Lagos monarchs lead walk against rape, domestic violence against women

Worried by incessant cases of sexual assault and violence against women, two traditional rulers in Lagos State on Thursday led a walk by the people against the crime on the Lekki-Epe Expressway and major streets in the area.

Female genital mutilation violates child rights act – consultant

Lead Consultant with Save Visions Africa, Dr Peter Okereke, has said that the continued practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria violates the Child Rights Act signed into law in 2011.

Rising violence against women in politics threatens democracy itself

Violence against female politicians – and the threat of it – is becoming much more common, and not only in Britain. Mona Lena Krook looks at how social media has opened up new channels for harassment, what distinguishes misogynistic attacks, and how other countries are responding to them. Ignoring or playing down the problem is not an option: it represents a growing threat to democracy across the world. 

#WomensMonth: Violence against women has become a ‘pandemic’

CAPE TOWN - Violence against women has reached pandemic proportions and Women’s Day or Sixteen Days of Activism are doing nothing to curb it.

Gender activists and researchers are deploring violence against women ahead of Women’s Day on Wednesday, partly blaming a lack of political will and leadership for the increase in the scourge.

Women In Trump's administration work to redefine 'Women's Issues' But keep getting sidelined

Sarah Huckabee Sanders's two phones were ringing nonstop on her desk late on a Friday afternoon.

It had been two days since she officially had been named White House press secretary — and just four minutes into an interview with Independent Journal Review. Her assistant stepped into her office with yet another phone and flashed the screen in her face. She grabbed the phone, clicked it off, and said she only had time for two more questions.

Lawmakers Avoid Ban on Female Genital Mutilation, Disappointing Activists

MONROVIA, Montserrado – The National Working Group Against Female Genital Mutilation says it is disappointed in members of the legislature for passing the Domestic Violence Bill without including any provision banning FGM.

Mutilation probe widens as deportation fears mount: Robert Snell, The Detroit News

Detroit — The grand jury investigation of female genital mutilation has spread to at least three more states as federal agents have identified new targets, according to federal court records.

The targets live in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, according to federal court records and interviews with people close to a criminal case that, until now, was focused solely on conduct involving girls from Michigan and Minnesota.

Ending gender-based violence against women garment workers by Sangeeta Chowdhry and Brandee Butler | Global Fund for Women

If eliminating gender-based violence in the garment industry sounds like an ambitious goal, it’s because it is...

Four years ago, the collapse of the Rana Plaza Building killed more than a thousand garment workers in Bangladesh. Most of the workers in the building were young women in their teens and early twenties. Many had recently migrated from the countryside to seek work in the factories, yearning for a good job and a better life.

Two arrested for forcing two 16-year-olds into prostitution in Brooklyn apartment

Two 16-year-old girls were forced into prostitution in a Brooklyn apartment where younger children were living, police sources said Monday.

A 21-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were arrested Saturday after one of the victims escaped the Crown Heights rental on Lincoln Place and ran home.

The victim then told cops she had been in captivity for about a month and pointed police to the lair.

When cops got there, they found a second victim being held against her will.

'Submit to your husbands': Women told to endure domestic violence in the name of God

Research shows that the men most likely to abuse their wives are evangelical Christians who attend church sporadically. Church leaders in Australia say they abhor abuse of any kind. But advocates say the church is not just failing to sufficiently address domestic violence, it is both enabling and concealing it.

By Julia Baird with Hayley Gleeson
Illustrations by Rocco Fazzari

No special homes, schemes for poor single mothers: India

VISAKHAPATNAM: Unwed or single mothers are struggling to find a footing in society to bring up their children with respect. Most of these women were either cheated with promises of marriage or were victims of sexual assault and abandoned by their families.

But there is no exclusive government scheme or home for such mothers. While some work as domestic helps to earn a living, some are undertaking vocational training imparted by NGOs.

Why Trump's travel ban hits women the hardest: Michelle Chen

Trump’s “Muslim ban” is a frontal assault on many universal human rights principles. But the latest temporary reinstatement of the order’s 120-day refugee ban – pending an anticipated October Supreme Court ruling – is already quietly undermining the most fundamental universal humanitarian rule: it puts women and children … last.

Female genital mutilation, forced marriages criminalized in Estonia

A legislative amendment that entered into force in Estonia last week criminalizes female genital mutilation and forced marriages.

Although these offenses are not widespread in Estonia, defining them as criminal offenses in law is necessary due to the globalizing world and increased migration, the Ministry of Justice said.

Thousands of Canadian girls are at risk of female genital mutilation: officials

Thousands of Canadian girls are at risk of female genital mutilation, government officials believe. And some are being taken overseas to have the dangerous procedure done — an illegal act known as “vacation cutting.”

Officials from the federal government’s Global Affairs Ministry warn that, as with forced marriage, the “one chance rule” applies to these cases, meaning a professional might get only one opportunity to speak to a potential victim and save her, according to documents obtained by the Star.

And yet Canada has done little to understand the scope of the problem and is lagging far behind other developed countries in efforts to prevent it, experts say.

kenyans-lured-with-jobs-but-end-up-in-forced-labour-and-sex

Corruption within law enforcement and lack of funds continue to fuel human trafficking in Kenya, a recently released report by the United States Department of Justice has said. The Trafficking in Persons Report says despite some marginal gains made in recent years, the country is still a major transit and conduit for victims and traffickers. “Corruption in sectors of the government perpetuated traffickers’ ability to obtain fraudulent identity documents from complicit officials, the report says.

In Somali drought, women fighting sexual predators as well as hunger

(CNN)With more than a third of Somalia's population now facing starvation, new statistics show that in addition to hunger, many women in Somalia are at risk for being raped.

The reported cases of rape and sexual violence in drought-affected areas are on the rise, in what UNICEF calls another troubling consequence of the crisis.

It is a part of what one UN official is calling the world's largest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II.

Between November and March, UNICEF and partners responded to about 300 cases of rape, sexual assault and gender related violence on average each month. In June, however, the number tripled, with 909 reported cases. So far, that's the highest number of reported cases in a single month in 2017.

"Gender-based violence was an issue before the current drought in Somalia, but we see with the current drought the way it has increased," says Jean Lokenga, head of UNICEF Child Protection in Somalia.

Many people in Somalia have been displaced because of the drought, forced to look for food and resources elsewhere as a means of survival. As of last November, the number of displaced people in Somalia has surpassed 700,000.

Woman facing deportation wins reprieve after Theresa May told child faces female genital mutilation on return: UK News

A woman facing deportation to Nigeria has won a reprieve after Theresa May was told her three-year-old daughter faced female genital mutilation if they were returned.

A decision to refuse Lola Ilesanmi's application to remain in the UK has been withdrawn and Ms May has ordered immigration minister Brandon Lewis to personally oversee a review of her case.

Ms Ilesanmi's MP Hannah Bardell, of the Scottish National Party, appealed for Ms May to intervene at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons earlier this month, telling her that the former RBS employee had been beaten, forced to have an abortion and had her face "smashed with an iPad" by her estranged husband because of her refusal to subject their daughter to FGM.

READ MO 

Ecuador Launches National Plan to Combat Violence Against Women: Latin America

Women's organizations in Ecuador have welcomed President Lenin Moreno's decision to hold talks with them and his plan of action to address gender violence in the country.

Around 50 representatives from women's groups took part in the discussions on Wednesday“The meeting recognizes decades of struggles of feminist movements and women groups and it contributes to making gender violence more visible,” Lily Rodriguez, President of the Ecuadorean Center for Women's Promotion and Action, or CEPAM told teleSUR.

Rodriguez said the meeting promoted citizen participation as well as diversity in the country.

She added that although the previous government of Rafael Correa made efforts to eradicate gender violence, she believed they were “not enough..indigenous and rural women were not included, and above all there was no real intention to hold dialogue with women and civil society.”

MICHIGAN: Female genital mutilation will get you up to 15 years in Michigan prison under new law

LANSING, Mich. –  Doctors, parents and others involved in female genital mutilation in Michigan will face up to 15 years in prison under new laws signed Tuesday that were sparked by an ongoing criminal case involving six young girls.

The legislation stemmed from a federal case against six people connected to an India-based Muslim sect called Dawoodi Bohra who are accused of being involved in the genital mutilation of two girls from Minnesota and four from Michigan. The procedures were allegedly carried out by a doctor at a clinic in suburban Detroit.