Saudi Arabia: Has tide turned on women’s rights?

Source: Gulf News

  Has the tide turned on the Saudi government’s stand on the issue of women driving? As the only country in the world I know of that denies women the right to drive, has the thinking that governs the powers to be moved towards the lifting of an age-old embargo?

It would seem so, considering that one major hurdle has been lifted by recent statements from none other than the president of the Saudi religious police, who recently stated publicly that “the ban on women driving is not mandated by any text in the Sharia”.

Shaikh Abdul Latif Al Shaikh, President of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (the religious police) said that Sharia, the Islamic legal code which is the basis for much of the kingdom’s laws, “does not have a text forbidding women driving”.

This is good news for many Saudis and residents alike, frustrated by the ban on women driving. The religious police has long been considered one of the staunchest bastions of opposition when it comes to women’s issues and female empowerment, and many of its members have claimed that driving is a “path to vice and social degradation”.

Hardliners took it upon themselves to flash the religion card without any authenticated backing to their dismissive claims against progressive initiatives. With the Al Shaikh stating that it is not for his organisation to mandate the law, but simply to uphold it, the ball is back in the government’s court.

In the kingdom, an unnatural culture of dependency coupled with built-in frustration has evolved as a result of the influx of millions of expatriate male drivers, many who get behind the wheel for the first time in their host country.

Add to that the social and cultural disparity as a result of this large group of unskilled expatriates that reside in practically every home, and social development takes a back seat.

In the same week, the Saudi Ministry of Education rejected calls by religious men to call off sports classes in private girls’ schools. This contentious issue was something that ran along the same lines as the driving ban, as hardliners had asserted on many occasions in the past that sports for girls would be detrimental to their honour, their virginity, and would contribute to their moral decadence.

In this latest instance, a vigilante force of some 30 men claiming to uphold and spread virtue and prevent vice, marched to the ministry and demanded from officials to cancel sports classes in the schools based on their arguments. In their view, any activity that demanded that girls participate in sports was totally un-Islamic.

Education Minister Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah had earlier taken a different view. He was firm in his directive that all education authorities in the kingdom initiate the steps necessary “that would enable girls to practice sports in their schools in a manner that would conform to Islamic teachings while improving their physical fitness”.

Moderate Saudis see a significant shift behind such actions. Many could not understand why driving or indulging in sports by women was considered a sin. But to go against the religion card is not a frivolous matter. And the dread of being accused of apostasy kept many voices muzzled.

Whereas in the past, the demands of hardliners was almost considered a law into itself, in recent years there has been a dramatic shift towards a more tolerant position of acceptance of all things obviously not detrimental or conflicting with the teachings of Islam. Such a shift also signals a separation of the often veiled cultural traditions that were deeply intertwined with Islam, making it difficult to separate one from the other.

Urban-dwellers who had long advocated a more accepting approach towards the empowerment of women had in recent decades been deluged into submission by the cultural traditions of the rural populace, who as they made their shift towards urban centres in search of jobs also began to force upon the rest of society their own traditions and beliefs. Many of them had even joined the various branches of government service including the ministry of education and resisted changes from within.

But in recent times, the forces for progress have begun to grab back the initiative. In drafting law after law, the kingdom is making itself transparent in that it is no longer content to be held back by the whims of hardliners who would like nothing better than to subjugate women and push us all back into the stone age.

A few years ago, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz had said: “I believe strongly in the rights of women ... my mother is a woman, my sister is a woman, my daughter is a woman, and my wife is a woman. I believe the day will come when women drive. In fact, if you look at the areas in Saudi Arabia, the deserts and in the rural areas, you will find that women do drive. The issue will require patience. In time, I believe it will be possible. Yes, I believe we can. But it will require a little bit of time ... Our people are just now beginning to open up to the world, and I believe that with the passing of days in the future everything is possible.”

Many Saudis would say today that the time has finally arrived.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena

As Delhi gangrape trial draws to close, debate begins over what has changed

Contributed by Parmeet Nagi

Reuters  New Delhi, September 8, 2013 | UPDATED 11:51 IST

Nine months on, the protesters have disappeared, but the December 16 gangrape case has left a more lasting impact on Indian society.

The serial rapist stalks her for days. Eventually he breaks into her home when she is alone and tries to rape her at knife-point. But she somehow manages to overpower and trap him.

Now, she has to decide what to do. Kill him and bury him in the garden? Or call the police, who are known to be insensitive and where there is a likelihood he will be let off?

The plot is from "Kill the Rapist?" - a new Bollywood thriller which aims to embolden Indian women to report rapes, but also deter potential rapists by making them "shiver with fear before even thinking of rape", says its Facebook page.

Juvenile rapist in Delhi gangrape case living a good life at a 'Place of Safety'
It may be a controversial, but it is all part of a growing conversation in India about violence against women following the fatal gangrape of a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist in December which prompted tens of thousands of urban Indians to take to the streets to protest.

Nine months on, the protesters have disappeared, but the case has left a more lasting impact on Indian society. The judge in the trial of the four men charged with raping and killing the woman is due to deliver his verdict in a Delhi court on Tuesday.

A teenager tried separately in the same case was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention last month.

"The December incident shook me to the core," says Siddhartha Jain, the 39-year-old producer of "Kill the Rapist?"

"I didn't want this just to be another story that would be forgotten in a year. My film is an excuse to amplify the discussion of women's security and hopefully bring about some positive changes."

The increased awareness is not just reflected in cinema. Newspapers and television news stations have stepped up their coverage of gender crimes, social media sites are full of debate and even Bollywood stars and cricketers are joining the discussion in campaigns to promote women's safety.

December 16 gangrape: Juvenile gets only 3 yrs jail. Is the law good enough to handle such cases?

Social commentators say the issue - once only really debated by civil society activists, feminists and academics - is gaining ground and is being widely discussed by the urban middle classes.

"I think the conversation has changed, there appears to be much more sensitivity towards gender issues now from many quarters," says Santosh Desai, a columnist and author of "Mother Pious Lady: Making sense of Everyday India".

"Before it was always a discussion between one small group of people with another small group of people. Now, for the first time, it is coming into the mainstream and the conversation isn't just dying down after a few days. It is being sustained."

This has not translated into women feeling any safer in India, say activists, but it has helped in breaking the silence surrounding crimes against women in a deeply patriarchal country.

Police in New Delhi, for example, believe a rise in rape reports is partly due to an increased willingness by victims to come forward. There were 1,036 cases of rape reported in the capital this year to August 15, against 433 cases over the same period last year, according to police data.

Much of the growing awareness can be attributed to the media, which has voraciously covered the December assault and other such crimes in the last nine months.

Five chilling similarities between Delhi and Mumbai gangrape cases | Timeline of Delhi gangrape case

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/advanced_search.jsp

"The media played the role of a social trigger on this whole issue. This case created an overflow of emotions and became the tipping point for Indian society when it came to the subject of violence against women," said Prabhakar Kumar, of the Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies.

Last month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan held true to a pledge following the Delhi gang-rape, placing his leading lady's name before his in the opening credits of his blockbuster film "Chennai Express" - a statement aimed at promoting the idea of respect for women in a male-dominated film industry.

Social commentators emphasise that while the heightened consciousness around women abuse has not really touched the conservative rural masses that make up 70 per cent of India's 1.2 billion people, it has had an impact in urban areas.

"Since it happened, there have been continual protests over rape cases in Delhi as well as other parts of the country and people have come out in greater numbers than ever before," says Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association. "This shows that there is a more sustained interest in this subject and people want action on such issues." 

 

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/as-delhi-gangrape-trial-draws-to-close-debate-begins-over-what-has-changed/1/308849.html

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/as-delhi-gangrape-trial-draws-to-close-debate-begins-over-what-has-changed/1/308849.html

[News] Stalkers use online sex ads as weapon

By Justin Jouvenal, E-mail the writer
The first man who knocked on the Fauquier County woman’s door told her they had been e-mailing and he was there for sex. Shocked and perplexed because they hadn’t corresponded, the woman sent him away.
But the men kept coming. They arrived on her doorstep as many as six times a day, sometimes traveling from other states. One had a crowbar. Others refused to leave. Another rammed his car through a security gate that she installed.
In all, there were about 100. Each said he had communicated with her. All expected sex.
READ MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/i-live-in-fear-of-anyone-coming-to-my-door/2013/07/14/26c11442-e359-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
 

SRI LANKA - BLEAK FUTURE FOR FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS

WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

http://www.irinnews.org/report/98285/bleak-future-for-sri-lanka-s-female-headed-households

Direct Link to Full Report: EVERYDAY RESISTANCE - FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS IN NORTHERN SRI LANKA 

By Raksha Vasudevan

http://iheid.revues.org/680?lang=en

Women need more support to stand on their own. Photo: Dominic Sansoni/World Bank

COLOMBO, 26 June 2013 (IRIN) - Four years after the end of a 26-Direct Link to Full Report: year civil war and with donor assistance dwindling, tens of thousands of female-headed households in northern Sri Lanka face a difficult future, though many are developing innovative coping strategies.

“There is little evidence that the unique vulnerabilities faced by female-headed households are being considered in the government's policies,” said Raksha Vasudevan, author of a just published report on female-headed households in the north.

“Although they may benefit eventually from the reconstruction of infrastructure and the opening of economic trade activities with the south, for now, it is mostly men who have accessed income-generating opportunities from these developments.”

Researchers and humanitarians working with female-headed households, estimated at over 40,000 by the Centre for Women & Development (CWD) in Jaffna, say the north’s patriarchal social structure, and an economy and reconstruction effort that favours males, have deepened their vulnerabilities.

“The research found that these vulnerabilities [of female-headed households] were simultaneously exacerbated by, and contributed to, psycho-social trauma and an ongoing fear of an unknown future,” the report said. The precarious economic situation also made these women targets of sexual abuseand exploitation. “With many still lacking homes with locking doors, they felt very exposed to attack at any moment,” the author said.

Women whose husbands or partners were killed in the war say they are still struggling to make ends meet, while some continue to spend what meagre resources they have to locate their missing loved ones.

Seetha Kurubakaran, from the town of Paranthan in Kilinochchi District, said she had tried to seek work in various fields - from construction to the civil service (as a clerk) - but without success. All the jobs she sought went to men.

“I don’t want anyone to favour me, but my situation is such that I need a job. I need to feed my family,” the mother of two, said.

Out of desperation she took up sewing dresses at home, but her monthly income is less than US$40. “I live [on] handouts, money my distant relatives living abroad send me,” she said.

Her concern is that her family’s generosity - and ability - to help her is being depleted.

There are no official statistics on unemployment rates in the north, but researchers and analysts believe it could be 10-20 percent, if not higher. Under-employment, where people earn less than a dollar a day, is also believed to be as high as 30 percent.

Ajith Nivard Cabraal, the governor of the Central Bank, told IRIN that since the war ended, the government had invested $3-4 billion in the north, with multimillion dollar construction contracts awarded to build back from almost nothing in some parts.

“Even from a low [reconstruction] base the 20 percent growth rate is impressive,” he said.

However, most of the large infrastructure development projects are centred on the main A9 highway that runs through the middle of Northern Province; employment opportunities are rare elsewhere. And whether near or far from the highway, these projects offer women few jobs.

Discrimination

Meanwhile, many women are trying to do something about their situation in what the report described as “an impressive sign of their resilience”.

“Through a variety of strategies that they employ in their everyday lives, these women endure, contest and resist the structures of domination imposed upon them. These strategies include creating innovative livelihood opportunities for themselves, accessing alternative support sources, tapping into family networks/kinship structures, various community praxes of solidarity and resistance, and finding ways to normalize both the extraordinary circumstances in which they live and the uncertainties they face,” said the study.

“During the war and even before that the practice of women breadwinners was very rare,” said CWD head Saroja Sivachandran. “Even the limited job market still functions on that assumption.”

“They are clearly discriminated against in hiring for most jobs, even though they are willing to work in non-traditional roles, and also face more difficulties than men in accessing credit,” Vasudevan said.

Rupavanthi Ketheeswaran, the top government official in Kilinochchi District, agreed the situation was difficult for women, but said the authorities were working to ease their economic plight. “We will always go that extra step to help out in getting loans and other assistance to these women,” she said, citing special preference on self-employment schemes, seed assistance for home gardens and the distribution of cattle.

However, such schemes should be far more wide-spread if they are to provide women with the sense of purpose and control over their daily lives they now need, said Sivachandaran.

“Female headed households should be recognized as a special needs group at the highest policy-making level,” she added.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought against the government from 1983 to 2009 for an independent Tamil homeland in northern Sri Lanka.

UNHCR Update

GENEVA, 19 June (UNHCR) – More people are refugees or internally displaced than at any time since 1994, with the crisis in Syria having emerged as a major new factor in global displacement.

UNHCR's annual Global Trends report, released on Wednesday, covers displacement that occurred during 2012 based on data from governments, NGO partners, and the UN refugee agency itself. The report shows that as of the end of 2012, more than 45.2 million people were in situations of displacement compared to 42.5 million at the end of 2011.

This includes 15.4 million refugees, 937,000 asylum seekers, and 28.8 million people forced to flee within the borders of their own countries. The report does not include the rise in those forced from their homes in Syria during the current year.

War remains the dominant cause. A full 55 percent of all refugees listed in UNHCR's report come from just five war-affected countries: Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Sudan. The report also charts major new displacement from Mali, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and from Sudan into South Sudan and Ethiopia.

"These truly are alarming numbers. They reflect individual suffering on a huge scale and they reflect the difficulties of the international community in preventing conflicts and promoting timely solutions for them," said António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees and head of UNHCR.

The report highlights worrisome trends, including the rate at which people are being forced into situations of displacement. During 2012 some 7.6 million people became newly displaced, 1.1 million as refugees and 6.5 million as internally displaced people. This translates to a new refugee or internally displaced person every 4.1 seconds.

Also evident is a continuing gap between richer and poorer countries in hosting refugees. Of 10.5 million refugees under UNHCR's mandate -- a further 4.9 million Palestinian refugees fall under the mandate of its sister-agency, the UN Relief and Works Agency), half are hosted by countries that have a per capita GDP of less than US$5,000. In all, developing countries host 81 percent of the world's refugees compared to 70 percent a decade ago.

Children below age 18 make up 46 percent of all refugees. In addition, a record 21,300 asylum applications submitted during 2012 were from children who were unaccompanied or separated from their parents. This is the highest number of unaccompanied or separated children that UNHCR has recorded.

Global displacement for any year is the sum of new displacement, existing unresolved displacement, and subtracting resolved displacement such as people returning home or being allowed to settle permanently outside their home country through citizenship or some other solution.

UNHCR works to help people who are forcibly displaced, including through aid and immediate practical help, and by finding solutions to their plight. The year 2012 saw an end to displacement for 2.7 million people, including 526,000 refugees and 2.1 million internally displaced people. Among those for whom solutions were found are 74,800 people submitted by UNHCR for resettlement in third countries.

Last year saw little change from 2011 in the rankings of the world's major refugee hosting countries. Pakistan continued to host more refugees than any other nation (1.6 million), followed by Iran (868,200) and Germany (589,700).

Afghanistan remained the world's top producer of refugees, a position it has held for 32 years. On average, one out of every four refugees worldwide is Afghan, with 95 percent located in Pakistan or Iran. Somalia, another protracted conflict, was the world's second largest refugee-producing nation during 2012, however there the rate of refugee outflow slowed. Iraqis were the third largest refugee group (746,700 persons), followed by Syrians (471,400).

With people displaced inside their own countries, the figure of 28.8 million for 2012 is the highest level in more than two decades. This includes 17.7 million who are being helped by the UN refugee agency. UNHCR assistance to IDPs is not automatic but occurs at the request of governments. Significant new internal displacement was seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria.

The Global Trends report is UNHCR's leading annual report on the state of forced displacement. Additional data is published annually in the UN refugee agency's Statistical Yearbooks, and its reports on asylum applications in industrialized nations. The new report, with accompanying multimedia materials, can be downloaded at this web address: http://unhcr.org/globaltrendsjune2013

Breaking the silence of abuse through social media

By Ivy Jean Vibar, ABS-CBNnews.com

Posted at 06/21/2013 5:35 PM | Updated as of 06/21/2013 9:33 PM

MANILA – From worms in restaurant food to defective PCOS machines, social media has become a way for the public to call attention to things that would, decades ago, may only have been confined to a select few.
However, aside from complaints about food quality, safety issues and the government, social media has also made it easier for issues such as violence against women to surface. It has become a means to chronicle events of note such as protest movements and human rights violations, not only the goings-on in people's daily lives.
Social broadcasting
In 2009, Iranians used Twitter to protest the results of their country’s Presidential election, in a move to counter the government’s suppression of access to websites and text messaging, and its ban on rallies.
Twitter has also been used to bring attention to national events not covered by the mainstream media, such as the recent protests in Turkey, where the authorities used force to subdue demonstrators.
Instagram and Facebook have also been used to document what happened during the protests in Turkey.
In the Philippines, social media has been one of the most effective ways to bring issues to the attention of government officials. Sometimes, policies have been changed because of clamor from Filipinos online.
Even cases of women abused abroad, such as OFWs being taken advantage of by their employers and even government envoys, have been brought to public attention and received action due to social media.
Social networking sites have also been a way to shatter the culture of silence surrounding domestic issues such as violence against women, said Jean Enriquez of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific.
“Our office itself (CATW-AP) received cases through the social media, and has assisted victims-survivors of trafficking and violence against women, with the help of social media,” Enriquez said in an email interview with ABS-CBNnews.com.
“It can be one of the many tools to call for help, to create awareness and even to build networks around fighting VAW [violence against women], trafficking, illegal recruitment [and] other forms of exploitation. That is in fact, the only reason I came on Facebook and Twitter even as I have been resisting it in the past, and still have many misgivings,” she said.
“Many young people are on these social networking sites, and a huge way to sustain organizing among huge sections of them is to be on these sites.”
Breaking the silence
Recently, TV personality Daiana Menezes was thrust into the limelight when she tweeted about violence against women on her Twitter account, and posted photos of injuries on Instagram.
She got overwhelming support on social media from fans and advocates of violence against women, and even reportedly approached a women’s group to help address her “situation”.
Menezes was married to outgoing Cagayan de Oro Rep. Benjamin Benaldo in a civil ceremony in Las Vegas last year. They are reportedly planning to hold a religious wedding soon.
In an interview on ABS-CBN, Benaldo apologized for their fight, though he did not give further details on what occurred that may have prompted Menezes to speak out on social media.
After their interview, Menezes said she was considering filing for divorce, but also said she loves Benaldo and was undecided on whether she will wants to go through with a religious wedding.
According to Enriquez, she first heard of the issue on Facebook, when she was sent the story by an employee of the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) on Facebook.
“I asked the DSWD employee to tweet the DSWD hotlines and those of the Women's Crisis Center to Daiana, as I could not give my number, as I was abroad then,” she said.
She added that others could also help for Menezes, because violence against women and children is a public crime. “It is not only up to Daiana, but also to government authorities and the public...Any authority or two concerned citizens with personal knowledge can file a protection order for the victim.”
Unfortunately, Enriquez said, while the Violence Against Women and Children Act (VAWCA) or Republic Act 9262 makes it easy for victims to get help, government officials need in-depth education on issues such as violence against women so that they can be more responsive and gender-sensitive.
In a statement, Cong. Benjamin Benaldo said in reaction to his wife Menezes’ posts on social media that he "[believes] that any woman, any foreigner (woman) who might be facing a situation worse than ours must find an avenue for the redress of her grievances in our country."
However, Enriquez said that the VAWC Act should already address the issues even of foreign women who are violated in the Philippines. “The Anti-Trafficking Act of RA 9208 also covers foreign women trafficked to the Philippines,” she said.
No school like the old school
Social media is one of the easiest ways people are able to reach institutions such as CATW-AP.
“Often the ones we took action on were also endorsed by friends on social media, so there's pre-verification of the case,” Enriquez said.
Based on information they got online, they were able to coordinate with government agencies and non-government organizations abroad on providing abused and trafficked women support services, legal assistance and repatriation.
However, social media could not fill the gap of responding to cases, she said, as many people online only post and do not act or call the attention of groups which may be able to provide assistance.
“Nothing could replace old school in-depth education on women's issues, patriarchy, and feminist responses. We should continue our education in communities, schools, in the local levels on social injustice, violence against women and training on gender-responsive, child-friendly interventions,” she said.
In the Philippines and abroad, social media has often been used to call for action on certain issues. One successful campaign against violence against media abroad was done in Saudi Arabia. The campaign, entitled “Multiply”, called on men and women to express their anger with men who hit women.
In the US, website and mobile app “Hollaback” lets women report street harassment by letting women post photos of their harassers and posting them online.
Even Facebook has taken action, recently pulling down pages on the site depicting violence against women. It had earlier been accused by activist groups of being lenient, allowing pages depicting violence against women to remain, while photos of women breastfeeding their babies were reportedly flagged as unsuitable and removed.

Source

State Department downgrades China and Russia, leaves Thailand alone in annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

State Department downgrades China and Russia, leaves Thailand alone in annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

Published: June 19, 2013 at 4:54 PM

By KRISTEN BUTLER, UPI.com | Blog

Secretary of State John Kerry hosted the release Wednesday of the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

The TIP report ranks governments, including the United States, on their efforts to combat and prevent human trafficking. While Tier 1 is the highest ranking, it does not mean that a country has no human trafficking problem.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Blog/2013/06/19/Trafficking-in-Persons-Report-US-downgrades-Russia-China/1871371672997/#ixzz2Wmvc7avz

Court rejects anti-prostitution 'pledge' in anti-AIDS program

By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer

updated 1:00 PM EDT, Thu June 20, 2013

Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has ruled the federal government may not deny funds from its global anti-AIDS program to organizations that refuse to actively oppose prostitution.

In a 6-2 decision on Thursday, the justices determined the policy requiring fund recipients adhere to a larger message about fighting disease and its root causes was not directly related to the "core" mandate of the AIDS program.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion for the majority, said the 2003 law violated the First Amendment. The ruling tosses out the policy.

The case was closely watched by many U.S.-based non-governmental organizations that distribute financial and other assistance overseas.

READ MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/20/politics/scotus-anti-aids-program/index.html

UN Press Release

GENEVA (18 June 2013) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday welcomed last week's decision by the Turkish Government to put on hold further action on the Gezi Park development in Istanbul until there is a court decision, and then to submit the issue to a local referendum. She urged Turkey’s government and civil society to build on this decision and to act in a manner which would defuse tensions.

“The atmosphere is still clearly highly combustible,” Pillay said, “and it is important that the authorities recognize that the initial extremely heavy-handed response to the protests, which resulted in many injuries, is still a major part of the problem. Because of that response, the scope of the protests broadened to include other aspects of governance, including those relating to fundamental human rights, such as freedom of assembly and freedom of opinion and expression.”

The initial demonstrations about the proposed redevelopment of Gezi Park developed into wider anti-government protests, during which thousands of people were injured or overcome by tear gas. At least four individuals have died so far, including a police officer, although the circumstances of some of these deaths remain to be clarified.

“In times of growing public outcry and large-scale protests, the Government must take all necessary measures to ensure that police forces do not resort to excessive use of force and other human rights violations while discharging their duties,” the High Commissioner said. “The aim should be to minimize damage and injury, and respect and preserve human life.”

“I am particularly concerned about allegations of excessive use of force by police against peaceful groups of protesters as this may have resulted in serious damage to health,” she added. “Reports that tear gas canisters and pepper spray were fired at people from close range, or into closed spaces, and the alleged misuse of rubber bullets, need to be promptly, effectively, credibly and transparently investigated.”

“Ensuring accountability of law enforcement bodies for their actions is essential in times of social unrest. Any excessive use of force should be punished, if trust in the authorities’ willingness to abide by the rule of law is to be fully restored,” Pillay said.

The High Commissioner said the Government must ensure that the policing of demonstrations complies at all times with international human rights obligations and international standards on policing, including the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

“I urge the authorities both to facilitate and protect peaceful gatherings and protests. The authorities need to ensure that acts of sporadic violence or other punishable acts committed by some individuals – which I unequivocally condemn – are not used to deprive others of their right to freedom of peaceful assembly.”

The High Commissioner said she was concerned about reports that significant numbers of people had been arbitrarily detained, for acts other than recognized crimes, including some lawyers and people using social media such as Twitter.

She expressed particular concern about allegations of ill-treatment of some of those held, and said “these allegations must be investigated as a matter of urgency and any perpetrators should be brought to justice. The Government must also provide adequate reparation to victims of excessive use of force and other serious human rights violations by security forces.”

Pillay said that addressing the current situation in Turkey through a human rights framework “could actually turn these major challenges into opportunities, in that it sets the scene for resolving some remaining systemic problems in the country’s approach to rule of law.” However, for this to happen, a broad spectrum of civil society needs to be fully involved in the search for a long-term resolution, she added, offering the support of her Office in the efforts to further develop human rights in Turkey.

United Nations Press release

WHO: Third of women suffer domestic violence, biggest murder risk from partner

 Source: http://www.brandonsun.com/lifestyles/breaking-news/who-third-of-women-suffer-domestic-violence-biggest-murder-risk-from-partner-212308971.html?thx=y

LONDON - About a third of women worldwide have been physically or sexually assaulted by a former or current partner, according to the first major review of violence against women.
In a series of papers released on Thursday by the World Health Organization and others, experts estimated nearly 40 per cent of women killed worldwide were slain by an intimate partner and that being assaulted by a partner was the most common kind of violence experienced by women.
"Violence against women is a global health problem of epidemic proportions," WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said in a statement.
The rate of domestic violence against women was highest in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where 37 per cent of women experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner at some point in their lifetime. The rate was 30 per cent in Latin and South America and 23 per cent in North America. In Europe and Asia, it was 25 per cent.
In Canada, 40 per cent of violent crime reported to police was committed against women by former or current spouses or partners, according to Statistics Canada data from 2010. Forty-nine per cent of all solved homicides were women killed by their partners.
Data on domestic violence is largely compiled through police reports. As a result, the figures often understate the extent of the problem, said Sheila Sprague, a PhD student at McMaster University in Hamilton, who recently co-edited a paper on intimate partner violence.
Many women do not feel comfortable reporting abuse, she said, and even if the evidence is clear, there is no mandatory reporting of abuse within Canada.
The research she was involved in found a high prevalence of violence against women. Anonymous questionnaires distributed at orthopedic fracture clinics across Canada, along with a handful in the US, Europe, and one in India, asked women about their personal experience of abuse.
One in three reported they had been a victim of abuse in their lifetime, and one in six in the past year, she said. One in 50 had visited the clinic specifically for a domestic-related injury, and of those, 80 per cent had severe fractures, a point where these women could be "one step away from homicide."
At fracture clinics, she said, surgeons see women with severe fractures every day.
And domestic violence is not limited to a certain profile, she cautioned.
"I think domestic violence covers all education levels, all income levels, all cultures, all ethnicities."
WHO defined physical violence as being slapped, pushed, punched, choked or being attacked with a weapon. Sexual violence was defined as being physically forced to have sex, having sex because you were afraid of what your partner might do and being compelled to do something sexual that was humiliating or degrading.
The report also examined rates of sexual violence against women by someone other than a partner and found about 7 per cent of women worldwide had previously been a victim.
In conjunction with the report, WHO issued guidelines for authorities to spot problems earlier and said all health workers should be trained to recognize when women may be at risk and how to respond appropriately.
Globally, the WHO review found 30 per cent of women are affected by domestic or sexual violence by a partner. The report was based largely on studies from 1983 to 2010. According to the United Nations, more than 600 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not considered a crime.
Some experts said screening for domestic violence should be added to all levels of health care, such as obstetric clinics.
"It's unlikely that someone would walk into an ER and disclose they've been assaulted," said Sheila Sprague of McMaster University, who has researched domestic violence in women at orthopedic clinics. She was not connected to the WHO report.
"Over time, if women are coming into a fracture clinic or a pre-natal clinic, they may tell you they are suffering abuse if you ask," she said.
For domestic violence figures, scientists analyzed information from 86 countries focusing on women over the age of 15. They also assessed studies from 56 countries on sexual violence by someone other than a partner, though they had no data from the Middle East. WHO experts then used modeling techniques to fill in the gaps and to come up with global estimates for the percentage of women who are victims of violence.
In a related paper published online in the journal Lancet, researchers found more than 38 per cent of slain women are killed by a former or current partner, six times higher than the rate of men killed by their partners. Heidi Stoeckl, one of the authors at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the figures were likely to be an underestimate. She and colleagues found that globally, a woman's highest risk of murder was from a current or ex-partner.
In countries like India, Stoeckl said things like "honour killings," where women are sometimes murdered over dowry disputes or perceived offences like infidelity to protect the family's reputation, adds to the problem.
She also noted that women and men are often slain by their partners for different reasons.
"When a woman kills her male partner, it's usually out of self-defence because she has been abused," she said. "But when a woman is killed, it's often after she has left the relationship and the man is killing her out of jealousy or rage."
Stoeckl said criminal justice authorities should intervene at an earlier stage.
"When a woman is killed by a partner, she has often already had contact with the police," she said.
Stoeckl said more protective measures should be in place for women from their partners, particularly when he or she has a history of violence and owns a gun.
"There are enough signs that we should be watching out for that," she said. "We certainly should know if someone is potentially lethal and be able to do something about it."
With files from The Canadian Press

Breaking Down Stereotypes: Somali Women Always Agents of History - See more at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2013/06/breaking-down-stereotypes-somali-women-always-agents-of-history/#sthash.lX549X1R.dpuf

Recently, the Huffington Post re-published an Associated Press article on Sufi resurgence in Somalia. Following the withdrawal of the armed militant group Al-Shabab from the country’s capital of Mogadishu, Somalis are once again allowed to engage in Sufi practices without fear of death and violent repression. The article paints a landscape of men and women chanting in divine states of worship. The writer makes mention of women:  “Beyond the circle of worshippers are dozens of women, some of them so moved that they are crying.”

See more at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2013/06/breaking-down-stereotypes-somali-women-always-agents-of-history/#sthash.lX549X1R.dpuf

Legal fraternity must be vanguard of women rights battle: President

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/legal-fraternity-must-be-vanguard-of-women-rights-battle-president_855256.html

New Delhi: Voicing concern over "repeated failure" to ensure safety and security of women and children, President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said that there is a need for resetting the moral compass and the legal fraternity must be the vanguard of the battle for women's rights.

"Recent incidents of brutal assault and child rape in Delhi have shaken our society's collective conscience. They highlight the urgency with which we need to introspect at the erosion of values and our repeated failure to ensure safety and security of our women and children. There is need for us in India to reset our moral compass," Mukherjee said.

The President was speaking at the first convocation held at National Law University, Delhi (NLUD) where Justice Dalveer Bhandari, currently a judge in the International Court of Justice, was conferred with the degree of LLD (Honoris Causa).

Mukherjee, who awarded gold medals to 22 meritorious law students of the varsity, said, "the legal fraternity, especially students of law, must be the vanguard of the battle for women's security, rights and welfare" and that "we must collectively ensure the dignity and respect for women".

He also said that instead of merely talking about social issues of corruption, sexual violence, gender discrimination, etc, people should work towards addressing these concerns.

"Many of us often ask of others what we are unwilling to do ourselves. People furious about corruption still remain willing to bribe to expedite their own work. While demanding strict laws against sexual violence and gender discrimination publicly, there are those who continue to perpetuate the same gender discrimination.

"If you are asked to pay a bribe, have the courage to refuse. If you are asked to support violence, corruption or oppression, have the courage to say no," Mukherjee further said, adding that, "Be the change you want to see in the world - is a wisdom that came from Mahatma Gandhi and I appeal to you to assimilate this principle into your daily life".

Amnesty International Press release

17 June 2013

The Spanish authorities are not investigating crimes under international law committed during the Civil War and Franco period, sending the message that impunity for human rights abuses is allowed, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

Time passes, impunity remains examines how the Spanish authorities have refused to investigate tens of thousands of killings and disappearances committed during the Civil War by both parties to the conflict and under Francisco Franco’s rule (1936-1975). It is also not cooperating with other countries, such as Argentina, that have opened their own investigations into Spain’s historical abuses.

“The fact that Spain is neither investigating nor cooperating with proceedings relating to crimes committed during the Civil War by both parties to the conflict or under Franco is a slap in the face of all the relatives of those who were abused and disappeared at the time,” said Esteban Beltrán, Director of Amnesty International Spain.

“We have seen a tendency for these cases to be closed without further investigation but the situation has worsened recently after the Supreme Court ruled that it was not for Spanish judges to prosecute these crimes. The only avenue of judicial investigation available in Spain it seems to be shut down.”

The Spanish judiciary is refusing to conduct investigations, and complaints filed by the victims are being closed.

In November 2008, the Spanish National High Court said it didn't have jurisdiction to hear the criminal complaint brought in 2006 for killings and 114,266 enforced disappearances committed in Spain between 1936 and 1951, favouring regional courts taking on the cases instead.

Since then, Amnesty International has found that at least 38 of the 47 cases referred to regional courts have been closed.

On 27 February 2012, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that it was impossible to investigate crimes committed during the Civil War and under Franco’s rule saying, amongst other things, that they are covered by the Amnesty Law and they are subject to a statute of limitations.

Spain has also obstructed victims from testifying before the Argentinean judge responsible for a case ongoing in that country since 2010 and the Spanish Attorney-General’s Office is failing to cooperate with the case.

Amnesty International urged authorities in Spain, in particular the Attorney General’s Office, to investigate and prosecute crimes or offences under international law and to assist fully with any request for cooperation it receives from foreign courts that decide to investigate these crimes.

A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effect that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People

A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effect that Access and Exposure to

Pornography has on Children and Young People

By Miranda A.H. Horvath, Llian Alys, Kristina Massey,

Afroditi Pina, Mia Scally and Joanna R. Adler

REPORT: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/Assets/BasicallyporniseverywhereReport.pdf

PRESS RELEASE

The Office of the Children's Commissioner for England is calling for urgent action to develop children's resilience to pornography following a research report it commissioned which found that: a significant number of children access pornography; it influences their attitudes towards relationships and sex; it is linked to risky behaviour such as having sex at a younger age; and there is a correlation between holding violent attitudes and accessing more violent media.

The report published today by the Office of the Children's Commissioner, "Basically... porn is everywhere" - A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People also found that:

• Children and young people's exposure and access to pornography occurs both on and offline but in recent years the most common method of access is via internet enabled technology
• Exposure and access to pornography increases with age
• Accidental exposure to pornography is more prevalent than deliberate access
• There are gender differences in exposure and access to pornography with boys more likely to be exposed to and deliberately access, seek or use pornography than girls.

It concludes that there are still many unanswered questions about the affect exposure to pornography has on children: a situation the Office of the Children's Commissioner considers requires urgent action in an age where extreme violent and sadistic imagery is two clicks away.

The report is based on a review of published evidence led by Middlesex University in partnership with the University of Bedfordshire, Canterbury Christ Church University and University of Kent, supplemented by a focus group of young people. The researchers identified 41,000 items of academic literature about pornography undertaking an in-depth analysis of 276 to draw its conclusions.

The report welcomes the work being done by Claire Perry, MP on internet controls, in her role as advisor to the Prime Minister. It makes a series of recommendations in addition to carrying out further research as follows:

READ MORE: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/press_release/content_505

The Right to Be a Woman

I never really understood why feminism existed. In my earlier years, that was because I was considerably ignorant on the subject. I grasped the fact that women have never been socially, economically, politically, or anything-ly equal to men, but I just didn't understand why that was true. We're all just people; I couldn't wrap my head around why anatomical differences have engendered so many contentions and inequities. I still can't, although now I am more educated on the subject.
I went to a very progressive middle and elementary school, an environment in which we had weekly lectures and activities about racial equality and LGBTQ rights (this was before the umbrella term trans* was created), but I don't recall ever discussing women's issues. When I began reading Rookie Mag -- where nearly everyone on the staff is either a self-proclaimed feminist, a women's rights supporter, or something in between -- was around when I started to understand what feminism actually means. I had always dismissed it as some sort of extreme movement that involved misandry, bra burning, and public protests, like the time Eric and Donna go to a feminist demonstration in an episode of That '70s Show. That was about the extent of my knowledge.
I had never bothered to further enlighten myself because we are taught that feminism is something negative, and the subject was so foreign to me that I didn't even want to get involved. As I entered deeper into the trenches of my adolescence, I went around thinking that if someone looked at me lecherously or made an unwelcome sexual comment that it was my fault. I had led them on, in some way. So I stopped wearing V-neck T-shirts and never thought about it. Even at my equal-rights-for-everybody-even-though-we-only-talk-about-certain-groups-of-people-because-they're-minorities-and-women-aren't school we were taught, "Don't get raped," never "Don't rape." That never seemed out of place to me. It's extremely stifling and maddening to live in a world that objectifies women to such a degree that we don't even notice it anymore; that's how large a part of our society it has become. Or, I guess, always has been, for millennia. I only recently realized that as a teenage girl I was being affected by misogyny, disrespect, and degradation just by simply existing.
The fashion industry is one of the main propellants of the rigid concepts of femininity and womanhood that are held so highly in our culture. For decades, even centuries, women have been expected to either be a perfect combination of elegance, sexual appeal, and vulnerability, or urged to act more like men. Even with revolutionary members of the media popping up everywhere -- Lena Dunham, Tavi Gevinson, Miranda July -- women are only being more forcibly squished into these molds. We all already know that the supermodel-skinny standards are a major part of what's dragging us, meaning females, down. That topic deserves an entire article in and of itself, but it's not all that the fashion world is contributing to this huge dilemma. It's the clothing itself. It's a topic that I've written about before, without really knowing what I was saying. Taking a tip from the boys, menswear for women, things of that ilk. That concept has taken a turn for the worst.
While reading the Man Repeller a few months ago, Leandra Medine mentioned that in order to embody "swag," one must look like a male sixth grader: messy cropped hair, boyish clothing, baseball caps, the whole deal. I admire and respect Leandra immensely, but I felt that she had almost betrayed her fellow ladies in this post through words like: "achieving 'cool' is wholly about how well a girl can emulate a prepubescent boy." My immediate response to her story was a big, bolded, upper-cased WHY? I understand that this could potentially be misconstrued as me being ridiculously sensitive, but hear me out. Here's what I'm seeing. Looking cool now entails dressing like guys. That would be fine, if the same had ever been true for the opposite sex. When has it ever been considered trendy for a man to wear a dress, or heels, or another garment of clothing generally associated with women? Approximately never, except for in the 17th century, when almost everybody in the aristocracy wore heels. And Marc Jacobs's pink polo dress that he wore to the opening of his museum exhibition in Paris last year doesn't count. Marc Jacobs is not a valid representation of the general male population.
I don't personally feel the need to wear anything characteristically feminine in order to feel good about myself or how I am presenting myself to the world. That probably stems from the fact that I grew up completely unaware of how these injustices applied to me. Do my androgynous tendencies -- short hair, near exclusion of pink in my wardrobe, very little makeup, unshaved legs -- imply that I am actively aspiring to look like a teenage boy? Not in the least bit. I like my loose jeans as much as I like my shift dresses. I cut my hair short because I hate feeling weighted down by masses of dead cells on my head. I don't wear pink because it makes me feel like a sickly amalgamation of an infant and cotton candy. I don't wear a lot of makeup, if any at all, partly because I hate having to worry about taking it off at night, partly because I prefer to present myself in my most natural form. I stopped shaving my legs because I have much better things to be doing with my time. I dress the way I want to because I like the way my clothing looks.
One of the greatest misconceptions about people interested in fashion and clothing is that they care too much about their appearance. It takes a significant amount of indifference towards other people and their judgements to walk outside into a world where everyone feels entitled to share their opinions on every subject, whether they be valuable or completely uncalled for. That translates directly into the issue about women's rights. People make comments, assumptions, and evaluations on women's semblance all the time, thinking we crave their approval, that we strive for their acceptance. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.
Some women definitely seek that sort of confirmation, but that often is a result of insecurity or lack of self-confidence. That isn't to say that ladies that choose to ignore others' criticisms on their looks are not insecure, nor is it to say that women who attire themselves in a more sexualized manner are doing so for the benefit of those around them. This may somewhat of a mantra for feminists, and hopefully eventually for every person: we are not trying to look a certain way for you, whoever you may be. I don't know who gave the general populace the power to decide who is a "slut," or at least looks like one, and who is not, but they should feel pretty crappy right about now because they are painfully fallacious. I don't think that word should even exist; I don't believe that promiscuity is so terrible as long as no one is hurt, either emotionally or physically, in the process. A woman has a right to use her body how she wants just as much as a man does. I've always wondered why nearly every rape story I've heard or read about involves a male rapist. What it is about penises that makes men think they can just stick them everywhere? I have a supposition that it has less to do with biology and more to do with social hierarchy. It boils down to the fact that women are simply not considered equal to men.
When we ask ourselves where this inequality stems from, it's easy to say that way back in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras the men were the ones that hunted and the women tended to the children. The latter's fatal infirmity was their inherent femaleness: the menstruation and subsequent complications, the decreased ability to maintain dense muscle mass, et cetera. Men saw themselves as superior because they could go out and spear a buffalo for the whole clan and not have to worry about doubling over in pain from cramps or what have you. Sure, women have their weaknesses, but men don't? They absolutely do. The number one argument that I feel neutralizes everything is that women can have babies, and men can't. In theory, that should give us immense power, but it doesn't. Instead, guys just went ahead and took the liberty of impregnating women without their consent. I know it's completely inarticulate, but my instinctual response to that is: what the hell. I've never been pregnant before but I have taken freshman biology and I know plenty of people that have bore children, and it sounds like having a small person growing inside of you doesn't feel so fantastic. Forcing that on someone who has not asked for it is one of the most heinous crimes I can think of. Perhaps that's one reason why we don't see a lot of female rapists: we're at a higher risk of suffering the consequences of having non-assented sex both physically and socially.
As a high school student and teenager, my future is like a massive, daunting, multi-colored cloud that looms ahead of me at all times. I have high hopes for that cloud. I want to be able to pursue a career in something I enjoy and not have to be concerned about whether my male occupationally equivalent colleague is getting more perks or has a higher salary purely because of my physical constitution. People's intellectual capabilities are purely a result of how much work they put into cultivating their garden, to cite Voltaire. In other words, my brain and all it can do and create is a product of my own labor, not genetic chance.
I often think back to the time in my life when I had no idea what sort of unjustified prejudice I was in danger of facing because of my chromosomal makeup. I was ignorant and had been brainwashed by the patriarchal society we live in that, as a female, it was my duty to protect myself from harm but to simultaneously exude femininity. That only works if you're the only person you're ever around. There's no way to control what other people perceive as suggestive or girly (not that the two are synonymous in any way), thus it is impossible to satisfy everybody's personal requirements. If that's the case, then I don't see why I should bother trying to live up to the world's expectations for me as a woman. I would much rather strive to please others on the basis of what is expected of me as a human being. That's what we all are. Male, female, non-cisgender, somewhere in between, we are all just people. What baffles me is why we can't treat each other as equally as the universe intended us to be. If we were supposed to have hierarchal distinctions within our race, some of us would be born with five extra retractable limbs and X-ray vision. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I highly doubt that anyone possesses those abilities.

Feminism is not about hatred or anger or misandry. It is not negative. Feminists are not intrinsically evil, nor are they lesbian by default, nor do they wish to purge the Earth of all non-women. "Male feminists" shouldn't have to be a term that distinguishes men that promote equity from those that don't. All of this is about equality and freedom and love. It isn't up to us to decide our anatomical structure, but we can most definitely choose to act in particular ways despite our natural differences. The power rests entirely in our hands to change, if not reverse, the undeniable misogyny of the world we live in. Once people can stop defining each other by their gender, appearance, ethnicity, or any other uncontrollable quality of ours, and begin to appraise one another based on the substance of our thoughts and merit of our deeds, we'll be on the right track.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/odelia-kaly/gender-equality_b_3365689.html

[News] Afghan women in fight over rights law

Kabul, Afghanistan - Fawzia Koofi, an Afghan MP, was left out to die under the sun the day she was born, according to a story she recounts in her autobiography. She is now set to run in Afghanistan's presidential elections next year.
Among Westerners, she is regarded as a champion for Afghan women. In Afghanistan, her record is more mixed. Her recent push to get parliamentary ratification of a presidential decree for the elimination of violence against women - at the potential risk of throwing out the current law - has created unease among some women's rights activists.
Activists worry the parliamentary debate that took place last week has put regulations they spent years lobbying for in jeopardy.
For some women's rights activists and female leaders in Afghanistan, the 20-minute debate surrounding the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law came as little surprise.
Though initial media coverage framed the short debate in terms of conservative ideologies, many at the vanguard of the nation's women's rights movement saw it as pure politics.
"When it comes to women's issues, everything in Afghanistan is political," said Palwasha Hassan, a Kabul-based activist.
To many Afghan feminists, the arguments in Saturday's plenary session had as much to do with a lack of solidarity among female MPs as they did with the conservative ideologies espoused by those men who oppose the law on religious grounds.
Politics as usual
In pushing for the law to be introduced into the parliamentary agenda, Koofi's political gamble may have alienated women's rights activists - but she has also propelled herself into the spotlight.
A widowed mother of two, Koofi's life story has earned her considerable Western media attention.
But in a closed door meeting in the Afghan capital last week, female activists called Koofi's decision a betrayal, accusing her of promoting her own political ambitions.
For her part, Koofi worried that a presidential decree lacking the "prestige" of parliamentary approval could be overturned by Karzai's successor in 2014.
Fearing a tumultuous political climate and a conservative majority in the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the Afghan parliament, activists tried to get the law off the parliamentary agenda.
Parliamentary realities
If each of the 69 female MPs persuaded only one man to pass the law, we'd already have 138 of 249 votes, Koofi reportedly said. Wazhma Frogh, who has been working on EVAW monitoring at the prosecution level, said more time was needed to mobilise efforts.

It is very simplistic to expect all the female members of the parliament to vote in favour of the EVAW law - Orzala Ashraf Nemat, human rights campaigner

Rather than trying to get their male counterparts to vote in favour of the law, Frogh said, "[Female MPs] should have boycotted Saturday's sessions if they truly believed in women's rights".
A woman and former MP, who spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity, said Koofi's vision of 138 voters was not based in parliamentary reality.
Koofi's Western notoriety and power in the parliament has created several political rivalries for her among female lawmakers in Afghanistan. For female politicians, it is not just outside pressure that sways them to vote in one way or another, explained the former MP.
"The person advocating" for a law can play just as large a role in the decisions of female MPs as can their own personal feelings towards the topic at hand, she said. In her term in office, the female MP said she only witnessed a single occasion where the majority of the 69 female parliamentarians stood in unity.
Orzala Ashraf Nemat, an Afghan human rights campaigner who sat in on several parliamentary discussions on the law between 2008 and 2009, said Koofi's political calculations were incorrect.
"It is very simplistic to expect all the female members of the parliament to vote in favour of the EVAW law," because the struggle for legal protection of women's rights is still hampered by their position in society and politics, stated Nemat.
"This reality has to be accepted by all those who honestly are concerned about protection of women," she said.
A single person
When she took the podium last Saturday, Koofi said: "The process of making a law is not owned by a single person. It is a national process." However, activists say the actions of the woman hoping to be Afghanistan's first female president betrayed her own words.
Ever since Koofi announced her intentions, activists and civil society workers have been working on two fronts. On one side, they are trying to convince the women's commission from bringing the law to further parliamentary debate. On the other, female leaders have not had enough time to prepare for a conservative backlash. 
At the start of the plenary, Farkhunda Zahra Naderi, daughter of Sayed Mansoor Naderi, a politically and economically connected Ismaili spiritual leader, said "the EVAW law is valid; there is no need to put it on the [parliamentary] agenda".
Naderi said that 70 signatures presented to the administrative board calling for the law to be taken off the agenda were unsuccessful. Those close to the situation said that Koofi's insistence only furthered rifts between female MPs.
For Frogh, this tension was made evident by the fact that "not one female MP rose to defend the law as conservative men bashed it. Not one raised a green or red card; in fact, they all turned their faces from the cameras".

It's in no one's interest to approve this law. The fallout from the debate could make conservatives more motivated to organise and call for a repeal of the law in its entirety - Heather Barr, Human Rights Watch

Though female lawmakers stayed quiet during a debate described by Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, the Wolesi Jirga speaker, as "the first time [he had] ever seen a draft as controversial as this", there were male MPs who defended the proposed law on cultural and religious grounds.
"The draft is against injustice, and it is the order of God to fight injustice," Ghulam Sarwar Fayez, MP from Badghis province said. The law makes child marriage, bride barter and spousal abuse criminal offenses.
The most controversial aspects of the proposed legislation are centred around raising the minimum marriage age for girls from nine to 16, sending men to jail for spousal abuse, and providing women and girls with sanctuary from abusive situations in shelters.
More motivated
"Sharia [religious law] and Islam has been misused by them as a way to maintain power. They are able to use Sharia against any women's rights or human rights issue in parliament," explained the former female MP.
Nemat added that the majority of those arguing against the EVAW lack "even the basic qualifications to define and explain a woman's place in Islam".
In a May 25 session, Sahib Khan, an MP from Logar province, said a group of religious scholars from the eastern province had criticised him for not "reacting" during the debate. These sorts of reactions by high-ranking religious leaders have created a dangerous precedent, according to Heather Barr, an Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"It's in no one's interest to approve this law," she said. "The fallout from the debate could make conservatives more motivated to organise and call for a repeal of the law in its entirety." This, said Barr, is especially disconcerting as the law itself had been "surprisingly non-controversial" since its 2009 approval by Karzai. But members of civil society say Afghan leaders are not the only ones who would be held to account if the law were to be altered by parliament.
Though the United Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and UN Women called for immediate implementation of the law, Afghan civil society leaders at last week's closed door meeting said the international community had "stood by and watched as their biggest accomplishment had been butchered by the parliament".
With a divisive parliament and an uncertain political future, the best solution may be to work towards the enforcement of the existing law, said Barr.

"At the end of the day, the law is just as valid today as it was yesterday," she said.

SOURCE: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/05/201352711108360922.html