NEWS & ARTICLES

WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISM
Campaign for Expat Women's Rights in Morocco
Men Endorse “Protection of Women from Family Violence” Law In Lebanon
Call to End Child Marriages & Male Guardianship in  Saudi Arabia
Anti-Polygamy Activists Find Islamic Opposition in Israel

GENDER & HUMAN RIGHTS
Securing Women's Housing Rights
Arab Couples Seek Educational Compatibility

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Case of Woman Seen Being Flogged on YouTube Clip
… and Women Activists Arrested in Protest
Targeting and Harassment of Human Rights Defenders in Bahrain

GENDER & POLITICS
Gender Perspective on Fraudulent Parliamentary Elections
Laws & Penal Code Need Changes for Women's Rights

UN WOMEN
GEAR Letter from UN Women Executive Director

GENDER & ISLAM
Northern Sudan will Adopt Sharia Law if Country splits
Feminist from Gaza Reflects on Being Secular in a Religious Land
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Called for Closure of Bars & Liquor Shops in Iraq

BOOKS & REPORTS

GENDER RIGHTS
Advancing Women, Advancing the Economy
Coalition of Women for Peace Report "All-Out War: Israel Against Democracy"
Rural Poverty Report 2011

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Serious Challenges for Women in Irak

GENDER RESOURCES
The Fiction of Egypt’s Marriage Crisis
SUWEP Statement on Women's Vision of the Referendum Scenarios
Guide to the UN Treaty Bodies - ISHR – Gender

NEWS & ARTICLES
 
WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISM
Campaign for Expat Women's Rights in Morocco
Morocco launched a massive campaign to extend the application of Moudawana  (Moroccan Family Law) to women living and working abroad.
Six years ago the Moroccan government introduced a new Civil Status Code to protect the rights of women. But as the number of Moroccans living abroad (MREs) increases, so too does the need to bring expat women under the protection of the Moudawana.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/...

Men Endorse “Protection of Women from Family Violence” Law In Lebanon
On November 25, 2010, Lebanon joined over 55 countries around the world by organising the first White Ribbon Campaign in the Middle East. The campaign carried out by KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation, the National Coalition for legislating protection of women from family violence, & Oxfam GB, started on November 25 and will last 16 days. For more information plz follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6857

Call to End Child Marriages & Male Guardianship in  Saudi Arabia
Equality Now has been informed of several cases of Saudi girls being married off at the behest of their male guardians. The most recent case concerns 12-year-old Fatima from Najran who was married on 5 October 2010 to a 50 year old man who already has a wife and ten children, most much older than Fatima. Her father Ali, who is unemployed and addicted to drugs, sold her in marriage for a sum of 40,000 Saudi Riyals (approximately US$ 10,665), which he used to buy himself a car. Reportedly, Fatima’s husband bought her a PlayStation as a wedding gift. For more information plz follow the link http://equalitynow.org/english/actions/action_3103_en.html

Anti-Polygamy Activists Find Islamic Opposition in Israel
A women’s group campaigning to stop polygamous marriages among Israeli Bedouin is running into strong resistance from Islamic groups and even some politicians. The organizers of the "No Excuse for Polygamy" campaign, launched at the end of November, have been called infidels in newspaper editorials and accused of serving the Zionist agenda by limiting the Arab birth rate. For more information:
http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/12_10/12_20/122010_israel.htm

GENDER & HUMAN RIGHTS
Securing Women's Housing Rights
Since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel has demolished close to 25,000 Palestinian homes in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in violation of both human rights law and international humanitarian law, leading to mass displacement and violations of their housing, land and property rights.  For more information plz follow the link
 http://www.cohre.org/news/press-releases/securing-women-s-housing-rights-in-palestinE

Arab Couples Seek Educational Compatibility
A marriage between a husband not as educated as his wife is more likely to end in divorce. They claim women also find it difficult to marry men not as educated as them for social, psychological and economic reasons. A potential partner’s level of education was not a big issue in the past. It is normal to see women not so educated marrying men with a degree and vice versa. Nowadays, a woman would be putting her happiness at risk if she marries a man with a lesser education than her because of his ego, even if he says it is not a problem. For more information plz follow the link http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/12_10/12_13/121310_arab.htm

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Case of Woman Seen Being Flogged on YouTube Clip
Sudan's judiciary has launched an investigation into the public flogging of a woman after footage of her being whipped by laughing policemen was posted to the internet. The YouTube video shows an unidentified woman in a long black dress and a headscarf being ordered to sit down in a parking lot. For more information plz follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6863

… and Women Activists Arrested in Protest
The arrest of more than 60 Sudanese women's rights activists on December 14, 2010, for peacefully protesting the lashing of a woman by police shows the urgent need to reform Sudan's public order laws and practices, Human Rights Watch said. The system imposes illegitimate restrictions on a range of personal behavior and public expression and disproportionately targets women, Human Rights Watch said. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/12/15/sudan-end-lashing-reform-public-or...

Targeting and Harassment of Human Rights Defenders in Bahrain
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses deep concern about the Bahraini authorities persistence in targeting and harassing human rights defenders, which was shown recently in the ill treatment inflicted upon the president of BCHR, Mr. Nabeel Rajab, through selective security measures practiced against him. Mr. For more information plz follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6843

GENDER & POLITICS
Gender Perspective on Fraudulent Parliamentary Elections
During the day, election-related violence claimed at least eight lives. Early results from the poll – described by domestic and international observers as "breathtaking" in its levels of fraud – suggest that the ruling National Democratic party (NDP) has captured 96% of the seats, while the 88 opposition members from the Muslim Brotherhood, could be erased to zero. For more information plz follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6828

Laws & Penal Code Need Changes for Women's Rights
"He beat me for no reason, just when he got stressed, and sometimes in front of the children," she says. Even when she landed in a hospital emergency room after he cut her face with a vase, she refused to tell the doctor what happened.
"It would make things much worse - they would take him to prison and then he would make more trouble. I was frightened of my husband. Also, it’s a kind of shame." For more information plz follow the link http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53832

UN WOMEN
GEAR Letter from UN Women Executive Director
Michelle Bachelet Under-Secretary-General of UN Women wrote a letter to the GEAR Campaign sharing her commitment to work with civil society groups. http://www.gearcampaign.org/news_events/news/letter-from-michelle-bachel...

GENDER & ISLAM
Northern Sudan will Adopt Sharia Law if Country splits
Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, said the country would adopt an Islamic constitution if the south split away in next month's referendum, in a speech today in which he also defended police filming a woman being flogged. "If south Sudan secedes, we will change the constitution and at that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and ethnicity," Bashir told supporters at a rally in the eastern city of Gedaref. "Sharia [Islamic law] and Islam will be the main source for the constitution, Islam the official religion and Arabic the official language," he said. For more information plz follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6871

Feminist from Gaza Reflects on Being Secular in a Religious Land
Palestinian feminist Asma Al-Ghoul arrived to our meeting at a Gaza coffee shop sporting blue jeans and a T-shirt—in stark contrast to the Islamic headscarves and tent-like dresses worn by the vast majority of Gazan women. It's not just clothing that sets this 28-year-old secularist apart. She once publicly chastised a senior Hamas military leader—her uncle—who threatened to kill her, and she continues to publish gutsy articles, read banned books, and defy discriminatory policies. "Gaza needs all the liberal, secular people to stay here," she insisted, when I asked why she had declined opportunities to live abroad.  For more information please follow the link
http://www.wluml.org/node/6872

Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Called for Closure of Bars & Liquor Shops in Iraq
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for the closure of bars and liquor shops in Iraq following a renewed campaign by authorities in Baghdad to shut down nightclubs and shops selling alcohol. For more information plz follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6868

BOOKS & REPORTS

GENDER RIGHTS
Advancing Women, Advancing the Economy
This publication describes the Women’s Leadership for Greater Economic Participation program, implemented by CEDPA in partnership with Seeds of Peace, which brought together 15 young women from Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Palestine in a pilot program to advance women’s economic participation in their communities. http://www.cedpa.org/content/publication/detail/2341

Coalition of Women for Peace Report "All-Out War: Israel Against Democracy"
CWP published a new report, titled “All-Out War: Israel Against Democracy.” This comprehensive report documents the increasing political persecution of peace and human rights organizations and activists, and describes the connections between the assaults led by Israeli government officials, security forces, courts, journalists, and extreme-right organizations in this well-orchestrated offensive on democracy. The report was published in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and English. To download the full report in English:
http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english/articles/Political_Persecution_...

Rural Poverty Report 2011
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today highlighted the vital contributions of rural women to development, while calling for their enjoyment of a full range of rights from property ownership and inheritance, to health and education.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36454&Cr=rural+women&Cr1

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Serious Challenges for Women in Irak
He improved political representation of women in Iraq is in sharp contrast to their broader disempowerment, as highlighted by the persistence of domestic violence and early marriage, according to a new report by the UN Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit.
For more information plz follow the link
http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/12_10/12_06/120610_iraq.htm

GENDER RESOURCES

The Fiction of Egypt’s Marriage Crisis
In August 2006, a 27-year old pharmacist started blogging anonymously about her futile hunt for a husband in Mahalla al-Kubra, an industrial city 60 miles north of Cairo in the Nile Delta. Steeped in satirical humor, the blog of this “wannabe bride” turned into a powerful critique of everything that is wrong with how middle-class Egyptians meet and marry. The author poked fun at every aspect of arranged marriage -- from the split-second decisions couples are expected to make after hour-long meetings about their lifetime compatibility to the meddling relatives and nosy neighbors who introduce them to each other. For more information please follow the link
http://www.wluml.org/node/6867

Guide to the UN Treaty Bodies - ISHR - Gender
ISHR's Simple Guide to the UN Treaty Bodies aims to provide human rights defenders and their organisations with a broad overview of the UN human rights treaty body system and its functions to support their effective engagement with the treaty bodies. The Guide also contains other information that defenders may find useful, such as the relationship between the treaty bodies and other UN human rights mechanisms, etc.. http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/12_10/12_20/122010_guide.htm

SUWEP Statement on Women's Vision of the Referendum Scenarios
We members of SuWEP from both sectors North & South met at Afhad University for Women in Khartoum during the period from 12th to 13th of December, 2010 to discuss issues that affects women in the pre’ during and post referendum periods. For more information please follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6865