Afghanistan: Women Tell UN Rights Experts ‘We’re Alive, But Not Living’
New Age
Islam News Bureau
06
May 20123
• Afghanistan: Women Tell UN Rights Experts ‘We’re Alive, But Not Living’
• All-Female Saudi Band Seera Showcases the Electrifying Power of Women
• Islamic State: Hundreds of Women on Hunger Strike at
Iraqi Prison
• Princess Reema Bint Bandar, Ambassador to the US,
Meets Boeing Team
• Hurdles That Slow the March OfMuslim Girls To Higher
Education
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
| https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/afghanistan-un-rights-/d/129718 |
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Afghanistan: Women Tell UN Rights Experts ‘We’re Alive, But Not Living’
UNICEF/Salam Al-Janabi Women and children wait to be seen by members of a UNICEF-supported mobile health and nutrition team in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
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5 May 2023
“We are alarmed about widespread mental health issues and accounts of escalating suicides among women and girls,” they said in a joint statement. “This extreme situation of institutionalized gender-based discrimination in Afghanistan is unparalleled anywhere in the world.”
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‘Extreme’ discrimination
Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, de facto authorities have issued a cascade of restrictive orders that amounts to “extreme institutionalized gender-based discrimination” and a systematic chipping away of the rights of women and girls, they warned.
The ongoing “appalling” human rights violations have masked other underlying manifestations of gender-based discrimination that preceded the Taliban’s rule and are now “deeply engrained in society and even normalized”, they added.
Currently, females are prohibited from being in school above sixth grade, including universities, can only be provided care by women doctors, and are barred from working at the UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
‘Life under house arrest’
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, and the Chair of the working group on discrimination against women and girls, Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, shared their preliminary observations, including meetings with Taliban leaders and grave accounts from the women and girls they met in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, in Balkh province, between 17 April and 4 May.
“Numerous women shared their feelings of fear and extreme anxiety, describing their situation as a life under house arrest,” they reported.
“We are also particularly concerned by the fact that women who peacefully protest against these oppressive measures encounter threats, harassment, arbitrary detentions and torture,” they said.
Extreme misogyny
For two years, the de facto authorities have dismantled the legal and institutional framework and have been “ruling through the most extreme forms of misogyny”, destroying the relative progress towards gender equality achieved in the past two decades, they said.
In meetings with the Taliban, the experts said de facto authorities had told them that women were working in the health, education, and business sectors, and that they were ensuring that women can work according to Sharia, separated from men.
The de facto authorities reiterated their message that they were working on the reopening of schools, without providing a clear timeline, and indicated that the international community should not interfere in the country’s internal affairs, the experts added.
However, they noted that the Taliban impose certain interpretations of religion “that appear not to be shared by the vast majority of Afghans”.
‘Alive, but not living’
The experts said that one of the women they spoke with told them, “we are alive, but not living”.
The consequences of the restrictive measures have led to detention for alleged “moral crimes” under extreme “modesty rules”, they said. New laws have also decimated the system of protection and support for those fleeing domestic violence, leaving women and girls with absolutely no recourse.
The impact is alarming, the experts said, noting that new Taliban-imposed measures have reportedly contributed to a surge in the rates of child and forced marriage, as well as the proliferation of gender-based violence perpetrated with impunity.
“These acts do not occur in isolation,” they cautioned. “If we are to eliminate discrimination and break cycles of violence, gender justice requires a holistic understanding as to why such violations are committed.”
‘Gender apartheid’
The world “cannot turn a blind eye,” they warned.
They recommended that the international community develop further normative standards and tools to address “the broader phenomenon of gender apartheid” as an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, humiliation, and exclusion of women and girls.
At the same time, the UN should take a human rights-based approach which requires a deep understanding and analysis of its principles, they said.
Technical and financial partners should considerably increase their support to activists and grassroots organizations present in Afghanistan and to the unwavering efforts of a “still vibrant civil society” to avoid the complete breakdown of civic space which could have irreversible consequences, they recommended.
They urged the de facto authorities to honour commitments towards the protection and promotion of all women’s and girls’ rights and comply with obligations under instruments to which Afghanistan is a State party, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Special Rapporteurs
The experts expect to present to the Human Rights Council in June a joint report thoroughly analysing the situation of women and girls’ rights in Afghanistan, followed by an interactive dialogue with Afghan women.
Special Rapporteurs and other rights experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations, are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
Source: news.un.org
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136382
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All-Female Saudi Band Seera Showcases The Electrifying Power Of Women
The
rock fusion band Seera (left to right): Meesh, Nora, Haya, and THING. (AN/Huda
Bashatah)
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May
05, 2023
RIYADH: As the profile of women continues to
rise in the contemporary music industry in Saudi Arabia, and the wider Middle
East, all-female rock-fusion band Seera is boldly pioneering a largely untapped
psychedelic sound on the Kingdom’s local scene.
After
a warm-up by DJ Haffs, the Saudi band delivered a captivating performance to an
audience of more than 200 people at The Warehouse in Riyadh on Thursday night
in their debut live show. The venue echoed to the unique sounds of the
four-piece band: guitarist Haya, bassist Meesh, THING on drums, and Nora on
lead vocals and keyboard. The audience was duly impressed.
“Throughout
the whole performance, my phone was always in my pocket; I never took it out,
and I never took any pictures or any videos,” Nadir Al-Fassam, lead guitarist
of Saudi psychedelic punk band Sound of Ruby, told Arab News.
“I
was just concentrating on the performance. The truth is that doesn’t happen a
lot.”
Beyond
their music, however, Seera’s greatest impact might lie in the influence they have
on other Saudi women.
Meesh
said: “We haven’t even launched yet and I’ve already had women come up to me
and (say), ‘I’ve been picking up an instrument but I haven’t felt like I could
really put myself out there until seeing you guys,’ or, ‘You guys inspired
me.’”
The
band hopes their live debut will encourage others to take to the stage.
“It’s
still kind of a male-dominated field globally, and here, too… (as) an all-woman
band, we really want to support women to be more out there and to take up
space,” said Haya.
The
story of the band began a year ago, when Haya met sisters Meesh and Nora
through Instagram and they got together for a jam session.
“Within
a minute, we had written a song, and when Nora also came and met up with us we
were just going and going,” Haya told Arab News.
Nora
added: “Me and Meesh started playing music a long time ago. Since we’re
sisters, we’ve always felt there was a missing piece. We were looking for a
band and people to connect with through our music. We were on the hunt.
“When
Haya reached out to Meesh, it was the perfect opportunity to form a band,
especially since our music tastes are very similar. We like uniqueness in music
and we love diversity in sound.”
Drummer
THING was the missing link, she said, and they met her at a music event later
that summer.
Meesh
said: “I’ve played with a lot of people before but when I played with the
girls, I expressed myself freely in a way that I’m not used to. I felt myself
progress … Playing together really helped us all develop ourselves as
musicians, as people, as a band.”
The
group’s sound, which combines their interests in jazz, funk, soul and Turkish
psychedelic rock, is reminiscent of performers from the 1970s such as Jefferson
Airplane and Janis Joplin, but they add their own spin by infusing it with
Arabic and English influences.
“When
I started writing lyrics, I used to always write in English but I wanted to get
more in touch with my culture,” said Nora.
“So,
I really looked into the writing process and I ended up loving it. Arabic
Fus’ha (classical Arabic) is beautiful, and I wanted to incorporate that more
into the music. That’s when we mixed both languages together.”
Some
of their lyrics also feature Ammiya, or colloquial Arabic, in an effort to
modernize the sound while remaining true to their roots and upbringing.
“We
really wanted to represent an original sound,” said THING. “It was really
important for us to focus on our culture, on local Arabic sounds mostly, and
then mixing it together because we’re influenced by a lot of things.”
As
they performed original tracks on Thursday night, including “Woman,”
“JunoonAlmal” (“Money Craze or Greed”) and “KhaleekBa’eed” (“Stay Away”), the
band really played to the crowd, complete with free-flowing moves and
headbanging, often inviting the audience to clap along. “We’re about to take
you guys to dreamland,” Nora told them between songs.
The
crowd went wild when Seera concluded their set with the track “Slapping,”
calling out for more.
“We
were so overwhelmed by the audience and their energy and how they felt the
music,” said Nora.
“I
could see in their faces that they were connecting with it and that just meant
the world to me. This doesn’t stop here and it’s just fueling our fire for the
future.”
Source:
arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2298346/saudi-arabia
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Islamic
State: Hundreds of women on hunger strike at Iraqi prison
06-05-23
At
least 400 women are in the second week of a hunger strike in a high-security
prison in Iraq's capital Baghdad, the BBC has learned.
They
are in prison for being part of the Islamic State group, after what they say
were unfair trials.
The
group is said to include foreign nationals from Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan,
Ukraine, Syria, France, Germany and the US.
It
is thought about 100 children are also being held at the facility.
The
Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, waged a brutal campaign to establish a
self-declared caliphate - an Islamic nation - across Syria and Iraq, killing
and enslaving thousands across a five-year period.
After
its fall in 2017, tens of thousands of former members were rounded up. It is
alleged many of the men were summarily executed, but thousands of women and
children were taken into detention. Some were repatriated to their home
nations, but many remain in Syrian and Iraqi jails.
Videos
sent to BBC Arabic from inside the Baghdad facility show emaciated women lying
motionless on hard stone floors. It is thought the group have not eaten since
24 April.
The
BBC has been told that at the start of the hunger strike, participants were
consuming just half a glass of water per day. Some women have now stopped
drinking altogether.
Young
children can also be seen in the video footage - many reportedly born inside
the facility.
The
women's sentences range from 15 years to life imprisonment. Some have been
sentenced to death, but no executions have been carried out, the BBC
understands.
The
hunger strike is a protest against both their convictions and the conditions
they are being held in.
Speaking
on an illegally-held mobile phone, one Russian woman said she would not eat
anything until she was released. She said she was given a 15-year sentence
after a 10-minute trial, based on a confession she was forced to sign.
The
document was written in Arabic, a language she cannot read, and stated she was
arrested in Mosul whilst carrying weapons, both of which she denies.
It
has not been possible to verify most of her claims.
The
women said they had had no contact with their embassies, and diplomatic
representatives had not been present at many of their trials.
The
women we spoke to claimed around 60 adult inmates had died inside Rusafa prison
over the last six years, along with up to 30 children. One woman said the last
child to die was three years old.
The
facility is located east of Baghdad, and holds women serving sentences for
various crimes - not all terror-related. The inmates said they were held 40 to
a cell, and were often subjected to beatings and inhumane treatment.
Last
April, the Iraqi ministry of justice announced the dismissal of the director of
the prison, citing "leaked audio" from the facility. The ministry
also acknowledged that Rusafa prison was four times over its capacity.
Iraq's
criminal justice system has long been criticised over allegations that trials
are unfair and abuse is widespread.
The
Iraqi government declined to answer the BBC's questions about the hunger strike
or conditions in the prison. Previously, it has said it wants to help those who
are innocent of any crime to return to their home countries.
Amnesty
International, however, has reported that long prison terms and death sentences
have been imposed in IS-linked cases "following convictions based
primarily on torture-tainted 'confessions'".
The
Human Rights Committee of the Iraqi parliament recently urged the authorities
to speed up the process of repatriation of IS-linked foreign prisoners.
While
some women have admitted to willingly joining IS, often participating in their
crimes, others claim they were tricked or coerced into joining the group. Some
insist they were forced to marry fighters and were threatened with death if
they refused.
One
of the most high-profile is Shamima Begum, a British schoolgirl who travelled
to Syria in 2015. She is still being held in a detention camp in the north of
the country.
Additional
reporting by Joe Inwood and Peter Ball.
Source:
bbc.com
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-65498377
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Princess
Reema Bint Bandar, Ambassador to the US, Meets Boeing Team
May
05, 2023
RIYADH:
Princess Reema bint Bandar, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, met the Boeing
team following an agreement signed between Saudia, Riyadh Air, and Boeing
Airplanes in Charleston, South Carolina. She said the agreement will propel the
Kingdom into a global logistics hub and generate 200,000 direct and indirect
Saudi jobs and “countless opportunities” in trade and tourism.
“The
historic investment will create around 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the
US across several states, including hundreds of suppliers and many small
businesses. We’re proud to partner with American companies to shape a more
prosperous, secure future for KSA & the Middle East,” she tweeted.
Source:
arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2298416/saudi-arabia
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Hurdles that slow the march of Muslim girls to higher education
MahbubulHoque
05-06-23
In
2015, the Department of Sociology at Aligarh Muslim University undertook a
study on the ‘Educational Backwardness of Muslim Women in India.’ One of their
many observations was that, contrary to the popular perception that religious
conservatism among Muslims somehow militates against educating girls, current
research indicates that patriarchal values, along with poverty and financial
constraints, are the major causes that prevent Muslim girls from accessing modern
or secular education despite a strong desire and enthusiasm among Muslim women
to go for modern and higher education. In this dismal scenario, the hope for
improvement in the educational status of women can be materialized through
concrete and sincere efforts.
The
absence of a conducive atmosphere is a principal cause for the lack of higher
education among Muslim women of Assam in general and Barak Valley in
particular. Society at large feels that the girl child is a liability and will
leave the parent’s house one day or the other. So, it’s futile to invest a
large sum of money in her post-school education as the direct benefits will not
return to the parents. This is a wrong concept. An educationally-empowered girl
is a strong person who can meet any situation in life with courage and
determination. Moreover, higher education ensures that she will be independent
in the long run, both financially and intellectually.
The main challenge of Muslim women in the
Barak Valley lies in the overall educational backwardness of the community.
When modern education started in Barak Valley in 1863 with the establishment of
Silchar Grammer School, Barak Valley Muslims were averse to school education.
They were pursuing Madrassa Education. As a result, in the eighties of the
nineteenth century, out of about 180 school students, only 17 students were
Muslim – and all of them were boys.
School education for girls was a social taboo
then. Only in the middle of the 20th century, few girls started to go to
school. The first woman to graduate in Barak Valley was in 1962. The late start
of modern education and the overall educational backwardness of the Muslim
Community in Barak Valley are the main challenges for Muslim Women in Barak
Valley.
Another
challenge is that in the Barak Valley, the Muslim Society is very conservative.
The Purdah system is still followed. It is family dishonour to allow their
females to appear in public. Parents want their sons to be educated and to be
bread earners. They are not motivated to educate their daughters as they would
leave home after marriage.
One
of the challenges for higher education for women of the Valley is the lack of
accommodation for girls in towns where colleges are situated. Moreover,
prejudice against co-education, the Islamic value system, and the matrimonial
problem of educating girls also exist. However, the situation is changing
nowadays, and society accepts women’s education as necessary.
In
this context, the initiative of the Guwahati-based ERD Foundation and the
educational institutions run by the organization in Assam and Meghalaya are
worth mentioning. It is a unique example in the country that the University of
Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) has 57% girl students and 75% women
employees. Although this number may not be proportionate, it is an encouraging
one for Muslim women to participate and has set an example for women’s higher
education.
KhairunNessa
Begum Women’s College, the first women’s college in Barak Valley, was
established in Badarpur in Karimganj district by ERD Foundation in 2005. The
college is now in the process of elevation to a women’s university—the
first-ever private women’s university in India. The objective behind the
establishment of the women’s university is that this will encourage the parents
of Muslim girls in the region to send their daughters to pursue higher
education.
Parents
are always apprehensive about whether their daughters will get a favourable
environment in the institution to continue their higher education and at the
same time follow their religious customs such as prayers and keeping roja,
taking sehri during the month of Ramazan, etc. Parents feel unsafe, which is
not correct. Once they let their daughter study in a higher educational
institution, they can also attract the attention of the authorities to support
their special needs.
The
recent hijab issue related to educational institutions has created much
apprehension among conservative Muslim families. How the religious families can
overcome the challenges in higher education? Only if allowed to pursue higher
education the girls will know the significance of hijab. If we ban hijab, they
are forbidden to join mainstream education. To bring them to mainstream
education, we must create an environment for them so that they come, mix with
others, get educated, and understand.
The
masjids, imams, and clergy can lead in promoting higher education among Muslim
girls. They can simultaneously do much to remove the misgivings and negative
ideas many people harbour in this connection. The importance of higher
education among girls could be a topic of frequent discourse in the Friday
sermons of the masjids. Isn’t it ironic that the first university of the world
in Fez, Morocco was started by a Muslim woman, Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihriya
Al-Qurashiya in 895 CE.
The
absence of reliable and trustworthy institutions for higher education within a
reasonable distance from the woman’s town or village is another detrimental
factor in higher education. Parents desire that the institution should be
within a reasonable distance so that they can frequently visit their ward and,
if necessary, interact with the faculty to find out about the progress of the
student in her pursuit of higher education. In this respect, the KhairunNessa
Begum Women’s College in Badarpur may be considered a path breaker in this
direction. This example needs to be replicated in other parts of Assam.
The
cost of higher education is high and beyond the reach of many families, even
though their daughter’s performance at the school level is very impressive, and
their desire to continue education is fathomless. The Government of India
enacted the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI)
Act, 2014, to constitute National Commission for Minority Educational
Institutions and to provide matters connected therewith. The Ministry of Minority
Affairs implemented various programmes and schemes such as Post Matric
Scholarships, Maulana Azad National Fellowship Scheme, Naya Savera,
PadhoPardesh, NaiUdaan, and MAEF National Scholarships. But today, the budgets
have been curtailed, or the schemes have been rendered inactive.
Scholarships
for the higher education of Muslim women should be provided both by the public
and private sectors. The hostel in the institutions should include facilities
so that Muslim girl students can study while following their religious duties.
The role of NGOs and community leaders in offering scholarships is
indispensable.
Society
today is aware of the importance of education for the girl child. Every mother
wants their girl child to be educated. But due to financial and environmental
challenges, many cannot do this. Therefore, stakeholders of the community must
come forward and establish such kind of institutions so that either they will
get a comfortable environment and support to study or, if they are financially
sound, they will get all kinds of infrastructural facilities.
Once
upon a time, education for the girl child was neglected. But now the positive
thing about society is that people are becoming aware of the importance of
education for their girl child. The parents want to provide higher education to
their gild child, but due to an absence of a conducive environment, they do not
want to send their daughters for higher education. This is one of the reasons
for early marriages too. The call of the hour is that the stakeholders of
society must come forward to overcome the challenges by trying to create a
favourable environment in the higher educational institutions and establishing
institutions with such a conducive environment.
Source:
awazthevoice.in
https://www.awazthevoice.in/opinion-news/hurdles-that-slow-the-march-of-muslim-girls-to-higher-education-21250.html
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