Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
The former Florida quarterback, who’s known for writing Bible verses under his eyes, has been receiving criticism for starring in a planned Super Bowl commercial that critics say conveys an anti-abortion message.
Jehmu Greene, president of Women’s Media Center, asked CBS on Monday not to air the commercial, saying, “An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sporting event of the year.”
The Women’s Media Center is coordinating the effort to have the ad pulled with support from the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority Foundation.
A CBS spokesman said it had approved the advertisement’s script and it would be “appropriate for air.” The network said today it would be willing to air more advocacy ads during the Super Bowl.
Tebow and his mother, Pam Tebow, appear in the advertisement, which was financed by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family. In the expected ad, Pam recounts how doctors recommended she have an abortion after developing complications while pregnant with Tim. The ad also shows how Tim went on to become one of the most successful college quarterbacks in the country.
“I know some people won’t agree with it, but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe,” Tim Tebow said.
Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger said his group was “a little surprised” by the controversy the ad had drawn. “There’s nothing political or controversial about it,” he said.
Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women disagrees, saying the commercial is “not being respectful of other people’s lives.”
“It is offensive to hold one way out as being a superior way over everybody else’s,” she said.
Stop Anti-Choice Super Bowl Ad
CBS’s recent decision to air an anti-choice advertisement ad during Super Bowl XLIV was outrageous. Even worse is the network’s about face from its own policy of rejecting controversial Super Bowl ads. The Women’s Media Center, and organizations dedicated to reproductive rights, tolerance, and social justice, are urging the network to immediately cancel this ad.
Click here to TAKE ACTION!! http://www.notunderthebus.com/?page_id=886
COLOMBIA: Women Empowered by Restoring Desertified Land
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49875
TANZANIA: Addressing Energy Crisis Through Alternatives and Efficiency at Household Level
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49876
COTE D’IVOIRE: Independent Candidate Pledges Reconciliation
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49866
PAKISTAN: ‘Eye for an Eye’ Judgment Hailed, Denounced
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49863
SPECIAL OP-ED: Why Women’s Reproductive Freedom Ensures Our Survival
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49913
SOUTH SUDAN: Women’s Eyes on the Political Prize
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49907
Q&A: Bolivian Women’s Right to Land Thwarted by Patriarchal Traditions
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49967
INDIA: Hill Women Form Cooperative, Turn Entrepreneurs
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50011
KENYA: Clash Over Abortion Rights in New Constitution
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49984
MIDEAST: Will You Marry Poor Me
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49976
Q&A: Defining – and Defying – the ‘Most Proper Way’ to be Sexual
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50003
ZAMBIA: Police Breaking the Law to Prevent Crime
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49983
LIBERIA: Paper Rights Flimsy Protection
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49969
Q&A: ‘With More Political Space, Women Can Do More as Peacemakers’
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50087
Q&A: “U.S. Should Invest in New U.N. Women’s Agency”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50091
PAKISTAN: Home-Based Workers Struggle to Climb Out of Poverty
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50089
ZAMBIA: Scarcely Room for Women in Male-dominated Politics
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50047
PERU: Victims of Military Rapists Wait for Justice 25 Years On
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50045
MAURITIUS: These Women Chose the Sea
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50083
BOLIVIA: More Women in Parliament, With Their Own Agenda
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50052
LAOS: Getting Women in the News Takes Much More than Policy
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50065
GHANA: Quietly Extending Options to Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50039
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
A Mexican girl who was held captive by human traffickers and later managed to escape tells Channel 4 News how she witnessed babies and children being “sold to order” to American citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security in Washington DC says the girl, known only as Maria, had “significant information” and possessed a “remarkable memory” of her experiences inside the gang.
In a chilling interview with Channel 4 News the teenager tells of a cross-border trade in babies and young children, where Mexican and US gangs worked together to supply a demand in the United States.
Her interview with the programme has prompted US authorities to launch a criminal investigation and in late December agents flew the teenager to the United States for a full interview after Channel 4 News alerted authorities.
Maria was 16-years-old when she was lured into the gang by a young man on the streets of the deadly Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez.
Since the 1990s thousands of women have disappeared from the town, and hundreds of bodies bearing signs of rape and sexual mutilation were dumped on waste ground in the city.
Thousands more have never returned.
Despite international coverage of the story including a film starring Jennifer Lopez, the disappearances continue.
In 2009, 55 teenage girls vanished in the town, which has been gripped by violence as two drug cartels fight a lethal turf war for cocaine smuggling routes to America.
Whilst investigating the fate of the missing girls Channel 4 News correspondent Nick Martin and producer Guillermo Galdos discovered Maria and carried out the interview whilst she was in hiding.
Few girls return after going missing and Maria’s interview sheds light on the fate of so many in her position.
She said she had been given presents and promised a job in an office by the gang member but was instead drugged and raped and sold to men. She explained what the gang did to one girl who tried to escape.
“They took a gallon of gasoline and started pouring it over her,” said Maria.
“One of the men told me ‘if you don’t do as I say I will do the same to you’. I wanted to look away – but they didn’t let me.
“Even though the girl was on fire they kept hitting her. They were laughing as if they were enjoying what they were doing.
“They burnt her alive.”
Maria, which is not her real name, said the gang held young women in a house on the Mexican border until they were sold to the US as sex slaves. But she said they also dealt in children and told of on one occasion when the gang was contacted by a woman in New York.
“She called and was very angry. She said she needed a seven-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy – and she needed them in three days.”
Maria told Special Agents that the gang would prowl the streets of poor areas and look for children.
“They stole the children,” she said. “One of the gang members took a six-year-old kid. I had to look after him for three hours. He told me he wanted to see his mummy.
“Then I started crying, I said: “I don’t think you’re ever going to see your mummy again.” All he kept saying was I want to see my mummy.”
US officials have a keen interest in this case. As a result of the interview US officials have begun investigating along with the Mexican authorities.
Maria, who managed to escape after a gang member left her alone in a house, says children were often around. But not for long.
“I saw the Americans taking kids,” she said. “A four-year-old and another boy, he barely walked, he was only about two years old. They took them to New York.”
The US State Department estimates that more than 20,000 young women and children are trafficked across the border from Mexico each year. But conviction rates remain low.
Mexico’s Attorney General Arturo Chavez has been accused of not doing enough to bring human traffickers to justice but insisted it was an issue the country was “definitely focussing on.”
Maria has been told that she could have to give evidence against the gang of they are caught. It is something she says she is determined to do.
“Women are sold, they are abducted, bought and even killed by these men. If these men are ever found, jail won’t be enough to make them pay for the way they’ve made us feel.”
IPS Gender Wire – up to 15th December 2009
CLIMATE CHANGE: Latin American Women Want Modified Trade Rules
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49611
GENDER: U.N. Women’s Treaty Weakened by Slew of Reservations
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49591
MALAWI: Women Fight Harmful Cultural Practices
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49683
Q&A: “Poverty Kills Women’s Awareness”
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49681
RIGHTS-INDIA: Women Rally Together to Fight Injustice
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49672
RIGHTS: U.N. Still to Accredit Its First U.S. LGBT Group
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49661
RIGHTS-TANZANIA: ‘I Feel Like Less of a Woman’
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49659
MEDIA-ASIA: Forget ‘Gender’
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49652
SIERRA LEONE: Woman Breaking Traditional Walls in Chieftaincy Elections
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49699
MALAYSIA: Lack of Regulation Blamed for HIV Upsurge among Women
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49651
CLIMATE CHANGE: Adaptation Funds Must Reach Africa’s Women Farmers
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49647
RIGHTS: Dispute Over Veil Spreads Across Egypt
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49632
POLITICS: Zimbabwe Blasted for Condoning “Sexual Terror”
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49626
Q&A: Bolivian Women a Force Behind Power, But Still Powerless
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49620
IPS Gender Wire – 22nd December 2009
DEVELOPMENT: Women Chiefs Change Indian Villages
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49780
CAMBODIA: Media Still Struggling to Break Gender Barriers
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49762
EGYPT: Cheap Bread Frees Women to Work
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49781
SOUTH AFRICA: Hard Lessons for Small Business on the West Coast
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49773
RIGHTS-INDIA: Hi-Tech Beats Sex Selection Ban
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49778
RIGHTS-EGYPT: Bloggers Name and Shame Torturers
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49770
INDIA: Teacher Training For Gender Sensitive Schooling
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49766
JAPAN: Careers On Hold For Most Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49759
SOUTH KOREA: Low Birth Rate Blamed on Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49752
SOUTH SUDAN: Women Perpetuate Culture of Submission
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49726
NEPAL: Widows Break Tradition – Wear Red
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49708
IPS Gender Wire – up to 30th December 2009
GENDER/LANGUAGE: Rejecting the Derogatory ‘Feminine’
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49824
RIGHTS-JAPAN: Privacy Invaded in Sex Crime Trial
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49800
SOUTH SUDAN: A More Gender Representative Leadership
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49809
Q&A: Healing the Wounds of War Through Yoga
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49807
NEPAL: Witch Tag Only on Dalits, Minorities
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49803
RIGHTS: Gender Empowerment at U.N. Still Cloudy
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49798
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
When Milanese businesswomen Lorella Zanardo decided to make a short documentary critiquing the sexist and humiliating depictions of women on Italian television, her expectations were modest.
“I thought that we’d make this video, put it on DVD and take it around to high schools to get kids thinking about the issue,” says Zanardo. “The last thing I expected was this reaction.”
Zanardo is referring to the national word-of-mouth sensation that Il Corpo delle donne (Women’s Bodies) has become in Italy. The half-hour documentary is a provocative montage of images of the semi-naked, surgically altered women who regularly parade across primetime Italian television. Since Women’s Bodies hit the web this summer, it has had almost a million views — a remarkable number in a country with relatively low internet usage.
Zanardo has been flooded with invitations to present her documentary – not only from high schools, but also from university, political and women’s groups, as well as mainstream political talk shows.
“It clearly came at the right time,” says Zanardo. As someone who never participated in feminist activities in the past, she says she felt an obligation to younger women to speak out against the distorted reflection of women’s bodies and lives on Italian TV.
Indeed, what’s most surprising about the reaction to Women’s Bodies, isn’t the indignation it has triggered, but the fact that an outcry hasn’t come sooner. Italy has long been renowned for taking disturbing depictions of women to bizarre extremes on TV. Game and talk shows regularly feature fully clothed male hosts, politicians or journalists surrounded by so-called veline – prancing showgirls with oversized breasts and lips who, at best, are silent and, at worst, are prodded by the male hosts to play the role of ditzy ingénue, and then teased and derided for their apparent stupidity.
Zanardo’s documentary edits together examples from a range of shows. One recent popular evening quiz show has a young, scantily dressed woman climb into a plexi-glass cage each episode, where she remains throughout, responding to the jokey put-downs from the host with obsequious smiles. (When some viewers complained, producers replied that there were holes in the plexi-glass so the woman could breathe.) Another show features a woman hanging on a hook while a man stamps her bottom as if she were a prosciutto ham. Even the popular, long-running investigative news program Striscia la notizia features two showgirls shaking their buttocks and breasts at the start and end of each episode.
Critics point out that although Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a media mogul, did not invent television shows with women as titillating decoration, these kinds of depictions have become more pervasive since he consolidated his control of Italian television, as owner of most private channels and head of state TV. In the past year alone, the leader has faced accusations of “cavorting with minors,” sleeping with prostitutes and appointing the young showgirls to political positions for which they have few qualifications. Critics say Berlusconi’s politics and personal life reflect his soft-porn version of reality that his channels promote.
“The cultural model Italy has at the moment is one of the sultan, the harem,” says Concita de Gregorio, editor of the left-wing L’Unità daily newspaper. There was an incident on national television when Mr. Berlusconi phoned into a talk show to tell opposition parliamentarian Rosy Bindi that she was ‘smarter than she was beautiful.’
“It’s a terrible insult, yes,” de Gregorio says, “but it’s also locker-room humour that conveys the message that only pretty women have the right to speak and that if you’re not pretty, you’re worth nothing.”
It’s an observation particularly germane to older women on television, and the pressure placed upon them to retain a youthful sexual appeal. Il corpo delle donne presents a stream of puffy, mask-like faces of post-40 women who have undergone various forms of plastic surgery to remain “presentable” to a TV public.
Reflecting the meaning of this, Zanardo poses a series of questions: “All of our 45 face muscles, excluding those needed to eat, breath and smell, are used to express emotion. The more complex your character, the more individual your face will be. So what are these faces hiding? Why can’t adult women appear with their real faces on television anymore? Why this humiliation? Why must we be ashamed of showing our real faces? What are we afraid of?”
The answer to the final question, says Zanardo, has become clearer to her in recent months.
“I think what we’re afraid of is that men won’t like and accept us anymore,” she says. “The acceptance of men is very important to women [in Italy]. The fact that one woman can take her own life in her hands and say I don’t want to follow this model anymore, makes her feel very alone. This is a terrible fear.” Change, she says, means Italian women have to start taking risks again – something they haven’t done in significant numbers since the feminist movement of the ’70s died out.
“What I am proposing is that women accept for a period of time not to be loved by society, because the path to real independence passes also through non-acceptance.”
Ironically, one of the most powerful images in Il corpo delle donne comes from a pre-feminist past: a clip of post-war Italian actress Anna Magnani. As we look at a middle-aged Magnani gazing into the camera – looking tired, defiant and magnificent – Zanardo’s voice recounts what she used to tell her makeup artist when he tried to cover her wrinkles with makeup. “Leave them alone. Don’t cover even one. It’s taken me a lifetime to get them.”
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2009/12/11/f-womens-bodies-italian-television.html
Click here to see the full version of Il Corpo delle donne (Women’s Bodies) http://www.ilcorpodelledonne.net/?page_id=91
Q&A: Gender Missing in Climate Agreements
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49563
AFGHANISTAN: Gov’t and Donors Fail to Protect Women’s Rights
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49578
Q&A: Three Decades of Progress for Women’s Treaty, But Many Challenges Ahead
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49589
Q&A: Africa – High On Political Empowerment, Low On Education
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49517
RIGHTS: Women’s Treaty a Powerful Force for Equality
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49545
GENDER: Zimbabwe Basket Fund Takes Off
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49542
INDIA: Mobiles For Gender Empowerment
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49537
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Women Facing Increased Risk
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49500
SOUTH AFRICA-RIGHTS: Push To Protect Sex Workers During World Cup
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49541
Q&A: India’s Anti-Women Laws Dropping from the Books
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49514
CULTURE-IBEROAMERICA: Women MisPrized
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49531
HEALTH-BAHRAIN: Men Bring HIV Home
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49498
ENVIRONMENT: Tree Plantations Are Not Forests, Women Activists Say
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49489
INDIA: Towards an AIDS-Free Society, But at What Price?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49486
PERU: Women Workers Forced into Informal Economy
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49511
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL (MDG) 3 AND THE ROLE OF MEDIA:
http://www.ipsnews.net/_adv/mdg3-nov2009.asp
MEDIA-LATIN AMERICA: Women Deserve Better Press
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49481
GENDER-SOUTH AFRICA: ‘There Is A Sense Of Vindication’
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49435
RIGHTS: Nigeria Failing To End Discrimination Against Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49454
MEDIA: The Untold Stories of Violence Against Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49433
BOLIVIA: Women Clamour for Right to Land
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49446
BALKANS: Apologising to Sterilised Roma Women – Slovakia’s Turn
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49444
POLITICS-NAMIBIA: ‘Parties Totally Don’t Care About Women’s Rights’
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49437
GUATEMALA: Sex Education, Family Planning Finally Available
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49436
RIGHTS: U.N. Recruits Men to Help End Violence Against Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49414
LABOUR-MEXICO: Manufacturing Poverty for Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49434
RIGHTS-FRANCE: Domestic Violence – Everybody’s Business
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49413
PERU: IACHR Calls for Justice for Victims of Forced Sterilisation
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49430
Q&A: “We Have Linked Machismo and Femicide in the Public Mind in Chile”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49419
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
Reporters Without Borders is calling for a thorough investigation into the death of Olga Kotovskaya, a prominent journalist who apparently fell from the 14th floor of a building in the centre of Kaliningrad (the capital of a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania) six days after a court ruled that she had been unfairly stripped of the TV station she had created.
“Kotovskaya’s tragic and highly suspicious death needs a thorough and meticulous investigation,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It should possibly be assigned to a police department that does not come under the local authorities, whose role in her death is one of the elements that needs to be examined.”
The press freedom organisation added: “Impunity in the cases of murders of journalists is one of the most disturbing aspects of the media situation in Russia. The federal authorities should get involved in combating this problem as a matter of the utmost urgency.”
Kotovskaya died on 16 November, six days after a Kaliningrad arbitrage court ruled that in 2004 she had been unfairly stripped of her control of Kaskad, a TV station she created in the 1990s in which she owned 49 per cent of the shares. The court ruled that the document used to transfer control to new owners had been forged. Kaliningrad’s current governor, Vladimir Pirogov is alleged to have been involved in the takeover.
Her family and colleagues and the Kaliningrad Union of Journalists all insist that it is impossible that this combative journalist, brilliant businesswoman and mother of two could have committed suicide just after winning a major legal battle. “No one in Kaliningrad believes that she killed herself,” said Novyie Kolessa editor Igor Rudnikov. She also had no reason to go to the building at the foot of which her body was found, he added.
Kotovskaya’s death recalls that of Ivan Safronov, a talented journalist employed by the newspaper Kommersant, who died in March 2007 after falling from the fifth floor of his Moscow apartment building. The police said it was suicide.
Claiming they have found no evidence that Kotovskaya was murdered, the Kaliningrad judicial authorities have nonetheless opened an investigation into the possibility of “incitement to suicide.”
Russia was ranked 153rd out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. At least 22 journalists have been killed in connection with their work since March 2000.
DEVELOPMENT: UNFPA Puts Human Face on Climate Blowback
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49320
Q&A: Maternal Mortality Rates ‘One of the Saddest Cases’ in Asia
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49348
GENDER-AFRICA: Some Progress Amidst Continuing Challenges
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49364
GENDER: Women in Science Face Discrimination in India
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49307
CLIMATE CHANGE: Women Central to Adaptation, Mitigation
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49323
INDIA: Women’s Political Empowerment, Yes; Better Lives, No
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49374
Q&A: “What is Important is to Give Equal Opportunity”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49308
Q&A: Women Should Be More Than Window Dressing
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49318
Q&A: Glass Half-full 15 Years After ICPD – Part 2
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49375
RIGHTS-LAOS: How Women Cope With Disability – Part 1
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49350
SOUTH SUDAN: Media Give Us a Fair Deal – Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49337
LEBANON: Migrant Women Dying on the Job
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49362
INDIA: Women As Hindu Priests Have An Edge
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49389
“When a Woman Wins, It is Still a Story”
Miren Gutierrez* interviews LOUISE DOUGHTY, novelist and critic
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49406
GENDER: For U.S., Lessons in CEDAW From San Francisco
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49405
PERU: Parties Thwart Public Demand for Women in Politics
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49395
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
GENDER: Laws, Budgets and Pigeonholes – Part 1
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49270
GENDER: “Truly Exciting If the U.S. Could Ratify CEDAW” – Part 2
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49271
CENTRAL AMERICA: Gender-based Violence, the Hidden Face of Insecurity
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49279
MIDEAST: Gazans Brace for Cold, Bleak and Miserable Winter
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49285
POLITICS-NAMIBIA: The Struggle Does So Not Continue
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49258
CUBA: Fewer Storks Visiting Shiny Maternity Clinics family
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49294
SWAZILAND: Help Sex Workers – Senator
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49242
MIDEAST: Gaza Graduates Search for Vitamin W
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49235
PARAGUAY: Indigenous Women Leaders Buck Discrimination
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49232
UGANDA: Helping Hand For Homophobia From U.S. Christians
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49223
RIGHTS-TURKEY: Transforming Men from Culprits to Allies
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews49284
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
Marking World AIDS Day on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon “warned … that new infections are outpacing the gains from treating people with the HIV virus” and that discrimination against HIV-positive people remains “widespread,” the Associated Press reports. “While the world is seeing signs of progress in reversing the AIDS epidemic, Ban said Tuesday that more must be done urgently to reach the U.N. goal of providing universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010,” the news service writes (Lederer, 12/1).
Zuma Announces Expansion Of HIV Treatment For Pregnant Women, Infants; U.S. To Give $120M To South Africa For ARVs
Media Examines Global, Regional Responses To HIV/AIDS
Media Examines Country-Level Responses To HIV/AIDS
For links to these reports go to http://globalhealth.kff.org/Daily-Reports/2009/December/02/GH-120209-World-AIDS-Day.aspx
RIGHTS-UGANDA: “You Cannot Tell Me You Will Kill Me Because I’m Gay”
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49189
Q&A: “CEDAW is UNIFEM’S Entry Point”
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49194
BRAZIL: Leading Ladies Give Gender Slant to Campaign
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49193
HEALTH: New Task Force Targets Poor in Breast Cancer Fight
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49141
FRANCE: Top Designers Make Dolls to Fund Darfur Vaccinations
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49192
PERU: Cuzco Women Stand Up to Violence
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49131
Q&A: Put the New Women’s Agency in Africa
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49153
RIGHTS-CAMEROON: The Reverend Raped Me
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49135
SIERRA LEONE: New Dawn for Small Farmers?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49125
MEXICO: Women Package the Sweet Taste of Nostalgia
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49181
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.
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This is the first major step forward in protecting children from being sexually exploited through the making and distribution of images of them being sexually abused. The law is hard hitting and among other things prohibits the possession, making, distribution, display, and the attempt to access or transmit on the internet or by cell phone any illegal images depicting sexual activity with or of children or their private parts.
This is one of the few pieces of anti-child pornography legislation in the world that requires by law Internet Server Providers (ISPs) to install filtering software that will block access to web sites though the internet that contains illegal images of children as defined under the act. The law is known as the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, Republic Act 9775. Mall operators and business establishments have to know and report to the police within 7 days any violation of the act in their premises.
The law strictly outlaws any attempt to knowingly access with reasonable knowledge any child pornography with or without the intent to publish, sell, distribute or broadcast the images. Hundreds of thousands of people daily are accessing, sharing, viewing and downloading images of children being sexually abused. It is a 3 billion dollar business and every image is evidence of a crime against the child. Experts say that such images do entice, induce and encourage offenders to seek out victims and abuse them. Under this legislation the internet server providers must give to the police when asked the identities of the offenders trying to access child pornography over the internet through their servers.
The mandated installation of filtering software by law is rejected by many in the industry. They say it is a first step to government surveillance of internet traffic is an invasion of privacy and a form of censoring; all these are anathema to internet server providers and many users. In the UK they have voluntarily installed filtering software.
There is no total and absolute right over anything or anybody in the world. If the freedom of action of some is harming and allowing the abuse of others, especially children, then action must be taken to protect the vulnerable and the victimized. One right must not be used to violate another right. Besides we all have a moral responsibility to protect children and bring violators to justice. Industry has a social responsibility to make their services child safe just like any other product. They must put children before profits.
Bayantel, a Philippine ISP owned by the Lopez Family is the only ISP already using the very easy to install filtering system known in the industry as NetClean a clever and effective invention from Sweden. PLDT, Sun-Digitel, Globe, Smart and Eastern do not have it. They must act soon. The Preda Foundation (www.preda.org) is mounting a campaign to encourage them to protect children and do it now and install NetClean white box technology. They are a responsible corporation and work closely with Teliasonera. Both companies are committed to helping the victims of child exploitation.
The New Zealand government is using NetClean technology successfully throughout the whole country. The ISPs have no reason to wait the 90 days for the National Telecommunications Commission to order them to do it.
Senator Jamby Madrigal gets the credit and thanks of the nation for sponsoring, drafting and tirelessly advancing the law which passed the senate in record time. I was privileged to be invited to share ideas and suggestions with her legal committee in drafting the legislation. Unicef Philippines also contributed greatly by engaging a Canadian legal expert and brought her in from Hong Kong to help draft key sections. Together with the senator Madrigal’s highly intelligent drafting team led by Attorney Nino Aquino we had a productive brainstorming that helped make this landmark legislation to protect children. (preda@info.com.ph)
Lower House representatives Darlene Antonio-Custodio Ist., Nikk Prieto-Teodoro and Matias Defensor all deserve praise for their efforts to get this important legislation sponsored, passed and signed.
http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20091120061145
Many media advocates in Zambia and throughout the world considered the arrest of Chansa Kabwela, news editor of The Post, to be an assault on press freedom. The newspaper and the government of President Rupiah Banda have been at loggerheads about allegations of public corruption.
“This was a case started by President Banda against us,” Fred M’membe, the paper’s editor in chief, said in comments on The Post’s Web site after the ruling. “He publicly accused us of pornography and called us all sorts of names. He insulted us of being sick, morbid and peculiar.”
In June, during a strike by health workers, a pregnant woman was refused care at a hospital in Lusaka, the capital. The woman gave birth outside the hospital building. Her baby died.
According to Ms. Kabwela, photos were taken during those hectic moments by the woman’s husband. He tearfully took them to The Post in the hope that their publication might avert similar tragedies, she said.
But while the editor judged the pictures to be too graphic for publication, she considered them important. She wanted to send them “to people who had the capacity to end the strike,” she said in an interview after her arrest.
Her mailing list included George Kunda, the country’s vice president; the health minister; the secretary to the cabinet; the archbishop of Lusaka; and two women’s groups. She was arrested a month later.
President Banda had not been sent the photos, but he did learn of them and lashed out against them at a news conference, saying, “I hope those responsible for the law of this country will pursue this matter.”
Members of the women’s groups said the photos belittled the sacred act of birth and invaded the mother’s privacy.
In Monday’s ruling, Magistrate Charles Kafunda described the pictures. They showed the child, reportedly dead, emerging feet first from the distraught mother. The magistrate said he sympathized with witnesses who found the photos to be shocking.
Nevertheless, he said, the prosecution had failed to prove that Ms. Kabwela had used the photos to taint the morals of society.
“I have been vindicated,” Ms. Kabwela said, according to The Post’s Web site. “I have always said that whatever I did was purely out of good will on behalf of The Post.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/africa/17zambia.html?_r=1
RIGHTS: Women Still Sidelined in Economic Decision-Making
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49020
BOLIVIA: Politics, a Risky Business for Women
By Franz Chávez
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49024
SRI LANKA: 25 Years On, Women Still Struggle for Their Rights
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49012
Q&A: Italian Women At A Loss
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48939
HEALTH-AFRICA: Fresh Campaign Against Paediatric AIDS
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48962
URUGUAY: Next President to Emerge from November Runoff
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49002
Q&A: “Women Will Benefit From Secularism”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48971
INDIA: Single Women Break Their Silence, Challenge Societal Norms
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48953
AFRICA: Counting on Media for Good Governance
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48943
COLOMBIA: Sexual Violence as Weapon of War
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48942
UGANDA: Lifting Silence on Menstruation to Keep Girls in School
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48961
KENYA:Practical Measures Needed on Teen Sexual Education
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49022
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
From the Editors
What do postfeminism and postracialism have to do with liberation and freedom? The answer is clear: nothing — not a single thing. Postfeminism or postracialism contribute nothing to dismantling the patriarchal systems that spread across cultures and races. Or to inhibit gender violence, deliver healthcare, provide economic relief or increase abortion accessibility. The “posts” are nonmovements and they move precisely nothing forward.
The “post” terms, thrown about vigorously by pundits, send out signals that the problems of our society related to gender and race have magically flown away in an unseen balloon. Yet, race rears regularly into headlines with the small and big ripples – an African-American professor is arrested, a Latina judge is demonized, an immigrant is beaten on the street, a girl disappears but major attention will follow only if she is white. Gender concerns permeate the public sphere with unequal pay rates, sexualized commentary, rape, anti-abortion violence. The reality-based world is jammed with perplexing matters related to race and gender that demand creative resolutions.
In this edition of On The Issues Magazine, we decided to take on race and feminism, two of the most provocative social, political and cultural topics of our times. To approach the subjects with fresh eyes, we invited partners from the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Network to be Consulting Editors, and were joined by Loretta Ross, SisterSong’s National Coordinator, and Serena Garcia, Communications Director.
“Race, Feminism, Our Future” reflects the decision to put our collective consciousness into articulating ways that we can unite on the path toward social justice and equality, rather than dwell on interpersonal agitations and past histories with all of their ups and downs.
The result is a series of big-picture articles and visionary ideas. Rinku Sen, in “Taking on Postracialism,” brilliantly describes engrained institutional racism that makes the goal of a more equitable society elusive. Most Americans, she writes, “don’t see racism as a system enabled by rules and structures. They have no idea that when we lay seemingly race-neutral policies on top of the history of explicitly racist policy, the racial gap remains in place or grows.” Sen suggests that new storytelling is needed to help people break through structural-blindness.
In “To Stop the Gender Violence, Start Changing the Tune,” Andrea Smith takes up a topic that affects women across racial, class, ethnic and cultural boundaries: violence. Gender violence is a frequent topic in On The Issues Magazine, both as a print publication (1983-99) and an online publication (2008-on). In 1990, Merle Hoffman, publisher and editor-in-chief, wrote: “There is no honor in a society that brutalizes women and denies them the fundamental human right of living without sexual violence – just as there is no honor in a society that inflicts racist violence against Black people and discriminates against millions of its citizens because of the color of their skin.”
In this edition, Smith, a scholar and activist, notes how much still needs to be done to end gender violence. Today’s mainstream anti-violence programs could benefit from adopting newer community-oriented strategies that women of color groups are creating to deal with both violence against women and the violence of aggressive police actions that devastate communities of color. “It is a problem that requires a political organizing solution, one that focuses on transforming society so that it no longer condones violence,” writes Smith.
Eleanor Bader describes a teaching model that helps youth think through difficult social problems, and Graciela Sanchez writes poetically about an arts program that uses photography to help women break free from isolation and become activists. Eesha Pandit articulates the necessity of incorporating a strong reproductive justice perspective in national healthcare, while Suzanne Pharr and Jacqui Patterson look at unifying themes for progressives in economic stimulus and climate change policy. Betsy Hartmann discusses how new population explosion claims are replaying racist narratives. Loretta Ross takes apart the language of right-wing groups that deploy darts of anger in undertones, and Serena Garcia breaks down the distortion of attacks on “wise Latina” Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
In book reviews, Book Editor Christine E. Hutchins looks at a new book by Dutchess Harris on Black feminist activism in the 40 years following President Kennedy’s election. Reviewer Courtney Zedner describes the book release by the very contemporary spoken word artist, Staceyann Chin, who defies the use of categories in her invigorating stagework seen in a featured video.
In areas in which it is often difficult to find the right words, artists in this edition share humor and pain in response to race and feminism. Faith Ringgold, the featured artist selected by Art Editor Linda Stein, is known for her vast and impressive body of work with paint, quilted fabric and storytelling. In “How the People Became Color Blind and We Came to America,” Ringgold personally narrates an illustrated story, imagining the world without skin color variations. Poets Marian Cannon Dornell and Cheryl Clarke, selected by Poetry Co-Editor Clare Coss for The Poet’s Eye delve into history, where women find escapes from harsh and difficult times. Other acclaimed artists share their work throughout the online magazine, including Emma Amos, Natalie Frank, Janet Goldner, Gloria Hollwerda-Williams, Gwyneth Leech, Helene Ruiz and Taryn Wells.
We will also continue to build on this rich assemblage of articles, poetry and art. Natalie Bell will report back as a special correspondent for the national SisterSong Conference in Washington D.C. in early November. Our unique Café will highlight additional perspectives – such as Maame-Menisme Horne’s writing about reproductive oppression and black anti-abortionists and Angela Poh on Chinese heroines in folk tales. And more.
Collecting these incisive materials also raised questions, some on language and style: is “Black” or “black” more appropriate? And “White” or “white”? In the end, we decided to leave those decisions to the individual authors.
We look for your opinions, too. Send us your ideas and thoughts to managingeditor@ontheissusemagazine.com
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009fall/2009fall_editors.php
IN THIS ISSUE
– UNIFEM Welcomes Strong Support by the General Assembly for the Establishment of a New Gender Entity
– New Security Council Resolutions Strengthen Women’s Protection in Conflict and Participation in Peacebuilding
– Launching in November: Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women
– UNIFEM around the World
– o Clinton Global Initiative Selects UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women as Commitment to Action
– o Spain Contributes EUR 31.5 Million to UNIFEM in 2009
– o West Africa: Women Particularly Vulnerable to the Negative Impact of Climate Change
– o Rwanda: Empowering Women through Cooperatives
– o Latin America: Economic Policies and Stimulation Packages Must Not Overlook Women
– o El Salvador: UNIFEM Opens a Regional Training Centre for Women’s Entrepreneurship
– o Afghanistan: Photo Exhibition on Women and the Afghan Elections
– o Japan: UNIFEM Liaison Office Opens in Sakai City
– o Palestinian Women Mark the International Day of Rural Women
– o Philippines: Landmark Legislation for Gender Equality Officially Enacted
– o 50 Million Women in Asia at Risk of Contracting HIV from Intimate Partners
– Recent Speeches & Statements
– Recent Publications
– Current & Upcoming Events
– Job Vacancies
This issue is available in HTML format online at http://www.unifem.org/news_events/currents/issue200911.php
Nearly 90,000 women reported they were raped in the United States last year.
It’s estimated another 75,000 rapes went unreported. But while rape convictions are up – a five month CBS News investigation raises questions about just how many rapists are actually being brought to justice.
Rape in this country is surprisingly easy to get away with. The arrest rate last year was just 25 percent – a fraction of the rate for murder – 79 percent, and aggravated assault – 51 percent.
“When we have talked to victims, they very much so doubt that it was worth it for them to go to the police,” said Sarah Tofte, US Program Researcher for Human Rights Watch. “They’re incredibly disillusioned with the criminal justice system, and that sends a terrible message.”
The suspect’s attorney told police his client never had sex with Valerie. Yet an exam revealed “evidence of forced sexual penetration.” Semen found on her underwear. Nurses took a rape kit- a collection of swabs and clothing that provide DNA evidence. The suspect provided a sample. But the DNA was never tested.
“Testing the kit is one way to affirm a victim’s story,” Tofte said, “and discredit the suspect’s story.”
A five month CBS News Investigation has found a staggering number of rape kits — that could contain incriminating DNA evidence — have never been sent to crime labs for testing.
Many untested for years. And that’s not all. At least twelve major American cities: Anchorage, Baltimore, Birmingham, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Oakland, Phoenix, San Diego said they have no idea how many of rape kits in storage are untested.
Police departments told us rape kits don’t get tested due to cost – up to $1,500 a kit — a decision not to prosecute, and victims who recant or are unwilling to move forward with a case.
Psychologist David Lisak from the University of Massachusetts has spent twenty years studying the minds of rapists.
“Somehow all we can do is take the statement from the victim. Take the statement from the alleged perpetrator and then throw up our hands because they are saying conflicting things,” he said. “That’s not how we investigate other crimes.”
Valerie was told her rape kit wasn’t tested because they didn’t have the money. But when we caught up with Kenton County prosecutor, Rob Sanders, he told us something else. “The results of the DNA test would not have made the case one way or another,” Sanders said.
Sanders said his office made a “judgment call” the case was unwinnable in court — claiming there were issues with Valerie’s memory and the alcohol involved. A practice, says Lisak that often plays right into the hands of rapists.
“Predators look for vulnerable people and they prey on vulnerable people,” Lisak said. And if, as a criminal justice system, we’re going to essentially turn from any victim who was drinking or any victim who was in some way vulnerable – we’re essentially giving a free pass to sexual predators.”
Worried they were doing just that, CBS News has learned the Oakland California Police Department is now plowing through 489 untested rape kits from stranger rapes dating back six years, looking for evidence in what they believe to be “solvable cases.”
The Los Angeles Police Department is testing a backlog of nearly 3,000 rape kits. LAPD’s new Chief Charles Beck says efforts to reduce the backlog have “resulted in 405 hits” in the FBI DNA database.
In New York City, prosecutors are even more aggressive – testing every rape kit, even in cases of acquaintance rape – over 1,300 last year alone.
“You never know what you’re going to find,” said Mecki Prinz of the NY Medical Examiners Office.
The results are stunning. Today New York City’s arrest rate for rape is 70 percent – triple the national average.
Prinz says testing kits in acquaintance cases can tie suspects to other attacks, “We have lots of situations where a domestic situation or an acquaintance situation is actually an indication of the male involved responsible for other rapes,” she said.
“I feel like they didn’t do their job to protect me and to protect everyone else,” Valerie said. “I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever forget. I don’t think it’s something you can forget.”
For full story and links including helplines in the US go to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/09/cbsnews_investigates/main5590118.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea
See also:
* The introduction in the Senate of the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009 is a significant step toward eliminating the backlog of evidence in rape cases – Human Rights Watch.
DEVELOPMENT: Is It Time to Plan Another U.N. Population Meet?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48918
RIGHTS-UGANDA: Female Circumcision Still a Vote Winner
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48915
DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH ASIA: Women’s Peace Offensive
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48905
ECONOMY: ‘It’s Smart to Invest in Girls’
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48885
Q&A: ‘Cambodia’s Penal Code Aims to Silence Gov’t Critics’
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48924
AFRICA: Uneven Progress on Development Goals
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48869
INDIA: Return of Traditional Birth Attendants Urged to Meet MDG 5
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48853
RIGHTS: Unsafe Abortions Killing 70,000 a Year
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48851
DEVELOPMENT: Meeting MDGs “Not Rocket Science”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48847
HEALTH: Study Faults Unregulated Trade in Human Organs
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48845
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
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womensphere 
Libya should drop charges against journalist who reported allegations of sexual harassment
28 October 2009 in Africa, Government, Media, Opinion Comment, Rape and Sexual Assault
Mohamed al-Sareet, a Libyan journalist, wrote on Jeel Libya, an independent news website based in London, about a rare demonstration in Benghazi by women who live in a state-run care residence for women and girls who were orphaned as children, calling for an end to sexual harassment they said they had experienced in the center. The demonstrators were also demanding the return of the center’s former director. After the article appeared, the police and then the General Prosecutor’s office summoned al-Sareet for interrogation and charged him with criminal defamation.
“Libya should investigate alleged abuse and ensure the protection of these women instead of intimidating the man who wrote about it,” said Sarah Leah Whitson. “A journalist should not have criminal sanctions hanging over his head for doing his job.”
In the October 21 demonstration, at least 10 women and girls between the ages of 18 and 27 who live in the care center walked through the streets of Benghazi to the Center’s governing body, the Social Solidarity Center, holding up placards calling for the reinstatement of the Care Center’s former director, who marchers said had treated them well and protected them.
Several of the women told Libyan journalists that officials who run the center had sexually harassed them and allowed security officers into their rooms at night. One woman said that an official had propositioned her and threatened to beat her if she did not comply. Besides Jeel Libya another Libyan website, Libya al Youm, published photos of the demonstration and interviews with some of the residents.
On October 22, local police summoned al-Sareet to the Hadaek police station for questioning. On October 26, the General Prosecutor’s Office summoned him for further questioning and charged him with criminal defamation, which carries a prison sentence. Jeel Libya’s director told Human Rights Watch that al-Sareet had received threats to burn down his house to intimidate him into retracting his article.
On October 23, some of the women who had been quoted called another Libyan news website, Al Manara, and denied that administrators had sexually harassed them. Libya al Youm reported that officials had threatened to expel those who demonstrated from the center, and pressured them to retract their statements and to sue al-Sareet for slander. On October 26, Quryna, one of two private newspapers affiliated with Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Mu’ammar Gaddafi, published an article in which several of the women denied that any sexual harassment had taken place. “We are now without honor in the eyes of society after what this journalist did,” the paper quoted them as saying.
During a visit to Libya in 2005, Human Rights Watch found widespread official denial that violence against women exists in Libya, and a lack of adequate laws and services, leaving victims of violence without effective remedies and deterring reporting. A group of students conducting a study on sexual harassment in Tripoli in April 2009 had great difficulty in persuading women to talk about their experiences, since some felt it would bring shame on them to discuss it.
Human Rights Watch said that countries have a duty to investigate and prevent sexual harassment, a form of violence against women. Libya was among the first countries to ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, Article 8 of which requires state parties to adopt all necessary measures to prevent, punish, and eradicate all forms of violence against women. Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination prohibited by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Libya is party. Furthermore, both the African Charter and the ICCPR require Libya to protect freedom of expression. Journalists should be able to report freely without fear of imprisonment for their writings.
“Official denial and reprisals against journalists is not the way to protect women in Libyan society,” said Whitson, “Women should be encouraged to bring forward complaints of sexual harassment and other forms of violence so the government can act to prevent abuses.”
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/23d3ca795532abe6dae79bfc1ca27fa4.htm