05 January 2021 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & Women's Rights

Articles

Pakistan court bans virginity tests for rape survivors
Aljazeera, 05 Jan 2021

A Pakistani court has banned the use of virginity tests on female rape survivors in a landmark ruling that is being lauded by women’s rights activists. The Lahore High Court on Monday ruled that the tests, conducted as a matter of routine by medico-legal examiners in rape cases across the South Asian country, were “invasive and an infringement on the privacy of a woman to her body”.

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Calls for Saudi Dakar Rally boycott while women’s right to drive activist in prison
The Guardian, 05 Jan 2021

Supporters of women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who campaigned for women’s right to drive in Saudi Arabia, have called for a boycott of the Dakar Rally for “sportswashing” the reputation of the conservative kingdom while Hathloul remains in prison.

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Australian women’s rights activist faces charges in Tanzania
The Guardian, 03 Jan 2021

An Australian ex-Muslim women’s rights activist faces “politically motivated” charges in Tanzania, including for a tweet allegedly critical of the country’s president, according to her supporters.

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Female genital mutilation: The woman fighting Sierra Leone's ritual
Deutsche Welle, 03 Jan 2021

Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of female genital mutilation in Africa. Despite decades of campaigns, the traditional practice has hardly declined. This doesn't deter Rugiatu Turay from fighting cutting.

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Controversial 'tampon tax' scrapped in the UK
BBC News, 02 Jan 2021

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said the tax applied to sanitary products, nicknamed the "tampon tax", has been abolished. Women's rights campaigners have been fighting for years to put an end to the tax, and it means sanitary towels and tampons will now be cheaper in the UK.

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The Argentine women who fought for legal abortion – and won
Aljazeera, 31 Dec 2020

The road to legalising abortion in Argentina is paved with the sweat, tears and devotion of women who spent much of their lives fighting for change. They are revered as “las historicas” – the pioneering activists, lawyers and doctors who occupied the lonely space on street corners in the 1990s, waving placards that demanded women have the right to determine the fate of their bodies.

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