Crime
Barriers To Justice For Rape Survivors in Sudan
Published November 11, 2009 @ 07:04PM PT
This past weekend I attended and spoke at the Pledge 2 Protect Conference in Washington, DC, which served to organize and educate young people about the realities of genocide around the world. One of the panels I attended was called "Wars Against Women and the Pursuit of Peace: The Case of Darfur" which outlined, among other things, the incredibly unjust system in Sudan for rape survivors.
Despite the fact that rape has now been determined a "crime against humanity" and a "war crime" by The Hague, there is a complete inability for the Sudanese to deal with rape and domestic violence on a domestic level.
Just so we all understand how difficult a situation it is for women in Sudan, here are a few of the barriers to justice they face if raped:
Update: Yoani Sánchez Detained & Beaten
Published November 07, 2009 @ 08:10AM PT
Yoani Sánchez, the 34-year-old Cuban blogger who was not allowed to leave Cuba and go to the United States to receive the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, was detained and beaten by Cuban state security yesterday.
"No blood, but black and blues, punches, pulled hairs, blows to the head, kidneys, knee and chest,'' Sánchez told El Nuevo Herald. "In sum, professional violence.''
According to Reuters, Sánchez said that she and two fellow bloggers were detained briefly on Friday by security agents and accused of being "counter-revolutionaries" as they walked to a demonstration against violence. This video captures the peaceful demonstration from that day.
Update: U.S. Agrees To Negotiate International Arms Trade Treaty
Published October 30, 2009 @ 12:09PM PT
A few weeks ago, I asked the question: Will the Obama Administration Support An International Arms Trade Treaty?
Initially, the answer to this question seemed like "No" given the fact that the U.S. didn't even speak about the ATT during their remarks to the UN General Assembly last month and typically don't express support for international treaties.
However, today at the United Nation, the vast majority of governments - 153 in total - agreed a timetable to establish a "strong and robust" Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) with the "highest common standards" to control international transfers of conventional arms. There is currently no global Treaty on the conventional arms trade. Most of the world's biggest arms traders - including the USA, UK, France and Germany - will now all back the UN process. Nineteen states abstained but are all expected to take part in the process. In the past the United States has explicitly voted "No" when presented with this treaty, but this time around, Zimbabwe was the only State to vote against.
"For too long, governments have let the flow of weapons get out of control causing pain, suffering and death in some of the world's poorest regions. With hundreds of thousands of people dying a year from armed violence, weapons that fall into the hands of criminals and rights abusers destroy communities and livelihoods." said Anna Macdonald of Oxfam International in a press release. "Governments must ensure that negotiations live up to the promise of setting the highest possible standards - this is a life and death situation for thousands of poor people worldwide."
During the debates on the resolution, many countries spoke out and underlined the need for the treaty to be based on international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law. There are estimated to be nearly 650 million small arms in the world today and Oxfam International has reported that 2.1 million people have died as a result of armed violence.
Women, in particular, are disproportionally affected by the arms trade as victims of it's violence. While available data supports the widespread assumption that most direct casualties of gun violence are men, particularly young men, women also suffer from firearms violence indirectly as displaced women and girls are vulnerable to rape and other forms of sexual violence as they flee violent areas, or when they search for firewood and even when they go to the bathroom at night. Also, after a conflict, women become the main breadwinners and primary carers when male relatives are killed, injured or disabled by gun violence. And women, like men, are caught in the crossfire, both in times of war and of peace.
The agreement in the UN today means that the eventual ATT will be negotiated in a series of UN meetings concluding at a UN Conference in 2012.
* The States that abstained were: Bahrain, Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, UAE, Venezuela and Yemen.
Friday Femme Fatale: Mammograms, Pink Taxis & Lap Dances
Published October 23, 2009 @ 02:21PM PT
I don't know about most of you, but I spent a majority of this week battling a terrible cold. No, it wasn't the "Swine Flu" - but hopefully my writing this week hasn't suffered too much under the influence of various cold medications. You'll have to tell me...
Anyways, here's the latest news in the women's rights arena, just in case anyone tells you the "battle of the sexes" is over:
- The Big Thaw: Charting a New Future for Journalism (Media Consortium)
- Why Has It Taken So Long For ACS To Change Its Tune On Mammogram Benefits? (Feminist Peace Network)
- New Grants for Women Media Entrepreneurs (McCormick Foundation)
- Women, Mothers, Families and Reform (The White House Blog)
- Lap Dances at Yahoo's Hack Days? A Lesson in Monitoring a Global Brand (Fast Company)
- Mexico's pink taxis cater to fed-up females (AP)
- A New Era for Global Women's Rights? (Campus Progress)
- Roman Polanski's rape (Boston.com)
- Demi's Sex Slave Crusade (The Daily Beast)
- 10 Facts on Female Victims of Violence (Department of Justice)
- Fight sexist attacks against women in politics (Women & Politics)
- Benefits and Risks of Cancer Screening Are Not Always Clear, Experts Say (New York Times)
- How the Media Treat Murder (Newsweek)
Cartoon credit: Peaco Todd
Arms Trade Treaty: Women, Autonomy & Industry
Published October 07, 2009 @ 10:42PM PT
Today was my second day at the United Nations learning about the development of the Arms Trade Treaty, which is still in its early stages before being presented as a UN resolution in late October.
One of the most interesting conversations I had this afternoon was with Debbie Hillier from Oxfam International who shared her insight about pursuing a comprehensive versus a universal Arms Trade Treaty and what it will mean if the Treaty doesn't get signed by a majority of UN members. It is clear from our discussion that no matter how many states sign onto final version of the Arms Trade Treaty (assuming it gets to that point), something is better than nothing when it comes to this issue.
Hillier also discussed how it would be helpful more industry players got involved - many of which are supportive of the Treaty because they want to be seen as law-abiding, credible manufacturers - a point I found interesting given the robust nature of a war-based economy.
I also got to hear from Mutuku Nguli from PeaceNet in Kenya, who discussed his perspective on women and the arms trade in Africa. He said that while women are more often victims of the arms trade as discussed in yesterday's post, they can also be conduits to the arms trade. Women in certain countries often praise the "war heros" in their community and therefore contribute indirectly to the culture of war by seeing them as the most desirable and masculine men - a "trophy husband" if you will. He also discussed how Muslim women dressed in a Burqa can transport illegal arms under their clothing, which is often unnoticed because women are rarely physically searched in these areas of the world. With these details, he demonstrated how the arms trade can truly infiltrate civil society and create a grey area, not only within the weaponry market, but also within cultural norms.
Still, Nguli said that no matter these circumstances, women indefinitely bear the brunt of the arms trade. When men go out with weapons to fight - legal or illegal - they often die or come home wounded, which puts families in a vulnerable position. Additionally, in some countries, if a husband is involved with illegal trafficking of weapons and he is caught, then both the wife and husband go to jail leaving children without a family unit. And then of course, he mentioned how guns are used to abduct women and coerce sex from them - something we have covered before here at Change.org.
Will the Obama Administration Support An International Arms Trade Treaty?
Published October 06, 2009 @ 03:16PM PT
Today I got to sit through the United Nations General Assembly conference on disarmament thanks to Oxfam International's Conflict Voice initiative.
While many of the delegates discussed nuclear non-proliferation, one of the big questions at the Assembly was whether or not the United States would change its position on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) now that President Obama is at the helm of U.S. foreign policy decisions.
In October 2008, 145 states voted to start the UN process toward an Arms Trade Treaty showing increasing global consensus in favor of its adoption. At that time, the United States was the only country besides Zimbabwe to explicitly vote "No" on the treaty proceedings.
And then in the speech today from Ellen Tauscher, the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, the topic of arms trade was noticeably absent making it clear that the Obama administration is not ready to create change on this issue, yet.
Tauscher, who is a higher-level official compared to those sent to the UN by the Bush administration, used her ten minutes on the Assembly floor mostly to highlight U.S. efforts toward nuclear non-proliferation. Tauscher barely mentioned the arms trade except for one short statement about restricting illegal arms trafficking into the U.S. The lack of discussion about the Arms Trade Treaty could mean that Obama hasn't chosen to address this topic yet or that the U.S. will again vote "No" on this measure.
For those unfamiliar with small arms trade, there are estimated to be nearly 650 million small arms in the world today. Oxfam International has reported that 2.1 million people have died as a result of armed violence. And women, in particular, are disproportionally affected by the arms trade as victims of it's violence. While available data supports the widespread assumption that most direct casualties of gun violence are men, particularly young men, women also suffer from firearms violence indirectly.
For example, WomenDeliver writes about how displaced women and girls are vulnerable to rape and other forms of sexual violence as they flee violent areas, when they search for firewood and even when they go to the bathroom at night. After a conflict, women become the main breadwinners and primary carers when male relatives are killed, injured or disabled by gun violence. And women, like men, are caught in the crossfire, both in times of war and of peace.
In general, the passage of the ATT would help prevent the sale of American weapons that are then used to commit human rights abuses or kill U.S. soldiers and peacekeepers when trafficked arms get into the wrong hands. The ATT would not effect national ownership of weapons in the United States, but rather help control movement of arms globally which is currently unregulated on an international level.
During the General Assembly, I got to hear one of the strongest pleas for passage of the ATT by Kenya's UN delegate who said that "longtime economic development is tied to longtime security." He reported that the lack of an Arms Trade Treaty has made it especially challenging for the Kenyan government to invest in human capital and create sustained peace or security while being forced to spend money on armed protection.
It is my hope that after hearing the different perspectives on this issue that the U.S. will decide to step up and assist in the passage of the Arms Trade Treaty in order to reduce violent conflict, human rights abuses and the misappropriation of U.S. weapons into the wrong hands around the world.
Roman Polanski Child Rape Arrest Continues to Confuse Media
Published September 30, 2009 @ 09:07AM PT
When you read the transcripts about how Roman Polanski drugged a 13-year-old girl with alcohol and pills, told her to take all her clothes off and then took advantage of her in a hot tub - only one real conclusion comes to mind: rape rape rape.
Sadly, most of the mainstream media seems to be avoiding this possibility. If you take a look at the coverage to date, much of the media has been unwilling to call a spade a spade and tell the public that the Oscar-winning Hollywood filmmaker did something wrong. Really, really wrong. And he should be in jail regardless of whether or not the incident happened 30 years ago.
Just take a look at some of these headlines - where is the outrage?
The one article I read in the mainstream media that seemed to accurately describe what happened comes from the Los Angeles Times and includes part of the grand jury testimony:
Q: Did you resist at that time?
A: A little bit, but not really because . . .
Q: Because what?
A: Because I was afraid of him.
That's Roman Polanski's 13-year-old victim testifying before a grand jury about how the famous director forced himself on her at Jack Nicholson's Mulholland Drive home in March of 1977.
I'm reading this in the district attorney's office at the Los Angeles County Criminal Courts Building, digging through the Polanski file to refresh my memory of the infamous case, and my blood pressure is rising.
Is it because I'm the parent of a girl?
Maybe that's part of it.
But I wish the renowned legal scholars Harvey Weinstein and Debra Winger, to name just two of Polanski's defenders, were here with me now. I'd like to invite Martin Scorsese, as well, along with David Lynch, who have put their names on a petition calling for Polanski to be freed immediately.
What, because he won an Oscar? Would they speak up for a sex offender who hadn't?
To hear these people tell it, you'd think Polanski was the victim rather than the teenager....
...I'd like to show all these great luminaries the testimony from Polanski's underage victim, as well as Polanski's admission of guilt. Then I'd like to ask whether, if the victim were their daughter, they'd be so cavalier about a crime that was originally charged as sodomy and rape before Polanski agreed to a plea bargain. Would they still support Polanski's wish to remain on the lam living the life of a king, despite the fact that he skipped the U.S. in 1977 before he was sentenced?
Women's Media Center also pushes back on the impotent reporting done by many journalists about this case:
Too often, the media is complicit in misrepresenting or silencing the victims of sexual assault. The Women's Media Center calls on the media to report the unfolding story of the Polanski arrest and possible extradition with clarity and specificity. The rape of a child is at the heart of the case. That is not disputed, and should not be represented as subjective.
The media cannot continue to report on this story as something other than what it is: child rape. That is not a "so-called crime" either. Nor should it be called "sex with a child." And just because Polanksi has a little golden statue on his mantel doesn't mean he can avoid the ramifications of breaking the law - in fact it makes it even worse that he used his power and influence in such a destructive and irresponsible manner.
