BySCEME
Tunisian universities should let their doors be open to everyone.
This article deals with the crucial issue of where education and religion interface.
Tensions between secularists and Islamists are rising daily in Tunisia.
The niqab was banned from the country under the previous regime and headscarf was not allowed in public spaces, including universities.
According to some, the niqab prevents the process of conveying the academic message and neither professors nor students are able to communicate properly when the niqab is involved.
However, female students should be allowed to attend class wearing their clothing choices.
Tunisia has the highest female literacy rate in North Africa and women make up 61 percent of students. If universities in Tunisia prohibit women from wearing the niqab, they will lose a chance at education. And keeping women who wear the niqab on the border of the society will only extend the gap between secularists and Islamists.
The Tunisian revolution was meant to move the country forward, not backward. You cannot build a democracy by using violence to impose your views. A democracy should be based on the range of perceptions.
It is up to people to leave their stereotypes aside and try to establish communication with women wearing niqabs.
BySCEME
“Azwajuna”
A Call to Action:
Join our Efforts to Criminalise Family Violence
People wonder why women stay in abusive relationships. A rude comment here, a push there, can eat away a woman’s self-confidence, especially if there are no legal protections available to her.
Domestic violence is a huge problem all across the Arab world. It is also a huge taboo and accurate statistics are not available. Only a few countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, such as Jordan and Israel, have laws on family violence.
In Lebanon, for example, Marital Law does not provide any protection to women.
- “He raped you? Well, marry him!” This slogan is a reality in Lebanon, where the law says that an abuser can be innocent if he marries the victim!
- At least 3/4 of Lebanese women experience domestic abuse.
- Domestic violence is not part of the Lebanese Penal code and Marital Rape is legalised.
- The judiciary consider domestic violence natural phenomena within families.
- The religious courts are not mandated to protect women from violence.
- The Lebanese are split over a draft law on Violence against Women (VAW). The bill criminalises family violence, including rape within marriage. The bill creates family violence units to work with police, and allows women and children to seek restraining order.
Dar al-Fatwa in Lebanon opposes the draft law and describes it as a “Western idea” that would “undermine the position of the man in his family”. But why is it taboo to seek protection against violence?
We at SCEME (www.sce-me.org ) emphasise that women have a Right to: A Private Life; to live Free from Violence and that the integrity of their Bodies should be Respected.
BySCEME
Le système judiciaire turc doit garantir une meilleure protection aux femmes et jeunes filles
Aujourd’hui, plusieurs ONG ont révélé une recrudescence de la violence faite aux femmes en Turquie. Chaque jour cinq femmes sont tuées par leurs proches et un incident de violence domestique est enregistré toutes les dix minutes. Les meurtres de femmes ont augmenté de 1400% depuis l’arrivée au pouvoir en 2002 du parti AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi ou Parti pour la justice et le développement).
Si des progrès avaient pu être perçus ces dernières années, en raison notamment des réformes successives du Code pénal et de la famille ayant renforcé le droit des femmes turques, plusieurs défaillances dans l’application de la loi par les autorités ont été rapportées.
La police et les procureurs sont en effet accusés de ne pas prendre les femmes au sérieux. Lorsqu’elles viennent après avoir été battues, violentées, la police hésite à intervenir et conseille fréquemment aux femmes de retourner chez elles. Dans la même veine, les juges sont réticents à délivrer des ordonnances de protection et lorsque cela s’avère être enfin le cas, elles ne sont pas appliquées.
Sous contrôle du parti AKP, le système judiciaire turc est accuse de renforcer les inégalités hommes-femmes et d’encourager la violence envers les femmes en s’abstenant de sanctionner les crimes commis à l’égard de ces dernières. Un exemple flagrant de cette impunité est la décision rendue le 31 octobre 2011 par la Cour d’appel suprême de Turquie, qui a eu l’audace de reconnaitre le consentement d’une fillette kurde de 13 ans lors d’un rapport sexuel avec 26 hommes, alors que celle-ci avait clairement affirmé avoir été retenue de force. Parmi les hommes se trouvaient le directeur adjoint de l’école primaire, deux officiers de gendarmerie, le maire…tous ont été condamnés a des peines dérisoires, allant de 1 à 6 ans de prison.
Cette décision a provoqué un véritable tollé au sein de l’opinion publique turque. Fatma Sahin, Ministre des Politiques sociales et familiales, a qualifié cette décision d’”inacceptable et inquiétante“. La vérification du consentement d’un enfant ne devrait même pas être envisagée, celui-ci étant considéré comme incapable de comprendre la signification et les conséquences de ses actes.
Hier, à l’occasion de la journée internationale de la femme, le Parlement turc a voté une loi visant à augmenter la protection des femmes contre la violence domestique. Celle-ci prévoit la création de centres de surveillance dans plusieurs villes, une assistance médicale gratuite pour les victimes, ainsi que la possibilité pour un juge d’émettre un ordre de protection sans demande préalable de preuve de violence. Si l’on ne peut que saluer ce vote, plusieurs organisations féministes ont cependant mis en avant l’absence d’éducation et de sensibilisation de la société turque concernant la violence envers les femmes. Reste désormais à voir la façon dont la loi sera appliquée. La Turquie, candidate à l’Union Européenne, ne peut se permettre d’être dotée d’un système judiciaire ne garantissant pas une meilleure protection des jeunes filles et des femmes.
BySCEME
Call to Action: Help us Stop the Trafficking of Women in the Middle East and North Africa
Thousands of women are being displaced, trafficked and exploited for sexual reasons everyday…
“An estimated 230,000 people are in slavery at any given time as a result of trafficking in the Middle East and North Africa”
BREAK THE SILENCE AND BRING THEIR DIGNITY BACK
Please help us combat the trafficking of women and girls in the MENA region.
Since we launched the Karamatuna – “Our Dignity” Campaign on International Women’s Day 2011 we created an in-depth preliminary research report, through which we raised awareness around this topic.
Now we need your help to move forward.
Please send us any information you have about trafficking in the Middle East and North Africa to help us continue our research and BREAK THE SILENCE of these women and girls!
Should you have carried out a piece of research on trafficking in the MENA region; have information about what is currently happening to women at the Syrian-Turkish border; or haveheard of any stories of women trafficked within Middle Eastern and North African countries, please contact us.
(e-mail: info@sce-me.org, website: www.sce-me.org)
Your participation is vital for our work and any piece of information will contribute to uncovering those hidden women…
“It’s easier to be ignorant and say I don’t know about the problem. But once you know, once you’ve seen it in their eyes, then you have a responsibility to do something. There is strength in numbers, and if we all work together as a team, we can be unstoppable”. Craig Kielburger
Help us BREAK THE SILENCE!
BySCEME
Journée internationale de la femme : Après les révolutions arabes, non au recul des droits des femmes!
A l’occasion de la journée internationale de la femme, il est important de rappeler qu’il reste encore un long chemin à parcourir pour l’amélioration des droits des femmes au sein des pays du Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord.
Les femmes ont a de nombreuses reprises prouvé leur courage et leur détermination à se faire entendre et respecter lors des mouvements de contestation ayant déferlé l’année dernière dans la plupart de ces pays. Issues de toutes les couches sociales, les plus âgées comme les plus jeunes étaient présentes au côté des hommes et ont montré au monde entier que quel que soit son sexe, on est libre de vouloir conquérir ses droits.
Les femmes ont elles aussi été victimes des pires violences, subissant traitements humiliants et dégradants, actes de torture. Elles aussi peuvent être qualifiées de « martyrs » de la Révolution. Parce qu’elles ont été présentes au même titre que les hommes, elles doivent désormais pouvoir participer de manière égale à la construction de la démocratie, aux processus décisionnels et être considérées comme égales des hommes, à savoir bénéficier des mêmes droits devant la loi que ces derniers.Car après l’euphorie de la victoire, leurs revendications ont été peu à peu reléguées au second plan et un recul de leurs droits est à craindre. Un exemple flagrant : celui de la baisse des quotas de femmes au sein des diverses assemblées.
v En Egypte, aucune femme n’a intégré les deux Comités chargés de rédiger la nouvelle constitution. Le taux de représentation des femmes à l’Assemblée du peuple est tombé de 12 à 2%, et le quota de 64 sièges instauré sous le régime déchu a été complètement évincé.
v En Libye, le code électoral adopté par le Conseil national de transition (CNT) en janvier 2012 ne prévoit aucun quota de représentation des femmes au sein des nouvelles instances élues.
v Au Maroc, une loi adoptée en octobre 2011 établit un quota de seulement 15 % de femmes.
v En Tunisie, le nouveau gouvernement de 41 ministres nommé en décembre 2011 ne compte que 3 femmes.
Il importe que les femmes soient pleinement intégrées, au même titre que les hommes, aux processus de réforme politique et de réforme des droits humains au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord. La participation égale des hommes et des femmes dans toutes les sphères de la société demeure une condition essentielle à la démocratie et la justice sociale. Il faut donc rester vigilant : les changements de gouvernement ne doivent pas être utilisés comme un moyen d’affaiblir les droits des femmes, mais au contraire comme une possibilité de les renforcer.
BySCEME
“Educate a Woman, Educate a Nation”
International Women’s Day has got us thinking about the importance of educating women.
As the saying goes “educate a woman, educate a nation”. We firmly believe in the importance of educating young women.
Women are role models, teachers, and sources of unconditional support. They inspire, and effect change in homes, schools, governments, and businesses throughout our country.
Female education is the need of the hour. Without educating the women of the country we cannot hope for a developed nation.
Women play a vital role in the all-round progress of a country. Women must be educated!
It is said that if we educate a man, we educate a man only, but if we educate a woman, we educate the whole family.
Napoleon was once asked, what the great need of France was. He simply answers, “If the women of my country are not educated, about half of the people will be ignorant.”
Our opinion too must not differ from Napoleon. We must create an atmosphere in which not a single woman remains uneducated.
I challenge all of us to celebrate women and their impact in education.
BySCEME
Thinking of Algerian women on the International Women’s Day? No thanks, I’ll do it every day!
It is somehow sad that women still have to be celebrated on this occasion to claim their rights to be equal. Thousands of people all over the world are tweeting and blogging today, and so do we.
However it is extremely important to highlight that women should be remembered every day and reminded of their fundamental role in society. It is crucial that in the MENA region women start gaining equal opportunities to get involved into politics and social life.
In Algeria, women seem to be forgotten the whole year, yet today different political parties have started wooing them in order to gain votes for the coming legislative elections in May. It is sad to see how Algerian women are increasingly reluctant in taking active part in political life, due to masculine stereotypes and patriarchal mind-sets still inculcated across the country, specifically in the south, where taboos are harder to be broken because of tribal rules.
The new elective law is demanding a minimum quota of 30% for women, however representatives of certain parties are ready to pay to stop women’s candidacy!
This is something that needs to be fought! It is really worrying to see that apparently “moderate” and “modernised” countries, such as Algeria, still struggle to give wider voice and rights to their women, who –we need to remember – fought next to their husbands for the independence of their country in 1962.
BySCEME
Shame in the Middle East
Shocking images reveal the brutality of Egypt’s armed forces in suppressing protests in Tahrir Square, centre of the violence, where demonstrators demanded an end to military rule.
Female protesters are beaten with metal poles as vicious soldiers drag girls through streets.
Different images showed security forces chasing a woman and beating her to the ground with metal bars before stripping her and kicking her repeatedly. Other images showed women beaten unconscious.
This is just one of the hundreds of shameful injustices seen in Cairo’s Tahrir Square where Egypt’s military took a dramatically heavy hand to crush protests against its rule.
One could only describe such images as shameless and violent!
BySCEME
Afghan women need a better access to health care
Two of the eight Millennium Development Goals, adopted by the international community in 2000, set targets for 2015 on improving maternal health and reducing child mortality. A lot still remains to be done in those issues, especially in Afghanistan.
A survey, carried out by the Afghan Health Ministry in 2010, shows that the country has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world with 77 deaths per 1,000 live births. It also says than one Afghan woman dies every two hours from pregnancy-related causes.
In fact, decades of conflict in Afghanistan have severely damaged the public health infrastructure and consequently affected the ability for women to access adequate maternal health care. Moreover the country faces a critical dearth of skilled female health providers. In rural areas, most women have no choice but giving birth without any skilled assistance and in unhealthy conditions, which puts their own lives and those of their children at significant risk.
Fortunately, international NGO such as Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are present in the area to strengthen the quality of health. DWB has recently opened a new maternity hospital in eastern Khost Province in Afghanistan. “The new hospital will be able to help hundreds of women every month have safe deliveries and care for their newborn children by offering specialized care,” said Hilde Cortier, medical director of the new MSF facility.
The right of access to appropriate healthcare services is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the only way to enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth is to respect this right.
BySCEME
End Ban on Women’s Rights to Sport in Saudi Arabia
‘No women allowed,’ is the kingdom’s message to Saudi women and girls who want to play sports.
The Saudi government denies physical education in state schools for girls. Official sporting bodies do not support Saudi sportswomen in competitions.
There is no government sports infrastructure for women, with all the sport clubs, courses, and expert trainers limited exsclusively to men.
The policy reflects the conservative view that opening sports to women will lead to corruption: “steps of the devil,” as one religious scholar explained.
Furthermore, opponents of sports for women argued that once women start to exercise, they will shed modest clothing, spend “unnecessary” time out of the house, and have more chance to socialise with men.
Discrimination against women and girls in sport is only a small fraction of the on-going violations of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Under the system of male guardianship, Saudi women need their male guardian’s written consent to work, to study, to marry, and to travel. Male guardians can be fathers, husbands, brothers, or even sons.
Sports can be a great cause for good, but forcing Saudi women to watch all-male teams represent them every four years can only demoralize those aspiring to sporting glory.