28 Jun 2016 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & women's rights

Articles

Egypt bans activist from traveling to women's rights conference
by Reuters, 27 Jun 2016

An Egyptian activist was prevented from flying to Beirut for a women's rights conference on Monday after passport control officials told her she was banned from traveling, her organization said. Mozn Hassan, director of a group called Nazra for Feminist Studies, was barred from flying due to her alleged involvement in a high-profile case in which authorities have accused non-governmental organizations of receiving foreign funds with the aim of sowing chaos, Nazra said in a statement. Nazra said it condemned the action against her and the inclusion of the organization in the NGO funding case. The case has been revived in recent months, with many activists being summoned for questioning, banned from travel or having their assets frozen. In March, Nazra saw three employees questioned, including Hassan. "They want to stigmatize us," she told Reuters at the time. "They want to say publicly that those people (Nazra) are spies, that those people are not patriots."

Continua

For single women in India's Maharashtra, owning land can be the difference between life and death
by Reuters, 27 Jun 2016

 In drought-hit Marathwada, the state's poorest region, there is an unusually high number of single women. Some were widowed after their farmer husbands committed suicide because of debt; others were abandoned because they didn't produce a son, while some were left behind when their husbands left to search for work. Alone and without financial support, the women and their children are usually thrown out of home by their in-laws, denied ownership of the land they worked on and any compensation from the government. They are also taunted and harassed by communities who believe a woman is nothing without a man. "In this country, single women are the most vulnerable category - they are neglected by the government, by society, even their own family," said Vishwanth Todkar, secretary at Paryay, a charity that works with marginalized communities.

Continua

Women’s rights groups in Niger push forward on gender equality
by The Washington Post, 24 Jun 2016

As part of its “Step It Up for Gender Equality” initiative, the United Nations’ U.N. Women group is keeping track of which countries are making commitments to close the gender equality gap. While the Central African Republic has made a commitment, Canada has not. Pakistan also made a commitment, but not Peru. Why do governments adopt women’s rights policies? That’s the main question driving Alice J. Kang’s research in her new book, “Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy” (ungated introduction chapter here). Kang’s book offers an engaging, detailed look at how women activists played a vital role in Niger’s adoption of women’s rights policies. In this week’s installment of the African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular, we present a Q&A with the author. Kim Yi Dionne: The vignette that opens your book is really captivating. You tell how the president of Niger’s largest women’s organization used the opportunity made possible by the 1999 military coup to advocate that Niger ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The transitional government ratified CEDAW by military decree four months later. How did you learn the details of this story — and the other interesting political insights you share in your book?

Continua

Africa: UN Staff Unions Demand Stronger Action On Sexual Abuse
by allAfrica, 23 Jun 2016

The United Nations claims it is doing its best to curb widespread sexual abuses in its peacekeeping operations overseas - from Haiti all the way to the Central African Republic. But the UN's best is just not good enough, says Ian Richards, President, Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations. Richards, who represents over 60,000 staffers in the UN system worldwide, told IPS: "We cannot stand by while a few colleagues and military personnel commit acts of sexual exploitation and abuse against those seeking our help." Judging by what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and member states have said, the intentions are there, but there's a lot of work to do, and it's not clear how far things are moving forward, said Richards, who is based in Geneva. "That's why we as staff unions have decided to take a moral stand," he declared, pointing out that last year alone, 99 women, children and men were allegedly sexually exploited or abused by those working under the UN flag.

Continua

Gambia: Two Deny Circumcising a Minor
by The Point (Banjul), 23 Jun 2016

Two women, Saffiatou Darboe and Sunkaru Darboe, yesterday denied circumcising a minor, in a case before Justice Abi of the Mansakonko High Court in the Lower River Region. Saffiatou Darboe and Sunkaru Darboe were charged with conspiracy to commit felony, grievous harm and prohibition of FGM/C under section 32 A (2) (a) of the Women's Amendment Act. When the case was called, A.M. Yusuf and A. Bah appeared for the state while L.S. Camara represented the accused persons. The two accused persons, Sunkaru Darboe and Saffiatou Darboe, were all present in court. According to the bill of indictment read in court in count one, the accused persons on 27 February 2016, at Sankandi in Kiang West in LRR, conspired to circumcise a five-month-old baby.

Continua

Abortion demand soars in countries hit by Zika outbreak, study finds
by the Guardian , 23 Jun 2016

Demand for abortions has soared among women living in countries hit by the spread of the Zika virus who fear having a baby with severe birth defects, new data shows. In unprecedented numbers, women in Latin America are accessing the website Women on Web, which has a long history of helping those in countries where abortion is illegal to obtain pills which will terminate an early pregnancy. In Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador the requests for help have doubled, while in other Latin American countries they have risen by a third. Revelations about the scale of abortion demand published in the New England Journal of Medicine come as the golfer Rory McIlroy pulled out of the Olympics in Rio, citing anxiety over potential Zika infection. “I’ve come to realise that my health and my family’s health comes before anything else,” he said in a statement. “Even though the risk of infection from the Zika virus is considered low, it is a risk nonetheless and a risk I am unwilling to take.” The World Health Organisation is advising travellers to the Olympics to practise safe sex using condoms or abstain for eight weeks after their return, to avoid the risk of sexual transmission of the virus to a woman who is pregnant or planning to become so.

Continua