[fund] resisting fundamentalisms

Afghanistan: Harmful practices against women pervasive

Harmful traditional practices violating women’s rights, including honour killings, child marriage and giving away girls to settle disputes, are pervasive in Afghanistan, says a United Nations report released today that calls on the Government to implement a new law aimed at ending the scourge. Based on research and interviews in nearly all 34 provinces with women, men, Government authorities, religious leaders and community groups, the human rights unit of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) found that the practices occur among all ethnic groups, in rural and urban areas, and that the most harmful among them violate not only Afghan law but also Islamic Sharia law.

Towards a Future without Fundamentalisms

Analyzing Religious Fundamentalist Strategies and Feminist Responses by Cassandra Balchin. This publication is one in a series of products based on collaborative research under AWID's multi-year Resisting and Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms Initiative.

العراق: بلد لغير النساء

يتناقض التمثيل السياسي للمرأة في العراق الذي يشهد تحسناً ملحوظاً مع ما تعانيه النساء من استضعاف على نطاق أوسع، مثلما يتضح من استمرار العنف المنزلي والزواج المبكر، وفقاً لتقرير جديد صادر عن وحدة تحليل المعلومات بين الوكالات التابعة للأمم المتحدة. وعلى الرغم من أن النساء قد يشغلن 25 بالمائة من مقاعد البرلمان العراقي، إلا أن واحدة من كل خمس نساء بين سن 15 و49 عاماً تعاني من العنف الجسدي على يد زوجها. وتشير الأدلة السردية إلى أن "العديد من النساء يتعرضن للاختطاف ويجبرن على ممارسة البغاء،" كما لا يزال ختان الإناث شائعاً في الشمال، حسب التقرير.

US: WLUML letter to CCR regarding decision to represent Anwar al-Awlaki's interests

The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network expresses concerns and reservations regarding the decision of the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to represent the Yemen-based radical Anwar al-Awlaki's interests pro bono, in response to the US decision to authorise the targeted assassination of Awlaki.

قطر: أحمد عبد الملك يطالب بمنع المنقبات من الظهور في وسائل الاعلام

طالب كاتب وإعلامي قطري المنقبات بعدم الظهور في وسائل الاعلام لأن ظهورهن وهن يرتدين النقاب يخالف أصول وحتميات العمل الإعلامي الذي يتطلب وضوح الصوت وأن يرى المتلقي عين من يخاطبه وتعابير وجهه. وحث أحمد عبد الملك المنقبات بعدم "جرح" نقابهن من أجل مقابلة تلفزيونية، وعدم نشر صورهن لأنها تفتقد الدلالة الحقيقية على صاحبة الصورة. واعتبر عبد الملك في مقال بعنوان "النقاب والشاشة... رؤية مهنية!" نشرته صحيفة "الاتحاد" الاماراتية، ظهور المنقبات على شاشات التلفزيون "مخالف لقواعد الإعلام وعلوم الاتصال"، مقترحا على المنقبات إرسال نص مكتوب يوضح وجهة نظرهن بدلا من الظهور بتلك الصورة.

Saudi Arabia: Place on the board of UN Women 'a sad joke'

It took years to make the United Nations' newest agency, UN Women, a reality, and then just one day to effectively kill it. Death was effected by allowing onto its board a kingdom where women are not just infamously prohibited from driving but are also virtual minors who need a male guardian's permission to travel and to have surgery — and must be covered from head to toe in public. As one of two countries guaranteed seats as emerging donor nations, Saudi Arabia essentially bought its way onto the board of UN Women, which is dedicated to gender equality around the world. Just three days after securing an automatic seat, Saudi Arabia gave us a reminder of just how oxymoronic its place on UN Women is, when its team showed up at the Asian Games in China without a single woman among the 180-strong delegation.

Saudi Arabia: For the Authorities Women Are Not People with Feelings and Souls

In an article titled "Women's Breasts and Their Importance," posted on the liberal website Aafaq, Saudi reformist and women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huweidar mocked the breast cancer awareness campaign recently conducted in Saudi Arabia. She said it is ironic that the Saudi authorities are so concerned for the health of the women's breasts, when they fail to regard them as full human beings with rights in the domains of education, family, housing, and employment. She added that women cannot be physically healthy when they suffer social and political repression.

International: Human rights, fundamentalism, power and prejudice

International human rights law is not a sufficient basis for responding to religious fundamentalism. Fundamentalisms are about power as well as prejudice, Vijay Nagaraj tells Cassandra Balchin.

USA/Algérie: Des militants contestent le soutien apporté par CCR à un intégriste

Le CCR, qui a été la seule organisation de droits humains à soutenir les victimes des groupes intégristes armés lors du procès contre Haddam dont Rhonda Copelon fut le fer de lance, alors que toutes les autres les ignoraient et abandonnaient sous prétexte que ces victimes n’étaient pas victimes de l’Etat mais d’acteurs non étatiques, trahit aujourd’hui ces même victimes en soutenant un des grands promoteurs et organisateurs de crimes contre l’humanité, un des chefs d’Al Qaida dans la péninsule arabique, sans même dire qui il est et quelles sont ses positions . Cet homme est aujourd’hui en liberté et continue à organiser les attaques et les crimes et à inciter à la haine et aux massacres, alors que son père continue à affirmer contre l’évidence sa totale innocence, cependant que son fils continue à publier ses incitations.

US/Algeria: Letter to the Center for Constitutional Rights

The Center for Constitutional Rights was the only human rights organization to support the victims of fundamentalist armed groups as it did in the case brought by Rhonda Copelon against Anouar Haddam [spokesman of the Islamic Salvation Front],while other human rights organisations ignored these victims and abandonned them, on the ground that they were not victims of the state but of non state actors. Today, CCR is betraying these same victims by representing the interests of Anwar al-Awlaki, an important promoter and organizer of crimes against humanity and a leader of Al Qaida in the Arabic Peninsula, without even saying who he is and what positions he has taken. Awlaki is currently at liberty and continues to organize attacks and crimes, and to incite hatred and massacres. All the while his father continues to affirm, against the evidence, his complete innocence, even as the son continues to publish his statements inciting violence.