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THE BELOW (updated 12 MAR 2022)
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali
Read all about the Zan, zendagi, azadi!> (Women,
life, freedom) women revolution in Iran by clicking here
The Guardian
26 Jan 2023
By Michael Goodler
<<Sexual offences logged by police in England and Wales hit record high
The number of sexual offences recorded by police reached a record high
in the year to September, increasing by more than a fifth com-pared with
before the pandemic. Home Office figures published on Thursday found
there were 199,021 sexual offences recorded by for-ces across England
and Wales in the year to September 2022, as well as 70,633 rapes. That
was 22% higher than in the year ending March 2020, before the
coronavirus pandemic. The number of recor-ded sex offences dropped
during Covid-19 lockdowns, but there has been a sustained rise since
April last year. The figures suggest a high number of historical sex
crimes are being reported. Looking only at police forces that provide
extra data to the Home Office, 22% of all sexual offences and 31% of
rapes recorded were for crimes that had taken place more than a year
earlier. Separate figures from the crime survey of England and Wales -
used to measure the prevalence of actual crime over time – found no
statistically significant rise in sex crime over the period, suggesting
the increase in the police figures is at least partly because victims
are more likely to come forward, and police are better at recording. A
number of high-profile sexual assault cases happened over the year to
September, including the sentencing of the police officer Wayne Couzens
for the rape and murder of Sarah Everard, and the arrest of the police
officer David Carrick, revealed to be a serial rapist. Diana Fawcett,
the chief exe-cutive of the Victim Support charity, said: <This huge
rise in recorded sexual offences comes as the percentage of cases seeing
justice has plummeted to an abysmal new low. Charges for rape and sexual
offences have been falling sharply for the past six years - the system
is in crisis. We are on a path to destroying victims' faith in the
criminal justice system altogether. Police and the CPS have a duty to
survivors who have experienced life-changing trauma - they must do
better and start delivering justice.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/26/sexual-offences-logged-by-police-england-wales-record-high
Opinion by Gino d'Artali: As I was reporting about what The Guardian and
France 24 reported below I thought - 'most like the majority of
women/people might think that France or Spain does not lay in my <garden
territory> Nothing can happen to me. How wrong you are because as you
read the above (click on link to read the whole article) the vulture-predadators
may lay and crawling closer than you think. In other words: always be
aware!
France 24
25 Jan 2023
Text by:
Barbara GABEL|Benjamin DODMAN
<<Education in the spotlight as watchdog warns of sexist 'backlash'
sweeping France
France's equality watchdog has called for an <emergency plan> to combat
widespread sexism that is affecting youths in particular, amid concern
that the country’s education system is failing to foster gender equality
from a young and vulnerable age. While online exposure to pornography is
cause for particular alarm, experts say the sexist <backlash> is also
evidence that feminist themes have made important inroads, stirring
vibrant - if often acrimonious - debates. Five years into the #MeToo
movement, and almost six years after President Emmanuel Macron declared
gender equality the <Grand Cause> of his first mandate, France's main
equality watchdog has offered a scathing assessment of the country's
progress on the matter. According to the High Council for Equality
between Women and Men (HCE), sexism is far from retreating in France. In
fact, some of its most violent manifestations are getting worse, the
council warned in its annual report this week, noting that French
society remains <highly sexist at every level> and that <younger
generations are the most affected>. The watchdog flagged a sexist <backlash>,
amplified by social media, that seeks <to reduce women to silence>. It
called for a national <emergency plan> to combat what it described as
<the massive, violent and sometimes lethal consequences> of sexism in a
country with stubbornly high rates of gender-based violence. The HCE's
scathing report is only the latest to flag major shortcomings in
fostering gender equality in French schools. In August last year, the
HCE's head Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette had already panned the government
over its failure to <treat equality and respect between men and women as
an educational priority for children.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20230125-education-in-the-spotlight-as-watchdog-warns-of-sexist-backlash-sweeping-france
The Guardian
24 Jan 2023
By Sam Jones in Madrid
<<Spain calls second emergency meeting over murders of six more women
The Spanish government has called a second emergency meeting of domestic
violence experts in less than a month after the murders of six women and
a young girl since the start of January, and as it considers a plan to
let abused women know if their partners have been convicted of violent
offences. The crisis committee was last assembled after the murders of
11 women in December. On Monday, a 45-year-old woman and her
eight-year-old daughter were murdered in the north-western Spanish
province of Valladolid. Their killings came five days after a
38-year-old woman was murdered in the Catalan province of Lleida. The
latest deaths bring the number of women murdered by their partners or
ex-partners to 1,188 since 2003, when the government began recording
such murders. Over the same period, 49 children have been murdered in
domestic violence attacks. In 2022, 49 women were killed by their
partner or ex-partner, while 43 women died in such attacks in 2021. <So
far this January, six women and an eight-year-old girl have been
murdered by sexist violence,> Spain's equality minister, Irene Montero,
tweeted on Monday afternoon. <The equality ministry is calling a crisis
committee meeting at 10am this Friday to analyse each case in detail, to
find out what went wrong, to improve coordination - and to make sure we
always get there in time.> The meeting will be attended by officials
from the equality, interior and justice ministries, and by
representatives from Spain's self-governing regions. Faced with a sharp
increase in such murders, Spain's Socialist-led government is studying
proposals that would permit the authorities to inform women who are
victims of domestic violence of their partners' previous convictions.
However, Spain's public prosecutor for violence against women has
warned that such warnings could not be issued <automatically or in a
generalised way>, adding that the specific circumstances of each case
would need to be considered. Last month, the government called on courts
and prosecutors to step up the use of electronic bracelets to help
protect women whose former partners were subject to restraining orders.
<We think it's important to promote the use of electronic devices, such
as bracelets that alert women to the presence of aggressors,> the
justice minister, Pilar Llop, said at the end of December. <Since 2009,
when these bracelets were brought in, no woman wearing one has been
murdered.> Llop said it was also important to tackle those who denied
the <scourge> of gender-based violence. However, opposition parties have
accused the government of failing to protect women by introducing
controversial legislation that has allowed some convicted sex offenders
to have their sentences reduced on appeal. Spain's <only yes means yes>
law - which was brought in following widespread anger over the <wolfpack>
gang-rape in Pamplona in 2016 - has made consent a key factor in sexual
assault cases.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/24/spain-second-emergency-meeting-murders-women
23 Jan 2023
Text by NEWS WIRES
<<France still 'very sexist', watchdog says, as women report widespread
violence
Five years into the #MeToo movement, French society <remains very sexist
in all of its spheres,> a government-created equality watchdog said in
an annual report Monday that also sounded the alarm about double-digit
rates of sexual violence reported by women. The High Council for
Equality between Women and Men called for a national <emergency plan> to
combat what it described as <the massive, violent and sometimes lethal
consequences> of sexism against women. In a survey commissioned by the
council, one-third of women reported having been badgered by their
partners into sexual acts that they didn't want. Around one in seven of
the survey's women respondents said men had forced sex on them, and a
similar number reported having been hit and shoved by their partners,
the council said. The council's president, Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette,
expressed particular concern about sexism among younger men <bathed in
social media, digital (technology), pornography.> She said sexism must
be <fought from the youngest of ages.> The council will present its
findings to French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, she added.
<Young people, in particular, are brought up digitally on these scenes
of mundane violence, of relations between men and women that are
completely of domination and dominated, and that has impregnated
society,> Pierre-Brossolette said, speaking to broadcaster France Inter.
<Uprooting sexism is very hard,> she added.
The council's proposed 10-point plan of action included a call for
tougher regulation of online con-tent. Other suggestions included making
training against sexism obligatory in workplaces and banning adverts
that suggest some children's toys are for boys and others for girls.
France has made significant progress in some areas. Prime Minister
Elisabeth Borne is only its second woman to hold the post and
parliament's lower house also has its first-ever woman president, Yael
Braun-Pivet, since June. Macron's government has also increased police
resources against domestic violence and offered free birth control to
all women up to age 25. Lawmakers are also working to constitutionally
guarantee France's abortion rights, with a bill intended to prevent any
of the rollbacks in reproductive rights seen elsewhere, including in the
United States. Still, the equality council described the overall
situation for women in France as <alarming.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20230123-france-still-very-sexist-watchdog-says-as-women-report-widespread-violence
BBC News
18 Jan 2023
By David Gritten
<<Iranian man who beheaded 17-year-old wife jailed for eight years
A man who beheaded his 17-year-old wife has been sentenced to eight
years in prison in Iran, the judiciary says. Images of Sajjad Heydari
carrying Mona's severed head in Ahvaz after the so-called <honour
killing> last year caused widespread outrage. A judiciary spokesman said
the leniency of the sentence was due to Mona's parents having <pardoned>
him for the murder rather than seeking retribution. Her father
previously said that he had not given his consent for the killing. Mona
had been married to her husband since the age of 12 and had given birth
to their son when she was only 14. Local media reported that she had
fled to Turkey after allegedly being subjected to domestic violence by
her husband, who had refused her requests for a divorce. She had
returned to Iran a few days before her murder last February because she
had reportedly received assurances from her family that she would be
safe. Judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi told reporters on Wednesday
that Sajjad Heydari had been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in
prison for murder and an additional eight months for assault. He
explained that the verdict was in line with Iranian law, under which
intentional murder is punishable by death unless the family of the
victim forgives the killer. Mona's brother-in-law was given a 45-month
sentence for complicity in the murder, he said.
The gruesome killing prompted fresh demands in Iran for a law aimed at
preventing domestic violence and protecting victims.>>
Read more here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64319487
The Gaurdian
18 Jan 2023
By Harriet Wistrich
<<Can women in Britain ever trust the police again? Here's what must
happen first
he stories of police-perpetrated abuse of women that have emerged since
the murder of Sarah Everard have been relentless and shocking - they
show without doubt that there is something very rotten going on within
the Metropolitan police force. In the wake of the case of David Carrick
- a police officer who this week pleaded guilty to an as-tonishing 49
offences, including 24 rapes - public figures are queu-eing up to call
out the Met’s culture. But where were they when the-se crimes – many of
which could have been prevented – were being committed? In 2021 Priti
Patel, then home secretary, announced that there would be an inquiry
into Everard's murder at the hands of a serving Met officer. In response
to Carrick's conviction, she stood up in parliament and called for that
inquiry to be put on a statutory footing, so that it could examine the
wider issues of violence against women within the Met police. This
seemed a little odd, given that she resisted the call we made at the
Centre for Women's Justice (CWJ) in October 2021 to do precisely that,
based on a number of other reports of serious offenders within the Met
police - including Carrick himself, who had just been charged with rape.
The early reports of rape and domestic abuse by Carrick, where no
further action was taken, illustrate the woeful inadequacies of policing
of serial sexual offending by the Met, and the lack of safeguards to
prevent police officers from using their powers to abuse women. It is
notable that his career in the Met started in the early 2000s, when
serial rapists John Worboys and Kirk Reid were offending with impunity
while the police failed to investigate repeated reports against them. We
now know that several women reported Carrick for extre-mely serious
crimes, but no further action was taken against him. In fact he was
repeatedly reported to the Met, but no red flags were raised, there was
no attempt to investigate a pattern of offending and there was no
suspension from duty. Instead he sailed through vetting and was even
licensed to use firearms. That Carrick could have not only become a
police officer, but remained a serving officer for so long while he
perpetrated these horrific crimes against women is terrifying. The
failure to suspend Carrick from duty or investigate him for misconduct
despite multiple reports made by women matches a pattern we identified
back in March 2020 in a police super-com-plaint on police-perpetrated
domestic abuse. At that time we were looking at a sample of 19 cases
from police forces across the country. Since then, we have been
contacted by nearly 200 women who were victims of domestic abuse or
sexual offences by police officers. In most cases those women have told
us of their fears of reporting the officer, the often inadequate
investigations, their victimisation by the abuser's colleagues and the
revenge exacted on them though criminalisation or through the family
courts, with those they accuse misusing their police powers. In at least
one case it drove a women to take her own life. We now know that these
police rapists were not rogue officers. The revelations of misogyny and
serious criminality against women by police officers have become
frighteningly commonplace.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/18/women-britain-trust-met-police-david-carrick-sarah-everard
France 24
17 Jan 2023
Text by: Pauline ROUQUETTE
<<Mexican mother confronts loss, corruption and impunity in a 'femicide
nation'
High rates of femicide, combined with a poor track record of bringing
perpetrators to justice - particularly the wealthy and powerful - have
made Mexico the most dangerous country for women in Latin America,
according to the UN. But one grieving mother is determined to seek
justice for her murdered daughter, despite the odds. At 8:35pm on June
18, a Saturday, Patricia Garcia received a call informing her that her
daughter, Frida Santamaria Garcia, was injured and in hospital. Frida
had spent that day working at a reception hall where a baptism party had
been held, her mother recounted in a telephone interview from Sahuayo, a
city in the western Mexican state of Michoacan. <I immediately called
her cousin, who worked with her, to ask if he knew anything. He called
my daughter's phone, but it was her boyfriend, Juan Paulo N., who
answered,> Garcia said.
When she arrived at the Hospital Santa Maria Sahuayo, Garcia lear-ned
that her daughter had been shot. Frida had been left for dead after
being robbed of her cell phone, she was told. The gunshots had punctured
the young woman's lungs and liver. <It was the most terrible moment of
my life,> Garcia said. <A few minutes later, the doctor told me my
daughter was dead.> Frida, 24, still had her whole life ahead of her
when it was brutally cut short with a firearm. <She was a very humble
person with a big heart. She cared about the well-being of her family
and friends. She was unconditional, loyal. She was unique,> her grieving
mother said. Frida's boyfriend denied involvement in her death. But on
December 15, Juan Paulo suddenly retracted his denial and admitted that
he shot his girlfriend, saying it was not intentional. His retraction
and delayed confession promp-ted the regional public prosecutor's office
in Jiquilpan to reduce the charges against him to involuntary homicide.
This gave the accused the right to an abbreviated legal process and a
three-year prison sentence with the possibility of parole. The
punishment for involun-tary homicide in Mexico is far more lenient than
for those charged with femicide. In this country of nearly 127 million
people where, according to authorities, more than 10 women are killed
every day, the case of Frida Santamaria Garcia is yet another
illustration of the challenges victims' families face in their quest for
justice.>>
Read more here:
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20230117-mexican-mother-confronts-loss-corruption-and-impunity-in-a-femicide-nation
The Guardian
16 Jan 2023
By Emine sinmaz
<<'I can kill you': how Met police officer terrorised women over two
decades
A former girlfriend of the armed police officer David Carrick has told
how he allegedly raped, strangled and threatened her, saying: <I can
kill you without leaving any evidence.> Carrick, 48, reportedly used his
status to intimidate and control her, restraining her with his
police-issue handcuffs and boasting that he was a powerful man who
guarded the prime minister. He coerced the woman into staying in the
relationship by convincing her he would plant drugs in her car, saying:
<Who are they going to believe?> The woman, who cannot be named for
legal reasons, told the Guardian about Carrick's year-long campaign of
abuse as he pleaded guilty to 49 counts against 12 women. She was
interviewed by detectives from Hertfordshire con-stabulary but chose not
to make a formal complaint because she did not want to relive her agony
in court. Her testimony comes as Carrick's mother told the Guardian she
reported a concern about him when he was a teenager after a serious
allegation was made against him. The woman met Carrick, who served with
the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, on Tinder. She
found him charming initially, saying: <In the beginning he was a really
nice guy. He was very chatty, very polite. I thought I had found the
right person.>
The couple went on romantic walks and holidays abroad and had dreams of
buying a house together. <But then in front of people he started to put
me down. He made me feel like an awful person,> she said. Carrick
allegedly became more controlling and tried to take charge of the
woman's finances and push her away from her family. <He did it in a nice
way, [saying]: 'Your family are grown up, you need to let them live
their life,'> she said. He also tracked her using the Find My Friends
app on her iPhone without her knowledge and monitored her online
activity. If she was active on social media at night he demanded that
she stop using her phone. <He used to say: 'Who do you belong to? You
belong to me.' He said many, many times: 'You have to obey me. You're
here to serve me.'> The woman described Carrick as a sex addict and
alcoholic who started drinking at 7am after returning home from night
shifts guarding Westminster VIPs. She said his three-bedroom terrace
house in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was full of pornography and he became
obsessed with emulating violent sexual acts. She said he would often
text her pornographic videos while on duty, and if she said she was not
inte-rested he would send her <sad face> selfies. <Sex became really
violent,> the woman said. <He wanted me to be the same as a prostitute
but I didn't want to do this kind of stuff. It was weird, crazy stuff
and I didn't accept it and that's when the fights started.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/16/how-met-police-officer-david-carrick-terrorised-women-over-two-decades
Jinha
Womens news center
16 Jan 2023
<<First mobile app fighting gender-based violence in Algeria
Algeria- The Association Djazairouna has launched Algeria's first mobile
app to document and monitor the incidents of violence against women due
to the lack of official statistics and figures on the incidents of
violence against women.
The app aims to support victims of gender-based violence
In an interview with NuJINHA, Hayat Ait Aba, project manager and legal
advisor at the Association Djazairouna, said, <This app is Al-geria's
first mobile app for women and girls to report violence. The app will be
officially activated in the next few days. We aim to fight domestic and
gender-based violence by launching this app. Victims of violence will be
able to report incidents through this app.> The app will include many
information for victims of gender-based violence, Hayat Ait Aba said,
<The application contains all emergency numbers such as the phone number
of helpline centers, women’s shelters and women's associations that help
women and girls who are victims of violence. The app provides some
advice to women and girls about what they should do when they are
subjected to violence.>
The association works coordinately with other organizations
Underlining that the Association Djazairouna has been working
co-ordinately with other organizations and associations to support women
and girls victims of violence, Hayat Ait Aba stressed, <This app will be
also used by NGOs and government institutions to get the num-ber of
women and girls who are victims of violence in order to draw up a
reliable report.> >>
Source:
https://jinhaagency1.com/en/actual/cezayir-de-siddete-karsi-mobil-dijital-uygulama-32629
BBC News
13 Jan 2023
By Hope Webb
BBC Scotland
<<A woman who released audio of her rapist's confession said she wanted
to show how <manipulative> abusers can be. Ellie Wilson, 25, secretly
captured Daniel McFarlane admitting to his crimes by setting her phone
to record in her handbag. McFarlane was found guilty of two rape charges
and sentenced to five years in prison in July last year. Ms Wilson said
that despite audio and written con-fessions being used in court, the
verdict was not unanimous. The attacks took place between December 2017
and February 2018 when McFarlane was a medical student at the University
of Glasgow. Since the conviction Ms Wilson, who waived her anonymity,
has campaigned on behalf of victims. Earlier this week Ms Wilson, who
was a politics student and champion athlete at the university at the
time, released audio on Twitter of a conversation with McFarlane
covertly captured the year after the attacks. In the recording she asks
him: <Do you not get how awful it makes me feel when you say 'I haven't
raped you' when you have?> McFarlane replies: <Ellie, we have already
established that I have. The people that I need to believe me, believe
me. I will tell them the truth one day, but not today.> When asked how
he feels about what he has done, he says: <I feel good knowing I am not
in prison.> The tweet has been viewed by more than 200,000 people. Ms
Wilson told BBC Scotland's The Nine she had released the clip because
many people wondered what evidence she had to secure a rape conviction.
She said the reaction had been <overwhelmingly positive> although a
small minority had been very unkind. And even with the recording of the
confession being posted online some people were still saying 'he didn't
do it', Ms Wilson said. In addition to the audio confession, Ms Wilson
had text messages that pointed to McFarlane's guilt yet she said she was
still worried that it would not be enough to secure a conviction.
<The verdict was not unanimous,> she said. <You can literally have a
written confession, an audio confession and not everyone on the
jury is going to believe you. I think that says a lot about society.>
Ms Wilson has previously said the experience she had in court was
appalling. She said she was subjected to personal attacks by the defence
advocate and felt blamed for being assaulted. Ms Wilson said she felt
<humiliated, degraded and bullied> during cross-examination. She told
the BBC she had recently read a transcript of the court case and <felt
sick> at some of the things that were said to her. Ms Wilson said
McFarlane was portrayed as a successful student and athlete who had a
bright future and would never carry out such a crime. She said: <He knew
he could spin this narrative that did not have him as a rapist. I wanted
to show people reality of that, especially the people that support him.>
She said she posted the audio on Twitter because she wanted to show the
<duplicitous> nature of abusers. <I wanted to show that those people
could be abusers too and they can act differently behind closed doors,>
she said.>>
Read more here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-64248542
Jinha
5 Jan 2023
<<77% of Iraqi women are subjected to harassment, survey says. News
Center - More women are subjected to violence in northern Iraq.
Recently, a young woman was subjected to attack by a group of men while
visiting a motorbike show in the Hiwan neighborhood of Sulaymaniyah.
After the incident, the Asayish of Sulaymaniyah announced that they
arrested 19 people for attacking the young woman. The Iraqi Women
Journalist Forum (IWJF) conducted a survey across Iraq. The survey
involved interviewing women across Iraq. According to unofficial
statistics released by the IWJF, 77% of Iraqi women are subjected to
harassment. 90% of interviewed women demanded regulations preventing
harassment against women and ending this phenomenon in society.
They have to work despite harassment
78% of interviewed women said that they were subjected to harassment at
the workplace but they could not quit their jobs due to their bad
financial situation. According to the survey, 57% of Iraqi women are
subjected to verbal harassment, 20% of them are subjected to sexual
harassment, 5% to domestic harassment and 7% to online harassment and
blackmail.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency1.com/en/actual/77-of-iraqi-women-are-subjected-to-harassment-survey-says-32572?page=1
France 24
1 Jan 2023
Text by: NEWS WIRES| Video by:
Sam BRADPIECE
<<Senegalese MPs jailed for attacking pregnant legislator in parliament
Two Senegalese opposition MPs were handed six-month jail terms on Monday
for physically attacking a female colleague in parliament. In a case
that sparked anguished debate about democracy in Senegal, pro-government
legislator Amy Ndiaye was slapped and then kicked in the belly during a
chaotic session in the National Assembly. MPs Mamadou Niang and Massata
Samb were each given six-month prison terms after a trial that began on
December 19. They were also each fined 100,000 CFA francs CFA ($150) and
ordered to pay five million francs in damages.
Prosecutors had sought two-year terms.
The bust up happened on December 1, during a routine vote on the justice
ministry's budget. It was sparked by remarks Ndiaye had made about
Serigne Moustapha Sy, an influential Muslim leader who supports the
opposition but is not a lawmaker. After order was restored, Ndiaye
fainted and was given hospital treatment - her lawyer Baboucar Cisse
said she was pregnant and there were fears she could lose her baby. She
has since left hospital but <remains in an extremely difficult
situation,> Cisse said. The incident triggered a fierce debate about
parliamentary discourse and attacks on women. It notably coincided with
an awareness campaign against domestic violence.>>
Read more here:
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20230102-senegalese-mps-jailed-for-attacking-female-legislator-in-parliament
Read also the embedded article:
>> Shock in Senegal as female MP assaulted by her male colleagues in
parliament
The Guardian
20 Dec 2022
Global development is supported by
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
by Haroon Janjua in Islamabad
<<Anger as Pakistan court frees rapist after he agrees deal to marry his
victim
A court in Pakistan has caused outrage after it freed a convicted rapist
when he agreed to marry his victim. Dawlat Khan, 25, had been sentenced
to life imprisonment in May by the district court of Buner, in
north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, for the rape of a young deaf
woman. After an intervention by the area jirga, or council of elders, a
deal was struck between Khan and the family of the woman, who had a
child as a result of the attack. Khan was released on Monday after the
deal was accepted by the Peshawar high court. <The parties have patched
up the matter by the inter-vention of the relative and elder of the
family members, which is in the best interest of the parties. The
compromise was affected in the best interest of the child and his mother
being a special person,> read the court document. The decision has
angered rights groups and activists who say it legitimises sexual
violence against women in Pakistan where the majority of rape cases go
unreported. Those that are reported are difficult to prosecute in
Pakistan, according to Asma Jahangir of Legal Aid Cell, a group
supporting vulnerable women. The conviction rate is low – less than 3%
according the Karachi-based NGO War Against Rape. Threats and coercion
by family and society in rape cases are commonplace, and survivors and
family generally settle the matter outside court fearing the stigma of a
trial. Pakis- tani human rights activist Tahira Abdullah expressed her
outrage and condemnation at the outcome, especially the inhumanity of
forcing a disabled woman to marry her rapist. <Pakistan rape laws must
be amended to change rape from a private crime against a person to a
crime against the state, whereby the state should become the wali
(protector) of the survivor and should prosecute the case - in order to
prevent any form of private compromise, financial settlement, or
<forgiveness> - which is forced by rich influential people against the
poor and powerless and is always unjust to the raped person.>
Usama Malik, a human rights lawyer, said it was an <alarming> decision
by the court. <Allowing the appeal has admitted that rape is a
non-compoundable offence, has accepted the compromise decision of a
local tribal council that comprises males only,> he said. <The court has
not only given precedence to the jirga's decision over that of the trial
court, but also precedence over the laws and the constitution of
Pakistan. While Pakistan’s women protection laws have been improved
over the past two decades, the mindset of the judges applying these laws
remains medieval. This decision is not just a slap in the face of women
across the country but also against disabled people, and gives the
message that their bodies can be bought for a price.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/dec/30/pakistan-court-frees-rapist-after-he-agrees-deal-to-marry-his-victim
The Guardian
20 Dec 2022
Global development is supported by
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
By Soraya Kishtwari in La Ceja
<<Girl power: Colombia's first female electrical line workers train to
keep the lights on
Marianela Hernandez Valencia knows what life without electricity is
like. <As a child, I grew up in a house without electricity, which meant
having to do homework by candlelight,> she says. <It was difficult.>
Today, the 28-year-old is among 15 women hoping to graduate as one of
Colombia's first-ever intake of apprentice line-women, in La Ceja, a
small town about 40km southeast of Medellín, Colombia's second-largest
city. Line workers scale towers and transmission lines hundreds of feet
above the ground to install and repair power cables. They are often the
first responders after a storm or natural disaster and are regularly
away from home for long periods. Graduates of the year-long pilot
project, led by ISA, Latin America's largest energy transmission
company, with the training group Tener Futuro Corporation, are
guaranteed a job with one of two contractors, Instelec and Salomon
Duran. Students are taught about safety, rigging and knot tying, all in
a hands-on environment.
As more companies seek to diversify the workplace, it may seem there has
never been a better time for women to enter the trade. Yet, few consider
applying. The organisers of the scheme aim to change that by targeting
the apprenticeships solely at women and providing a safe space for them
to learn. A week after the call went out for female applicants, 723 had
registered interest. <I've always been drawn to electrical work,> says
Hernández Valencia, who once worked as an electrician's assistant. <That
feeling you get when you're able to help switch the light back on and
seeing the kids' faces light up - it's indescribable.> <You need to be
able to keep a cool head, especially when something unexpected happens
and you're high up a tower> Diana Lizeth. She was working as a
restaurant administrator in Medellín when her partner - a lineman - told
her about the recruitment drive. Her application was successful, but two
weeks into the apprenticeship, her partner dealt an unexpected blow.
<For the first few weeks when we arrived, we overlapped with another
group of trainees - men - and my partner wasn't happy about it. Having
first insisted I sign up, he was suddenly telling me to choose between
him and the training,> she says. <I chose to continue training.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/dec/30/colombia-first-female-electrical-line-workers
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