Migration Category: Global Old Site

Earlier this week, European Union ministers rejected the European Parliament’s proposal to extend maternity leave from 14 weeks of full pay to 20 weeks. Nevertheless, even current maternity leave in Europe far surpasses the Family and Medical Leave Act in the US, which only provides for 12 weeks of unpaid leave.

The ministers expressed concern about the potential costs of the 20-week minimum leave, which passed European Parliament in October. Instead, member states stated their willingness to discuss the European Commission’s original draft directive, which proposed extending maternity leave to 18 weeks.

The ministers also addressed paternity leave but elected to leave it out of the directive, which was primarily aimed at improving health and safety conditions for pregnant women or women who had just given birth.

Late Wednesday night, the Senate voted unanimously to pass the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act. Sponsored by Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), the bill aims to protect women and girls in developing countries from entering into child marriages.

If passed, the bill would require that the Department of State implement a multi-year plan to prevent child marriages in developing nations and promote the educational, health, economic, social, and legal empowerment of girls and women. The act has not been passed in the House.

Durbin stated, “Tens of millions of women and girls around the world have lost their dignity, independence and lives due to child marriage. Child marriage denies these women and girls of an education, economic independence and is the root cause of many of the world’s most pressing development issues – HIV/ AIDS, child mortality, and abject poverty.”

UNICEF reports that over 60 percent of women were married prior to their 18th birthday in Sub-Saharan African and Bangladesh. Furthermore, the maternal mortality rate is five times higher for women under 16 years of age than those between 20 and 24.

Last Wednesday, Afghan officials announced the final results for the parliamentary election held on September 18. Women won 69 of the 249 open seats or 28 percent in the lower house. Women won more than 25 percent of lower house seats set aside for them by the constitution. A record number of women ran for Parliament in this election, with 400 women of 2,500 total candidates competing for seats in the lower house, Wolesi Jirga.

Women candidates in particular faced threats, violence, and intimidation from insurgents during this parliamentary election, which was the fourth election since the Taliban’s fall. The Independent Election Commission deemed nearly one-quarter of the ballots invalid and received nearly 5,000 complaints about election irregularities.

Nevertheless, Fazel Ahmad Manawi, Chairman of the Independent Election Commission, clarified, “With all the shortcomings, it was a major success for us, the Afghan government, people of Afghanistan and our international friends.”

Late last week, Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon appointed Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin as the Executive Director of the href= “http://www.unfpa.org/public/home/news/pid/6942” target= “_blank”>United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA), which focuses on reproductive health, gender equality and population and development strategies. Dr. Osotimehin of Nigeria is currently a Professor of Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and the African Spokesperson for the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. He will succeed Thoraya Ahmed Obaid of Saudi Arabia and begin as Executive Director on December 31.

Dr. Osotimehin has previously served as both the Minister of Health and Director General at Nigeria’s National Agency for the Control of HIV and AIDS. He received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Ibadan and his MD from University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

President of the United Nations Foundation Timothy Wirth commented, Dr. Osotimehin’s appointment “comes at a critical time for women and girls across the globe…More than 215 million women in developing countries want access to family planning but don’t have it.”

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law will hold a hearing for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) tomorrow at 2:00. Dick Durbin (D-IL) will chair the hearing. Melanne Verveer, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, actor Geena Davis, who appeared in Beetlejuice, The Fly, and Thelma and Louise, and Marcia Greenberger of the National Women’s Law Center will testify in support of ratifying CEDAW. The Heritage Foundation will testify against CEDAW.

Sixty women’s organizations have submitted supporting statements, including the Feminist Majority. 120 organizations have signed a joint statement in support of the immediate ratification of CEDAW. CEDAW was first signed by Jimmy Carter in 1979 and has been approved by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations twice, but the US has never ratified the treaty. The treaty has been ratified by 186 of the 193 member nations of the United Nations. The other six holdouts place the United States with strange bedfellows of Iran, Sudan, and Syria as well as the three small Pacific Island nations of Palau, Tonga and Nauru.

Nasrin Sotoudeh went to trial yesterday at Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. Sotoudeh faced charges of acting against state security, assembling, and collusion with intent to disrupt national security, and working with the Center for Human Rights Defenders, which was founded by Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi. Judge Pir-Abbasi announced that he will reconsider the order to continue Sotoudeh’s dentition.

Following the trial, Sotoudeh agreed to end her hunger strike, which lasted 50 days. She broke her dry hunger strike on November 11.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, who had been in Evin Prison since September 4, went on a hunger strike for 27 days to protest the conditions of her illegal arrest. After ending her hunger strike for a few days, she started a dry hunger strike since her case was mishandled and she continued to be deprived of her legal rights such as the right to telephone calls and visits from her family members and her two young children.

Iranian authorities arrested three women Iranian human rights lawyers on Saturday for so-called security related offenses. Maryam Kianersi, Maryam Karbasi, and Sara Sabaghian were taken into custody as they returned to the nation from Turkey. Sara Sabaghian is known to have represented Hossein Ronaghi in court after his arrest for blog posts which criticized the Iranian government. Ronaghi is currently appealing a 15-year jail sentence for his alleged crime. All three women had previously signed an open letter advocating for the release of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a well-known human rights lawyer imprisoned in Evin Prison.

Sotoudeh is scheduled to go on trial on November 15 and faces charges of acting against state security, assembling, and collusion with intent to disrupt national security, and working with the Center for Human Rights Defenders, which was founded by Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi. Nasrin Sotoudeh who has been in Evin Prison since September 4, went on a hunger strike for 27 days to protest the conditions of her illegal arrest. After ending her hunger strike for a few days, she started a dry hunger strike since her case was mishandled and she continued to be deprived of her legal rights such as the right to telephone calls and visits from her family members and her two young children. As of November 12, Sotoudeh began drinking water on advice of her friends and lawyers, but remains on a hunger strike.

The husband, sister and brother of the imprisoned Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, visited her yesterday at Evin Prison in Tehran for ten minutes. Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband, who had not seen his wife for over two and a half months, said that she ended her dry hunger strike on advice of her friends and lawyers but that she will continue her hunger strike and only drink water until she gets what she wants.

Sotoudeh is scheduled to go on trial on November 15 and faces charges of acting against state security, assembling, and collusion with intent to disrupt national security, and working with the Center for Human Rights Defenders, which was founded by Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Nasrin Sotoudeh who has been in Evin Prison since September 4, went on a hunger strike for 27 days to protest the conditions of her illegal arrest. After ending her hunger strike for a few days, she started a dry hunger strike since her case was mishandled and she continued to be deprived of her legal rights such as the right to telephone calls and visits from her family members and her two young children.

After ending her one-month hunger strike in protest against the conditions of her imprisonment and the mishandling of her case on October 26, Nasrin Sotoudeh, human rights attorney, went on a dry (no water and no food) hunger strike this time after meeting with the Tehran General Attorney in Tehran’s Evin Prison on October 31.

She is scheduled to go on trial on November 15 and faces charges of acting against state security, assembling, and collusion with intent to disrupt national security, and working with the Center for Human Rights Defenders, which was founded by Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi. Nasrin Sotoudeh who has been in Evin Prison since September 4, went on a hunger strike for 27 days to protest the conditions of her illegal arrest. After ending her hunger strike for a few days, she started a dry hunger strike since her case was mishandled and she continued to be deprived of her legal rights such as the right to telephone calls and visits from her family members and her two young children.

Many human rights agencies including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have asked for her immediate release.

Women and human rights activists have also asked for her release, including Vaclav Havel (former president of the Czech Republic), Shirin Ebadi (human rights lawyer), and Zahra Rahnavard (wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi). Feminist Majority Foundation is conducting an email campaign for her release.

Two Iranian women, Sakineh Ashtiani who currently faces an execution sentence, and Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is a human rights lawyer and colleague of Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, are in danger in Iran. Ahtiani, who was sentenced to death by stoning after an adultery conviction, faces a possible execution by hanging, while Sotoudeh a prominent human rights lawyer has been on a dry hunger strike (no food or water) for more than a week while protesting her imprisonment.

Ashtiani was scheduled to be executed by hanging last Wednesday, but with massive international protest, her execution was suspended. According to Iranian officials, her file is “under review,” but the regime has been known to execute people whose files were under review in the past. In 2006, she was convicted of having extramarital relations with two men who killed her husband. While she initially received a sentence of 99 lashes for adultery, during an appeal of her case, the court sentenced Ashtiani to death by stoning. After worldwide outrage, this sentence was commuted to death by hanging.

Sotoudeh, who defended many political activists and campaigners in Iran’s presidential elections last year, has been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison since September 4, when she was arrested and charged with “acting against state security” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” Sotoudeh has been refusing food and water to protest the intolerable conditions of prison and the improper investigation of her case and is in grave physical shape as a result. Activists are concerned she will soon fall into a coma or die.

Prominent political figures, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, have issued statements expressing concern and dismay over the treatment of the women.

Pope Benedict XVI ardently expressed his anti-abortion stance and defended the traditional family structure during his visit to the Spanish pilgrimage site, Santiago de Compostela late last week. Pope Benedict denounced what he perceived to be Spain’s growing secularization and spoke out against its laws that permit gay marriage and access to abortions. Pope Benedict told the Catholic News Service, “we need to hear God once again under the skies of Europe.”

Several hundred women also gathered to protest the status of women in the Catholic Church. A crowd of approximately 200 people gathered in protest to the Pope’s visit, including a group of gay rights activists who staged a “kiss in” as the Pope’s motorcade passed.

Pope Benedict XVI also expressed his opposition to family planning during his visit to Cameroon in March 2009, claiming that condoms “increase the problem” of AIDS. While visiting the country, Pope Benedict reportedly said “You can’t overcome this problem of AIDS with just money. It helps, but if there is no soul, the money cannot help. You cannot overcome it just by distributing condoms. You will increase it.”

On Sunday, Dilma Rousseff of the Worker’s Party defeated Jose Serra of the Social Democratic Party by a wide margin and became Brazil’s first woman president. Although she has never held elective office before, Rousseff, an economist, was strongly backed by Brazil’s highly popular current President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. She formerly served as da Silva’s Chief of Staff and a member of his cabinet as Energy Minister.

Following her historic win, Rousseff spoke passionately about her goals to eliminate poverty and promote gender equality, telling CNN, “I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say yes, women can.” She also outlined her plans to improve education and public healthcare, the New York Times reports.

During the 1970s, Rousseff was jailed and tortured for her membership in the left-wing guerrilla group called National Liberation Command, which opposed the military dictatorship ruling Brazil, according to the LA Times.

David Bahati, a member of the Ugandan Parliament and one of the principle leaders of the Family or Fellowship of C Street fame (see Jeff Sharlet’s latest book on C Street), stated yesterday that a bill, which would impose life sentences or the death penalty for gay people, will become law in the near future. Bahati told CNN that “this is a piece of legislation that is needed in this country to protect the traditional family here in Africa, and also protect the future of our children.”

Since the bill was proposed last year, many governments have donated aid, and human rights groups have pressured the Ugandan government to shelf the bill.

Bahati issued the announcement not long after a Ugandan newspaper, the Rolling Stone published a list of gays and lesbians, along with their names and addresses and a yellow banner on the side reading, “hang them.” Earlier this month the newspaper, which is not connected to the same-name American magazine, stated that homosexuals are raiding schools and recruiting children. Since the article’s publication, at least four gay people on the list have been attacked and others are hiding.

Giles Muhame, editor of Rolling Stone, told CNN that homosexuality is a virus spreading through the world, “we thought, by publishing that story, the police would investigate them, prosecute them, and hang them.”

Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries with the exception of South Africa, which recognizes gay marriage, but even there, anti-gay practices such as “corrective rapes” on lesbians, are commonplace.

On Saturday, the ninth congress of the Netherlands-based International Federation of Professional Abortion and Contraception Associates (FIAPAC) a pro-choice group, was held in Seville, Spain. FIAPAC promotes “obtaining the right to abortion for every woman,” as well as “freedom of access to all abortion methods in all countries,” according to its mission statement. The conference occurred amid demonstrations organized by hundreds of protestors, according to the Agence France Presse.

Anti-choice protestors of all ages gathered at the demonstration, using the slogan “Seville, capital of life.” The demonstrators shouted “murderers” at the FIAPAC conference’s participants and carried banners with phrases such as “No to abortion, yes to life,” the Agence France Presse reports. Right to Life, an anti-choice organization, commented in a statement, “Seville is not the center for an international meeting of murderers. It is a city full of color and life…We do not want to mingle with butchers, we do not want them at our sites, sharing our tables in bars, with our children in the park or sleeping in the beds that we offer our guests…they are not welcome.”

Since a law liberalizing Spain’s abortion restrictions took effect in early July, anti-abortion protests in Spain have been common. The new law, passed in February, permits abortions up to 14 week’s gestation and up to 22 weeks if the mother’s health is in danger or if the fetus has a serious or incurable illness. Previously, abortion was only legal in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or when the health of the mother was at risk. Nevertheless, the Agence France Presse reports that about 115,000 abortions were performed in Spain last year, prior to the reform, under the legal justification that the pregnancy constituted a risk to the psychological health of the mothers.

The United States made considerable progress toward gender equality in 2009, according to the recently released Global Gender Index Study (GGIS), an annual index released by the World Economic Forum. The GGIS ranks countries in terms gender equality, evaluating such factors as women’s access to education, the presence of women in politics, equal employment opportunities and salaries, and health, according to Bloomberg.

The rank of the US has improved considerably over the past year, moving from number 31 in 2009 to number 19 in 2010. This is the first time that it has been in the top 20 since the World Economic Forum began releasing the index in 2005, according to the New York Times. The US scored 0.741 on a scale of zero to one, with one indicating complete equality.

The improvement is in large part due to the greater presence of women in the Obama administration. The ratio of females to males serving as department heads in the executive branch of government has increased dramatically from 2007 to in 2010, according to the study (see PDF). For every woman in a head executive position, there are two men in such positions in 2010, compared to more than six men for every one woman in 2007. Due to these increases, the United States now ranks 15 in the world for the number of women serving as executive department heads. However, it still trails behind in the category of political participation for women.

The report also indicates a significant increase in women’s estimated income. However, the difference between men’s and women’s salaries has not improved in the United States since 2009 and has decreased somewhat since 2006, according to the report. Of the 134 countries studied, 59 percent narrowed the equality gap between men and women, according to Bloomberg. Nordic countries Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden received the highest rankings.

The head of the Forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity program, Saadia Zahidi told CNN, “it’s very encouraging that more countries are becoming aware of why it’s important to reduce the gender gap and are starting to explore policies that may be needed.” She also noted that gender equality fosters national economic growth and prosperity.

Gender inequality is greatest in Yemen, Chad, and Pakistan, according to the GGIS. The study also found that France faced a decrease in gender equality, due to the decline in the numbers of women holding government leadership positions.

Earlier this month, a Ugandan newspaper published a list of homosexuals along with their names and addresses and a yellow banner on the side reading, “hang them.” The newspaper, named Rolling Stone, which is not connected to the same-name American magazine, stated that a deadly disease has been attacking homosexuals and that they are raiding schools and recruiting children, according to AOL News.

Since its publication, at least four gay people on the list have been attacked and others are hiding, Ugandan civil rights activist Julian Onziema told the Associated Press.

Last year, a lawmaker in the country introduced a bill that called for the death penalty or long term imprisonment for those engaged in homosexual activities, reported CNN. Even though international condemnation followed the law, which was shelved, gay and lesbian people in Uganda have faced harassment and attacks ever since, according to the Boston Globe.

Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries with the exception of South Africa, which recognizes gay marriage, but even in South Africa gangs carry out so-called “corrective rapes” on lesbians, according to the Associated Press.

The European Court on Human Rights will fine Russia for banning parades organized by the gay community in Moscow. The decision, which was released earlier today, marks a much-needed victory for Russia’s marginalized gay community, reports the New York Times.

Nikolai Alexeyev, a Russian gay rights activist, filed three cases with the court arguing that Russia violated the European Convention on Human Rights, according to the New York Times. The court ruled that Russia hindered its citizens’ right to assembly and discriminated on the grounds of sexual orientation, and, as a result, ordered Russia to pay $41,090 to Alexeyev in damages.

Alexeyev told Al Jazeera that “this is a crippling blow to Russian homophobia on all accounts.” He continued, “Russia will also have to change its legislation in terms of guaranteeing protection for those who wish to demonstrate freely.”

In the years prior to the case, Russian authorities forbid homosexuals from holding demonstrations for fear of a violent reaction from its citizens, reports Al Jazeera.

Earlier this week, Marisol Valles Garcia, a young mother and criminology student, was appointed the police chief of Praxedis G. Guerrero, one of Mexico’s most dangerous municipalities in the border state of Chihuahua. She was the only person to accept this position in a city where many police officers have been kidnapped or even murdered, according to CNN.

Chihuahua has been the state most affected by drug violence, with 28,000 people killed since 2006, including the mayor and several police officers, reports The Age.

“Yes, there is fear. But what we want to achieve in our municipality is tranquility and security,” Garcia told CNN. She continued, “the weapons we have are principles and values, which are the best weapons for prevention.” Garcia plans to use a mostly female police force to restore trust between authorities and citizens, according to ABC.

A top court in the United Arab Emirates ruled yesterday that under Islamic law, a man has the right to beat his wife and children as long as no marks are left and he has tried other forms of discipline, such as verbal reprimands or abstaining from sexual intercourse.

CNN reports the ruling came from a case in which a man slapped his wife and 23 year old daughter, resulting in marks and bruises on their bodies. Though the court maintained the man’s right under Shari’a law to beat his wife and children, it ruled that in this case the man exceeded his authority by beating his wife too severely.

After news of the ruling, Human Rights Watch called on the government to repeal all discriminatory laws, including any that sanction domestic violence. Nadya Khalife, Middle East women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch said, “This ruling by the UAE’s highest court is evidence that the authorities consider violence against women and children to be completely inacceptable…Domestic violence should never be tolerated under any circumstances. These provisions are blatantly demeaning to women and pose serious risks to their well-being.”

According to CNN, several experts said it is against Islamic law to permit wife-beating; however, Shari’a law is complex and lends itself to multiple and competing interpretations.

On Sunday, thousands of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo marched against mass rapes, which have become increasingly prevalent in the country as a weapon of war. According to CNN, many of the marchers were rape survivors. The march took place in Bukavu, located in eastern Congo and followed a peace and development forum, reports Agence France Presse.

World March of Women, together with local women’s groups, organized the march. Organizers aimed to use the event to fight the stigma often faced by rape victims and to draw global attention to the use of rape as a tactic of war. Congolese women’s activist Nita Vielle commented to CNN,”they have had enough…enough of the war, of the rape, of nobody paying attention to what’s happening to them.” World March of Women representative, Celia Alldridge, told CNN, “it’s just great to have so many women out on the streets. We believe that women should not be made prisoners in their own homes.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been named the “rape capital of the world” by the United Nations. According to CNN, there were 15,000 women raped by armed rebel groups in eastern Congo in 2009. Between July 30 and August 2 of this year alone, more than 300 people, mostly women, were raped in the country’s North Kivu province. The United Nations has condemned the lack of civilian protection provided by Congolese police, military, and UN stabilization forces in the area. Since the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo began in 1998, tens of thousands of civilians have been raped.