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8/10/2010
International: SKSW Statement on Human Rights and Traditional Values

The traditional values underpinning international human rights: How can they contribute to promotion and protection? (Room XXI, Palais des Nations, Geneva, 4 October 2010) Thank you, honourable members of the panel, friends and colleagues in the international human rights community, good afternoon. On behalf of the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women, we welcome the opportunity to participate in the discussion on the relationship between human rights and traditional values.    

8/10/2010
Iran: Shirin Ebadi’s International Appeal to Help Imprisoned Colleague

Following publication of news about Nasrin Sotoudeh’s hunger strike in prison and her interrogations under duress, Shirin Ebadi, head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that she is appealing to the world to object to the Sotoudeh’s arrest in order to help her. Ebadi also said she is deeply concerned about Sotoudeh’s health conditions.

8/10/2010
International: Equality Now Hails Historic Creation of New UN Mechanism that will Focus on Eliminating Discrimination Against Women in Law and Practice

"On 1 October 2010 at the 15th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), member states adopted by consensus a resolution to create a new mechanism to accelerate the elimination of discrimination against women in law and practice. “This is the culmination of the hard work of so many in government and civil society,” said Faiza Jama Mohamed, Nairobi Office Director of Equality Now. International human rights organization Equality Now has taken a leading role in systematically studying the pervasiveness of sex discriminatory laws across the globe and in 2005 it proposed the need for a new special procedure within the UN dedicated to eliminating discrimination against women in law.

“It has not been easy to achieve this new mechanism, but the adoption by consensus of the resolution by the Human Rights Council has given us confidence that governments around the world are taking the issue of women’s equality seriously. Through the course of this journey it was heart-warming to witness the support of so many nations from all regions of the world and the strong backing of a large coalition of non-governmental organizations. The groundswell of support has underscored both the universality of the problem of discrimination against women and a firm global resolve to prioritize a systematic end to it,” said Ms. Mohamed.

8/10/2010
Indonesia/Aceh: Three Lashes for Selling Cooked Rice During Ramadan

Jantho, Aceh.With heads bowed, two young women walked toward a wooden stage outside Al Munawwarah Mosque in Jantho, Aceh Besar. Friday prayers had just ended, and hundreds of residents surrounded the platform, keeping a respectful distance but keen to watch. 

The eyes of Murni binti Amris, 27, and Rukiah binti Abdullah, 22, began to water. They feared the worst when officers of the Shariah Police dragged them to the center of the stage. The women had dared to sell cooked rice in the daytime during Ramadan, violating the 2002 Islamic bylaw in Aceh. With a quivering voice, Murni said: “Wait, sir.” She wanted to correct her sitting position. However, the man standing over her brandishing a rattan cane took no heed, lashing her three times across the back. 

8/10/2010
Egypt: 'Homophobic Crimes in Egypt?'

I have to admit it's always hard to ever approach homosexuality here in Egypt. Homosexual people (or behavior) here is usually seen as one of three views: deviant people who deserve to be punished or even executed; sick people who need medical attention; or normal people only with a different sexual orientation (hardly ever adopted or expressed, even by gays themselves).

I hesitated to write about the upcoming account of events, but I felt it's too disturbing to ignore. The story goes as follows:

A young boy, Kareem (16 year old) was walking by in downtown area, Cairo. He was followed by four guys who were shouting insults to the young boy calling him a faggot. The boy just ignored their insults and kept going, the thing that seemed to provoke them, so they chased him until they caught him and started slapping and beating him violently (they were older and much stronger). It's not very clear why they decided to be that violent and abusive; although it seems to be basically driven by homophobia as Kareem's appearance looked “different”. Kareem screamed and ran towards police informers nearby but they didn’t bother to help the boy.

28/9/2010
UN: SKSW welcomes appointment of Michelle Bachelet at UN Women

The Global campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women (SKSW Campaign) welcomes the appointment of Michelle Bachelet as the first Under-Secretary-General for the new UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). In her first interview with UN radio, Ms. Bachelet noted that ‘women do not have the same opportunities as men regarding the most essential human rights. Women are discriminated [against]. Their rights are violated. There are still some places where women are mutilated. There are places where women can receive terrible punishments.”[1]

28/9/2010
Iran: A Letter to Christiane Amanpour about the Media, "Freedom", and Ahmadinejad

Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist, writes Christiane Amanpour, the broadcast journalist of America's ABC News who interviewed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week. Originally in Rah-e-Sabz and translated by Hasty Pezhman:

24/9/2010
Indonesia: LGBT community resisting harassment by Muslim fundamentalists

A month-long film festival featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) issues will open on Friday in Indonesia, the only such event screened anywhere in the Muslim world. The Q! Film Festival represents one of the largest gay pride festivals in Asia with more than 150 films, fringe events on sexuality and LGBT-themed book launches planned for six cities across this predominantly Muslim country. 

23/9/2010
Egypt: Tackling sexual harassment

Suzanne Mubarak, first lady of Egypt, is a woman who treats criticisms of her country with a generous dose of scepticism. Take sexual harassment, a phenomenon that has indisputably been on the rise in recent years. It's an issue in which Suzanne Mubarak, as head of the government's National Council for Women, might be assumed to take at least a passing interest. "Egyptian men always respect Egyptian women," she informed a pan-Arab television station back in 2008, a few weeks after a series of sexual assaults marred a major public holiday. "Maybe one, two or even 10 incidents occurred. Egypt is home to 80 million people. We can't talk of a phenomenon. Maybe a few scatterbrained youths are behind this crime."

23/9/2010
Israel/Palestine: Non-Haredi women plan march to protest discrimination against women.

The posters put up Tuesday in Mea She'arim, a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox ) neighborhood of Jerusalem, answered some questions about what to expect during the week-long Sukkot holiday, and especially the mid-holiday Simhat Beit Hasho'eva celebrations. On one hand, contrary to rumors, women will not be forcibly prevented from entering the neighborhood. On the other, women are definitely not invited. But that is not a good enough reason for a group of non-Haredi women to cancel a planned march through the neighborhood Friday morning to protest discrimination against women. On the contrary: They are threatening to petition the High Court of Justice against the police for having given them a permit to demonstrate only outside the neighborhood rather than in Shabbat Square, as they had wanted.