Yemen Security Authorities Foil Assassination Plots By Female Houthi Cell
New
Age Islam News Bureau
03
February 2021
• 'We Need to See Changes to Institutions' – New Zealand Islamic Women's Council
•
3 Female Pioneers Who Paved The Way For S’pore Women
•
Saudi Arabian Airlines Targets Localisation Of Aviation Jobs For Women
•
Disfigured By Acid, The Face Of Violence Against Yemen's Women
•
Nigeria must rethink responses to women displaced by Boko Haram
•
Egypt Arrests Father, Nurse for Female Genital Mutilation Of 15-Year-Old
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Yemen
Security Authorities Foil Assassination Plots By Female Houthi Cell
Yemeni
doctors and nurses in Houthi-occupied Sanaa, on Tuesday, protest outside the UN
office against fuel shortages leading to a decline in helathcare services.
(AFP)
-----
February
03, 2021
AL-MUKALLA:
Authorities in Yemen have foiled a plot to kill military and security officers
after uncovering a Houthi cell of eight women.
The
women were planning to carry out attacks against local targets when they were
found by police hiding in several houses in the central Yemeni city of Marib, a
security source told Arab News on Tuesday.
The
officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said security forces had been closing
in on the all-female cell for more than a month and when the properties were
raided they discovered GPS devices and a list of targets on mobile phones.
During
the last five years, security and military authorities have busted several
Houthi sleeper cells responsible for guiding ballistic missiles and
explosive-laden drones that hit military, security, and civilian locations in densely
populated Marib.
In
September, a Yemeni court sentenced five Houthis to death for staging attacks
in government-controlled areas. But the latest incident was the first time
Yemeni officials in Marib had blamed the notorious Houthi policewomen authority,
known as Zainabeat, for orchestrating attacks in the city.
Houthi
officials denied sending the eight women to kill government officials, and
instead accused the Yemeni government of taking the women hostage.
Meanwhile,
on Tuesday, official Yemeni state media said Houthis in the northern province
of Amran had confiscated a number of homes and other properties owned by army
generals who backed the Yemeni government and Saudi-led military operations in
Yemen.
Led
by Mohammed Ali Al-Metawakel, deputy governor of Amran, a group of Houthis
raided the homes of Maj. Gen. Hameed Al-Qushaibi, an army commander who was
killed, along with two of his brothers, in clashes with the Houthis in 2014 in
Khamer district.
According
to reports, the Houthis sealed the houses and wrote on their walls,
“confiscated by the state.”
Since
taking power by force in late 2014, Houthi-controlled courts have sentenced to
death and confiscated the properties of hundreds of politicians, military and
security officers, activists, and journalists who opposed their rule.
Yemen
experts said the militant group was using judicial authorities under its
control to justify stealing the properties of its opponents and was seeking to
blackmail government officials into surrendering.
A
security official narrowly escaped death on Tuesday after an improvised
explosive device (IED) attached to his car went off near the historic city of
Shibam in the southeastern province of Hadramout, local officials told Arab
News.
Shibam
district security chief, Col. Ahmed Nasher, was driving his vehicle on the main
road between Seiyun and Shibam when the IED exploded, rocking nearby houses.
No
one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but local authorities in
Hadramout have previously blamed Al-Qaeda and Daesh operatives for staging
attacks.
In
May, the former Shibam district security chief, Saleh bin Ali Jaber, and four
of his bodyguards, were killed in a similar attack near the old city.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1802781/middle-east
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'We
Need to See Changes To Institutions' – New Zealand Islamic Women's Council
Islamic
Women's Council spokesperson Anjum Rahman. Photo: RNZ / Luke McPake
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3
February 2021
Islamic
Women's Council spokesperson Anjum Rahman said these demanded the community to
engage when the motivation for putting in that mahi remained uncertain.
Initially,
officials of the Prime Minister's Department tried to control who would be
invited and to squeeze the hui in before the Christmas holiday break.
"One
of our concerns was that government was going to be selecting who could
attend," Rahman said.
"After
giving our feedback, we're glad that they've opened it up because we don't
believe that government should be a gatekeeper."
However,
officials had not co-designed the consultations in the way the Royal Commission
recommended, she said.
"It's
all very well to meet with people, but being absolutely clear as to what will
happen from what feedback they receive and how they might implement that, that
needs to be fully transparent."
Rahman
noted she had not been to a hui yet but would attend in Hamilton.
"We're
not clear how the next stage will work, how effective this mechanism is for
giving feedback. We need to know that what is said there is well captured and
then how that is going to be implemented or dealt with."
The
Islamic Women's Council's experience of endless consultations with government
agencies regarding the far-right threat prior to the 15 March attacks has been
well documented.
"At
the moment, it feels like nothing significant has changed," Rahman said.
This
was despite the Royal Commission having a section on public servants
co-designing with community, which suggested giving people help with resources
so they could take part.
That
had not happened so far with victims and their families, she said.
"We
specifically requested support with legal advice so that they could have at
least two senior, experienced counsel to help them digest the report and to
raise relevant issues.
"That
hasn't been forthcoming."
The
government had accepted the commission's 44 recommendations but a timeline for
action is not clear.
"We
need to see some policy changes. We need to see legislative changes,"
Rahman said.
"We
need to see changes to structures and institutions - all of the things that
were recommended in the report, that have been recommended by us.
"When
is all of that going to happen if we just keep having these rounds of
meetings?"
The
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been approached for comment.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/435749/we-need-to-see-changes-to-institutions-islamic-women-s-council
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3
Female Pioneers Who Paved The Way For S’pore Women
Jeremy
Theseira
FEB
3, 2021
Declaring
2021 the Year of Celebrating SG Women on Saturday, Minister for Social And
Family Development Masagos Zulkifli highlighted the integral role that women —
from war heroine Elizabeth Choy to medical social worker Daisy Vaithilingam —
have played in shaping our nation’s progress.
“Since
our independence, the progress and contributions of our women have shaped our
homes, schools, workplaces and communities — making us a better society.”
The
announcement follows an ongoing series of dialogues called “Conversations on
Singapore Women’s Development”, which began last September. Feedback gathered
from these sessions will form the basis of a White Paper on recommendations for
further progress of women in Singapore.
In
the first of a three-part series celebrating SG women, we salute the gutsy
trailblazers who shaped our nation’s history through their stories.
Passionate
about the poor
Disturbed
by widespread poverty, unemployment and disease in the wake of the Second World
War, the late Ms Daisy Vaithilingam made it her life’s mission to help the less
fortunate.
Born
in Penang in 1925, the youngest of four children, raised by her mother and
stepfather, a nurse and a doctor, was inspired by their passion to heal.
Although
she read English literature, economics and geography at the National University
of Singapore, then known as the University of Malaya, she chose to go into
social work after attending a talk at the university by Ms Kathleen Eastaugh,
then a medical social worker at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
In
1952, two years after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she joined SGH
as a medical social worker at the age of 27.
Throughout
her years as a medical social worker, Ms Vaithilingam pioneered many new
initiatives. Among her most significant contributions was her role in setting
up Singapore’s first fostering scheme for children, which Minister for Social
and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli mentioned in his speech on Saturday.
In
a 2014 interview with The Straits Times, fellow social worker Ann Wee recounted
that Ms Vaithilingam would go about assigning hospital attendants and amahs to
children who had been abandoned by their mothers at the hospital.
"It
was very unofficial and the director of social welfare saw that and decided to
do it properly with a central registry and that's how the whole fostering
programme began.”
Deeply
concerned about the plight of children with intellectual disabilities, she
lobbied for financial aid for their parents. In 1962, she spearheaded the
creation of what is now known as the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled
of Singapore to help children with disabilities integrate into society through
learning and training programmes.
She
also helped to set up the Singapore Association of Social Workers in 1971 and
chaired the first Committee of the Care for the Aged. Alongside her team of
social workers, she founded a community project in 1976 to house disadvantaged
women in a communal residence.
Her
passion to help others continued in her later years when, at the age of 42, she
returned to her alma mater’s social work department as a university lecturer
for 15 years before retiring in 1982.
Ms
Vaithilingam died in 2014. She was 88.
Scaling
new heights
From
a seat behind a desk to the hot seat of an aircraft cockpit, Ms Anastasia Gan
went from being among the first few batches of female officers in the Singapore
Armed Forces (SAF) to Singapore’s first female commercial pilot.
In
1977, at age 19, the fresh junior college graduate decided to pursue a career
in the army and joined the SAF’s Women Officer Cadet Course.
In
a collection of reflections written by the pioneer batch of students from
Catholic Junior College, titled Our Footprints — Reflections in Truth and Love,
she likened the nine-month course to “a long camping adventure”.
Ms
Gan graduated as the top cadet during that course and was assigned an
administrative role in the SAF. But she quickly realised that she preferred a
role that would take her beyond the confines of an office.
When
the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) began recruiting pilots a year
later, she applied for a spot and was accepted.
“Pilots
were always associated with excitement and adventure, and portrayed as awesome,
tough and cool men in fighting machines,” she wrote.
Ms
Gan became one of a handful of women to earn the coveted RSAF pilot wings in
1979. She later became the air force’s first female qualified flying
instructor. Disciplined yet nurturing, Ms Gan was given the affectionate call
sign, Mama, by her fellow pilots.
After
23 years in the RSAF, the high-flyer joined SilkAir in 2001 where she rewrote
Singapore’s aviation record books once again by becoming the nation’s first
female commercial pilot at the age of 43.
The
mother of three daughters was also appointed an authorised flight examiner by
the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore in 2012.
Defending
her sisters
Life
for women in pre-independence Singapore was marked by limited rights,
especially in the areas of marriage and divorce. Within the Muslim community,
one woman chose to stand up and speak out.
Between
1950 and 1958, close to half of all Muslim marriages in Singapore ended in a
divorce. Muslim men could divorce their wives without their consent, leaving
the women with no recourse or protection.
“If
I didn't help my own people, who would have?” says Mrs Khatijun Nissa Siraj,
95. “It was my foremost duty to ensure their well-being. It was upsetting to
see women treated with little dignity and respect.”
Mrs
Siraj rallied a team of 21 Muslim women who went on to set up the Young Women’s
Muslim Association in 1952. The association, known today as Persatuan Pemudi
Islam Singapura, aimed to give Muslim women an avenue to seek legal and medical
advice.
Their
efforts paid off when in 1958 the Government set up the Syariah Court to reform
legislation on marriage and family matters, including divorce procedures that
previously allowed Muslim men to divorce their wives without their consent or
knowledge.
Two
years later, Mrs Siraj, whose pre-university studies were interrupted by the
Japanese Occupation in 1942, became the Court’s first woman counsellor. She
dealt with hundreds of mostly financial cases where husbands would marry other
women, leaving their wives penniless.
Her
tireless work fighting for Muslim women’s rights paved the way for the
Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) in 1966, which provides a centralised
system of administration covering all aspects of Muslim life in Singapore.
Under the AMLA, married Muslim women were able to gain more protection and
representation in the Syariah Court.
Mrs
Siraj’s exposure to women’s problems also led her to in 1964 start the Muslim
Women’s Welfare Council, which provided charity, welfare, legal and medical
advice to Muslim women.
Between
1960 and 1971, divorce rates in the Muslim community dropped significantly to
an annual average of 18.5 per cent. Mrs Siraj left the Syariah Court in 1970
and joined the Social Welfare Department and then the Singapore Council of
Social Services.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/3-female-pioneers-who-paved-the-way-for-spore-women
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Saudi
Arabian Airlines Targets Localisation Of Aviation Jobs For Women
February
03, 2021
Samir
Salama
Abu
Dhabi: The Director of the General Organisation of Saudi Arabian Airlines
(Saudia), Engineer Ibrahim Abdul Rahman Al Omar, revealed the start of
Saudisation of aviation jobs for women, in cooperation with the Ministry of
Human Resources and Social Development.
During
the Saudi Airlines’ celebration of the graduation of the first batch of the
GOAL programme, which was launched in January 2020, Engineer Al Omar stressed
that all co-pilot jobs have been 100 per cent localized, and that Saudi
Airlines is employing nationals in all fields.
The
aviation and air transport industry and the associated support services and
empowering them in the corporation’s sectors, companies and strategic units to
promote the localisation of the industry in the Kingdom, and the age ladder,
graduation certificates for twenty employees who have met the conditions and
criteria for admission to the program and completed its requirements that give
the graduate the opportunity to be qualified to work in the future as a manager
of one of the Saudi Airlines stations inside and outside the Kingdom
Aviation
jobs for Saudi women
Women
bring their specialist skills to ground support roles in aviation.
They
provide specialist support in one of the following categories:
Engineering
and technical – roles include aircraft technician, cyberspace communications
specialist, and survival equipment specialist.
Catering
and hospitality – roles include chef and caterer.
Medical
and medical support – roles include nurses, medics, biomedical scientists, and
environmental health.
Personnel
support – roles include human resources, physical training instructors, and
musicians.
Air
operations – roles include air traffic control, flight operations, and air
cartography.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudia-targets-localisation-of-aviation-jobs-for-women-1.76913401
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Disfigured
By Acid, The Face Of Violence Against Yemen's Women
3
FEB 2021
SANAA:
Married at the age of 12, rejected at 16, and then disfigured in an acid
attack, Al-Anoud Hussain Sheryan's fate is a shocking illustration of abuse in
a society beset by war and poverty.
Now
aged 19, the Yemeni woman agreed to relate her ordeal at the hands of her
abusive husband -- rare testimony in a country where domestic violence is
largely hidden.
"He
grabbed me by the hair and poured the acid on me while laughing," she told
AFP as she sat with her veil framing a face badly scarred by last October's
assault that also left deep wounds on her body.
"I
went through hell," she said, describing her years of marriage which she
said she spent chained and often beaten.
When
her father died, Al-Anoud's mother remarried and then hurried to find a husband
for her daughter.
"She
wanted to protect me," she said.
Having
lived for four years as a "slave", Al-Anoud was eventually kicked out
by her husband, taken in by her sister and began training as a nurse.
But
her ex-husband decided he wanted her back, and when she refused, he took his
revenge.
After
being hospitalised in a clinic where she had once been employed, Al-Anoud is
now waiting to undergo the three plastic surgery operations needed to repair
some of the damage.
Her
doctor Moutawakal Chahari said the procedures will be complex and expensive,
and even the bills for the first aid she received had not yet been paid.
Apart
from this, he stressed the "irreparable psychological effects" of her
ordeal.
-
A grim tally -
Al-Anoud
filed a complaint against her ex-husband after the attack, but he vanished and
remains at large.
She
is hoping that someone, anyone -- a humanitarian agency, one of the stretched
government services, or a grassroots non-government group -- can give her the
financial assistance she needs.
"I
want the police and the courts to punish the criminal who did this, but I also
want to reclaim my youth, my studies and my work. I want to regain my
life," she said.
Child
marriage is a feature of Yemeni society but six years of war, which has left
the country on the brink of famine, has made it more common and "greatly
increased" violence against women, said Tayseer Walid of the Yemeni
Women's Union in Sanaa.
Families
are forced to "rid themselves of the expense of children, especially
girls, because of poor financial situations", she told AFP.
Many
organisations advocating for women and girls had to shut down after war broke
out, and those which struggle on do so with scant resources to address the
daunting legal, medical and psychological needs.
When
it comes to the status of women in Yemen, the numbers speak for themselves. A
UN survey conducted in 2013 found a third of Yemeni women aged 24-32 were
married before the age of 18, and nine percent of those were married before 15.
UNICEF
has estimated that in 2020 Yemen had some four million married children, 1.4
million of them under 15.
-
Cry for help -
In
a 2020 report, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which deals with
sexual and reproductive issues, estimated that 2.6 million women and girls are
at risk of gender-based violence in Yemen.
It
pointed out that in the era of Covid-19, with lockdowns that cause great
strain, "cases of domestic violence are on the rise".
The
grinding conflict between Iranian-backed Huthi rebels and the government
supported by a Saudi-led military coalition has left tens of thousands of
people dead and millions displaced.
It
has plunged the country -- the poorest on the Arabian Peninsula -- into the
world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN, which has expressed
fears that some "16 million people will go hungry" in 2021.
While
violence against women is one of the hidden facets of the humanitarian crisis,
the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has launched one of the few initiatives to
combat this phenomenon.
With
the support of the Japanese government, it has launched a mobile app to provide
counselling to survivors of gender-based violence throughout Yemen, saying that
attacks on women and girls have increased 63 percent since 2015.
The
application, first tested in the country's south which is in government hands,
directs victims to protection and support services.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2061891/disfigured-by-acid-the-face-of-violence-against-yemens-women
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Nigeria
must rethink responses to women displaced by Boko Haram
February
3, 2021
People’s
experiences of conflict and violence are shaped in part by sex and gender.
Women and girls are especially vulnerable to the threat of sexual violence,
owing to cultural practices of gender inequality. Gender norms also have an
impact on the roles that both sexes play in conflict contexts.
In
Nigeria, women and girls make up at least 79% of approximately 2.5 million
people displaced across the country’s northeast as a result of the 11-year
conflict between the armed group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. This
population is dispersed in camps and host communities in six states in the
region and in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Inaccurate
data and other logistical challenges mean that these figures are probably even
higher. This situation has numerous protection and humanitarian implications
for women.
Yet
women’s experiences of this displacement have received scant scholarly
attention.
I
conducted a study to look more closely at the assumptions underlying much of
the scholarship on women and displacement. I argue that women’s experiences of
conflict and displacement derive foremost from their unequal status in Nigerian
society, where violence against women has been seen as normal. And yet, in
spite of their low socio-cultural status, displaced women are using their
agency. Through peacebuilding and political mobilisation and engagement, they
are compensating for the shortfalls in policy and humanitarian responses. They
are not necessarily helpless victims. Some have even chosen to return to Boko
Haram, though ‘choice’ is paradoxical given their circumstances. Evidence
suggests that thinking about displaced women in new ways can change their
experience of displacement for the better.
My
study highlights the need for policy and humanitarian interventions to take
more notice of women’s specific and multi-sectional experiences and priorities.
Reconciling
needs, context and experiences
I
interviewed 71 people in Abuja and Maiduguri in 2018. Some were women who had
been displaced inside the country. Others were human rights and humanitarian
personnel, female members of the civilian joint task force, police, activists,
politicians, security experts and journalists.
In
their own words, safety and security are of prime concern for women and girls.
Both before and during displacement, they routinely face sexual and
gender-based violence from Boko Haram, as well as camp officials and security
actors. The Nigerian government has repeatedly denied such misconduct by its
forces. So far, there is only one documented case of disciplinary action
against an air force officer who raped a 14-year-old girl in September 2018 —
he was dismissed.
In
camps for displaced people, women face mental and sexual health challenges in a
context of limited access to quality healthcare and justice. Inconsistent
humanitarian support has led to a cycle of food and nutrition insecurity,
economic deprivation and dependence.
The
euphemism “transactional sex” barely disguises the desperation that drives
women and girls to exchange their bodies for food and survival, nor the
exploitation and abuse of power that it entails.
The
protracted and ongoing violence means that the displacement crisis will not
likely end soon. And those worst affected by it will continue to suffer
inhumane living conditions.
Policy
and practical responses to the displacement crisis, from the national to the
international, have not been very gender-responsive. To cite one example, a
Tripartite Agreement for the Voluntary Repatriation of Nigerian refugees signed
in March 2017 between the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon and the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees makes no provisions for the special
needs of women and girl refugees.
Skills
training, monetary handouts and other interventions aimed at empowering women
are not taking their context into consideration. There is a mismatch between
some women’s new found “power” as heads of households and a patriarchal context
that sees them as subordinate. Also, women have had experiences as direct and
indirect agents of violence – including as spies, smugglers and suicide
bombers.
Failure
to recognise women’s diverse experiences leads to misaligned responses that
either do not transform their circumstances or catapult them back into the
situations they were rescued from.
Way
forward
Until
the conflict ends, a rethinking of approaches to current interventions could
create opportunities for empowering women.
First,
it must be recognised that context matters. Nigerian women’s experiences of
conflict are a mirror of their unequal status and the normalisation of gender
violence. Effective empowerment cannot happen without addressing gender
inequality norms. And some approaches to empowerment create more problems than
they solve. For example, giving women money can fuel domestic violence because
it makes some men feel disempowered.
Second,
women have agency in situations of conflict and violence and they do not always
use it for peace. Some have demonstrated this by returning to Boko Haram as a
way of coping with the difficulties of displacement.
Consultation
with women displaced by Boko Haram is critical to understanding their needs and
how best to achieve them.
https://theconversation.com/nigeria-must-rethink-responses-to-women-displaced-by-boko-haram-150798
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Egypt
Arrests Father, Nurse for Female Genital Mutilation Of 15-Year-Old
03
February 2021
Egypt
arrested a father and a retired nurse on Tuesday for carrying out female
genital mutilation (FGM) on a 15-year-old girl, after announcing plans to
toughen the penalty to 20 years.
Police
made the arrests a day after the crime was reported to the public prosecution
by a doctor in a hospital about 35 km northeast of the capital, Cairo, said
Sabry Osman, head of a child helpline that supports children subjected to
violence.
“The
surgery was done at home and when the girl had severe bleeding, the father
transported her to a nearby hospital,” Osman, who works for the state-run
National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
“We
followed up the case until the girl went out of hospital and returned home. We
are now in the process of offering the girl the psychological support that she
needs after going through this incident.”
Nearly
90 percent of Egyptian women and girls aged between 15 and 49 have undergone
FGM, according to a 2016 survey by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the
ritual is practiced widely by both Muslims and Christians despite a 2008 ban.
World
leaders have pledged by 2030 to eradicate FGM, which typically involves the
partial or total removal of the external genitalia, and can cause long-lasting
mental and physical health problems, including infections and childbirth
complications.
Egypt’s
cabinet last month approved a draft law hiking the maximum sentence for FGM
from seven to 20 years, in a bid to stamp out the ancient practice.
The
law was tightened in 2016 to make it a criminal offense to request or carry out
the widely condemned practice but women’s rights groups say the ban has not
been well enforced.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/03/Egypt-arrests-father-nurse-for-female-genital-mutilation-of-15-year-old
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