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.
Showing posts with label discrimination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discrimination. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
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.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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.
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