A Reflection of Who We Are as a Society

By Kavinya Makau

 

“I can hear the roar of women’s silence.” – Thomas Sankara.

“ Not today Sankara. Not today. Not today!

We came in 1000s. We shouted! My dress! My choice! We sang our freedom songs. We marched. For women to be safe in Kenya.

It became apparent that we are protesting for our lives. For our right. Our right to live in a country that is ours too.

“Sijui nieke Mwili kwa handbag!? [I don’t know what to do with my body? Should I put my body in a handbag!?]” – woman.

We were threatened with violence. They said they would strip us and burn our bodies. We told them, “No! Shame on you! Shame on you!” and the bully became so small and helpless, it was embarrassing.

15 drunk violent men came to attack us and disrupt the demonstration. It was scary. We were afraid.

The men who were marching with us; our allies and brothers, became a single unit, went forward & drove them away. They then formed a barricade in front of us and behind us to protect us.

It was so powerful and yet so painful.

After the march, we advised each other to leave in groups. We worried our T-shirts could lead to an attack.

Today, Nairobi will tell you that women are not safe.

Don’t deny it.

But we are here. The dead have no protest. We are here.

We keep going.”

The above sentiments are drawn from Wambui Waithaka following her participation in the #mydressmychoice march hosted by Kilimani Mums on Monday 17th November 2014. The protest was held in response to acts of violence committed against women in Kenya beginning with the public stripping of a woman on 10^th November2014 by matatu touts in downtown Nairobi. Her alleged ‘crime’?-indecent/provocative dressing reminiscent of Jezebel of old. Since then, similar incidents have taken place in Nairobi, Mombasa and Mlolongo. The most recent victim was recently discharged from the hospital following a harrowing attack a day after the #mydressmychoice protest.

Kenyans’ reactions to the outlined incidents have served to emphasize two diametrically opposed views in relation to women’s rights generally and violence against women in particular. A significant number are in support of a woman’s right to dignity and protection from all forms of violence. On the other hand, misogynistic views aired by self-appointed moral police in and outside of public office are indicative of a society that cannot reconcile itself with the fact that women are human beings capable of making independent choices regarding their bodies. And that those choices, the integrity and security of the woman making them ought to be respected and upheld.

Those that believe that the criminality witnessed this past week is about the decency or morality of the victims have missed the point. These acts are indicative of a patriarchal and intolerant state where violence is used to punish divergent views, whether the same are expressed in the public domain or in the private sphere. They are based on the fact that violence against women is so engrained in the psyche of some Kenyans that it is carried out with such a disturbing air of normality that hooligans have the audacity to strip women in public, as bystanders watch. So much so that onlookers do not raise the alarm or call the police, but have enough time to take videos of the incident, post the same on social media, with perpetrators boasting on Facebook because they believe the relevant state actors charged with doing something about this will do nothing. This is unacceptable.

As we prepare to commemorate 16 Days of Activism, the ongoing debate on violence against women in Kenya should underscore the importance of the following state obligations enshrined in Kenya’s Constitution, The Sexual Offences Act, The Penal Code, The Protocol to the Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and others:

• Thorough investigations and the expeditious prosecution of cases of violence against women cases must be carried out so as to reaffirm women’s right to life, integrity and security of the person, both in public and private.
• Individuals aiding and abetting acts of criminality on social media and elsewhere should be arrested and arraigned in court forthwith.
• The state must ensure that the institutions that exist to address violence against women including the police and the courts are accessible, effective and safe spaces for victims to access justice.

That said, the state is a reflection of who we are as a society. The causes and consequences of violence against women in Kenya are evident. We must all challenge ourselves to actively engage in and call for progressive dialogue aimed at addressing cultural beliefs, practices and stereotypes that legitimize and exacerbate the persistence of violence against women.

Kavinya Makau is a women’s rights lawyer who works for Equality Now, as the Program Officer in charge of the SOAWR Campaign. This is an initiative of 44 organizations working in 24 African countries to ensure that all AU states ratify and fully implement The Protocol to the Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. The Protocol is one of the world’s most progressive women’s human rights instruments and is the only treaty of its nature with specific provisions that address violence against women.

Women and Girls with Disabilities Must Be No Longer the ‘Forgotten Sisters’!

By Stephanie Ortoleva, Esq.

As we discuss the impacts of violence and militarism on our livOKes and the women, peace and security framework, we must not forget women and girls with disabilities and effects of the intersections of gender and disability, the ‘forgotten sisters” in these discussions! Women with disabilities work for peace in the home to peace in the world: We challenge militarism and seek to end gender-based violence against all women! December 3, International Day for Persons with Disabilities, falls in the midst of the 16 Days Campaign, stressing that gender-based violence is an international human rights violation, affecting all women, including women with disabilities.

Clearly, it is outrageous and bewildering that women and girls with disabilities are ignored during our work in conflict and post conflict situations given that conflict and the ravages of war often results in disabilities and exacerbates existing disabilities. Thus, humanitarian and peace building efforts must incorporate women and girls with disabilities. Effective efforts can only be developed through our leadership of the design and implementation of such processes. We cannot just be recipients of aid.

The notion of “protection” in such situations is often the only element of humanitarian aid, ignoring the roles women with disabilities must play in re-building our societies and managing our own lives. We demand access to information on sexual abuse, sexual violence, and avenues to redress these violations of our most basic human rights. We need accessible and disability aware sexual and reproductive care and support. We need physical access to and reasonable accommodation in justice systems and legal representation. We must be included as the international community addresses the concerns of women as we re-build our societies and its institutions. Peacemakers across the globe recognize that conflict resolution is more binding and longer lasting when all voices, including the voices of women with disabilities, are heard during the process of rebuilding countries.

The 2011 groundbreaking World Health Organization and World Bank “World Report on Disability” documented the dramatic increase in the number of persons with disabilities worldwide from prior estimates of 10% to a current 15% and there are significant differences in the prevalence of disability between men and women in both developing and more developed countries: male disability prevalence rate is 12% while female disability prevalence rate is 19.2%. Women with disabilities experience double discrimination due to both their gender and their disability and face unique challenges, offer unique perspectives, enabling us to make necessary contributions to the peace-building process. Moreover, our participation ensures that our needs and concerns are addressed and effectively represented.

Pursuant to the Disability Treaty (CRPD), Articles 6 and 11, the concerns of and participation of women with disabilities must be incorporated into these efforts. Provisions in the Women’s Treaty (CEDAW), especially in the Preamble on conflict and post-Conflict Situations, brings into focus the synergy between the two treaties.

The 2012 Report on Violence Against Women with Disabilities of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women highlights the high incidence of violence against women with disabilities in conflict situations and that disability is a significant factor among other identities which exacerbate discrimination and marginalization of women with disabilities. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent research demonstrates that war increases the number of women with disabilities at shockingly high rates.

Nonetheless, women with disabilities are generally invisible to the women’s rights and the international humanitarian relief and development communities and are erroneously stereotyped as incapable or useless and not having anything to contribute to peace-building and post-conflict efforts. Those of us who have immobility and other disabilities are, devastatingly, a low priority in humanitarian relief, emergency preparedness and refugee and internally displaced persons camps. The Women’s Refugee Committee highlights that often in refugee camps, housing and toileting facilities are inaccessible, water and other resources are far away from the camp site and no accommodations to the disability of the woman or her family are provided. In times of no conflict, women with disabilities are marginalized in employment, education, social life, and political life and in times of conflict, these issues are exacerbated.

There are women and girls with disabilities who are leaders working for the rights of women with disabilities worldwide. Women Enabled International collaborates with organizations of women and girls with disabilities internationally to advocate for our rights at the United Nations and with UN and regional mechanisms, our respective governments and the international development community, clearly demonstrating that there are women leaders with disabilities in the community who should be part of the peacebuilding efforts and decision-making. Women Enabled International’s ground breaking work has provided a blueprint for the United Nations, governments and advocates as they develop and implement Women, Peace and Security policies, strategies and National Action Plans to include women and girls with disabilities on a greater – and more consistent scale. For example, we made Recommendations to the CEDAW Committee to include women and girls with disabilities as the Committee elaborates a General Recommendation on Women, Peace and Security and there were a few mentions of women with disabilities in the CEDAW Committee’s General Recommendation. However, there were clear gaps, as mentions of disability only relate to the particular risk of violence, especially sexual violence faced by women with disabilities and protection of women with disabilities rather than our engagement in post-conflict peacebuilding, government reform and accessible infrastructure redevelopment.

Our law review article, “Women with Disabilities: The Forgotten Peacebuilders,” is the first major research paper to bring this issue to the forefront of international policy and thereafter, our law review article, “Who’s Missing? Women with Disabilities in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 National Action Plans,” presents a guide on the importance of and “how to” include women with disabilities in 1325 National Action Plan development and implementation.

The brief mention in UN official documents is more than symbolic, but it is just the beginning and only a small step toward full inclusion by governments and humanitarian aid organizations. Inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in future resolutions on the UN’s Women, Peace and Security agenda pursuant to UNSCR 1325, its National Action Plans and other inclusion would add to better response in conflict and post-conflict peace-building.

Stephanie Ortoleva is a highly recognized and published author, researcher and international human rights lawyer and consultant on issues of women’s rights, disability rights, and the rights of women with disabilities.  She is the Founder and President of Women Enabled International, which educates and advocates for the human rights of all women and girls, with a special focus on women and girls with disabilities.  Her articles are available at www.WomenEnabled.org/publications. 

Challenges in North East India for Naga Women and their Advocacy to End Militarization

By Sumshot Khular

Northeast India is a home to more than 500 indigenous peoples (tribes, speaking different languages and cultures). Nagas are over 3 millions peoples living in India and Myanmar, separated by the international boundary between India and Myanmar/Burma. With a distinct culture and identity, they reside in lands that include beautiful mountainous terrain, plains and valleys endowed with rich natural resources. The over 6 and half decades of violence in the Naga areas is due to the “non-recognition of the right of Indigenous Peoples to their lands, territories and resources is the root cause of violence brought about by development aggression” e.g., the Mapithel Dam, Tipaimukh Dam, Chakpi Dam in Manipur and many more yet to come up; the railways project, Trans-Asian Highways project and gas pipeline.

Militarisation of indigenous land and territories is the central primary concern of the Naga People, and I would like to draw attention to the history of subjugation and oppression of the rights of Naga indigenous peoples, especially through the extensive use of Indian state military forces. There are many incidents of grave violations of human rights perpetuated by military forces in the guise of maintaining law and order in indigenous territories.[i] The legacy of militarization, including rape, arbitrary arrests, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, extra-judicial killings, looting, sacrilegious acts against religious and sacred places, forcible and unlawful occupation of large tracts of indigenous lands and territories, and uncompensated use of natural resources has been common experiences of all indigenous societies in Northeast India, including the Naga Peoples.

The situation in Manipur has gone on for too long and is now a normalized part of life, as all have become immune to the militarized systems. Women have given up their fight to ending gender-based violence at home and in public spaces. They continue to protect our people, land, forest environment and natural resources, so every day is a campaign day for women in several areas.

Therefore, we strongly reiterate that militarization, instead of being a solution, has been the root cause of all human rights violations in Manipur, as well as in other parts of NE India. Using laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958), Disturbed Area Act, National Security Act, the Government of India and its state governments have legitimized acts of violence and rights violations committed by their forces and have supported and perpetuated a culture of impunity and immunity for state forces.[ii]

Apart from the clear-cut rights violations such extra judicial killings, arbitrary arrest, torture, degrading and other inhumane treatment, militarization disrupts many aspects of indigenous life including routine economic activities and farming. Militarization also nurtures armed conflicts and virulent racism and also erodes community cohesiveness.

I would like to further draw attention to the uneven burden of militarization on women and children. Widespread discrimination on the basis of their gender makes them extremely vulnerable to the affects of militarization, resulting in further disenfranchisement and denial of their rights. Violations of rights committed against members of society have a direct bearing on the well being of women and children. As such, the impact of militarization is profoundly devastating for women and children and to our NE indigenous peoples who went to study or work facing all racial discrimination and killings in recent years across several cities in India.[iii] Our women are not spared in our own home state, nor in different metro-cities of India, whether in New Delhi, Bangalore, or Mumbai. We are met with torture, rape, sexual harassment in the workplace, killings and trafficking in the recent years which is increasingly alarming and threatening our survival in the world’s largest democracy, the ‘land of Gandhi’ and the ‘India Shining’, a slogan of Modi’s time signifying the trajectory of development of India.

The impact of militarization is not only limited to physical and emotional security of individuals, but has much wider social, economic and political implications. For people in the Northeast, especially the Nagas, who are negotiating a peaceful settlement to the protracted conflict in the region, militarization has often negated the small progress made towards achieving peace and stability. Further, militarization has been used as a tool to forcefully impose developmental agendas, such as the mega-dam constructions, trans-international highways, trans-Asian railways, gas pipeline, and high voltage power grid transmission lines that are anti-people and against their expressed wishes and approval. The Tipaimukh Dam, Mapithel Dam, Chakpi River Dam are glaring examples of the linkages between developmental projects and militarization.[iv]

We applaud the Tangkhul Shinao Long (Tangkhul Women’s League) for the tireless struggles from days old and in the Shakok–H-Godah Incident in 12 August 2009 and also the recent Ukhrul killing of an ADC member on 12 July 2014 and following imposition of Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code and deployment of counter insurgency forces; Manipur Police Commando (MPC) and Indian Reserved Battalion (IRB) in Ukhrul without any justification since 13 of July 2014 followed by the use of high caliber live rounds by the counter insurgency forces against peace rallyists, killing two civilians while injuring more than 35 people on 30August 2014.

Women continue to keep vigil day–in and day-out to make sure no further violence occurs and that peace prevails. The great strength of our women cannot be brought down by bullets. Challenges in advocating for women’s rights are:

• Strong traditional customary practices (where patriarchy roots in)[v]
• Feeling that ‘gender’ is a women’s issue not everybody’s business. Unless it becomes the business for all, from the State to men in families, it is going to take much longer time to change attitudes.
• High time for men in uniform to be trained on gender and women’s rights, along with men in local communities-through changing attitudes will take time–BUT WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP!

Our Priorities include translation of CEDAW, the Domestic Violence Act, and other relevant international human rights instruments into our local languages as well as organised ongoing awareness on Violence Against Women (VAW) and trainings in communities and for law enforcement.

Many inroads in village councils have been made, where we have women secretaries, women pastors, and two women in the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) and United Naga Council (UNC) as its Arts and Social Secretaries. Few tribes have women in their Tribe Apex bodies. These are beginnings and we will win!

The recent election of President Modi, and what this means for women’s human rights, ending gender-based violence, inequality, and discrimination globally-is a great worry when we recall the Gujarat carnage in 2000 that took place under his chief ministership. We know how hard it was for Muslim women in that situation and the same has repeated in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh recently. The movement against so-called Lovejihad is gaining ground among Hindu nationalists in the name of protecting women from the non-Hindu ‘the other lover’, curtailing the rights and freedom to choose one’s own partner by one’s own choice. Where will the new schemes launched in the name of the poor and untouchable people lead to-out from poverty or trap people in tighter walls of poverty?

Akpanpaak Chaak Inna! (Thank you) Kuknalim! (Long Live)

Ms. Sumshot Khular is a Lamkang Naga indigenous from Thamlakhuren village in Chandel district of Manipur state in India. She is an active human rights and peace activist, at present serving as the Executive Director of Community Action and Research for Development,a grassroot organization working for education, human rights, gender, development, peace based in Chandel district in Manipur. She has an MA in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights from Essex University, UK and is the Vice President of the Naga Women Union since October 2013 for a term of three years.

[i] Operation Blue Bird in Oinam village 1987, where pregnant women were killed, raped in front of their husbands and other men, young children and old were also killed, pregnant women were made to deliver in front of the armies. We cannot forget what happened in Mitikhri village in Pochury area on 6 September 1960, the Punjab Regiment posted at Kangjang village reached Matikhrii village around 10 am. The entire village was encircled in three rings and all the villagers were ordered to gather in one place. Men folk were separated from women and children. All the men were ordered to keep jumping and do sit-ups, for more than five hours in the scorching sun, naked. Any signs of tiredness were met with kicks and hits with rifle butts. Then just before sunset, Indian army not satisfied with the punishment meted out to the villagers, rounded them up inside the Village chief’s house and were forced to sit heads down like a lamb being lead to its slaughter. The Indian army did not even allow the loved ones to perform last rites and rituals for the dead. All the dead bodies were dumped inside the village chief’s house and were burnt down to ashes along with the other houses and granaries. The women and children who had fled to the jungle to evade the horror and torture of Indian Army came back the next morning to find the whole village burnt down to ashes.

[ii] The recent Ukhrul firing upon silent protestors on 30 August killing two men after five days of imposition of CrPC 144, clamping the district following a killing on 13 July at Finch Corner before Ukhrul some 20 kms away. Their wives expecting the first born babies in October became young widows and children will grow up as orphans.

[iii] Over 400 cases of racial abuse, attacks and murder of NE people recorded at Northeast Helpline, this year.

[iv] Mrs. Lungnila , a 70 year old woman, mother of 9 children and the sole breadwinner in the family was hit by a police canister on her skull and injured her brain, during the silent protest march against Mapithel dam in 2008 and today she is paralyzed permanently. More than 20 women were injured that day.

[v] Few tribes have women in their Tribe Apex bodies. Once men are aware they need women at equal par in leadership or in any work to progress. However, it takes time to change the very patriarchal mindset and traditions and customs and institutions that promote them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Survivors to Defenders: Women Crossing the Line and Confronting Violence In Mexico, Honduras And Guatemala

By Cristina Hardaga Fernández

JASS (Just Associates) is an international women’s rights organization dedicated to strengthening the voice, visibility, and collective power of women to create a just and sustainable world for all. Anchored and driven by our regional networks in Mesoamerica, Southern Africa and Southeast Asia—comprised of local activists with ties to diverse groups and movements—JASS trains and accompanies activists, women human right’s defenders and their organizations in 27 countries who are building movements to address diverse justice issues including LBGTI rights, HIV and reproductive health, indigenous land rights, and violence against women human rights defenders.

For the Mesoamerica Region, but particularly in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras where we work, the diagnosis is very clear: women are increasingly the victims of violence. This reflects the discrimination they suffer in society, which views them as objects for manipulation and subjects them to gender-specific forms of violence that are particularly cruel and demeaning. In these countries both governments and non-state actors are systematically committing crimes against women—and the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. Their security forces and institutions frequently act to support political interests and the economic interests of private sector companies rather than the public good, eroding public safety and blocking access to justice.

The lack of a gender perspective deepens discrimination on all levels of government. This creates even greater barriers to justice for women and leads to attacks on them when they defend their rights and seek justice. In addition, the wave of violence in Mexico and Central America has deep economic, social and political roots. In Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, bloodshed is accompanied by silent forms of violence—hunger, poverty, inequality, and illiteracy—all of which affect women more deeply due to discrimination and the fact that so often women are the main caregivers for families.

In this context JASS Mesoamerica’s movement-building strategy links activist training and analysis with political organizing, communications and action and focus on the strategic importance of increasing women’s individual and collective citizen power in order to fight against human rights violations and for gender equality.

For us the network is a key resource and that’s why JASS Mesoamerica began focusing on building strategic alliances in order to join regional efforts to protect Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs). One such alliance is the Mesoamerican Women Human Rights Defenders Initiative (known for its Spanish acronym “IMD”). Created in 2010, by JASS, UDEFEGUA, AWID, La Colectiva Feminista, Consorcio Oaxaca, FCAM and Red de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras,[1] the IMD creates alternative holistic protection, safety and self-care mechanisms in order to respond to the violence WHRDs face in the region. We’ve also made significant progress through Mexico and Honduras’ national WHRD networks comprised of numerous organizations and activists in both countries.

Recognizing that almost all social constructs (including the theory of holistic human rights protection and its instruments and mechanisms) are created according to the needs of men, reaffirms our belief that prioritizing WHRDs is necessary in the context of exclusion, discrimination and inequality that all women have and continue to suffer. Based on JASS Mesoamerica’s experience using a feminist approach within the women’s movement, we have created spaces for open dialogue with our allies to better understand the specific experiences of WHRDs in the region. We have learned how WHRDs are carrying out their activism safely, and we have identified their principal concerns.

In Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, we prioritize bringing attention to women human rights defenders, the work and contribution they make in different contexts and social and political levels. That is why it is also important for us to focus on the effects that the work of a WHRDs has and the impacts on their lives, since becoming a woman human rights defender means taking risks and facing violence in these countries. For many women, it also means breaking internalized chains and stereotypes. Social and community norms teach women that they are next to worthless. Making decisions as simple as what to stitch on a blouse becomes an act of self-affirmation.

Women from Ciudad Juarez on the US-Mexico border to San Pedro Sula, Honduras are organizing to assure security for their families and themselves, to seek justice and to defend their homes. Often not recognized as human rights defenders, they have few allies and many opponents. JASS believes in continuing to highlight the importance of driving attention on and design of gendered protection strategies that are adequate for the particular realities of WHRDs. We aim to reduce some of the differences and inequalities between women and men by contributing towards adequate protection mechanisms which will allow WHRDs to continue with their work in more equitable environments. For us the unfulfilled promise of women’s equality cannot be realized without mobilizing the power of women’s voices, knowledge and numbers for sustained pressure and influence on policies, institutions and social norms. With growing backlash and violence today, organizing women is also about protecting activists and their organizations.

In light of recent events in Mexico, we want to add that despite international pressure and public outrage, the forty-three students who were disappeared by the police in Ayotzinapa, Mexico on September 26th are yet to be found. At the moment, JASS is joining with allies at home and around the globe to keep the focus on the role of the Mexican government in the violence and complicity with organized crime. We ask the international community to join with us in demanding that the forty-three school students be returned alive and to join the chorus of voices yelling from the marches “they took them alive and we want them alive”.

 

Cristina Hardaga Fernández is a feminist dedicated to the defense and promotion of human rights. Bringing years of experience, Cristina has an International Relations degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) and a post-graduate degree in Human Rights and Democracy from the Universidad de Chile and the International Transitional Justice Center (ICTJ). Before joining JASS in 2013, Cristina worked as the International Area Coordinator with Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña “Tlachinollan” in the state of Guerrero, Mexico for four years. She also worked as a Human Rights Advisor with the LX session of the House of Representatives and as a researcher for the UIA Human Rights Program. Since August 2013, Cristina joined the JASS Mesoamerica team to lead regional and international solidarity and political engagement.

 

[1] The title of the article comes from our report: From Survivors to Defenders: Women Confronting Violence in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala: http://www.justassociates.org/sites/justassociates.org/files/americas_report_low_res_july2012.pdf

[2] This article is the perspective of Cristina Hardaga Fernández, Strategic and Political Engagement Coordinator. The article is based on elements of the fact finding mission organized by JASS with the Nobel Women Prize Initiative and the work with the Mesoamerican Initiative for Women Human Right’s Defenders. For more information: http://www.justassociates.org/en/about-us

[3] For more information about the IMD online: facebook IM_Defensoras and twitter @IM_Defensoras. To submit to the IMD’s Scribd account, http://www.scribd.com/IM_DEFENSORAS, email imdefensoras@gmail.com. To learn more about the Red de Defensoras Honduras we recommend: http://redefensorashn.blogspot.com  to learn more about Red-México please reach out to: rednacionaldedefensorasmexico@gmail.com. Facebook: Red Defensoras Dh México Twitter:@RedDefensorasMx   Recent IMD publications: Travesías para pensar y actuar. Experiencias de Autocuidado de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos: http://es.scribd.com/doc/223570458/TRAVESIAS-PARA-PENSAR-Y-ACTUAR-EXPERIENCIAS-DE-AUTOCUIDADO-DE-DEFENSORAS-DE-DERECHOS-HUMANOS-EN-MESOAMERICA; IMD report to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 2014: http://es.scribd.com/doc/214940590/Informe-de-la-IM-Defensoras-ante-CIDH-27-03-2014 Diagnóstico 2012: Violence against WHRDs; http://es.scribd.com/doc/166580906/DIAGNOSTICO-2012-VIOLENCIA-CONTRA-DEFENSORAS-DE-DERECHOS-HUMANOS-EN-MESOAMERICA-IM-DEFENSORAS. Marusia López, Regional Director of JASS Mesoamerica was a co-founders and at the moment the co-coordinator of the IMDefensoras.

Defeating militarization, gaining hope: women as political actors

By Rosa Emilia Salamanca

Due to the armed conflict in Colombia, the effect that militarization has had on our society is profound. We have lived for so long in situations where the military has been dominant that it has become natural. However, in the path in which we have been advancing in the recognition and defense of human rights we have identified that the militarization of the country has been the way in which the national elite has made use of weapons for their own benefit, deepened social inequality, political exclusion, concentration of land, and very low income redistribution.

During the decades of the 1960s to 1980s, many social and political sectors influenced by the great socialist revolutions of the world, believed that structural changes were to be made through the use of weapons as in other countries in the world, and thus in Colombia more than five guerrilla groups arose between rural, urban, semi-urban, and indigenous sectors. During this period, State repression by armed forces was mainly focused on workers, farmers, students’ movements and characterized by extrajudicial executions, torture, enforced disappearance and imprisonment of left wing militants or political parties.

Photo: Spacio Libre

The guerrillas also installed their own military mentality: political retention, kidnapping, extortion, murder, reproducing the war which has always been present in Colombia. At the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, the drug trafficking problem emerged and with it the mentality of the use of weapons for individual causes without any political premise, but rather with the premise of business, of easy money. There was a rupture of any ethical structure which although complex, was still present in the midst of confrontations.

Changes in the world, the fall of the Berlin wall and reflections from various political currents and new social movements, including the feminist movement, began to severely question this form of confrontation. Some of the main guerrilla groups of the country left weapons and warfare during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

However two of the most important guerrilla groups in the country, the FARC and the ELN continued their exercise of armed confrontation, in a setting in which drug trafficking is a new factor and also the emergence at the end of the 1990s of right-wing paramilitary groups as a way of dealing with guerrillas. This setting progresses into even more complex levels with the rise of global interests in both the agro-extractive business and the mining and energy business, which adds new elements and the interest in large scale exploitation with the need of land for that implementation.

The conjunction between paramilitaries and drug trafficking lords and its armed expression has shaped the most violent, inhumane and cruel moments that the country has lived. The guerrillas also began to see a source of income in drug trafficking to sustain the warfare. Thus, the control of illicit crops and the corridors of illegal marketing and general expressions of illegal economy became new targets, and many times and in many ways almost the main confrontation between the different groups.

With these elements, the internal armed conflict deepened and began to affect much more of civil society. This is a conflict where the civil society has been the main target. Forced displacement, enforced disappearances, extra judicial executions, permanent threats to human rights defenders, kidnapping, terrorist actions, political genocide in a population of forty-seven million inhabitants, where seven million are victims and this number continues to grow. This complex conflict with multiple actors shows us a polarized society, with militarized hearts and minds in permanent war. The search of the enemy everywhere has made us a society that understands the use of force as a necessary tool to guarantee security in a strongly patriarchal society.

Of the seven million victims of countless crimes and multiple actors, 75% are women of different conditions and age. One woman could have been the victim of forced displacement, victim of direct sexual violence, victim of forced recruitment, and symbolic violence, among many other perverse combinations. Violence against women has been a weapon of war. Women have been used scandalously as instruments to damage the enemy, and the enemy has not always been the armed opposition; many times the enemy has been the community itself, which did not obey the orders distributed by the legal or illegal armed actors.

The violent acts against women regardless of the harm placed on them, seek to intimidate an entire community with terrifying impacts. In this environment, the Colombians have been victims of multiple forms of violence, in a continuum that exists throughout society materialized in all the social dynamics and exacerbated by the contexts of today’s conflict. The militarization of our minds and hearts has been deep. Our culture has become violent and we naturalize everything: death, violence against women, the physical or symbolic disappearance of the other, and the crisis is huge in our society. Everything can be justified. The militarization of our society has made it ill, and we are a society in need of intensive care.

However, in every crisis there is hope and a different way of looking at life. Despite the thought that although this is a huge tragedy there are ways to get out of it. If the current peace process with the FARC succeeds and negotiations with the ELN are achieved, there will be an opportunity for the social, cultural and economic changes that we need to defeat the structural causes of our conflicts.

In this sense, the task of the institutions and civil society is immense. More than rebuilding a country, we have to build one that we have never had: a democratic, just and inclusive country. Us women, who have been empowered significantly through the past decades, we recognize ourselves as strategic actors for such renovation. We have achieved (despite the hostile environment) important multilevel organizational levels. Our discourse and practice of lobbying and advocacy, has allowed us to have significant legislative achievements. Today we have a number of laws in the fields of political participation, sexual violence in the context of the armed conflict, integral violence against women and victims expressing our achievements as a movement.

We are now looking at the peace process and negotiations between the national government and the FARC with an inter-locution that we have gained, and the achievement of having affected in the decision of having women participate in the process.

Undoubtedly, the challenges are to achieve a peaceful environment and to have these laws and public policies taken to the local level and practiced every day. This requires political will, institutional seriousness that is to be respectful of women’s rights and with sufficient resources. For example, an objective to be met is for the Colombian Government to accept and have a national plan of action on resolution 1325 and related resolutions implemented and coordinated intra-State and at all levels with strategies of protection, prevention and participation of women.

The international, national and local political world has to understand that women, in addition to victims, are political, social and cultural actors, who in the majority of cases we are tireless weavers of peace for our societies. Our experiences today are sources for the theory of non-violence and reconstruction policy throughout the world. As subject of rights we are central in the resolution of these conflicts and the construction of a society whose values and principles are totally different to the ones that are currently in practice. Among the new values and principles, we can name non-discrimination for any reason, a resounding NO to the use of arms as means to exert power over others; a resounding NO to a military jurisdiction that leads or amnesties that will lead to impunity on responsibilities over what has happened. The practice of democracy as a setting of the confrontation of ideas in the public debate, the defense of everyone’s human rights, and a resounding NO to the continuation of the militarization of our minds, our bodies and our hearts.

Women in today’s world are part of the solution not the problem. Our voices in every corner of the globe must be heard.

Rosa Emilia Salamanca’s work is dedicated to strengthening the participation of women and civil society in decision-making processes in Colombia. She has worked with indigenous communities, feminists and a number of women’s organizations. Ms. Salamanca is Executive Director of Corporación de Investigación y Acción Social y Económica (CIASE) in Colombia, a member of the Women, Peace and Security Collective for Reflection and Action, which calls for a transformation towards a more peaceful Colombian society.

The Missing Queen

By Dyuti

Conflict is a subjective reality both in terms of what the conflict is all about and also in terms of the way it is experienced. Women, men, and children experience conflict differently. These experiences of violence get further conflated with the social locations within which people exist.

This piece is located in the context of India and I choose to call this piece the ‘missing queen’ as a way to trace the missing narrative of the women living in conflict areas in the country. It seeks to bring to fore the lived reality of women in the context of violence. The attempt is to take the discussion forward on 1325, and highlight the lived reality of women in conflict and post conflict situations. India as we understand today—a geographical, social-cultural political- conglomeration of states, cultures and people stands on a history of struggle and conflict. Conflict in India is predominantly about land. The basic root cause of conflict is access and control over land, the laws of the land (socio-economic-political and cultural laws of the land) and the relations of people of this land. It has ranged from changing land relations to controlling cultures.

In speaking of conflict, one often hears of women’s experiences or through statistics, instances of injured, raped, widowed, orphaned women; as either a case study or a heart-wrenching story. Women are either forgotten in history or find a place in footnotes in discussions on conflict. Seldom do these discussions speak of the effects of violence and conflict on the everyday life of women. In the post UN Security Council Resolution 1325 era, much of these discussions have tended to focus on the sexual violence women face during conflict. While it is a gruesome lived reality, it often brushes aside women’s lived reality as a result of not being recognized as right-holders, while dispensing compensation.

The challenges women face when we are not seen as individual right holders are visible including the home and in public spaces like education and access to medical facilities.

In much of feminist writing the romanticized idea of home has been critiqued and questioned. It has been recognized as a place of violence. However in areas affected by conflict, home comes to be associated with a stable life and security. With burning of homes, families lose property and documentation. Often they are pushed into camps and have to rebuild their lives. This involves many a times getting fresh identity based documents made. The State responds to this through compensation. In India, compensation for burnt (fully or partially) homes is given to the family as a unit and is usually dispensed in the name of the head of the family or the heir. In a patriarchal society such as India this often translates into compensation being given to the man. Women end up receiving little to nothing in their own name. The same holds true when compensations are being dispensed for lost property. Private land is most often in the name of the male members of the family–father and the sons. The women (daughters, daughter-in-laws, mothers) have seldom any ownership to the land. They are most often treated as a unit with the husband. Further, in case a woman loses her husband in the conflict—either dead or missing—it finds her in a situation where her claim and that of her children is found to be competing with other members of the family. Absence of property and resources in her name makes her economically vulnerable.

Constitutionally every citizen has a right to education and access to medical facilities. In post conflict and conflict situations these are some of the facilities that get affected first. Women who are seen to be markers of culture are confined to home, their education is affected and they often don’t find access to basic medication and health care. Women are often married off young in order to keep them safe in conflict and post conflict scenarios (however the same holds true for ‘non-conflict’ situations).

There is a complete absence of these narratives and voices while speaking of conflict and post conflict situations. This is true because women are seldom seen as individual right holders. The State often conflates them with family and home and ceases to see them individual beings. These everyday lived realities and struggles of women in conflict areas needs to be fore-grounded in discussions and narratives around conflict and peacebuilding.

A lot of myriad kinds of work are happening in India in ensuring women’s access to social justice. Women’s role in peace processes is being increasingly recognised. In a country plagued with rampant communal violence, laws (Prevention of Communal Violence Act) and polices (such as 15 Point Program of the PM) link provisions of compensation and relief with affected women. The Justice Verma Commission set up following the December 2012 rape case recognised sexual violence on women in law and compelled the states to take necessary actions. Women are being collectivised in order to ensure access to social justice.

Dyuti is a feminist activist from India. Her interests lie in issues around gender and sexuality looking more specifically at conflict areas. From a young age matters related to gender and sexuality have been central to her and this comes across in her engagement with people and politics. Currently she is associated with Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR).

The Revolution is Not a Hashtag

By Nebila Abdulmelik

We often try to find new, innovative and creative ways of organizing and mobilizing around pertinent issues such as sexual and gender based violence, insecurity and conflict. Various mediums have been utilized – and more recently, with greater frequency, we make use of new media to express our outrage, to garner solidarity across borders and across thematic silos, and to spur action by our policy makers. The #JusticeForLiz campaign was a prime example of the power of social media in garnering global media and public attention and subsequently getting duty bearers to act, although not as quickly or as comprehensively as we would have liked. Liz was a 16 year old who was gang-raped on her way home from her grand-father’s funeral. The police responded woefully. The online petition on Avaaz’s site which garnered close to two million signatures from across the globe was a testament to the power of new technologies in spreading and sharing information and mobilizing global citizens to act. If nothing other than saving their public image, Kenyan authorities began to take action around Liz’s case which proceeded to court and is still awaiting a final conclusion with the arrest of two of the perpetrators.

Similarly, the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, which began locally in Nigeria to agitate for the immediate and safe return of hundreds of girls who were abducted from their schools in April, has since mobilized countless citizens across the globe from all walks of life. The world witnessed daily vigils, sit-ins, marches and protests in Nigeria and solidarity actions taking place on and offline in cities across Africa and across the globe. New communications channels were key, but not sufficient in mobilizing people to act and to amplify calls to bring back our girls. Similar to the previous example of the Justice For Liz campaign, if nothing else, the global attention and pressure on the Nigerian government shines a light on the injustices and the inadequacies of the government to respond to the needs of its citizens, and particularly that of its female ones. This campaign has been undertaken in the run up to elections in January which has complicated matters, although it does serve as an opportunity for the electorate to show its leaders what really matters and that promises must be delivered on. The mass mobilization is a form of ensuring accountability and at the very least, to say, “We are watching, and we will not be silent.”

Useful, engaging, vibrant and dynamic conversations are also taking place around #TheAfricaWeWant – Africans from across the globe defining and shaping the Africa they envision – both for the Global Post-2015 development agenda and Agenda 2063, Africa’s development trajectory for the next 50 years. This has also been linked with the African Union led #DGTrends focusing conversations and actions around instituting a culture of peace, democracy, good governance and human rights, ultimately #SilencingTheGuns – an ambitious goal that African Heads of State have committed to realizing by 2020.

While new forms of communication and media channels and platforms are useful in mobilizing, coordinating, drawing synergy and solidarity – they are not a panacea for our many problems. They also are limited in their utility when used in isolation – but become powerful when complementing offline actions. The revolution is not a hashtag. The revolution simply is.

Nebila Abdulmelik is the Head of Communications at FEMNET, a pan-African organization working to advance the rights of women and girls since inception in 1988. Nebila is a pan-Africanist and a feminist passionate about advancing the cause of social justice and amplifying marginalized voices in that process. She is also a poet who uses her poetry to speak her peace. Connect with her @aliben86, communication@femnet.or.ke or http://aliben86.wordpress.com.

Rethinking the Asia Pivot: Challenging Everyday Militarisms & Bridging Communities of Women

By Annie Isabel Fukushima, PhD

On November 25, the Institute for Research on Women, the department of Asian Languages and Cultures, and the Libraries at Rutgers University will host our first event of three events with regard to “Rethinking the Asia Pivot: Challenging Everyday Militarisms & Bridging Communities of Women.” The first event is an international webinar that brings together activists from Guam, Japan, Mexico, Okinawa, the Philippines, and South Korea. The activists will discuss the impact of militarisms on communities and how they work to build peace and genuine security in their communities. The event is in collaboration with the Center for Women’s Global Leadership to coincide with the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign.

The United States has had a long interest in the Asia-Pacific. From the illegal annexation of Hawaii (1898), the occupation of the Philippines and Guam (as well as Puerto Rico and Cuba) at the end of the Spanish American War, and the occupation of Japan, South Korea, among other countries during and after World War II. The United States has long been turning towards Asia. Whether it is for economic reasons, as seen in the development of Transpacific Partnerships, or the build up of military bases as seen in Jeju Island or Heneko, Okinawa, the U.S. has interests in Asia. The pivot to Asia is part of the U.S. military strategy to contain China, and this intervention is commonly referred to as the “Asia Pivot.”

As the United States turns to Asia through military might and neoliberal economic maneuvers, what are its implications for the people, the land, and other species in the region?

There are lessons to be learned about military exercises; bombing in the Pacific has rendered Bikini Atoll unlivable. Others compare present-day Guam (or Guahan) to the Bikini Atoll. As people are displaced by military buildup, others are displaced by the environmental side-effects of buildup. And place between the Americas and Asia is a sea of islands with people, species, and land. Places where U.S. citizens settle are not immune. As tourists see places like Hawai`i as a vacation destination, the reality of Hawaii is its history and ongoing presence of the U.S. military that has led to the destruction of indigenous lands from Koho`olawe, to Makua Valley, and Pohakuloa. Indigenous peoples like Terri Keko`olani are speaking out about the human costs, impact on the land, and the rights denied due to military expansion and culture. Military exercises are known to leave behind contaminants such as depleted uranium. And some of the waste has yet to be unburied; Agent Orange was discovered in rusty barrels buried in cities in Okinawa – a legacy that the Vietnam War was not only about Southeast Asia. The health consequences of military contaminants are generational; the Alianza de Mujeres Viequenses has been at the forefront exposing the longterm effects of militarization even after demilitarization; Viequenses exhibit high rates of cancer, hypertension, asthma, cirrhosis, and other respiratory illnesses related to military contamination of environments.

The violence of military cultures is not only environmental, but also has material effects that come to the fore during crises. The International Women’s Network Against Militarism, a network of scholars and activists, was founded in 1997 in response to violence occurring on military bases. In particular, the rape of an Okinawan girl by U.S. military servicemen led to public outcry sparking the birth of an international women’s network to address human rights violations related to military buildup. As Cynthia Enloe has demonstrated, military violence that takes the shape of acts such as rape, cannot be seen as the actions of a “few bad apples.” Instead, sexual violence, rape, and trafficking must be contextualized by race, gender, and nation, that have visual, textual and material effects. Sexual violence has been a long-time concern for activists – from rape of military personnel to civilians; sexual violence is just as present on the frontline as it is on the fenceline of military bases. “Unknowable” numbers paint a picture of the politics surrounding U.S. actions and inactions towards rape, sexual violence, and trafficking – who is to be protected? Who and what is expendable? In fact the 21^st century inheritance of war and sexual violence is not only a battle of weapons, but also history and memory. As Japan attempts to sweep its militarized sexual slavery under the rug, what do the visible narratives about U.S. military culture, rape, and (sexual) violence say about us? In 2006 Filipinas organized to raise visibility surrounding the rape by Lance Corporal Daniel Smith. The rape led to media and political discussions surrounding the Visiting Forces Agreement, Philippine sovereignty, gender-based violence, and military cultures. Gendered-base violence, such as the events surrounding rape cannot be disaggregated from the geopolitics of a U.S. turn to Asia as tied to neoliberal policies, military interventions, gendered and national subjectivities, and the transnational flow of people, goods, and ideas, in the region and to the U.S.

To call our event “Rethinking the Asia Pivot,” is to call for new interventions in thinking and practice. Therefore, the inspiration for the events include scholarly thinking and activism, as well as the role of the visual in (re)shaping how one may see (or not see) a military turn to Asia.

In 2013, I received an email regarding Sonoma County Museum’s “Camellia has Fallen.” The exhibit featured the works of artists reflecting on 1948, where the army executed thousands of residents on the island (~60,000) because the island was seen as Communist. From acrylic to video installations the artists uncovered histories of trauma. The exhibit is named for a “1991 painting of red camellias in the snow by South Korean artist Kang Yo Bae, recalling a folk story of the flowers falling like drops of blood in the massacre.” In late 2013, the artists and curators were looking for the next home for the exhibit. Where would these important works travel to next? Why not Rutgers? And so, we were able to bring some of the digital works to Rutgers.

At the time Obama was making plans to visit Asian countries to discuss the Transpacific Partnership, as military buildup continued aon Jeju Island and Okinawa, and rape of military personnel by their peers made regular headline news. What does the turn to Asia mean for the people in Asia and the Pacific? What does it hold for the Americas?

Therefore, in late 2013, I convened a small committee: myself, Suzy Kim (author of Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, 1945 – 1950) and Kayo Denda (head librarian, Margery Somers Foster Center, Douglass Library). We reached out to the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, and “Rethinking the Asia Pivot” was born. “Rethinking the Asia Pivot” at Rutgers University is possible due to the solidarity and organizing amongst women of color faculty at Rutgers in service to our community and students.

Our collaboration led us to ask important questions surrounding the Asia pivot: How will the pivot impact Asia and the Americas broadly (and how has it historically impacted the Americas)? How do women, scholars, activists, and political leaders respond to the changing climate of security and increased securitization through the military? What’s at stake for women, human rights, the environment, and nations? What are the health implications of militarisms from environmental impacts to physiological and psychological impacts of living near or on military bases? How are such health impacts gendered? What are the environmental consequences of natural disasters and the subsequent impact of disaster militarism on local communities? What are the generational impacts of military policies – for young people recruited, veterans, their families, local communities and nations?

Through digital works on display, transnational discussions in a webinar, and scholarly and activist discussions in panels, we hope to critically engage together with event participants “rethinking the Asia pivot.” The events comprise of artists, scholars, and activists from Denmark, Guam, Japan, Massachusetts, Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Okinawa, the Philippines, and South Korea. To kick off 16 Days of Activism Campaign, we begin with an international webinar on November 25, 6PM EST. On December 3, films will be screened. The films discuss the ghosts of Jeju that haunt the present, the migrations, dislocations and spectacles produced through the making of the Panama Canal, and the relation between water, sexual economies, and bases in the Philippines. Artist works featured include: Michelle Dizon’s Basing Landscapes, Dalida Maria Benfield’s Hotel Panama, Kakyoung Lee’s Burning Island, The Dawn of Jeju 4.3 by Manamongs, Im Heung Soon’s Sungsi, and Reiterations of Dissent by Jane Jin Kaisen. To rethink the pivot towards Asia requires conversations that bring in history, representation, policy, and practice. Therefore, the finale event occurs on December 4: it is our international symposium featuring Cynthia Enloe as the keynote. Panelists will discuss themes related to history, technology, visuality, narrativity, representation, strategies, policy and violence. To engage with the visual culture of the pivot to Asia, digital works will be on display throughout the entire day.

We invite you to join us during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign to address gendered-violence and human rights.

Please visit: rethinkingasiapivot.com for more information.

Sister events are occurring in New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco.

Annie Isabel Fukushima is an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow with the Institute for Research on Women and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University (2013 – 2015). Dr. Fukushima’s chapters appears in Human Trafficking Reconsidered: Rethinking the Problem, Envisioning New Solutions (2014) edited by sociologists Rhacel Salazar Parrenas and Kimberly Kay Hoang and in Documenting Gendered Violence edited by Lisa Cuklanz and Heather McIntosh. Her work discusses an array of issues on race, gender, and sexuality with regard to trafficking, intimacy, violence, and militarisms. Currently she is revising her manuscript Migrant Crossings.

Equity or Equality for Women?

by Shanthi Dairiam, IWRAW AP Founder & Board of Directors

Equity or equality is a current debate among women’s groups from around the world as they link up and prepare for the great UN debates and decisions that are taking place with regard to Sustainable Development Goals, the Post 2015 Development Agenda as well as the forthcoming celebration of Beijing plus 20 in 2015. Through the emails that are circulated on the subject, one can see the debates among women on the usefulness of supporting the concept of equality versus adopting the use of the concept of equity. The latter is seen as based on the principle of fairness and as addressing inequality and the realities of women’s lives; while the former is seen as merely promoting equal or same opportunities as that enjoyed by men. The conclusion is that equality may just continue to perpetuate inequality.

I would like to add to this discussion. In the debates by the women’s groups, the meaning that is given to the concept of equality is outmoded. The concept of equality that the CEDAW Convention prescribes and as used by the CEDAW Committee is substantive equality. This concept of equality goes beyond equal opportunities or what is known as formal equality.

Those who prescribe the concept of equity over equality do so because they say that equity requires that each person is given according to their needs; they believe that if you speak of equity instead of equality it will be clear that the objective is not treating women the same as men but more importantly, giving women what they need. Equality on the other hand they say, stops at giving same opportunities to women and men but does not guarantee that women will be able to access these opportunities due to pre-existing/ existing inequalities that women experience. This shows a misunderstanding of what equality means especially since the advent of the CEDAW Convention.

Under this Convention, substantive equality is the goal to be achieved in all spheres. To achieve this, the obligation of the State extends beyond a purely formal legal obligation of equal treatment of women with men. In fact under article 2 of the Convention, states have the dual obligation of incorporating the principle of equality in the law (formal equality) and ensuring as well, the practical realization of the principle of equality.  Hence a purely formal legal approach is not sufficient to achieve women’s de-facto equality with men, which is substantive equality. It is not enough to guarantee women treatment that is identical to that of men which is the provision of equal opportunities. Rather, biological as well as socially and culturally constructed differences between women and men must be taken into account and under certain circumstances, non-identical treatment of women and men will be required in order to address such differences. This includes a redistribution of resources and power between men and women favouring women.  (CEDAW Convention article 4.1 and General Recommendation 25) If this is not done then such inaction or neutral or identical treatment of women and men is discrimination against women under article 1 of CEDAW as the practical enjoyment of equality as a right would have been denied to women. Discrimination includes any treatment that has the effect of nullifying the enjoyment of human rights by women in all spheres, though such discriminatory effect was not intended. (Summary of article 1 of the CEDAW Convention).

Equality and the practical enjoyment of it by women, is a universal value, a legal standard and goal and a human right. In fact, without equality, human rights would have no meaning. It is equality that demands that human rights is for all regardless of sex, status, origin, descent, location, sexual orientation and gender identity. Equity is a not a standard or a goal. It is subjective, discretionary and arbitrary. It is fragile as a policy if used as a stand-alone concept without it being linked as a means to achieve the goal of equality.

It can also be used against women. During the debates when the Beijing Platform was drafted in 1994/1995, Muslim countries and the Holy See and its followers from Latin America strongly argued for the use of the term equity and resisted the term equality. For them, women and men could not be valued equally. They demanded the use of the term equity, as in their view, this term justified greater resources and power skewed in favour of men on the basis of their god-given and immutable responsibilities as providers and leaders.  Equity was used to give men according to their “need”. The determination of need itself is political and value driven. But the conservative forces did not get their wish during the Beijing Platform debates as the Human Rights Caucus argued heatedly and long against the term equity. The Beijing Platform adopted the term equality.  We will be retracting the hard won conceptual gains made in our understanding of equality twenty years ago if we now say the concept of equality is not useful. Equity cannot stand alone or be used interchangeably with equality.

(For an elaboration of this subject see “Equity or Equality for Women? Understanding CEDAW’s Equality Principles”. IWRAW Asia Pacific Paper Series. No.14. http://www.iwraw-ap.org/publications/doc/OPS14_Web.pdf)

Reprinted with permission from the author.

The Missing Girls in Nigeria: There is a need for critical analysis and sustained action on this

by Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL)

When news of the abduction of nearly 300 school girls in Nigeria broke over four weeks ago, we, as the CAL Secretariat were deeply concerned. We were, and we still are concerned because this gross violation of human and children’s rights is proof of the degree that hegemonic patriarchal power manifests itself and especially on female bodies. We are concerned because as feminists and human rights defenders, this act, and the slow nature in which the Nigerian government has chosen to respond to this crisis is indicative of just how little women and girls’ lives matter, to majority male governments and oppressive male militia and military bodies. We are concerned because this issue is a microcosm of a bigger problem-commodification of female bodies and devaluation of female/feminine importance. We have asked, on Social Media-What Are Women’s Lives Worth?

Another reality worth considering is that girls and women go missing everywhere, and all the time. There are thousands of unaccounted for incidences where girl children have gone missing and these incidences go unreported. Sometimes for years and many time unresolved. In our daily newspapers we see a majority of girls and women reported missing, with little to nothing done by authorities to investigate these issues. Many patriarchal cultural constructions accord more importance to boy children than they do to girl children. This means that some families are least likely to report missing girl children than they are to report missing boy children. The same is said for women, as compared to men. Girls and women, today, still lie at the bottom of the social totem, and this recent turn of events in Nigeria shows that there is a deeper and urgent need for our governments, our communities and society as a whole to give female bodies the same importance that male bodies are often given.

Some statistics out of America (unfortunately these are the only extensive statistics that could be found) show as follows:
• An astounding 2,300 Americans are reported missing every day, including both adults and children
• The federal government counted 840,279 missing persons cases in 2001. All but about 50,000 were juveniles, classified as anyone younger than 18. This means that in 2001, over 790, 000 children were reported missing.
• Two-thirds of the nearly 800 000 victims are ages 12 to 17, and among those eight out of 10 are [white] females, according to a Justice Department study. This means that 80% of the abducted children were girls.
• Nearly 90 percent of the abductors are men, and they sexually assault their victims in half of the cases.

Source: http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/americas_missing/2.html

This is important because, America is putting pressure and offering military help to find the nearly 250 missing school girls in Nigeria, while they too have a crisis going on as far as missing girl children go. With the current state of affairs between Nigeria and America, especially with regard to the rights of gender non-conforming and non-heteronormative African women and men, this offer, and indeed pressure from the American government, might do more harm than good. And this situation furthermore creates military and military related tensions on a continent rife with militarism and militant oppression-from both State and rebel actors.

In a recently published article in The Guardian, Jumoke Balogun writes: ‘Simple question. Are you Nigerian? Do you have constitutional rights accorded to Nigerians to participate in their democratic process? If not, I have news for you. You can’t do anything about the girls missing in Nigeria. You can’t. Your insistence on urging American power, specifically American military power, to address this issue will ultimately hurt the people of Nigeria. It heartens me that you’ve taken up the mantle of spreading “awareness” about the 200+ girls who were abducted from their school in Chibok; it heartens me that you’ve heard the cries of mothers and fathers who go yet another day without their child. It’s nice that you care. Here’s the thing though, when you pressure western powers, particularly the American government, to get involved in African affairs and when you champion military intervention, you become part of a much larger problem. You become a complicit participant in a military expansionist agenda on the continent of Africa. This is not good. You might not know this, but the United States military loves your hashtags because it gives them legitimacy to encroach and grow their military presence in Africa. Africom (United States Africa Command), the military body that is responsible for overseeing US military operations across Africa, gained much from #KONY2012 and will now gain even more from #BringBackOurGirls.’ This is a worthwhile article-do read it when you get the time to.

As a feminist collective, it is important that we speak to this issue, but more importantly, it is essential that we shift conversations, and shape dialogues around bigger and wider issues, to prevent, or at best attempt to prevent recurrence of such atrocities. We have to hold our governments, tasked with our protection, accountable for our safety and the safety of our children whether they inhabit female or male bodies.

CAL would like to plan some action(s) that bring attention to these multiple, overlapping issues: issues of bodily autonomy, militarism, safety and security; issues of femicide, and the girl child and education; issues of accountability and governance. They all intersect and they all need a voice. This cannot be seen as a once-off, occurrence-there is a bigger picture here, and this conversation has to go on.

We welcome your thoughts on this-and any suggestions on future continued action around this are welcome.

Please send suggested actions to sheena@cal.org.za

The struggle continues. We still hope and wish for the safe return of the stolen school girls back to their homes and families. We demand that justice prevails for these girls and all the other thousands of abducted and stolen girls and women on the continent.

Reprinted with permission from http://caladvocacyblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/the-missing-girls-in-nigeria-there-is-a-need-for-critical-analysis-and-sustained-action-on-this/.