Category Archives: Global

Liberation for Sinjar women is liberation for humanity – Roj Women and others

This is the motto of the campaign launched by several international feminist organizations including the International Foundation of Free Women, the International Representation of the Kurdish Women’s Movement, the Women’s Committee of the National Congress of Kurdistan, the Assembly of Kurdish Yezidi Women in Germany, Utamara, the Association of Kurdish Women for Peace and Roj Women’s Association.

This transnational coalition has initiated a campaign against the Islamic State as it represents a great danger to all peoples inhabiting ancient Mesopotamia.

“In the areas conquered by the IS, the population is forced to convert to Islam when they are not summarily executed. Yezidis and Christians are systematically exterminated. This criminal gang eradicates cultures and faiths established for millennia in ancient Mesopotamia.”

In their appeal, the coalition claims that the jihadist gang attacks mainly women and girls, and describes them as “sworn enemies of women” as they use kidnapping and mass rape as well as commercial exploitation, selling them as slaves. Over 1,200 women and girls were recently raped and sold in Mosul. These practices derive from their “free” interpretation of Islam.

The coalition calls on the UN and its member states: “It is essential that the UN condemns countries like Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, which provide the gang with financial, logistical and military support. Femicide is a crime against humanity.”

They demand the safety of women living in areas controlled by the IS is guaranteed, the immediate release of all kidnapped women and that humanitarian aid is provided to refugees, particularly women and children. Similarly, they request that concrete actions are implemented, such as psychological and therapeutic treatments for women, as well as the deployment of delegations of doctors, lawyers and sociologists in order to prepare the ground for the establishment of long-term projects.

“We cannot and we don’t want to remain silent in the face of such atrocities.”

IS mass attacks are of a femicide nature and constitue a crime against humanity. Terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State or Boko Haram are a threat to humanity. “As in Nigeria, Kosovo, Rwanda, Bosnia or India, Sinjar women are victims of femicide. We therefore call on all women’s associations, political figures as well as UN agencies to participate in our campaign.”

The liberation of women Sinjar means freedom for humanity. We have to mobilize to end femicide. We are convinced that solidarity will contribute to the protection and release women worldwide.”

See more at http://rojwomen.org/2014/09/14/liberation-for-sinjar-women-is-liberation-for-humanity/

About Roj Women

We are a Kurdish grassroots women’s rights movement established in 2004 and based in London. Roj Women has a membership of hundreds of women from different countries both in Europe and in the Kurdish regions of Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

Roj Women works on community development in the UK and campaigns for far-reaching legal and political reforms in Turkey with the ultimate aim of improving the lives of Kurdish and non-Kurdish women in Turkey. Through our community work we pursue the empowerment of women among the Kurdish migrant population in the UK by means of:

    a) seminars and trainings to advance general education and knowledge of rights,
    b) language courses, counselling sessions, apprenticeships and other similar work related training to develop women’s skills in order to tackle unemployment,
    c) provision of facilities for community recreation,
    d) psychological support and legal and general advice for victims of domestic violence and forced marriage.

To achieve our objectives we work in partnership with other UK-based women’s rights organisation and statutory agencies in England.

Our campaigning work aims to tackle the double discrimination Kurdish women are subject to as a result of their gender and of their ethnicity in their countries of origin. We want to improve the lives and expand the opportunities available to women living in Kurdish regions by means of drawing attention to the political factors that shape their particular struggle and of lobbying and campaigning for the necessary changes to overcome them.

Contact Roj Women
Addresses: 31-33, Dalston Lane. London, E8 3DF / Fairfax Hall. 11, Portland Gardens. London, N4 1HU
Phone number: 075 1345 6017
Email: rojwomen[at]gmail.com

See more at http://rojwomen.org/about/

September 16, 2014

Joint Statement on Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict: Now is the Time to Act – Womankind

We are women’s rights organisations from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe(*) who attended the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict last month. Our organisations support survivors of violence, work to tackle the root causes of violence and campaign for the creation and implementation of laws and policies that protect and fulfill women’s rights.

We welcomed the Global Summit and its outcomes – for too long violence against women and girls, including sexual violence, has been sidelined by the international community, with rhetoric rarely matching action on the ground.

The Global Summit provides the opportunity to turn strong commitments into tangible action and we urge all governments who attended the Summit to take immediate steps to implement the recommendations in the Chairs’ Summary.

In particular, governments, donors and inter-governmental organisations should:

  • Assess funding streams to ensure they are accessible to women’s rights organisations, including by simplifying grants application, monitoring and reporting processes and acting on the recommendations by the OECD DAC Network on Gender Equality.
  • Ensure civil society funding streams include funding for core costs and for protection measures.
  • Recognise the work of women’s rights organisations as key actors in peacebuilding and development; including by regularly meeting with national and local women’s rights organisations.
  • Increase investment in tackling the root causes of violence through programmes and partnerships which challenge harmful social norms and empower women and girls.
  • Assess programmes that support survivors of violence to ensure a holistic and comprehensive approach is being taken. This should include psychological support.
  • Design, deliver and disseminate comprehensive research on sexual violence in conflict; including on what works in preventing sexual and gender based violence in conflict.
  • Ensure all measures take into account the different needs of marginalised women, including widows, and respond to those needs in service delivery.
  • Monitor and report on progress of delivering the commitments made at the Summit.
  • Ensure actions are truly global; including Africa, Asia and Latin America.
  • Ensure efforts to combat sexual violence are situated in broader work to realise women’s rights and gender equality.

We know ending violence against women and girls, including sexual violence, is possible – however, we need the international community and national governments to not only give powerful speeches but to implement their commitments, as now is the time to act.
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    (*) Afghan Women’s Skills and Development Centre, Centro de Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer Aymara, FIDA-Kenya, Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan, Isis-WICCE, Liberia Women’s Media Action Committee, Musasa Project, Saathi, Women Against Violence and Exploitation in Society, Women for Human Rights, Women’s Legal Aid Centre and Womankind Worldwide.

Press release at http://www.womankind.org.uk/2014/07/joint-statement-from-womankind-and-our-partners/

July 15, 2014

7 July 2014 18:00 ~ Parliamentary meeting on Honour Killing – Kurdish & Middle Eastern Women’s Organisation – London

The Kurdish & Middle Eastern Women’s Organisation KMEWO
Invite to parliamentary event:

Monday 7 July from 18:00 – 20:00
Venue: House of Commons- Committee Room 17

Hosted by: Jeremy Corbyn MP

KMEWO have organised an urgent meeting with the express purpose of highlighting the continued prevalence and escalation of ‘honour’ killings in Iraqi Kurdistan and with the aim of building International support to help end it. We shall discuss statistics and case evidence (including events surrounding our present campaign “Justice for Dunya” http://chn.ge/1oX676F) and hear from women’s rights activists as well as survivors of honour-based violence.

We desperately need to raise awareness of the dreadful plight of women in Iraqi Kurdistan; one of the worst regions in the world for honour-based violence and murder. It is an unacceptable outrage that – despite many thousands of ‘honour’ victims over the last two decades – the total number of convictions for murder stands at less than 10! It is imperative, therefore, that we place uncompromising pressure upon the Kurdish Regional Government to designate sufficient funds to make radical changes to the judicial system and so bring about successful conviction and punishment of ‘honour’ perpetrators.

This inconceivable injustice must cease but we need your supportif we are to have a hope of making this a reality!

Booking is essential as places are limited. Please email info@kmewo.com or telephone 02072631027 or 07748851125

KMEWO
www.kmewo.com

Please Sign and circulate “Justice for Dunya” s online petition:
http://chn.ge/1oX676F

July 2, 2014

WLUML Launches Women’s Charters Book Free Online

Women’s Charters and Declarations: Building Another World

Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) has announced the online publishing of Women’s Charters and Declarations: Building Another World written by Rashida Manjoo, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on violence against women. It is the first publication of its kind in its collection and assessment of the charters and declarations of women’s groups.  In the spirit of inclusive and accessible knowledge production, WLUML has made the book available to all for free on their website.

Outlining diverse case studies from around the globe, the book shows how women’s charters and declarations articulate a vision of a new world in which gender justice is a reality.  The importance of this at the moment is high; while discrepancies remain between international human rights standards and the realities on the group, these documents have the potential to fill the gap by guiding policy makers toward adopting and implementing policies that work towards gender equality.

Professor Homa Hoodfar, Director of the Gender Equality Program at WLUML said the following: “The charter, as a living document, lends itself to revisions at various historical junctures and is a major channel for mobilizing women from various walks of life and ideological tendencies.  These women are able to unite around a common document and articulate their demand for the inclusion of women as equal citizens.”

You can download the electronic copy of Women’s Charters via the WLUML website or purchase a hard copy on Amazon.

June 6, 2014

Free Meriam Ibrahim now! – Southall Black Sisters

Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to death when she was eight months pregnant and charged with apostasy and adultery in Sudan. Meriam refused to renounce her Christian faith and judges in a court in Khartoum sentenced her to death by hanging and to 100 lashes for being married to a Christian man. Meriam has protested that she is a Christian and witnesses who came to support her in court from another part of Sudan were prevented from giving evidence.

The Judge in the courts in Khartoum declared that “we gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death.”
We demand an immediate and unconditional release of Meriam Ibrahim!

Last Tuesday, she gave birth to a baby girl, Maya, with her legs still shackled in prison. Meriam is nursing her new born baby along with her 20 month old son in horrific conditions uncertain of her future.
We demand that Sudan abolish the death penalty and flogging and rescind laws criminalising adultery and apostasy.

According to Islamic law, the death sentence will not be enacted for two years after she has given birth. However, the punishment of 100 lashes could be carried out as soon as her baby is born.

We urge the Sudanese government to release Meriam immediately and overturn this abhorrent and heinous sentence. Over a million people globally have condemned this sentence and backed Amnesty International’s campaign to have her freed.

You can sign the petition Amnesty petition at www.amnesty.org.uk

Press Release at http://www.southallblacksisters.org.uk/free-meriam-ibrahim-now/

June 5, 2014