Afghanistan - Journalist Farida Nekzad Defies Warlords to Tell Women's Stories

12/05/08

By Sharmeen Gangat
WeNews correspondent

Farida Nekzad says she defies the warlords who have turned her native Afghanistan into a killing field of female journalists. She faces death threats to tell the stories of Afghan women; if she didn't, she wonders, "Who would?"

NEW YORK (WOMENSENEWS)--Farida Nekzad let the secret slip.

The vice president of the South Asia Media Commission and the managing editor of Afghanistan's sole independent news agency is pregnant and wants a baby girl.

During a visit to New York in November to accept two prestigious media awards--the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation and the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists--Nekzad told Women's eNews that she would want her daughter to be graced with a rare blessing for a woman in Afghanistan: freedom of speech.

"I want to break the silence," says Nekzad. "Whether I am dead or alive, the struggle should continue. Afghan women's voices should be heard."

Nekzad has been trying to break the silence over Afghan women's repression. Her stories speak of how Afghan women's human rights are subjected to discriminatory norms under warlords--local and regional military commanders--who have carved out their own fiefdoms and see themselves above the law in a country where corruption is the norm and a formal legal system is beyond the reach of locals.

"Warlords call themselves 'mujahedeen,'" says Nekzad, referring to their self-assumed role of a holy warrior, or mujahid. "They are not mujahedeen; they are criminals with ministerial positions" in the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Amid the continuing instability of the nation, Nekzad has written about what is happening to women under the reign of warlords, with a special focus on domestic violence against women and forced marriages.....more

BAOBAB for Women's Human Right’s 2008 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence In Commemoration of the UDHR @ 60

BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights is joining the rest of the world to mark this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender based violence. This year is remarkable because it also coincides with the 60 th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. BAOBAB’s commemoration of this year’s 16 Days will be centered on the 60 th Anniversary of the UDHR. The emphasis around the UDHR 60 is important because without the practical recognition of the human rights of women, the total realization of the human rights of all is still very far from us. The period is a great medium to further reiterate the call for a world of peace free from injustice and discrimination.

Advocacy around women’s rights issues in the last 6 decades has resulted in some significant but not sufficient changes.

Very good examples include the various international instruments at the United Nations level and at the African regional level. One persistent challenge has been the non domestication of these treaties at the National level.

For this year BAOBAB is organizing the under listed activities to reinvigorate the call for the domestication of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women by the Nigerian government as well as the implementation of all policies towards the promotion and protection of women’s human rights.

Launching of the Network of Journalist Against Violence Against Women on November 26 th

The network of Journalists against Violence against Violence Women (JAVAW) came into existence on December 8 th 2004 during a one-day workshop for journalists working in Lagos on using New Tactics to address Women’s Human Rights Issues in Nigeria. It was one of the activities carried out by BAOBAB to mark the “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. During the workshop, participants (mostly journalists) identified the need to utilize their professional expertise to reduce the occurrence of violence against women and young girls in Nigeria. The idea of forming the network according to the journalists was to ensure that journalists across Nigeria are actively engaged in the struggle. JAVAW identifies with BAOBAB’s vision and strategies and is set to work towards addressing issues of women’s human rights and in particular violence against women in Nigeria. BAOBAB in collaboration with the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists will on November 26 th launch the network at the National level. The sole objective of doing this is to broaden the scope of coverage of Violence against Women Issues by Nigerian Journalists and to introduce a significant change to reporting violence against women issues in Nigeria. In addition the launching will provide the space for an assessment of the Human Rights situation in the country in the eyes of the media so far.

The launching of the Network has been scheduled to take place as from 10 am at the Musa Ya ardua Centre, Abuja.

Volunteer Outreach Campaign to stop violence against women November 29 th to December 10 th

BAOBAB’s Volunteer Outreach Teams spread across Nigeria will be involved in the 16 Days of Activism in various ways all directed towards the recognition, promotion and protection of women’s human rights. Specifically there will be media campaign, walk and distribute IEC materials, participation in T.V talk shows, press interviews, sensitization workshops and enactment of plays on women’s human rights issues.

Men Defending Women’s Human Rights Defenders Walk November 29 th

Every year BAOBAB organizes a walk around selected major cities in Nigeria specifically to raise awareness on women’s human rights issues and to commemorate the internationally recognized day (November 29 th) for ‘Defending Women’s Human Rights Defenders’. It is also a period to distribute IEC materials like stickers with very powerful messages e.g. ‘Zero Tolerance to Violence against Women’ ‘Women’s Human Rights are Human Rights’

The AWID Forum 2008: The Power of Movements

From November 14-17, 2008, over 1,500 women's rights leaders and activists from around the world converged at the11th AWID International Forum to be held in Cape Town, South Africa to discuss the power of movements.

Each day, the Forum began with a plenary session that brought all the participants of the Forum together to explore key overarching questions.

Plenary 1: Women Organizing and Transforming the World

It's hard to believe that it has been three years since the 2005 AWID Forum in Bangkok - but the long-awaited 11th AWID International Forum on Women's Rights and Development began today, November 14, 2008, in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Plenary 2: Making our Movements Stronger: A Look Inside

Day two of the Forum, and today's plenary (like our feminism) was interwoven with digital stories, song and poetry, creating a comfortable space for the interesting and perhaps awkward task of looking inside our movements.

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Plenary 3: The Contexts of Our Organising

Often it is the context we work in that determines the way we organise.

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Plenary 4: The Future of Movements

How to capture our sharing, learning, insights, commitment and solidarity over these last four days? Where to from now?

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Nigeria: Young Women In Nigeria protest against Naval beating of Lady

WE ARE NOT HAPPY :: A message from some Young Women in Nigeria in reaction to the beating of Uzoma Okere.....

We learnt recently about a case where six armed naval ratings attached to a Rear Admiral went berserk in Lagos , beating up and stripping a lady identified as Uzoma Okere. This is totally unacceptable and as citizens of this country, we believe that we have a responsibility to call on other Nigerians especially the governement, law practitioners and other relevant authorities to bring these men to justice. In a country where we are committed to protecting the human rights of individuals, we cannot fold our arms and do nothing. We were not there at the scene of the incidence to stop such distaseteful act but we can still do something and even if we cannot do anything, we will speak against it. This is totally wrong.

This young lady could be any one of us, our mother, our sister, cousin, aunty or someone close to us. She id the victim today. Tommorrow we do not know who it will be. Should we continue to live in fear? Is our country not safe enough? Can we not find refuge in our justice system? I don't think any of these is true.

We as young Nigerian women are not happy with what has happened and we are saying something about it now. We are also calling on our mothers, fathers, uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters and others who have the authority and resources to punish these culprits to do so. This is the time for change in the world and we have to contribute in our own little way to creating that positive change and making the world a better and safer place for us, our mothers and daughters.

Nigerians react to naval ratings‘ assault on lady

By Chinyere Fred-Adegbulugbe, Olalekan Adetayo and Victor Sam
Published: Wednesday, 5 Nov 2008

Angry reactions on Tuesday trailed the Monday assault by armed naval ratings on a lady, Uzoma Okere, in Lagos.
All those who reacted, including human rights activists and hundreds of online readers of THE PUNCH, described the act as barbaric and called for the prosecution of the perpetrators.
The reactions came at a time when some concerned Lagosians who witnessed and recorded the dastardly act on a camcoder released its video footage to the public.
Six armed naval ratings attached to a Rear Admiral identified as Harry Arogundade, went wild on Monday on Muri Okunola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, beating and stripping the lady naked.
According to eyewitnesses, the naval ratings hit the lady with their gun butts and beat her with horsewhips.
She was accused of not quickly giving way for the naval officer‘s convoy on her way home in her Mitsubishi Colt car.
By the time the rage ended, Okere, who was forcibly handcuffed and dragged into a private residence on the street in a humiliating assault, was left with a battered face, blood-shot eyes and bruises all over her body.
She was admitted at Kamorass Hospital on Victoria Island.
As at 6.30pm on Tuesday, 98 reactions had been posted to THE PUNCH‘s website by Nigerians (both at home and in the Diaspora) who were irked by the incident, making the news item top on the list of most read stories on the website for the day.
All of them agreed that no man, no matter his social status, had the right to infringe on another citizen‘s fundamental human right.
In her reaction, the Director, Gender Development Action, Ms. Ada Agina-Ude, described the assault on the lady as a display of raw power.
In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, Agina-Ude called on lawyers, women and human rights activists, to rally round the lady with a view to getting justice.
She said, ”My first reaction is that what type of military personnel will beat a woman to that extent because of a traffic offence, assuming she even committed it. I don‘t understand that kind of mentality.
”She did the right thing by getting a lawyer. I plead with the lawyer to ensure that the case is pursued to the end.”
Another activist, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, while describing the incident as condemnable and barbaric, said all those involved should be brought to book.
She added that it was regrettable that a Rear Admiral who should be looked up to by junior officers for direction could allow his boys to misbehave in his presence.
Also, the Deputy Director, Women Advocacy and Documentation Research Centre, Mrs. Grace Ketefe, said the naval ratings‘ action was against the dignity of a woman.
Ketefe said because of her organisation‘s belief that the perpetrators should not go unpunished; it would soon address the public and petition policy makers on the issue.
But the Nigerian Navy, on Tuesday, attributed the incident to provocation from the victim.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Commodore David Naibada, alleged that Okere provoked one of the naval ratings when she stepped out of her car that was in front of the admiral‘s convoy and seized the horsewhip he was holding.
Naibada accused the victim of making up stories to embarrass the admiral ”who incidentally was a junior officer to her father when the duo were in the military school together.

Somalia: Stoning to death of a 13-year old girl

4/11/2008

13-year-old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was killed on Monday, 27 October 2008, by a group of 50 men who stoned her to death in a stadium in the southern port of Kismayu, Somalia in front of around 1,000 spectators. She was accused of adultery in breach of Islamic law but, her father and other sources told Amnesty International that she had in fact been raped by three men, and had attempted to report this rape to the al-Shabab militia who control Kismayo, and it was this act that resulted in her being accused of adultery and detained. None of men she accused of rape were arrested.

Some of the Somali journalists who had reported she was 23 have told Amnesty International that this age was based upon a judgement of her age from her physical appearance.

She was accused of adultery in breach of Islamic law but, her father and other sources told Amnesty International that she had in fact been raped by three men, and had attempted to report this rape to the al-Shabab militia who control Kismayo, and it was this act that resulted in her being accused of adultery and detained. None of men she accused of rape were arrested.

“This was not justice, nor was it an execution. This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo,” said David Copeman, Amnesty’s International Somalia Campaigner.

“This killing is yet another human rights abuse committed by the combatants to the conflict in Somalia, and again demonstrates the importance of international action to investigate and document such abuses, through an International Commission of Inquiry.”...read more

Congo :: October 31, 2008 || Goma, Congo --

Global Call for Action

DEMAND END TO WAR-RAPES IN GOMA DRC!

The 10-year civil war of the Democratic Republic of Congo battle has taken a turn for the worse this week, as fighting between several warring groups rages outside the city of Goma, long a safe haven for refugees of the war. The war has killed approximately 5.4 million people since 1998, and tens of thousands of women and many children have been systematically raped by warring groups. Today, as the war closes in on Goma, fresh atrocities are occurring, including rapes of women and vulnerable children by drunk soldiers. We must act to better protect residents from further violence and denounce sexual violence used as a 'weapon' of war.

We, the undersigned, urgently urge Congolese, UN and other key parties in and outside the DRC to act urgently to PROTECT, PREVENT and RESPOND to violence and brutal rapes of women and children in the embattled area surrounding the city of Goma, and to protect civilians of North Kivu, where there one million internally displaced people (IDP).  With an estimated 20,000 refugees flooding into the area surrounding Goma, the situation there is a tinderbox, and hunger is driving the violence. The increased pitting of people against each other along ethnic lines represents a very dangerous reality. Since August, when the fighting began to escalate, mass rapes have increased – 40 a day by some estimates. We must stop the violence happening today– and tomorrow-- through our global action and voices.

Reports from Heal Africa in Goma, one of the few  humanitarian NGOs still operating in Goma which helps rape survivors, stress the urgent need for UN troops to intervene to protect civilians from violence – and this includes sexual violence. Protection is also needed to help guard humanitarian and local hospitals who operate as impartial, independent professionals helping the displaced and wounded, including survivors of sexual violence. With hunger and looting on the rise, they are being targeted.

Recently a broad coalition of Congolese women and survivors groups in eastern Congo publicly denounced rapes in the Congo and issued a global call for solidarity action, and for their voices to be heard. We have heard their voices and we stand in solidarity with them, demanding world leaders, and belligerents in the DRC conflict act immediately to stop the violence, including rapes in Congo:

These actions include:

·        Demonstrate via concrete action and public statements their recent global commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 1820on women, peace and security, that demands the "immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence against civilians" and affirming that "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide."

·        Deploy increased UN Peacekeepers (MONUC) to protect civilians from attack – including gang rapes of women by drunk soldiers reported in Goma. MONUC must intervene to stop rapes!

Right now, all peacekeeping bodies are making what relief workers brand a 'half-hearted' and inadequate response to violence. The MONUC troops must be actively deployed to protect civilians. This action by MONUC and the international community would directly support SR Resolution 1820 and international laws that view these war rapes  as'sexual war crimes.'

·        Deploy MONUC peacekeepers to protect displaced civilians hoping to return to their homes.

·        Provide US and UN representatives, along with Congo MONUC and State Dept African Affairs representatives,  with the mandate, authority and resources to take clear actions to help broker a durable peace in North Kivu, and to demand that key warring actors support Sec Res 1820by stopping war-rapes and atrocities against civilians, and instead, actively protect civilians from violence and rapes.

·        Create a Sexual Violence Rapid Response Unit within MONUC and create small teams at the different IDP centers that include local women to coordinate MONUC's and the humanitarian community's response to rapes, and assist raped survivors to safely access emergency medical and counseling services from HEAL Africa and frontline NGOs equipped to assist.

·        Provide immediate increase of World Food Program donations to Goma, which now has ¼ of the rations needed, based on HEAL Africa's estimates. The lack of food is causing fierce competition for available resources, and threatens the relationship of communities being forced together in close proximity. Hunger is driving violence.

·        Â Local Responses needed:

·        Implement a coordinated local emergency plan to respond to the current increase of rape that  includes:

o   Units protected by MONUC forces who can reach raped women amidst fighting

o   a central mobile telephone number for reporting rapes,

o   linking relief workers at the few intl NGOs active around Goma (MSF Belgium, IMC, Norwegian Church AID, etc.) and at IDP centers in North Kivu to key contacts and staff who have mobile and fixed medical teams to assist rape survivors.

o   Similar steps are needed in South Kivu, where Panzi Hospital coordinates responses and care for survivors of sexual violence in Bukavu. Panzi has also been targeted by violence, and needs further support.

o   Support and equip relief teams to provide armedPROTECTION and FUEL, WATER and FOOD to internees in IDP camps in North Kivu, and to provide protection against sexual violence in the camps by recruiting women and men chosen by camp leaders to receive training in post- rape counseling and medical referral for rape survivors.

o   Recruit and train local men and women from existing NGOs in Goma who have programs  and trained counselors to work in the IDP camps, and refer survivors to these  local NGOs for supportive services and shelter. Local NGOs are receiving survivors in their homes and villages and need to be directly linked to arriving emergency medical providers and camp managers.

NOTE: This petition will be sent to UN,US, Congolese and other key leaders and actors in government and civil society to demand action today to stop the violence in Congo.

Niger :: Woman wins slavery case against Niger

ABDOULAYE MASSALATCHI | NIAMEY, NIGER - Oct 27 2008 13:53 

A West African regional court of justice convicted the state of Niger on Monday for failing to protect a 12-year-old girl from being sold into slavery in a case anti-slavery campaigners hope will set a precedent.

The regional Ecowas Court of Justice ruled that Niger had failed in its obligations to protect Hadijatou Mani, who says she was sold into slavery in 1996 for around $500 and regularly beaten and sexually abused.

"I am very happy with this decision," Mani, now 24, told reporters at the court. Her comments, in the Hausa language spoken widely in Africa's Sahel region on the southern fringe of the Sahara, were translated by an interpreter.

Mani was at one point jailed for bigamy by Niger's court system when her former master opposed her marriage to another man, insisting she had automatically become his own wife when he set her free in 2005.

The case against the state was brought with the help of British-based anti-slavery organisations as a test case to press African governments to stamp out slavery, which campaigners say is rife in some African countries despite legal

prohibitions. ......read more

Nigeria :: How immigration officials and voodoo aid human trafficking business in Nigeria

By Musikilu Mojeed

Punch on the Web

Published: Friday, 24 Oct 2008

They are supposed to be huge barriers to traffickers, but many in the anti-trafficking movement see some security agencies, embassy and airline officials as the major leak in the bid to drive the human merchants underground.

Mrs. Victoria Robert, with some victims

Most of those contacted in the course of this investigation were unanimous that human trafficking has continued to thrive in Nigeria because of collusion between bad eggs among security, immigration, embassy and airline officials and traffickers. These officials often take bribes in exchange for facilitating smooth passage across the borders for traffickers and their victims.

A source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told this reporter that France and some other European countries had complained bitterly and repeatedly “that some of our immigration and border officials and airlines had been looking the other way and allowing traffickers to have their way.”

Nigeria :: Women as Change Agents in Development

Gender activists in Nigeria appear to have joined the global movement to properly position women as catalysts for development. Ahead of an international conference scheduled to hold in Abuja, this month, Olaolu Olusina examines some of the issues that are germane to the forthcomng forum

It couldn't have come at a better time and it is generally believed that the forthcoming Women in Politics and Government (WINPOGOV) Conference and Awards  2008 scheduled to hold in the Nigeria's capital, Abuja  this month, really holds a lot for Nigerian women. An initiative of the Lagos-based Alpha Institute, a non-government, non-partisan and non-profit organisation, in collaboration with the Nigerian Network of Non-Governmental Organisations(NNNGOs), it is strategically  designed to address issues that are germane to the global efforts at promoting  gender equality and empowerment of women .The overarching objective, however, is to properly  position women as catalysts for development.....