one. Ghomgham thus became the first Saudi female activist to face the prospect of execution for acts of peaceful dissent.

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