29 Jun 2021 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & women's rights

Articles

Egypt will finally appoint women judges. But is the move really progress?
Open Democracy, 28 Jun 2021

On 3 June 2021, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Judicial Bodies made the historic decision to approve women’s appointments as judges and prosecutors to the Administrative Judiciary (also known as the State Council) and the Public Prosecution Authority (PPA), respectively. These are the only bodies in the Egyptian judicial system that remain exclusively male.

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Egypt Persecutes TikTok Women While Men Get Impunity for Sexual Violence
Human Rights Watch, 28 Jun 2021

The public prosecution's aggressive targeting of female social media influencers stands in stark contrast to the authorities' failure to investigate and prosecute men for sexual violence, writes HRW's Rothna Begum. “Ten years! I didn't do anything immoral to deserve all this. I was jailed for 10 months and didn't say a word after I was released... Why do you want to jail me again?”

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India’s Covid gender gap: women left behind in vaccination drive
The Guardian, 28 Jun 2021

Deep-rooted structural inequalities and patriarchal values are to blame for India’s worrying Covid vaccine gender gap, campaigners and academics have warned. As of 25 June, of the 309m Covid vaccine doses delivered since January 2021, 143m were administered to women compared with nearly 167m to men, according to CoWin, India’s national statistics site – a ratio of 856 doses given to women for every 1,000 given to men. 

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Saudi Arabia releases two prominent women’s rights activists
Al Jazeera, 27 Jun 2021

Saudi Arabia has released two prominent women’s rights activists held in detention for nearly three years, a rights group has confirmed. “Human rights defenders Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah have been released following the expiry of the sentences against them,” ALQST for Human Rights said in a tweet on Sunday.

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Mozambique Investigates Sexual Exploitation of Women Inmates
Human Rights Watch, 25 Jun 2021

This week, Mozambique’s government appointed members of a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation and other rights violations of female inmates by guards at the Ndlavela Women's Prison in Maputo. Minister of Justice Helena Kida also announced the suspension of the prison’s entire management. But government measures need to go further to ensure accountability for those responsible, provide reparations, and determine whether abuses are taking place in other prisons in Mozambique.

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European Parliament adopts ‘historic’ report on abortion and women’s rights
Open Democracy, 25 Jun 2021

European Union countries should ensure that women are offered “high quality, comprehensive and accessible sexual and reproductive health and rights” – including access to safe abortion care and modern contraception – says a "historic" new report adopted by the European Parliament on 24 June. “Historic day!” Croatian MEP Predrag Fred Matić, who proposed the report, told openDemocracy after the result: 378 votes in favour of adopting the report, 255 against (42 MEPs abstained).

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Gibraltar votes to ease strict abortion law
Reuters, 25 Jun 2021

Gibraltar voted to ease a strict abortion law, officials said on Friday, after a referendum which some locals said marked a long overdue advancement of women's rights in the tiny British territory. Around 62% of voters who took part backed the change in Thursday's ballot, where turnout was about 52% of the 23,000 odd eligible voters, Gibraltar's parliament said. "Gibraltar does have to keep up with the times, you cannot live in the past," said Jacqueline, a Gibraltarian woman who declined to give her last name, on Friday morning.
 

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