'I've Had Serious Death Threats': Labour MP Apsana Begum, Reflects as UN Vows to Combat Islamophobia
New Age Islam News Bureau
16 March 2024
·
'I've Had
Serious Death Threats': Labour MP Apsana Begum, Reflects As UN Vows To Combat
Islamophobia
·
Five
Years After Christchurch, Muslim Women Have The Most To Fear From A Pernicious
Supremacist Conspiracy
·
Iranian Human
Rights Activist Bahareh Hedayat Diagnosed With Uterine Cancer In Prison
·
Qatar Wraps
Participation In UN Session On The Status Of Women
·
Turkish
e-Commerce Firm Introduces Activities Aimed At Women’s Economic Development
·
Iran down
two places in FIFA Women’s World Ranking
·
Amnesty
International Urges UNAMA To Prioritize Women’s Rights In Afghanistan
Compiled by New Age Islam News
Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/labour-apsana-begum-islamophobia/d/131936
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'I've Had Serious Death Threats': Labour MP Apsana
Begum, Reflects As UN Vows To Combat Islamophobia
Labour MP Apsana Begum,
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15 March 2024
Zahra Manji
"I've had serious death threats, I've had threats
to kidnap me and threats of sexual violence."
Apsana Begum MP is no stranger to discrimination. As a
visibly Muslim woman living in the UK, and the first and only hijab-wearing MP,
she has endured both Islamophobic and misogynistic attacks.
Her comments come on the UN’s International Day to
Combat Islamophobia on Friday.
A pertinent day when anti-Muslim hate in the UK has
more than tripled since October 7 - the largest number over five months since
the Tell MAMA project began in 2012.
On that day, militant group Hamas launched an
incursion into Israel in which 1,200 people were killed. Since then more than
31,000 Palestinians, majority women and children, have been killed in Israel's
subsequent assault on Gaza.
Those who are visibly Muslim often feel the brunt of
anti-Muslim hate, bombarded by racist stereotypes and subjected to societal
inequalities.
ITV News spoke to three prominent Muslim women, each
pioneers in their field, about what it’s like to be visibly Muslim in a society
where hate crime is on the rise.
What is the government's record on tackling
Islamophobia?
“When I started wearing the hijab, I didn't see
anybody like myself in Parliament,” Apsana, MP for Poplar and Limehouse,
reflected.
Assumptions were often made about her as soon as she
entered political rooms, but this didn't deter her from entering public office.
“I endured a series of racist attacks, whilst on my
campaign trail, and it was really quite horrendous," she said, with
threats to rip off her hijab in public.
She felt the trolling had been legitimised by the
prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson, who had previously said Muslim women
wearing burqas "looked like letter boxes".
His comments had proven to have directly correlated to
a 300% increase in hate crimes towards Muslims. She was shocked with the abuse
but said she’s "immune to it now because it got so much."
The ongoing security threats had caused Apsana to
consider not continuing but knew she had a “strong responsibility and duty” to
the underrepresented.
She feels that being the first and only hijab-wearing
MP is a huge milestone.
"It's an achievement in terms of diversity and
inclusion in Parliament, and I think that should be celebrated, and valued.
"We need to challenge these narratives head on
and create a safe space for each other."
With such deep-rooted stereotypes, it can also deter
aspiring athletes from pursuing their goals and careers.
Former semi-pro footballer and sport activist, Lipa
Nessa, said she wants to change the world "with a hijab on her head and a
ball at her feet."
Lipa started wearing hijab when she was 15 and soon
saw a noticeable difference on the pitch.
"As soon as I looked different, I was alienated.
My name is not a very Muslim name, so it was never an issue until I decided to
wear it and people realised, 'Oh, she's a Muslim. And she's a visible Muslim.'
"I did stick out like a sore thumb, and it subtly
educated me that not everyone likes us."
She faced abuse from coaches and even spectators.
'I was terrified': Islamophobic incidents up by 600%
in UK since Hamas attack
"During my first away game the opposition’s
parents made aeroplane noises and booed me every time I received the ball... I
was still a child," she remembered.
Lipa was even told to take “that stupid thing off” her
head by a coach she had previously considered a friend.
"We should be judged on merit, but unfortunately
we live in a society where looks matter," she said.
She suddenly felt like she didn’t belong in the world
of sport, a world she had loved for so long.
"Football became forced rather than fun. I
started asking myself how to get out of training. Can I fake an injury?”
It wasn’t until Lipa moved to a more diverse team with
a younger, more educated coach that she began to feel accepted and discover her
love for football again.
"It was so refreshing; I didn’t have to apologise
for being me."
She has since been a champion for inclusivity on the
pitch, launching a new sports hijab with the Sweaty Betty Foundation.
For Lipa, educating people and working with allies is
the first step to changing the negative narrative of Muslims in sport.
Scotland’s first hijab-wearing reporter, Tasnim
Nazeer, also started wearing hijab in her teens and noticed day-to-day
differences.
"People were just more irritable," she said.
One encounter in Glasgow saw a drunk man follow her and her children, swearing
at them and calling them terrorists.
Discrimination continued into her career with one
colleague telling her that she would be further down the line as a reporter if
she didn’t wear her hijab.
"We have to work twice as hard to get a seat
around the table,” she told ITV News.
Tasnim feels there are still problems in mainstream
visual representation after one social media user said, “we don't want to see
that rag, take it off”, after she came off air.
Surge in Islamophobic and antisemitic hate crimes amid
Israel-Gaza war, say Met
But despite the aggressions and discouragement, she
believes the presence of Muslim women should be felt, especially in newsrooms
where diverse voices are fundamental.
"We’re not nurtured in the same way as our
peers,” she said. "If it's diversity and inclusion that mainstream
organisations want, they have to give people a chance."
After speaking to these women about their journeys
into their respective industries, a running theme became apparent.
They all concluded that they would never compromise
their faith for their career, but instead use it as motivation to break
barriers for others.
"It’s a woman’s choice, what she chooses to wear
and when," Apsana added.
For these women, it’s all about being authentically
and unapologetically themselves, even if that means looking slightly different
or working twice as hard to reach the same level as their peers or being victim
to hostility.
If they inspired at least one other person to achieve
their goals, then they knew it had been worth it.
Source: itv.com
https://www.itv.com/news/2024-03-15/ive-had-death-threats-muslim-women-reflect-as-un-vows-to-combat-islamophobia
----
Five Years After Christchurch, Muslim Women Have The
Most To Fear From A Pernicious Supremacist Conspiracy
The terrorist attack on
Masjid An-Nur in Christchurch, on 15 March 2019, is an example of the fusion of
Antipodean settler-colonial demographic anxiety with global far-right
demographic fearmongering. (Photo by Tharindu Rankothge / Anadolu Agency via
Getty Images)
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15 March 2024
This week marks five years since the terrorist attack
in which a white Australian man murdered 51 Muslims and injured another 40 in
Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. The massacre is the most significant act of
modern terrorism New Zealand has seen.
Armed with semi-automatic machine guns capable of
large firepower, the Australian terrorist entered the Masjid al Nur and the
Linwood Islamic Centre during Friday prayers in the early afternoon of 15 March
2019. The terrorist recorded the 30 minute massacre, publishing it along with a
pre-prepared manifesto titled “The Great Replacement” — a title that harked
back to Nazi-era terminology rooted in the defence of genocide.
The then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responded to
the atrocity by saying, “there is no place in New Zealand for such acts of
extreme and unprecedented violence … This is not who we are.”
Sadly, though this is who “we” are. A few months after
the 15 March attack, the British High Commissioner offered an “expression of
regret” — though, notably, not an apology — for the killing of nine Maori by
the crew of Captain Cook’s ship in 1769. On the other side of the Tasman,
speaking in favour of a motion to censure then-independent Senator Fraser
Anning for his claim that the massacre was the consequence of “the immigration
program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first
place”, the Australian Labor Party Senator and Yawuru man Pat Dodson described
how:
our First Nations people have carried the consequences
of murderous prejudice throughout our entwined history … I have visited the
sites of massacres, of mass killings, in Balgo, in Forrest River, and at
Coniston. At Coniston, near Alice Springs, these mass murders took place in
living memory.
As historian Patrick Wolfe notes, the attrition of
Indigenous people “reflects the core feature of settler-colonialism, which is
first and foremost a project of replacement”.
“It’s the birthrates”
White supremacy has been and remains a significant
problem, as right-wing extremism and ecofacism target Muslims, citing fears of
white replacement. Given the “replacement” theory’s weaponisation of
demography, it is unsurprising that Muslim women would find themselves
particularly vulnerable due to their reproductive capability.
The fact that most of those who died in the 15 March
attack were men and boys is due to the fact that most of the women and young
children at the Masjid Al Nur were gathered in a separate prayer space, out of
sight of the gunman. Faduma Yusuf was at the masjid that day with her husband
and baby son. She told the online New Zealand newspaper Stuff:
He obviously studied that Friday is very important to
Muslims, that they come and they congregate to pray. But he never considered
the women that come to pray. He never thought that the women were here, and I
thank God that he did not know that there were women in this room that day.
They were protected by God’s will that day. He did not have the knowledge. He
did not know us.
Yusuf is correct in attributing the women’s survival
to the terrorist’s ignorance of Muslim gender norms.
“It’s the birthrates. It’s the birthrates. It’s the
birthrates”: so began the Australian terrorist’s manifesto. Within its vile 74
pages, Muslims (including Muslim children) were repeatedly labelled “enemies”
because of their capacity to reproduce. Replacement theory suggests white
populations are being replaced by culturally diverse people through
immigration. “White genocide” is further feared through “baby jihad”, “womb
jihad” or “wombfare”, wherein women’s bodies are seen as weapons in the
so-called “great replacement”.
Long-accused of potentially concealing weapons beneath
their modest clothing, Muslim women are now accused of harbouring a still more
sinister weapon within their bodies — their wombs. During the 2006 Australian
parliamentary debate about providing access to the abortion treatment RU468,
then-government backbencher Danna Vale claimed:
I have read … comments by a certain imam from the
Lakemba mosque [who] actually said that Australia is going to be a Muslim
nation in 50 years’ time. I didn’t believe him at the time. But … look at the
birthrates and you look at the fact that we are aborting ourselves almost out
of existence by 100 000 abortions every year. That’s 5 million potential
Australians we won’t have here.
Vale’s Coalition colleagues quickly distanced
themselves from her anti-Muslim scaremongering and RU486 was duly approved by
the regulatory Therapeutic Goods Administration. However, her comments
reflected a widespread public perception that “mainstream” Australian women had
abandoned the domestic space, leaving it vulnerable to takeover by Muslim women
spearheading an invasion of Australian society.
This fear was repeated in 2017 during ABC’s Q&A
program, when an audience member suggested that “in a couple of generations
Australia could have a Muslim majority who vote in Sharia law”. In 2016, during
her second maiden speech Pauline Hanson warned that Australians “are in danger
of being swamped by Muslims … we will be living under Sharia law and treated as
second-class citizens with second-class rights” — having already claimed in her
first maiden twenty years earlier that “we are in danger of being swamped by
Asians”.
The reality, of course, is that white Australia is
under no threat of being replaced by Muslims now or in generations to come, but
the concoction of population panic is too enticing for even reasonable people
to avoid.
“You will not replace us”
The 15 March attack illustrates the fusion of
Antipodean settler-colonial demographic anxiety with contemporary global
far-right demographic fearmongering. The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the
Terrorist Attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019 report states that
it could find no evidence that the terrorist had in-person meetings or training
with members of extremist groups. Despite his extensive global travels, his contact
with organisations such as Generation Identity seems to have been limited to
online interactions and donations. However, the great replacement conspiracy
theory is more well-travelled than any single individual could ever hope to be.
The Norwegian terrorist who murdered 77 people in twin
attacks on government buildings in Oslo and on a Workers Youth Summer Camp in
Utoya in July 2011 was preoccupied with the issue of Muslim demographics, to
the extent that it underlay the title of his own manifesto. As Liz Fekete, from
the London-based Institute of Race Relations, writes:
[I]n a footnote ... Breivik explained the significance
of the date 2083, which is 400 years since the last siege of Vienna by the
Turks. He then went on to quote Henryk M. Broder, who wrote that “After the
defeats of Poiters (732) and Vienna (1683), the Europeans are now defeated with
the weapons of demography”.
In August 2017, less than two years before the 15
March attack in Christchurch, a violent mob of white neo-fascists carrying burning
torches, Nazi style, marched through Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting “You
will not replace us”. They were inflamed at the impending removal of a statue
of defeated Confederate leader, Robert E. Lee, from a public park where it had
long remained a monument to the cause for which the southern states fought the
Civil War.
Many at that “Unite the Right” rally carried
Confederate flags; numerous others displayed swastikas. The name change of that
public space from Lee Park to Emancipation Park conveys an idea of who is the
“you” that is accused of wanting to supplant the white nationalists. The
supposed replacers in this scenario are African Americans, descendants of the
slaves whose emancipation is now commemorated there. The accused “you” also
included their anti-racist allies — one of whom, Heather Heyer, was murdered in
a hit-and-run by a 20-year-old male white supremacist at the rally.
Even so, the “you” changed: the chant elided into
“Jews will not replace us”. Antisemitism might explain the presence of
swastikas at the rally, but not the heated “defence” of General Lee — unless,
perhaps, his removal was understood as involving some Jewish cosmopolitan
conspiracy. The replacing “other” becomes interchangeable in ethno-nationalist
ideology, as the antithesis of the white “race”, their superior “blood” and
their higher civilisation. This sort of ideological slippage is what makes
right-wing racist propaganda so readily globalised, since exactly which
superior “blood”, identity or civilisation is at peril of dilution or
displacement by the inferior, is not fixed. Hence the Australian terrorist’s
“manifesto” was subsequently referred to by the terrorist who murdered 23
customers in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, as well as by the white supremacist
who murdered 10 African Americans in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
The coronial inquest into exactly what happened five
years ago during Friday prayers was held late last year, with the findings yet
to be released. One thing is certain: without action, replacement theory will
continue to be used to target women from Muslim and other “unwanted”
communities. This harms us all.
Shakira Hussein is an honorary fellow in the Asia
Institute at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of From Victims to
Suspects: Muslim Women since 9/11.
Liz Allen is a demographer at the Centre for Social
Policy Research at Australian National University. She is the author of The
Future of Us: Demography Gets a Makeover.
Scott Poynting is Adjunct Professor in the School of
Justice at Queensland University of Technology and at Charles Sturt University.
They have contributed a chapter titled “Dangerous
Muslim Wombs and the Fear of Replacement: Experiences from Australia and
Aotearoa–New Zealand” in the Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Islamophobia, from
which this article draws.
Source: abc.net.au
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/five-years-terror-christchurch-mosque-danger-muslim-women/103593682
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Iranian Human Rights Activist BaharehHedayat Diagnosed
With Uterine Cancer In Prison
MARCH 15, 2024
Iranian human rights activist and political prisoner
BaharehHedayat revealed that she has been diagnosed with uterine cancer.
Hedayat, who has been temporarily released from Evin
prison for medical reasons, wrote on her Instagram account on March 15 that
doctors discovered early-stage cancer cells in her uterus following a routine
gynecological visit in November.
"Last November, during a short break from prison,
I visited the gynecologist due to a minor issue," Hedayat wrote. "The
doctor initially recommended a minor surgery, so minor that I almost didn't
pursue it."
"Insisting on the procedure, my doctor and
friends convinced me to seek permission from the prison authorities," she
added. "I was looking for any excuse to delay the surgery until my
release."
Hedayat underwent surgery in February after being
transferred from Evin prison to the hospital.
However, a pathology report revealed the presence of
cancerous cells, prompting doctors to recommend a hysterectomy.
"The suggested treatment is to remove my
uterus," Hedayat wrote. "Everyone keeps saying it's no big deal, to
just remove it and move on. But at 43, with my life on hold with a three to
four-year prison sentence, it's difficult to talk about children."
"Having dreamt of having children since I was 17,
this news is deeply saddening," she continued. "While I accept the
medical necessity, it's a significant loss. This cancer is a cruel reminder of
a permanent scar on my body and life."
Hedayat also said that her temporary release has been
further suspended until March 28, with this period not counting as her jail
time.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/126472-activist-bahareh-hedayat-diagnosed-with-uterine-cancer-in-prison/
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Qatar wraps participation in UN session on the status
of women
MARCH 16, 2024
Qatar has wrapped up its participation in the 68th
Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68). HE Minister of Social
Development and Family Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser al-Misnad headed Qatar's
delegation to the session. The (CSW68) discussed the policies and strategies
applied to accelerate achieving the principle of social gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening
financing institutions with a gender perspective, in addition to reviewing the
obstacles and challenges facing women on their path towards achieving their
development at all levels.
The participation of Qatar emerged through bilateral
meetings and high-level events discussed important issues, most importantly the
support for Palestinian women, and urging the international community to take
real and decisive measures on the ground to activate mechanisms of protection,
empowerment and rehabilitation, primarily stopping the heinous crimes committed
against women and children in the Gaza Strip.
Addressing the opening session which was themed
'Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all
women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and
financing with a gender perspective,' HE the Minister of Social Development and
Family delivered a speech calling for supporting women in the field of work and
protecting the family system.
In her speech, HE the Minister showcased the efforts
of Qatar in adopting policies and measures aimed at equal opportunities for
women in various fields, including education, social support, decision-making,
investment and entrepreneurship, as well as achieving fairness in wages in the
government sector. She said that Qatar has come a long way in this regard.
She explained that the legislation and policies
adopted by the state aim to achieve a balance between work and family
responsibilities, and have greatly contributed to empowering Qatari women and
enhancing their role and participation not only in the workforce, but also as
an active partner in the state's development.
Emphasizing Qatar's rejection of double standards in
applying international law, she drew the attention of the participating
delegations to the situation of Palestinian women, saying that the commission's
meeting will have no meaning, if it keeps discussing some topics while
Palestinian women have more pressing priorities.
The permanent delegation of Qatar to the United Nations,
in partnership with the permanent delegations of Saudi Arabia, Morocco,
Turkiye, and Indonesia had organized a high-level side event titled 'Advancing
of Women in the Judiciary', on the margin of the 68th session of the Commission
on the Status of Women, at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
HE Minister of Social Development and Family Maryam
bint Ali bin Nasser al-Misnad, HE Minister of Family and Social Service of
Turkiye MahinurOzdemir, and Executive Director of UN-Women SimaBahous participated
in the event.
HE Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to
the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani, in a speech, referred
to the United Nations General Assembly resolution entitled 'International Day
of Women Judges', submitted by Qatar in 2021 and adopted by consensus, which
calls on the international community to celebrate the International Day of
Women Judges every year, and to support public education and awareness
activities, to promote the full participation of women on an equal basis at all
levels of the judiciary.
She praised the efforts of the Supreme Judicial
Council in the State of Qatar, which encouraged the submission of the
resolution, lauding its active role in developing strategic plans aimed at
increasing women's participation in the judiciary.
For her part, HE al-Misnad affirmed Qatar's commitment
to supporting women and enhancing their roles as one of the basic pillars of
the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan. She said that as a result of tireless
efforts to increase women's participation in the judiciary, the ratio of Qatari
female judges has reached 13%, adding that work is underway to increase the
percentage of female judges to 30% by 2030.
The event aimed to highlight the importance of women's
representation in the judiciary, in addition to emphasizing that women's
representation in the judiciary ensures the establishment of strong, more
neutral and less susceptible to corruption justice systems.
Source: gulf-times.com
https://www.gulf-times.com/article/678979/qatar/qatar-wraps-participation-in-un-session-on-the-status-of-women
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Turkish e-commerce firm introduces activities aimed at
women’s economic development
15.03.2024
SevgiCerenGokkoyun
Turkish e-commerce firm Hepsiburada represents Türkiye
at the UN with its activities for the economic development of women, said its
chief executive officer.
This is an opportunity for the firm to share its work
with the world, said NilhanOnalGokcetekin.
Gokcetekin met with the Turkish Minister of Family and
Social Services, MahinurOzdemirGoktas, who is in the US for the 68th Session of
the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
The CSW68 began on March 11 and will end on March 22.
The meeting was held at the Turkish House in New York
City. Gokcetekin told Goktas about Hepsiburada’s efforts to empower women and
its activities to develop the women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem in the 11
provinces of Türkiye that were hit by twin earthquakes in February 2023,
causing thousands of deaths.
The Nasdaq stock exchange also celebrated
Hepsiburada’s support for women entrepreneurs.
The Nasdaq’s digital billboards in Times Square
featured Hepsiburada and Turkish flag visuals.
Gokcetekin said the UN held CSW meetings for women’s
economic development and that Hepsiburada represents Türkiye with the exemplary
projects it has realized.
Referring to their work with the UN and the Women
Entrepreneurs Association of Türkiye (KAGIDER), she reminded that Minister
Goktas was the guest of honor this year.
“We are the largest company on the Nasdaq technology
stock exchange, founded by a woman entrepreneur and managed by a woman CEO.
“We are keeping our flag flying in Times Square today,
which is very important for Türkiye,” she added.
Amazing women entrepreneurs
Gokcetekin said that Hepsiburada established an
entrepreneur program in 2017 to increase the economic development of women.
“We train entrepreneurs there. We currently have
nearly 50,000 amazing entrepreneurs who own brands, and we will increase this
to 120,000 in 2030.
“Here, we have developed different connections with
KAGIDER and UN Women. We are talking about different collaborations and
continue to increase our experience with cooperatives,” she said.
She noted that Hepsiburada went to the region with
thousands of employees the day after the Feb. 6 earthquakes. Gokcetekin also
emphasized that they established a base in the area to support and train women
entrepreneurs in specialized centers.
She highlighted that the firm aims to reach 5,000
people in this context, which is currently 3,300.
She noted that there are women entrepreneurs who
produce many products, from natural silk shawls to olive jam.
“We have wonderful women entrepreneurs, and together
with Hepsiburada, they are supporting those affected by the earthquakes.
“One woman employs around 5-6 people and has a
positive social impact for nearly 20 people.”
“We are very excited about this. Our program will last
two years, and we will raise 5,000 women entrepreneurs in the earthquake region
and 120,000 women entrepreneurs in Türkiye as part of the Hepsiburada family,”
she added.
Magnificent gift to be passed from women to women
She also shared the details of the project Hepsiburada
realized in cooperation with UN Women and KAGIDER. She said that within the
project’s scope, the firm made boxes with goods produced by KAGIDER and local
women’s cooperatives.
“We created a magnificent gift that will be passed
from woman to woman.
“We offered them for sale on the Hepsiburada platform
without financial expectation. It is now mid-March, and there is still great
interest.”
She said that boxes include raw tahini, pomegranate
syrup, silk shawls and dried fruits produced in the quake-hit region, adding:
“We bring them together with other women and people who want to support them.”
“They can reach and support these boxes from the
earthquake region through Hepsiburada.”
Hepsiburada platform
Gokcetekin said Hepsiburada has a program called ‘My
Business Partner,’ through which women entrepreneurs can reach the firm via
Instagram, the internet or phone.
“We have physical specialization centers in the
earthquake zone,” she added.
“We invite all women who have any idea to the
Hepsiburada platform. We can support them in every aspect such as advertising,
photographing their products or marketing,” she noted.
Source: aa.com.tr
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkiye/turkish-e-commerce-firm-introduces-activities-aimed-at-women-s-economic-development/3164966
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Iran down two places in FIFA Women’s World Ranking
Mar 16, 2024
TEHRAN, Mar. 16 (MNA) – The first FIFA ranking of the
women's national teams for 2024 was officially released by the world football
governing body, FIFA, on Friday, in which the Iranian team moved down two
places.
Team Melli went down two spots from 59th to 61st.
In total, 126 international matches have been played
during the period so far, prompting more than a few changes in the FIFA Women’s
World Ranking.
Qualification for the Olympic Women’s Football
Tournament Paris 2024 has been the focal point for national teams in the OFC,
UEFA, and AFC in the first three months of the year. Elsewhere, the 2024 West
Asian Football Federation Women’s Championship and the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup
have also been taking place.
Leaders Spain (1st) have extended their advantage over
their nearest challenger, which is now England (2nd, up 2). Though beaten in
the UEFA Nations League final by La Roja, France (3rd) retains its place in the
global top three.
The next FIFA Women's World Ranking will be released
on June 14.
Source: mehrnews.com
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/213060/Iran-down-two-places-in-FIFA-Women-s-World-Ranking
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Amnesty International urges UNAMA to prioritize
women’s rights in Afghanistan
Fidel Rahmati
March 16, 2024
Following the extension of UNAMA’s mission in
Afghanistan by the United Nations Security Council, Amnesty International has
welcomed the one-year extension and urged the head of UNAMA to focus its
objectives in the current year on the rights of women, girls, minorities, and
the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Amnesty International, on its social media platform X,
stated on Friday, March 15th, in response to the extension of UNAMA’s mission
in Afghanistan, that they urged Roza Otunbayeva, the head of this body, to prioritize
the rights of women, girls, minorities, and address the humanitarian crisis to
tackle the emergency situation of human rights in the country.
Amnesty International has stated that UNAMA’s
monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in this country is
vital.
The organization has stated that UNAMA should continue
its robust and regular public reporting on human rights and exert pressure to
repeal restrictive laws against the rights of women and girls.
Last night, the United Nations Security Council
extended UNAMA’s mission in Afghanistan for another year by unanimously
adopting a resolution.
Based on this decision, the mandate of the United
Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has been extended until March 17,
2025.
In Afghanistan, there is a dire humanitarian crisis
happening right now. Alongside this crisis, strict rules, particularly for
women, are making life even harder. Women are not allowed to go to school or
work, which prevents them from supporting their families.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/amnesty-international-urges-unama-to-prioritize-womens-rights-in-afghanistan/
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URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/labour-apsana-begum-islamophobia/d/131936