Le Matin, 04.28.09
After the establishment of a fund to support the representation of women, and the installation of its committee members, the decision was taken to sign several agreements to finance eligible projects. 9 political parties and 5 associations will benefit from the funds. The parties who will benefit are: organization of Istiqlalian women, Party of Justice and Development (PJD), the National Rally of Independents (RNI), the Popular Movement (MP), the Socialist Union of Popular Forces ( USFP), the Constitutional Union (UC) Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), the Women's section of the Progress and Socialism Party (PPS) and the Socialist Unity Party (PSU). The associations are: Azzahraa forum, Abbas Kabbaj Foudation, The National Association for the Protection of Children and Families, and the renewal of the consciousness for women.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Kuwait: 73 % citizens may head to polling stations: Study
Kuwait Times
KUWAIT: Seventy three percent citizens will head to the ballot boxes to cast their votes on May 16, the findings of a comprehensive study conducted by Ipson International Company revealed. The study also found that 14 percent of citizens will abstain from voting while the remaining 13 percent are undecided about voting. It pointed out that 80 percent of male voters have decided to cast votes while only 66 percentage of females exercise their rights. The average age of most voters is more than 45 years. Farwaniya constituency will receive the largest number of voters when compared to other Kuwaiti governorates, reported Al-Watan. The study added that 80 percent of voters from Farwaniya will vote on May 16. Seventy five percent of voters in Mubarak Al-Kabeer area, 69 percent in Jahra, 71 percent in Hawally, 74 percent in the capital and 67 percent of voters of Ahmadi have decided to cast votes. Sixteen percent of voters from Ahmadi have decided not to vote and 17 percent are still undecided about voting.
KUWAIT: Seventy three percent citizens will head to the ballot boxes to cast their votes on May 16, the findings of a comprehensive study conducted by Ipson International Company revealed. The study also found that 14 percent of citizens will abstain from voting while the remaining 13 percent are undecided about voting. It pointed out that 80 percent of male voters have decided to cast votes while only 66 percentage of females exercise their rights. The average age of most voters is more than 45 years. Farwaniya constituency will receive the largest number of voters when compared to other Kuwaiti governorates, reported Al-Watan. The study added that 80 percent of voters from Farwaniya will vote on May 16. Seventy five percent of voters in Mubarak Al-Kabeer area, 69 percent in Jahra, 71 percent in Hawally, 74 percent in the capital and 67 percent of voters of Ahmadi have decided to cast votes. Sixteen percent of voters from Ahmadi have decided not to vote and 17 percent are still undecided about voting.
Kuwait: Women determined to restore normalcy to parliament
Al Watan Daily
KUWAIT: A number of political activists and candidates have underscored the importance of giving women the opportunity to gain access to the National Assembly to contribute towards the nation''s development.
The activists made the appeal during a symposium held at Kuwait Bar Association Tuesday amid a strong presence of concerned individuals.
Making comments at the symposium, former minister and First Constituency candidate Masouma AlـMubarak lamented that although the first consultative council was set up in 1921, women have not been able to make headway as far as active participation in politics is concerned.
"After a long struggle, Kuwaiti women were granted their full political rights on May 16, 2005, which was followed by the appointment of two women in the Municipal Council as well as the appointment of Kuwait''s first ever female minister on June 12, 2005," she said, but arguing that there was still much to be done in terms of women in politics.
For her part, Thikra AlـRasheedi indicated that the main obstacle to women''s quest to gain access to parliament "is the fact that they have failed to underscore the importance of their participation in the electoral process."
She explained that women "have been always on the defensive as they stressed their independence and competence."
Meanwhile, Dr. Heila AlـMekeimy reiterated women''s strong determination "to restore the normal parliamentary life, which has been profoundly marred by disputes and incessant political wrangling."
She went on to explain that having women in the parliament "will create a sort of balance, since women are calm and sensible in their dialogue."
She criticized some MPs for using "vague language in the parliament that the common man fails to comprehend."
Moreover, she commented on the unprecedented political instability that Kuwait has witnessed, and said that voters must be decisive to end the paradox that exists in the political arena by voting for women, "since they are most likely to cause a change."
She lamented the fact that many citizens, especially women, were not included in the electoral rolls.
Finally, she expressed hope that AlـMubarak and AlـRasheedi would be registered as MPs "in order to regain a normal and healthy parliamentary environment."
KUWAIT: A number of political activists and candidates have underscored the importance of giving women the opportunity to gain access to the National Assembly to contribute towards the nation''s development.
The activists made the appeal during a symposium held at Kuwait Bar Association Tuesday amid a strong presence of concerned individuals.
Making comments at the symposium, former minister and First Constituency candidate Masouma AlـMubarak lamented that although the first consultative council was set up in 1921, women have not been able to make headway as far as active participation in politics is concerned.
"After a long struggle, Kuwaiti women were granted their full political rights on May 16, 2005, which was followed by the appointment of two women in the Municipal Council as well as the appointment of Kuwait''s first ever female minister on June 12, 2005," she said, but arguing that there was still much to be done in terms of women in politics.
For her part, Thikra AlـRasheedi indicated that the main obstacle to women''s quest to gain access to parliament "is the fact that they have failed to underscore the importance of their participation in the electoral process."
She explained that women "have been always on the defensive as they stressed their independence and competence."
Meanwhile, Dr. Heila AlـMekeimy reiterated women''s strong determination "to restore the normal parliamentary life, which has been profoundly marred by disputes and incessant political wrangling."
She went on to explain that having women in the parliament "will create a sort of balance, since women are calm and sensible in their dialogue."
She criticized some MPs for using "vague language in the parliament that the common man fails to comprehend."
Moreover, she commented on the unprecedented political instability that Kuwait has witnessed, and said that voters must be decisive to end the paradox that exists in the political arena by voting for women, "since they are most likely to cause a change."
She lamented the fact that many citizens, especially women, were not included in the electoral rolls.
Finally, she expressed hope that AlـMubarak and AlـRasheedi would be registered as MPs "in order to regain a normal and healthy parliamentary environment."
Bahrain: Five laws passed without changes
Gulf Daily News
MPs yesterday approved five laws passed to them by the Shura Council without discussion or amendments.
Both chambers are in dispute over several articles in the five laws but MPs decided yesterday that they could pass them without any delay because there were no major differences.
The laws will be now ratified by His Majesty King Hamad.
Among them is granting equal rights to the children of Bahraini women married to expatriates as those with Bahraini fathers.
The Shura Council decided to include a new article last month in the law.
It stipulates that children of Bahraini women have to be permanent residents in order to benefit from equal rights.
The bill allows expatriate wives the same treatment as their Bahraini counterparts in services such as government fees, education, health and an exemption from residency visa requirements.
Parliament also agreed with the Shura Council to reject an amendment among several others to the Trade Unions Law that would have allowed more than one union in the same establishment on the basis that it would create tension and division between employees.
MPs also agreed with councillors on setting up a new medical licences and services authority, after a vote to reject the Shura Council amendments was halted by parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani early this month, asking MPs to study it further.
They also approved an amended bill by the council granting GCC nationals equal rights as Bahraini businessmen when setting up businesses in Bahrain.
Parliament was also on its way to insist on its decision in regard to three other laws amended by the council but decided to postpone discussions until tomorrow's extraordinary session, which was later cancelled as MPs voted for a day off.
Parliament had earlier approved a bill to pay pensions of the deceased in the government, private and military sectors to distant relatives if they had no close family members.
However, the council rejected the bill, saying that pensions were not inheritance and could not be dealt with in the manner MPs wanted.
Services committee chairman Dr Ali Ahmed said parliament was hoping to approve all of Shura's decisions but found it difficult to approve the remaining three bills.
"I have been very lenient with councillors despite some disagreements on their approach to articles in the medical licences and services authority," he said.
"My committee liked the addition of children of Bahraini women and the ban on the formation of several unions in one establishment and according to that I recommended their approval. "But I have a huge dispute with councillors over the pension laws and parliament would have insisted on its previous decision if MPs did not decide to postpone discussing it. "Thankfully the major laws have been approved and are now in the hands of His Majesty King Hamad to ratify."
MPs yesterday approved five laws passed to them by the Shura Council without discussion or amendments.
Both chambers are in dispute over several articles in the five laws but MPs decided yesterday that they could pass them without any delay because there were no major differences.
The laws will be now ratified by His Majesty King Hamad.
Among them is granting equal rights to the children of Bahraini women married to expatriates as those with Bahraini fathers.
The Shura Council decided to include a new article last month in the law.
It stipulates that children of Bahraini women have to be permanent residents in order to benefit from equal rights.
The bill allows expatriate wives the same treatment as their Bahraini counterparts in services such as government fees, education, health and an exemption from residency visa requirements.
Parliament also agreed with the Shura Council to reject an amendment among several others to the Trade Unions Law that would have allowed more than one union in the same establishment on the basis that it would create tension and division between employees.
MPs also agreed with councillors on setting up a new medical licences and services authority, after a vote to reject the Shura Council amendments was halted by parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani early this month, asking MPs to study it further.
They also approved an amended bill by the council granting GCC nationals equal rights as Bahraini businessmen when setting up businesses in Bahrain.
Parliament was also on its way to insist on its decision in regard to three other laws amended by the council but decided to postpone discussions until tomorrow's extraordinary session, which was later cancelled as MPs voted for a day off.
Parliament had earlier approved a bill to pay pensions of the deceased in the government, private and military sectors to distant relatives if they had no close family members.
However, the council rejected the bill, saying that pensions were not inheritance and could not be dealt with in the manner MPs wanted.
Services committee chairman Dr Ali Ahmed said parliament was hoping to approve all of Shura's decisions but found it difficult to approve the remaining three bills.
"I have been very lenient with councillors despite some disagreements on their approach to articles in the medical licences and services authority," he said.
"My committee liked the addition of children of Bahraini women and the ban on the formation of several unions in one establishment and according to that I recommended their approval. "But I have a huge dispute with councillors over the pension laws and parliament would have insisted on its previous decision if MPs did not decide to postpone discussing it. "Thankfully the major laws have been approved and are now in the hands of His Majesty King Hamad to ratify."
Jordan: Jordanian Women Sifting Death Traps
The Media Line
Written by Abdullah Omar
Published Thursday, April 30, 2009
[Amman, Jordan] “It is only about money,” confesses Hanan ‘Ababna while grabbing a large metal fork as she sifts through landmine-infested fields on the Jordan-Syria border.
Hanan comes from a poor family in the northern city of Mafraq, where unemployment has reached a staggering 30 percent and poverty is on the rise.
The community that once thrived on agriculture and trade currently struggles with the consequences of bad state economic policies, depending on handouts and monthly salaries through social aid networks, rather than through created job opportunities in rural areas.
“If it were not for money I would not be putting my life at risk,” says Hanan.
The scorching heat and slapping cold wind of the desert has turned black and rugged her skin and that of many other girls in this frontier area.
Officials behind the project needed to offer generous financial bait to lure individuals to join this risky business. Each worker gets 540 Jordanian dinars (JD), five times more than the minimum wage, as well as health insurance and compensation in case of injury or death.
Hanan used to work at a local factory as a seamstress, earning "100 JD with bonus”
for herself and her three children.
“It is only because I was a fast worker and hence produced more than my colleagues that they gave me JD 100, otherwise I would have earned no more than JD 85,” she says.
Now Hanan can put enough food on the table and provide education for her children.
“I do not care about what happens to me. I am happy here because I can give my children a good life,” she adds.
Hanan joined dozens of other girls from similar economic and social backgrounds to become the first Jordanian all-female de-mining team. Their first mission is to help male counterparts clear the northern borders with Syria of landmines, remnants of tension between the two Arab countries during the 1970s.
The 10.5 million square meters of mine-infested land is the last stretch of a decade-old campaign to cleanse the country of ordinance. The project aims to remove 136,000 mines that nestle along a 104 km-long mine belt, where dozens of villages are located.
The minefields served not only as a natural deterrent to cross country smuggling, but also hampered residents on the Jordanian side from making the most of the fertile land.
On the other side of the border, farmers from Syria are cultivating the land up to its full potential while villagers in Jordan abandoned their land, preferring to join the army to feed their family.
Activists now say the project of de-mining will allow thousands of farmers and 70,000 villagers to utilize their lands after nearly three decades.
Women Praised
Teams of landminers are shuttled to the minefields every morning at five am, where they gear up to flirt with death traps, donning protective clothing and other paraphernalia.
For project coordinator Qasim Simadi, who supervised the training of the women, his new students showed as much courage and perseverance as men, if not more.
“I saw they wanted to prove themselves. They would wear the heavy clothes and walk towards the landmines without fear. I was impressed,” says Simadi, who insists women are not treated any differently to men.
“This is a job and they have to do it well, otherwise it will be their lives at risk,” he says, noting that the 40 women who applied for the job were reduced to the current 24-member team.
“Not any woman can become a de-miner. They have to be tough in their heads before their bodies,” he claims.
According to Stephen Bryant, NPA program manager in Jordan, gender equality and women’s empowerment are some of the pillars of NPA's work.
Ranging from university graduates to farmers and homemakers, the female de-miners have chosen this career line with NPA looking for employment, financial empowerment or non-traditional occupation.
The desert kingdom, which was involved in several wars with Israel since 1948, launched a project to clear all existing minefields following the signing of the Wadi Araba peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Officials set their sights on 2012 to remove the last mines in 93 minefields in line with Ottawa Mine Ban treaty.
Lack of experience, and probably fear of negative publicity, pushed officials at the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), the organization funding the project, to limit the work of women to surveying the land. Handling of landmines will be at a later stage when they gain experience, says Lina Gazi, a public relations officer at the NPA.
But that job is no less risky, say team members.
Officials at the NPA, many of whom are former army generals, point out that not all minefields have maps, leaving de-miners very vulnerable.
The $10-million project involves more than 100 mine specialists, including members of the local community, with the support of the international community, including Australia, Canada, the European Commission, Germany, Japan and Norway.
Written by Abdullah Omar
Published Thursday, April 30, 2009
[Amman, Jordan] “It is only about money,” confesses Hanan ‘Ababna while grabbing a large metal fork as she sifts through landmine-infested fields on the Jordan-Syria border.
Hanan comes from a poor family in the northern city of Mafraq, where unemployment has reached a staggering 30 percent and poverty is on the rise.
The community that once thrived on agriculture and trade currently struggles with the consequences of bad state economic policies, depending on handouts and monthly salaries through social aid networks, rather than through created job opportunities in rural areas.
“If it were not for money I would not be putting my life at risk,” says Hanan.
The scorching heat and slapping cold wind of the desert has turned black and rugged her skin and that of many other girls in this frontier area.
Officials behind the project needed to offer generous financial bait to lure individuals to join this risky business. Each worker gets 540 Jordanian dinars (JD), five times more than the minimum wage, as well as health insurance and compensation in case of injury or death.
Hanan used to work at a local factory as a seamstress, earning "100 JD with bonus”
for herself and her three children.
“It is only because I was a fast worker and hence produced more than my colleagues that they gave me JD 100, otherwise I would have earned no more than JD 85,” she says.
Now Hanan can put enough food on the table and provide education for her children.
“I do not care about what happens to me. I am happy here because I can give my children a good life,” she adds.
Hanan joined dozens of other girls from similar economic and social backgrounds to become the first Jordanian all-female de-mining team. Their first mission is to help male counterparts clear the northern borders with Syria of landmines, remnants of tension between the two Arab countries during the 1970s.
The 10.5 million square meters of mine-infested land is the last stretch of a decade-old campaign to cleanse the country of ordinance. The project aims to remove 136,000 mines that nestle along a 104 km-long mine belt, where dozens of villages are located.
The minefields served not only as a natural deterrent to cross country smuggling, but also hampered residents on the Jordanian side from making the most of the fertile land.
On the other side of the border, farmers from Syria are cultivating the land up to its full potential while villagers in Jordan abandoned their land, preferring to join the army to feed their family.
Activists now say the project of de-mining will allow thousands of farmers and 70,000 villagers to utilize their lands after nearly three decades.
Women Praised
Teams of landminers are shuttled to the minefields every morning at five am, where they gear up to flirt with death traps, donning protective clothing and other paraphernalia.
For project coordinator Qasim Simadi, who supervised the training of the women, his new students showed as much courage and perseverance as men, if not more.
“I saw they wanted to prove themselves. They would wear the heavy clothes and walk towards the landmines without fear. I was impressed,” says Simadi, who insists women are not treated any differently to men.
“This is a job and they have to do it well, otherwise it will be their lives at risk,” he says, noting that the 40 women who applied for the job were reduced to the current 24-member team.
“Not any woman can become a de-miner. They have to be tough in their heads before their bodies,” he claims.
According to Stephen Bryant, NPA program manager in Jordan, gender equality and women’s empowerment are some of the pillars of NPA's work.
Ranging from university graduates to farmers and homemakers, the female de-miners have chosen this career line with NPA looking for employment, financial empowerment or non-traditional occupation.
The desert kingdom, which was involved in several wars with Israel since 1948, launched a project to clear all existing minefields following the signing of the Wadi Araba peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Officials set their sights on 2012 to remove the last mines in 93 minefields in line with Ottawa Mine Ban treaty.
Lack of experience, and probably fear of negative publicity, pushed officials at the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), the organization funding the project, to limit the work of women to surveying the land. Handling of landmines will be at a later stage when they gain experience, says Lina Gazi, a public relations officer at the NPA.
But that job is no less risky, say team members.
Officials at the NPA, many of whom are former army generals, point out that not all minefields have maps, leaving de-miners very vulnerable.
The $10-million project involves more than 100 mine specialists, including members of the local community, with the support of the international community, including Australia, Canada, the European Commission, Germany, Japan and Norway.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Morocco: Perspectives: Morocco's family code, 5 years later
Common Ground News
Hakima Fassi-Fihri and Zakia Tahiri
Rabat - In February 2004, Morocco was praised for significant progress in the field of women's rights, particularly for revising its 1958 family code – the "Moudawana". This reform was the result of many years of work between academics, theologians, activists and legal experts.
Five years later, it's time to assess whether this praise was warranted.
The 2004 reform was made in a spirit of equity between men and women within the family unit, with the aim of protecting children's interests while respecting the balance between tradition and modernity in a country that is highly attached to its family-based identity.
For example, a young Moroccan woman can now marry freely without permission from her father. The family is also considered the joint responsibility of both spouses and not solely the husband's as before.
Additionally, polygamy – which was a husband's absolute right under the previous code – became subject to the judge's approval and, above all, is allowable only under strict legal conditions which make the practice almost impossible.
The growth in the number of female family judges, along with a clear rejuvenation of the magistracy, are also part of the noteworthy changes resulting from the 2004 reform.
However, additional change is still needed.
Indeed, if at its early stages the Moudawana had a dissuasive effect on polygamy and marriage involving minors, people quickly realised that it was not difficult to get dispensations from judges.
In fact, although the new code stipulates that the legal age for marriage is 18, today in Morocco 10 percent of marriages involve minors. There was a dramatic increase (over 50 percent between 2006 and 2007) in marriages involving youth, especially in rural areas.
In addition to the necessity to properly enforce 2004 reforms, notably by training judges to declare verdicts in line with the new laws, new reforms are still needed to close the gap in gender equity.
For example, when it comes to inheritance and succession, it is neither sensible nor appropriate in cases of female heirs to force them to share their portion with an uncle or male cousin.
Morocco would benefit from intensifying the debate, perhaps with a view to a new Moudawana reform.
Imagining a reversal of gender roles by Zakia Tahiri
Casablanca, Morocco - Five years after the 2004 family code reform, Moroccans are still debating the identity of the Moroccan family. "Nawal", a young Moroccan woman, is proud of these reforms. For her, like for many Moroccan women, it is a victory. But other Moroccan women, such as "Ilham", do not understand much about it. And "Najat" is opposed to it because she has been told it does not comply with God's will. Female opinion is divided.
"Rachid", a young Moroccan male, refuses to get married because he's heard that in the event of divorce he would have to divide his assets with his wife. And the "Mustafas" of Morocco feel they've lost their dignity since the family is now under the shared responsibility of both husband and wife.
These diverse opinions are reflected in the 2008 film, Number One, so named because its main character is a male manager – or the "Number One" – of a clothing factory operated by 50 female workers. The Moudawana is a recurring theme throughout the film, which portrays the discussion of gender equality in Morocco in a new light.
Thousands of women watched this film: among them, women who, for lack of means or interest, had never been to the cinema before. They came because other women told them that it was about them, about their everyday lives.
Many women identified with the situations pictured in the film. They recognised their husbands, their cousins, their bosses. Men's perspectives too were shattered. One man told me after watching: "I realised I was a male chauvinist too when I saw the film." Another said, "I want my daughters to see this film so that they will never accept what they think is their fate."
Five years after the Moudawana, Number One is using humour and entertainment to open discussions and challenge traditional views of male and female roles in Moroccan society.
Hakima Fassi-Fihri and Zakia Tahiri
Rabat - In February 2004, Morocco was praised for significant progress in the field of women's rights, particularly for revising its 1958 family code – the "Moudawana". This reform was the result of many years of work between academics, theologians, activists and legal experts.
Five years later, it's time to assess whether this praise was warranted.
The 2004 reform was made in a spirit of equity between men and women within the family unit, with the aim of protecting children's interests while respecting the balance between tradition and modernity in a country that is highly attached to its family-based identity.
For example, a young Moroccan woman can now marry freely without permission from her father. The family is also considered the joint responsibility of both spouses and not solely the husband's as before.
Additionally, polygamy – which was a husband's absolute right under the previous code – became subject to the judge's approval and, above all, is allowable only under strict legal conditions which make the practice almost impossible.
The growth in the number of female family judges, along with a clear rejuvenation of the magistracy, are also part of the noteworthy changes resulting from the 2004 reform.
However, additional change is still needed.
Indeed, if at its early stages the Moudawana had a dissuasive effect on polygamy and marriage involving minors, people quickly realised that it was not difficult to get dispensations from judges.
In fact, although the new code stipulates that the legal age for marriage is 18, today in Morocco 10 percent of marriages involve minors. There was a dramatic increase (over 50 percent between 2006 and 2007) in marriages involving youth, especially in rural areas.
In addition to the necessity to properly enforce 2004 reforms, notably by training judges to declare verdicts in line with the new laws, new reforms are still needed to close the gap in gender equity.
For example, when it comes to inheritance and succession, it is neither sensible nor appropriate in cases of female heirs to force them to share their portion with an uncle or male cousin.
Morocco would benefit from intensifying the debate, perhaps with a view to a new Moudawana reform.
Imagining a reversal of gender roles by Zakia Tahiri
Casablanca, Morocco - Five years after the 2004 family code reform, Moroccans are still debating the identity of the Moroccan family. "Nawal", a young Moroccan woman, is proud of these reforms. For her, like for many Moroccan women, it is a victory. But other Moroccan women, such as "Ilham", do not understand much about it. And "Najat" is opposed to it because she has been told it does not comply with God's will. Female opinion is divided.
"Rachid", a young Moroccan male, refuses to get married because he's heard that in the event of divorce he would have to divide his assets with his wife. And the "Mustafas" of Morocco feel they've lost their dignity since the family is now under the shared responsibility of both husband and wife.
These diverse opinions are reflected in the 2008 film, Number One, so named because its main character is a male manager – or the "Number One" – of a clothing factory operated by 50 female workers. The Moudawana is a recurring theme throughout the film, which portrays the discussion of gender equality in Morocco in a new light.
Thousands of women watched this film: among them, women who, for lack of means or interest, had never been to the cinema before. They came because other women told them that it was about them, about their everyday lives.
Many women identified with the situations pictured in the film. They recognised their husbands, their cousins, their bosses. Men's perspectives too were shattered. One man told me after watching: "I realised I was a male chauvinist too when I saw the film." Another said, "I want my daughters to see this film so that they will never accept what they think is their fate."
Five years after the Moudawana, Number One is using humour and entertainment to open discussions and challenge traditional views of male and female roles in Moroccan society.
The Magreb: New Video from Al-Qaeda Maghreb Showcases Suicide Bombers, Young Children Raised in Jihad Camps
MEMRI
The media wing of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has released the second video in its "Lovers of the Virgins of Paradise" series, which is devoted to documentation and praise of the organization's suicide bombers, as well as features young children of mujahideen, who grew up in jihad camps.
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP232909
The media wing of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has released the second video in its "Lovers of the Virgins of Paradise" series, which is devoted to documentation and praise of the organization's suicide bombers, as well as features young children of mujahideen, who grew up in jihad camps.
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP232909
Tunisia: Tunisia hosts Euro-Med forum on violence against women
Maghrebia
By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis -- 27/04/09
Women's rights activists from North Africa, the Middle East and Europe met for a groundbreaking regional forum last week in Tunis, where they launched an ambitious programme to combat gender-based violence in the Mediterranean region.
The three day conference, part of the EU-funded Euro-Mediterranean Program for the Promotion of Equality between Men and Women, concluded Thursday (April 23rd) with an action plan to gather data and provide more accurate and comprehensive information to governments, media and non-governmental organisations.
Attendees agreed on a unified approach to collecting information on violence against women and set out guidelines for surveys that participating countries, "especially Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon, intend to conduct".
The workshop recognised the progress made in Tunisia in the field of women's rights, and called on the country to "to finalise a model document" on its achievements, expenses and problem-resolution mechanisms so as to help guide other nations.
The attention of Arab societies to gender-based violence is still far from the desired level, said former Egyptian minister Amina Chafik.
Heightened attention by non-governmental organisations, however, has "made governments pay attention to violence against women", she added.
"We are in need of long breath and a change of mentalities, as this must be made step by step and firmly."
Hassiba Houacine, head of a department in the Algerian Family Ministry, said that Algeria began working up a plan to confront violence against women in 2005. The plan is now in its second stage.
"We are now about to start a new experiment, which is the establishment of a unified information system to monitor violence against women," Houacine said.
In Jordan, meanwhile, physical violence against women includes honour killings and rape, journalist Samar Haddadine told Magharebia.
"The government and civil society organisations have tried to change the existing laws that punish the perpetrators of honour killings," Haddadine said, "but the Parliament rejects that because it is dominated by conservatives and Islamists."
According to Faiza ben Hdid, a European expert in social gender affairs, one in three women is subject to beatings, forcible sexual assaults, or other attacks. In most cases, the assailant is someone known to the victim.
"One in four women is subject to attacks during pregnancy," she noted.
Sarra Jeraya Kanoun, Tunisian Minister of Women, Family, the Elderly and Children's Affairs, said that to "achieve a better understanding of women's rights and protect their future, change must come from the people".
"We need to strengthen people's awareness to take practical and effective steps to establish policies and joint action plans that can produce a tangible and specific shift in the efforts aimed at combating discrimination and violence against women.”
By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis -- 27/04/09
Women's rights activists from North Africa, the Middle East and Europe met for a groundbreaking regional forum last week in Tunis, where they launched an ambitious programme to combat gender-based violence in the Mediterranean region.
The three day conference, part of the EU-funded Euro-Mediterranean Program for the Promotion of Equality between Men and Women, concluded Thursday (April 23rd) with an action plan to gather data and provide more accurate and comprehensive information to governments, media and non-governmental organisations.
Attendees agreed on a unified approach to collecting information on violence against women and set out guidelines for surveys that participating countries, "especially Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon, intend to conduct".
The workshop recognised the progress made in Tunisia in the field of women's rights, and called on the country to "to finalise a model document" on its achievements, expenses and problem-resolution mechanisms so as to help guide other nations.
The attention of Arab societies to gender-based violence is still far from the desired level, said former Egyptian minister Amina Chafik.
Heightened attention by non-governmental organisations, however, has "made governments pay attention to violence against women", she added.
"We are in need of long breath and a change of mentalities, as this must be made step by step and firmly."
Hassiba Houacine, head of a department in the Algerian Family Ministry, said that Algeria began working up a plan to confront violence against women in 2005. The plan is now in its second stage.
"We are now about to start a new experiment, which is the establishment of a unified information system to monitor violence against women," Houacine said.
In Jordan, meanwhile, physical violence against women includes honour killings and rape, journalist Samar Haddadine told Magharebia.
"The government and civil society organisations have tried to change the existing laws that punish the perpetrators of honour killings," Haddadine said, "but the Parliament rejects that because it is dominated by conservatives and Islamists."
According to Faiza ben Hdid, a European expert in social gender affairs, one in three women is subject to beatings, forcible sexual assaults, or other attacks. In most cases, the assailant is someone known to the victim.
"One in four women is subject to attacks during pregnancy," she noted.
Sarra Jeraya Kanoun, Tunisian Minister of Women, Family, the Elderly and Children's Affairs, said that to "achieve a better understanding of women's rights and protect their future, change must come from the people".
"We need to strengthen people's awareness to take practical and effective steps to establish policies and joint action plans that can produce a tangible and specific shift in the efforts aimed at combating discrimination and violence against women.”
Turkey: Religious-secularist mix impacts women's rights in Turkey
Common Ground News
Sertaç Sehlikoğlu Karakaş
Montréal, Canada - Turkey has strong ties both with its Muslim history and with secularism, understood as not mixing religion with politics. After decades of struggling between these two identities, this strategic NATO ally and EU contender has developed a hybrid identity that encompasses both. As a result, Turkey has been increasingly perceived as a liberal and progressive face of Islam on the global stage and, in congruence with the true spirit of the religion, it is demonstrating its commitment to the empowerment of women.
In order to positively affect women's daily lives, it will take engaged leadership by religious scholars and feminists in addition to government-initiated reforms.
The Presidency of Religious Affairs (PRA), the government institution overseeing religious matters since it was established in 1924, and the highest Islamic authority in Turkey, is at the centre of the debate on religion and women. The PRA – which currently employs approximately 83,000 clerics in local mosques – was originally limited to the administration of mosques, but now focuses more on developing new interpretations of Islam.
Recently, the PRA initiated a review of hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) which was well-received by Turkish society and reverberated beyond national borders.
According to the PRA's explanation, the project's aim is to raise awareness about the inaccuracy of apocryphal hadiths accumulated after the death of the Prophet Muhammad by re-emphasising the importance of morally credible and viable sources. For example, many cultural traditions that were considered unfair to women were wrongly attributed to the Prophet and were added to hadith collections even though their chains of transmission were flawed.
The project is expected to yield a collection of hadiths on women combined in a five-volume publication. Its aim is to support women's rights activists in their fight against "honour" killings, violence against women and misogyny in general.
In addition, since 2005, the PRA has also offered its female employees the opportunity to upgrade their educational and professional skills so that they become better qualified for higher-ranking positions.
According to Ali Bardakoğlu, president of the PRA, the institution has suffered from a lack of women's contributions for decades. The PRA's goal in recent years has been to promote women to the highest levels of the institution, which Bardakoğlu hopes to accomplish by gradually incorporating them into the PRA structure. Women will be promoted to positions of assistant cleric, cleric and mufti (an official scholar of Islamic law). Bardakoğlu does not deny that men have thus far been more influential within Islamic institutions, but states that the absence of women in such positions has been due to their lack of higher education – a reality that can be changed.
Despite the women-friendly attitude and speeches of Bardakoğlu, parts of the institution appear reluctant to change. Soon after the PRA's declaration in 2005, which announced its intent to hire 200 new female preachers and appoint women as muftis and vice-muftis, a member of the institution authored an article on how women should behave around men so as not to arouse men's sexual desire.
Thanks to a vigilant feminist response, the article was removed from the PRA's website and the institute issued an apology. Strong female criticism – both from those outside the institution and those within it – is essential to holding the PRA to its goal of empowering women. Feminists continue to push the PRA to implement and institutionalise initiatives that are more inclusive of women.
Over the last four years, the PRA has successfully implemented target quotas for women in higher level positions – seven women have already been appointed to the position of vice-mufti – and established bureaus in 21 cities across the country to address concerns of local women.
The drive towards greater empowerment of women in Turkey has affected not only women's representation in the PRA, but also society more broadly. The well-known religious leader Fethullah Gulen wrote an article in the Turkish newspaper, Zaman, in September 2008 on the topic of domestic violence. He stated that a woman should be brave enough to take legal action against her husband if she is beaten. Gulen referenced a newer interpretation of religious texts with a Sufi perspective to support his advice.
Gulen explained that in the case of domestic violence the husband should be perceived as zalim, meaning tyrannical, and judged guilty of exercising unjust power. Such interpretations can give women the legal backing to press criminal charges against their husbands, or to achieve monetary retribution for mistreatment. His comments provide invaluable scholarly justification for the many women who have long been advocating similar views.
Developing modern religious interpretations to address women's issues provides a rich and strong foundation for feminist discourses. The PRA has made significant progress in developing modern and accurate religious interpretations generally and specifically on the subject of women. Though Muslim women still have a long way to go to achieve the rights due to them in Islam, the PRA's reforms – including giving women access to clerical positions and the prevalence of new interpretations of religious sources – are slowly paving the road to empowerment.
Feminists are prompting many of these changes in religious interpretation. In turn, strengthening women's rights by referencing religion provides guidelines for women living in other Muslim countries, a project which is consistent with Turkey's mission to become a model of a modern Muslim country.
Sertaç Sehlikoğlu Karakaş
Montréal, Canada - Turkey has strong ties both with its Muslim history and with secularism, understood as not mixing religion with politics. After decades of struggling between these two identities, this strategic NATO ally and EU contender has developed a hybrid identity that encompasses both. As a result, Turkey has been increasingly perceived as a liberal and progressive face of Islam on the global stage and, in congruence with the true spirit of the religion, it is demonstrating its commitment to the empowerment of women.
In order to positively affect women's daily lives, it will take engaged leadership by religious scholars and feminists in addition to government-initiated reforms.
The Presidency of Religious Affairs (PRA), the government institution overseeing religious matters since it was established in 1924, and the highest Islamic authority in Turkey, is at the centre of the debate on religion and women. The PRA – which currently employs approximately 83,000 clerics in local mosques – was originally limited to the administration of mosques, but now focuses more on developing new interpretations of Islam.
Recently, the PRA initiated a review of hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) which was well-received by Turkish society and reverberated beyond national borders.
According to the PRA's explanation, the project's aim is to raise awareness about the inaccuracy of apocryphal hadiths accumulated after the death of the Prophet Muhammad by re-emphasising the importance of morally credible and viable sources. For example, many cultural traditions that were considered unfair to women were wrongly attributed to the Prophet and were added to hadith collections even though their chains of transmission were flawed.
The project is expected to yield a collection of hadiths on women combined in a five-volume publication. Its aim is to support women's rights activists in their fight against "honour" killings, violence against women and misogyny in general.
In addition, since 2005, the PRA has also offered its female employees the opportunity to upgrade their educational and professional skills so that they become better qualified for higher-ranking positions.
According to Ali Bardakoğlu, president of the PRA, the institution has suffered from a lack of women's contributions for decades. The PRA's goal in recent years has been to promote women to the highest levels of the institution, which Bardakoğlu hopes to accomplish by gradually incorporating them into the PRA structure. Women will be promoted to positions of assistant cleric, cleric and mufti (an official scholar of Islamic law). Bardakoğlu does not deny that men have thus far been more influential within Islamic institutions, but states that the absence of women in such positions has been due to their lack of higher education – a reality that can be changed.
Despite the women-friendly attitude and speeches of Bardakoğlu, parts of the institution appear reluctant to change. Soon after the PRA's declaration in 2005, which announced its intent to hire 200 new female preachers and appoint women as muftis and vice-muftis, a member of the institution authored an article on how women should behave around men so as not to arouse men's sexual desire.
Thanks to a vigilant feminist response, the article was removed from the PRA's website and the institute issued an apology. Strong female criticism – both from those outside the institution and those within it – is essential to holding the PRA to its goal of empowering women. Feminists continue to push the PRA to implement and institutionalise initiatives that are more inclusive of women.
Over the last four years, the PRA has successfully implemented target quotas for women in higher level positions – seven women have already been appointed to the position of vice-mufti – and established bureaus in 21 cities across the country to address concerns of local women.
The drive towards greater empowerment of women in Turkey has affected not only women's representation in the PRA, but also society more broadly. The well-known religious leader Fethullah Gulen wrote an article in the Turkish newspaper, Zaman, in September 2008 on the topic of domestic violence. He stated that a woman should be brave enough to take legal action against her husband if she is beaten. Gulen referenced a newer interpretation of religious texts with a Sufi perspective to support his advice.
Gulen explained that in the case of domestic violence the husband should be perceived as zalim, meaning tyrannical, and judged guilty of exercising unjust power. Such interpretations can give women the legal backing to press criminal charges against their husbands, or to achieve monetary retribution for mistreatment. His comments provide invaluable scholarly justification for the many women who have long been advocating similar views.
Developing modern religious interpretations to address women's issues provides a rich and strong foundation for feminist discourses. The PRA has made significant progress in developing modern and accurate religious interpretations generally and specifically on the subject of women. Though Muslim women still have a long way to go to achieve the rights due to them in Islam, the PRA's reforms – including giving women access to clerical positions and the prevalence of new interpretations of religious sources – are slowly paving the road to empowerment.
Feminists are prompting many of these changes in religious interpretation. In turn, strengthening women's rights by referencing religion provides guidelines for women living in other Muslim countries, a project which is consistent with Turkey's mission to become a model of a modern Muslim country.
Algeria: Women's Movement Still Going Strong
Samia Allalou
Common Ground News
April 27, 2009
Those who think that Algerians have been passive victims of their country's political problems need look no further than the Algerian women's movement for a change of mind. Twenty-five years ago, a unique relationship developed between Algeria and the non-profit organization, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (W.L.U.M.L.), which is going strong even today.
W.L.U.M.L. provides assistance to women whose lives are governed by so-called "Islamic" laws or customs. The organization opposes the use of faith to further political causes and builds awareness of women's rights violations committed in the name of Islam.
In 1984, Algerian women watched in amazement as the government passed a law that institutionalized women's legal status as "minors." Women had demonstrated against the ratification of this law for more than two decades, believing it stood in stark opposition to Article 29 of the Algerian constitution, which declares, "Citizens are equal before the law, regardless of birth, race, sex, opinion or any other condition of personal or social circumstance."
Algerian feminists responded immediately. Demonstrations against the law intensified and three women were put in solitary confinement without proper investigation or trial. In reaction to this injustice, nine women from Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Mauritius, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Pakistan founded W.L.U.M.L. to support the struggles of these women in Algeria and elsewhere.
W.L.U.M.L. member Marieme Helie Lucas, an Algerian sociologist, recalled: "The three Algerian women were released within a month and a half of campaigning, with telegrams arriving on the president's desk from everywhere in the world."
The non-profit organization continued playing an important role in Algeria during the civil war in the 1990's between the outlawed political party, the Islamic Salvation Front (F.I.S.), and the Algerian government. Despite the difficult environment, women continued the struggle to reinstate their legal rights as equal citizens while simultaneously enduring indiscriminate violence as a result of the war.
W.L.U.M.L. provided these Algerian women with a platform to voice their frustrations by inviting them to participate in international conferences, including the United Nations' World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, where they could publicly denounce the crimes against women that the F.I.S. and other armed Algerian groups had committed. Work on behalf of Algerian women continued even when violence from the war gradually lessened and international focus was diverted elsewhere.
In January 1999, the Algerian government presented its official report on discrimination against women to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. In response, the W.L.U.M.L. and New York University's International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic collaborated on an unofficial report outlining "the rise and ongoing threat of politicized, violent religious fundamentalism [in Algeria] and its project to impose its particular view of Islam through the theocratization of the state and/or through violence and terror."
In 2001, female workers in the small Algerian town of Hassi Messaoud were savagely assaulted by a crowd of 300 men following a sermon by an extremist imam at the local mosque. W.L.U.M.L. encouraged international networks to respond to the incident by sending letters to the Algerian government. Along with several Algerian human and women's rights associations, they pressed for the defendants to be tried in court. Several perpetrators were convicted and found guilty in 2004, and the assaulted women were formally acknowledged as victims.
More recently, Cherifa Kheddar, the chair of Djazairouna, an association of families that are victims of terrorism, was threatened in 2008 with unfair dismissal and continuous harassment by Algerian authorities after she revealed to the public the government's reconciliation policy (the Law on Civil Concord) with armed Islamic political groups, including the Islamic Salvation Army (A.I.S.), the Armed Islamic Group (G.I.A.) and the Islamic Front for Armed Defense (F.I.D.A.), and for speaking out about crimes committed but pardoned without trial.
In the end, the government suspended Kheddar from her position, although it never formally dismissed her from the job. After a nomination bid from W.L.U.M.L., Cherifa was awarded the International Prize for Human Rights by the International Service Human Rights Awards on Dec. 8, 2008.
Today, the international spotlight is no longer on Algeria, but W.L.U.M.L. remains watchful of discrimination against Algerian women. This unfailing support of W.L.U.M.L.'s international network provides women's movements in the country with the necessary strength to stand up to all kinds of pressure and to continue the difficult path towards full acceptance of women's rights in Algeria and beyond.
Common Ground News
April 27, 2009
Those who think that Algerians have been passive victims of their country's political problems need look no further than the Algerian women's movement for a change of mind. Twenty-five years ago, a unique relationship developed between Algeria and the non-profit organization, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (W.L.U.M.L.), which is going strong even today.
W.L.U.M.L. provides assistance to women whose lives are governed by so-called "Islamic" laws or customs. The organization opposes the use of faith to further political causes and builds awareness of women's rights violations committed in the name of Islam.
In 1984, Algerian women watched in amazement as the government passed a law that institutionalized women's legal status as "minors." Women had demonstrated against the ratification of this law for more than two decades, believing it stood in stark opposition to Article 29 of the Algerian constitution, which declares, "Citizens are equal before the law, regardless of birth, race, sex, opinion or any other condition of personal or social circumstance."
Algerian feminists responded immediately. Demonstrations against the law intensified and three women were put in solitary confinement without proper investigation or trial. In reaction to this injustice, nine women from Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Mauritius, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Pakistan founded W.L.U.M.L. to support the struggles of these women in Algeria and elsewhere.
W.L.U.M.L. member Marieme Helie Lucas, an Algerian sociologist, recalled: "The three Algerian women were released within a month and a half of campaigning, with telegrams arriving on the president's desk from everywhere in the world."
The non-profit organization continued playing an important role in Algeria during the civil war in the 1990's between the outlawed political party, the Islamic Salvation Front (F.I.S.), and the Algerian government. Despite the difficult environment, women continued the struggle to reinstate their legal rights as equal citizens while simultaneously enduring indiscriminate violence as a result of the war.
W.L.U.M.L. provided these Algerian women with a platform to voice their frustrations by inviting them to participate in international conferences, including the United Nations' World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, where they could publicly denounce the crimes against women that the F.I.S. and other armed Algerian groups had committed. Work on behalf of Algerian women continued even when violence from the war gradually lessened and international focus was diverted elsewhere.
In January 1999, the Algerian government presented its official report on discrimination against women to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. In response, the W.L.U.M.L. and New York University's International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic collaborated on an unofficial report outlining "the rise and ongoing threat of politicized, violent religious fundamentalism [in Algeria] and its project to impose its particular view of Islam through the theocratization of the state and/or through violence and terror."
In 2001, female workers in the small Algerian town of Hassi Messaoud were savagely assaulted by a crowd of 300 men following a sermon by an extremist imam at the local mosque. W.L.U.M.L. encouraged international networks to respond to the incident by sending letters to the Algerian government. Along with several Algerian human and women's rights associations, they pressed for the defendants to be tried in court. Several perpetrators were convicted and found guilty in 2004, and the assaulted women were formally acknowledged as victims.
More recently, Cherifa Kheddar, the chair of Djazairouna, an association of families that are victims of terrorism, was threatened in 2008 with unfair dismissal and continuous harassment by Algerian authorities after she revealed to the public the government's reconciliation policy (the Law on Civil Concord) with armed Islamic political groups, including the Islamic Salvation Army (A.I.S.), the Armed Islamic Group (G.I.A.) and the Islamic Front for Armed Defense (F.I.D.A.), and for speaking out about crimes committed but pardoned without trial.
In the end, the government suspended Kheddar from her position, although it never formally dismissed her from the job. After a nomination bid from W.L.U.M.L., Cherifa was awarded the International Prize for Human Rights by the International Service Human Rights Awards on Dec. 8, 2008.
Today, the international spotlight is no longer on Algeria, but W.L.U.M.L. remains watchful of discrimination against Algerian women. This unfailing support of W.L.U.M.L.'s international network provides women's movements in the country with the necessary strength to stand up to all kinds of pressure and to continue the difficult path towards full acceptance of women's rights in Algeria and beyond.
Kuwait: Women sure to occupy seats in next parliament, shows survey
Arab Times
KUWAIT, April 27, (KUNA): A Kuwaiti specialist in electronic systems and social polls, Salah Al-Jassem, has carried out a survey of voters with the aim of examining their views in the nominees and women’s chances of winning. Al-Jassem said in remarks to KUNA that had carried out three electronic polls on the voters’ orientations and their comments on the performance of the dissolved parliament. The expert said he conducted the first poll in 1996, where he tried to sense chances of the women to win a seat in the parliament, particularly in the first and third circuits. He opines that the Kuwaiti women have gradually improved their chances of occupying seats in the National Assembly, and expressed his belief that some female candidates will garner enough votes to realize this objective in the upcoming polls.
Al-Jassem, who in the past elections made anticipations as to the would-be winners in the polls, said popularity of some of the nominees jostling for seats in the current run-up campaign has apparently waned. On the mechanisms of his work, he said conducting the poll is not an easy work and indicated at some major obstacles such as having access to some segments of the society namely the elderly. Asked whether the anticipations had proven accurate, he said they had been accurate in the 2003 and 2006 elections, but in the 1999 polling process, they were not in two districts “due to some unexpected factors at the time.” He also hints that the calculations prove inaccurate in vote-buying cases.
Improvement
Meanwhile, fourth constituency candidate Saad Al-Khanfour called for improvement of public services, especially employment. During a seminar titled “Kuwait’s Future is Everybody’s Responsibility”, which took place in Sabah Al-Nasser area last night, Al-Khanfour reiterated the need to double efforts so as to improve healthcare, educational and security services. Al-Khanfour voiced bewilderment over the health ministry for not building new hospitals in al-Jahra and al-Farwaniya governorates in almost 25 years. He also talked about large numbers of Kuwaiti students studying abroad due to small number of universities in Kuwait, proposing that branches of accredited universities should be opened here.
As for employment, Al-Khanfour called for solving such problem, especially for high school graduates and under.
Calling for cooperation between the legislative and executive branches in the upcoming period, Al-Khanfour rooted for the drop of loan interests. The fourth constituency groups 99,882 votes distributed over 19 residential areas. In the meantime, candidate for the Fourth Constituency Mubarak Al-Khrainij called voters to elect the candidate that would serve Kuwait the best, and stressed the importance of countering and refraining from adding to political tension. The remarks were made as Al-Khrainij kicked off his parliamentary campaign Sunday night. Kuwaitis are expecting actions, he said, not empty slogans, stressing the importance of achieving development and fighting corruption in every form.
KUWAIT, April 27, (KUNA): A Kuwaiti specialist in electronic systems and social polls, Salah Al-Jassem, has carried out a survey of voters with the aim of examining their views in the nominees and women’s chances of winning. Al-Jassem said in remarks to KUNA that had carried out three electronic polls on the voters’ orientations and their comments on the performance of the dissolved parliament. The expert said he conducted the first poll in 1996, where he tried to sense chances of the women to win a seat in the parliament, particularly in the first and third circuits. He opines that the Kuwaiti women have gradually improved their chances of occupying seats in the National Assembly, and expressed his belief that some female candidates will garner enough votes to realize this objective in the upcoming polls.
Al-Jassem, who in the past elections made anticipations as to the would-be winners in the polls, said popularity of some of the nominees jostling for seats in the current run-up campaign has apparently waned. On the mechanisms of his work, he said conducting the poll is not an easy work and indicated at some major obstacles such as having access to some segments of the society namely the elderly. Asked whether the anticipations had proven accurate, he said they had been accurate in the 2003 and 2006 elections, but in the 1999 polling process, they were not in two districts “due to some unexpected factors at the time.” He also hints that the calculations prove inaccurate in vote-buying cases.
Improvement
Meanwhile, fourth constituency candidate Saad Al-Khanfour called for improvement of public services, especially employment. During a seminar titled “Kuwait’s Future is Everybody’s Responsibility”, which took place in Sabah Al-Nasser area last night, Al-Khanfour reiterated the need to double efforts so as to improve healthcare, educational and security services. Al-Khanfour voiced bewilderment over the health ministry for not building new hospitals in al-Jahra and al-Farwaniya governorates in almost 25 years. He also talked about large numbers of Kuwaiti students studying abroad due to small number of universities in Kuwait, proposing that branches of accredited universities should be opened here.
As for employment, Al-Khanfour called for solving such problem, especially for high school graduates and under.
Calling for cooperation between the legislative and executive branches in the upcoming period, Al-Khanfour rooted for the drop of loan interests. The fourth constituency groups 99,882 votes distributed over 19 residential areas. In the meantime, candidate for the Fourth Constituency Mubarak Al-Khrainij called voters to elect the candidate that would serve Kuwait the best, and stressed the importance of countering and refraining from adding to political tension. The remarks were made as Al-Khrainij kicked off his parliamentary campaign Sunday night. Kuwaitis are expecting actions, he said, not empty slogans, stressing the importance of achieving development and fighting corruption in every form.
Kuwait: Female voters can change election results: Candidate
Kuwait Times
Published Date: April 28, 2009
KUWAIT: The first electoral district candidate, Abdullah Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Traiji said that Kuwaiti women have proven to be effective members of Kuwait's society. "This is not something new that has occurred after women were granted political rights and were allowed to run for parliament," Al-Traiji said. It is due to the open-minded way these women have been bringing up their children that has contributed toward the formation of Kuwait's public opinion. "The Kuwaiti woman has always been a mother, s
ister, wife and grateful daughter who has worked hard to maintain the integrity of her family," he added.
Al-Traiji emphasized that Kuwaiti women should play a prominent role in serving Kuwait by fully observing Kuwait's religion, traditions, values, ethics and customs. "Along with their male fellow citizens, Kuwaiti women have withstood firmly the violation of Kuwait's sovereignty during Saddam's invasion in 1990," he said.
Al-Traiji further highlighted that the presence of Kuwaiti women in the forthcoming elections, both as voters and candidates would surely have a good and positive impact on the electoral process. "Kuwaiti women are more far-sighted and capable of making better choices these days," he added. "Yet, they still face great challenges and prove their effectiveness by selecting and voting only for the best. The fact that the total number of female voters outnumber the male by at least 25 percent surely indicates
how capable they will be in forming the next parliament by directing the elections process," he said.
Al-Traiji added that he chose his electoral campaign slogan to be 'You Can if You Will, a choice seconded by several visits to various diwaniyas in the first electoral district. There, he said, he detected voters' complete dissatisfaction with the relation between the legislative and executive powers. "I always told voters that lawmakers were the direct result of voters' choices and that if a voter had real willingness to make a change and achieve reform, he or she can surely do that easily," he said.
Speaking about his electoral campaign agenda, Al-Traiji said that it will focus on three basic issues: security, economy and administration. In his words, those three issues would form the basis of solving all problems Kuwaiti citizens have been experiencing. "Leniency in handling various security, economic and administrative issues and laziness in dealing with them constitutionally and scientifically led to an accumulation of dangerous problems and threats to Kuwait's present and future," he said.
The government's policy on these issues has been so helpless and hesitant. In most cases, it could best be described as negligent and indifferent." Such a train of events has paved the way for more popular unconstitutional calls among some MPs which, negatively affects inter-powers relations.
In dwelling on the between-power relations he said, "The controversy raised about women's rights and protecting public funds is the best indicator of how incompetent the legislative and executive branches were in achieving any development for this country." He further added that his agenda aims to address the ways which will help reach well-devised solutions.
Speaking about the government's security deficiency, Al-Traiji accussed that regional security has been unstable for a while and historically, Kuwait had always felt under threat. "Having to share the responsibility of reconstructing Iraq and transforming it into a stable country places more social, economic, political and planning responsibilities on Kuwait," he said. According to him, the bedoons' problem has been one of the most urgent security concerns in Kuwait. "As we see it, the best solution to th
is problem is granting citizenship to those who actually deserve it.
In his words, traffic problems were also part of Kuwait's security concerns that need full coordination with regional and international countries to exchange views and to plan expertise. "I believe one of the solutions to this problem would be to establish a public authority for traffic which will replace the traffic department and will have an independent budget and its own specialized staff," he elaborated.
Health services in Kuwait, Al-Traijin says, gives way only to security. He said that there has been critical shortcomings in health policies set by various governments and that Kuwait's health infrastructure still lacked a lot of change, equipment and staff.
Published Date: April 28, 2009
KUWAIT: The first electoral district candidate, Abdullah Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Traiji said that Kuwaiti women have proven to be effective members of Kuwait's society. "This is not something new that has occurred after women were granted political rights and were allowed to run for parliament," Al-Traiji said. It is due to the open-minded way these women have been bringing up their children that has contributed toward the formation of Kuwait's public opinion. "The Kuwaiti woman has always been a mother, s
ister, wife and grateful daughter who has worked hard to maintain the integrity of her family," he added.
Al-Traiji emphasized that Kuwaiti women should play a prominent role in serving Kuwait by fully observing Kuwait's religion, traditions, values, ethics and customs. "Along with their male fellow citizens, Kuwaiti women have withstood firmly the violation of Kuwait's sovereignty during Saddam's invasion in 1990," he said.
Al-Traiji further highlighted that the presence of Kuwaiti women in the forthcoming elections, both as voters and candidates would surely have a good and positive impact on the electoral process. "Kuwaiti women are more far-sighted and capable of making better choices these days," he added. "Yet, they still face great challenges and prove their effectiveness by selecting and voting only for the best. The fact that the total number of female voters outnumber the male by at least 25 percent surely indicates
how capable they will be in forming the next parliament by directing the elections process," he said.
Al-Traiji added that he chose his electoral campaign slogan to be 'You Can if You Will, a choice seconded by several visits to various diwaniyas in the first electoral district. There, he said, he detected voters' complete dissatisfaction with the relation between the legislative and executive powers. "I always told voters that lawmakers were the direct result of voters' choices and that if a voter had real willingness to make a change and achieve reform, he or she can surely do that easily," he said.
Speaking about his electoral campaign agenda, Al-Traiji said that it will focus on three basic issues: security, economy and administration. In his words, those three issues would form the basis of solving all problems Kuwaiti citizens have been experiencing. "Leniency in handling various security, economic and administrative issues and laziness in dealing with them constitutionally and scientifically led to an accumulation of dangerous problems and threats to Kuwait's present and future," he said.
The government's policy on these issues has been so helpless and hesitant. In most cases, it could best be described as negligent and indifferent." Such a train of events has paved the way for more popular unconstitutional calls among some MPs which, negatively affects inter-powers relations.
In dwelling on the between-power relations he said, "The controversy raised about women's rights and protecting public funds is the best indicator of how incompetent the legislative and executive branches were in achieving any development for this country." He further added that his agenda aims to address the ways which will help reach well-devised solutions.
Speaking about the government's security deficiency, Al-Traiji accussed that regional security has been unstable for a while and historically, Kuwait had always felt under threat. "Having to share the responsibility of reconstructing Iraq and transforming it into a stable country places more social, economic, political and planning responsibilities on Kuwait," he said. According to him, the bedoons' problem has been one of the most urgent security concerns in Kuwait. "As we see it, the best solution to th
is problem is granting citizenship to those who actually deserve it.
In his words, traffic problems were also part of Kuwait's security concerns that need full coordination with regional and international countries to exchange views and to plan expertise. "I believe one of the solutions to this problem would be to establish a public authority for traffic which will replace the traffic department and will have an independent budget and its own specialized staff," he elaborated.
Health services in Kuwait, Al-Traijin says, gives way only to security. He said that there has been critical shortcomings in health policies set by various governments and that Kuwait's health infrastructure still lacked a lot of change, equipment and staff.
Jordan: Conference opens to support women’s entrepreneurship in the Arab region
Jordan Times
By Omar Obeidat
AMMAN - Over 130 female entrepreneurs from Jordan and 15 other Arab and foreign countries have come together to identify strategies and approaches to boost their businesses’ potential.
Launched in Amman on Monday, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Development (WED) Conference also seeks to increase women’s participation in the labour force and discuss the challenges hindering women’s empowerment.
During the three-day event, female entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to meet with investors interested in funding women’s projects, as well as organisations that support the development of women-owned businesses in the region.
WED, the first of its kind in the Arab region, is organised by the Business Development Centre (BDC) and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ITC-ILO).
BDC President and Chief Executive Officer Nayef Stetieh said the conference brings experts and entrepreneurs dedicated to female entrepreneurship from around the world to develop the support services available to women.
“Despite social challenges, female entrepreneurs in Jordan and the region can be a real source for economic growth,” he added.
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC) Suhair Al-Ali said in her inauguration speech that Arab women still face several challenges that stand between them and their aspirations.
“There are stereotypes that women do not have the capacity and capability to compete with men in the business field,” she noted, adding that women can be key contributors to economic development in the Arab region.
Women also have difficulties in finding financial resources, which force many female investors and businesswomen to establish only small- and medium-sized projects that can be funded with small loans, Al-Ali said.
She pointed to a study conducted by the World Bank in 2008 which indicated that 85 per cent of women-owned companies in the region are in the industrial sector while the other 15 per cent are in the services sector.
Basma Khlouf, from the northern Mazar Municipality, said that women in the area encounter difficulties in funding their projects due to strict financing rules.
Her main goal in participating in the event, she said, was to find small projects to support women in her “poor area” so they could contribute in improving their families’ living standards.
On the other hand, Iman Majali said that she was able to get a loan 10 years ago to open a private education centre for people with disabilities.
“I started with two employees and now the centre has 23 staff members,” said Majali, who came to the conference to find ways to improve her business’ administration.
The conference targets international development agencies, banks, microfinance institutions and investors interested in funding female-owned projects, in addition to creating partnerships and networking among female entrepreneurs.
“The conference aims to stimulate knowledge and experience sharing among main actors in promoting women’s entrepreneurship development in the region,” ITC-ILO representative Kholoud Khaldi said.
WED is supported by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development , MoPIC, Jordan Enterprise, The National Fund for Enterprise Support, Durham University, the USAID-funded Tatweer Project and Business and Professional Women-Amman.
By Omar Obeidat
AMMAN - Over 130 female entrepreneurs from Jordan and 15 other Arab and foreign countries have come together to identify strategies and approaches to boost their businesses’ potential.
Launched in Amman on Monday, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Development (WED) Conference also seeks to increase women’s participation in the labour force and discuss the challenges hindering women’s empowerment.
During the three-day event, female entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to meet with investors interested in funding women’s projects, as well as organisations that support the development of women-owned businesses in the region.
WED, the first of its kind in the Arab region, is organised by the Business Development Centre (BDC) and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ITC-ILO).
BDC President and Chief Executive Officer Nayef Stetieh said the conference brings experts and entrepreneurs dedicated to female entrepreneurship from around the world to develop the support services available to women.
“Despite social challenges, female entrepreneurs in Jordan and the region can be a real source for economic growth,” he added.
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC) Suhair Al-Ali said in her inauguration speech that Arab women still face several challenges that stand between them and their aspirations.
“There are stereotypes that women do not have the capacity and capability to compete with men in the business field,” she noted, adding that women can be key contributors to economic development in the Arab region.
Women also have difficulties in finding financial resources, which force many female investors and businesswomen to establish only small- and medium-sized projects that can be funded with small loans, Al-Ali said.
She pointed to a study conducted by the World Bank in 2008 which indicated that 85 per cent of women-owned companies in the region are in the industrial sector while the other 15 per cent are in the services sector.
Basma Khlouf, from the northern Mazar Municipality, said that women in the area encounter difficulties in funding their projects due to strict financing rules.
Her main goal in participating in the event, she said, was to find small projects to support women in her “poor area” so they could contribute in improving their families’ living standards.
On the other hand, Iman Majali said that she was able to get a loan 10 years ago to open a private education centre for people with disabilities.
“I started with two employees and now the centre has 23 staff members,” said Majali, who came to the conference to find ways to improve her business’ administration.
The conference targets international development agencies, banks, microfinance institutions and investors interested in funding female-owned projects, in addition to creating partnerships and networking among female entrepreneurs.
“The conference aims to stimulate knowledge and experience sharing among main actors in promoting women’s entrepreneurship development in the region,” ITC-ILO representative Kholoud Khaldi said.
WED is supported by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development , MoPIC, Jordan Enterprise, The National Fund for Enterprise Support, Durham University, the USAID-funded Tatweer Project and Business and Professional Women-Amman.
Jordan: Women’s Complaints Bureau receives 171 cases
Al Ghad – 27 April 2009
The Women’s Complaints Bureau at the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) has received 171 cases and complaints until last Thursday, according to a statement by JNCW. The Bureau was launched in December last year to receive complaints pertaining to violence and discrimination against women in Jordan, especially at home and work places. Complaints have been received via interviews with individuals or phone calls on the project’s toll-free number. JNCW Secretary General Aasma Khader had previously stated that the Bureau will release descriptive and analytical reports on the cases it receives in order to tackle the factors leading to them and adopt policies and recommendations pertaining to them.
The Women’s Complaints Bureau at the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) has received 171 cases and complaints until last Thursday, according to a statement by JNCW. The Bureau was launched in December last year to receive complaints pertaining to violence and discrimination against women in Jordan, especially at home and work places. Complaints have been received via interviews with individuals or phone calls on the project’s toll-free number. JNCW Secretary General Aasma Khader had previously stated that the Bureau will release descriptive and analytical reports on the cases it receives in order to tackle the factors leading to them and adopt policies and recommendations pertaining to them.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Mauritania: Repression of peaceful protests in Mauritania
Amnesty International
23 April 2009
The Mauritanian authorities have violently cracked down on two peaceful demonstrations this month.
In April 2009, two demonstrations attended by political parties and members of civil society were violently repressed. The demonstrators wanted to stage a peaceful protest against the electoral timetable imposed by the authorities who took power in the wake of the military coup of August 2008. The coup leaders overthrew the Mauritanian government, in office since the multi-party presidential elections of March 2007.
On 19 April, the police had used force to disperse a group of women who tried to organise a sit-in in front of the United Nations headquarters in Nouakchott. Many women, including former ministers, members of parliament and human rights defenders, were kicked or beaten with batons and belts.
One of the victims of this repression, Mme Nebghouha Mint Mohamed Vall, former Education Minister, told Amnesty International: "I was hit by police officers. I lost my veil and when my daughter tried to retrieve it she, too, was beaten."
Another demonstrator, Chicha Mint Benna, daughter of Mohamed El Hafedh Ould Denna, president of the opposition Mauritanian Labour Party, fell unconscious after being beaten and had to be hospitalised.
Two weeks earlier, on 2 April, the police violently repressed a demonstration organised by the Coordination of Democratic Forces (a coalition formed by the opposition party, the National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD), trade union federations, human rights and civil society organizations). The demonstrators were protesting against the decision to organise a presidential election on 6 June 2009, which they saw as an attempt to legitimise last year's military coup.
One human rights defender, Boubacar Messaoud, president of the non governmental organisation, SOS Slaves, was beaten up by police at the demonstration. He told Amnesty International: "They beat me on the back with batons and carried on until I lost consciousness. The doctor who examined me later said that the blow to my neck could have killed me".
Several members of parliament, including Kobade Ould Cheick and Mohamed Moustapha Ould Bedredine, identifiable by their official sashes, were also beaten and the police fired teargas at them.
Amnesty International has called on the Mauritanian authorities to respect the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, without the use of violence.
23 April 2009
The Mauritanian authorities have violently cracked down on two peaceful demonstrations this month.
In April 2009, two demonstrations attended by political parties and members of civil society were violently repressed. The demonstrators wanted to stage a peaceful protest against the electoral timetable imposed by the authorities who took power in the wake of the military coup of August 2008. The coup leaders overthrew the Mauritanian government, in office since the multi-party presidential elections of March 2007.
On 19 April, the police had used force to disperse a group of women who tried to organise a sit-in in front of the United Nations headquarters in Nouakchott. Many women, including former ministers, members of parliament and human rights defenders, were kicked or beaten with batons and belts.
One of the victims of this repression, Mme Nebghouha Mint Mohamed Vall, former Education Minister, told Amnesty International: "I was hit by police officers. I lost my veil and when my daughter tried to retrieve it she, too, was beaten."
Another demonstrator, Chicha Mint Benna, daughter of Mohamed El Hafedh Ould Denna, president of the opposition Mauritanian Labour Party, fell unconscious after being beaten and had to be hospitalised.
Two weeks earlier, on 2 April, the police violently repressed a demonstration organised by the Coordination of Democratic Forces (a coalition formed by the opposition party, the National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD), trade union federations, human rights and civil society organizations). The demonstrators were protesting against the decision to organise a presidential election on 6 June 2009, which they saw as an attempt to legitimise last year's military coup.
One human rights defender, Boubacar Messaoud, president of the non governmental organisation, SOS Slaves, was beaten up by police at the demonstration. He told Amnesty International: "They beat me on the back with batons and carried on until I lost consciousness. The doctor who examined me later said that the blow to my neck could have killed me".
Several members of parliament, including Kobade Ould Cheick and Mohamed Moustapha Ould Bedredine, identifiable by their official sashes, were also beaten and the police fired teargas at them.
Amnesty International has called on the Mauritanian authorities to respect the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, without the use of violence.
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia mulls allowing women to vote
Reuters
RIYADH, April 26 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is considering allowing women to vote in municipal elections this year but they would still be barred from running for office, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter and a key ally of the United States. The absolute monarchy applies an austere form of Sunni Islam which bans unrelated men and women from mixing.
Prince Mansour bin Muteb, deputy minister for municipal and rural affairs, made the comments after attending a conference of municipal councils in the Eastern Province, Saudi newspapers reported.
The meeting's recommendations included one that women should be eligible to vote, the liberal-leaning daily al-Watan said.
Officials at the municipal and rural affairs ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Only eligible males voted in municipal elections in 2005 which were the desert kingdom's first ever nationwide polls since the state's inception in 1932.
The election for half the seats on the councils was part of a series of reforms undertaken after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001 focused international attention on Saudi Arabia's political and religious culture. Most of the attackers were Saudi, acting in the name of the Islamist group al Qaeda.
The meeting in the Eastern Province, the first indication that the municipal vote will take place this year, recommended that the government continues to name half the members of the council, al-Watan said. (Reporting by Souhail Karam)
RIYADH, April 26 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is considering allowing women to vote in municipal elections this year but they would still be barred from running for office, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter and a key ally of the United States. The absolute monarchy applies an austere form of Sunni Islam which bans unrelated men and women from mixing.
Prince Mansour bin Muteb, deputy minister for municipal and rural affairs, made the comments after attending a conference of municipal councils in the Eastern Province, Saudi newspapers reported.
The meeting's recommendations included one that women should be eligible to vote, the liberal-leaning daily al-Watan said.
Officials at the municipal and rural affairs ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Only eligible males voted in municipal elections in 2005 which were the desert kingdom's first ever nationwide polls since the state's inception in 1932.
The election for half the seats on the councils was part of a series of reforms undertaken after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001 focused international attention on Saudi Arabia's political and religious culture. Most of the attackers were Saudi, acting in the name of the Islamist group al Qaeda.
The meeting in the Eastern Province, the first indication that the municipal vote will take place this year, recommended that the government continues to name half the members of the council, al-Watan said. (Reporting by Souhail Karam)
Kuwait: Polls could mark major turning point
Gulfnews
By Duraid Al Baik, Associate Editor
Published: April 27, 2009, 23:16
Dubai: Analysts observed four major changes in the public arena in the 2009 parliament election campaign; two being quite serious which could lead to a dramatic change in the future of democracy in the GCC state.
First, the tone of criticism against the government in the upcoming election is intensified because of pressure to contain the impact of the international financial crisis.
"The tone of disagreement is being heard especially loud during the current electorate campaign, whereas before the Emir and members of the royal family enjoyed more criticism free status," Ali Al Baghli, an ex-minister and writer highlighted. He also added that respect for national figures has slowly been eroding and says that such practices should not be allowed to flourish under the umbrella of democracy.
The defragmentation of a very strong Islamic opposition which used to stand against liberal forces in Kuwait and the rise of tribalism are additional variables in the May election.
"The tribal forces that used to be weaker and very much depending on the support of the government in the previous elections are getting much stronger in this year's election with signs of not only getting more independent from the government but becoming an emerging threat to the government itself," Hamad Al Mutairi of Al Mutair tribe told Gulf News.
According to Al Mutair, tribal politicians have become very powerful and are using grassroots techniques to promote themselves.
He said they now use new methods like posters, SMS, and candlelit sit-ins.
Of striking significance are women candidates from four main tribes calling for public gatherings and speaking in public, Al Mutair pointed out.
He believes that the number of registered candidates for the 2009 election of 283 including 34 women will decline in the coming few days because candidates who registered in the campaign for tactical reason will withdraw before the scheduled election on May 16.
"Women who obtained the right to run for the parliament in the 2008 election and failed to reach the house in the previous election might get closer or even succeed in this year with three of them getting more sophisticated in managing election campaigns," he said.
Aseel Al Awadi, Rola Dashti and Massouma Al Mubarak, are among the 34 women candidates running for the parliament. They are becoming extremely sophisticated in managing their campaigns by focusing on the key issues considered important for people in their constituencies.
"Women participation in this campaign is no longer ceremonial and I expect one or two of them to succeed in their efforts and reach the parliament for the first time in the history of the state," he said
He said women like Engineer Naima Al Hai, a candidate for the third constituency, is challenging the Islamists by running emphasising her right to represent the electorate of her constituency without wearing the headscarf.
Referring to an incident in the previous parliament where Islamist MP's requested a woman minister to wear hijab while in the parliament, Al Hai said, "if they [Islamists] ask me to wear hijab I would ask them to grow a beard, shave their moustache and wear an above the ankle garment like instructed by the Sunna of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)".
The fourth variable in this election is the rise of televised media. Five satellite channels have been launched by different groups to convey the views of the candidates to people in their constituencies. Al Sisy said Al Shahid (the witness), Al Rai (the opinion), Al Majlis (the gathering hall), Al Adala (The Justice) and Scoop, have assigned a minimum of 12 hours of their programmes to cover electoral activities. "There is no more dependence on official media and how much the time it could offer to each and every candidate," he said.
By Duraid Al Baik, Associate Editor
Published: April 27, 2009, 23:16
Dubai: Analysts observed four major changes in the public arena in the 2009 parliament election campaign; two being quite serious which could lead to a dramatic change in the future of democracy in the GCC state.
First, the tone of criticism against the government in the upcoming election is intensified because of pressure to contain the impact of the international financial crisis.
"The tone of disagreement is being heard especially loud during the current electorate campaign, whereas before the Emir and members of the royal family enjoyed more criticism free status," Ali Al Baghli, an ex-minister and writer highlighted. He also added that respect for national figures has slowly been eroding and says that such practices should not be allowed to flourish under the umbrella of democracy.
The defragmentation of a very strong Islamic opposition which used to stand against liberal forces in Kuwait and the rise of tribalism are additional variables in the May election.
"The tribal forces that used to be weaker and very much depending on the support of the government in the previous elections are getting much stronger in this year's election with signs of not only getting more independent from the government but becoming an emerging threat to the government itself," Hamad Al Mutairi of Al Mutair tribe told Gulf News.
According to Al Mutair, tribal politicians have become very powerful and are using grassroots techniques to promote themselves.
He said they now use new methods like posters, SMS, and candlelit sit-ins.
Of striking significance are women candidates from four main tribes calling for public gatherings and speaking in public, Al Mutair pointed out.
He believes that the number of registered candidates for the 2009 election of 283 including 34 women will decline in the coming few days because candidates who registered in the campaign for tactical reason will withdraw before the scheduled election on May 16.
"Women who obtained the right to run for the parliament in the 2008 election and failed to reach the house in the previous election might get closer or even succeed in this year with three of them getting more sophisticated in managing election campaigns," he said.
Aseel Al Awadi, Rola Dashti and Massouma Al Mubarak, are among the 34 women candidates running for the parliament. They are becoming extremely sophisticated in managing their campaigns by focusing on the key issues considered important for people in their constituencies.
"Women participation in this campaign is no longer ceremonial and I expect one or two of them to succeed in their efforts and reach the parliament for the first time in the history of the state," he said
He said women like Engineer Naima Al Hai, a candidate for the third constituency, is challenging the Islamists by running emphasising her right to represent the electorate of her constituency without wearing the headscarf.
Referring to an incident in the previous parliament where Islamist MP's requested a woman minister to wear hijab while in the parliament, Al Hai said, "if they [Islamists] ask me to wear hijab I would ask them to grow a beard, shave their moustache and wear an above the ankle garment like instructed by the Sunna of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)".
The fourth variable in this election is the rise of televised media. Five satellite channels have been launched by different groups to convey the views of the candidates to people in their constituencies. Al Sisy said Al Shahid (the witness), Al Rai (the opinion), Al Majlis (the gathering hall), Al Adala (The Justice) and Scoop, have assigned a minimum of 12 hours of their programmes to cover electoral activities. "There is no more dependence on official media and how much the time it could offer to each and every candidate," he said.
Kuwait: 136 poll headquarters okayed
Arab Times
KUWAIT CITY, April 26, (KUNA): A total of 136 election headquarters have been licensed in all the six Kuwaiti governorates, a joint committee between the Interior Ministry and Kuwaiti Municipality said on Sunday. The committee has allowed every candidate to have two election facilities; one for men and the other for women, Mohamed Al-Mosowi, secretary of the committee, told KUNA. However, all election headquarters that could cause traffic congestion or chaos and impede the movement of people for being put up at inappropriate locations have been removed, he said. The committee is still making field tours to demolish unlicensed facilities and to remove posters, placards or pictures of candidates from houses and street posts, he added.
In cooperation with other state agencies concerned, the committee has demolished a total of 30 unlicensed premises and 4,608 posters nationwide without any prior warning, Al-Mosowi said. Meanwhile, the interim government will discuss Monday the negative phenomena, which spread as the election fever heats up in Kuwait. Worried about the negative effect of sectarian disputes on national unity, reliable sources said the interim government has instructed the acting ministers to closely monitor the alleged prevalence of sectarian sentiments in the country as this might undermine national unity.
KUWAIT CITY, April 26, (KUNA): A total of 136 election headquarters have been licensed in all the six Kuwaiti governorates, a joint committee between the Interior Ministry and Kuwaiti Municipality said on Sunday. The committee has allowed every candidate to have two election facilities; one for men and the other for women, Mohamed Al-Mosowi, secretary of the committee, told KUNA. However, all election headquarters that could cause traffic congestion or chaos and impede the movement of people for being put up at inappropriate locations have been removed, he said. The committee is still making field tours to demolish unlicensed facilities and to remove posters, placards or pictures of candidates from houses and street posts, he added.
In cooperation with other state agencies concerned, the committee has demolished a total of 30 unlicensed premises and 4,608 posters nationwide without any prior warning, Al-Mosowi said. Meanwhile, the interim government will discuss Monday the negative phenomena, which spread as the election fever heats up in Kuwait. Worried about the negative effect of sectarian disputes on national unity, reliable sources said the interim government has instructed the acting ministers to closely monitor the alleged prevalence of sectarian sentiments in the country as this might undermine national unity.
Iran: Women Announce Election Demand
Rooz- 26 April 2009
The news committee of the Seminar on the Election Demands of the Women’s Movement held a meeting in Tehran on Friday. While not specifically naming any particular person for the upcoming presidential election in Iran, participating women listed their demands from the future president, specifically requesting that Iran join the international convention against discrimination of women, and an unconditional review of discriminatory laws in Iran, while calling for gender equality.
The news committee of the Seminar on the Election Demands of the Women’s Movement held a meeting in Tehran on Friday. While not specifically naming any particular person for the upcoming presidential election in Iran, participating women listed their demands from the future president, specifically requesting that Iran join the international convention against discrimination of women, and an unconditional review of discriminatory laws in Iran, while calling for gender equality.
Lebanon: Lebanon’s politicians urged to focus on human rights in election campaigns
Communiqué from Amnesty International/US - Lebanon’s electorate goes to the polls in a national election on 7 June. Amnesty International has written an open letter to political leaders calling on them to put human rights at the centre of their election campaign.
In the letter published on Thursday, Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, urges political leaders in the country to firmly entrench the protection and promotion of human rights in both the law and in practice. The letter identifies five key steps:
* Reform the justice system to ensure it is independent and to guarantee fair trials;
* End all arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment;
* End impunity for grave human rights violations and establish mechanisms to ensure justice, truth and reparation for victims of past gross abuses of human rights;
* End all discrimination and violence and other abuses against women and members of marginalised groups;
* Enact legislation to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.
Irene Khan also urged campaigning parties to display respect for freedom of expression, assembly and other rights essential to the conduct of political life during their campaigns.
Political divisions in Lebanon have hindered the full realization of human rights in the country. The June elections represent a new opportunity to build upon the period following the Doha Agreement of last May, the formation of the national unity government and the subsequent election of Michel Suleiman as President.
There have been some positive human rights developments in the country in recent months. In December 2008, Lebanon ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. In addition, a draft law to abolish the death penalty is now under active consideration.
The Lebanese authorities have also clearly recognized that concrete action is needed to improve the conditions of thousands of migrant domestic workers and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who live in the country.
The establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in February and the current parliament’s development of a national Human Rights Action Plan are two other potentially positive developments, which if built upon could help lead to a far-reaching programme of human rights reform.
23 April 2009
In the letter published on Thursday, Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, urges political leaders in the country to firmly entrench the protection and promotion of human rights in both the law and in practice. The letter identifies five key steps:
* Reform the justice system to ensure it is independent and to guarantee fair trials;
* End all arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment;
* End impunity for grave human rights violations and establish mechanisms to ensure justice, truth and reparation for victims of past gross abuses of human rights;
* End all discrimination and violence and other abuses against women and members of marginalised groups;
* Enact legislation to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.
Irene Khan also urged campaigning parties to display respect for freedom of expression, assembly and other rights essential to the conduct of political life during their campaigns.
Political divisions in Lebanon have hindered the full realization of human rights in the country. The June elections represent a new opportunity to build upon the period following the Doha Agreement of last May, the formation of the national unity government and the subsequent election of Michel Suleiman as President.
There have been some positive human rights developments in the country in recent months. In December 2008, Lebanon ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. In addition, a draft law to abolish the death penalty is now under active consideration.
The Lebanese authorities have also clearly recognized that concrete action is needed to improve the conditions of thousands of migrant domestic workers and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who live in the country.
The establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in February and the current parliament’s development of a national Human Rights Action Plan are two other potentially positive developments, which if built upon could help lead to a far-reaching programme of human rights reform.
23 April 2009
Jordan: UJRC organizes a roundtable on CEDAW
Addustour – 27 April 2009
Al Urdun Al Jadid Research Center organizes today a roundtable on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in commemoration of the convention’s 30th anniversary. The event is held in cooperation with Freedom House, and will include papers and a discussion on the relationship between CEDAW and Jordanian legislations. It will conclude with recommendations for enhancing women’s rights in Jordan.
Al Urdun Al Jadid Research Center organizes today a roundtable on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in commemoration of the convention’s 30th anniversary. The event is held in cooperation with Freedom House, and will include papers and a discussion on the relationship between CEDAW and Jordanian legislations. It will conclude with recommendations for enhancing women’s rights in Jordan.
Jordan: Islamist movement calls on gov’t to withdraw from CEDAW
Jordan Times
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
AMMAN - The Islamist movement on Sunday called on the government to withdraw from the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on grounds that the treaty will lead to a myriad of social problems in the country.
In a press conference held at the Islamic Action Front (IAF) headquarters in Abdali, Islamist leaders joined hands with women activists in the party to sound the alarm about the possible consequences of CEDAW on the Jordanian family and society in general.
"Families in Jordan face the threat of total collapse under CEDAW," warned the IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, in a statement distributed during the press conference.
Activists from the IAF's Al Afaf women’s society said they are concerned about a recent Cabinet decision to lift its reservations on paragraph four of Article 15, which gives women freedom of mobility and choice of residence without consent of their husbands or other male family members.
According to IAF activists, the clause contradicts the teachings of Islam, under which authority over women's mobility is in the hands of their husbands if they are married, and in the hands of brothers or fathers if they are single.
"Both husband and wife should approve the choice of accommodation, not the wife alone," said Maisoun Darawseh, an Al Afaf society member.
"States Parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals," the article states.
The convention also allows women freedom of mobility: "States Parties shall accord to men and women the same rights with regard to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and domicile."
IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Rsheid criticised the government for ratifying the agreement without first resorting to a national dialogue.
"The government should have conducted a genuine national dialogue with all segments of society regarding this agreement. They should have dealt with this matter based on its social and future dimensions, not its international and financial dimensions," he said.
He urged the government to launch a notational dialogue on CEDAW, raise public awareness of its contents and amend legislation to grant women their religious rights.
In July 1992, the Kingdom signed the convention, which was ratified and published in the Official Gazette in August 2007 with three reservations related to the citizenship, housing and women's mobility clauses in the Personal Status Law.
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
AMMAN - The Islamist movement on Sunday called on the government to withdraw from the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on grounds that the treaty will lead to a myriad of social problems in the country.
In a press conference held at the Islamic Action Front (IAF) headquarters in Abdali, Islamist leaders joined hands with women activists in the party to sound the alarm about the possible consequences of CEDAW on the Jordanian family and society in general.
"Families in Jordan face the threat of total collapse under CEDAW," warned the IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, in a statement distributed during the press conference.
Activists from the IAF's Al Afaf women’s society said they are concerned about a recent Cabinet decision to lift its reservations on paragraph four of Article 15, which gives women freedom of mobility and choice of residence without consent of their husbands or other male family members.
According to IAF activists, the clause contradicts the teachings of Islam, under which authority over women's mobility is in the hands of their husbands if they are married, and in the hands of brothers or fathers if they are single.
"Both husband and wife should approve the choice of accommodation, not the wife alone," said Maisoun Darawseh, an Al Afaf society member.
"States Parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals," the article states.
The convention also allows women freedom of mobility: "States Parties shall accord to men and women the same rights with regard to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and domicile."
IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Rsheid criticised the government for ratifying the agreement without first resorting to a national dialogue.
"The government should have conducted a genuine national dialogue with all segments of society regarding this agreement. They should have dealt with this matter based on its social and future dimensions, not its international and financial dimensions," he said.
He urged the government to launch a notational dialogue on CEDAW, raise public awareness of its contents and amend legislation to grant women their religious rights.
In July 1992, the Kingdom signed the convention, which was ratified and published in the Official Gazette in August 2007 with three reservations related to the citizenship, housing and women's mobility clauses in the Personal Status Law.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
UAE: Al-Khaleej Studies Center Panel on Women's Organizations
In April 2009, Al-Khaleej Studies Center organized a panel on the reality of women organizations in the UAE and ways to increase their effectiveness and outreach to all society sectors especially youth, to channel their interests towards volunteerism and more civic activism. The panel was chaired by our own Dr. Fatema Al Sayegh and included opinions of several UAE women leaders and activists. Participants in the panel included:
Ahlam Al Lamki, GWU
Amal Belhoul, Psychologist, ‘Watani’ program. (Watani means my country)
Amira Tariam, Editor of Kul Al Usra magazine
Halima Shikshik, RAK Women Organization
Moza Al Taghi, RAK Women Organization
Dr. Hessa Lootah, Professor, UAE University
Sarah bin Karam, Head of Sharjah Women Organziation
Salma Al Junaibi, GWU
Afra Al Mansouri, Head of Family Development Foundation, Shahama
Fatima Al Qubeisi, Family Development Foundation, Al Wathba
Sheikha Majd Saud Al Qassimi, Deputy Director of Sharjah Women Union
The session concluded with the following recommendations:
- Allocate a political seat that represents women organizations that would rotate every 2 or 4 years
- The importance of spreading a culture of social work and increase contact with youth
- Focus on studies and statistics that identify flaws in the work of the organizations as well as proper mechanisms to address these flaws.
- Strengthen relationships between different organizations and create a real partnership between civil society and non-profit organizations
- One women union that would be the umbrella of all women organizations in the country
- More media attention to the role and activities of women organizations
Ahlam Al Lamki, GWU
Amal Belhoul, Psychologist, ‘Watani’ program. (Watani means my country)
Amira Tariam, Editor of Kul Al Usra magazine
Halima Shikshik, RAK Women Organization
Moza Al Taghi, RAK Women Organization
Dr. Hessa Lootah, Professor, UAE University
Sarah bin Karam, Head of Sharjah Women Organziation
Salma Al Junaibi, GWU
Afra Al Mansouri, Head of Family Development Foundation, Shahama
Fatima Al Qubeisi, Family Development Foundation, Al Wathba
Sheikha Majd Saud Al Qassimi, Deputy Director of Sharjah Women Union
The session concluded with the following recommendations:
- Allocate a political seat that represents women organizations that would rotate every 2 or 4 years
- The importance of spreading a culture of social work and increase contact with youth
- Focus on studies and statistics that identify flaws in the work of the organizations as well as proper mechanisms to address these flaws.
- Strengthen relationships between different organizations and create a real partnership between civil society and non-profit organizations
- One women union that would be the umbrella of all women organizations in the country
- More media attention to the role and activities of women organizations
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Occupied Territories: Palestinian filmmakers beat the odds to hit silver screen
CNN
LONDON, England (CNN) --
When the 10th London Palestine Film Festival opens this week, Londoners will have greater access to films made in the Palestinian territories than many people living in the region.
Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir's first feature film, "Salt of This Sea," premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2008.
Today, there is only one movie theater operating in the West Bank. Gaza has none.
The "Al Kasaba" theater in Ramallah is the only formal film venue for a population of nearly 2.5 million in the West Bank. Due to travel restrictions it is virtually inaccessible to the one and one half million Palestinians residing in Gaza.
It is estimated that about 80 percent of Palestinian children have never been to a movie theater, according to a report in The Christian Science Monitor.
With this lack of distribution, and hardly any formal funding available, producing a film within the Palestinian territories is a tremendous challenge.
Against the odds, the region's filmmakers completed three feature films and an estimated eight shorts in 2008 -- more than ever before. Local directors are determined to tell their stories and have adapted to cope with the region's difficult circumstances.
Lack of cinematic infrastructure
One of the greatest obstacles filmmakers face is a lack of equipment and crews. According to industry experts, directors in the Palestinian territories have little hope of competing with international news media over the limited resources.
"Crews who can work for international news organizations at very high salaries don't want to work for independent film makers," says director and coordinator of the Shashat's Women's Film Festival, Alia Arasoughly. Are you interested in seeing more films made by Palestinian directors? Tell us below in the SoundOff box below
"They don't want to rent their equipment out for a 10-hour shooting day, when they can rent it out for just two hours and triple the price to an international crew."
As a consequence of this, filmmakers are looking to local residents for production assistance.
Annemarie Jacir's first feature film,"Salt of This Sea," which premiered last year at Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of an American woman who travels to Israel to visit the land where her grandfather lived before Palestinians were ejected in 1948.
The film was shot with a crew consisting largely of novices assembled by the director, including a former ambulance driver, a jeweler and a radio DJ.
"There were always discussions with my producers, who preferred bringing more experienced professional people from Europe in, and I insisted that I'd rather have locals even if they're less experienced," Jacir told CNN.
"We're trying to build something in [the Palestinian territories], and when things got tough, because they believed in what we were doing, they stayed."
During the shoot Jacir's team also received unexpected support from members of the local community, who brought them food and drinks in between takes.
"We even had the entire Palestinian police force blocking traffic; going out of their way to help us," remembers Jacir.
Restricted Mobility
A further complication faced by Jacir and her colleagues is the limitation on movement and access in the Palestinian territories.
Since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, Israeli authorities have imposed varying degrees of restriction on the movement of people in and out of the territories, according to human rights group, Amnesty International.
In 2007, the year in which Jacir shot the majority of her film, Amnesty reported 84 manned checkpoints and 465 unmanned blockades within the West Bank alone.
As a result of these security measures, which the Israelis say are necessary to secure their country from Palestinian attacks, the production of "Salt of This Sea," a movie with over 80 shooting locations was logistically very complex.
In order to shoot the road movie lawfully, Jacir and her crew had to apply for permission to leave Ramallah.
"Every single crew member was rejected. So, just purely getting through the checkpoints and the logistics of keeping a film crew together was an obstacle."
Obtaining shooting permission was equally problematic. Permits for various locations including Jaffa were refused repeatedly -- a hindrance which did not deter Jacir.
"In some cases we just filmed anyway. We put the actors in a real situation and we just did it guerrilla-style. That's how most Palestinian filmmakers are managing to do their work," she told CNN.
A bright future?
While drawbacks such as a lack of funding, a lack of resources, and restrictions of movement would dissuade directors in many other countries, members of the growing film community in the Palestinian territories are forging bonds over the difficulties.
While Arasoughly and Jacir agree that it would be going too far to speak of a "national cinema" at this stage, they look to the future with great optimism.
The novice crew members Jacir recruited to work on "Salt of This Sea" have continued to find work in filmmaking -- a fact Jacir believes indicates an industry is gradually starting to emerge.
"I think there's a wave coming -- a lot of new filmmakers, a lot of people making documentaries and more experimental films, working together," Jacir told CNN.
Arasoughly, whose Shashat festival will enter its fifth year this fall, is equally hopeful.
"The fact that we, under the harshest of conditions in the Arab world, have been able to hold an annual women's film festival, and that hundreds of students come to our screenings means that people want their worlds to be expanded," she said.
"They want wider horizons, and I think for me, this is what makes it possible to go on in the context that we live in."
LONDON, England (CNN) --
When the 10th London Palestine Film Festival opens this week, Londoners will have greater access to films made in the Palestinian territories than many people living in the region.
Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir's first feature film, "Salt of This Sea," premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2008.
Today, there is only one movie theater operating in the West Bank. Gaza has none.
The "Al Kasaba" theater in Ramallah is the only formal film venue for a population of nearly 2.5 million in the West Bank. Due to travel restrictions it is virtually inaccessible to the one and one half million Palestinians residing in Gaza.
It is estimated that about 80 percent of Palestinian children have never been to a movie theater, according to a report in The Christian Science Monitor.
With this lack of distribution, and hardly any formal funding available, producing a film within the Palestinian territories is a tremendous challenge.
Against the odds, the region's filmmakers completed three feature films and an estimated eight shorts in 2008 -- more than ever before. Local directors are determined to tell their stories and have adapted to cope with the region's difficult circumstances.
Lack of cinematic infrastructure
One of the greatest obstacles filmmakers face is a lack of equipment and crews. According to industry experts, directors in the Palestinian territories have little hope of competing with international news media over the limited resources.
"Crews who can work for international news organizations at very high salaries don't want to work for independent film makers," says director and coordinator of the Shashat's Women's Film Festival, Alia Arasoughly. Are you interested in seeing more films made by Palestinian directors? Tell us below in the SoundOff box below
"They don't want to rent their equipment out for a 10-hour shooting day, when they can rent it out for just two hours and triple the price to an international crew."
As a consequence of this, filmmakers are looking to local residents for production assistance.
Annemarie Jacir's first feature film,"Salt of This Sea," which premiered last year at Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of an American woman who travels to Israel to visit the land where her grandfather lived before Palestinians were ejected in 1948.
The film was shot with a crew consisting largely of novices assembled by the director, including a former ambulance driver, a jeweler and a radio DJ.
"There were always discussions with my producers, who preferred bringing more experienced professional people from Europe in, and I insisted that I'd rather have locals even if they're less experienced," Jacir told CNN.
"We're trying to build something in [the Palestinian territories], and when things got tough, because they believed in what we were doing, they stayed."
During the shoot Jacir's team also received unexpected support from members of the local community, who brought them food and drinks in between takes.
"We even had the entire Palestinian police force blocking traffic; going out of their way to help us," remembers Jacir.
Restricted Mobility
A further complication faced by Jacir and her colleagues is the limitation on movement and access in the Palestinian territories.
Since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, Israeli authorities have imposed varying degrees of restriction on the movement of people in and out of the territories, according to human rights group, Amnesty International.
In 2007, the year in which Jacir shot the majority of her film, Amnesty reported 84 manned checkpoints and 465 unmanned blockades within the West Bank alone.
As a result of these security measures, which the Israelis say are necessary to secure their country from Palestinian attacks, the production of "Salt of This Sea," a movie with over 80 shooting locations was logistically very complex.
In order to shoot the road movie lawfully, Jacir and her crew had to apply for permission to leave Ramallah.
"Every single crew member was rejected. So, just purely getting through the checkpoints and the logistics of keeping a film crew together was an obstacle."
Obtaining shooting permission was equally problematic. Permits for various locations including Jaffa were refused repeatedly -- a hindrance which did not deter Jacir.
"In some cases we just filmed anyway. We put the actors in a real situation and we just did it guerrilla-style. That's how most Palestinian filmmakers are managing to do their work," she told CNN.
A bright future?
While drawbacks such as a lack of funding, a lack of resources, and restrictions of movement would dissuade directors in many other countries, members of the growing film community in the Palestinian territories are forging bonds over the difficulties.
While Arasoughly and Jacir agree that it would be going too far to speak of a "national cinema" at this stage, they look to the future with great optimism.
The novice crew members Jacir recruited to work on "Salt of This Sea" have continued to find work in filmmaking -- a fact Jacir believes indicates an industry is gradually starting to emerge.
"I think there's a wave coming -- a lot of new filmmakers, a lot of people making documentaries and more experimental films, working together," Jacir told CNN.
Arasoughly, whose Shashat festival will enter its fifth year this fall, is equally hopeful.
"The fact that we, under the harshest of conditions in the Arab world, have been able to hold an annual women's film festival, and that hundreds of students come to our screenings means that people want their worlds to be expanded," she said.
"They want wider horizons, and I think for me, this is what makes it possible to go on in the context that we live in."
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tunisia: Tunisian women's rights activist Hmida warns against decline in gains
By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 21/04/09
Bochra Bel Haj Hmida is a lawyer, women's rights activist, and former president of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women. She has been one of the fiercest opponents of she regards as the oppression of Tunisian women regarding inheritance.
Hmida is also responsible for saving dozens of young people from the gallows in 1984, when she met former president Habib Bourguiba and his wife Wassila and convinced the president to issue a pardon.
Magharebia: In statements earlier this year, you warned against the risk of a decline in Tunisian women's gains. Do you still maintain those ideas? Can you tell us about the nature and source of that risk?
Hmida: Like many human rights activists, I believe that we managed to secure significant gains, starting with the Personal Status Code issued half a century ago, as well as all the supporting and complementing laws, along with the rise in the number of educated girls and family planning policies, in addition to all other measures aimed at enhancing women's position in society.
Nonetheless, those gains remain retractable for a number of reasons.
One: the political and cultural position in the region, wherein women are looked at as second-class citizens. Until 2003 (with the Moroccan Moudawana), Tunisia was the only country where women lived under a law that ensured their political rights. Although many Arab laws were amended with regard to personal status or political rights, and though many countries (e.g. Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia) ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), laws continued to rely on flagrant discrimination between both genders. As such, Tunisian women enjoy a distinctive, almost unique status, which does not exactly serve to reinforce their rights.
Two: Western policies versus the Arab region, the oppression sustained by the Palestinian people at the hands of the occupation, the US invasion of Iraq, the Western stance toward democratisation, are all factors that breed closed-mindedness among Tunisian men and women, and their chauvinist national sense of belonging at the expense of human values. Women's rights are used as a tool of political and national conflict, as well as a tool to impose identity and disseminate backward thinking within society. Women are always first to pay the price.
Three: the state also has a central role in this regard. It has taken key decisions to improve women's conditions, in response to their developing needs across the numerous domains. Yet, women are still used as a marketing tool abroad, while domestically, the cause of women remains dependent on political agendas and relations with religious groups. Further, when the state harps on the issue of women, it is always by way of propaganda. The state therefore never admits to the discrimination faced by women. On the contrary, the state brags that it has given women their full rights. As such, they take measures discreetly.
Also, there is the state's inconsistent and unsuccessful manner of handling Islam on the political, social and cultural levels, in terms of banning the Hijab (veil), followed by the pulling-the-rug policy (all the concessions along the years from the eighties until recently, like allowing a religious radio station and receiving Sheikh Qaradawi as a religious and political icon). All such policies open the door before further retractions and cast doubts over the legitimacy of women's rights.
Four: the Tunisian media, for more than half a century, has never been a venue for discussing matters and changes of interest to society (such as Radio Mosaique or the Internet). Thus, it cannot hold a candle to the impact of Arab satellite channels, which, though diverse, do not play a positive role in entrenching human values, or a free, multilateral, and calm dialogue.
Magharebia: Tell us about the ground you have gained in the battle for equality in inheritance.
Hmida: The campaign was launched back in 1999. We were aware of the difficulty of the situation. However, we've gained a lot of ground. Most importantly, discussing equality in inheritance is no longer a taboo, but a topic often discussed in newspapers, many public institutions as well as within families, many of whom have chosen to take precautionary measures in order to ensure wives and girls dodge damages. Some books were also released on the topic, such as those by Ali Al Mazghani and by Kalthoum Mazio, conducted by the Association of Tunisian Women for Research and Development (AFTURD).
A law was also passed to exempt endowment contracts from registration fees, to the benefit of husbands, ancestors, and descendents. This had an immediate impact on Tunisians; the state can provide us with the relevant figures. We have also given women in Morocco, Algeria and, to some extent, Egypt the green light to discuss the issue.
Magharebia: Is it true that women were the fiercest opponents of the call for equality in inheritance?
Hmida: This is not an easy question to answer. However, we can just say that reactions are not governed by the conventional intellectual and political criteria. In fact, reactions show that inheritance is purely a matter of interests. We have seen secularists, opponents, and women refuse to sign the petition. We have also seen devout men and constitutional individuals eagerly sign the Democratic Women petition.
Magharebia: What arguments do your opponents cite? How do you respond?
Hmida: The arguments are many. The most significant are Sharia and the clarity of Qur'anic verse, which are always cited by the majority of opponents, who share either political or religious views. Others who rely on wrong and unfruitful political calculations claim that the issue is not a priority and that society is not prepared. The truth is that they know nothing about society or its requirements and aspirations. The argument that I personally see as evidence of ill will is the one that pleads that as long as man is responsible for supporting his family, we cannot call for equality in inheritance. The fact of the matter is that women take part in supporting their families, and that changing the law of inheritance presupposes changes in other laws.
[AFTURD] responded to all those arguments in a booklet entitled "Fifteen Proofs in Support of Gender Equality in Inheritance". Magharebia: Although the Personal Status Code was passed more than fifty years ago, women in Tunisia still suffer from violence. Does that mean that the Code, which sought to modernise society, was a failure?
Hmida: The Code was not a failure. The problem of violence extends far beyond the Code and all laws, which, though important, cannot solve all problems, especially violence against women, a global problem present in all countries, even in those that eliminated all forms of legal and political discrimination, such as Finland. Violence is based on the theory of gender discrimination.
A man is entitled to harass a woman. If a woman harasses a man, she is called "shameless". A man, on the other hand, can attack his wife violently to teach her manners. The opposite would be regarded as strange or disdainful. Society is built on discrimination. Abolishing all forms of discrimination, especially in mentalities, is the only way to end the phenomenon of violence. Women all over the world still have a long way to go.
Magharebia: Why aren't there more Tunisian women in leadership positions in politics, unions, and NGOs, which support your call for gender equality?
Hmida: Tunisia has not made much progress in this area, despite progress in the law. It can be traced back to mentalities, to what we ask of women, and to rivalry in the field of politics. The feminist movement itself was not settled through a feminist perspective, but rather through a political, state-like vision. In my opinion, that situation requires adopting bold measures, such as the principle of quota. Also, enhancing discussions even within women's organisations and within society is important so that women's candidacy and voting for women would not be different from men's candidacy and voting for men. In other words, women are not required to be perfect.
Magharebia: In 2003, you encountered vehement censure from conservatives for taking part in a seminar on the rights of homosexuals. You were accused of defending them while turning a blind eye to women's right to wear the hijab. Would you be prepared at present to take part in a similar seminar? Is it true that you do not support women's right to wear whatever they want, including hijab?
Hmida: First of all, I did not take part in a seminar on the rights of homosexuals. I took part in the European Social Forum, which discussed topics including sexual rights. I participated on the issue of gay rights in the Arab region – law and reality. I explained that the law criminalises sexual relationships between individuals of the same gender, and that Arab societies handle this case very hypocritically. This is indeed similar to those who launched a campaign against me then and on other occasions before, and those who support them.
I further explained my position saying that this choice is part of human rights, and is a question of personal choice and individual freedom. We ought to discuss sex-related questions more openly and scientifically so as to confront sexual violence against women and children, achieve justice in that domain, define what one's rights are, and identify the aggressor and the victim. I am prepared to attend such seminars and to fight in order to put an end to criminalising the voluntary sexual relations between adults and abolish all forms of sexual violence.
Hijab is directly related to this topic since it has to do with a woman's body and society's and man's views of it. In that regard, I am completely against all forms of suppression even if practiced against my opponents. I believe that wearing or rejecting the hijab is a matter of personal freedom. This is how I am basically different from zealous proponents of hijab and those who apply human rights unilaterally, and take advantage of the hijab to serve a political agenda that is totally divorced from a woman's individual rights. Also, the hijab is a sign of disdain of women, who it is believed should be hidden.
Bochra Bel Haj Hmida is a lawyer, women's rights activist, and former president of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women. She has been one of the fiercest opponents of she regards as the oppression of Tunisian women regarding inheritance.
Hmida is also responsible for saving dozens of young people from the gallows in 1984, when she met former president Habib Bourguiba and his wife Wassila and convinced the president to issue a pardon.
Magharebia: In statements earlier this year, you warned against the risk of a decline in Tunisian women's gains. Do you still maintain those ideas? Can you tell us about the nature and source of that risk?
Hmida: Like many human rights activists, I believe that we managed to secure significant gains, starting with the Personal Status Code issued half a century ago, as well as all the supporting and complementing laws, along with the rise in the number of educated girls and family planning policies, in addition to all other measures aimed at enhancing women's position in society.
Nonetheless, those gains remain retractable for a number of reasons.
One: the political and cultural position in the region, wherein women are looked at as second-class citizens. Until 2003 (with the Moroccan Moudawana), Tunisia was the only country where women lived under a law that ensured their political rights. Although many Arab laws were amended with regard to personal status or political rights, and though many countries (e.g. Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia) ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), laws continued to rely on flagrant discrimination between both genders. As such, Tunisian women enjoy a distinctive, almost unique status, which does not exactly serve to reinforce their rights.
Two: Western policies versus the Arab region, the oppression sustained by the Palestinian people at the hands of the occupation, the US invasion of Iraq, the Western stance toward democratisation, are all factors that breed closed-mindedness among Tunisian men and women, and their chauvinist national sense of belonging at the expense of human values. Women's rights are used as a tool of political and national conflict, as well as a tool to impose identity and disseminate backward thinking within society. Women are always first to pay the price.
Three: the state also has a central role in this regard. It has taken key decisions to improve women's conditions, in response to their developing needs across the numerous domains. Yet, women are still used as a marketing tool abroad, while domestically, the cause of women remains dependent on political agendas and relations with religious groups. Further, when the state harps on the issue of women, it is always by way of propaganda. The state therefore never admits to the discrimination faced by women. On the contrary, the state brags that it has given women their full rights. As such, they take measures discreetly.
Also, there is the state's inconsistent and unsuccessful manner of handling Islam on the political, social and cultural levels, in terms of banning the Hijab (veil), followed by the pulling-the-rug policy (all the concessions along the years from the eighties until recently, like allowing a religious radio station and receiving Sheikh Qaradawi as a religious and political icon). All such policies open the door before further retractions and cast doubts over the legitimacy of women's rights.
Four: the Tunisian media, for more than half a century, has never been a venue for discussing matters and changes of interest to society (such as Radio Mosaique or the Internet). Thus, it cannot hold a candle to the impact of Arab satellite channels, which, though diverse, do not play a positive role in entrenching human values, or a free, multilateral, and calm dialogue.
Magharebia: Tell us about the ground you have gained in the battle for equality in inheritance.
Hmida: The campaign was launched back in 1999. We were aware of the difficulty of the situation. However, we've gained a lot of ground. Most importantly, discussing equality in inheritance is no longer a taboo, but a topic often discussed in newspapers, many public institutions as well as within families, many of whom have chosen to take precautionary measures in order to ensure wives and girls dodge damages. Some books were also released on the topic, such as those by Ali Al Mazghani and by Kalthoum Mazio, conducted by the Association of Tunisian Women for Research and Development (AFTURD).
A law was also passed to exempt endowment contracts from registration fees, to the benefit of husbands, ancestors, and descendents. This had an immediate impact on Tunisians; the state can provide us with the relevant figures. We have also given women in Morocco, Algeria and, to some extent, Egypt the green light to discuss the issue.
Magharebia: Is it true that women were the fiercest opponents of the call for equality in inheritance?
Hmida: This is not an easy question to answer. However, we can just say that reactions are not governed by the conventional intellectual and political criteria. In fact, reactions show that inheritance is purely a matter of interests. We have seen secularists, opponents, and women refuse to sign the petition. We have also seen devout men and constitutional individuals eagerly sign the Democratic Women petition.
Magharebia: What arguments do your opponents cite? How do you respond?
Hmida: The arguments are many. The most significant are Sharia and the clarity of Qur'anic verse, which are always cited by the majority of opponents, who share either political or religious views. Others who rely on wrong and unfruitful political calculations claim that the issue is not a priority and that society is not prepared. The truth is that they know nothing about society or its requirements and aspirations. The argument that I personally see as evidence of ill will is the one that pleads that as long as man is responsible for supporting his family, we cannot call for equality in inheritance. The fact of the matter is that women take part in supporting their families, and that changing the law of inheritance presupposes changes in other laws.
[AFTURD] responded to all those arguments in a booklet entitled "Fifteen Proofs in Support of Gender Equality in Inheritance". Magharebia: Although the Personal Status Code was passed more than fifty years ago, women in Tunisia still suffer from violence. Does that mean that the Code, which sought to modernise society, was a failure?
Hmida: The Code was not a failure. The problem of violence extends far beyond the Code and all laws, which, though important, cannot solve all problems, especially violence against women, a global problem present in all countries, even in those that eliminated all forms of legal and political discrimination, such as Finland. Violence is based on the theory of gender discrimination.
A man is entitled to harass a woman. If a woman harasses a man, she is called "shameless". A man, on the other hand, can attack his wife violently to teach her manners. The opposite would be regarded as strange or disdainful. Society is built on discrimination. Abolishing all forms of discrimination, especially in mentalities, is the only way to end the phenomenon of violence. Women all over the world still have a long way to go.
Magharebia: Why aren't there more Tunisian women in leadership positions in politics, unions, and NGOs, which support your call for gender equality?
Hmida: Tunisia has not made much progress in this area, despite progress in the law. It can be traced back to mentalities, to what we ask of women, and to rivalry in the field of politics. The feminist movement itself was not settled through a feminist perspective, but rather through a political, state-like vision. In my opinion, that situation requires adopting bold measures, such as the principle of quota. Also, enhancing discussions even within women's organisations and within society is important so that women's candidacy and voting for women would not be different from men's candidacy and voting for men. In other words, women are not required to be perfect.
Magharebia: In 2003, you encountered vehement censure from conservatives for taking part in a seminar on the rights of homosexuals. You were accused of defending them while turning a blind eye to women's right to wear the hijab. Would you be prepared at present to take part in a similar seminar? Is it true that you do not support women's right to wear whatever they want, including hijab?
Hmida: First of all, I did not take part in a seminar on the rights of homosexuals. I took part in the European Social Forum, which discussed topics including sexual rights. I participated on the issue of gay rights in the Arab region – law and reality. I explained that the law criminalises sexual relationships between individuals of the same gender, and that Arab societies handle this case very hypocritically. This is indeed similar to those who launched a campaign against me then and on other occasions before, and those who support them.
I further explained my position saying that this choice is part of human rights, and is a question of personal choice and individual freedom. We ought to discuss sex-related questions more openly and scientifically so as to confront sexual violence against women and children, achieve justice in that domain, define what one's rights are, and identify the aggressor and the victim. I am prepared to attend such seminars and to fight in order to put an end to criminalising the voluntary sexual relations between adults and abolish all forms of sexual violence.
Hijab is directly related to this topic since it has to do with a woman's body and society's and man's views of it. In that regard, I am completely against all forms of suppression even if practiced against my opponents. I believe that wearing or rejecting the hijab is a matter of personal freedom. This is how I am basically different from zealous proponents of hijab and those who apply human rights unilaterally, and take advantage of the hijab to serve a political agenda that is totally divorced from a woman's individual rights. Also, the hijab is a sign of disdain of women, who it is believed should be hidden.
Algeria: Algerian feminists going strong.
Pakistan Christian Post
By Samia Allalou
Those who think that Algerians have been passive victims of their country's political problems need look no further than the Algerian women's movement for a change of mind. Twenty-five years ago, a unique relationship developed between Algeria and the non-profit organisation, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), which is going strong even today.
WLUML provides assistance to women whose lives are governed by so-called "Islamic" laws or customs. The organisation opposes the use of faith to further political causes and builds awareness of women's rights violations committed in the name of Islam.
In 1984, Algerian women watched in amazement as the government passed a law that institutionalised women's legal status as "minors". Women had demonstrated against the ratification of this law for more than two decades, believing it stood in stark opposition to Article 29 of the Algerian constitution, which declares, "Citizens are equal before the law, regardless of birth, race, sex, opinion or any other condition of personal or social circumstance".
Algerian feminists responded immediately. Demonstrations against the law intensified and three women were put in solitary confinement without proper investigation or trial. In reaction to this injustice, nine women from Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Mauritius, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Pakistan founded WLUML to support the struggles of these women in Algeria and elsewhere.
WLUML member Marieme Helie Lucas, an Algerian sociologist, recalled: "The three Algerian women were released within a month and a half of campaigning, with telegrams arriving on the president's desk from everywhere in the world."
WLUML continued playing an important role in Algeria during the civil war in the 1990s between the outlawed political party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), and the Algerian government. Despite the difficult environment, women continued the struggle to reinstate their legal rights as equal citizens while simultaneously enduring indiscriminate violence as a result of the war.
WLUML provided these Algerian women with a platform to voice their frustrations by inviting them to participate in international conferences, including the United Nations' World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, where they could publicly denounce the crimes against women that the FIS and other armed Algerian groups had committed.
WLUML continued to work on behalf of Algerian women even when violence from the war gradually lessened and international focus was diverted elsewhere.
In January 1999, the Algerian government presented its official report on discrimination against women to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. In response, the WLUML and New York University's International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic collaborated on an unofficial report outlining "the rise and ongoing threat of politicized, violent religious fundamentalism [in Algeria] and its project to impose its particular view of Islam through the theocratization of the state and/or through violence and terror".
In 2001, female workers in the small Algerian town of Hassi Messaoud were savagely assaulted by a crowd of 300 men following a sermon by an extremist imam at the local mosque. WLUML encouraged international networks to respond to the incident by sending letters to the Algerian government. Along with several Algerian human and women's rights associations, they pressed for the defendants to be tried in court.
Several perpetrators were convicted and found guilty in 2004, and the assaulted women were formally acknowledged as victims.
More recently, Cherifa Kheddar, the chair of Djazairouna, an association of families that are victims of terrorism, was threatened in 2008 with unfair dismissal and continuous harassment by Algerian authorities after she revealed to the public the government's reconciliation policy (the Law on Civil Concord) with armed Islamic political groups, including the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Islamic Front for Armed Defence (FIDA), and for speaking out about crimes committed but pardoned without trial.
In the end, the government suspended Kheddar from her position, although it never formally dismissed her from the job. After a nomination bid from WLUML, Cherifa was awarded the International Prize for Human Rights by the International Service Human Rights Awards on 8 December 2008.
Today, the international spotlight is no longer on Algeria, but WLUML remains watchful of discrimination against Algerian women. This unfailing support of WLUML's international network provides women's movements in the country with the necessary strength to stand up to all kinds of pressure and to continue the difficult path towards full acceptance of women's rights in Algeria and beyond.
By Samia Allalou
Those who think that Algerians have been passive victims of their country's political problems need look no further than the Algerian women's movement for a change of mind. Twenty-five years ago, a unique relationship developed between Algeria and the non-profit organisation, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), which is going strong even today.
WLUML provides assistance to women whose lives are governed by so-called "Islamic" laws or customs. The organisation opposes the use of faith to further political causes and builds awareness of women's rights violations committed in the name of Islam.
In 1984, Algerian women watched in amazement as the government passed a law that institutionalised women's legal status as "minors". Women had demonstrated against the ratification of this law for more than two decades, believing it stood in stark opposition to Article 29 of the Algerian constitution, which declares, "Citizens are equal before the law, regardless of birth, race, sex, opinion or any other condition of personal or social circumstance".
Algerian feminists responded immediately. Demonstrations against the law intensified and three women were put in solitary confinement without proper investigation or trial. In reaction to this injustice, nine women from Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Mauritius, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Pakistan founded WLUML to support the struggles of these women in Algeria and elsewhere.
WLUML member Marieme Helie Lucas, an Algerian sociologist, recalled: "The three Algerian women were released within a month and a half of campaigning, with telegrams arriving on the president's desk from everywhere in the world."
WLUML continued playing an important role in Algeria during the civil war in the 1990s between the outlawed political party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), and the Algerian government. Despite the difficult environment, women continued the struggle to reinstate their legal rights as equal citizens while simultaneously enduring indiscriminate violence as a result of the war.
WLUML provided these Algerian women with a platform to voice their frustrations by inviting them to participate in international conferences, including the United Nations' World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, where they could publicly denounce the crimes against women that the FIS and other armed Algerian groups had committed.
WLUML continued to work on behalf of Algerian women even when violence from the war gradually lessened and international focus was diverted elsewhere.
In January 1999, the Algerian government presented its official report on discrimination against women to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. In response, the WLUML and New York University's International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic collaborated on an unofficial report outlining "the rise and ongoing threat of politicized, violent religious fundamentalism [in Algeria] and its project to impose its particular view of Islam through the theocratization of the state and/or through violence and terror".
In 2001, female workers in the small Algerian town of Hassi Messaoud were savagely assaulted by a crowd of 300 men following a sermon by an extremist imam at the local mosque. WLUML encouraged international networks to respond to the incident by sending letters to the Algerian government. Along with several Algerian human and women's rights associations, they pressed for the defendants to be tried in court.
Several perpetrators were convicted and found guilty in 2004, and the assaulted women were formally acknowledged as victims.
More recently, Cherifa Kheddar, the chair of Djazairouna, an association of families that are victims of terrorism, was threatened in 2008 with unfair dismissal and continuous harassment by Algerian authorities after she revealed to the public the government's reconciliation policy (the Law on Civil Concord) with armed Islamic political groups, including the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Islamic Front for Armed Defence (FIDA), and for speaking out about crimes committed but pardoned without trial.
In the end, the government suspended Kheddar from her position, although it never formally dismissed her from the job. After a nomination bid from WLUML, Cherifa was awarded the International Prize for Human Rights by the International Service Human Rights Awards on 8 December 2008.
Today, the international spotlight is no longer on Algeria, but WLUML remains watchful of discrimination against Algerian women. This unfailing support of WLUML's international network provides women's movements in the country with the necessary strength to stand up to all kinds of pressure and to continue the difficult path towards full acceptance of women's rights in Algeria and beyond.
Iran: Iranian Nobel laureate to defend U.S. journalist
(CNN) -- An Iranian human-rights activist and Nobel laureate has joined the legal team of an Iranian-American journalist convicted of spying and jailed in Iran.
Shirin Ebadi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, took up the case of Roxana Saberi at the request of Saberi's family, her father, Reza Saberi, told CNN Wednesday. Ebadi heads the Center for Defenders of Human Rights in Iran.
Saberi, 31, was sentenced Saturday to eight years in prison after a one-day trial that was closed to the public. President Obama, as well as other U.S. and international officials sharply denounced the decision.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has offered to travel to Iran to help seek Saberi's release.
"If our voices are heard in Iran today, I would be anxious to travel with a delegation to Iran, if we are permitted, and make an appeal for her freedom," said the longtime civil rights activist, according to his Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Jackson, 67, spoke Tuesday at a peace conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
"Whenever we've brought people out of captivity, whether in Syria, Cuba, Iraq or Yugoslavia, or Liberia, it's always opened a diplomatic door to reduce tensions," he said.
Saberi's attorneys said they will appeal her conviction. Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi ordered the head of Tehran's Justice Department to make sure the appeals process is quick and fair.
Jackson has offered in the past to help release American hostages, most recently in 2005. At that time, he said he was willing to use his role as a religious leader to help secure the release of Roy Hallums, who was kidnapped along with five others in Baghdad in November 2004.
Hallums was freed in September 2005 when U.S. troops raided the farmhouse where he being held outside Baghdad.
In 1984, Jackson secured the release of a Navy pilot held in Syria. In 1991, he helped secure the release of 500 "international guests" held in Iraq. And in 1999, he persuaded Yugoslavia to release three U.S. soldiers held there during the Kosovo conflict.
Obama has called for Saberi's release, saying he is "gravely concerned with her safety and well-being." Watch how U.S.-Iranian relations are complicated »
"We are working to make sure that she is properly treated, and to get more information about the disposition of her case," Obama said Sunday.
"She is an American citizen, and I have complete confidence that she was not engaging in any sort of espionage."
Iranian officials initially said Saberi was held for buying a bottle of wine. The Foreign Ministry later said she was detained for reporting without proper credentials.
Saberi, who comes from North Dakota, has been living in Iran since 2003, said the Committee to Protect Journalists, a journalists' advocacy group.
She has freelanced for National Public Radio and other news organizations, and was writing a book about Iranian culture.
Iranian authorities revoked her press credentials in 2006, but Saberi continued to file short news items without permission, the journalists' group said.
Saberi was detained in January, although no formal charges were disclosed. On April 9, word emerged that Saberi had been charged with espionage.
"Without press credentials and under the name of being a reporter, she was carrying out espionage activities," Hassan Haddad, a deputy public prosecutor, told the Iranian Students News Agency.
Authorities also said Saberi had confessed. Her father said he thinks she was coerced into making damaging statements.
Shirin Ebadi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, took up the case of Roxana Saberi at the request of Saberi's family, her father, Reza Saberi, told CNN Wednesday. Ebadi heads the Center for Defenders of Human Rights in Iran.
Saberi, 31, was sentenced Saturday to eight years in prison after a one-day trial that was closed to the public. President Obama, as well as other U.S. and international officials sharply denounced the decision.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has offered to travel to Iran to help seek Saberi's release.
"If our voices are heard in Iran today, I would be anxious to travel with a delegation to Iran, if we are permitted, and make an appeal for her freedom," said the longtime civil rights activist, according to his Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Jackson, 67, spoke Tuesday at a peace conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
"Whenever we've brought people out of captivity, whether in Syria, Cuba, Iraq or Yugoslavia, or Liberia, it's always opened a diplomatic door to reduce tensions," he said.
Saberi's attorneys said they will appeal her conviction. Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi ordered the head of Tehran's Justice Department to make sure the appeals process is quick and fair.
Jackson has offered in the past to help release American hostages, most recently in 2005. At that time, he said he was willing to use his role as a religious leader to help secure the release of Roy Hallums, who was kidnapped along with five others in Baghdad in November 2004.
Hallums was freed in September 2005 when U.S. troops raided the farmhouse where he being held outside Baghdad.
In 1984, Jackson secured the release of a Navy pilot held in Syria. In 1991, he helped secure the release of 500 "international guests" held in Iraq. And in 1999, he persuaded Yugoslavia to release three U.S. soldiers held there during the Kosovo conflict.
Obama has called for Saberi's release, saying he is "gravely concerned with her safety and well-being." Watch how U.S.-Iranian relations are complicated »
"We are working to make sure that she is properly treated, and to get more information about the disposition of her case," Obama said Sunday.
"She is an American citizen, and I have complete confidence that she was not engaging in any sort of espionage."
Iranian officials initially said Saberi was held for buying a bottle of wine. The Foreign Ministry later said she was detained for reporting without proper credentials.
Saberi, who comes from North Dakota, has been living in Iran since 2003, said the Committee to Protect Journalists, a journalists' advocacy group.
She has freelanced for National Public Radio and other news organizations, and was writing a book about Iranian culture.
Iranian authorities revoked her press credentials in 2006, but Saberi continued to file short news items without permission, the journalists' group said.
Saberi was detained in January, although no formal charges were disclosed. On April 9, word emerged that Saberi had been charged with espionage.
"Without press credentials and under the name of being a reporter, she was carrying out espionage activities," Hassan Haddad, a deputy public prosecutor, told the Iranian Students News Agency.
Authorities also said Saberi had confessed. Her father said he thinks she was coerced into making damaging statements.
Jordan: Latouf highlights importance of women’s empowerment
AMMAN (Petra) - Minister of Social Development Hala Latouf on Tuesday inaugurated a workshop on empowering women leaders in the Middle East. She highlighted Jordan’s programmes to empower women, noting that national strategies need to encourage women’s contributions in different economic activities. Organised by the US-based NGO Seeds of Peace, the workshop aimed at creating a suitable environment to help increase women's participation in political life.
Jordan: Women continue to be exploited by their employers, denied basic rights - study
Jordan Times
22 April 2009
AMMAN - Despite laws and regulations protecting women's labour rights, they continue to be exploited by their employers and denied their basic rights, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The study, carried out by the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA), attributed the practice to the fact that the majority of working women are ignorant about their rights guaranteed by labour laws.
NCFA Secretary General Haifa Abu Ghazaleh said the study examined and analysed laws and regulations governing women's employment to provide a supportive environment that encourages women to take part in the country's sustainable development process.
"The council seeks to study and analyse all laws related to the family and women, and find legal loopholes that prevent women from enjoying their rights endorsed by international conventions and human rights principles," Abu Ghazaleh said yesterday.
The study called for awareness-raising programmes to acquaint women with their rights and responsibilities, particularly those pertaining to working hours, night shifts, minimum wage, dangerous workplaces and types of occupations that negatively affect women's health.
The study also proposed legal amendments to articles that hinder gender equality such as the clause related to minimum wage when working conditions are similar between men and women.
Abu Ghazaleh said the study also recommended establishing nurseries in institutions for children of working mothers.
The NCFA secretary general noted that the study will be sent to the Lower House and Senate, as well as to legal advisers and those concerned with family and women's issues.
Established in 2001, the NCFA is a civil society organisation which supports, coordinates and facilitates the work of its partners and relevant institutions that are involved and influential in the field of family affairs.
The council seeks to contribute to a better quality of life for Jordanian families through a national vision that supports the country's development policies and enables the family to attain optimal aspirations.
By Hana Namrouqa
22 April 2009
AMMAN - Despite laws and regulations protecting women's labour rights, they continue to be exploited by their employers and denied their basic rights, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The study, carried out by the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA), attributed the practice to the fact that the majority of working women are ignorant about their rights guaranteed by labour laws.
NCFA Secretary General Haifa Abu Ghazaleh said the study examined and analysed laws and regulations governing women's employment to provide a supportive environment that encourages women to take part in the country's sustainable development process.
"The council seeks to study and analyse all laws related to the family and women, and find legal loopholes that prevent women from enjoying their rights endorsed by international conventions and human rights principles," Abu Ghazaleh said yesterday.
The study called for awareness-raising programmes to acquaint women with their rights and responsibilities, particularly those pertaining to working hours, night shifts, minimum wage, dangerous workplaces and types of occupations that negatively affect women's health.
The study also proposed legal amendments to articles that hinder gender equality such as the clause related to minimum wage when working conditions are similar between men and women.
Abu Ghazaleh said the study also recommended establishing nurseries in institutions for children of working mothers.
The NCFA secretary general noted that the study will be sent to the Lower House and Senate, as well as to legal advisers and those concerned with family and women's issues.
Established in 2001, the NCFA is a civil society organisation which supports, coordinates and facilitates the work of its partners and relevant institutions that are involved and influential in the field of family affairs.
The council seeks to contribute to a better quality of life for Jordanian families through a national vision that supports the country's development policies and enables the family to attain optimal aspirations.
By Hana Namrouqa
Jordan: Latouf highlights importance of women’s empowerment
AMMAN (Petra) - Minister of Social Development Hala Latouf on Tuesday inaugurated a workshop on empowering women leaders in the Middle East. She highlighted Jordan’s programmes to empower women, noting that national strategies need to encourage women’s contributions in different economic activities. Organised by the US-based NGO Seeds of Peace, the workshop aimed at creating a suitable environment to help increase women's participation in political life.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Saudi Arabia: Saudi women to sell goods in Jeddah mall
Saudi Gazette
By Mohammad Hadhadh
JEDDAH – Twenty-two Saudi women have signed contracts to rent stalls at Al-Murjan Mall in Jeddah after being selected in a public draw at the Jeddah Mayoralty in conjunction with Abullatif Jamil Center for Community Service.
The contracts were signed to put an end to a problem created when municipality staff removed the stalls of some women from the mall almost two months ago. It is important to reorganize stalls since some women used to sell their goods randomly in front of the mall, said Dr. Nasir Al-Jarallah, Director General of Public Interest Markets and head of the Stalls Organizing Committee in Al-Murjan Mall.
However, Ali Al-Qahtani, Director of Bab Rizq Jameel Program in Jeddah, explained that the stalls project is aimed at finding job opportunities for women and at supporting small businesses.
He said that the problem started when a number of women erected stalls randomly in front of Al-Murjan Mall without licenses. We contacted the municipality which chose appropriate places for the stalls. The mall owner volunteered space for the stalls inside the mall, while the Bab Rizq Jameel Program agreed to pay the rental fees which have been reduced from SR3,600 yearly to SR2,400. Women investing in the stalls will pay back the amount in installments. – Okaz/SG
By Mohammad Hadhadh
JEDDAH – Twenty-two Saudi women have signed contracts to rent stalls at Al-Murjan Mall in Jeddah after being selected in a public draw at the Jeddah Mayoralty in conjunction with Abullatif Jamil Center for Community Service.
The contracts were signed to put an end to a problem created when municipality staff removed the stalls of some women from the mall almost two months ago. It is important to reorganize stalls since some women used to sell their goods randomly in front of the mall, said Dr. Nasir Al-Jarallah, Director General of Public Interest Markets and head of the Stalls Organizing Committee in Al-Murjan Mall.
However, Ali Al-Qahtani, Director of Bab Rizq Jameel Program in Jeddah, explained that the stalls project is aimed at finding job opportunities for women and at supporting small businesses.
He said that the problem started when a number of women erected stalls randomly in front of Al-Murjan Mall without licenses. We contacted the municipality which chose appropriate places for the stalls. The mall owner volunteered space for the stalls inside the mall, while the Bab Rizq Jameel Program agreed to pay the rental fees which have been reduced from SR3,600 yearly to SR2,400. Women investing in the stalls will pay back the amount in installments. – Okaz/SG
Algeria: Women of the Streets, on the Bench of Algerian Society
Le Monde, 04.21.09
Many women, often victims of forced marriages, incest, divorces, pregnancy or a relationship outside of marriage, take to the streets. They often have children, and are excluded from society after having been disowned by their family. This has enormous repercussions on the status of Algerian society and the Algerian family: “a society in crisis is born of a family in crisis.”
Many women, often victims of forced marriages, incest, divorces, pregnancy or a relationship outside of marriage, take to the streets. They often have children, and are excluded from society after having been disowned by their family. This has enormous repercussions on the status of Algerian society and the Algerian family: “a society in crisis is born of a family in crisis.”
Monday, April 20, 2009
Mauritania: Mauritania police violently break up women's demo
AFP
Apr 19, 2009
NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Mauritanian police on Sunday violently broke up a sit-in protest of some 60 women against last year's coup and planned June presidential elections in the West African country.
"Several women including members of parliament, former ministers and some political activists were wounded by blows with truncheons and clubs," the anti-coup National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD), one of the protest's organisers, said in a statement.
Women at the demonstration, held in front of the headquarters of the United Nations mission in Mauritania, shouted "No the coup!" and "The road to the June 6 (elections) is the road to chaos!"
They also called for the release of political prisoners before being roughly dispersed by police.
The international community has widely condemned the August coup, which ousted Mauritania's first democratically elected president.
The ruling military junta has since promised a return to what it calls "constitutional order" and to hold elections on June 6.
Coup leader, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, stepped down as head of state on Thursday so he could run for president.
Apr 19, 2009
NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Mauritanian police on Sunday violently broke up a sit-in protest of some 60 women against last year's coup and planned June presidential elections in the West African country.
"Several women including members of parliament, former ministers and some political activists were wounded by blows with truncheons and clubs," the anti-coup National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD), one of the protest's organisers, said in a statement.
Women at the demonstration, held in front of the headquarters of the United Nations mission in Mauritania, shouted "No the coup!" and "The road to the June 6 (elections) is the road to chaos!"
They also called for the release of political prisoners before being roughly dispersed by police.
The international community has widely condemned the August coup, which ousted Mauritania's first democratically elected president.
The ruling military junta has since promised a return to what it calls "constitutional order" and to hold elections on June 6.
Coup leader, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, stepped down as head of state on Thursday so he could run for president.
Saudi Arabia: Rape scene on TV stirs debate
Najah Alosaimi | Arab News
RAISING THE BAR: Lamia’a Tareq, left, and Rana Abu Ghali who played raped sisters. (AN photo)
RIYADH: On a recent Friday night, thousands of television viewers across the Kingdom were shocked to see an explicit portrayal of a violent rape of two Saudi women.
Unprecedented for a Saudi TV, the three-minute scene showed two sisters being kidnapped by two men they met online, taken to a weekend home outside Jeddah, beaten and then violently raped.
While one girl is shown tearfully pleading for help, the other is seen having her abaya stripped away. The scene ends when one rapist threatens to circulate picture of the rapes via Bluetooth if they dare go to police.
The scene was a part of “Asakinat fe Qolubena,” (Dwellers in our Hearts) a new television series drama being aired on MBC1. It illustrates how Saudi drama has become more bold and sophisticated in exposing social problems.
“Yes, we expected the program to be controversial,” said Hassan Assiri, executive director of the producing company Al-Sadaf for Audio and Visual Production. “Until recently, Saudi drama tended to tackle taboos only implicitly.”
This program aims to move these taboos into the public eye in order to make people realize on their own that such violence is unacceptable.
“There have been some women who had similar shocking incidents inside the Kingdom recently... so we are not making up stories!” he said.
Indeed, technology was the tool that revealed scandals that shocked society, such as the Panda girl incident where a black man rapes a teenage Saudi girl, followed by Al-Nahdah pedestrian bridge incident, in which four Saudi boys filmed themselves sexually harassing girls.
The rape episode, entitled “Eqab,” was one of many other bold ones shown at that ongoing weekly series, which discussed many topics that have never been openly talked about, such as, rape, AIDS and marital abuse. The overall series topics revolve around forms of problems facing women in Saudi Arabia.
The program has been revealed as the top-rated program on all of television since January, according to a ratings survey carried out by Ipsos-Stat.
Assiri justified choosing women to be the core of his drama.
“Some men still think that decent women should never leave their homes and if they do, then they deserve any danger that might happen,” he said.
Assiri, who is an actor as well, refused to describe his series as “provoking.” “I think the Turkish soap operas, which are popular among Saudis, are bolder,” he said, adding that many people blame him for discussing social problems in his series.
“Violence against women persists in every country; why we are ashamed to admit it in our country?”
The series has its share of attacks and criticisms from critics and the public as well. Drama critic Mamdooh Al-Mehainy, encourages programs that bring social problems into the open, but he thinks the way such topics are addressed to viewers particularly in “Asakinat fe Qolubena” is onedimensional.
Talking specifically about “Eqab” episode, he said it conveyed the wrong message to me as viewer.
“Instead of putting emphasis on the new e-crimes law that specifies a range of offenses and penalties, including fines and imprisonment for computer hacking or harassment, the episode shows that men could kidnap and rape girls they meet online without any control,” he said, adding it also gives the impression that women who use the Internet invite scandal, which implies women should not use the Internet.
“I believe the episode has frightened people instead of educating them,” he said.
He added that Saudis are emotional and such topics probably would make them to reject technology or prevent their women from using Internet.
However, viewers received the drama message differently. “It freaked me out,” said Maha Sa’ad, a mother of four teenage girls.
“Honestly, I couldn’t sleep that night because I was thinking if these girls were my daughters.”
She hopes this could be a wake up call for the girls who believe in relationships before marriage.
Likewise, Abdullah Al-Hamrani, a father in his late 40s, thinks that such dramas distort the image of Saudi society especially that million of viewers around the Middle East have watched the program.
“Regardless whether this incident has ever occurred in our society or not, don’t we have other bright stories to tell our Islamic society? These incidents are not happening every day,” he said.
Asakinat fe Qolubena was filmed in Riyadh, Jeddah, Manama and Damascus. The program featured Gulf stars such as Lamia’a Tareq, Badriyah Ahmed, Turky Al-Yousif and Jasim Al-Nabhan.
RAISING THE BAR: Lamia’a Tareq, left, and Rana Abu Ghali who played raped sisters. (AN photo)
RIYADH: On a recent Friday night, thousands of television viewers across the Kingdom were shocked to see an explicit portrayal of a violent rape of two Saudi women.
Unprecedented for a Saudi TV, the three-minute scene showed two sisters being kidnapped by two men they met online, taken to a weekend home outside Jeddah, beaten and then violently raped.
While one girl is shown tearfully pleading for help, the other is seen having her abaya stripped away. The scene ends when one rapist threatens to circulate picture of the rapes via Bluetooth if they dare go to police.
The scene was a part of “Asakinat fe Qolubena,” (Dwellers in our Hearts) a new television series drama being aired on MBC1. It illustrates how Saudi drama has become more bold and sophisticated in exposing social problems.
“Yes, we expected the program to be controversial,” said Hassan Assiri, executive director of the producing company Al-Sadaf for Audio and Visual Production. “Until recently, Saudi drama tended to tackle taboos only implicitly.”
This program aims to move these taboos into the public eye in order to make people realize on their own that such violence is unacceptable.
“There have been some women who had similar shocking incidents inside the Kingdom recently... so we are not making up stories!” he said.
Indeed, technology was the tool that revealed scandals that shocked society, such as the Panda girl incident where a black man rapes a teenage Saudi girl, followed by Al-Nahdah pedestrian bridge incident, in which four Saudi boys filmed themselves sexually harassing girls.
The rape episode, entitled “Eqab,” was one of many other bold ones shown at that ongoing weekly series, which discussed many topics that have never been openly talked about, such as, rape, AIDS and marital abuse. The overall series topics revolve around forms of problems facing women in Saudi Arabia.
The program has been revealed as the top-rated program on all of television since January, according to a ratings survey carried out by Ipsos-Stat.
Assiri justified choosing women to be the core of his drama.
“Some men still think that decent women should never leave their homes and if they do, then they deserve any danger that might happen,” he said.
Assiri, who is an actor as well, refused to describe his series as “provoking.” “I think the Turkish soap operas, which are popular among Saudis, are bolder,” he said, adding that many people blame him for discussing social problems in his series.
“Violence against women persists in every country; why we are ashamed to admit it in our country?”
The series has its share of attacks and criticisms from critics and the public as well. Drama critic Mamdooh Al-Mehainy, encourages programs that bring social problems into the open, but he thinks the way such topics are addressed to viewers particularly in “Asakinat fe Qolubena” is onedimensional.
Talking specifically about “Eqab” episode, he said it conveyed the wrong message to me as viewer.
“Instead of putting emphasis on the new e-crimes law that specifies a range of offenses and penalties, including fines and imprisonment for computer hacking or harassment, the episode shows that men could kidnap and rape girls they meet online without any control,” he said, adding it also gives the impression that women who use the Internet invite scandal, which implies women should not use the Internet.
“I believe the episode has frightened people instead of educating them,” he said.
He added that Saudis are emotional and such topics probably would make them to reject technology or prevent their women from using Internet.
However, viewers received the drama message differently. “It freaked me out,” said Maha Sa’ad, a mother of four teenage girls.
“Honestly, I couldn’t sleep that night because I was thinking if these girls were my daughters.”
She hopes this could be a wake up call for the girls who believe in relationships before marriage.
Likewise, Abdullah Al-Hamrani, a father in his late 40s, thinks that such dramas distort the image of Saudi society especially that million of viewers around the Middle East have watched the program.
“Regardless whether this incident has ever occurred in our society or not, don’t we have other bright stories to tell our Islamic society? These incidents are not happening every day,” he said.
Asakinat fe Qolubena was filmed in Riyadh, Jeddah, Manama and Damascus. The program featured Gulf stars such as Lamia’a Tareq, Badriyah Ahmed, Turky Al-Yousif and Jasim Al-Nabhan.
Kuwait: Australian woman gets 2-year prison sentence for insulting Kuwaiti ruler
AP
Published: April 20, 2009, 15:39
Kuwait City: The lawyer of an Australian woman detained in Kuwait says a court has convicted her of insulting the ruler and sentenced her to two years in prison.
Attorney Falah Al Hajraf would not comment on Monday's ruling but he says he is appealing it immediately.
Nasra Alshamery was arrested in December after arriving at Kuwait International Airport with her family on vacation. The lawyer says a misunderstanding between family members and an airport official turned into a melee during which the woman was accused of screaming obscenities and insulting the ruler.
The 43-year-old woman denied the charges, and her lawyer claims witness testimony was contradictory.
Published: April 20, 2009, 15:39
Kuwait City: The lawyer of an Australian woman detained in Kuwait says a court has convicted her of insulting the ruler and sentenced her to two years in prison.
Attorney Falah Al Hajraf would not comment on Monday's ruling but he says he is appealing it immediately.
Nasra Alshamery was arrested in December after arriving at Kuwait International Airport with her family on vacation. The lawyer says a misunderstanding between family members and an airport official turned into a melee during which the woman was accused of screaming obscenities and insulting the ruler.
The 43-year-old woman denied the charges, and her lawyer claims witness testimony was contradictory.
Kuwait: Kuwaiti women hopeful of an entry into Parliament
Kuwait Times
Published Date: April 20, 2009
KUWAIT: Kuwaiti youngsters can pick their representatives from among many since preparations are in full swing for the upcoming parliamentary polls. They mostly share the mutual desire to see women win parliamentary seats due to their wish to reverse the usually volatile political situation in the country. They believe that the presence of Kuwaiti women in the Parliament will be in everybody's interest. Maha Al-Anjari said that she would vote for women, who she said, are the most competent to feel for her concerns and deliver her requests. She also said that she would not favor those candidates who belong to political parties or factions. Hamad Al-Ali said he would cast his vote to the candidate who is really able to represent him regardless of gender. Pessimistic about the political situation in the country that is characterized by tribalism and sectarianism, he said that he would prefer to vote for women in the hope of bringing about political change. Fatima Al-Husseini said that candidates' educational certificates, ideology and political orientation are key to choosing his favorite. Khalid Al-Zawawi vowed to elect only nationalists, male or female. He called for giving women the opportunity to do something new and different on the local political arena, while hoping that they would achieve what men fail to. Ghassan Al-Waqian said that he would support those candidates who are keen about safeguarding civil liberty. He said that he was enthusiastic about women gain access to the Parliament.
Cabinet restricts candidates
Officials said the Cabinet will discuss several issues, such as banning citizens who hold a second nationality from serving in the next Parliament. The Cabinet session will be preceded by a meeting of the Cabinet's legal committee to discuss suggestions prohibiting nationals with another citizenship to run for the National Assembly; in addition, those individuals will be asked to give up one of the nationalities that they hold. Officials said candidates who do not respond to these requests will not be allowed to nominate themselves. The committee said it will prepare a detailed report that will be submitted by Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah to the Cabinet before a final decisions about the issue is made. Meanwhile, an official source said he expected that the Cabinet will either activate the current law that bans citizens from holding two nationalities or the Cabinet will adopt a bylaw to prohibit any person who has two nationalities from being nominated.
Buramiya, Al-Tahous may be nominated
The arrests of former MP Daifallah Buramiya and Khalid Al-Tahous by the State Security Department and their subsequent referral to the Public Prosecution Department will not affect their political future as they will be nominated as candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections, said Dr. Abaid Al-Wasmi, a law professor at Kuwait University. He said that even though the two men are being kept under custody, they will be allowed to authorize someone to submit nomination on their behalf to the election department at the Ministry of Interior, reported Al-Watan. The professor went on to say that that the law forbids authorization voting. However, it does not ban authorizations that are made to complete nomination procedures. Meanwhile, the Public Prosecution Office has begun interrogating Buramiya yesterday.
NA dissolution engineered
Unprincipled socially prominent figures have helped engineer the recent crisis between the National Assembly(NA) and the government, with their aim of dissolving the National Assembly, remarked Mohammad Al-Obaid, a former MP and candidate from the fifth constituency. He pointed out HH the Amir's wise decisions nipped their plans in the bud. Kuwait and the Kuwaiti people have been the only losers in the long run, he said. During a dinner banquet held at his residence, he blamed the government for stalling the country's development plans by refusing to cooperate with the National Assembly. The former lawmaker also felt that no clear-cut programs have been charted out to develop public services in the country. Al-Obaid stated that MPs have the right to inform any minister about their ministries' shortcomings. In case the minister does not respond with a suitable reply, the MP has the right to grill the minister. He asked next premier to appoint qualified ministers who will help contribute toward developing public services. He urged HH the Amir to intervene and grant pardon to candidate Khalid Al-Tahous.
Published Date: April 20, 2009
KUWAIT: Kuwaiti youngsters can pick their representatives from among many since preparations are in full swing for the upcoming parliamentary polls. They mostly share the mutual desire to see women win parliamentary seats due to their wish to reverse the usually volatile political situation in the country. They believe that the presence of Kuwaiti women in the Parliament will be in everybody's interest. Maha Al-Anjari said that she would vote for women, who she said, are the most competent to feel for her concerns and deliver her requests. She also said that she would not favor those candidates who belong to political parties or factions. Hamad Al-Ali said he would cast his vote to the candidate who is really able to represent him regardless of gender. Pessimistic about the political situation in the country that is characterized by tribalism and sectarianism, he said that he would prefer to vote for women in the hope of bringing about political change. Fatima Al-Husseini said that candidates' educational certificates, ideology and political orientation are key to choosing his favorite. Khalid Al-Zawawi vowed to elect only nationalists, male or female. He called for giving women the opportunity to do something new and different on the local political arena, while hoping that they would achieve what men fail to. Ghassan Al-Waqian said that he would support those candidates who are keen about safeguarding civil liberty. He said that he was enthusiastic about women gain access to the Parliament.
Cabinet restricts candidates
Officials said the Cabinet will discuss several issues, such as banning citizens who hold a second nationality from serving in the next Parliament. The Cabinet session will be preceded by a meeting of the Cabinet's legal committee to discuss suggestions prohibiting nationals with another citizenship to run for the National Assembly; in addition, those individuals will be asked to give up one of the nationalities that they hold. Officials said candidates who do not respond to these requests will not be allowed to nominate themselves. The committee said it will prepare a detailed report that will be submitted by Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah to the Cabinet before a final decisions about the issue is made. Meanwhile, an official source said he expected that the Cabinet will either activate the current law that bans citizens from holding two nationalities or the Cabinet will adopt a bylaw to prohibit any person who has two nationalities from being nominated.
Buramiya, Al-Tahous may be nominated
The arrests of former MP Daifallah Buramiya and Khalid Al-Tahous by the State Security Department and their subsequent referral to the Public Prosecution Department will not affect their political future as they will be nominated as candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections, said Dr. Abaid Al-Wasmi, a law professor at Kuwait University. He said that even though the two men are being kept under custody, they will be allowed to authorize someone to submit nomination on their behalf to the election department at the Ministry of Interior, reported Al-Watan. The professor went on to say that that the law forbids authorization voting. However, it does not ban authorizations that are made to complete nomination procedures. Meanwhile, the Public Prosecution Office has begun interrogating Buramiya yesterday.
NA dissolution engineered
Unprincipled socially prominent figures have helped engineer the recent crisis between the National Assembly(NA) and the government, with their aim of dissolving the National Assembly, remarked Mohammad Al-Obaid, a former MP and candidate from the fifth constituency. He pointed out HH the Amir's wise decisions nipped their plans in the bud. Kuwait and the Kuwaiti people have been the only losers in the long run, he said. During a dinner banquet held at his residence, he blamed the government for stalling the country's development plans by refusing to cooperate with the National Assembly. The former lawmaker also felt that no clear-cut programs have been charted out to develop public services in the country. Al-Obaid stated that MPs have the right to inform any minister about their ministries' shortcomings. In case the minister does not respond with a suitable reply, the MP has the right to grill the minister. He asked next premier to appoint qualified ministers who will help contribute toward developing public services. He urged HH the Amir to intervene and grant pardon to candidate Khalid Al-Tahous.
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