NEWS & ARTICLES

WOMEN’S RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
Advocacy for Divorced Women's Rights in Bahrain

WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISM
Next GCC secretary general should be a woman, activist says

GENDER RIGHTS
New Public Defender program in Saudi Arabia
Is Niqab Ban in University Exams an Excessive Measure in Egypt?    
Holocaust survivor sparks fast for human rights in Gaza

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Segregate the sexes in the Arab world? Fine, until the men run out of coffee
British Woman Arrested after Reporting Rape in Dubai
Woman fined $300 for Wearing burka in Belgium
Blockade Crisis for Women & Children in Palestine-Gaza
Israel - Analysis of Depo Provera Contraceptive & Ethiopian Community in Israel
Saudi Arabia - Call for Action on Flogging & Prison for 75-Year-Old Woman
Lebanon's hidden Problem of Domestic Abuse

GENDER & PERSONAL STATUS LAW 
Interfaith Encounter Association Women's Interfaith Encounter
Seek Islamic Spirit, not State, say Muslim Scholars

BOOKS & REPORTS

GENDER RIGHTS
Helem launched a report on the legal situation of homosexuals in the Arab World

GENDER AND SOCIETIES
Journal of Middle East Women's Studies
Palestine: Breaking the lens that binds you - Gaza's women photojournalists
Gender Aspects of Statelessness

RESOURCES
International Trade and Labour Markets

NEWS & ARTICLES

WOMEN’S RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

Advocacy for Divorced Women's Rights in Bahrain
A CAMPAIGN is being stepped up to ensure that women in Bahrain emerge from divorce with alimony, rightful custody of their children and a roof over their heads. A Bahrain society is calling for law reforms and practical strategies to ensure divorced women their rights, without agonising court battles. Bahrain Women's Association for Human Development wants legislation and society to reflect the Quranic concept of divorce, which states a wife either be returned to her husband or "released (divorced) in kindness". http://www.wluml.org/node/5816

WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISM
Next GCC secretary general should be a woman, activist says
Naming a woman as the next secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will solve the standoff between Qatar and the other GCC states over the name of the next official for the top post, a Saudi activist and columnist has said. “Since there seems to be a crisis that is likely to prolong over the name of the top official, the possible solution I see is to choose a female secretary-general with a high academic and diplomatic profile. I do not think that selecting a qualified woman will cause opposition since there are many women who have recently held high political positions,” Hatoon Al Fassi, an expert on women’s rights and a columnist with a Saudi newspaper, wrote. http://www.wluml.org/node/5812

GENDER RIGHTS
New Public Defender program in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's appointed Shura Council has approved establishing a public defender program, a step that will strengthen the criminal justice system, Human Rights Watch said today. The program approved by the council on January 11, 2010 will appoint a lawyer at the state's expense to any criminal defendant who cannot afford one. For more information plz follow the link: http://www.wluml.org/node/5860

Is Niqab Ban in University Exams an Excessive Measure in Egypt?    
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) today regretted the ruling on 3 January by an administrative court to uphold a new decision banning students who wear the niqab, or full face veil, from sitting for exams in public universities. The EIPR said the ban's declared objective of preventing cheating during exams could be achieved through less drastic measures. Female students wearing the niqab told the court they were prepared to uncover their faces and be subjected to body searches at the beginning of each exam. http://www.wluml.org/node/5821

Holocaust Survivor Sparks Fast for Human Rights in Gaza
Hedy Epstein, 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, has stolen our hearts. At four feet-ten, she is a giant. Her gentle smile lights up every room that she enters, and yet if you saw her on the street, you might not immediately sense her power.  Unless you paid close attention, you would just see a sweet little old lady. When she came to Cairo, Hedy decided to undertake a fast in support of the people of Gaza, a particularly apt form of protest given the inadequacy of both the supply and type of food the people there have access to. Malnutrition is endemic in Gaza, and children's growth is stunted; people frequently go hungry. http://www.wluml.org/node/5818

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Segregate the Sexes in the Arab World? Fine, Until the Men Run Out of Coffee
I was sitting in a majlis with a group of women when our chat on world affairs was interrupted by an urgent knock on the door; a knock that opened more than just a passage into the rest of the house. “We ran out of coffee!” I heard a male voice in distress telling the hostess as she opened the door just a tiny crack to see who it was. It was her husband, who was hosting a similar majlis in another corner of the house, with the husbands of the women here. The hostess went out to help him, leaving the door wide open to a room full of annoyed women. Several of them ran to the door to close it, because “there are men in the house”. For the whole article plz follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/5852

British Woman Arrested after Reporting Rape in Dubai
A British woman who made a rape complaint in Dubai has been arrested for having illegal sex with her fiance, according to reports. The woman, a 23-year-old from London, said she was raped by a waiter in a luxury hotel after celebrating her engagement to her 44-year-old boyfriend, also from London. But when she reported the alleged rape to police in the Middle Eastern state she and her boyfriend were arrested for having sex outside marriage and illegal drinking outside licensed premises. for more information plz read the full article, http://www.wluml.org/node/5840

Woman fined $300 for wearing burka in Belgium
A Belgian Muslim woman was ordered to pay 200 euros ($300) for wearing a burka, a Islamic outfit that covers everything but the eyes, in a public place, the La Capital paper reported on Thursday. The woman was detained while taking her children to an Islamic school in the Etterbeek municipality of the Belgian capital, Brussels. She was initially ordered to pay a 35-euro fine for violating a local ban on covering faces in public places. http://www.wluml.org/node/5823

Blockade Crisis for Women & Children in  Palestine-Gaza
“People of conscience everywhere, as well as governments worldwide and the United Nations, should take note of the dire situation in Gaza,” says the Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, one year after the start of the Israeli military campaign against the Gaza Strip.
“The ordeal of the 1.5 million residents of Gaza affected by the Israeli blockade, over half of whom are children, has been allowed to continue without any formal objection by governments and at the UN,” stresses Falk.
http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/01_10/01_04_10/010410_palestine.htm

Israel - Analysis of Depo Provera Contraceptive & Ethiopian Community in Israel
In 2008, an article discussing a deliberate policy of prescribing the "Depo Provera" contraceptive method to women of the Ethiopian community in Israel was published in one of the Israeli daily newspapers. According to the article, this method of contraception was systematically given to these women as a part of a birth reduction policy. We, in Women and Medical Technologies Project, studied this issue and examined whether there is an actual, deliberate, policy on the part of the official health institutions regarding prescribing certain contraceptive methods for a distinct population and specifically for the Ethiopian community in Israel. Furthermore, we examined the ways in which this policy affects the health of women in this community, and whether the rights to freedom of information and choice were upheld during this process. http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/01_10/01_04_10/010410_israel.htm.

Saudi Arabia - Call for Action on Flogging & Prison for 75-Year-Old Woman
The Hail Emirate has received official orders to implement the recent sentence handed down against the defendants in the case of Khamisa Sawadi, issued by members of the Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice in the City of Shamli (170 kilometers south of Hail), which was known in the media as 'The case of the elderly woman of Shamli'. Saudi sources have confirmed to Emirati newspaper, Gulf News, that the woman is still in her house and the sentence has not been carried out yet. To read the full story plz follow the link http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/01_10/01_11_10/011110_saudi.htm

Lebanon's Hidden Problem of Domestic Abuse
He beat them every day, but some days were worse than others. On those days he would first attack the children -he would tie up and beat their son and daughter. If she tried to stop him, he would put a knife to their throats and threaten to kill them.  On other days h e would ask her and the children to chose their own instrument of torture - a thick electric cable, a hammer, a hose. source BBC News (UK)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8392475.stm

GENDER & PERSONAL STATUS LAW 
Interfaith Encounter Association Women's Interfaith Encounter
Muslim, Christian, Druze and Jewish women study together topics of relevance to women from the perspective of the different religions. Interfaith study is used as a vehicle not only for understanding, acceptance and respect for the other, but as a way to deepen awareness of one's own religion. The theme of this month's meeting was Family Law.
Palestine is governed by Jordanian law, which also includes religious Islamic law regarding family matters.  For example, marriage is not done in civil courts, rather by Islamic law.  Islam allows women to put conditions in the marriage contract, for example, stating that she is continuing her education.  Because marriage is governed by Islamic law, a woman cannot put in her marriage contract that her husband may not marry another woman. http://www.interfaith-encounter.org/projects.htm#WIE

Seek Islamic Spirit, not State, say Muslim Scholars
The Islamic state is a controversial issue in the West, as recent news confirms. Last October, an imam was killed and six men arrested by the FBI in Detroit for allegedly conspiring to establish an Islamic state in the United States. In the United Kingdom, government officials worry that extremist groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir have infiltrated Muslim schools to propagate their vision of an Islamic state.
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=27024&lan=en&sid=1&sp=0

BOOKS & REPORTS

GENDER RIGHTS
Helem launched a report on the legal situation of homosexuals in the Arab World
On December 21st, Helem launched a report on the legal situation of homosexuals in the Arab World, with case studies about Lebanon and Tunis. For more information, please follow this link:
http://www.helem.net/

GENDER AND SOCIETIES
Journal of Middle East Women's Studies
JMEWS advances the fields of Middle East Women’s studies, gender studies, and Middle East studies through contributions from multiple disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. It is the official publication of the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies (AMEWS). A subscription to JMEWS in print or combined print/electronic format is a benefit of membership in the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies. http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/01_10/01_11_10/011110_journal.htm

Palestine: Breaking the lens that binds you - Gaza's women photojournalists
For many years, photojournalism in Palestine was the exclusive domain of men. Women were largely restricted to only taking pictures of weddings and social events. Recently, Palestinian women have burst on the photojournalist scene challenging these social norms, while receiving accolades for the work abroad. Although the Palestinian Territories are filled with stories that are worth documenting through the lens of a camera no matter who carries it, the number of female photojournalists is still relatively low in comparison with male photojournalists. http://www.wluml.org/node/5822

Gender Aspects of Statelessness
How do women become stateless?  This can be as a result of political change or when states deliberately write laws excluding minority groups from citizenship, such as in the Dominican Republic, Myanmar/Burma, Estonia and Latvia. Gender discrimination is another crucial factor in statelessness. Gender discrimination in nationality means that a woman can lose her right to citizenship by virtue of marriage because she has to denounce her nationality when she gets married. And Women often cannot pass on their citizenship to their children.The full presentation done by Ada Williams Prince, Women's Refugee Commission - http://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/ To the NY NGO Committee on Migration, the NGO Committee on the Status of Women and the NGO Committee on the Family. Is available by following this link:
http://www.wunrn.com/news/2009/12_09/12_28_09/122809_gender.htm

RESOURCES

International Trade and Labour Markets
The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC-ILO)
A COURSE on "International Trade and Labour Markets: Analytical Concepts, Techniques and Policy Interpretations", the face-to-face phase taking place at the ITC-ILO Campus in Turin, Italy, on 3-7 May 2010 http://www.itcilo.org