New Age Islam News Bureau
3
Jul 2020
•
Headscarf Ban: Belgian Muslim Women Are Resisting in Order to Free Themselves
•
13 Women Appointed to Saudi Human Rights Commission
•
Investments Sought In Sports Club For Women In Madinah
•
Muslim Women Warn Against Reopening of Schools in Nigeria
•
Salafis Oppose Appointment Of Women As Judges In Kuwait
•
Egyptian Initiative Transforms Female Prisoners’ Lives
•
Saudi Arabia: Women Driver’s Licence Scams Spotted on Social Media
•
Sudan’s Bid to Ban Genital Mutilation Sparks Hope, Caution
•
Saudi Arabia: Three Women on Association of Financial Analysts Board
•
Over 25 Babies Born to Coronavirus Infected Women in Madinah
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/indonesian-province-requires-female-muslim/d/122279
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Indonesian
Province Requires Female Muslim Civil Servants to Wear Niqab
July 2, 2020
Illustration
of a woman wearing niqab. (Shutterstock/syed mohd syazwan)
------
Central
Lombok regency in West Nusa Tenggara is set to require female Muslim civil
servants to wear the niqab, as some of them have been seen not wearing masks --
one of the health protocols imposed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regent
MohSuhailiFadhilThohir announced the plan during a regular Friday gymnastics
event in the regent's office yard on June 19, which was recorded in a video
that has since become the subject of public discussion.
“I
said it spontaneously because during the Friday event, some refused to wear a
mask for fear of running out of oxygen. But considering the current situation,
we need protection,” he said on Wednesday.
Suhaili
said the requirement for Muslims to wear the niqab had nothing to do with
radicalism as it was simply an effort to prevent virus transmission among civil
servants, who he said should set an example to the wider community in Central
Lombok.
“It’s
also fashion. They could match their hijab to the colour of the veil. It has
nothing to do with radicalism, or over-fanaticism,” Suhaili said as quoted by
kompas.com, adding that the requirement would start as soon as next Friday.
The
civil servants, however, are not required to wear a head-to-toe veil that also
cloaks the body, but a niqab covering only the nose and mouth.
Suhaili
also said the requirement was not forceful and that there would be no
regulation needed to enforce it. “There are no sanctions, only a pleasant and
healthy movement.”
Lombok
Tengah civil servant Yayuh had mixed feelings about the niqab requirement.
Although it can be a learning process to wear proper Muslim clothing, Yayuh
feared it might create a contrast with the gymnastic clothes they wore.
“We
usually wear tight pants for the Friday event. If outsiders see it, it might be
a bit inappropriate,” Yayuh said, adding that it might be expensive to have
that kind of niqab.
As
of Thursday, West Nusa Tenggara had recorded 1,260 COVID-19 cases, 63 of which
have turned fatal. Lombok Tengah has recorded at least 114 cases, with four
deaths. (syk)
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/07/02/central-lombok-to-require-female-muslim-civil-servants-to-wear-niqabin-place-of-mask.html
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Headscarf
Ban: Belgian Muslim Women Are Resisting in Order to Free Themselves
01
July 2020
Dr.MalikaHamidi
On
4 June this year, the Belgian Constitutional Court authorised the banning of
the Islamic headscarf in the Haute Ecole and all other visible religious,
political and philosophical signs.
-----
On
4 June this year, the Belgian Constitutional Court authorised the banning of
the Islamic headscarf in the Haute Ecole and all other visible religious,
political and philosophical signs.
In
the wake of this, the city of Brussels welcomes such a decision, which is both
infantile and liberticidal. It would seem that for nearly twenty years now, the
hair of women of the Muslim faith has become what is known as “a major
political issue”, and their unveiling is now one of the most pressing
priorities.
In
this post-9/11 climate, Belgian women citizens of the Muslim faith are caught
between two perceptions: they are either seen as the personification of the
oppression of a feminine gender that needs to be saved, or they are perceived
as a danger in the public sphere, especially when they are intellectually and
politically active.
Over
the past 20 years, the headscarf has become “a screen on which Europe’s
political fears and struggles are being projected”. From that perspective, the prevailing
Islamophobia could be understood as a “psychological reflex of self-defence”
against the “other”, especially when it comes to women who are redefining a new
model of liberation from an Islamic paradigm at the heart of Belgian society.
According to William Barylo, a sociologist and filmmaker, for whom “gendered”
Islamophobia goes beyond the racial, ethnic and religious question, we are
facing “a question of ego, power and selfishness” that uses race, ethnicity and
religion as arguments to divide and rule better.
In
order to grasp the issues at stake in the “age-old” headscarf debate, let us
return to what Joan W. Scott, historian and professor at the Institute for
Advanced Study in Princeton, calls “the politics of the headscarf”. According
to this historian, this debate has historical roots in Europe where “women’s
bodies become a battleground in times of crisis”.
Indeed,
during the colonial period, the headscarf was considered both a symbol of
oppression and a sign of exoticism: on the one hand, the liberation of Muslim
women had become a justification for colonizing, civilizing, modernizing and
“saving” Muslim women. On the other hand, Muslim women’s bodies remained an
object of erotic fantasy with the desire to “discover” what was covered.
In
“ From Colonial Algeria to modern day Europe, the Muslim veil remains an
ideological battleground”, KatarzynaFalecka reminds us that “in the 1950s, the
veil played an important role during the Algerian war of independence against
the French. Frantz Fanon, a Martinique-born psychiatrist and an anti-colonial
intellectual said that: “If we want to destroy the structure of Algerian
society, its capacity for resistance, we must first and foremost conquer women;
we must find them under the veil behind which they hide themselves and, in the
houses, where men keep them out of sight.”
According
to him, it was impossible for the colonial power to conquer Algeria without
imposing European standards on its women. Today, its visibility is seen as a
threat to Western values, a threat that must be got rid of by issuing laws.
From
this perspective, Muslim women are perceived as “the other” and embody the
Muslim problem in Belgium as well as in the whole of Europe. Fortunately, this
stereotyped vision is increasingly contradicted by numerous books and
researches by historians and intellectuals, all showing that Muslim women have
always been political leaders and have been highly involved in the civil
society from the very beginning of the Revelation of the Message of Islam.
Thus,
the headscarf is either seen as a symbol of subjugation and, therefore, Muslim
women must be “saved”, but when they take clear responsibility for wearing it,
they are seen as rebels who need to be controlled because they might have a
hidden political agenda or even might be instrumentalized by “their men” or the
organization to which they may belong.
Yet
it is this profile of Muslim women that is particularly promising because they
contribute positively to social justice, political and collective liberation,
being influential from local to international politics by being invested in all
areas of society.
Let’s
illustrate our point by the now unavoidable Belgian movement #HijabisFightBack,
initiated by the Collective La 5ème Vague, ImaziReine and Belgians like you,
who is fighting against this legislation they consider discriminatory and for
an inclusive Belgium. Through this mobilization, they appropriate a
socio-political legitimacy, and break this “conventional wisdom” to which one
would like to assign them. They create their “mark of liberation” by using
solidarity and coalition strategies in terms of demands, while identifying the
roots of oppression by tackling their causes in a sustainable and constructive
way through critical thinking and constant dialogue.
These
full-fledged citizens depoliticize the issue of Muslim women and “repoliticize”
it in the noble sense towards a united Belgium that respects women in their
diversity.
In
recent years, they have made their voices heard significantly at the intellectual,
academic and civil society levels, calling for an intersectional approach
combined with a postcolonial reading of this phenomenon, crucial for
deconstructing the orientalist vision that feeds the wave of Islamophobia
across Europe.
Ultimately,
the hijab improvised a debate “beyond the headscarf” on complex and taboo
concepts such as colonial unconsciousness or the racism that degrades European
societies. Indeed, it revealed a deep philosophical, ideological and political
crisis around concepts that were once unanimously agreed upon such as
democracy, secularism and women’s emancipation, and which today divide social
movements and civil society.
At
one time, Muslim women used the headscarf as a means of resistance. They are
doing it again today: they strongly and resolutely affirm that the headscarf
can be a feminist “statement”.
Today,
this generation of women is contributing to the history of Belgian women’s
resistance by reinforcing solidarity and spirituality at the heart of their
struggles. They are revolutionising this collective perception of the image of
the Muslim woman in the collective unconscious and see themselves as an “added
value” that will have to be dealt with from now on.
On
5 July, the Hijabisfightback are organising a demonstration to denounce this
arbitrary authorisation, which will only marginalise a section of Belgian civil
society by denying a fundamental right dear to the feminist movements: that of
education above all, because an educated woman is a free woman!
Franz
Fanon wrote: “I am not a prisoner of my history”. In the same way, Belgian
women citizens of the Muslim faith are no longer prisoners of their history and
are freeing themselves from a system of domination, whether it comes from men,
women themselves or institutions.
https://www.brusselstimes.com/opinion/119513/beyond-the/
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13
women appointed to Saudi Human Rights Commission
July 03, 2020
King
Salman issued the order. (SPA)
-----
RIYADH:
Thirteen women have been appointed to the Saudi Human Rights Commission (HRC)
under a royal decree issued by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.
The
appointments mean half the positions on the commission’s council will be
occupied by women — a major step in furthering women’s empowerment in the
country.
“Appointing
13 women as members of the HRC council, with a total of 26 members, is in line
with efforts made by the Kingdom’s leadership to enable women to occupy leading
positions in various fields, and helps achieve what is best for the country,”
said Dr.Awwad bin Saleh Al-Awwad, head of the HRC.
He
thanked King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for issuing the royal
decree to form the commission’s council in its fourth session for a period of 4
years.
Al-Awwad
said that the Saudi leadership’s support and guidance had a great impact on the
HRC mission to promote and consolidate human rights principles for the benefit
of Saudis and expats.
Meanwhile,
the Kingdom’s National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT), in
cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has completed a
comprehensive four-part training program for 350 participants from all 13 of
the Kingdom’s regions involved in collecting and managing data on crimes
involving people trafficking.
The
program is the latest in a comprehensive series of training initiatives that
followed the establishment in March of the Kingdom’s first National Referral
Mechanism, a framework to identify and support potential victims of people
trafficking.
Almost
a dozen Saudi ministries and authorities, as well as other government and
non-government bodies, are involved in the initiative.
Sarah
Al-Tamimi, NCCHT’s vice-chair, said: “The completion of this phase of training
is part of a holistic agenda that tackles people trafficking from a diversity
of angles. We are committed to combating this abominable crime and protecting
everyone, without exception, in the Kingdom.”
He
added: “This is a crime that knows no borders and requires all of us to work
together toward its eradication.”
Judge
HatemFouad, UNODC representative for the Gulf region, said: “Our partnership
with the Kingdom reflects the reality of the complex, international and
multifaceted fight against trafficking in persons.
“I
thank the committee members and vice-chair Sarah Al-Tamimi for their fruitful
cooperation, and I thank the participants of the training sessions for
continuing to improve the Kingdom’s anti-trafficking response,” he said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1699131/saudi-arabia
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Investments
sought in sports club for women in Madinah
July 1, 2020
Madinah
Municipality is inviting investors to set up and run a women's sports club
----
MADINAH
— The Madinah Municipality is inviting investors to set up and run a women's
sports club on a plot of land at the intersection of Salim Bin Obeid Road with
Umaymah Bint Qais Al-Ghaffariah Road, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said Tuesday.
The
offer, made through the "Investment Opportunities" portal, encourages
investors to set up, operate and manage the sports club on an area of 8,705 sq.
meters, and a construction rate of 60% with a long-term contract. The project
consists of a large gymnasium intended exclusively for women, having sports
equipment and machines, especially for fitness, body-building and lightweight
training, in addition to other services.
The
investment opportunity presented to businessmen and investors comes within the
mayoralty’s endeavor to stimulate economic activity in the city and contribute
to improving the quality of life and providing multiple options to the people.
https://www.saudigazette.com.sa/article/594956
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Muslim
Women Warn Against Reopening of Schools in Nigeria
03
July 2020
The
Criterion (Muslim Women In Business and Professions) has frowned at the
decision of the Federal Government to reopen schools amidst steady rise in
COVID-19 cases in the country.
The
group said: “Reopening schools now may lead to severe consequences as experienced
in other countries. For instance, South Korea reopened schools and had to shut
them again when cases spiked.
“It
was a similar case in Israel that also reopened the schools and had to shut
them again. No doubt, there are not enough health care facilities to cater for
citizens hence, resuming schools will endanger the lives of students as well as
teachers,”
The
National Ameerah of Criterion, HajiaFatymahOyefeso argued that there is no
basis for school reopening at a time when the curve of COVID-19 has not
flattened.
“Nigeria
is not sufficiently ready to handle the potential outburst that can be
associated with school reopening. The country does not have sufficient bed
spaces in isolation centres.
“Hence,
the government should allow more time to establish coping strategies like
splitting schools into morning, afternoon and evening sessions, twice a week
attendance, temperature screening for all, among others. These measures should
be within a time-bound period and have a taskforce to enforce it”.
The
group urged government to devise more effective approaches towards a safe
reopening of schools. In an attempt to open the schools the group gave
recommendations must be strictly put in place: Availability of at least two
infrared thermometers in each school and routine temperature check on students;
provision of hand sanitizers and sufficient hand washing points with emphasis
on frequent washing of hands by teachers and students; body disinfectant at
main entrances of schools or major facilities like hostels, offices, gates and
others.”
Others
are: Enforcement of social distancing by students including sitting arrangement
and transportation to and from school; fumigation/decontamination of schools
and environments before resumption and consistently afterward; enforcement of
the use of facemask by students and teachers according to age tolerance;
provision of adequate water supply (very important); provision of adequate
number of cleaners to maintain environmental hygiene; and provision of an
adequately equipped sick bay and at least medical personnel in each school.
In
addition, the group recommended that to cushion the effect on school owners and
teachers, the government should intervene in the payment of salaries or support
private school teachers with palliatives similar to Central Bank of Nigeria
promises to sustain Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. On the other hand,
private school owners may need to look out by diversifying into other related
businesses to survive. Likewise, teachers in private schools unfortunately may
have to consider other means of survival in the meantime”.
https://guardian.ng/features/friday-worship/muslim-women-warn-against-reopening-of-schools/
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Salafis
oppose appointment of women as judges in Kuwait
July
03, 2020
Samir
Salama
Abu
Dhabi: Days before the expected approval from the Supreme Judicial Council to
appoint a number of women as judges marking a historic first step of its kind
in Kuwait, the country’s Salafi hardliners are outraged and are opposing the
appointment.
Kuwaiti
Attorney General, Dirar Al Asousi, approved the promotion of eight female
prosecutors to the rank of judge, among some 54 chiefs prosecutors, who were
nominated for judicial positions.
They
will become the first eight women judges in the history of Kuwait and the
Kuwait’s Supreme Judicial Council is set to be held on Tuesday to approve their
appointment and start work from September.
Speaker
of the National Assembly, Marzouq Ali Al Ghanem, said, “the rise of Kuwaiti
women to the judiciary platform, is a long-awaited entitlement, and a step
forward in the march of Kuwaiti women.”
He
added on his Twitter account, “A thousand greetings to Kuwaiti women, as they
accumulated successes over the years in all fields.” He expressed his
confidence in the ability of Kuwaiti women to prove their efficiency, as they
have done in many other areas.
Move
opposed
But
Mohammad Haif, secretary general of the Thawabit Al UmmaSalafi bloc, denounced
the move and said the judiciary is a general mandate that only men can assume.
He
said on the Salafi bloc’s Twitter account that the appointment of women in the
judiciary “is not commensurate with the composition or nature of women, nor is
it compatible with the true Sharia.”
Haif
added that “rushing to issue a decision without a legal opinion supporting it,
appointing women as judges, would be against the law and contradicts the nature
of women, and would open the door to appeal against the rulings issued by
female judges, and litigants may demand they be disqualified, which would
disrupt the judicial system and embarrass the Judicial Council”.
He
went on, “We draw the attention of the brothers, members of the Judicial
Council, before agreeing to the memorandum submitted by the Attorney General to
transfer prosecutors to judges, that this issue is not that easy, and it has
legal, social and judicial consequences that must be thoroughly studied, and
Islamic law history should be consulted before embarking on this step, which
carries a lot of questions.”
For
his part, MP Khaled Al Otaibi said, “The judiciary is a branch of the Great
Islamic Imamate, and it is not permissible for a woman to assume it.” As for MP
Majid Al Mutairi, he argued, “How can (a woman) judge rule on the divorce of
women while she does not have the right to divorce herself?”
Kuwait
is not the first among the GCC countries to appoint women to the judiciary, as
the UAE appointed Kholoud Ahmad Jaouan Al Dhaheri, to be the first Emirati and
Gulf judge in March 2008.
On
March 11, 2010, Qatar appointed SheikhaMaha Mansour Salman Jasim Al Thani,
assistant judge in the Qatari courts, the first woman to be appointed to the
judiciary in Qatar.
In
July 2010, Bahrain appointed three female judges, two of them were appointed to
the Lower Civil Court, namely: Mai Matar and Noura Al Midfa, while Adela Hassan
was appointed as a judge of the Civil High Court.
On
March 20, 2019, the UAE appointed two additional female judges in the federal
judiciary, Judge Khadija Al Malas and Judge Salama Al Ketbi. Al Malas was
appointed to the position of “Appeals Judge”, and Al Ketbi in the position of
“Primary Judge” in the federal courts.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/kuwait/salafis-oppose-appointment-of-women-as-judges-in-kuwait-1.72390852
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Egyptian
initiative transforms female prisoners’ lives
July
02, 2020
CAIRO:
“It was all going well until I defaulted on many due instalments, and soon
after, I found myself in prison,” says Nahla (not her real name) while sewing a
garment at a workshop owned and operated by New Life.
The
business incubator, which aims to economically support underprivileged women,
is a collaboration between the Egyptian non-profit Prisoners of Poverty and the
Zurich-based Drosos Foundation.
Nahla,
32, had no clue at the time that defaulting on an instalment could land her in
prison. Like many women who end up in her situation, she was going to spend a
significant portion of her twenties locked away.
However,
one day in the early 1990s, years before Nahla was imprisoned, an Egyptian
journalist was reporting on a story from Qanater Female Prison when she noticed
a group of children playing in the prison yard.
Driven
by journalistic curiosity, NawalMoustafa, now president of Prisoners of
Poverty, started investigating how babies and toddlers could possibly end up
incarcerated.
After
interviewing many of the mothers, Moustafa started noticing a clear pattern in
their stories — defaulting on debt instalments. The prevailing trend was that
the majority of these women had incurred debt to support their families after
their husbands, the breadwinners, had abruptly abandoned them.
After
publishing a series of in-depth interviews with some of these inmates, Moustafa
received an outpouring of support from her readers, prompting her to look into
an effective way to help.
“It
was an odd thing at the time for someone to sympathize with imprisoned people,”
Moustafa said.
“Even
my friends found it odd, and some of them accused me of championing criminals.
But what I was certain of was that not all of them were criminals, and a lot of
my readers agreed.”
Helped
by donations from her readers, she initially provided daily essentials to these
women and their children, the latter entitled by law to stay with their mothers
on a monthly basis until they turn two.
Aided
by the prison’s officers, Moustafa started identifying cases of women taken
advantage of by their husbands or incarcerated due to their genuine lack of
resources.
“All
the ‘ailments of poverty’ were evident in these women’s stories,” said
Moustafa. “I felt responsible toward them. You can visit a hospital or a
shelter to volunteer, but you’d never think about going to a prison. I felt
that God had sent me to be their voice.”
By
the early 2000s, Moustafa was working tirelessly to collect funds to pay these
women’s debts so they could be free. However, she quickly discovered that many
of them ended up back in prison for more or less the same reasons.
“After
they are released, they become not only vulnerable due to their lack of
resources, but even more unable to land jobs because of the stigma associated
with being an ex-convict. Some of them are even disowned by their families
because of the stigma, so they end up incurring debt again,” she said.
Seeking
a more drastic solution, Moustafa launched Prisoners of Poverty in 2007. Not
only did she pay the debt of women deemed deserving of a second chance, but she
also established a workshop where they could learn skills — like knitting,
sewing, or catering — to be able to make a living and break the vicious cycle.
Over
time, Prisoners of Poverty became a destination for underprivileged women
looking to make a living. Some were ex-prisoners; others were at high risk of
ending up in prison.
In
2014, the Drosos Foundation joined in with more funding, enabling the launch of
New Life — a sewing workshop for garments, textiles and thread paintings, among
many other products.
Some
of the women have gone on to launch their own businesses, and many others still
rely on the workshop, making enough to support themselves and their families.
Due
to her efforts in this area over the past two decades, Moustafa has won a
number of awards and accolades across the region. Most notable among them is
the 2018 Arab Hope Maker, a prize of AED 1 million ($272,300), awarded by
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and vice president of the
UAE.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1699016/middle-east
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Saudi
Arabia: Women driver’s licence scams spotted on social media
July
03, 2020
Samir
Salama
Abu
Dhabi: Social media platforms are filled with tales about women who rushed to
obtain a driver’s licence but fell to swindlers, who claimed they were able to
obtain licenses for women without the need for training or driving schools and
without the need for a medical examination, within 48 hours, for sums ranging
between 2200 - 2500 riyals, Saudi media reported.
Okaz
spotted one of those sites and on calling them, their response was not
accepting any payment of fees before registering with a driving school and
sending the required documents, then the transfer phase comes.
“The
site claims that there is cooperation with a university to facilitate the
issuance of driving licenses for Saudi women and residents and to pass
transactions to the competent authorities,” Okaz reported.
Saudi
Arabia granted women the right to drive two years ago, a historic move that
cracked open a window to new freedoms for women.
The
fake site identified a number of difficulties some applicants are facing such
as driving school did not respond, or objected to set a new date for them, with
promises to facilitate the transactions of residents in getting their driver’s
license replaced.
The
site offered a number of temptations, including obtaining a driver’s license
without a test, and its responsibility to complete the theoretical and
practical examinations.
The
fake site revealed the method used in that, as people apply for examination in
lieu of the applicants, and enter the result of the applicant into the main
system, with an emphasis on issuing the license legally and 100% guaranteed,
and all rights reserved!
The
fraudulent site limited its requirements to a personal photo of the applicant
with a white background, a photocopy of the ID card, and the blood category.
The
Instagram and Twitter platforms gathered dozens of these fraudulent sites and
their allegations matched the ease of issuing driving licenses for women, while
the charges ranged between 2200 and 2500 riyals.
Lawyer
Nujood Al Qasim, said a number of Saudi and Arab women fell to these
fraudsters, who took advantage of the women’s wish to obtain driving licenses
and the lack driving schools.
Al
Qasim said these scams target unsuspecting customers with links to services
that don’t exist and promises, all of which are fake.
“In
law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to
deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (i.e., a fraud
victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary
compensation), a criminal law (i.e., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and
imprisoned by governmental authorities), or it may cause no loss of money,
property or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal
wrong,” Al Qasim said.
She
added the purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, for example
by obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver’s license, or mortgage
fraud, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of
false statements.
“A
hoax is a distinct concept that involves deliberate deception without the
intention of gain or of materially damaging or depriving a victim,’ Al Qasim
explained.
Al
Qasim said the remedies for fraud may include rescission (i.e., reversal) of a
fraudulently obtained agreement or transaction, the recovery of a monetary
award to compensate for the harm caused, punitive damages to punish or deter
the misconduct, and possibly others.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-women-drivers-licence-scams-spotted-on-social-media-1.72390544
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Sudan’s
bid to ban genital mutilation sparks hope, caution
July
03, 2020
CAIRO:
It has been more than 60 years. But the scene is seared still into Kawthar
Ali’s mind. The women pinned her down on a bed. She was maybe 5 1/2 or 6 years
old. Holding her knees, they spread her legs open, her genitals exposed.
At
the time, she did not fully understand what followed. But that day Ali joined
the many Sudanese girls who had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), a
practice that involves partial or total removal of the external female
genitalia for nonmedical reasons.
“It’s
the one incident that has affected my life the most,” said Ali. “It feels
shameful for people to expose your body and do this to you, like a rape.”
The
anguish unleashed that day led to an unwavering conviction: No daughter of hers
should ever endure that pain. That decision pitted Ali against her own mother
and a society where nearly 87 percent of women between 15 and 49 years old are
estimated to have undergone a form of FGM, according to a UN-backed 2014 survey.
Soon,
Ali and others like her might have the law on their side. Sudan’s transitional
authorities are expected to outlaw the procedure and set punishments of up to
three years in prison and fines for those who carry out FGM, according to a
draft bill obtained by The Associated Press. The Cabinet has approved a set of
amendments that includes criminalizing FGM. Procedures to pass the law are
expected to be completed, by the sovereign council and council of ministers, in
the coming few days, Minister of Justice NasrEdeenAbdulbari said in a statement
sent in response to AP questions.
“I’m
very excited, very proud,” said Nimco Ali, co-founder of The Five Foundation,
which works to end FGM. “Those are the kind of things that we need to be
celebrating because that was a part of democracy coming to Sudan.”
Although
she lauds the move, Kawthar Ali is not celebrating yet. “This thing will die
very slowly,” she said of FGM. “It’s an issue related to our traditions and the
Sudanese culture.”
Like
many in Sudan, Ali was subjected to an extreme form of FGM known as
infibulation, which involves the cutting and repositioning of the labia,
sometimes through stitching, to narrow the vaginal opening.
The
World Health Organization says FGM constitutes an “extreme form of discrimination”
against women. Nearly always carried out on minors, it can result in excessive
bleeding and death or cause problems including infections, complications in
childbirth and depression.
Millions
of girls and women have been cut in countries in Africa, the Middle East and
Asia. Reasons differ. Many believe it keeps women clean and protects their
chastity by controlling sexual desire. The opinions of religious leaders run
the spectrum. Some condone the practice, others work to eliminate it and others
consider it irrelevant to religion.
Mohammed
Hashim Al-Hakim, a Sudanese Muslim cleric who opposes FGM, said religious
leaders must confront attempts to put a veneer of religion on a custom largely
rooted in culture.
The
practice, he said, predates Islam and crosses religious lines. “No one in their
right mind can say that a harmful practice ... belongs to religion.”
Under
the rule of longtime autocrat Omar Al-Bashir, who was ousted in April last
year, some Sudanese clerics said forms of FGM were religiously allowed, arguing
that the only debate was over whether it was required or not.
It
was fear of what people would say, rather than religious beliefs, that led
Kawthar Ali’s mother to fight her decision not to subject her own daughter to
FGM. Ali even feared her mother would have someone commit it on her daughter
while she was at work. She armed her child with a plan: Run to a nearby police
station.
Now
35, the daughter wonders if the police would have helped. She said she is
grateful for her mother’s battle. Among high school classmates, she was “the
abnormal one” for not getting cut. A rights defender, she spoke on condition
she not be identified by name because of the sensitivity of her work.
The
practice of FGM, she argued, is interwoven with a patriarchal mentality that
connects a man’s sexual pleasure to a woman’s pain and exerts control over
women.
“Customs,
traditions and culture are much stronger than written laws,” she said, adding
that anti-FGM campaigners need to engage men more.
Neighboring
Egypt shows how difficult it is to end the practice. Egypt banned FGM in 2008
and elevated it to a felony in 2016, allowing tougher penalties. Some of Egypt’s
top Islamic authorities have said FGM is forbidden.
Still,
a 2015 government survey found that 87% of Egyptian women between the ages of
15 and 49 had undergone FGM, though the rate among teens did fall 11 percentage
points from a 2008 survey.
Reda
el-Danbouki, executive director of the Women’s Center for Guidance and Legal
Awareness, said there have been cases where judges handed down minimum
sentences on doctors who broke the law, giving the impression doctors can keep
doing so with impunity.
As
Sudan’s law is implemented, there is the risk that FGM will go underground,
said Othman Sheiba, secretary general of Sudan’s National Council for Child
Welfare. But criminalization sends a strong message, he said: “The government
of the revolution will not accept this harm to girls.”
Women
were at the forefront of the protests against Al-Bashir. Transitional
authorities have since taken steps to roll back his legacy, which activists say
disenfranchised women in particular.
For
FGM truly to end, women must be empowered, Nimco Ali said. “You bring in the
legislation and then you start having the conversation and then real change
happens.” A more “awoken” generation of young Sudanese rejects the practice and
wants equality, she said.
A
British activist of Somali origin, 37-year-old Ali underwent FGM in Djibouti at
age 7. She remembers feeling angry. A severe kidney infection — a complication
from the procedur — almost killed her at 11, she said.
“I
lost the concept of innocence,” she said. “I felt so broken and so alone.”
For
her own procedure, Kawthar Ali was dolled up “like a bride.” Her body was
rubbed with oil and she wore a new dress and gold bracelets.
Although
she had anesthesia, she remembers the cries of a relative who did not.
Physical
pain lasted about a month, but the psychological pain has endured a lifetime,
she said.
“It’s
like something getting ripped from inside of me,” she said. “Something was
forcefully taken from me.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1699171/middle-east
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Saudi
Arabia: Three women on Association of Financial Analysts Board
July
02, 2020
Samir
Salama
Riyadh:
For the first time in Saudi Arabia’s history, three Saudi women were made
members of the board of directors of the Saudi Association of Financial
Analysts, Saudi media reported.
RawanAljermawi,
CFA, KhloodAldukheil, CFA and Mona Alnemer, CFA, were among the winners of the
Saudi Association of Financial Analysts’ new board of directors in the 2020
elections, which for the first time witnessed the submission of 28 male and female
candidates, with 164 members eligible to vote.
The
three Saudi women are certified financial analysts and members of the CFA
Institute, the premier global association for investment management
professionals.
It
is an international organisation that provides investment professionals with
education, a code of ethics to follow, and several certification programmes.
Formerly known as the Association for Investment Management and Research
(AIMR), CFA Institute includes members who hold the Chartered Financial Analyst
(CFA) designation or are otherwise bound by its rules. The CFA Institute’s
primary mandate is to specify and maintain a high standard for the investment
industry.
CFA
Institute is guided by a board of governors that is comprised of 20 board members,
most of whom are elected by the institute’s members for three-year terms. The
organisation is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., and has offices in New
York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, London, and Brussels. It produces industry
guidelines such as the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS).
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-three-women-on-association-of-financial-analysts-board-1.72366310
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Over
25 babies born to coronavirus infected women in Madinah
July
2, 2020
MADINAH
— More than 25 babies were born to women infected with coronavirus in Madinah,
according to the General Directorate of Health Affairs in Madinah region.
These
include some preterm births before completion of the 9-month pregnancy, the
directorate said in a statement on Thursday.
The
medical team at Uhud Hospital carried out a number of caesarian sections in
accordance with the strict medical procedures and protocols in light of the
corona pandemic crisis.
All
children were placed in neonatal nurseries for medical tests, and it was
confirmed that none of them were infected with coronavirus. All the babies have
left the nurseries and are in good health condition showing normal growth,
according to the statement.
The
directorate called on all citizens and expatriates who have symptoms of
coronavirus to contact ‘Tatman’ clinics at health centers in the neighborhoods
of Al-Nasr, Al-Khalidiya and Al-Daeetha.
“Those
who want to screen their health condition even if they do not have the
symptoms, can register and get an appointment for medical examination at
‘Taakud’ expanded screening center, through ‘Sehhaty’ application.
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/595038/SAUDI-ARABIA/Over-25-babies-born-to-coronavirus-infected-women-in-Madinah
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