News

Muslim women's group Sisters in Islam has gained leave for judicial review of July’s fatwa declaring them ‘deviants.’ The case pits Sisters in Islam against the Selangor Fatwa Committee, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council and the state government in a dispute over the jurisdiction of religious courts.

“Political platforms using security discourse to stop mafia organisations have actually strengthened human trafficking networks, that are now turning to women and children. If a woman has full access to her rights she will not need to turn to these trafficking networks,” according to migrant and human trafficking researcher Helena Maleno Garzón. The intersections of racism, sexism and and violence create entrenched problems for migrant women in North Africa.

In Niger and Nigeria, men who want more than their legally permitted four wives are buying women and girls to use as ‘unofficial’ wives. These women are resented by the ‘legal’ wives and face a life of endless work, cruelty and attempts to flee in destitution in the hope of starting a new life, according to a new Anti-Slavery report.

Women’s rights have been held up as one of the most tangible gains of the international intervention in Afghanistan. Yet after 13 years of promises that women’s rights are a high priority, these gains remain fragile and are at increasing risk of erosion, especially as expected peace talks with the Taliban gain momentum.