Women's Views on News |
| ‘Honour killings’: remembering Banaz Posted: 29 Jan 2016 04:04 AM PST
Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) and filmmaker Deeyah Khan have joined forces to launch a campaign in remembrance of Banaz Mahmod on the 10th anniversary of her murder. Ten years ago Banaz Mahmod was brutally murdered and gang-raped by a team of men recruited and managed by her uncle. Banaz was a victim of the repressive codes of "honour" operating in the close-knit Kurdish communities. Forced into marriage at 17 years of age, then divorced after brutal domestic violence, Banaz fell in love with a man she chose, but this was considered to have brought 'shame' upon her family. After holding a family council meeting, the family decided that Banaz had to die. Although Banaz sought help from the police several times, she never received the help she needed and she was murdered, and her body was stuffed into a suitcase in London and driven to Birmingham and buried in a back garden. Two of Banaz's rapists and murderers fled to KRG-Iraq where, sickeningly, they boasted about their role in her "honour" killing. The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation's Justice for Banaz campaign was pivotal in successfully demanding that the British government extradite these men to the UK as well as highlighting police failures during Banaz's lifetime. Because of the massive failings in Banaz's case, there was an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission in 2008. While it was disappointing that the individuals who had failed Banaz were not held accountable, there were clear conclusions that Banaz had been failed by the services which were there to protect her. Strikingly, a report which IKWRO campaigned for that was published in December 2015 by HMIC, the body that inspects the police, revealed that the failings that led to Banaz's death in 2005 are still present today, with very few forces ready to cope with the specific demands presented by violence inspired by 'honour'. Banaz's story was retold in the moving Emmy-award winning documentary, 'Banaz', which was directed by Deeyah Khan through Fuuse Films. The film featured the work of Diana Nammi, Executive Director of IKWRO, who deals with many women in situations similar to Banaz. The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) and Deeyah Khan are now joining forces to launch a campaign in remembrance of Banaz on the 10th anniversary of her death. Diana Nammi said: "We know from IKWRO's work that lessons have not been learned from Banaz's case. "There are still many women in situations like Banaz, and the necessary provisions to help them just aren't there. "'Honour'-based violence (HBV) is a serious, organised crime and a matter of life and death which needs particular kinds of attention: the fact that multiple perpetrators are often involved, the escalation patterns, and the barriers to women from minority communities in reaching out mean that we need every service to be able to respond immediately and effectively. "We call upon the government and all services to work together on five steps to ensure the safety of women like Banaz." The five steps are: Police forces across the UK must take on board the criticisms in the HMIC report of December 2015 and develop effective responses to 'honour'-based violence; Other services, including education, health, social services and housing, must develop reports on their own readiness to respond to 'honour'-based violence similar to that conducted by HMIC; Increasing expertise and collaboration across all service providers; Healthy relationships education in schools that includes 'honour'-based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage; and Secure funding of those NGOs which provide the greatest help to those at risk. Deeyah Khan said: "It is devastating to think that so little has been learned from the death of Banaz Mahmod, and that another young woman could lose her life due to failings of British services. "We need to do everything we can to ensure that this tragedy is never repeated, and that British police and other agencies learn to take violence against minority women seriously. "The greatest tribute to Banaz's memory would be to identify and correct all the failings which continue to put the lives of women like her at risk." Earlier this month Swedish MEP Anna Hedh, from the S&D group in the European Parliament, hosted a screening of 'Honour' – 'Heder' in Swedish – a film based on a real case, that shows different forms of violence against women made in the name of "honour". Starting out as a no-budget project of the heart, this film has become a national tool for Sweden to use when honour violence is discussed. The film’s creators, director Peter Sporremark and producer Ezzeddine Zein, gathered stories for six months from boys and girls suffering from honour violence. And together with experts, counsellors and teachers they put together the script to make it as authentic as possible. Honour violence affects many people all over the world and Honour is an important and valuable resource to help a lot of the victims and to spread information about the problem. For, as Zein explained, 'A student, at the very same school where I work, a 16 year-old boy, killed his own sister; Maria 19 years old, in the name of "honour". The boy stabbed his own sister with 120 stabs, can you believe it? 'After seeing that so close I decided I had to do something.' The screening Anna Hedh hosted was followed by a discussion with the crew of the film, European Parliament researchers and women's rights organisations, such as the European Women's Lobby (EWL) and the Arab Women's Solidarity Association Belgium (AWSA-Be). In her opening speech, Hedh highlighted the close links between honour-based violence and gender based violence. 'Honour-based crimes' receive this name because of the motivation of the perpetrators that is redressing a perceived loss of honour. "However, women are the majority of the victims of honour crimes as its behaviour is the one that is judged on the basis of rules and traditions that are patriarchal and often established by men," Hedh stressed. The screening came after the publication in December 2015 of a briefing note on 'Combating 'honour' crimes in the EU' released by the European Parliament Research Studies (EPRS). Awareness of ‘honour’ crimes has increased in the EU in the past decade. Even though the majority of such crimes still usually go unreported, even when made known to the police, this type of crime has often been miscategorised. Experts have warned that this type of violent behaviour is different from, for example, domestic violence, because perpetrators are usually groups of people who find rationale for their crime in their cultures or traditions. The perpetrators believe that by abusing or even killing the victim, they are protecting the family’s or the community’s ‘honour’, which has somehow been ‘tarnished’ by the behaviour of the victim. Globally, the majority of ‘honour’ crimes are committed in the Middle East and southern Asia. Even though such crimes have mostly been associated with Islam, they also occur in Hindu, Sikh, Druze, Christian and Jewish communities. The EU and the Council of Europe have given much attention to ‘honour’ crimes, mostly through documents dealing with violence against women in general. Although the incidence of ‘honour’ crimes is higher outside the EU, increased migration and subsequent problems with integration of immigrants into host communities have contributed to these types of crimes becoming a serious issue for some EU countries as well. Apart from individual, national efforts, EU institutions have also taken steps to combat ‘honour’-based violence, mostly within the framework of combatting gender-based violence. The European Parliament has specifically addressed the issue through several resolutions covering ‘honour’ crimes as well as other types of violence over vulnerable groups. The EU institutions have also shown concern for victims outside EU borders, and repeatedly address these issues in countries wanting to join the EU – for instance, Turkey – and in others such as Pakistan and Yemen. During the debate after the screening of the film, Martina Prpic, author of the research, stressed the fact that "patriarchy is considered the root cause of honour-based crimes" and recommended "not to attribute them solely to immigrant culture and religion". Prpic also informed about the controversy around the definition of honour crimes and the lack of accurate data in the EU, which is linked to the fact that most honour crimes are unreported. In the UK, there are approximately 3000 attacks per year and a murder per month motivated by the notion of honour. Pierrette Pape, Policy and Campaigns Director at the European Women's Lobby, highlighted how "violence against women is a consequence of the imbalanced power relations between women and men". In the same regard, violence against women made in the name of honour is an illustration of the gender inequalities that are still present in our societies. Pape praised how the film Honour manages to represent different types of gender-based violence such as forced marriage, virginity testing, harassment and murder. These types of violence are very much linked to the culture of sexism and the collective understanding of a certain (detrimental) form of masculinity. International legal instruments such as the UN CEDAW Convention and the Council of Europe on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention) specifically address the issue of honour-related crimes insisting on the fact that tradition or so-called "honour" cannot be seen as justification for any act of violence against women. The EWL has been calling for ratification and adequate implementation of the Istanbul Convention in all the European countries and for the EU's accession to the Convention. More concretely, Pape stressed the need to protect migrant women in Europe by providing them an effective legal status that doesn't make them depend on their family situation, in order to be able to flee a situation of male violence. The EWL also calls for all asylum procedures to comply with the UNHCR Guidelines on International Protection and to include gender-related persecution as a ground for asylum. Alicia Arbid, representing AWSA-BE, the Arab Women's Solidarity in Belgium, praised the movie as a tool to work on prevention and insisted on the need to put a focus on preventative measures to end crimes in the name of honour, working specifically as well on the issue of masculinities. "As shown in the film, women's sexuality keeps being a taboo issue in our societies," Arbid said. AWSA-Be is an association of men and women of Arab, Belgian and other origins, whose activities aims at encouraging women from the Arab World to free themselves from any form of domination, to break down stereotypes and to promote solidarity in favour of the emancipation of women and living together in diversity. AWSA-Be also works to develop an understanding of women's problems in their respective societies. Finally, Arbid stressed the need for adequate protection services to women victims of crimes in the name of honour and other forms of male violence. This includes effective and holistic support to address the psychological and economic needs of these women. |
| Need to look closely at food packaging Posted: 29 Jan 2016 03:47 AM PST
EU legislation on materials which come into contact with food is seriously inadequate, according to the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL). HEAL is seeking proper regulation of all types of "Food Contact Materials", including a prohibition on the use of both endocrine disrupting chemicals and "Substances of Very High Concern", or SVHCs, as defined under REACH chemical regulation. HEAL is a European not-for-profit organisation addressing how the environment affects health in the European Union (EU). Speaking at a recent meeting in the European Parliament, Lisette van Vliet, HEAL's Senior Policy Adviser said: "Current EU legislation of food contact materials is not fit for its purpose of protecting public health. "It permits chemicals that are prohibited in other products under other EU law. "Equally worrying is the fact that it ignores today's science on endocrine disrupting chemicals." Concerns about plastics leaching into food from packaging have already led to an EU ban on Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and limitations on the use of certain phthalates in food contact materials made of plastic. Both these substances are known to be endocrine disruptors. A recent study on plastic food containers by the Danish Consumer Council project, "THINK Chemicals" showed that chemicals can migrate from the plastic walls of the containers into any warm fatty foods, such as gravy or lasagne. Chemicals in any material that come into contact with food can leach into food or drink. This migration depends on how hot the material becomes, on the length of time the food is in contact with the material, the proportion of the food in contact with the material, and the food chemistry. Chemicals migrate more into fatty and acidic foods, for example. Some migrating chemicals that are a menace to health, including carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disrupting chemicals, are falling through the EU legislative net. Concerns relate to chemicals in two particular categories. First, the 58 chemicals that under the REACH legislation have been placed on the most harmful list (SVHC) and which must therefore be phased out. These chemical are currently permitted in food contact materials. They include chemicals that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction, or are bioaccumulative – capable of building up and persisting in the body, or have hormone disrupting or other harmful properties. The second category are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are associated with hormonal cancers (breast, prostate, testes) as well as reproductive problems (infertility, adverse pregnancy outcomes), metabolic disorders (diabetes, obesity), allergies, and neurodevelopmental problems (learning disorders, autism spectrum disorders). A recent study estimated that prenatal exposure to the endocrine disrupting chemical, BPA was likely responsible for 42,400 cases of obesity in four year olds in Europe – and with health costs of 1.54 billion euros per year. Bisphenol A is used to make certain plastics (polycarbonates) used in food packaging, coatings used on the insides of aluminium and metal cans, and lid closures on glass jars and bottles. In addition to known hazardous chemicals, there are other chemicals (so-called non intentionally added substances) that will migrate, and their identity and structure is not known (especially in plastics). Van Vliet said: "It makes no sense for the EU to be pushing Better Regulation but allowing these massive contradictions to continue between the law on "Food Contact Materials" and other EU laws regulating chemicals use. "And it is highly inefficient for the single market to allow a roulette of defective EU laws, different or non-existent national laws, and whatever standards the food contact materials industry applies. "Making sure that all the materials which come into contact with food are safe would better serve EU citizens, companies and actually produce better regulation." |
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