Publications by Type: Web Article

2017
Fahmina T. When marriage is for money. New Age Opinion. 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.newagebd.net/article/10775/when-marriage-is-for-money

FIFTEEN-year-old child bride Babli Akter’s fate took a horrible turn when she was allegedly killed by her husband Rashedul and her in laws on January 27 this year as her family could not pay the Tk 3 lakh as dowry (Manabzamin, January 28, 2017). Dowry is nothing more than marital extortion. Dowry marriage mostly consists of greed, humiliation and violence. Many women every year in Bangladesh are being killed, abused and even commit suicide simply due to the pervasive illegal practice of dowry related violence. According to Odhikar’s statistics, between January 2001 and January 2017, about 3,090 women were allegedly killed, 2064 were abused and 220 committed suicide because of dowry. This statistics shows just the tip of the iceberg as a lot of dowry related violence is kept in confidence to retain the ‘honour’ of the family. If there were no giving or taking of dowry, there would not be any dowry related violence. Dowry is illegal in Bangladesh under the Dowry Prohibition Act 1980 and Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain 2000 (amended 2003). However, it still continues.

2016
Fahmina T. Fairness creams, skin colour-based discrimination and violence against women: time to stop!. Odhikar . 2016. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://odhikar.org/fairness-creams-skin-colour-based-discrimination-and-violence-against-women-time-to-stop/

Ruma (not her real name), a school teacher by profession and a mother of two, living in Dhaka, married Mainul eight years ago. Soon after, Mainul started harassing her, calling her an ‘ugly’ woman – because of her dark complexion.  Her mother-in-law and other members of her husband’s family used to verbally abuse her almost every day, saying that her skin is ‘moyla’ (dirty); and expressed their anger and frustration, and thought that Mainul had bad luck as he was not able to marry a ‘beautiful’ woman–meaning a fair-complexioned woman. Ruma tried very hard to be seen as beautiful in the eyes of her husband and in-laws and experimented to see how she could look fairer. She started buying brand name fairness creams, hoping to make her skin lighter as she started to believe that fair meant lovely, as the advertisements say. She regularly watched fairness cream advertisements on television, read about them on bill boards and newspapers and wanted to be as fair as the models in the advertisements. Unfortunately, nothing really worked or showed much of a result. Her husband and in laws demanded a huge amount of dowry repeatedly – apparently as a retaliation for her darker skin.

2015
Women, Violence and Conflict in Pakistan. International Crisis Group . 2015. Publisher's VersionAbstract

https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/pakistan/women-violence-and-...

Eight years into its democratic transition, violence against women is still endemic in Pakistan, amid a climate of impunity and state inaction. Discriminatory legislation and a dysfunctional criminal justice system have put women at grave risk. Targeted by violent extremists with an overt agenda of gender repression, women’s security is especially threatened in the conflict zones in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). On 8 March, International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that his government would take all necessary legislative and administrative steps to protect and empower women. If this pledge was in earnest, his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government should end institutionalised violence and discrimination against women, including by repealing unjust laws, countering extremist threats, particularly in KPK and FATA, and involving women and their specially relevant perspectives in design of state policies directly affecting their security, including strategies to deal with violent extremist groups.

UNIFEM. UNIFEM Safe Cities: Ending Violence Against Women in Latin America. UN WOMEN. 2015. Publisher's VersionAbstract

https://www.unwomen-usnc.org/unifem-safe-cities-ending-violence-against-...

 

The Regional Programme “Cities without Violence against Women, Safe Cities for All” is executed by UNIFEM, coordinated at the regional level from the Regional Office for Brazil and the Southern Cone, and supported by the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID). This Programme identifies as a key problem the growing violence and insecurity in Latin American cities. This phenomenon is related to the different forms of violence against women both in public and in private spaces. 

Inter-American Commission On Human Rights And The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights. Icelandic Human Rights Centre. 2015. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.humanrights.is/en/human-rights-education-project/complaints-procedures-of-the-international-human-rights-supervisory-

The Inter-American Commission is a quasi-judicial, quasi-political body established by the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights . It is based in Washington DC, USA.

African Commission & Court on Human Rights -- General Procedures. Icelandic Human Rights Centre. 2015. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.humanrights.is/en/human-rights-education-project/complaints-procedures-of-the-international-human-rights-supervisory-bodies/how-to-bring-a-complaint/african-commission-on-human-and-peoples-rights-1

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is a quasi-judicial body,established by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Commission is based in Banjul, The Gambia.

European Court -- Admissibility Checklist . Council of Europe - European Court of Human Rights. 2015. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=applicants

The European Court of Human Rights is an international court based in Strasbourg. It consists of a number of judges equal to the number of member States of the Council of Europe that have ratified the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms – currently forty-five. 
The Court’s judges sit in their individual capacity and do not represent any State. In dealing with applications, the Court is assisted by a Registry consisting mainly of lawyers from all the member States (who are also known as legal secretaries). They are entirely independent of their country of origin and do not represent either applicants or States. 

European Court – General Procedures. Icelandic Human Rights Centre. 2015. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.humanrights.is/en/human-rights-education-project/complaints-procedures-of-the-international-human-rights-supervisory-

The European Court is a judicial body, established by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Court is based in Strasbourg, France and is a full time permanent body.

Composition

The Court is composed of forty-five judges, one judge for each state party to the ECHR. Article 20 ECHR establishes that ‘The Court shall consist of a number of judges equal to that of the High Contracting Parties.’

  • ‘The judges shall be of high moral character and must either possess the qualifications required for appointment to high judicial office or be jurisconsults of recognised competence’ (Article 21(1) ECHR).
  • The judges shall sit on the Court in their individual capacity (Article 21(2) ECHR).
  • Ad hoc judges: Rule 29(1) Rules of Court. ‘1.(a) If the judge elected in respect of a Contracting Party concerned is unable to sit in the Chamber, withdraws, or is exempted, the President of the Chamber shall invite that Party to indicate whether it wishes to appoint to sit as judge either another elected judge or an ad hoc judge and, if so, to state at the same time the name of the person appointed.’
2014
Fahmina T. Are you a silent observer of dowry and related violence?. Odhikar . 2014. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://odhikar.org/are-you-a-silent-observer-of-dowry-and-related-violence/

Every year many women in Bangladesh are killed and physically abused and many commit suicide because of the the vicious dowry practice and related violence. According to the rights organisation Odhikar, at least 2,800 women were killed, 1,833 were physically abused and 204 committed suicide because of dowry-related violence between 2001 and July 2014.

By analysing the overall dowry situation, reported statistics indicate that it is only the tip of the iceberg. Majority of the victims continue to tolerate abuse, if they are not killed, all through their married life and never report it. The main reasons behind tolerating or not reporting such abuse is that they are either financially incapable of going away and protecting themselves from their abusive husbands or they are not welcome by their poverty-stricken or stigmatised parental families.

Kingsley P. Egyptian doctor to stand trial for female genital mutilation in landmark case. The Guardian. 2014. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/21/egyptian-doctor-fadl-tria...

Raslan Fadl, a doctor in a Nile delta village, is accused of killing 13-year-old schoolgirl Sohair al-Bata'a in a botched operation

Barrowclough A. 'It is the young flesh they want'. The Australian. 2014. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/it-is-t...

On best estimates, the number of girls in Australia being forced into marriage here or overseas is in the hundreds every year. Girls as young as 12 or 13 are disappearing from schoolyards, packed off to the countries of their parents’ birth to wed men they have never met, while others are taken from their homes in southern Asia and the Middle East and brought into Australia to marry.

Win TL. Myanmar Activists Demand Law to Ban Violence Against Women Pearce T. The New York Times. 2014. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Myanmar Activists Demand Law to Ban Violence Against Women

This article from The New York Times explores Myanmar's lack of infrastructure to combat violence against women and children. 

Cohen DK, Nordas R, Wood E. Four Things Everyone Should Know about Wartime Sexual Violence. The Washington Post. 2014. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/06/09/four-thing...

The three-day Global Summit in June 2014 to End Sexual Violence in Conflict co-chaired by Angelina Jolie, offered visitors insight into the summit's message through cinema, art and photography in London. 

Global Summit Falls Short on Concrete Commitments to End Sexual Violence. The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict. 2014. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.stoprapeinconflict.org/media

Members of The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict today expressed their disappointment that the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence, hosted by the UK government, ended with few tangible results that will make an immediate impact on the ground.

Gupta R. 'Victim' vs 'Survivor': feminism and language. openDemocracy . 2014. Publisher's VersionAbstract

https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/rahila-gupta/victim-vs-survivor-femin...

Rahila Gupta argues that the term ‘victim’ needs to be reclaimed by feminist politics; whilst 'survivor' is important because it recognises the agency of women, it focuses on individual capacity, but the notion of 'victim' reminds us of the stranglehold of the system.

2013
Bolivia enfrentará con dura ley la impunidad en los crímenes contra mujeres. La República EC. 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.larepublica.ec/blog/internacional/2013/02/15/bolivia-enfrenta...

La Paz, 15 feb (EFE).- Bolivia ha asumido el reto de frenar la hasta ahora reinante impunidad en los crímenes contra las mujeres con una ley que castigará con dureza la violencia machista, tras el asesinato esta semana de una periodista a manos de su esposo policía.

UN survey of 10,000 men in Asia and the Pacific reveals why some men use violence against women and girls. United Nations Development Programme. 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2013/...

A UN study of 10,000 men in Asia and the Pacific, released today, found that overall nearly half of those men interviewed reported using physical and/or sexual violence against a female partner, ranging from 26 percent to 80 percent across the sites studied.  Nearly a quarter of men interviewed reported perpetrating rape against a woman or girl, ranging from 10 percent to 62 percent across the sites.  

2011
Garcia-Moreno C, Watts C. Violence against women: an urgent public health priority. World Health Organization. 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/1/10-085217/en/

Addressing violence against women is central to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 3 on women's empowerment and gender equality, as well as MDGs 4, 5 and 6. It is also a peace and security issue. In spite of this recognition, investment in prevention and in services for survivors remains woefully inadequate.

2009
Pequeño A. Vivir violencia, cruzar los límites. Prácticas y discursos en torno a la violencia contra las mujeres en comunidades indígenas del Ecuador. Academia. 2009. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.academia.edu/1796405/_Vivir_violencia_cruzar_los_l%C3%ADmites._Prácticas_y_discursos_en_torno_a_la_violencia_contra_las_mujeres_en_comunidades_ind%C3%ADgenas_del_Ecuador_Andrea_Pequeño

En base a información cualitativa y cuantitativa, este texto analiza la violencia contra mujeres en una comunidad Kichwa de la provincia de Imbabura, en la sierra ecuatoriana. Para ello, relaciona las distintas formas demaltrato con el ciclo biológico-vital de las mujeres y las evidencia comoun ejercicio de poder, domesticación y control de la autonomía. En estemismo sentido, da cuenta de las dificultades en el acceso a los sistemas de justicia. Destaca, además, los discursos de las propias mujeres ante la violencia. Propone que, desde distintas posiciones, asumir, actuar y/o hacerfrente al fenómeno implica necesariamente un cruce de límites y fronte-ras reales y simbólicas. En este sentido, interpreta la apelación al discursode los Derechos Humanos como una política de reconocimiento y comouna resignificación estratégica que, actuando desde el ámbito privado, lespermite defender y contestar a los modelos impuestos sin romper –enestricto sentido– con los órdenes familiares y comunitarios.
Palabras clave: mujeres indígenas, violencia, fronteras, estrategias, derechos, Ecuador
Dasgupta R, Murthy L. Figure it out: Reporting on trafficking in women. Infochange Media. 2009. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://genderlinks.org.za/gmdc/research/figure-it-out-reporting-on-traff...

Media coverage of trafficking of women and children, migration and sex work is confused and inaccurate. Media wrongly uses the terms ‘sex work’ and ‘trafficking’ synonymously, perpetuating stereotypes and stigmatisation and contributing to the violation of women’s right to free movement and livelihood options, say these authors. If media reports were to be believed, there would be no young girls left in Nepal. Oftquoted figures such as 5,000-7,000 Nepali girls being trafficked across the border to India every year and 150,000-200,000 Nepali women and girls being trapped in brothels in various Indian cities, were first disseminated in 1986 and have remained unaltered over the next two decades. The report that first quoted these statistics was written by Dr I S Gilada of the Indian Health Association, Mumbai, and presented in a workshop in 1986. Subsequently, a version of this report was published as an article in the Times of India on January 2, 1989. The source of this figure remains a mystery to date. Unfortunately, such a lack of clarity is more the norm than the exception when it comes to reporting on trafficking in women and girls.

Pages