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22/3/2010
South Africa: When 'Traditional Values' are a Stick to Beat Women

When he opened the House of Traditional Leaders this week, President Jacob Zuma reiterated his call for a national debate on a moral code and on the values of South Africans. He argued that traditional leaders could play an important role in service delivery and rural development. The president quoted Albert Luthuli's famous model of leadership: "A chief is primarily a servant of his people." By Pregs Govender

22/3/2010
Nigeria: Sectarian Killings Continue

Nigeria's acting president should make sure that the massacre of at least 200 Christian villagers in central Nigeria on March 7, 2010, is thoroughly and promptly investigated and that those responsible are prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said today. The acting president should also ensure that the military and the police act swiftly to protect civilians of all ethnicities at risk of further attacks or reprisal killings, including by conducting regular patrols throughout the vulnerable region, Human Rights Watch said.

22/3/2010
Sri Lanka: Difficult homecoming for Muslim IDPs

Resettlement efforts are under way for thousands of displaced Muslims from Sri Lanka’s north who have been languishing in refugee camps for nearly two decades, officials say. The internally displaced people (IDPs) were forcibly evicted in October 1990 from the northern districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and some parts of Vavuniya by the insurgent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). About 75,000 Muslims are estimated to have fled, making their way towards government-controlled areas in Vavuniya and Anuradhapura, as well as to Puttalam District on the northwestern coast, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).

22/3/2010
UPDATE: Malaysia: Women's group SIS sued over 'Islam' in name

Muslim activists filed a lawsuit Monday against a Malaysian women's group, asking it to remove the word "Islam" from its name on the ground that it misleads people to believe it speaks for all Muslims. The suit against Sisters in Islam, one of the most well-known nongovernment groups in this Muslim-majority country, comes after it angered conservative Muslims by criticizing Islamic Shariah laws that allow the caning of women for offenses such as drinking alcohol. Update on Malaysia: Intimidation of Sisters in Islam: Silencing Alternative Viewpoints

22/3/2010
UN: CEDAW Weakened by Slew of Reservations

A landmark U.N. treaty on women’s rights, which will be 30 years old next week, is in danger of being politically undermined by a slew of reservations by 22 countries seeking exemptions from some of the convention’s legal obligations. “A reservation must not defeat the object and purpose of a treaty,” Ambassador Palitha Kohona, a former chief of the U.N. Treaty Section, told IPS.

22/3/2010
UPDATE: Egypt: Constitutional Court Supports Female Judges

Egypt’s Constitutional Court backed the right of women to sit on the bench in the state’s administrative courts, despite conservatives’ opposition, state media reported Monday. The ruling follows a dispute in the State Council, the top administrative court, over whether women should be appointed to the courts. The Constitutional Court’s ruling, issued Sunday, said that all citizens were equal before the law. Update on Egypt: Open All Judicial Positions to Women

22/3/2010
Palestine: Why violence against women is widespread

Nahla*, aged 30, from Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said she was physically and mentally abused for more than 10 years by her husband before being granted a divorce three months ago. Fear and cultural factors prevented her from seeking help from women’s organizations. “I never tried to go to the police to complain about my husband's criminal acts, because he threatened to kill me if I did,” Nahla told IRIN. “And I never went to complain to any women’s rights organizations because I didn’t think they would be able to solve my problem - and I was also scared that my husband would find out.”

22/3/2010
Malaysia: Minister rejects child marriage reform

Malaysia's religion minister on Tuesday defended Islamic laws that allow girls under 16 to marry, amid a controversy over two youngsters who were married off to middle-aged men. The issue has flared in Malaysia after reports that two girls aged 10 and 11 were wed in the conservative northern state of Kelantan last month. They have now been removed from their husbands. Rights groups have called for the reform of Islamic laws that allow marriage under the age of 16 if religious officials give their consent. Sharia law runs in parallel with civil law in multi-ethnic Malaysia.

22/3/2010
Egypt: The Voice of Divorced Women

Mahasin Saber wants her "Radio for divorced women" to put the spotlight on the serious deficits in the male-dominated Egyptian society, and to make people aware of the discrimination suffered by women. So far, she's succeeding. Nelly Youssef visited her in Cairo. Motakalat Radio confronts social taboos and men's assumptions about women | "Welcome! You're listening to 'Radio for divorced women' in Cairo ... a new life listening to what your heart tells you … a space to speak and to listen." Those were the words with which Mahasin Saber went on air for the first time at the beginning of the year.

22/3/2010
United States: Jury sentences Polygamist to 75 years in prison

A Texas jury has sentenced a polygamous sect member to 75 years in prison on one count of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl whom he spiritually married in 2006 while living at a ranch in Schleicher County. The sentence for Merril Leroy Jessop, 35, is the stiffest yet handed out in the criminal trials of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Under Texas law, Jessop has to serve half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.