Asia

Solidaritas Perumpuan (SP)

SP is an organization concerned with women’s rights and empowerment (in the Muslim contexts). It carries out research on the impact of fundamentalist movements on national and local policies, Syariah laws and regulations that discriminate against women, and the impact of these on women lives. SP disseminates information to the wider community, especially in the South Sulawesi region, about the situation of women living under the regional Syariah regulations. They publish research findings and organise discussions.

Law Services for Indonesian Women’s Empowerment (LBH-P21)

LBH-21 (founded 1995) is based in South Sulawesi and was led by local activist and lawyer Christina Joseph untill she passed in 2003. It established the first women’s crisit centre in South Sulawesi, which handles cases such as domestic violence, rape, and state-sponsored violence. Known in Indonesia as KDRT (kekerasan dalam rumah tangga, or ‘violence in the household’), LBH-P21 provides women with legal assistance when cases are filed with the police, because women are notoriously ‘unseen’ in regards to the law. Contact information can be obtained from Solidaritas Perumpuan.

Komnas Perempuan (National Commission on Violence Against Women)

Komnas Perempuan is an independent institution that was established in 1998 through a decree by former President Habibie. The KP deals with basic human rights of women in Indonesia, notably all sorts of violence against women, in conflict as well as peace situations. Together with social organisations, the KP develops concepts, standards, instruments and mechanisms intended to prevent, handle, and abolish all forms of violence against women. The Commission has initiated advocacy activities and has been involved in several processes of human rights investigations.

Kaolisi NGO HAM (Coalition of Human Right Organizations in Aceh)

Koalisi NGO HAM is a network of NGOs that are active in the area of human rights advocacy. Their vision is to create a civil society to appreciates humanitarian values, social justice, gender equality and democracy.

Forum Pemerhati Masalah Perempuan (Forum Concerning Women’s Problems) (FPMP)

FPMP was founded in Makassar (South Sulawesi) in 1995. It works to gather together women of different background to strengthen capacity to eliminate violence against women. As well as monitoring and advocating against violence directed at women, it campaigns on issues such as women’s political rights. It also offers assistance, through its women’s crisis centre, to women victims of violence.

Women’s inheritance rights to land in South Asia: A study of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

The study reviews the formal and customary laws and practices governing the rights of women to inherit land in six South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). The study includes an analysis of existing laws and customs and their impact on inheritance and land rights in all six countries. It also provides recommendations for how to design interventions that can attempt to improve women’s inheritance rights.

Women’s Rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan - Genuine Concerns or Political Considerations

Taking the case of the new Shia family law introduced in Afghanistan in 2009, the author argues that international pressure for women’s rights is selective. There is no pressure for granting the Sunni women of Afghanistan or teenagers in Pakistan their rights as human beings. The current phase of condemnation is less about women’s rights and more about achieving the agenda of some Western nations to malign President Karzai’s government. I do not intend to defend President Karzai in any way but at the same time refuse to support this politicization of the Human Rights issue.

Matrilineal Communities, Patriarchal Realities: A Feminist Nirvana uncovered

This is a feminist economist analysis of female headed households in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. The author challenges the dominant discourses that Sri Lankan women have achieved a favorable position in society compared to many women living elsewhere because they have achieved high scores in human development indices and other global indices as well as the fact that Sri Lankan women can own and inherit property through matrilineal and bilateral inheritance patterns.

The Matrilineal East Coast, Circa 1968: Nostalgia and Post Nostalgia in our troubled time

Is Land Just for Men?

Critiquing Discriminatory Laws, Regulations and Administrative Practices relating to Land and Property Rights of Women in Sri Lanka, Colombo, Law and Society Trust. This is a review of national and provincial laws, regulations and administrative practices in Sri Lanka relating to women’s land and property ownership. This study attempts to understand practical situations and problems experienced by women. The aim of the review is to formulate amendments to reform gender discriminatory aspects in laws relating to land and property ownership.