SKSW Publications: Policy Briefing Series I

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women is pleased to announce the publication of their first Policy Briefing Series on culturally-justified violence against women (CVAW). Launched on March 3rd, 2010 at their panel discussion at the 54th UN Commission on the Status of Women, the Series is a valuable resource for those working on issues of CVAW.

Policy Briefing Series I includes the following titles:

• No Justice in Justifications: Violence Against Women in the Name of Culture, Religion and Tradition
  Shaina Greiff

  This paper gives a general overview of discourses on culture, tradition, and/or religion that are used to justify, and therefore perpetuate, specific manifestations of VAW in our focal countries, as well as local methods to counter such arguments. While recognising that culture and religion can be empowering for, and central to, both individual and collective identities, this article will look at the misuse of these discourses for the purpose of sanctioning impunity for perpetrators and silencing dissenters. This discussion concludes with recommendations for activists, scholars, and policy makers.

• Stoning is Not our Culture: A Comparative Analysis of Human Rights and Religious Discourses in Iran and Nigeria
  Rochelle Terman & Mufuliat Fijabi

  Since stoning is implemented differently in different contexts, this paper presents two case studies - Iran and Nigeria - in order to examine the issue in a comparative perspective. These case studies detail the specific ways in which stoning arises, as well as how local activists work to eliminate stoning in their own countries. We conclude with specific recommendations to policy makers and civil society.

• Criminalizing Sexuality: Zina laws as Violence against Women in Muslim Contexts
  Ziba Mir Hosseini

  This paper shows how zina laws and the criminalization of consensual sexual activity can also be challenged from within Islamic legal tradition. Far from mutually opposed, approaches from Islamic studies, feminism and human rights perspectives can be mutually reinforcing, particularly in mounting an eff ective campaign against revived zina laws. By exploring the intersections between religion, culture and law that legitimate violence in the regulation of sexuality, the paper aims to contribute to the development of a contextual and integrated approach to the abolition of zina laws, thereby broadening the scope of the debate over concepts and strategies of the SKSW Campaign.