French Veil Ban Is Turning Muslim Women Off, Away
New Age Islam News Bureau
21
Oct 2014
Teenage FGM Campaigner Fahma speaks out about FGM
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• Paris
Opera Expels Veiled Woman during Performance
• Teenage
FGM Campaigner Reveals the Moment That Changed Her Life
• Terrorism-Themed
Ads Aimed at Democratic Women Echo Bush
• Kenyan
Girls Trading Sex for Food - One Woman's Battle to Help
• Female
Kurdish Fighters Face down ISIL in Kobani
• The
West’s Female-Genital Mutilation Wake-Up Call
• Condemned
Christian Woman to Take Blasphemy Case to Top Pakistani Court
• US Wife
of Saudi Granted e-Mail Divorce
• Australia’s
Parliament House lifts face veil ban
• Pakistani
Women-Specific Transport Project ‘Tabeer’ Closed Permanently
• ABVP:
Live-in Relationships a Crime against Women; JNU Student Responds in Open
Letter
• Badge of
Honour: KP's Female Cops Break New Ground
• Sexual
Violence ‘Rampant’ In South Sudan: U.N.
• Acid
Attacks in Isfahan Have Nothing to Do With the Hijab, Say Iranian Officials
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
------------
French
Veil Ban Is Turning Muslim Women Off, Away
21
October 2014
PARIS
(WOMENSENEWS)--Sarah B. is giving herself five years before she seriously
considers leaving France.
"I
am telling myself that my future is maybe not here," she said in an
interview at a fast food restaurant in Paris in September. "If I cannot be
accepted as I am, I will leave. I don't want to fight my whole life to be
accepted. I also want to live peacefully and be free like any other
woman."
The
18-year-old native of a Parisian suburb is thinking of other possible
countries. "Maybe Canada or England. Or I will simply return to my
parents' homeland: Morocco."
Like
everyone interviewed for this article, she spoke in French and her words are
translated. She asked not to use her last name because of fear of repercussions
for expressing her opinion.
Sarah B.
said she suffers discrimination that's tied to her religious beliefs and appearance
in France, a country that partially bans religious head coverings. For Muslim
women, that means the Hijab that covers their hair and chest.
In 2011,
Sarah B. decided to start covering her hair with a veil and to dress modestly.
She wears loose, long skirts and dresses that hide the shape of her body. But
due to France's 2004 national ban on any religious signs in public schools, she
takes off her hijab every time she enters the high school where she is pursuing
her nursing studies. "It hurts," she said, when asked about how she
feels when she removes it.
"I
love France," she said. "It is a country that has offered me a lot
but I am also entitled to my freedom. I have the right to be myself. The first
thing when you live here is to feel French, but I don't feel French. The
problem is that we will never be seen as French, we are just seen as
Muslim."
A dozen
French Muslim women interviewed for this article echoed Sarah B.'s sense of
discrimination and rejection.
In the
absence of any official studies assessing the economic and social impact of the
law on Muslim women in France, the Feminist Collective for Equality, a
Paris-based advocacy group, is conducting research that it plans to release in
March 2015.
"This
work falls on us since we are the ones committed to see the end of that
law," said Ismahane Chouder, co-president of the collective. "No one
cared up to now, neither the Ministry of Education, nor the government, not
even the human rights groups or women's groups."
Conflicts
Between Schools, Families
The
Ministry of Education withdrew its decision to let Women's eNews interview the
mediator in charge of solving conflicts between schools and families of veiled
students.
"All
conflicts were solved within two years of the passing of the law," Mireille
Sibille, a ministry spokesperson, said in a phone interview.
Instead
of leaving France, some Muslim women are taking "e-jobs," such as
telemarketing or phone surveys, where they are hidden from the public and work
either remotely or from behind a screen to not have physical contact with the
outside world.
In one
possible bright spot, some are launching their own businesses instead of
continuing to fight for acceptance. The trend was detailed in an article in the
French newspaper Le Monde in September. Many of the women featured in the
article were working online, creating websites to sell clothing and
accessories. One source in the article saw good markets for such women in the
Halal food industry, finance, tourism, cosmetic and beauty, pharmaceutical products
and learning games for children.
But for
many veiled women, the ban is exclusionary. They withdraw into their own
communities and look for jobs and internships with Muslim-owned businesses or
organizations.
"Most
of the interns we had at the CCIF were veiled women," Elsa Ray, the
spokesperson at the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, said in an
interview in the group's Paris office. "Because they know that we will
accept them without questioning their veil."
Ten
years after the 2004 ban, Ray describes the law as catastrophic for Muslim
girls and women. "The consequences are not only terrible for the young
girls directly affected by the law but also because of all the drifts that
ensued . . . The voice of Muslim women
has been taken away."
Rey is
referring to other restrictions that followed the 2004 ban. In 2007, the
government issued instructions to extend the religious sign restriction,
including the hijab, to businesses serving the public, such as hospitals. In 2012, a memo issued by then-minister of
education, Luc Chatel, banned women from wearing the hijab when accompanying
their children on school outings.
Ray said
the bans have made Muslim women more vulnerable to discrimination and violence
than Muslim men "because they are more visible due to the veil they are
wearing." Sixty-eight percent of Muslims in France were victims of
Islamophobia in the form of violence or discrimination or both at least once in
their lifetimes, found a June study by the Collective Against Islamophobia in
France. Among those suffering discrimination, 76 percent are women.
For
instance, once they enter an office, some Muslim women are told they cannot
interview for a job because of their veil, Ray said. Others are asked
inappropriate questions during an interview, she added. "'Do you pray five
times a day?' or 'do eat halal?' are some of the illegal questions asked of
Muslims when they show up at interviews."
Psychological
Harassment Too
When
veiled women manage to secure employment, Ray said her group has noted "several
cases of psychological harassment in the workplace, co-workers and employers
using insulting and degrading terms."
There is no data to say how many women are turned away from the
workplace and are now staying at home. "It is not necessarily their primary
choice but the law has had an impact on a couple's life too. It becomes hard
for the husband to see his wife being rejected everywhere she goes," said
Ray.
Last
year, however, an attempt to extend the ban to universities failed. The
recommendation from the High Council of Integration didn't receive support from
the presidents of universities, the Ministry of Higher Education and the
National Observatory of Secularism.
Pierre
Tevanian teaches philosophy at a high school in Drancy, about 6 miles from Paris.
In 2008, he co-authored the book "Les Filles Voilées Parlent" (The
Veiled Girls Speak Up). In it about 40 women who were students when the law was
passed in 2004 share their stories.
Tevanian
said that veiled Muslim women suffer such a shortage of work opportunities that
they tend to pass on their jobs to another one Muslim woman when they leave or
hear of an opening. "That is what they call 'les plans voilées' – 'the
veiled network.'"
During
an almost two-hour interview at a cafe in the Belleville district of Paris,
Tevanian related numerous stories of Muslim women choosing expatriation, giving
up work and educational opportunities and secluding themselves. Some, he said,
spend years at university to keep themselves active, while some women choose to
create their own business.
Laila
Glovert, 33, left France four years ago for London, where she works as a health
advisor in a clinic to help smokers quit. For all that time she has lived apart
from her daughters and husband.
Career
opportunities keep her in London but she is also hindered from returning to
France by the memory of a woman who yelled at her to go back to her own country
and hit her multiple times with her shopping trolley in the streets of Paris.
"I
will never return to France," Glovert, who converted to Islam 13 years
ago, told Women's eNews in an email interview. "The only thing that could
take me back is the day my children can no longer deal with the distance. For
now, I visit them often and they come see me during holidays."
Hajer
Naili is a New York-based reporter for Women's eNews. She has worked for
several radio stations and publications in France and North Africa and
specializes in Middle East and North Africa women in Islam.
http://womensenews.org/story/religion/141020/french-veil-ban-turning-muslim-women-away#.VEY76iLF84U
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Paris
Opera Expels Veiled Woman during Performance
21
October 2014
France's
government is drawing up a new set of rules for theatres after Paris Opera
ejected woman for wearing a veil during a performance, the institution's deputy
director said.
The
incident took place when a veiled woman was spotted on the front row of a
performance of La Traviata at the Opera Bastille, Jean-Philippe Thiellay told
AFP, confirming a media report.
France
brought in a law in 2011 banning anyone from wearing clothing that conceals the
face in a public space, or face a 150 euro ($190) fine.
The
woman was sitting just behind the conductor, visible to monitors, wearing a
scarf covering her hair and a veil over her mouth and nose during the
performance on October 3.
“I was
alerted in the second act,” said Thiellay, adding that “some performers said
they did not want to sing” if something was not done.
France's
ministry of culture said a bill was currently being drafted to remind theatres,
museums and other public institutions under its supervision of the rules
regarding veils.
The
spectator and her companion -- tourists from the Gulf, according to MetroNews
-- were asked to leave by an inspector during the interval.
“He told
her that in France there is a ban of this nature, asked her to either uncover
her face or leave the room. The man asked the woman to get up, they left,”
Thiellay said.
“It's
never nice to ask someone to leave... But there was a misunderstanding of the
law and the lady either had to respect it or leave,” he said.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2014/10/19/Paris-Opera-expels-veiled-woman-during-performance-.html
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Teenage
FGM Campaigner Reveals The Moment That Changed Her Life
21
October 2014
At just
14 years old, Fahma Mohamed discovered something shocking.
The
practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) was taking place in her own
community. She asked her mother what the term meant.
What she
discovered led Fahma to begin campaigning for the brutal ritual to stop.
"I was in complete shock that this even existed," she told The
Huffington Post UK.
Working
with local charity Integrate Bristol, the schoolgirl has made an inspiring
contribution against gender inequality and violence against young people
arriving from outside the UK.
This
year, now aged 18, Fahma launched a petition backed by The Guardian, demanding
former education secretary Michael Gove write to every school in the country to
urge them to safeguard girls from FGM.
Within
three weeks, it attracted more than 230,000 signatures and won the support of
Nobel-prize winning education campaigner Malala Yousafzai and UN secretary
general Ban Ki-moon.
Gove
bowed to pressure and met Fahma, before finally agreeing to write to teachers.
It hasn't
been easy. She has been ignored and endured criticism and even threats for
speaking out against the ritual, which is usually carried out on young girls.
But last
week, she was awarded the Good Housekeeping Women Of The Year Award for
Outstanding Young Campaigner of the Year, in recognition of her determination
and commitment to warning girls and parents across the UK about FGM.
Lindsay
Nicholson, the Editorial Director of Good Housekeeping, said Fahma "proves
that you don’t need access, influence or a large staff to effect real change –
just passion, drive and overwhelming determination."
FGM
involves the cutting off or partial cutting of a girl's genital organs. It is
common in some African, Asian and Middle Eastern communities.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/20/fahma-mohamed-fgm-campaigner_n_6014424.html
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Terrorism-Themed
Ads Aimed at Democratic Women Echo Bush
21
October 2014
More
than in any election in the past decade, Republicans are counting on terrorism
fears to win votes -- especially in races against women Democrats.
At least
60 terrorism- or national security-related ads have aired in congressional
contests in such states as Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina. They’re
running with the most intensity since President George W. Bush’s 2004
re-election campaign, when the airwaves were full of ads depicting Democrat
John Kerry as weak on national security, data provided by Kantar Media’s
Campaign Media Analysis Group show.
Of the
top five Democratic targets, four are women.
“There
is a phenomenon that I haven’t seen in my lifetime, and that is this fear
factor, whether it’s Ebola or the wars,” said Ed Rollins, a Republican who
directed Ronald Reagan’s 1984 presidential re-election campaign.
“If
there wasn’t the overarching fear out there, you couldn’t run this without
being painted as anti-woman,” Rollins said. “It’s a subtle or not-so-subtle way
of saying: These candidates are not as strong as they should be.”
One ad
attacking Democrat Michelle Nunn, who is running for an open U.S. Senate seat
in Georgia, says she has admitted that a foundation she ran for six years gave
money to groups linked to terrorists -- a claim deemed “pants on fire” false by
Politifact Georgia.
A spot
criticizing Kentucky’s Alison Lundergan Grimes replays President Barack Obama
stating his middle name -- Hussein -- as he takes his oath of office. Democrat
Grimes is challenging Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
Closing
Arguments
Heading
into the final two weeks of the midterm congressional campaigns, the ad wars
are punctuating the two parties’ closing arguments in contests that will
determine who runs the U.S. Senate. Republicans need a net gain of six seats to
win the majority.
In their
ads, Republicans are seeking to redirect the conversation to national security
concerns that are likely to surpass other issues for many independent female
voters, said a party strategist with knowledge of the approach.
Bob
Shrum, a Democratic Party strategist, rejected that explanation. “I don’t think
it’s just about moving women from thinking about women’s issues,” he said.
“It’s about playing on stereotypes about women” being weak on security.
Republicans,
who historically poll better than Democrats on national security, were given an
opening to focus on the matter by the beheadings of journalists by Islamic
State extremists and the U.S. airstrikes in Syria. Those events raise the
specter of greater U.S. involvement in the Middle East.
‘Security
Moms’
As
Democrats step up assaults on Republicans such as Representative Cory Gardner
in Colorado's Senate race for his record on gender issues, Republicans are
seeking to narrow the rival party’s advantage with women voters by appealing to
“security moms.” That’s a demographic that Bush effectively cultivated after
the 2001 terrorist strikes.
One 2004
ad had an especially big effect in the crucial state of Ohio, said Shrum, who
was then a senior Kerry adviser. It featured a girl whose mother was killed in
the World Trade Center attacks praising Bush for trying to “make sure I’m
safe.”
Unlike
the Kerry campaign -- which waited weeks to respond to criticism of his
experience in military service during the Vietnam War -- Senate Democrats this
year have swiftly countered.
‘Terrible
Lie’
“That’s
a terrible lie and an insult to the millions of volunteers I worked with to
make a difference,” Nunn says in a spot about the supposed terrorist funding by
the institute she headed, which is tied to the Bush family. “President Bush’s
son called it shameful.”
Incumbent
Senators Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Mark
Udall of Colorado -- all in tough contests to keep their seats -- have put up
ads responding to attacks.
The
Republican ads are playing into worries among many Americans that the U.S. is
less secure because of recent crises.
A poll
released yesterday by Politico showed that voters in the most competitive races
are voicing growing concern about terrorism and the Ebola virus, and are
skeptical about both political parties. Two-thirds of likely voters in those
states said the U.S. has “lost control of its major challenges,” Politico said.
Women
Candidates
Many of
the spots raising terrorism alarms are running in Senate battlegrounds against
women candidates. Others are airing in states such as Colorado where Democrats
are pressing a “war-on-women” theme -- an effort to publicize Republican
policies such as limiting access to birth control and abortion, and
encompassing equal pay and violence against women.
The ads
are sponsored by outside spending groups including Ending Spending Inc. and
American Crossroads, as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee
and individual campaigns. The ad attacking Nunn was paid for by the NRSC and
the spot aimed at Grimes was funded by McConnell’s campaign.
Terrorism-related
ads have run more than 2,000 times against Grimes and Nunn and almost 2,000
times against Hagan, CMAG data show. By comparison, in Arkansas, where
Democratic Senator Mark Pryor is on the ballot, and Iowa, where Democrat Bruce
Braley is running for the Senate, such ads have aired just over 200 times.
Udall,
who has hammered Gardner on women’s issues in their Senate contest, including
the Republican’s support for curbing abortion rights, has been attacked 770
times in such ads.
Colorado
Contest
At least
one of the Republican groups spending the most on broadcast ads, American
Crossroads, is focusing its final batch of commercials in Colorado on
terrorism. Udall, who had missed a February hearing on Islamic State, was
caught on camera saying the group didn’t present an “imminent threat” to the
U.S. His comment came before the beheadings of the journalists.
A spot
aimed at North Carolina’s Hagan features a military mom named Nancy Anderson,
who says her son is a U.S. Marine.
“It
makes me so mad to see how the president’s weakness has allowed the Islamic
State to grow,” she says into the camera. “And Senator Hagan, she just goes
right along with him,” she said. “We can’t let our kids die in vain.”
Democrats
argue that the attacks are unfair, saying Obama has kept the U.S. safe from
another Sept. 11-type attack.
Ten
years ago, Bush and his party tried to make the same case. “He was the
president and he had protected the nation,” Shrum said. “It was a classic don’t
change horses in the middle of the stream argument,” he said. “What’s going on
this year is just to raise fears.”
House
Races
The
spots are also running in a number of House races and against men, including
one in Minnesota that calls Democratic Representative Rick Nolan “dangerously
liberal.” Another sponsored by the National Republican Congressional Committee
warns that Islamic State terrorists “are actively working to come for us,”
claiming that Nolan voted to release fighters held at Guantanamo Bay.
Yet with
the Senate in play, most of the attention is focusing on contests for that
chamber.
In
Georgia, Politifact says the claim by Republican David Perdue that Nunn’s
Points of Light institute funded terrorist groups is based on MissionFish, a
business that Points of Light once owned that collected donations for about
20,000 charities.
One
charity, Islamic Relief USA, that received money from MissionFish has partnered
with the umbrella group Islamic Relief Worldwide. While Israel has accused IRW
of having links to Hamas, a U.K. commission found no ties, according to
Politifact. The U.S. and Israel have designated Hamas a terrorist group.
Voter
Trust
Republicans
are trying to take advantage of one of the policy areas where voters still
trust men more than women.
Americans
prefer women to handle numerous policy challenges, including health care,
education, Social Security and immigration, said Dianne Bystrom, an expert in
women candidates and political ads at Iowa State University.
Men
still hold a decisive advantage on terrorism and crime, she said. “It’s
something they’re going to try,” she said of Republicans, especially “in close
races where women may not be seen as tough.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-21/terrorism-themed-ads-aimed-at-democratic-women-echo-bush.html
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Kenyan
Girls Trading Sex for Food - One Woman's Battle to Help
21
October 2014
Nairobi
— The alcohol lining the 12-year-old Kenyan girl's stomach did nothing to quell
her hunger pangs.
So when
one of her mother's drunken customers, in the one-room drinking den that doubles
as their home in Nairobi, offered her a boiled egg in exchange for sex, she
agreed.
Brittanie
Richardson, a 27-year-old American campaigning against the child sex trade in
Kenya, witnessed the act during a routine visit to meet the family and felt powerless
to act.
"The
room was full of people: men, women, the mum is there, the sister. It was one
of those things where you felt you should try and be the knight in shining
armour and just grab the kid," Richardson told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
"But
I kept reminding myself, I could snatch this kid right now and then be this
enemy in this community or I can sit and make relationships. It just broke my
heart that rape had become so normalised.
"When
she finished, she just sat and ate her egg with a blank stare."
In
Nairobi's overcrowded slums, hungry children often trade their bodies for a few
coins or food. The city of about 3.1 million people is home to two million slum
dwellers, and the Kenyan capital's slum population is growing by 6 percent a
year.
Kenya
has up to 30,000 child sex workers, according to the United Nations children's
fund, mainly along its palm-fringed tourist beaches, with child prostitution
widely acknowledged as a problem that needs to be tackled by stronger law
enforcement and by giving the youngsters a way out.
BROTHEL
RESCUES
Richardson,
from Atlanta, Georgia, had no idea of the extent of the problem in Kenya until
she started travelling regularly to Africa while at college, initially to South
Africa to help fight social injustices and then to Mozambique.
A
meeting with a Canadian woman in Mozambique who needed help to set up a rescue
home for children caught up in the sex industry led Richardson to the Kenyan
town of Mtwapa, a notorious red-light district on the coast.
"It
was a time of being heartbroken and shocked. Seeing a 15-year-old, much less an
8-year-old, telling me that she has to have sex to eat was completely
shocking," Richardson said.
"I
hated it. I couldn't speak the language. I had never been a parent. We had these
kids in the house that we were supposed to take care of... They are
traumatised, they can't sleep, I can't sleep."
Richardson
found herself becoming one of a growing number of activists running grassroots
campaigns to stop grinding poverty from sending children from the slums into
the sex trade.
She
would sneak into brothels, strip clubs and alleys, sometimes posing as a
prostitute, to lure girls away, an experience she described as
"terrifying".
But
after two years of running the Mtwapa rescue centre, Richardson wanted to do
more to help and in April this year set up the charity Art and Abolition which
aims to help "sex slaves" through the performing arts, therapy and
education.
Assisted
by a local social worker, Richardson selected 10 girls aged between eight and
16, who were living in the slum of Sinai to take part in her programme. Sinai
is one of about 200 slum settlements in the city.
"All
10 of them have either been raped or been forced by poverty or their parents to
have sex for money," said Richardson, who has dreadlocks, a broad smile
and the word 'Love' tattooed inside her left arm.
RECOVERY
THROUGH ARTS
Richardson
said her commitment to her work stemmed from personal experience as she was
sexually abused as a child by a close family member but everyone tried to
ignore it.
She
credits the Freddie Hendricks Youth Ensemble of Atlanta, a theatre company
founded by a jazz trumpeter, for saving her.
"I
saw what the arts and genuine love did for me as a survivor and I wanted to do
it for more girls," said Richardson.
"It
built up so much self confidence in me. It was just a really free space, full
of a love that none of us had ever had before, and so it really just changed my
life."
Art and
Abolition ran its first camp in August - a week of music, dance, drama and
visual arts - culminating in a performance. A two-week camp is planned for
December.
But her
work comes at a cost and Richardson has managed to garner the support of a
dozen artists and activists in New York who are holding fundraisers for Art and
Abolition this month.
They
include U.S. model Cameron Russell - who gave a notorious TED talk called
'Looks aren't everything' where she changed from a black micro dress into a
long floral skirt to show the power that image has over our lives - and Morley,
a New York singer-songwriter who has performed with Sheryl Crow.
Richardson
said it was heartbreaking that in Sinai's fetid alleys, most of the girls'
mothers were alcoholic sex workers. Some knowingly sent their daughters out to
sell their bodies while others forced them into situations where they were
raped.
The
youngest girls in her programme are sisters, aged eight and 10, whose mother
made them sell peanuts in a local nightclub. Both of the girls were raped.
Their
mother was in denial until Richardson took the children for medical
examinations and confronted her, making her come to terms with what she was
doing to her daughters.
Richardson
said she no longer judged women who sold their children after her work in
Kenya.
"After
I hear their stories and I get to know these women, I realise that they really
are not different to us at all. I probably would have done it too," she
said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201410200310.html
-----
Female
Kurdish Fighters Face Down ISIL In Kobani
21
October 2014
Kurdish
women make up nearly one third of the People's Protection Units (YPG) now
battling the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" for Syria's
Kobani, activists and analysts tell Al-Shorfa.
"Kurdish
girls and women are no different from men in terms of rights and duties,"
said Shirin Kobani, who joined the Women's Protection Unit (YPJ) more than 10
years ago and currently resides in the city, also known as Ain al-Arab.
With
regard to her name, she said, fighters who join a combat unit take on a nom de
guerre and their real name is not revealed until "after his or her
martyrdom, or if absolutely necessary".
The news
about how ISIL abuses women "increases the women's strength and
determination to fight this savage group", she said.
Women
"will not submit to ISIL to be raped, or enslaved, or subjected to their
teachings that are alien to true Islam", she said.
Since
joining the unit, Kobani said she has received training on the use of weapons
of all types.
New
recruits undergo a five-week basic training that includes military training and
classes in politics and history, she said.
These
courses continue on a regular basis so everyone is ready at all times for any
emergency, she said.
DEFENDING
KOBANI
Kurdish
fighters of both sexes were previously grouped together under YPG leadership,
said Ocalan Sheikhi, a Kurdish activist from Kobani who does relief work on the
Syrian-Turkish border.
However,
men and women were separated in 2012 and the YPJ was established after the
number of female volunteers rose sharply, he said.
Most of
Sheikhi's female relatives in Kobani have remained in the city to defend it,
and are currently fighting with YPG and YPJ units, he told Al-Shorfa.
Sheikhi
estimated the number of female fighters at more than 6,000, in addition to
those working in rescue, medical, supplies and communications units.
Dozens
of female fighters have fallen in the recent battles with ISIL in Kobani, he
said.
Among
the most prominent of the female fighters is Nalin Afrin, who leads the women's
battalions and is the deputy commander in chief of YPG units in Kobani, Sheikhi
said.
WOMEN'S
BATTALIONS THROUGH HISTORY
The
Kurdish female fighters' participation in the military operations in Kobani
"is not a new phenomenon or merely an isolated case imposed by the reality
in Kobani", said Syrian journalist Mohammed al-Abdullah, who currently
resides in Cairo.
Women
and girls between the ages of 16 and 40 have been recruited as fighters in the
past, he told Al-Shorfa, and this is not limited to a particular party or
region, but is widespread in Syria and Iraq.
There
are other women's groups fighting ISIL in Mount Makhmour in Iraq, al-Abdullah
added.
Military
analyst Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Ahmed, who is retired from the Egyptian army,
spoke to the positive impact that the involvement of women's groups in the
fight for Kobani has had.
"The
reports being circulated via the media about the participation of Kurdish
female fighters in Kobani has a positive psychological impact in the
confrontation with ISIL," he told Al-Shorfa.
Kurdish
women's participation exposes the real face of ISIL and its mistreatment of
women as inferior to men, he said.
The
women's participation also has military implications, as it significantly
augments the fighting force, he added, and military operations will be easier
and more successful "with the female fighters reinforcing the [male]
fighters".
http://al-shorfa.com/en_GB/articles/meii/features/2014/10/20/feature-01
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The
West’s Female-Genital Mutilation Wake-Up Call
21
October 2014
The U.K.
alone is now treating 300 women and girls each month for the after-effects of
the brutal, unnecessary surgery. We need Obama to follow through on his promise
to eradicate it.
New
figures from the U.K. are finally revealing the true extent of female genital
mutilation: In just six months, nearly 2,000 women and girls have been treated
by Britain’s National Health Service after undergoing the brutal procedure.
And with
these statistics, which have been made available for the first time, hiding
from the issue is no longer an option for Britain and the U.S.—and President
Obama’s pledge to eradicate this abuse has never been more pressing.
While
FGM—the process of removing either parts or the entirety of the external female
genitalia—has been a federal offense in the U.S. since 1996, a dearth of
tangible data has meant years of Western authorities theorizing on the extent
of (and solution to) the problem—with few results. Though the past year has
seen a number of legislative steps being taken toward both identifying victims
and punishing perpetrators, these calls to action have largely occurred on
paper, and convictions remain nonexistent.
“The NHS
is getting real numbers based on real cases, and this takes [these measures]
out of the theoretical discussion and clearly puts it into the context of
individuals,” says Shelby Quast, the Washington-based policy director of
women’s rights organization Equality Now. “It’s a very high number, but this is
just the tip of the iceberg.”
A
prevalence study has been pledged, but like so many measures of this ilk that
have been discussed, whether it will be put into practice remains to be seen.
For the
U.K., a nation of 64 million people, this number is staggering: An average of
around 300 girls and women are being treated for FGM each month; not far off
100 per week, more than 10 every single day. The report’s findings have been an
unsettling glimpse into the enormity of the practice and the problem—one which
is now more visible, certainly, but still lacks the training and funding required
before real changes can be implemented.
Former
U.S. Rep. Mary Bono, who played a major role in the passing of a bill against
FGM “holidays” (in which girls would be taken to their parents’ native
countries to undergo the procedure), describes the latest findings as
“disturbing on many levels.”
“Two
thousand women may have been seen by medical professionals, but that doesn’t
account for the many others who have suffered without any treatment,” Bono
said. “Unfortunately, the issue is almost completely ignored in the U.S., even
though it is occurring here as well.”
In the
past few months, Washington has made further promises about how it will deal
with FGM, in meetings with senior-level officials from the White House and
Department of Justice, as well as human-rights workers, as recently as early
October. A prevalence study has been pledged, but like so many measures of this
ilk that have been discussed, whether it will be put into practice remains to
be seen. “It’s good news that we’re seeing a lot in terms of commitments,”
Quast adds, “but it’s also extremely important that we don’t stop there.”
In terms
of transparency, the U.K. has taken a vital step forward by openly quantifying
the extent of the situation. For too long, issues deemed as “foreign” by Western
governments have been allowed to permeate communities, neighborhoods,
families—all because they have taken root elsewhere first. Whether it’s a major
health epidemic, the mass kidnap of children, or girls undergoing bodily
mutilation, it is no longer good enough to just hope that these problems won’t
infiltrate our soil.
And,
shocking as these recent numbers are, we must bear in mind that what trickles
through to America or Britain is a tiny fraction of the issue elsewhere. With
FGM found to be common practice in 28 African countries by the World Health
Organization, and a quarter of those nations with a “cutting” rate of more than
85 percent, the scale of this violence is almost unimaginable.
It is
not America’s job to solve Africa’s problems, but we can’t continue to dismiss
this as the troubles of a faraway land. We have a responsibility to help those
who need it —wherever they may be in the world—and to ensure that the promises
readily espoused as convenient soundbites really do become a reality.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/20/the-west-s-female-genital-mutilation-wake-up-call.html
-----------
Condemned
Christian woman to take blasphemy case to top Pakistani court
21
October 2014
Islamabad,
Pakistan (CNN) -- A Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in
Pakistan plans to take her case to the country's highest court after a high
court last week rejected her appeal, her attorney says.
Asia
Bibi, a mother of five from Punjab province, was accused of defiling the name
of the Prophet Mohammed during a 2009 argument with Muslim fellow field
workers.
The
workers had refused to drink from a bucket of water she had touched because she
was not Muslim.
In
November 2010, a Pakistani district court found Bibi guilty of blasphemy. The
offense is punishable by death or life imprisonment, according to Pakistan's
penal code, and Bibi was sentenced to hang.
On
October 16, the Lahore High Court upheld the verdict.
Human
Rights Watch described the court's decision as a "disgrace to Pakistan's
judiciary."
"Asia
Bibi's case is an example of how Pakistan's vaguely worded blasphemy law has
led to discrimination, persecution and murder since its imposition almost three
decades ago," spokesman Phelim Kine told CNN.
Bibi's
attorney, Naeem Shakir, told CNN on Monday that he would file an appeal once he
had received a detailed copy of the judgment.
"I
have a very strong case, I am sure the Supreme Court will provide us with
relief. There is no concrete evidence against Asia Bibi, and the courts are
only relying on the statement on those two women," Shakir said.
Blasphemy
allegations
At a
2010 media conference, Bibi said the allegations against her were lies
fabricated by a group of women who didn't like her.
"We
had some differences, and this was their way of taking revenge," she said.
An
investigation by Shahbaz Bhatti, who was then Pakistan's minister for minority
affairs, also found the charges stemmed from religious and personal enmity, and
he recommended Bibi's release.
Bhatti
was the only Christian member of the Cabinet in Pakistan, where 95% of people
are Muslim, and had opposed the blasphemy law. In 2011, he was assassinated in
Islamabad.
The
Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the killing was "a message
to all of those who are against Pakistan's blasphemy laws."
Two
months earlier, the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, had been shot
dead by his security guard because he, too, had supported Bibi and spoken out
against the law.
Court
reaction
Speaking
Monday after last week's verdict, Shakir admitted also feeling that his life
was in danger.
"I
do feel threatened. Even in the court, there were some two dozen people who
were against Asia Bibi. I have not received any threats literally, but the
presence of people there makes the environment very hostile toward us," he
told CNN.
Those
calling for Bibi's execution welcomed the court's ruling, Shakir said:
"Some of them were so overjoyed and happy that they started crying in
delight on hearing the decision of the court."
Qari
Saleem, one of the clerics pursuing the case, told CNN via phone that Bibi
deserved the punishment. "I am very happy at the decision of the court,
and justice has been done," Saleem said, adding that sweets had been
distributed in court after the ruling "out of joy and happiness."
Human
rights groups' reaction
Initial
news of Bibi's death sentence sparked outrage among international human rights
groups, which condemned Pakistan's blasphemy law as a source of violence and
persecution against religious minorities.
Human
Rights Watch's Kine said the law largely targeted religious minorities and was
"all too often manipulated to seek personal disputes."
"Pakistan's
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should use the power granted to him under
Pakistan's Constitution to end Asia Bibi's nightmare of years of imprisonment
and the threat of a death sentence by pardoning her and repealing or reforming
the country's blasphemy law to prevent such tragic mockeries of justice from
occurring in (the) future," he said.
Amnesty
International last week described the decision as "a grave
injustice."
"Asia
Bibi should never have been convicted in the first place -- still less
sentenced to death -- and the fact that she could pay with her life for an
argument is sickening," an Amnesty spokesman said.
In 2010,
Pope Benedict XVI called for Bibi to be released, and in 2012, activists
presented a petition to the U.N. Human Rights Council calling on Pakistan to
free her.
Bibi
wrote about her ordeal in a 2012 book called "Get Me Out of Here." It
includes a letter she wrote to her family urging them to have faith in God.
"My children," she wrote, "don't lose courage or faith in Jesus
Christ."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/20/world/asia/pakistan-asia-bibi/index.html
-----------
US Wife
of Saudi Granted e-Mail Divorce
21
October 2014
An
American court has approved a woman’s plea to get a divorce from her Saudi
husband via e-mail after the man left the country with her three kids and
prevented her from seeing them.
The
judge, Robert Sakfaj, agreed to the request made by the woman after she proved
that she could no longer communicate with him in any other way.
An
arrest warrant has been issued for kidnapping the children and refusing to
return to the country, which is a violation of the custody rights previously
granted to the mother, in addition to failing to attend a hearing on the
matter.
Jessica,
who filed for divorce last April, said that they have been married since June
2004.
“I am
tired of being married to a person who took my kids from me and continues to
deprive me of seeing them, while doing everything in his power to make our
lives miserable,” she said.
The
husband was a master’s degree student at the Shippensburg University of
Pennsylvania and left the country on Nov. 24 last year with his children,
nine-year-old Mohammed, seven-year-old Ibrahim, and five-year-old Ilyas, after
the court granted them approval to visit their father.
The
court saw evidence confirming that he had received official documents via
e-mail before.
The
judge also ruled that the mother is entitled to their family car after
registration expired last month and her husband failed to renew it.
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/647196
-----------
Australia’s
Parliament House Lifts Face Veil Ban
21
October 2014
Australia’s
Parliament House on Monday lifted a short-lived ban on facial coverings
including Burqas and Niqabs after the prime minister intervened.
The
department that runs Parliament House had announced earlier this month that
“persons with facial coverings” would no longer be allowed in the open public
galleries. Instead, they were to be directed to galleries usually reserved for
noisy schoolchildren where they could sit behind soundproof glass.
That
announcement was made just as Parliament’s last two-week session was ending and
had no practical effect.
On
Monday, the Department of Parliamentary Services, or DPS, said people wearing
face coverings would be allowed in all public areas of Parliament House.
It said
face coverings would have to be removed temporarily at the front door so that
staff could “identify any person who may have been banned from entering
Parliament House or who may be known, or discovered, to be a security risk.”
A DPS
official, who declined to be named, citing department policy, said that by late
Monday no visitor to Parliament House that day had a covered face. Face veils
are rarely seen in the building.
The ban
had been widely condemned as a segregation of Muslim women and a potential
breach of anti-discrimination laws.
Prime
Minister Tony Abbott has said he wasn’t notified in advance and had asked House
Speaker Bronwyn Bishop to rethink the ban.
The
restriction had been authorized by Bishop, who has campaigned for a ban on
Muslim head scarves in schools, as well as Senate President Stephen Parry.
The controversy
came as the government attempts to assure Australia’s Muslim minority that new
counterterrorism laws and police raids on terror suspects' homes in recent
months were directed at countering criminal activity, not any particular
religion.
The
opposition welcomed the overturning of the ban and demanded an explanation for
it.
“In 2014
for two weeks, the official policy of the Australian Parliament was to practice
segregation and we need to ensure this does not happen again,” senior
opposition lawmaker Tony Burke said in a statement.
Parry
said the veil ban was not made on the advice of police or the national domestic
security agency.
He told
a Senate committee that the ban had been warranted as an interim measure
because of police advice that 10 men and women had plotted to “disrupt” the
House of Representatives “wearing garments that would prevent recognition of
their facial features and possibly their genders.”
That
never happened. But Bishop told Parliament that she and Parry would have been
“derelict in our duty” if they had not dealt with it.
Security
has increased at Parliament House since the government raised its terror
warning level last month in response to the domestic threat posed by supporters
of the Islamic State group. Australia is participating in the U.S.-led
coalition against Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2014/10/21/Australia-s-Parliament-House-lifts-face-veil-ban.html
-----------
Pakistani
Women-Specific Transport Project ‘Tabeer’ Closed Permanently
21
October 2014
ISLAMABAD:
The women specific transport service `Tabeer’ finally decided to close its
operations permanently despite the huge demand of women commuters for a
separate facility to travel with comfort. The pilot project was launched in
February 17 for three months, which was completed in May 17 and declared to be
successful from the concerned authorities. At that time the project was stopped
for a month, taking the excuse of construction work at Murree Road and it was
announced repeatedly by Rawalpindi Transport Authority high-ups that it would
be restored after the completion of the pillar works at Murree Road for Metro
Bus Service. The statements of Regional Transport Authority officials appeared
in sections of press repeatedly, that the project remained successful and more
vans would be deputed for the convenience of women who had a long demand of
respectable transport service for them. However, on contacting Secretary
Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Awais Manzoor, who was confident to restore
the bus service after the completion of pillar work at Murree Road here on
Sunday said that the project is finally closed. He said women transport issues
would be solved with the start of the Metro Bus Service in twin cities of Rawalpindi
and Islamabad in January next. He further informed that the bus has a capacity
of around 80 seats among which 35 percent would be reserved for women only and
according to the plan 25 buses would ply on the route so there would be no
difficulty for the passengers to reach their destinations. Giving details of
the fare for the Metro Bus Service, the Secretary RTA said it is expected to be
same as the fare in Lahore, which is Rs. 20 for each person. Separate transport
service for women is a longstanding demand of the females of twin cities of
Rawalpindi and Islamabad who have to wait for hours at bus stops especially in
the morning and evening when everyone is in a hurry to reach their destination.
The two front seats reserved for women in public vans are not enough to cater
their need as they decision was taken three decades back when the ratio of the
workingwomen was quite low and only few women would step out of their homes,
mostly for an emergency or any severe issue.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/islamabad/20-Oct-2014/women-specific-transport-project-tabeer-closed-permanently
-----------
ABVP:
Live-in Relationships a Crime against Women; JNU Student Responds in Open
Letter
21
October 2014
Just a
month back, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of
Bharatiya Janata Party, strode into power in the Delhi University Students'
Union elections and promised to change the face of the prestigious university.
Having
never been one to make politically correct statements or evolve with changing
times, ABVP's latest "Cultural Values" campaign launched in the
campus earned them ire from the more liberal students.
Quite
admirably aimed at ensuring women's safety, the defenders of the Indian culture
contend that "Live-in relationships go against the grain of Indian culture
and the institution of family. It is also true that hardly any such
relationship succeeds."
ABVP has
started a campaign to dissuade students from live-in relationships, and has
promised to start a campaign against love jihad when the college re-opens.
"We
are not against love and it is not our intention to target a particular
community, but forced conversion of Hindu women by Muslim men using unethical
means is a worrying trend and is a reality today," ABVP national secretary
Rohit Chahal clarifies to The Indian Express.
The
campaign against live-in relationships, which, according to the ABVP stand
against the very institution of the family, apparently is part of the union's
awareness drive against atrocities on women.
"The
campaign was to express concern on rising crime against women. And we think
that live-in relationships contribute to that because unlike marriage, live-in
relationships don't give financial security to a girl. They are against Indian
culture. There are many cases of girl alleging rape by their boyfriends, and
that has to stop," Saket Bahuguna, a representative of the party, told The
Times of India.
While
many progressive-thinking students and teachers voiced their opinion on the
campaign being archaic, Aparna Mahiyaria, a student at Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU), sent Chahal a letter explaining the ebb and flow of actually
being in a live-in relationship with someone raised in another religion,
specifically, a Muslim. The letter was published in Scroll.
She begins
the letter by painting a picture of her life with her boyfriend: "I have a
boyfriend. We live together. He is adept with household work and shares it
equally with me. Not only that, we are each other's emotional support in any
situation of crisis and trouble. It is a beautiful feeling to come back home
(at whatever time) to him".
Hailing
from a seemingly orthodox Hindu family that staunchly supports the RSS, she
knows of the suffocation in being forced into a marriage based purely on family
and religious status. She prefers a live-in relationship with her boyfriend,
who she is "hopelessly in love with".
The JNU
student also demands that if ABVP really wants to respect women, they have to
respect the decisions made by women too, for after all, women are able,
rational beings: "Respecting women is about respecting their choice ‒ even the choice to say no. Women are
able, rational beings ‒
by the virtue of being humans, and anyone who thinks they respect women must
first acknowledge their ability to make decisions for themselves."
She
concludes the letter by asking the puritan party if they could understand the
concept of two people devoid of any religion or caste identities come together
as equal partners in a relationship.
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/abvp-live-relationships-crime-against-women-jnu-student-responds-open-letter-611831
-----------
Badge of
Honour: KP's Female Cops Break New Ground
21
October 2014
Were it
not for Officer Afshan, Swabi’s Nasreen Bibi* might never have entered a police
station to lodge a complaint. Her husband had levelled baseless accusations at
her and tortured her, and Nasreen was left with no option but to approach the
local police station in Kalu Khan.
“I had
arrived from the village of Dagai; I approached the female official at the
women’s desk with my complaint,” narrates Nasreen. “The officer then sent male
policemen to bring my husband over to the station. He apologised for his
mistakes, and pledged before the cops that he would not repeat them.”
Nasreen
found the assistance so useful that her trust in the police was reposed. Based
on her experience, she now believes that if something untoward happens again,
she would not hesitate to visit the police station again. Officer Afshan had
made a huge difference to Nasreen’s life.
These
are incremental changes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — young women are not just
recognising crimes committed against them, but are now also standing up to be
counted in policing and law enforcement across the province.
In
Malala Yousufzai’s home province, young women are slowly but surely assuming
more policing duties
One such
brave woman is Dr Anoosh Masood: she is the first-ever woman assistant
superintendent of police (ASP) in the province. “I opted to join the police
because I knew I would find a huge forum to help people; more women are needed
in this field,” remarks Dr Masood.
But she
is not the only one: another young woman, Sonia Shamroz, who belongs to a
prominent family of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is currently undergoing training at the
National Police Academy (NPA) and will report to the province once she has
graduated.
In July
last year, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had introduced women desks in
about 56 police stations across the province. Ihsan Ghani, a former inspector
general of police presently serving as director general of the National Police
Bureau, argues that the purpose of setting up the female counters was to
facilitate women who would not enter a male-dominated police station, or were
reluctant to visit male counters to lodge their complaints.
“These
desks were set up to provide help to women through women cops, so that they can
be better heard and helped,” says Ghani. The plan was to introduce the desks at
all the police stations to facilitate women complainants. Swabi and Swat were
the first districts to set up female counters at the women police station, followed
by Peshawar and other districts. However, a few police stations are yet to get
the facility.
And yet,
the initiative has started showing tangible benefits.
“Women
were reluctant to visit police stations but when they came to know about the
women desks, they started turning up to register their complaints,” recalls
Officer Afshan. She was among the first three policewomen who took over the job
of lodging complaints for women complainants at her separately established
desk.
The poor
ratio of women among police officers is also reflected by the fact that there
are only 16 women among hundreds of PSPs in the country. The ratio of junior
female officers would be probably higher in the National Highways and Motorway
Police, where they can be seen patrolling in almost all parts.
The
success of the women’s complaint desk has coalesced well with the aspiration of
young women such as Dr Anoosh Masood. Having won a gold medal in Medicine, Dr
Masood was a busy medic before she donned the police uniform.
“It is
good to be in mainstream policing; the job is quite challenging,” she says. Dr
Masood was first posted in Lahore but later transferred to the picturesque
Abbottabad district to join up with her family. Her spouse is also an ASP-Under
Training in Abbottabad.
“I
preferred Pakistan over the US for my specialisation,” recalls the young ASP
from the 40th Common Training Programme (CTP) of the Police Service of Pakistan
(PSP). “Women are more dedicated. And being a PSP officer is more a kind of an
administrative job, which is why I preferred it over medicine.”
The
induction of more women in the police force started from Abbottabad; the
tranquility in the city lends itself to more favourable conditions for women
officers as compared to other districts of the volatile KP. This is probably
why the two female cops promoted as deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) in
mid-September were both from Abbottabad. Nazia Noreen, promoted as DSP, was
also serving as station house officer (SHO) of the Women Police Station in Abbottabad
till her promotion. Another DSP, Shahzadi Noushad, is presently posted in the
Police Training College in Hangu.
“Both
the officers promoted to the rank of DSP, Shahzadi and Nazia, are professional,
experienced and committed police officers. We have another female officer,
Inspector Samina Zafar, as the in-charge of the complaint cell at the district
police officer’s (DPO) office,” remarks Abbottabad DPO Mohammad Ali Gandapur.
According
to Gandapur, the in-charge of the complaints cell as well as the station house
officers (SHOs) of the women police station are dealing with cases, complaints
and matters related to women — either as complainants or as the accused. He was
full of praise for Dr Masood too. “The attachment of ASP-UT Dr Anoosh Masood is
almost over. She will graduate from the NPA in a couple of months, and will
report to the central police officer in Peshawar for further posting,” adds
Gandapur.
Swabi
DPO Sajjad Khan too believes that the women’s desks across the district are
doing a great job in delivering justice to women. “We have appointed educated
and committed female officers at these desks to better help out complainants
from their own gender,” he says.
The
provincial police bosses have recently decided to give 10 percent quota to
women in recruitment in all ranks. The province normally recruits constables on
their own, while assistant sub-inspectors and in some cases sub-inspectors
through the provincial public service commission. The province is to recruit 29
females as assistant sub-inspectors through PCS in the coming months. Female
constables and head constables can also compete for over 320 posts of ASIs that
are to be selected from the in-service cops.
“It is
good to see women getting promotions in police, but more women need to be
promoted to higher levels as well — as DIGs, AIGs and IGs,” says Bushra Gohar,
former MNA and central vice-president of the Awami National Party (ANP). “At
all levels, 33pc women are required to ensure meaningful improvement. Mostly
women are restricted to the lowest levels with very few opportunities of upward
mobility. Women face huge challenges working in the Police department,” says
Gohar.
According
to a media report in 2013, Pakistan has only 0.89pc women in the police force;
this ratio is seven percent in India, 1.9pc in Bangladesh, 27pc in UK, and 12pc
in the United States. The federal capital had 1.2pc females in its police
force.
The poor
ratio of women among police officers is also reflected by the fact that there
are only 16 women among hundreds of PSPs in the country. The ratio of junior
female officers would be probably higher in the National Highways and Motorway
Police, where they can be seen patrolling in almost all parts.
Helena
Rizwan, was the first ever female to have been recruited in the PSP track as
ASP. Belonging to the 23rd CTP, Helena remained all alone across the country
before Maria Mahmood was recruited in the 35th CTP. And then women started
finding their way into the force as senior cops. Helena was recruited in 1997
while the second ASP Maria joined the police force in 2010.
Twelve
women ASPs have graduated from the NPA since 1997, while four ASPs are about to
graduate in a couple of months. In 2011, four women graduated as ASPs,
including Amara Athar, Shaista Rehman and Nida Riaz Chatta from Punjab and Syed
Zahida Bukhari from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sindh got its first female ASP the very
next year when Irum Awan passed out from the NPA. Two other ASPs in her batch
included Irum Abbasi from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Riffat Haider from Punjab. In
the last three years, one ASP was recruited in 2012, two in 2013 while four
will pass out this year. Among the 16 ASPs so far, the highest number, 10, came
from Punjab. Sindh, Punjab and KP all have got two each ASPs so far.
A female
police inspector Ghazala Syed made headlines in April this year, when she was
posted as first female SHO in Karachi. She was tasked to lead the force of
Clifton police station. She was soon followed by two other ladies, who were
appointed SHOs within a few weeks time.
Till
last year, women were posted as SHOs only of women’s police stations, most of
which are not very effective. Two female police stations were established in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one each in Peshawar and Abbottabad, on the directives of
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in the mid 1990s. However, both police
stations are yet to lodge a single FIR, and only help other police stations in
conducting raids or keeping a female accused in their lockup.
But
perhaps, the past is all set to change — despite their few numbers, policewomen
have not only performed well but have also sacrificed their lives in the line
of duty. Shazia Gul of the Nowshera district police was the first female cop to
have sacrificed her life in May 2011; she was deployed at the entrance of the
district courts when a bomb went off at the main gate. Slowly but surely, women
are protecting and defending Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The
writer can be contacted at kashifaziz88@yahoo.com
http://www.dawn.com/news/1138366/badge-of-honour-kps-female-cops-break-new-ground
-----------
Sexual Violence
‘Rampant’ In South Sudan: U.N.
21 October 2014
Rape and
other forms of sexual violence by all sides in South Sudan's civil war have
become so widespread that a 2-year-old child was among the victims, the U.N.
special representative on sexual violence in armed conflict said on Monday.
“In my
30 years of experience, I've never witnessed anything like what I saw in
Bentiu,” Zainab Hawa Bangura told reporters about a recent trip to the northern
town, one of South Sudan's regions worst hit by the conflict.
“The
IDPs (internally displaced persons) seeking refuge there face a combination of
... insecurity, unimaginable living conditions, acute day-to-day protection
concerns and rampant sexual violence,” she told reporters.
Fighting
erupted in December in South Sudan - which declared independence from Sudan in
2011 - after months of political tension between President Salva Kiir and his
sacked deputy and political rival, Riek Machar. Peace talks brokered by African
regional bloc IGAD have yet to bring an end to the bloodshed.
“Survivors
and health care workers told me heartbreaking stories of rape, gang rape,
abduction, sexual slavery and forced marriage,” Bangura said. “Those who try to
fight back against their attackers are often raped with objects instead. Some
victims have even been raped to death.”
She said
the victims included women, men, girls and boys, with 74 percent of them below
the age of 18, according to South Sudanese hospital officials.
“The
youngest victim they have treated is 2 years old,” Bangura said.
She said
both sides in the conflict have committed sexual violence, adding that orders
had been given within the military forces to perpetrate rapes on the basis of
ethnicity.
Bangura
added that said a radio station in Bentiu called Radio Bentiu FM was used to
broadcast appeals for men to rape women and girls based on their ethnic
backgrounds and what was believed to be their political loyalties.
At the
end of Bangura's trip to South Sudan, she and the government signed a
communique outlining steps that would be taken to put an end to the rapes,
adding that the message must be sent across the military's chain of command,
Bangura said.
She was
especially concerned about the lack of psychological and medical care for the
victims.
“I am
also concerned about the lack of reporting of this crime due to the closure of
government offices, insecurity in the country, malfunctioning police services,
(and) a lack of capacity by the police and medical service providers,” she
said.
The
conflict in South Sudan has killed more than 10,000 people, caused over 1
million to flee and driven the country of 11 million closer to famine. By
year-end, a third of the people could face the threat of starvation, the United
Nations said.
Last
month the United States warned Kiir and Machar to engage in serious peace talks
to end nearly a year of violence in the world's newest state or face U.N.
Security Council sanctions.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/africa/2014/10/21/U-N-says-two-year-old-raped-in-South-Sudan.html
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Acid Attacks
In Isfahan Have Nothing To Do With The Hijab, Say Iranian Officials
21
October 2014
There
has been a spate of acid attacks on young women in Isfahan, Iran.
According
to police, attackers riding on motorbikes have thrown acid in at least four
women’s faces in the city, but local media have put the number as high as
eight.
There
are fears that the victims were chosen because they were wearing clothing or
headscarves that were revealing or did not conform to perceived Islamic norms,
though authorities have so far denied that the assaults had anything to do with
the hijab.
The Isna
news agency has spoken to a number of victims and their families, including a
27-year-old woman, identified only by her first name Neda, who was targeted two
weeks ago in Isfahan close to Bozorgmehr Square. She has since been taken to a
hospital in the Iranian capital, Tehran, for further treatment but the agency
said she had lost full sight in one of her eyes and has partial sight in the
other.
“While
in her car, Neda had pulled over in order to answer her mum’s call,” the
victim’s father told Isna. “Two men riding a motorbike threw acid in her face
and ran away, leaving her burnt in different areas such as her eyes, her left ear,
neck, hands and legs.”
“What
was her fault?” he asked. “She had not committed a single crime, she had always
lived with her head kept high and never had a spat with anyone.”
Another
victim, named Maryam, was also driving outside with her windows pulled down
when a similar assault took place. “A rider threw nearly two litres of acid
through the driver’s window towards me, which affected my face, hands and my
body,” Maryam told Isna. “I did not know about the serial acid attacks in
Isfahan, I think I was one of the early victims.”
Women in
Iran are required by law to cover themselves head to toe but many, especially
young women in bigger cities, defy the regulations and the morality police by
showing their hair or wearing clothing that could be deemed inappropriate.
In
public places such as big squares or universities, Iranian police caution women
with “bad hijab” and sometimes arrest those who have gone too far with
challenging the official line.
Despite
this, the authorities have condemned the attacks in Isfahan as reprehensible,
vowing to bring those responsible to justice, though they reject any link
between the crimes.
“The
acid attacks in Isfahan were not serial crimes,” Isna quoted the deputy
interior minister, Morteza Mirbagheri, on Monday, as saying. “We have arrested
three to four suspects.”
Mirbagheri
said there were no safety concerns about Isfahan in regards to acid attacks and
promised that the local government would fight such “insane” actions.
A member
of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, Abbas-Ali Mansouri,
said: “Foreign and Zionist intelligence agencies” were aiding those carrying
out the attacks in order to distort Islam’s image worldwide.
The
attacks have led to widespread panic and nervousness in Isfahan, the reformist
Shargh daily reported. “The news about the acid attacks have attracted a great
deal of attention the on internet and have prompted fear among women,” the
newspaper said.
Local
news sites have asked why all the victims have been young women.
Acid
attacks in Iran are usually linked to personal grudges. In 2011, the case of an
Iranian woman who was blinded when a spurned suitor threw acid at her drew
international attention.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/oct/20/acid-attacks-isfahan-hijab-iran-young-women-motorbikes
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