"Human rights activist and sole Papua New Guinea (PNG) female elected parliamentarian Dame Carol Kidu as dragged by police Saturday while protesting the illegal eviction and partial demolition of Paga Hill Settlement, housing some 2,000 residents.
News & Analysis
Women's Rights in the News
Digital Security: Drop-in centre of Ugandan sex worker organisation raided
15 May 2012
“Sex work may be illegal in Uganda, but providing services for sex workers is clearly not,” reads a statement from 9 May 2012 by WONETHA, a health and human rights organisation, in response to a serious crack-down on its activities by Ugandan municipal police.
Argentina approves gender identity law
11 May 2012
Having become the first country in South America to allow gay couples to marry, Argentina has passed a bill giving transgender citizens the right to have their gender recognised in law.
Issues & Analysis
The Brothel Next Door
17 May 2012
Under the shade of a tree at an Istanbul cafe, Suzan, a voluptuous woman in her 50s with dyed blond hair and a warm, generous smile, describes how she went from teenage bride to full-time sex worker.
Kurdish Female Migrants Meet Isolation in Istanbul
08 May 2012
Life isn't easy for the female migrants continually flowing into Istanbul from Turkey's Kurdish region. Those who are illiterate or unable to speak Turkish can face particularly intense isolation from basic services.
Pinterest's Gender Trouble
04 May 2012
It’s one of the biggest online success stories of the decade, attracting a staggering 10 million monthly uniques faster than any site in history. But what makes the rise of the image-sharing Pinterest surprising isn’t its stampeding growth, or its sudden ubiquity on your friends’ Facebook walls. It’s the fact that it’s a raging success story with an unmistakably female bent.
AWID's Friday Files
From monitoring to demanding women’s rights in Latin America. The time is now.
18 May 2012
FRIDAY FILE: In December 2011, the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM) launched the campaign For a State that fulfills its duties towards women’s human rights[1]. AWID spoke to Elba Núñez Ibáñez, CLADEMS’s Regional Coordinator, about the goals and scope of this campaign.
[1] The Campaign is conducted by an Alliance including Inter-American Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development (PIDHDD), International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Red-DESC) and the Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and African Diaspora Women’s Network.
High Hopes For Malawi’s First Woman President
11 May 2012
On 7 April 2012 Joyce Banda made history by becoming the first female President of Malawi and the first in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)[1] following the sudden death of former President, Bingu wa Mutharika. The new President has an enormous undertaking to address the serious economic crisis in the country, and with a strong activist track record, civil society is hopeful that she will champion women rights.
Philippines: Likely progress on reproductive health and rights?
04 May 2012
FRIDAY FILE: A pending law in the Philippines may make women and girls’ reproductive rights and health more secure. AWID spoke to Junice Demetrio-Melgar of Likhaan Center for Women’s Health about the pending Reproductive Health Bill, 2001.
New Resources
New Resource: Kenya Human Rights Commission: The Outlawed Amongst Us
15 May 2012
The KHRC has always worked with minority, marginalized and disadvantaged groups to enable them, in their own way, articulate, defend and realize their human rights be they civil, political, economic, social and cultural. One such group is Kenya’s LGBTI community which includes gender and sexual minorities, that is, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) persons. The KHRC and LGBTI Organizations’ continue to receive cases of human rights abuses against the LGBTI persons.
New Resource: Legalization Alone Does Not Guarantee Availability of Safe Abortion Services
14 May 2012
New report discusses what is needed to turn Policy Reform into Practice
A New Resource: openDemocracy 50.50 April Newsletter
09 May 2012
The April issue of the 50.50 newsletter includes articles on Culture versus Rights Dualism: a myth or a reality?,"Food sovereignty" as a transformative model of economic power, What does transforming economic power mean?, Reclaiming care as a fundamental end in itself and many others. Newsletter subscription is free.
Special Focus: Crisis in Haiti
What's new on awid.org?
Announcements
IDAHO - International Day Against Homophobia/Biphobia & Transphobia, May 17th
16 May 2012
May 17th is the International Day Against Homophobia/Biphobia and Transphobia. The primary aim of IDAHO is to provoke action. Actions can take place in a number of different forms: a debate in the classroom, an exhibition in a cafe, a demonstration in the street, a radio program, a screening in a neighbourhood home, a round table organized by a political party, a short story competition sponsored by a newspaper, an awareness campaign led by an association.
Kuala Lumpur Call to Action: Asia and the Pacific NGOs Call for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for Sustainable Development
16 May 2012
121 cross-generation activists, advocates and representatives of NGOs from diverse social movements from 27 countries in Asia and the Pacific, have gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to revitalise the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) agenda for sustainable development in the region, drawing from the commitments made in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD PoA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As we face a world in multiple crises, the activists call for the inclusion and prioritisation of women and young people’s SRHR in new development frameworks that take stock of current consensus documents and move beyond them to fully achieve our human rights.
Repeated Attacks on Hospitals and Medical Service Providers and Lack of Security in Hospitals
16 May 2012
"The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemns the continued violation of the basic principles of medical neutrality by security forces, and the denial of medical treatment for those injured and wounded, during the dispersal of the Abbasiya sit-in by force on Friday, May 4, 2012.