Mission & Justice

Joshua Arlo; 16/6/08

There is a real need for Papua New Guinea to update statistics on the issue of violence against women in the country and comprehensive data needs to be collected and compiled for the Government to use to combat this form of human rights abuse. Line agency officer with gender and development section of the Community Development Department, Jenny Sliviak-Kidu said last Thursday what PNG needs is a central body that concentrates on collecting relevant data on the issue inside PNG and compiling it into statistics which can be used by appropriate government or non-government agencies to approach the issue. She said when trying to give accurate statistics on the issue, it was difficult and most information gathered only come from welfare and or counselling center which do not represent the real figures in PNG.

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16/6/08

Iranian police have launched a more extensive crackdown on “social corruption” such as women flouting Islamic dress codes, the Farhang-e Ashti newspaper reported on Monday. “In its wider crackdown which has started from Saturday, police will confront those who appear in public in an indecent way and will also seal off shops selling un-Islamic dress,” the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed police official.The dress code imposed after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution requires women to cover all their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise the shape of their bodies.

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16/6/08; http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi_arabia/10221405.html

Saudi police have detained a woman for violating rules banning women from driving in the country, a newspaper said on Sunday. The woman from Buraida north of Riyadh was stopped by a police patrol after driving 10km to collect her husband, Al Hayat newspaper said. The woman’s “legal guardian” - her husband - was required to sign a declaration that he would not allow her to drive again, it said. It was not immediately clear if she was released or would face legal action. Saudi Arabia, Marriage

14/6/08

Lessons about “honour” killings and forced marriage should be a statutory requirement in British schools and become a compulsory part of the sex and relationships curriculum, MPs say. A report from the House of Commons home affairs select committee said education on the issues seemed to be “at best variable, and at worst non-existent”, with some schools apparently resistant to discussing them for fear of offending parents. It said there was evidence to suggest children were in danger of being removed from school or further education and forced into marriage. Other recommendations include a specialised victim protection program, similar to witness protection, for women fleeing such violence and refusing visa applications for the prospective spouses of reluctant brides or bridegrooms.

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Patricia Karvelas; 11/6/08

Northern Territory intervention chairwoman Sue Gordon has appealed to critics and supporters of the response to find common ground if they want to remove “a major blight” on the nation’s social fabric. Dr Gordon last night urged those opposed to the intervention to read what women and some men in the communities were saying about how it had changed their lives.  “I would urge you to consider just what human rights and rights of children have been breached for decades, as I said previously, by governments of all persuasions. Then you may be able to make a much more informed decision on the merits of the NT Emergency Response,” she said in a speech to the Sydney Institute.

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Sabina Amidi; 9/6/08

Iran is infamous for its undercover police agents who patrol the streets of Tehran in search of immoral practices. Ironically the “secret police” are hypocritical and acting contradictory to the Islamic Republic’s strict moral code, because they do not have the typical fundamentalist demeanor but are clean-shaven men and attractive women with makeup. These informants, dressed in civilian clothing, tip off the authorities when citizens deviate from Sharia law, while at the same time toying with the psychology of the Iranian people – they could be anyone and found anywhere – by instilling fear into the public to keep them in line with the Republic’s Islamic policies. Last December a new policy was implemented that targeted young women who tucked their trouser legs into their boots. If caught they are taken to the police station where they have their mug shot taken and their boots confiscated. A 19-year-old woman in a coffee shop said with amusement: “They think it’s too sexy, they think it will catch a man’s eye. But they’re just shoes, and there is two feet of snow outside. So why don’t they tell the men to look the other away?”

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Ramadan Al Sherbini; 9/6/08

Mustafa, a father of three girls, is proud of having his children circumcised, and vows to do the same if he gets a new baby girl. Under a new law passed by the Egyptian Parliament this week, female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) is criminalised. “This is nonsense,” said Mustafa, a native of the south Egyptian city of Sohag who has been living in Cairo for around 20 years. “Circumcision for girls is a must as it protects their chastity,” added the 48-year-old Muslim father. “Islam also encourages circumcision for girls as well.”

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9/6/08

The Egyptian parliament has outlawed female circumcision but parliamentary sources say an exception to the ban - cases of “medical necessity” - could undermine it. Female genital mutilation, which dates back to pharaonic times, will now be punishable by a jail term of three months to two years or a fine of 1000 to 5000 Egyptian pounds ($200-$1000), they said on Saturday. The new legislation is part of a bill on children’s rights that has been the subject of fierce parliamentary debate for several weeks. Those who supported the practice argued that it was appropriate when female genitals protruded too much. They also said it was needed to preserve the woman’s virtue.

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Nasser Arrabyee; 6/6/08

Sana’a: A 23-year-old university student said he was beaten up for walking with a female friend in Aden in May. “A bearded man attacked and slapped me while I was walking with my girl colleague, saying it’s haram to talk to women in the street,” said the student. The student was going home from the Aden law college along with two boys and three girls when a group of religious men intercepted them and had a fight with them over “walking and talking” with girls in the street.

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Afif Sarhan, Basra & Caroline Davies; 7/6/08

Leila Hussein lived her last few weeks in terror. Moving constantly from safe house to safe house, she dared to stay no longer than four days at each. It was the price she was forced to pay after denouncing and divorcing her husband, the man she witnessed suffocate, stamp on, then stab their young daughter Rand in a brutal honour killing for which he had shown no remorse. Though she feared reprisals for speaking out, she really believed that she would soon be safe. Arrangements were well under way to smuggle her to the Jordanian capital, Amman. In fact, she was on her way to meet the person who would help her escape when a car drew up alongside her and two other women who were walking her to a taxi. Five bullets were fired: three of them hit Leila, 41. She died in hospital after futile attempts to save her. Her death, on May 17, is the shocking denouement to a tragedy that had its origins in an innocent friendship between her student daughter, Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, and a blond, 22-year-old British soldier publicly known only as Paul. The two had met while Rand, an English student at Basra University, was working as a volunteer helping displaced families and he was distributing water.

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