Fundamentalisms

Dossier 30-31: The Struggle for Secularism in Europe and North America

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Edited by Algerian sociologist and WLUML founder, Marieme Hélie-Lucas, this bumper dossier brings you papers by over 15 contributors, including Karima Bennoune: The Law of the Republic Versus the ‘Law of the Brothers': A story of France’s law banning religious symbols in public; Pragna Patel: Cohesion, Multi-Faithism and the Erosion of Secular Spaces in the UK: Implications for the human rights of minority women; and Gita Sahgal: ‘The Question Asked by Satan’: Doubt, dissent and discrimination in 21st-century Britain.

Mauritania broadens death penalty for blasphemy

Nouakchott - Showing repentance will no longer prevent the death penalty from being applied for blasphemy and apostasy, Mauritania said on Friday, as the conservative Muslim nation hardens up its religious laws.

The decision follows the release on November 9 of a blogger previously condemned to death for criticising religious justification for discrimination in Mauritanian society.

Exposure: Islam's Non Believers

Exciting news.

Deeyah Khan's fascinating documentary about the Council of Ex-Muslims in Britain and the discrimination they have faced in the UK and abroad has been shortlisted for the Asian Media Awards in Investigative Journalism.

Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms

Building on her previous report on diverse forms of fundamentalism and extremism as threats to cultural rights, the Special Rapporteur elaborates on their grave impact on the cultural rights of women. She stresses that a human rights-based response to fundamentalism and extremism must by fully gender sensitive, centering the cultural rights and equality of women, and defending universality. Women’s human rights, including cultural rights, are an essential part of the fight against fundamentalism and extremism, without which it cannot succeed.

Special Issue: Gender and Fundamentalism

This special issue is based on a series of symposia on Gender and Fundamentalisms conducted over the last four years on different aspects of the relationship between gender and fundamentalisms. These symposia took place once a semester at SOAS and were organised by Nira YuvalDavis from the Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging (CMRB) of the University of East London and Nadje Al-Ali from the Centre of Gender Studies (CGS) at SOAS University of London.

2017: UN Unveils

Marieme Helie Lucas

July 2, 2017

2017. This year, Saudi Arabia will defend women’s rights in the Commission on the Status of Women, and UN Women will support the right to disappear women behind a veil. Aren’t we lucky?

From its official Twitter account, UN Women tweeted an article posted online on Jul 2 2017, 4:17pm at:

Protect Human Rights Activist Sultana Kamal

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Sultana Kamal is a brave lawyer and activist standing up for human rights in Bangladesh. She’s not afraid to take the spotlight on national television and debate the need for fair justice and human rights for all of Bangladesh – men, women and children.

But peacefully expressing her opinion has gained her the attention of those who want to stifle such activities. She’s now been threatened with violence from Islamist group, Hefazat-e-Islam.

'We will break every bone': Islamist leaders threaten Bangladeshi lawyer, WLUML Networker

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Human rights groups have warned about the safety of a prominent Bangladeshi lawyer after Islamist leaders threatened to “break every bone” in her body for defending the installation of a Lady Justice statue outside the country’s supreme court.

Statement in Condemnation of Terrorist Attack Targeting Media Organizations in Afghanistan

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Source: Women’s Political Participation Committee in Afghanistan

January 21, 2016- Kabul, Afghanistan

UN Special Rapporteur in Field of Cultural Rights on the Paris Attacks: “Crime against humanity, crime against culture”

Originally published on the OHCHR website