Women's Views on News |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2014 07:01 AM PST
This app has been produced by The Representation Project, a movement that aims to 'use film and media content to expose injustices created by gender stereotypes and to shift people's consciousness towards change'. #NotBuyingIt, which was crowdfunded on Indiegogo and created by a female-led development team, allows users to pin examples of sexist advertising and packaging to a global map. The community-based app also includes the option to send direct messages to the offending companies, who it is hoped will rethink their marketing strategies. UK users have been busy using the app to shame companies such as Tesco and NYLON magazine. The app's successes so far include GoDaddy, whose previous campaigns have been criticised for their sexism, consulting The Representation Project about its latest ad. Imran Siddiquee of The Representation Project has said: 'It just shows that if the mainstream media isn't representing us, we can create our own media to fight back.' The #NotBuyingIt app is free to download from the app store now.  |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:45 AM PST
Most of us can not imagine the suffering which women seeking asylum in the UK have been through. Their stories include rape, torture, imprisonment… However, for many, that suffering does not end once they reach the safety of the UK; despite having committed no crime they are imprisoned, repeatedly questioned, and if they are not believed, they can be sent back to the nightmare. And they can be held indefinitely while the process of seeking asylum plays out. A petition has now been launched calling for an end to the detention of female asylum seekers in the UK. The petition has been launched as a new report by Women for Refugee Women highlights the plight of female asylum seekers who are detained in the UK, and specifically names Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire where female asylum seekers are often held. Meltem Avcil, who has set up the petition to Home Secretary Theresa May, was herself detained in Yarl’s Wood when she was 13 years old after she and her mother fled persecution in Turkey. New laws have since prohibited the detention of children in Yarl’s Wood, but nearly 2000 women are still held there; imprisoned even though they have committed no crime. The new report Detained, published last week, details the experiences of women who have been detained after seeking asylum in the UK. 85 per cent of the women interviewed for the report had been tortured or raped before seeking asylum. More than half said that the persecution they were fleeing was gender related; and this included rape, sexual violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation and forced prostitution. More than half said they had thought about killing themselves while in detention, with one third being put on suicide watch. The length of time that women in the report were held varies from three days to eleven months. Please note that even terror suspects in the UK can only be held for a maximum of 28 days but there is no limit to the amount of time a person seeking asylum can be held. Held, questioned, and then not permitted to stay in the UK. For many who are detained, being incarcerated brought back painful memories of the very persecution they were escaping. “When the big door closed it brought back everything that had happened to me back home when I was in prison,” said one women. “I thought that I was going to be raped. The fear overtook me.I felt that I was not strong enough to go through anything like that again.” The petition also asks the government to ’ensure that no male staff are employed at Yarl's Wood detention centre in roles where they come into contact with women, and that allegations of abuse made against staff are properly investigated’. Yarl’s Wood, which is run by Serco, has come under criticism in the past over allegations of sexual assault in the detention centre, and one of the women interviewed for Detained reported that she had been assaulted. Women in Yarl’s Wood are very often guarded by men, with some reporting that these mens even watched them when they were using the toilets. This directly contravenes Home Office guidelines which state that male guards should not "supervise women showering, dressing or undressing, even if on constant supervision through risk of self harm". Avcil recalled from when she was in Yarl’s Wood that, “Men do patrol in front of a woman’s room after they have attempted suicide. “They do watch every move and they do comment in disgusting ways. “[While] a male guard was watching me, I dropped my nose piercing and when I found it he said “do you have piercings elsewhere, like your belly or anywhere else? It’s fun to have piercings”. I never answered that question it was too uncomfortable for a 13 year-old girl.” Lydia Besong, one of the women who was interviewed for the report, said: “I wish the politicians could understand what they are doing to women by detaining us like this when we have already been through so much. “Asylum seekers are not criminals. That's why I wanted to speak out for this report, because I believe that if people speak out, then change will come one day. If we do not speak out, then we are dying in silence.” There are alternatives to keeping women in a detention centre until their cases have been resolved. Women for Refugee Women has suggested that while their cases are assessed these women should be allowed to live in the community, which as well as allowing them their human dignity and a chance to rehabilitate, costs the tax-payer much less. For, as Avcil explained; “If the innocent women were not to be detained they could contribute to the society while their cases are being taken care of. “There is no harm in these women living in the community. Many are loved by their communities and again these women are not criminals. “They are victims of torture and rape. “Since when has it become normal to lock up victims and treat them in such vile ways?” The greater problem which underlies the issue of detention, is that many of the women – all but one in the report – are denied asylum, and feel that their stories are often not believed. "They don't believe you. They ask you 500 questions and they ask the same question in a slightly different way and if you don't answer them all exactly the same, they say that you are lying," one woman explained. Often the traumatic experiences that female asylum seekers have been through can be especially hard to disclose. Women in the report said they felt afraid or ashamed to talk about what they had suffered. In addition, many felt uncomfortable discussing details of their persecution when they were from cultures where to speak openly about such things was unacceptable. What is clear as you read the report and listen to women’s experiences of seeking asylum here, is that things need to change. Please add your voice to their cause by signing the petition here. And join us outside the Home Office, on Marsham Street, London, on 13 February from 6pm – 7pm to shine a light on Yarl’s Wood and the indefinite detention of refugee women. Bring torches, candles, bike lights. Click here for details.  |
| New threat to female safety in Afghanistan Posted: 05 Feb 2014 01:09 AM PST
Afghan President Hamid Karzai should refuse to sign a new criminal procedure code that would effectively deny women protection from domestic violence and forced or child marriage, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. The new law passed both houses of the Afghan parliament and is expected to be sent to Karzai for final signature into law within weeks, if not earlier. The law would prohibit judicial authorities from questioning the relatives of a criminal defendant, effectively silencing victims of domestic violence and forced or child marriage and their family members who have witnessed abuse. This would make prosecutions of abusers extremely difficult. "President Karzai should reject a law that will effectively let batterers of women and girls off the hook," said Brad Adams, Asia director. "Should this law go into effect, Afghan women and girls will be deprived of legal protection from relatives who assault, forcibly marry, or even sell them." Article 26 of the draft criminal procedure law, "Prohibition of Questioning an Individual as a Witness," states that "The following people cannot be questioned as witnesses: … 4) Relatives of the accused." The Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the Afghan parliament, passed a version of the law in May 2013 that included this wording. In January 2014, the upper house of the Afghan parliament, the Meshrano Jirga, responded to the concerns of rights activists by revising the title of the article to read "Prohibition of Forced Questioning of a Witness." That rewording aimed to ensure that the law would only prohibit family members from being compelled to be witnesses, yet still permit voluntary testimony by family members. However, a joint parliamentary commission convened to broker a mutually acceptable version of the law decided to use the original lower house wording which unequivocally bars testimony by family members. The new criminal procedure code poses a serious threat to critical protections for women and girls embodied in Afghanistan's groundbreaking Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW), passed by presidential decree in 2009. The EVAW law provided new criminal penalties for various abuses including rape, child marriage, forced marriage, domestic violence, sale of women and girls, and 'baad', the giving of girls to resolve disputes between families. Presidential signature on the procedural law would be in clear contradiction to the government's public commitment to women's rights and to the EVAW law in particular at Afghanistan's second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations on January 27, 2014. The UPR is the process for assessing the human rights records of all UN member countries. The head of the Afghan government's UPR delegation, Dr Mohammad Qasim Hashemzai, stated in his opening remarks that his government "stands committed to promoting and protecting human rights, in particular women's and children's rights." He noted that government rights achievements included steps to enforce the EVAW law through "special EVAW prosecution offices." The context: an ongoing rollback of protections for women and girls: The proposed criminal procedure law ban on testifying against relatives follows several other efforts by the Afghan parliament to weaken already inadequate legal protections for women's rights. Members of parliament opposed to women's rights have sought to repeal or weaken the EVAW law. A Wolesi Jirga debate over the EVAW law in May was halted after 15 minutes when lawmakers argued for repeal of the law, calling for elimination of the minimum marriage age for girls, abolition of shelters, and ending criminal penalties for rape. In July, a newly appointed member to the official Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission called for the EVAW law's repeal. Although government enforcement of the EVAW law has been slow and uneven, it has been an invaluable tool for fighting violence against women. Other troubling developments for women's rights in 2013 included attacks on and killings of high-profile female government and police officials, and a reduction in the number of seats set aside for women on the country's 34 provincial councils. In November 2013, a draft law prepared by Afghan officials that would have reinstated public execution by stoning as a punishment for adultery was stopped after being leaked to the media. At the July 2012 Tokyo Conference, international donors pledged USD16 billion in development aid funding to Afghanistan over the coming years. In return, the Afghan government committed to a set of goals that laid out in a document called the Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework. One of these commitments was "Demonstrated implementation, with civil society engagement, of… the Elimination of Violence Against Women Law (EVAW), including through services to victims as well as law enforcement, on an annual basis." In advance of a follow-up meeting to the Tokyo Conference in July 2013, donors pressed for a report from the Afghan government on its enforcement of the EVAW law. The government has not yet delivered that report to donors. Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs Mezghan Mostafawi announced at the January 27, 2014 UPR session that the report launch would occur on January 29. That date has now passed without release of the report. "President Karzai should take a stand for Afghan women by sending the new law back to parliament with a message that he will not sign it until it is revised in line with the goals of the EVAW law and Afghanistan's obligations under international law," Adams said.  |
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