Violence against women

Indonesia: Religious support for FGM more fervent than ever

Though the Indonesian government banned female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) four years ago, experts say religious support for the practice is more fervent than ever, particularly in rural communities. A lack of regulation since the ban makes it difficult to monitor, but medical practitioners say FGM/C remains commonplace for women of all ages in this emerging democracy of 240 million - the world’s largest Muslim nation. Although not authorized by the Koran, the practice is growing in popularity.

Algérie: Collectif pour élaborer un projet de loi cadre contre les violences faites aux femmes

Plus de dix associations (1) de tout le pays se sont fédérées en collectif pour élaborer d’ici un an et demi un projet de loi cadre contre les violences faites aux femmes en Algérie. Premier temps fort de ce projet «Stop à la violence ! Les droits des femmes maintenant» : un colloque international se tiendra le jeudi 25 novembre à l’occasion de la Journée mondiale des violences faites aux femmes.

Indonésie/Aceh: Deux femmes flagellées pour avoir vendu du riz pendant le ramadan

Deux femmes ont été flagellées en public vendredi pour avoir vendu de la nourriture durant les heures de jeûne du ramadan dans la province d'Aceh, bastion de l'islam en Indonésie, a-t-on appris de source policière.

غادة حبيب... قاتلٌ أسكَت «حلمها الهامس»

فوجئت الأوساط الثقافيّة والفنيّة في العراق بنبأ اغتيال التشكيليّة العراقيّة غادة حبيب في منزلها في لندن. الفنانة التي فقدت حاسة السمع في الـ 14 من عمرها، كانت تستعد لإقامة معرضها في العاصمة البريطانية، قبل أن ينتقل إلى بغداد، لكنّها لقيت حتفها بطريقة مروّعة زادت من الأسى على رحيلها بعيدةً عن وطنها. الناقد التشكيليّ صلاح عباس لفت إلى «أنّ مجموعة من الفنانين داخل العراق وخارجه طالبت بتأليف لجنة للتحقيق في اغتيال فنانة نالت جائزة سفيرة السلام عام 2008». ويأسف عباس لكون ردود الفعل على اغتيال غادة حبيب، في الإعلام العراقي، جاءت باهتة قياساً إلى حجم الفجيعة: «وزارة الثقافة لم تضع حتى لافتة نعي على مبناها، وجمعيّة الفنانين التشكيليّين العراقيّين لم تقم بدورها. كأنّ الفنان العراقي غريب خارج البلاد وداخلها».

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."

UN: Call for general assembly condemnation of stoning as crime against humanity

We are writing to ask that the UN general assembly condemn stoning as a crime against humanity and issue an emergency resolution calling for an end to the medieval and barbaric punishment as well as the immediate release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and others sentenced to death by stoning.

International: WLUML networker blogs about culture and women’s rights

Each year the UC Berkeley-based Human Rights Center awards summer fellowships to students from University of California campuses, to enable them to work with human-rights organizations in the U.S. and abroad. Several current Human Rights Fellows, including political-science student Rochelle Terman, have agreed to share their experiences this summer, with regular updates from the field to be published on the NewsCenter:http://berkeley.edu/news/students/2010/terman/index_post2.shtml

UPDATE: Iran: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani denies torture claims, suspicion of forced confession

The Iranian woman facing death by stoning after being convicted for adultery appeared on the Islamic republic's state TV channel last night to say she has not been whipped or tortured.Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence was suspended in July, was allegedly given 99 lashes on 2 September after the Times ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her, her lawyer said at the time.

Kurdistan: Violentées puis cloîtrées dans des abris: Les « femmes bunker »

Au Kurdistan irakien, des femmes menacées de crimes d'honneur passent des années dans des refuges. Rencontres. (D'Erbil, Irak) Prostrée sur sa chaise, Noora [les prénoms ont été modifiés], 19 ans, articule d'une voix feutrée :« Cela fait trois ans que je vis dans des refuges. Si je sors, on me tue. »

International: “Challenges of Change: Religion, Secularism & Rights”

A one-day event will be held on “Challenges of Change: Religion, Secularism & Rights” in Washington, DC on 21 September 2010. The event is organized by the Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) in cooperation with Cultural Conversations of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.