Morocco: new violence against women law

2018

Notes a new Moroccan law - Law 103.13 on the elimination of violence against women - that criminalises violence against women. The law was approved by Parliament on 14th February 2018 and entered into force in September 2018 and punishes various types of violence committed both in the private and public spheres, including rape, sexual harassment and domestic abuse. However, it was criticized for not outlawing marital rape or spousal violence, and failing to provide a precise definition of domestic violence.

See also https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/morocco-violence-women-law-effect-180912061837132.html and https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/violence-against-women-morocco-girls/

Available online at:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/26/morocco-new-violence-against-women-law

Extractivism In Latin America

Action Fund of Latin America2016, pp. 59

This report by the feminist civil society body, Urgent Action Fund of Latin America and the Caribbean, focuses on the role of women in protecting and defending nature, and warns of increasing risks to their lives and environment. The report discusses ‘the extractive model’ and the social-environmental conflicts it creates, and also the disturbing militarization and violations of women’s rights, including those defending their environment. The report outlines proposals made by women for defence of territory, and also stresses the diversity of the approaches, organizations and activities developed by Latin American women.

Women’s participation in Peace Processes

In: Council on Foreign Relations, 2019

A report tracking women’s participation in peace negotiations from 1990 to the present. It reveals that women comprise only two percent of mediators, five percent of witnesses and signatories, and eight percent of negotiators around the world.

See also https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/03AWomenPeaceNeg.pdf

Available online at:

https://www.cfr.org/interactive/womens-participation-in-peace-processes?utm_medium=earned&utm_source=redirect&utm_campaign=women-peace

Hibakusha. Survivors Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki

Kōsei Publishing, Tokyo, 1986, pp. 206

First hand account of 25 hibakushas, survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. They include soldiers, doctors, nurses, students, housewives, small children, Koreans brought to Japan for forced labour, and victims who were yet unborn.

Special: ‘Nigeria – The Boko Haram girls’

In: The New York Times, 2018

Following the kidnapping of more than 200 girls in April 2014 by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram, the campaign #BringBackOurGirls started and was supported worldwide. In this New York Times’ special more than a hundred girls who have been released four years later are photographed and some of their stories are narrated.

See also https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/boko-haram-returns-some-of-the-girls-it-kidnapped-last-month; https://www.dw.com/en/inside-boko-haram-chibok-girls-as-status-symbols/a-18677263;

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/meet-metoo-activists-one-worlds-hostile-environments/; https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbpxn9/boko-haram-has-kidnapped-another-110-teenage-girls and https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/07/john-simpson-can-anyone-bring-back-nigeria-s-lost-girls

In 2018, the documentary ‘Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram was released. To purchase the documentary, visit HBO official website https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/stolen-daughters-kidnapped-by-boko-haram

See the official website of #BRingBackOurGirls campaign here https://bringbackourgirls.ng/

Available online at:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/11/world/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-girls.html

Thousands in Argentina protest acquittal in teeneage girl’s murder

In: Al Jazeera, 2018

Reports on the revival of the #NiUnaMenos movement following the acquittal of two men accused of sexual violence and the murder of 16-year old Lucia Perez in the coastal city of Mar del Plata. It also provides data on femicide since 2008.

For the same event, see also http://time.com/5472053/argentina-protest-lucia-perez-ni-una-menos/.

Available online at:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/thousands-argentina-protest-acquittal-teenage-girl-murder-181206094117136.html

Back From the Brink: A call to prevent nuclear war

Grassroots movement aiming at preventing nuclear war.

2019

Official website of ‘Back From the Brink’, a grassroots movement that aims to involve local councils and Members of Congress in the U.S. and pressure them to change U.S. nuclear policies. Their demands are:

-       Renounce ‘first use’ option;

-       End the sole presidential authority to launch a nuclear attack;

-       Take U.S. nuclear weapons off ‘hair-trigger’ alert;

-       Cancel U.S. plan to replace its entire nuclear arsenal with enhanced weapons;

-       Pursue total abolition.

See also http://www.nuclearban.us/back-from-the-brink-a-call-to-prevent-nuclear-war/ and https://www.wagingpeace.org/.

Available online at:

https://www.preventnuclearwar.org/about

The Kremlin Emboldened

In: Journal of Democracy, Vol 28, No 4, 2017, pp. 60-116

This supplement contains a number of articles exploring the nature of 'Putinism', the degree of regime stability, the extent of genuine popular support, and the implications of Putin’s post 2014 international policy for Russia internally. Authors provide varied perspectives, including an assessment of increasing popular frustration, especially among young people.

Blessed are the Peacemakers: Military service in South Korea

In: The Economist, 2019, pp. 48-48

This article was prompted by the Supreme Court's ruling in November 2018 that refusing to accept 21-14 months of military service for religious or conscientious reasons would no longer be a crime (overturning its own earlier 2003 ruling). The author notes that the small number of past objectors have usually been Jehovah's Witnesses, and that courts would in future judge the sincerity of pacifist convictions which they might reject, and that, if CO status were accepted, three years alternative service as a prison guard was required.  But recognition of the right to be a CO makes it a more socially acceptable position, and might also help to mitigate the harsh conditions of military service.

Abortion decriminalised in Northern Ireland

2020

Provides a brief and interactive timeline on the history of abortion in Northern Ireland.

See also https://humanism.org.uk/campaigns/public-ethical-issues/sexual-and-reproductive-rights/ and the submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women on mistreatment and violence against women during reproductive healthcare in Ireland and Northern Ireland by the Abortion Rights Campaign in May 2019.

Available online at:

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/abortion-rights-northern-ireland-timeline

Students lead Chile's #MeToo moment

In: Guardian Weekly, 2018, pp. 8-8

Describes a new generation of student activists who are waging a struggle against harassment and sexual discrimination in universities through strikes, occupations and protests. When the article was published many university buildings were still being occupied. Polls showed public support and the government promised to meet some (but not all) of the students’ demands.

The case for unilateral disarmament

In: Peace News, 2020

On 23 January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved its Doomsday Clock (created in 1947) from two minutes to midnight to 100 seconds to midnight, which is the closest that it has ever been to the prospect of human destruction. This article makes the case for Britain unilaterally dismantling its nuclear weapons programme; firstly, from a legal perspective, and secondly, from a practical perspective.

Available online at:

https://www.peacenews.info/blog/9616/case-unilateral-nuclear-disarmament

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