Empowerment

Insanlar mücadeleleriyle varolurlar“. Zeynep Gambetti, a scholar of Kurdish politics, found this comment inscribed in the visitors’ book at the Diyarbakir Art Centre’s exhibit of photographer Ami Vitale’s Kashmir photos. The phrase roughly translates as; “people come into existence through their struggles“. The struggle to “ensure the equal rights of men and women to enjoy all economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights” has indeed defined the existence of many ethnically Kurdish women in Diyarbakir and, more generally, in the south-eastern region of Turkey. The obstacles in this struggle for equality are manifold. While the efforts of Kurdish women in Turkey to overcome these obstacles have been remarkable, there is still considerable progress to be made.

تجمعت حشود الصحفيين للحصول على صورة لسالي الصباحي، 12 عاماً، وهي توقع أوراق الطلاق في العاصمة اليمنية صنعاء في 27 مارس. وبمجرد أن غطست أصبعها في الحبر الأسود ووضعت بصمتها بجوار اسمها على وثيقة رسمية، أصبحت سالي رابع طفلة عروس تحصل على الطلاق في اليمن.

وكانت شبكة الأنباء الإنسانية (إيرين) قد نقلت قصة سالي في فبراير، مشيرة إليها باسم عائشة لحمايتها. وكانت الطفلة في العاشرة من عمرها عندما زوجتها أسرتها لرجل كبير السن في مقابل مهر بلغ 1,000 دولار. وبعد الأسبوع الأول من زواجها، بدأت سالي تحاول الهروب من المعاملة السيئة التي قالت أنها كانت تتلقاها على يد زوجها.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is supporting a new anti-child marriage movement in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, where nearly half of all girls become child brides and one-third become teenage mothers even though the legal marriage age is 18. We need to have a zero-tolerance policy towards child marriage, so that every child, boy and girl, has the opportunity to live their childhood and gain an education said Karin Hulshof, UNICEF India Representative.

Throngs of journalists pushed forward to get a picture of 12-year-old Sally al-Sabahi as she signed her divorce papers in the Yemeni capital on 27 March. As she dipped her thumb in dark ink and pressed it next to her name on an official document, she became Yemen’s fourth child bride divorcee.

Call for Action on Global BDS Day, March 30:  The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) has issued a call for action to mark the second Global BDS Day of Action on March 30 2010, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli institutions and corporations. This Day of Action coincides with Palestinian Land Day, which marks the struggle against the expropriation and colonization of Palestinian lands and commemorates six Palestinian demonstrators killed by Israeli security forces on the first Land Day in 1976.

In this first report to the Human Rights Council, the independent expert in the field of cultural rights, Farida Shaheed, develops preliminary views on the conceptual and legal framework of her mandate.

Ce concours vise à mettre en valeur les photos amateurs qui rompent avec certaines  idées convenues  sur les femmes du bassin méditerranéen. De l’ordinaire à l’insolite, des femmes expriment leur originalité, leur liberté d'être malgré les rôles dans lesquels on veut les maintenir. Avec ce concours, le Fonds pour les Femmes en Méditerranée veut les rendre visibles et  les mettre ainsi à l’honneur.

تحدثت الأسبوع الماضي عن حصاد المرأة السعودية خلال عام بمناسبة اليوم العالمي للمرأة وبالطبع لم تكف المساحة للحديث عن الجزء الأول من الموضوع وهو ما أنجز على أن يكون الجزء الثاني لموضوع الباقي ولم يُنجز. لكني وجدت قبل الاستطراد أو المضي في حديثي الذي سوف يكون طويلاً، أن أتعرض لتاريخ هذا اليوم الذي يصادف هذا العام الاحتفاء بمئويته، أي أنه استحدث منذ عام 1910، فما الذي كان يجري في العالم آنذاك ودعا لطرح هذا اليوم كيوم خاص بالمرأة يكون مؤشراً ويوماً يُستخدم لمطالبة النساء بحقوقهن المهضومة عبر العصور والبلدان؟

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.

The United Nations has invited a newly established group of independent experts to advise on ways to better protect women in conflict situations, and to ensure that their voices are heard in peace processes and that they are included in post-conflict reconstruction and governance structures.

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