Converted Wife Can Seek Divorce Only After Renouncing Islam: Gujarat HC
New Age Islam News Bureau
19
Oct 2014
Saudi Woman Drives, a file photo
-----------
• Saudi
Woman Drives, Urges Others to Follow Suit
• Kuwait
‘Keen On Achieving Gender Equality, Female Empowerment’
• Ban on
Children at Haj under Study
• Swaziland:
King Mswati to Pay Girls £11 a Month to Remain Virgins in Bid to Tackle HIV
• Islamic
State Militants Luring Western Women as Wives
• Palestinian
Women Stitch Their Way to Independence
• Protecting
the Rights of Saudi Divorcees
• Nobel
Prize Puts Children's Rights on World Agenda
• Korowa
Anglican Girls’ School Students Put Together Birthing Kits for Women in Need
• 'Witches'
Accused of Making Men Sexually Impotent Hacked To Death in Tanzania
• Ebola
Crisis Putting Pregnant Women, Infants Lives At Risk - UN
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
-------------
Converted
Wife Can Seek Divorce Only After Renouncing Islam: Gujarat HC
TNN |
Oct 19, 2014
AHMEDABAD:
A non-Muslim woman who converted to Islam for marriage can seek divorce from
her Muslim husband only on the basis of reconversion to her original faith,
said Gujarat high court.
The HC
further said that such divorce petition cannot be turned down by the family
court without conducting proper trial because section 4 of the Dissolution of
Muslim Marriage Act does not come in between.
According
to case details, Vadodara-based Christian girl Shinu married Muslim boy Javed
Mansuri in February 2003 by entering into nikah according to the Muslim
marriage laws. Shinu complained of ill-treatment by her husband and renounced
Islam and reconverted to Christianity in March 2012. Immediately, she moved a
family court and sought divorce decree on the ground that her husband was not
maintaining her as well as her renunciation of Islam leaves her nikah null and
void. The husband also moved the court questioning her reconversion and
asserting that section 4 of the law prohibits the automatic dissolution of
marriage.
In
August 2013, a family court in Vadodara rejected Shinu's application saying
that she had alleged cruelty but not sought dissolution of marriage on any of
the grounds of section 2 of the Act — desertion and non-maintenance of wife.
The court held that section 4 of the Act — which prohibits automatic
dissolution of marriage at woman's renunciation of Islam - would not apply in
this case because Shinu was a Christian, who became a Muslim and then
re-embraced her original faith.
The
rejection from family court brought Shinu to the high court, which cancelled
the lower court's order and sent the matter back for adjudication after
recording evidence. The HC said that Shinu had to establish at any rate
necessary facts by supplying evidence that she was a Christian first and now
she has renounced Islam. She then will have to show legal fallout of her
reconversion. She does not have to seek divorce by raising the ground of desertion
and husband's default in maintaining her.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Converted-wife-can-seek-divorce-only-after-renouncing-Islam-HC/articleshow/44872660.cms
--------------
Saudi
woman drives, urges others to follow suit
19 Oct,
2014
Manama:
A Saudi woman defied a social ban on driving by taking to the roads in the
capital Riyadh and urging women to overcome fear and be self-confident.
“I am
driving in total safety and security in Riyadh and it is around midnight on
Friday,” the woman who referred to herself as Om Abdul Mohsen, said.
“If you
drive well and you are not tense, no one will approach you. The obstacle of
fear among women should be dismantled and we women are the only ones who can do
it. Every woman should do it.
"Women
should not wait for the support or assistance from their brothers or fathers.
Every woman should rely on herself,” Om Abdul Mohsen said in the clip she
posted on YouTube.
She said
that women deserved a better status regarding the possibility to drive.
“We
women today have an education and we work and contribute to the development of
the country. We should not remain depended on drivers who often abuse our
situation to ask for higher wages. Otherwise, there is no chance for us and
no-one should expect the situation to change,” she said.
Women
are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia although there is no legal text that
states the ban. The women who are caught driving are briefly detained for
taking to the streets without valid driving licences.
The
debate over allowing women to drive has been heating up in Saudi Arabia between
the two opposing and supporting camps that used religion interpretations,
social norms and economic reasons to win support in the socially conservative
society. The presence of thousands of male drivers to drive mainly Saudi women
and girls has been regularly used by supporters of allowing women to drive to
highlight negative social and economic problems.
The
arguments have also been boosted by “grave concerns” felt by several women when
riding with taxi drivers.
Last
year, No Woman, No Drive, a Saudi tongue-in-cheek version of Bob Marley classic
No Woman, No Cry garnered millions of views on YouTube.
The
video has turned comedian Hesham Faqeeh into an international internet
sensation for his take on Saudi Arabia’s ban on driving for women.
The
nomination of 30 women to the Consultative Council last year has bolstered hope
that the issue of women driving will be taken up and possibly approved.
The de
facto ban on driving has been at times challenged by women, but they were
accused of “stirring up public opinion.”
King
Abdullah, who has stressed national reforms, particularly on women’s rights,
since he became ruler in August 2005, has stressed that “balanced modernisation
compatible with Islamic values was a significant necessity.”
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-woman-drives-urges-others-to-follow-suit-1.1400702
------------
Kuwait
‘keen on achieving gender equality, female empowerment’
19 Oct,
2014
New
York: Kuwait has reaffirmed its commitment to implementing the UN Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action in attaining gender equality, protecting
women, strengthening their rights and eliminating all forms of discrimination
against them.
According
to Kuwait News Agency, Kuna, Sultan Al Aradah, Third Secretary, member of the
social, humanitarian, and cultural committee, delivered Kuwait’s assertion in a
speech for the Kuwaiti Permanent Mission to the United Nations, on the
sidelines of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday evening.
Kuwait
is keen to continue its financial and spiritual contributions to supporting
activities of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment
of Women (UN Women), stemming from its belief in the importance of women’s
empowerment and advancement of their civil, political, economic, and social
rights, and in appreciation to the role of UN Women in directing gender
equality issues, protecting women’s rights, and boosting international
cooperation in this regard, Al Aradah said.
On the
national level, he noted that Kuwait has pushed towards strengthening Kuwaiti
women’s empowerment through supporting their political rights in candidacy and
voting, as well as boosting their role in decision-making areas, adding that
some recent achievements had been attained in Kuwait in the field of women’s
empowerment such as penal code legislation, prison regulations and equal pay
for women doing the same work as men without overlooking their maternal
privileges.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/kuwait/kuwait-keen-on-achieving-gender-equality-female-empowerment-1.1398385
------------
Ban on
children at Haj under study
19 Oct,
2014
Manama:
Senior Saudi pilgrimage officials are looking to ban children under 10 as a
precautionary measure to protect them from the scorching summer heat.
According
to the proposal, children under the age of 10 will not be allowed to accompany
their parents as they perform the Islamic ritual required of all adult Muslims
at least once in their lives.
Officials
at the Haj ministry said that children would face huge problems dealing with
the high temperatures that reach 44 degrees in the summer months, local daily
Al Watan reported.
Pilgrimage
was held this year in October, but with the Islamic calendar based on lunar months,
the annual event will gradually be marked in the summer with soaring
temperatures in the region. The Islamic calendar is made up of 354 days, 11
days short of the Gregorian year.
The call
to impose the ban was triggered by ministry reports that thousands of children
were seen with their parents in the areas where around three million Muslim men
and women congregate for the Haj.
The
reports said that most of the children were accompanying parents or family
members who did not have regular tents and slept on the roadsides.
Around
65 per cent of the children were under the age of six and 20 per cent were aged
less, the reports added.
The
reports estimate the number of children who were at the Haj to be between 5,000
and 7,000.
Several
children had to be given medical treatment for problems caused by the high
temperatures and the large crowds. Parents and families were blamed for their
lack of awareness in protecting the children.
The
sources quoted by the daily said the talks to impose the ban have not reached
the point of becoming a binding decision.
“When
the talks reach an advanced stage, the proposal to impose the ban will be
referred to the high scholars’ commission for its views,” the sources said,
quoted by the daily. “The decision will be naturally based on the need to
protect lives, a highly significant tenet in Islam.”
The
major divergence in the talks is reportedly whether the ban should be confined
to the families that do not have proper accommodation in the pilgrimage areas.
While some support the view, others insist on a blanket ban on all children
under the age of ten.
According
to an official familiar with Haj, most of the families who brought their
children this year were from Britain.
“The
numbers are very limited, and some families bring their children with them
because there is no one to look after them back home,” Tariq Anqawi, the head
of Mutawafs (Guides) of pilgrims from Turkey, Europe and Australia, said.
“Large tents were set up just to look after the children of the pilgrims and make
sure they are not exposed to overcrowding situations,” he said.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/ban-on-children-at-haj-under-study-1.1400744
------------
Swaziland:
King Mswati to Pay Girls £11 a Month to Remain Virgins in Bid to Tackle HIV
19 Oct,
2014
Teenage
girls in the Kingdom of Swaziland, South Africa, will be paid 200 rands (£11)
per month if they refuse to have sex, according to reports.
The
decision was approved by the government of King Mswati III in a bid to curb HIV
transmission in the sovereign state. The programme is said to be financed by
the World Bank.
"The
government will pay girls the allowances so they will have money to purchase
necessities and can turn down money offered to them for sex", said Thabsile Dlamini, a health care worker
in Manzini, as reported by South African website IOL.
A pilot
programme will be conducted to test the effectiveness of the initiative and
ensure the girls will not have sex after they receive the money.
Critics
argued the programme aims at ensuring that the King – who already has 15 wives
- will have HIV-free Swazi virgins he can choose from as future brides.
Potential
wives are selected during the annual Reed Dance, during which up to 70,000
girls dance before the royal viewing box.
However,
IOL said a source with the royal family denied the allegation.
According
to estimates by the UN Programme on HIV and Aids (Unaids) 200,000 out of 1.5
million people in Swaziland had HIV in 2013.
The
National Emergency Response Council on HIV and Aids in Swaziland said World
Bank money had been already used to adjust the behaviour of teenage girls in
other African countries, although those programmes focused on education.
One
teenager in Manzini, Zodwa Fakudze, 16, argued that R200 was not sufficient to
discourage girls from accepting gifts from older men to have sex.
"Today's
girls need things, like airtime for our cellphones. R200 is not enough. That is
how much government gives my gogo [grandmother] each month and she will never
get Aids because no one over [the age of] 40 has to have sex," she said.
Another
girl, Thandi Tfwala, 17, said: "A girl could get R200 for just one sex
act. Government must pay more.
"You
don't know Swazi girls. If they don't get more money they will keep on doing
what they do now, even the Christian girls. Our king will have to go to Cape
Town for his brides."
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/swaziland-king-mswati-pay-girls-11-month-remain-virgins-bid-tackle-hiv-1469088
------------
Islamic
State militants luring Western women as wives
19 Oct,
2014
The
teenage girls are lured online, seduced by video testimonies, text messages and
a romantic notion of living in Syria and Iraq as wives of warriors — a portrait
of domestic bliss starkly different from videos of beheadings and the
repressive rule of the so-called Islamic State.
Three
Toronto girls of Somali heritage, aged between 15 and 18, fell prey to this
recruiting drive and recently left Canada bound for Syria, part of the growing
trend of young women joining the terrorist group.
Security
and community sources familiar with the case told the Toronto Star that two of
the girls were sisters. Along with a third teenager, they flew to Cairo and
then Istanbul, from where they planned to head for the border.
But the
girls’ parents discovered their plans and alerted authorities. In what is being
hailed as a good example of co-operation between the security services and
Toronto’s Somali community — whose relations have been strained in the past —
the girls were intercepted by Turkish authorities and sent home.
“The
parents felt comfortable in contacting police to prevent the young girls from
ruining their lives,” said Hamilton lawyer Hussein Hamdani, who has worked in
the past to help bring together Muslim communities and the police. “This is
something we want to encourage and keep building those bridges.”
Hamdani
had tried to help another Canadian family who discovered this summer that their
son had left for Syria — but intervention came too late. By the time the RCMP
and CSIS were working with relatives of Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud, the
20-year-old was fighting in Syria. He was killed a few months later.
The
recruitment of Canadians and other Westerners into foreign wars in the name of
jihad is not a new phenomenon. But the numbers now joining the Islamic State
(also known as ISIS and ISIL) are far greater than in past conflicts.
What
makes the Islamic State unique is the group’s ability to appeal to young
people. There have been other well-known orators who have encouraged
Westerners, including New Mexico-born Yemeni preacher Anwar Awlaki, who was
killed in a U.S. drone strike two years ago, and the elusive Canadian Fadumo
Jama, known as “Mama Shabab,” who ran a safe house for foreign fighters in
southern Somalia and whose current whereabouts are unknown.
But none
of the other groups fighting for Al Qaeda’s vision of a caliphate had such a
widespread and savvy social media campaign. Messages blend passages of the
Qur’an with smiley emoticons; gruesome images of the dead with kitten pictures.
Most
startling is the aggressive outreach to female recruits, a small group of whom
are becoming fighters themselves. The majority, however, are being enticed by
the prospect of becoming “ISIS wives” and mothers to populate the new world
order.
Aqsa
Mahmood, a young woman from Glasgow who left for Syria last year and goes by
the name Umm Layth, has become a famous online recruiter. “Sometimes it would
be easier for you to accept your parents disowning you and wanting nothing to
do with you,” she writes on tumblr, saying it is difficult to hear mothers and
fathers crying and begging recruits to come home. “But as long as you are firm
and you know that this is all for the sake of Allah then nothing can shake
you.”
Umm
Haritha is also a popular figure, and has identified herself as 20-year-old
Canadian who went to Syria to marry a Palestinian fighter from Sweden. He was
later killed and Umm Haritha reportedly began living with other young widows in
a town near the Turkish border.
Mia
Bloom, a professor of Security Studies at University of Massachusetts Lowell,
who has studied the phenomenon of female recruits, says young, impressionable
women are especially vulnerable to romantic notions and promises given by the
Islamic State. “They’re told you’re going to get benefits in this world and in
the next, they’re combining all the permutations of what these women might find
appealing,” said Bloom.
Bloom
says many of the women who have left Western societies complained that they
were tired of permissive environments, citing their disdain for a culture where
homosexuality is accepted. But many of the women — especially the recent
converts — also complain of Islamophobia.
“You
have these two completely different dynamics. On the one hand, the West is too
permissive, and on the other hand, the West is too racists and non-inclusive,”
said Bloom. “Society generally is not both, but this is the narrative.”
There
are other contradictions — the professed desire to eschew the modern world — a
message communicated on social media apps on smartphones.
A large
aspect of the recruitment seems to be the promise of romance — relationships
that begin with online dating but with promises of being devoted to a greater
cause.
Shannon
Conley, 19, pleaded guilty in Colorado last month to one count of conspiracy to
provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, after
being intercepted before she travelled to Syria. FBI agents arrested her on
April 8, before she boarded a flight to Turkey, and she is reportedly
co-operating now with authorities.
According
to her guilty plea, Conley met a man online named Yousr Mouelhi in early 2014.
Mouelhi professed to be a member of Al Qaeda and after weeks of communications
the two decided to marry; Conley was to join Mouelhi in Syria. Before she was
arrested, Conley travelled to Texas to be trained in military tactics and the
use of firearms with the U.S. Army Explorers.
Perhaps
the most perplexing case is that of Sally Jones, a British mother of two and
former guitarist in an all-girl punk band, who fled to the Syrian town of
Raqqa, where she married a fighter she reportedly met online. The 45-year-old
convert to Islam told The Sunday Times last month that she now goes by the name
of Sakinah Hussain and has branded Britain and the U.S. as “terrorist” nations.
On Twitter, she threatened to behead Christians with a “blunt knife.”
Two
young French girls, Sahra Ali Mehenni and Nora El-Bahty, were just 15 and 17
when they made elaborate plans to sneak off to Syria earlier this year before
their parents could stop them. El-Bahty’s family told The Associated Press she
was recruited on Facebook, videos of veiled women firing machine guns and
images of Syrian children killed in the warfare striking a chord. She pretended
to go to school one day and never returned.
Their
parents now believe the girls are being held against their will.
That may
also be the case of two Austrian girls, wanted by Interpol since they left
Vienna in April, but who now say they want to come home. Samra Kesinovic, 17,
and Sabina Selimovic, 16, have told family that they are tired of the bloodshed
and fighting, according to Austrian media reports.
Although
the Toronto girls could also be charged with terrorism offences under Canadian
law, Hamdani and Somali community leaders say they are happy the RCMP has not
prosecuted them and hope instead they will glean intelligence from the case to
stop others.
While
women joining the Islamic State are coming from many different countries and
backgrounds, there is fear that Somali communities, already vulnerable from
years of recruiting from the East African-based Al Shabab, are at a high risk.
The FBI
is investigating the cases of three girls of Somali heritage from the
Minneapolis-St. Paul area who have been missing since August, according to community
leaders.
Osman
Ahmed, co-author of a University of Maryland report looking at how to counter
violent extremism, said much work has been done in the last five years to try
to bring Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Somali community closer to authorities.
“I think
we helped educate parents, who used to be scared to come forward and are now
ready to inform authorities if they see anything suspicious,” said Ahmed, who
became involved in community advocacy in 2009, after his 17-year-old nephew was
recruited by the Shabab and left the U.S. for Somalia. He was later found dead
in Mogadishu, shot in the head.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/10/17/islamic_state_militants_luring_western_women_as_wives.html#
------------
Palestinian
Women Stitch Their Way to Independence
19 Oct,
2014
Iman
Darawi, a soft-spoken Muslim woman wearing a traditional grey headscarf,
doesn’t look like a pioneer. But Darawi is a divorced self-employed Palestinian
seamstress from the town of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem, who is responsible for
teaching other seamstresses, and a symbol of how roles are changing for
Palestinian women.
“I enjoy
this work and it enables me to make a living and raise my children,” Darawi
told The Media Line at the Al-Balad workshop in Jerusalem’s Old City where her work
is sold. “I am responsible for seven women. I bring them the material and I
teach them how to embroider.”
Darawi’s
intricate work uses bright colours and designs and is sewn onto purses, shawls,
vests, and wallets. She says she works several hours each day while taking care
of her two sons. She travels around the village, distributing and collecting
the other women’s work, and brings it to Jerusalem, where it is sold.
“All of
this work gives me courage,” she says.
The shop
just inside New Gate is just one project run by the Arab Orthodox Society, an
NGO dedicated to helping and empowering Palestinian women. The Society provides
the cloth and the thread, the women get paid per piece, and the coordinators
like Darawi get an additional salary.
“We are
trying to teach the women how to fish, not just to give them fish,” Hala
Jahshan, who runs the Balad shop told The Media Line. “For many years,
Palestinian women would take money or help without any dignity. We want to give
women a chance to work and improve her skills.”
Palestinian
society remains traditional, and many men frown on women working outside the
home. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, women make up
only 18 percent of the labour force. Women marry young, and especially in the
villages, have many children.
The work
that is sold is all handmade, and prices are higher than in nearby shops in the
Old City, where many of the goods come from China. The bulk of the customers
are tourists, and therefore business is dependent on tourism. Nora Kort, the
president of the Arab Orthodox Society, says that when tourism is good, the
shop can employ up to 500 women. These days, in the wake of the fighting
between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, tourism has declined significantly
and 150 women are employed. They each make about $200, which can go far in the
West Bank where food is comparatively inexpensive.
“When
many of these women come to us, they are broken,” Kort told The Media Line.
“When a man doesn’t work, he often takes out his anger on his wife. But once
these women start working, I see the development of their feeling of value and
self-worth.”
She says
many of the women use the money for their daughters’ education, which
especially pleases her. Although about one-third of the women she employs are
either illiterate or have only a rudimentary education, most of their daughters
attend university.
Another
employee at the shop is Suad Abu Sa’ada, a Christian mother of five also from
Beit Sahour. She works as a tailor two days a week in the shop, as well as
doing embroidery at home. In her spare time, she helps her husband in his
tourism shop in the village.
“Life is
very expensive for us and it is not possible to survive on just one income,”
she told The Media Line. “I feel good when I can help my husband with money and
we can provide for our children.”
Beyond
the employment aspect, the Balad shop helps keep Palestinian tradition alive.
While most women used to wear hand-embroidered dresses, many today wear Western
clothes, or machine-stitched imitations.
Kort
says she sees the shop as a way of preserving traditional Palestinian culture,
and helping to build a Palestinian identity.
“Palestinian
skills and crafts have died out because of the competition with China,” she
told The Media Line. “Chinese items are all over the place and they’re very
cheap. We revive the culture in a loving way. It’s like a baby that you
pamper.”
The
traditional embroidery was done with red thread, says Jahshan, a reminder of
the importance of blood tribes. Palestinians in the Ramallah area still prefer
these traditional designs. Americans like blue, while Israelis prefer colours
that refer to nature, like greens. Some of the pieces for sale in the shop have
intricate designs of flowers and clouds, while others sport the more
traditional geometric designs.
Besides
the embroidery project, the Arab Orthodox Society has a medical clinic in a
building owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, a new museum of Palestinian
culture, and a bakery which serves traditional Palestinian sweets. Kort says
her goal is for the various projects to make enough money to cover their
expenses, a goal she hasn’t yet reached.
Kort
says she sees the traditional embroidery as a way to unite all three religions
in Jerusalem. Many of the shop’s customers are Israeli Jews, a few of whom have
even asked for embroidery lessons. The women who sew are both Christian and
Muslim.
“Religion
is important to us but not religious fundamentalism,” Kort says. “Religion is
tolerance, love and peace, and I read a lot of these messages in the symbols of
the embroidery.”
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinian-women-stitch-their-way-to-independence-379111
------------
Protecting
the rights of Saudi divorcees
19 Oct,
2014
The
increase in the number of divorces in Saudi Arabia has led to the formation of a society to protect the rights
of divorcees and their children. Many Saudi men pronounce divorce recklessly
apparently not bothered about the breakup of the family. Many of these men
refuse to shoulder the responsibility of
taking care of their children and fulfilling their educational and financial
requirements.
Some of
these Saudi men pronounce the word divorce like a football commentator
repeating the word “goal” in a football match. Divorcees often find that they
have no means to raise their children, and there are also cases in which women
are subjected to harassment from their estranged husbands. For these reasons, a
new society was created to protect the rights of women before and after
divorce.
Let us
hope that the creation of the new society will play a significant role in
putting an end to such situations and guaranteeing the rights of divorcees. The
society can also lend a helping hand to the government in drafting new rules
and regulations in this regard.
For
several years, the government of Saudi Arabia has been striving to develop a
legal mechanism for divorce instead of relying on a verbal pronouncement. The
judicial authorities want to introduce a mechanism based on legal and written
procedures that puts an end to the practice of swift and reckless verbal
divorce.
They are
racing against time to rein in the rising tide of divorce cases and to protect
as many families as possible from disintegration. The authorities are keen to
ensure the rights of women for alimony and child maintenance. According to
statistics, 25 percent of marriages in the Kingdom end up in divorce in the
very first year and most divorces are reported in the first five years after
marriage. Many Saudi houses have at least one divorcee.
Each one
of these divorcees suffers from either psychological problems or financial
difficulties. The judiciary and government organizations play a major role in
protecting divorcees who suffer from the injustice of their former husbands who
deny or delay alimony payments.
Some
divorcees are forced to live for several years without receiving a divorce
document. This puts them in a precarious position in which they can neither
seek remarriage nor take advantage of the social security schemes offered by
the government. Let us hope that the creation of the new society will play a
significant role in putting an end to such situations and guaranteeing the
rights of divorcees. The society can also lend a helping hand to the government
in drafting new rules and regulations in this regard.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20141018221485
------------
Nobel
prize puts children's rights on world agenda
19 Oct,
2014
Almost
two decades ago, long before the ubiquity of the search engine, the only
article about child labour at my tiny local library was a piece about Kailash
Satyarthi. The activist had been unjustly arrested, accused of
"kidnapping" the very child slaves he had been freeing in India.
I showed
the photocopied article to classmates, who agreed something must be done. We
launched a petition for Satyarthi's release. We were determined that all of our
signatories -- 3,000 in total, signed in ink before the advent of the viral
campaign, pleaded for at community centres and on doorsteps -- would be under
the age of 18. Copies were sent to the governments of Canada and India. In
shoeboxes.
After
Satyarthi's release, we became pen pals. When he visited Canada later, he
called the children's petition heart-warming, and said it was "the most
powerful action taken on my behalf." He was touched that so many children
stood up for him.
Satyarthi's
Nobel Peace Prize, announced last week, is now a global acknowledgement that
peace cannot be achieved without recognizing the rights of children. He was
named joint recipient of the peace prize, along with fellow child rights
activist Malala Yousafzai. I've had the honour to witness the fearless work of
both of this year's recipients firsthand.
At 12, I
travelled to South Asia on a fact-finding mission with Free the Children, the
charity I'd started with 11 classmates. During my trip, in a remote village
outside of Varanasi, Satyarthi kicked down the doors of a carpet factory,
freeing 22 children from bonded labour.
The boys
emerged from the dark, blinking out the sun's glare. I remember their raspy
breathing and coughing to clear the wool dust from their lungs; their tiny
hands blistered and pitted from skin infections left untreated. Many bore scars
from punishments, a gash on the head for falling asleep at the loom or crying
out for mom.
"We
are free?" the children said, at first as a question and then a statement:
"We are free!"
All of
the boys had been lured from the same village with false promises to their
parents about paid work learning a trade. I accompanied Satyarthi when he took
them home.
We
brought each boy, in turn, to his doorstep. Satyarthi must have seemed like a
messenger from heaven, bringing children back into the arms of their weeping
mothers.
A few
days later, I stayed with Satyarthi in Delhi where we prepped for a joint press
conference to raise global awareness of child labour. His home was far too
small for himself, his Great Dane, Tiger, his two children, the frenzy of the
impending event, and me.
His
daughter Asmita, 10, and I stayed awake all nigh, anxiously getting ready to
face the two dozen journalists and TV crews that would witness testimony from
two previously liberated children, Satyarthi, and myself.
Malala's
story, of her campaign for the rights of girls to get an education that made
her a target for the Taliban, is well known. This summer, I welcomed this
remarkable young woman and her family to our development projects in Kenya. It
was her first trip to Africa. We all helped build Oleleshwa All-Girls' Secondary
School, a joint project of the Malala Fund and Free the Children.
Satyarthi
is a trailblazer for children's rights; Malala is the next generation. She is
the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and at 17, the first
teen. This is a profound and long-overdue recognition for the role of youth in
changing our world for the better.
It puts
children's rights in the foreground of the global agenda and signifies children
are more than passive recipients of aid; they can speak up for their own rights.
Craig
Kielburger and his brother Marc founded a platform for social change that
includes Free the Children, Me to We, and We Day.
http://www.forterietimes.ca/2014/10/17/nobel-prize-puts-childrens-rights-on-world-agenda
------------
Korowa
Anglican Girls’ School Students Put Together Birthing Kits for Women in Need
19 Oct,
2014
MANY
hands make light work for students at Korowa Anglican Girls’ School.
More
than 50 Year 12 students gloved up and got to work putting together 1000
birthing kits for women in Africa.
The
event, part of the school’s Make a Difference Project, meant students, family
and friends gathering to assemble the kits on behalf of The Birthing Kit
Foundation (Australia), an organisation dedicated to improving conditions for
women who give birth at home in developing countries.
Year 12
tutor captains Sophie Cashin, Katherine Latorcai, Antonia Horafiaris and Moriah
Russo headed the project.
Katherine
said the packs included a plastic sheet for the mother to lie on, a piece of
soap, two gloves, three gauze squares, three cord ties or two clamps and a
sterile scalpel blade in a small press-sealed plastic bag.
She said
the packing went “really well” and “many hands made light work”.
“It was
a really good turnout,” Katherine said.
“Everyone
was really keen to get involved and help the women in Africa. We really loved
the idea, it’s a brilliant cause.”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/central/korowa-anglican-girls-school-students-put-together-birthing-kits-for-women-in-need/story-fngnvlpt-1227092764309
------------
'Witches'
Accused of Making Men Sexually Impotent Hacked To Death in Tanzania
19 Oct,
2014
Two
women in Tanzania were hacked to death after accusing them of casting spells
that made men sexually impotent, police said on Friday.
The killing
took place in the village of Ihugi in Tanzania's northern Shinyanga province
late on Tuesday, a report said.
The
victims, mother and daughter, were aged 80 and 45 respectively.
Three
men slit their throats and then chopped their bodies up.
Their
neighbour was suspected of carrying out the attack after he believed they had
made him unable to have sex.
A
40-year-old man, who also accused the women of poisoning his mother last year,
has been arrested.
"The
victims were attacked as they were about to take their evening meal," the
report quoted local police chief Justus Kamugisha as saying.
The
attack comes after seven people were killed in western Tanzania last week. They
were accused of witchcraft and burned alive in their huts.
Belief
in witches and black magic remains strong in many parts of Tanzania.
A local
rights group has estimated as many as 500 "witches" are lynched every
year.
Many of
those killed were elderly women.
The
rights group said some are targeted because they have red eyes - seen as a feared
sign of witchcraft - even though this is often the result of the use of dung as
cooking fuel in impoverished communities.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/witches-make-men-sexually-impotent-hacked-death/1/396342.html
------------
Ebola
Crisis Putting Pregnant Women, Infants Lives At Risk - UN
19 Oct,
2014
Dakar —
The Ebola crisis is putting the lives of pregnant woman and infants at risk
with the spread of the virus in West Africa eroding health services needed for
a safe birth and postnatal care, a United Nations official said on Thursday.
The
United Nation' Population Fund (UNFPA) said up to 800,000 women in Guinea,
Sierra Leone and Liberia were expected to give birth in the next year but many
are afraid to visit clinics or turned away from overstretched health
facilities.
It
warned more than 120,000 could die of complications of pregnancy and childbirth
if the required life-saving emergency obstetric care, such as caesarean
sections, was not provided.
The
warning came as a leading medical aid group, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF),
was forced to shut down a 200-bed emergency paediatric and maternity clinic in
Sierra Leone on Thursday due to fears that the medical staff could not
guarantee safety for patients or staff from infection.
Ebola, a
hemorrhagic fever spread through contact with infected fluids that kills about
half its victims, has so far killed almost 4,500 in West Africa and infected
almost 9,000 others since it first emerged in Guinea in March.
The
World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned Ebola could infect up to 10,000
people per week by December unless international efforts are stepped up to
control the disease.
"The
reality is that pregnant women are facing a double threat - dying from Ebola,
and from pregnancy or childbirth, due to the devastating impact of Ebola on
health workers and health systems," said UNFPA Executive Director
Babatunde Osotimehin in a statement.
"Ebola
is not only killing those infected, but also those affected. Pregnant women and
girls are at greater risk."
RISK TO
NEW MOTHERS
In
Sierra Leone, around one in every 100 births result in the mother dying which
is 100 times more than in northern European countries like Britain.
One in
every 10 children in Sierra Leone dies before the age of one, according to the
World Bank.
Brice de
le Vigne, MSF Director of operations, said the closure of the Gondama Referral
Centre in Bo, 250 kms (155 miles) southeast of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown,
was a difficult decision to make.
"The
safety of our staff must remain our top priority and if we cannot guarantee
flawless infection control in the hospital, we are putting our staff and
patients at risk," he said.
Doctors
and nurses are at the frontline during Ebola outbreaks as they are the first
port of call for victims infected by the deadly virus and many have died as a
result.
The WHO
says at least 230 health workers have died since the outbreak began - about
five percent of the death toll to date.
Despite
the recent arrival of 150 Cuban doctors and nurses last week in Monrovia, aid
agencies working on the ground have found it increasingly difficult to find
health workers to come and work in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
UNFPA
says it is providing emergency safe delivery kits, personal protective
equipment and infection prevention supplies, such as chlorine bleach, gloves
and masks.
Osotimehin
said urgent funding was needed to meet the reproductive health needs of women
in affected countries.
"The
situation for pregnant women in Ebola crisis countries is devastating. Gains in
maternal health and family planning are being wiped out and women are desperate
for information and services to protect their health and that of their
babies," said Osotimehin.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201410171436.html
------------