Syria’s Women Face Violence, ‘Survival Sex’ Abroad

Original Source:http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/07/24/syria-s-female-refugees-turn-to-prostitution-forced-marriages-to-survive.html

They have escaped one war only to find themselves as casualties and combatants in another—a conflict waged against them less publicly and not with bullets or missiles. The weapons employed are sexual harassment and abuse, domestic violence, and the exploitation by the unscrupulous of economic distress, forcing some to agree to prostitution, others to sell off teenage daughters as child brides.
For many Syrian women who have sought sanctuary in neighboring Lebanon from a civil war that has left an estimated 100,000 dead since the conflict started in March 2011, their refuge is laden with new menace and suffering—compounding their grief over the deaths of family or friends or their depression at the loss of homes. Even within their families there’s sometimes no safety, with jobless husbands frustrated with the stress and indignity of living as refugees lashing out, beating wives and hitting kids.
Maryam, a 31-year-old mother of five from Damascus, says she’s afraid the whole time and living in fear in Lebanon. She says there’s no safety for her. Outside the three-room apartment that she and her husband and children share with another six relatives there’s virtual nonstop sexual harassment, she says—from mild forms of uninvited verbal flirtation to groping and forceful demands for sexual favors by storeowners or officials. And even male aid workers aren’t beyond wanting to trade sex for help.
A divorced relative, a mother of two kids, experienced that recently, says Maryam. “One of the men at an NGO told her that if you accept to sleep with me, if we can have a sexual relations, every time I have any kind of access to assistance, it will be yours. It will have your name on it.”
Inside the overcrowded apartment there’s little relief either. As she talked, Maryam frequently wrung her hands. “My relationship with me and my husband has changed a lot since we arrived in Lebanon. Because of all of this stress and fearful situations we are living in. My husband never used to hit any of the children now he’ll hit them, he’ll scream at me, shout at me,” she said during an interview at a community center that The Daily Beast was asked not to identify, to protect the identities of the women seeking help there.
Over three quarters of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon are women and children, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and they make up a population that is highly vulnerable to exploitation and becoming more so as the refugee influx into Lebanon increases, straining the resources of the international and Lebanese aid community. Just over 600,000 refugees have registered with the U.N., but the Lebanese government estimates there are more than a million Syrian refugees now—a 25 percent growth in Lebanon’s population. Another million are predicted by year’s end.
Sixteen-year-old Ishtar is one of the casualties in what many social workers see as a war on women. She fled the Syrian town of Homs along with her mother and older sister last December after the death of her car-mechanic father, who was killed in an airstrike. She and her sister have been begging in the upscale Beirut districts of Hamra and Verdun to supplement what charity they scratch together from NGOs. In the last few weeks both have succumbed to the aggressive sexual harassment they encounter daily on the streets and in desperation for cash engaged in what aid workers describe as survival sex.
Ishtar, a frail thing, made further waif-like in her black hijab and jilbab, says most of the men have treated her roughly in hurried encounters in cars, abandoned buildings or in wastelands surrounding the city. Most men don’t use a condom and she confides she averages about half-a-dozen men a week. They pay her about $20 or $30. (Social workers say prices are even lower outside Beirut and in parts of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley women are selling themselves for as little as $7.)
“They treat me like an animal,” she says through a Lebanese translator. “But then that is what I have become.” She flashes through different emotions—defiance, anger, and shame—as she justifies, as much to herself as to me, what she’s doing.
“There is a big problem of prostitution,” says Rima ZaaZaa of the Lebanese NGO Tadamun wa Tanmia (Solidarity and Development), who’s helping abused women. “There are certain group shelters that are known for prostitution. It is a final resort for some women. You have to look at it from the human side—I am not justifying it, but when the people are lacking the minimum standards of living what are they meant to do?”

“Reported cases of child-bride marriages, prostitution, sexual abuse, and gender-based violence are the tip of a large iceberg. We are seeing every kind of case.”

Syrian women have become prey, says Maryam: “A Lebanese neighbor told me, ‘You Syrian women and girls are tempting the men here in Lebanon and you are making these temptations and seductions for them.’ I told her that the men are approaching us. They are making use of the crisis and the bad conditions we are living in.”
That is why Ala, a 26-year-old mother of three small children, says she prefers to avoid mingling. “I try to keep myself separate, to stay in the apartment as much as possible and not to mingle. It makes me feel safer.” Although like Maryam there are dangers at home too; her husband also has become aggressive with her. “I can say our lives have changed a lot.”
Could she persuade him to go to counseling, if there were opportunities available? She laughs wryly. “I wouldn’t dare to do this, even if I want to, I wouldn’t dare. He would say, ‘I am the man. I know what is right and what is wrong.”
The dangers faced by Syrian refugee women and children in Jordan—from rape, and kidnapping to forced prostitution to sham marriages of underage girls to wealthy Gulf Arabs—have been well documented by the international media. In Jordan most refugees are housed in large camps—115,000 alone at the Zaatari camp, making it Jordan’s fifth-largest city—and digging out the abuse that women and young girls are enduring is in some ways easier, since it is more visible.
In Lebanon the government has refused to allow the building of camps. Refugees are scattered throughout the country—the biggest concentrations are in the Bekaa Valley and northern Lebanon—living where they can in shabby rental accommodation, makeshift shelters, and abandoned and incomplete buildings often without doors, windows and with no privacy. They pay exorbitant rents for over-crowded shelter. Some live with Lebanese relatives, but only a small proportion.
Widespread dispersal along with a shortage of funds and staff makes it harder for aid agencies and social-welfare NGOs to monitor what’s happening to refugee women, to detect abuse and to offer solutions except to a lucky few, according to Emmanuelle Compingt of the UNHCR, who is overseeing a coordination effort between the U.N. agency and 22 partner NGOs on sexual and gender-based violence. “I think reported cases of child-bride marriages, prostitution, sexual abuse, and gender-based violence are the tip of a large iceberg,” she says. “We are seeing every kind of case.”
While confirmed statistics are in short supply, anecdotal data isn’t. All the NGOs are reporting rising trends when it comes to the marrying-off of young girls, survival sex, rapes and sexual abuse and violence toward women within families by husbands or other male relatives. There are about 50 community centers and 20 safe-space facilities catering for women around the country and all are dealing with more cases than they can handle.
Naysayers about claims of widespread abuse of Syrian refugee women dismiss reports of rising prostitution, for example, or widespread sexual harassment as over-egged, claiming there are isolated cases. Raise the subject of prostitution or survival sex with the authorities and they immediately talk about the trafficking of women, saying there’s little evidence of extensive trafficking, pointing to figures from the Internal Security Forces showing there were 27 trafficked women in 2011 with exactly the same number reported last year.
The UNHCR’s Compingt thinks they are missing the point and that forced prostitution doesn’t necessarily mean women are being trafficked—rather, she says they are being forced by their desperate circumstances to resort to selling their bodies, and men are happy to exploit their plight. “The women may be on one level willing but it is a forced willingness. They are being exploited for everything—when trying to get jobs or accommodation or extra food for their families.”
They are unlikely to go to the ISF to lodge a complaint, says Compingt. “They are afraid to, ashamed.”
Most Syrian refugees remain tight-lipped about the problems they are facing—whether harassment from mainly Lebanese men or the violence or sexual abuse their husbands or male relatives may mete out to them. Conservative and traditional, they fear the taint or they worry about the Lebanese using it to heap ignominy on Syrians and to blame them.
“They are not accustomed to coming forward,” says women’s center director Rima ZaaZaa. “Of course it isn’t just Syrian women. We Arab women are not being raised to look out for ourselves. All the time we are raised to be submissive.” She says sometimes she gets depressed about the scale of the problems she perceives. But then she remembers what she is trying to achieve: “to provide the opportunities for women to think about themselves as human beings, who have needs, who have desires and who have rights that should be fulfilled.”

Women Refugees: The facts and statistics

Original Source:http://www.ivillage.co.uk/women-refugees-the-facts-and-statistics/80018

The following facts, supplied by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, illustrate the startling truth about the suffering of women
There are approximately 50 million uprooted people around the world - refugees who have sought safety in another country and people displaced within their own country. Between 75-80 per cent of them are women and children.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees cares for 21.8 million of these people. Around half of them are women and girls.
The majority of people flee their homes because of war and the proportion of war victims who are civilians leaped in recent decades from five per cent to over 90 per cent of casualties. Eighty per cent of casualties by small arms are women and children, who far outnumber military casualties.
Domestic violence is the most widespread form of abuse against women, with between one quarter and one half of women having been abused by a partner. Only 44 countries specifically protect women against domestic violence.

 
Females are subjected to widespread sexual abuse. In Bosnia and Rwanda rape became a deliberate aim of war. More than 20,000 Muslim women were raped in Bosnia in a single year, 1992, and a great majority of the female survivors of Rwanda's 1994 genocide were assaulted.
One in five women worldwide are victims of rape, many by known attackers. Between 40-60 per cent of sexual assaults are committed against girls younger than 16.
More than 300,000 youngsters, many of them female refugees, are currently serving as child soldiers around the world. The girls are often forced into different forms of sexual slavery.
More than 16.4 million women today have HIV/AIDS and in the last few years the percentage of women infected has risen from 41 to 47 per cent of the affected population. In sub-Saharan Africa, teenage girls are five times more likely to be infected than boys.
The introduction of sex education and safety procedures can have dramatic results. In Uganda, the rates of sexual infection among educated women dropped by more than half between 1995 and 1997.
The majority of trafficked people are women, especially those bound for the world's sex industries. Females are particularly vulnerable to trafficking because many have little individual security, economic opportunity or property or land ownership. Many victims are kidnapped or sold into slavery by their own families.
An estimated 45,000 households in Rwanda are headed by children; 90 per cent of them girls.
An estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide, 70 per cent of them women, live in absolute poverty on less than $1 a day.

Refugee Women need sexual healthcare too

Original Source:http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/may/30/refugee-women-sexual-healthcare-lakshmi-puri

Lakshmi Puri, acting head of UN Women, says the organisation needs more funding if it is to build on its progress over the past two years. Photograph: Claudine Spera

Women and girls who have been displaced by conflict or disaster need to be offered the same sexual and reproductive healthcare available in other settings, the acting head of UN Women said on Wednesday.
Lakshmi Puri, who assumed temporary leadership of the organisation following the resignation of Michelle Bachelet in March, said women's right to access healthcare needed to be upheld "in all circumstances, in all settings, including for refugee[s]".
Family planning has been one of the three key themes of the Women Deliver conference in Kuala Lumpur this week. Speakers have repeatedly highlighted the need for affordable, reliable, accessible services to satisfy the unmet need of more than 200 million women and girls in developing countries. But there has been little or no mention of ensuring family planning reaches women and girls in difficult settings, such as those in camps for refugees or internally displaced people (video).
According to the UN, at the beginning of 2012, more than 15 million people were registered as refugees globally. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said the number of people internally displaced by conflict, war or human rights abuses reached a record-high 28.8 million last year. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says refugees' demands for contraception should be met as soon as possible.
But a study of refugee camps in Djibouti, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia and Uganda – conducted in 2011 by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the Women's Refugee Commission – found the use of contraceptives in camps was lower than in surrounding settlements. The report said more information about family planning should be made available to women in camps and called for a wider range of contraceptives to be offered.
An initiative expected to be launched on Thursday by the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the UNFPA could boost family planning services among refugees and other hard-to-reach communities.
"You need to have accessible, affordable, sustainable, quality … sexual and reproductive health service delivery and this applies to women in refugee situations," Puri told the Guardian. "All three aspects of sexual and reproductive health-related services need to be provided – contraception, [the] maternal health aspect, and for sexually transmitted infections."
Women and girls can spend years in refugee camps. Access to family planning could reduce the need for other services. "In a refugee context, I think you need it to control the demand side," she said.
Family planning services are as much a priority provision in a refugee camp as any other services. "It's a human entitlement," she said.
Looking ahead to development after 2015, when the millennium development goals expire, Puri says UN Women has put forward a "prototype" of what should be included in a standalone gender equality goal – which she says "cannot but be there" in any new set of targets. Among the nine indicators included in a gender quality goal is one referencing the protection of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights, which would specifically include access to family planning services. Other indicators include prevention and protection against violence, reducing maternal mortality rates, and participation in all levels of decision-making.
A test of whether gender equality is considered a priority among the international community will be the publication on Friday of the UN high-level panel report, which is expected to contain illustrative goals that member states will either build on or reject over the coming 18 months.
"We've had MDG three and MDG five, which are off track, and effectively every other goals is a gender goal in some way. We have to carry all that forward into the new generation of development goals," says Puri.
The ability of UN Women to do its job to the full and drive progress on these issues is, she adds, affected by funding. UN Women was established two years ago as the world plunged deeper into economic crisis and donors began to shy away from committing funds to overseas development.
From the start, the agency has struggled for cash and has had to prove itself worthy of any money it has received. "We have been a child of hard times," says Puri.

Democratic Republic of Congo's Women hold key to lasting Peace

Original Source:http://allafrica.com/stories/201308210915.html


Women have suffered most as a result of conflict in DRC and the Great Lakes region - their voices must be heard
Not a week goes by without reports of fresh fighting in the eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Violence and destruction have ravaged the Great Lakes region of Africa for two decades, claiming more than 5 million lives. Yet the situation rarely makes the headlines.
What strikes me is the lack of outrage and horror, particularly given the disproportionate impact the conflict is having on women and children. As I asked the UN security council last month, how can we accept a situation where rape and sexual violence - which, let us be clear, are war crimes - have become the norm?
When Ban Ki-moon asked me to become his special envoy for the Great Lakes in March, I felt a particular responsibility to the mothers, daughters and grandmothers who - since my first visit to the region, as president of Ireland in 1994 - have shared with me what they have suffered in Bujumbura, Bukavu, Goma, Kigali or Kinshasa.
In 20 years of killings, rape, destruction and displacement, these women have suffered most. Yet I believe they are the region's best hope for building lasting peace. My job now, and the job of the international community, is to support them in every way we can.
Women's voices should not only be heard because they are the victims of the war. Their active participation in peace efforts is essential, because they are the most effective peace builders. As men take up arms, women hold communities together in times of war. This makes them stronger and better equipped to play a key role in securing real peace, as we have seen in Northern Ireland, Liberia and elsewhere.
My approach to peace-building involves not just political leaders, but all of civil society, including women. Without their full support and participation, no peace agreement can succeed. How many secret deals have been negotiated in the Great Lakes region, only to be ignored or forgotten by the signatories for lack of transparency and accountability?
I believe the peace, security and co-operation framework for the DRC and the region, signed in Addis Ababa in February 2013 by 11 African countries, provides an opportunity to do things differently. That is why I have called it a framework of hope. I have started to work on its implementation top-down, with the 11 heads of state who signed the agreement, and bottom-up, with the people of the region who will be its real beneficiaries.
As the first woman to be appointed UN special envoy, I have promised to ensure that women's voices are heard at the negotiating table. Last month, with Femmes Africa Solidarité and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, we brought together more than 100 women from across the region - including the gender ministers of the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi - in Bujumbura. One upshot of the meeting has been to ensure the consequences of sexual violence are included in the benchmarks we are developing to measure progress in the implementation of the peace agreement.
I feel energised by the leadership shown by the women I met in Bujumbura.
They are taking full responsibility for peace, security and development in the region. Reaching across national borders, they are innovative, collegial and practical. I rely on them to hold their leaders to account for the full implementation of the framework of hope.
As special envoy, I will continue to support female-led initiatives. I am pleased the World Bank has allocated $150m (£98m) to finance gender-based projects, in addition to the $1bn already pledged for the region. I encourage the donor community to be even more strategic in its support of the framework of hope. It is crucial to demonstrate the economic benefits of a lasting peace based on development - what I call the peace dividend.
Almost six months after the signing of the peace agreement, armed groups are still roaming in eastern Congo, sowing terror and destruction. This is not acceptable. I have heard the region's people voice their frustration and anger at the slow pace of change. However, I am confident that, with the support of civil society - including women - we can succeed in bringing peace to the region.
I have often heard my friend Desmond Tutu, a fellow member of the Elders, say: "I am not an optimist, I am a prisoner of hope." The women of the Great Lakes are keeping my hope alive.

Women without men vulnerable in South Sudan Refugee Camps

orginal source:http://www.irinnews.org/report/97260/women-without-men-vulnerable-in-south-sudan-apos-s-refugee-camps

Researcher- Avantiika Lal

Photo: Hannah McNeish/IRIN

Many women moved to the camps without their husbands (file photo)

MABAN, 16 January 2013 (IRIN) - Mahasa* sits in the dust outside the hut she built herself, holding her youngest son in her arms.

The 29-year-old mother of four knows how vulnerable she is. "I'm scared," she said.

Mahasa is one of many women who have fled, unaccompanied by their husbands, to Maban County in South Sudan's Upper Nile State, escaping the fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile State between government forces and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North. Mahasa’s husband is still in Blue Nile, fighting alongside the rebels.

She now lives in Doro camp, which houses more than 44,000 refugees. There, she - like other female refugees - faces daily threats of harassment, exploitation and violence, and the persistent fear that, as a woman, she will be unable to provide for her family.

Harassment

The fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, which started in June 2011, has so far displaced more than 112,000 civilians to South Sudan. Humanitarians say they were "overwhelmed" during the rainy season in the second half of 2012, as tens of thousands of refugees, most of them women and children, came pouring across the border from Blue Nile State. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners scrambled to meet the basic needs of the new arrivals, who initially slept under trees and survived on fruit and stagnant groundwater.

Now, six months later, fighting continues across the border, but the rate of arrivals has eased and aid agencies are transitioning from emergency response mode to meeting the longer-term needs of the refugee population.

More than 80 percent of the refugees are women and children, says Myrat Muradov, a protection officer with UNHCR. The agency has begun to look at the particular vulnerabilities of this group, many of whom are completely dependent on food rations.

"Widows and pregnant women need much help," he said.

Because the camps are spread out across large areas, women often have to walk very long distances to reach food distributions points, and then they must carry the heavy ration bags back with them.
Mahasa, for example, walks half an hour in each direction to collect the food she needs to feed her children.

Aid workers say that on these collection journeys, single women and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, sometimes being forced to part with a portion of their ration in exchange for assistance transporting it.

However, this is not the crime Mahasa fears most. One of the most difficult things she and other women must do is collect firewood from the bush surrounding the camp; not only is it hard work, it is also "dangerous," she says, because members of the host community often approach and harass female refugees.

"They hit us," Mahasa says. “They also take the axe from us."

Tensions between the refugees and the host community have been mounting, largely over increasingly limited resources.

Maple*, an older woman in the camp, and Talitha*, her adult daughter, express similar fears, reporting that both men and women from the host community have hit them with sticks and chased them away as they tried to collect firewood.

"The only way to get the firewood is to hide yourself in order to protect yourself from the host community," Maple said.

Sexual violence

The issue is of growing concern for protection officers working in the four refugees camps of Maban County. Firewood collection "exposes women to humungous risks in terms of sexual violence," one officer working in the camps told IRIN.

Photo: Hannah McNeish/IRIN

Women walk long distances for food and water for their children

A Human Rights Watch report, released on 12 Dec 2012, documented instances of such sexual violence and pointing out that in Jamam camp - also in Upper Nile State - women regularly walk for an hour and a half each way to collect firewood.

The Danish Refugee Council released a sexual and gender-based violence rapid assessment of Doro in October 2012. "Adult women and adolescent girls recounted cases of rape, attempted rape, sexual abuse and harassment," the assessment states. It also found that many instances of sexual and gender-based violence went unreported due to fears of stigmatization. Indeed, the assessment noted that healthcare providers in Doro camp had not had a single instance of rape reported to them since the beginning of 2012.

Support programmes launched

In an attempt to overcome the taboo against speaking about sexual violence, UNHCR has deployed a team to Doro for three months; its mission, Muradov says, is to disseminate information about the availability of post-rape care and get referrals to health services going.

The agency aims to establish a sexual and gender-based violence programme with focus groups to encourage women to talk more openly. However, the lack of female interpreters is a major barrier to this project, so, alongside income-generation projects, language training for women has been made a priority for 2013.

"It's a large part of the strategy moving into a more sustainable operation," Muradov said.

UNHCR has also launched "fuel efficiency talks", which provide training for women across all four Upper Nile camps - Doro, Gendrassa, Jamam and Yusuf Batil - on how to reduce the amount of firewood they use by up to 50 percent. Reducing the quantity of firewood used would alleviating some of the tension with the host community and decreasing the number of firewood collection trips the women have to make, lowering their exposure to potential violence

Meanwhile, UNHCR's Muradov says the American Refugee Council is focusing on psychosocial counselling, while Handicap International is looking at people with special needs. Other humanitarian agencies say they are in the initial phases of establishing income-generating projects for women, aimed at fostering economic independence for female-headed households to protect them from exploitation.

For now though, Mahasa remains worried. "Without a husband, I may not be able to provide for the children," she said.

*Family names withheld

Kishtwar: What lies beneath Communal Violence

Source: http://www.claws.in/Kishtwar-Riots-What-lies-beneath-Communal-Violence-Pratibha-Singh.html

Peace in Jammu and Kashmir is fragile and a small incident could well turn into a major conflagration. The violence that suddenly erupted in Kishtwar during Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations on 9 August and soon took communal overtones is testimony to the brittle nature of peace that prevails in these areas. The violence unleashed in Kishtwar soon spilled over to the neighbouring districts of Udhampur, Samba, Kathua, Reasi, Rajourie and Doda. Curfew imposed in Kishtwar following the violence continued for 12 days, until lifted on 21 August 2013.

What caused the violence? As per local media reports, a group of villagers from Hullar, raising anti-India slogans, were going to the Eidgah to join Eid parayers at the Chowgan ground. This group got into an altercation with a few youth from the other community at Kuleed. At this time, some police personnel, said to be Personnel Security Officers (PSOs) of a local leader, opened fire in air. They were allegedly joined by some Village Defence Committee (VDC) members, who opened fire from their houses. The government version of the events stated, “Some anti-social elements picked up a fight in Kishtwar which turned violent and caused further disturbance to the large gathering on the occasion of Eid festival. As a result of rumour mongering the incident spread to other parts of the city where anti-social elements looted shops and indulged in arson”[1]. The tensions were also heightened if not entirely induced by the killing of five Indian soldiers in cross LoC firing.

Though incidents of violence continue to occur sporadically, it must not be forgotten that Jammu and Kashmir has a rich history of peaceful coexistence between diverse religious communities and ethnic groups. There is no historical basis for animosity between different sections of society, which therefore lends credence to the view that violence is more often than not provoked. To that extent, the threat lies within. Two causative factors merit consideration. First, there are vested political interests who want to perpetuate the tension and chaos in the region. Second, the peace process in J&K cannot be achieved without addressing the intrastate dimensions of the conflict. Jammu and Ladakh do not necessarily identify with the Kashmir nationalism. The latter has its roots in the Praja Parishad Agitation of 1953, which exemplifies the intra state differences that exist within J&K and are often used as a tool by politicians to divide people on communal lines.

Sheikh Abdullah, when elected as the leader of the State Assembly in 1951 launched the ‘New Kashmir Manifesto’, which advocated agrarian reforms, women’s empowerment and employment. This found resonance amongst the progressive elements of Kashmir. However, his unwillingness to ratify the Delhi agreement of 1951 caused unease in the Centre about the regime it had set up in Srinagar. Though the National Conference made secular claims, its policies aimed to secure Muslim votes in the valley of Kashmir. This struck a negative chord amongst the majority Hindu population in Jammu that found itself at the receiving end of these policies as well as an unfamiliar repression. Thereafter, the Hindu majority joined the violent agitation launched by local Praja Parishad Party and the newly formed Jan Sangh (presided over by Dr. Shyam Prasad Mookerjee) against Sheikh Abdullah. They campaigned for revoking the special status accorded to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and demanded its total accession to India. The slogan, “Ek Desh mein do Nishan, Ek Desh mein do Vidhan, Ek Desh mein do Pradhan - Nahin Chalenge, Nahin Chalenge”[2] echoed in the Jammu region.

Ram Chandra Guha, in his book “India after Gandhi” mentioned that, “The popular movement led by Dr. Mukherjee planted the seed of independence in Sheikh Abdullah’s mind; the outcry following his death only seems to have nurtured it”. Abdullah assumed that he could seek American help to carve out an independent nation of Kashmir, something like the “Switzerland of the East”. The unfortunate death of Dr. Shyam Prasad Mukherjee sparked an anti Nehru (who for a long time was indifferent to the chaos in the state)[3] and most importantly an anti Abdullah sentiment across Jammu. Consequently, in 1953 Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed replaced Sheikh Abdullah as the Prime Minister of J&K. He adopted a constitution without any reference to referendum and pushed forward the integration of J&K within India. This incident sowed seeds of factionalism between the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the effect of which exists till date.

Amarnath Land Row of 2008

In 2008, the Centre and the State Government in Jammu and Kashmir agreed upon a land transfer of 99 acres to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to construct shelters for Hindu pilgrims in the Kashmir Valley. This sparked a strong reaction in the Kashmir Valley forcing revocation of the proposal. Consequently, protests erupted in Jammu where Hindus and Muslims joined hands against the appeasement of Kashmiris and the fear of political marginalisation. The incident acquired a political tone when fresh elections were declared to be held in J&K later in the year with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad , Bajrang Dal and Bhartiya Janta Party joining the agitation. The agitation fetched votes for BJP, which increased its seat share to 11 from the earlier eight seats held in Jammu. The National Conference and Congress won the election and came to power.

Mehbooba Mufti (President-PDP) while representing the perspective of people in Kashmir said, “People have seen that New Delhi succumbs to communal forces and passes unilateral orders in Kashmir. Kashmiris feel totally alienated and think the Government in Delhi is ready to bend backwards to satisfy the communal forces.” The regional tensions have continued ever since and have made the Kashmir problem intractable.

To give a communal colour to the Kishtwar violence would be a blunder as this area has historically been free from communal violence. However, its proximity to Kashmir is what makes it a “fertile ground” for Kashmiri separatists and their rivals to widen the communal divide. Kishtwar  has a Muslim to Hindu population of 60:40[4] where both the communities have been known to have lived peacefully before the advent of militancy and Village Defence Committees[5]  in the area. Kashmiri nationalism has made no inroads into Jammu and Ladakh. While Kashmiris state that they are being given step motherly treatment by the Centre, people in Jammu and Ladakh feel that they are given a step motherly treatment because the Kashmiris dominate the socio-political set up of the state. Muslims in Jammu and Ladakh area also do not identify with the political aspirations of Kashmiris.[6]

In addition, the national and local media is often instrumental in widening the gulf and fanning tension between the two communities. During the Kishtwar riots, people also engaged in a virtual war over social media websites and this too contributed to the spread of violence. The social media is a powerful tool today and efforts need to be made to spread truth and stop rumour mongering through this all-pervasive means of information sharing.

The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is volatile and politicians often play the communal card in an attempt to divert the attention from the mal-administration that has plagued the region for several years. The developmental issues are hardly addressed. Kishtwar has a literacy rate of seventy percent but is still counted amongst the most under developed districts in the region. It makes news only for the wrong reasons .Villages near the LoC region are seldom highlighted in the media except for ceasefire violation or a war like situation. Mohar Ban, a village near Poonch district comprising of three hundred and fifty destitute is enveloped in darkness during the night. The State had received Rs eight hundred and twenty crore under  Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyuktikaran Yojana  through which thirty lakh houses had to be illuminated. After spending sixty percent of the amount, only twenty nine thousand seven hundred and forty two villages have received electricity. Several villages share the same story as Mohar Ban.

The health infrastructure in the region also represents a dismal picture. Given the absence of opportunities to support themselves and several years of political turmoil a new trend is emerging in Kashmir where young, educated and disillusioned people from the Valley are being drawn towards militancy.“We are not scared of death, we are just scared of detention of our families”, said Shakeel Ahmed , a 24 year old pharmaceutical representative, before returning to throw stones at the police. “The level of militancy is low now, but it will rise, God willing”.[7] This phenomenon signals towards a lurking shadow of militancy beneath the declining trend in insurgency in the past few years

Elections are scheduled in the State in 2014. In their, urge to gain power, some political parties might go to any extent to sow seeds of violence and communalism in the fragile State. However, one can only hope that good sense will prevail in the region and welfare of the common man would be given top most priority. Few recommendations that merit consideration are as under: -

• Intra State difference is the core issue, which often stalls the peace process in J&K. A dialogue amongst all the factions including the Central and the State Government is not only necessary but also vital.
• National and local media should be instrumental in providing an analytical and unbiased overview of such events in future, especially the ones potent of creating communal rifts.
• Education, employment, health and other development concerns should be given the top most priority. These channels have the potential to mitigate conflict.

References:

-Burke Jason, “Kashmir Conflict ebbs as a new wave of militant emerges”, The Guardian, August 2013

-Guha Ramchandra , “ A Fateful Arrest”, The Hindu, August 2008

-Iqbal Fida, “Election 2014”, Greater Kashmir, May 2013

-Wani Riyaz, “What Pushed Kishtwar over the Edge”, Tehelka, August 2013

-Kandhari Mohit, “Kishtwar Mob Turns Riot”,The Pioneer, August 2013

-Puri Balraj, “The RSS Sabotage”,The Hindu, July 2001

-Puri Luv, “Gujjar Muslims flay remarks of separatists”, The Hindu, August 2008

-Kashmir, Editorial, The Economic Weekly,Vol VI-No 7,February 1954

-Swarup Bhagwat, “Abdullah imprisoned those, who advocated integration”,an interviewhttp://www.drsyamaprasadmookerjee.com/contemporary-study-in-english/abdullah-imprisoned-those/abdullah-imprisoned-those.pdf

-Jameel Yusuf, “Surviving in the Dark ages”,Kashmir Times, August 2013

-Wani Danish, “Sheikh Abdullah and the World’s Largest Democracy: The First Betrayal”,India resists, February 2013

-Amarnath Agitation http://dogra123.webs.com/amarnathagitation.htm

-Government should have anticipated Kishtwar Violence: Ellora Puri, Business Standard, August 2013

-Mattoo Amitabh, “Masked Men of Kishtwar”,The Indian Express, August 2013

-Chibber Manish, Sharma Arun, “Beneath the communal violence in Kishwar lies politics and creeping shadow of militancy”,The Indian Express, August 2013

-Mishra Abhinanadan,Noor-Ul-Qamran, & Das Purba, “Village Defence Committes will be probed in Kishtwar”, The Sunday Guardian, August 2013

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[1] Maneesh Chhibber and Arun Sharma,  ‘Beneath the communal violence in Kishtwar lies politics and creeping shadow of militancy’, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/beneath-the-communal-violence-in-kishtwar-lies-politics-and-creeping-shadow-of-militancy/1156545/

[2] The English translation is ‘Two flags, Two Constitutions and Two Presidents shall not be permitted in a single country’.

[3] Writing to his friend and colleague C. Rajagopalachari on the last day of July, 1953, Jawaharlal Nehru observed that “the internal situation in Kashmir’ was “progressively deteriorating”. This was caused, in the first instance, “by the wholly misconceived Praja Parishad and Jan Sangh agitation, which produced strong reactions in the Kashmir valley”. This was bad enough; worse still was the fact that Sheikh Abdullah, while retaining his position as Prime Minister of the State, had begun “functioning as the leader of the opposition”.http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/03/stories/2008080350130300.htm

[4] Sectarian politics fuelled Kishtwar riots http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sectarian-politics-fuelled-kishtwar-riot/article5016380.ece?homepage=true

[5] Village Defence Committees will be probed in Kishtwar  http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/village-defence-committees-will-be-probed-in-kishtwar

[6] Haji Mohammed Qasim who had led the first organised civilian revolt against militants in Poonch district said, “We are touring various parts and trying to spread our message of secularism. Ethnically and linguistically we are closer to our Hindu brothers of Jammu. We cannot shun these ties and this is the message we have. We do not accept this argument that we want to separate from Jammu Hindus. This is a relationship of centuries and this cannot be severed

http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/08/stories/2008080861641100.htm

[7] Kashmir Conflict ebbs as a new wave of militant emergeshttp://www.theguardian.com/w

Syrian Women Refugees stitch together trust and hope

Original Source : http://community.feministing.com/2013/04/17/syrian-women-refugees-stitch-together-trust-and-hope/

Researcher: Avantika Lal

The sound of women laughing and making jokes are all one can hear standing outside the Tailoring Workshop container at the Women and Girls Oasis in Zaatari refugee camp located in the Jordanian Governorate of Mafraq, close to the Syrian border.
It is estimated that more than 70,000 people have been killed and more than three million displaced both within and outside of Syria since the uprising against President al-Assad began in March 2011.[i] This week, the heads of five United Nations agencies called on political leaders to meet their responsibility to the people of Syria and to the future of the region.[ii] According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 432,263 Syrian refugees had fled to Jordan as of 15 April.[iii] Half of them are now living at the Zaatari camp.[iv]
The Tailoring workshop takes place in an open area of the camp surrounded by nine large white port containers where women take part in various stages of clothing production. Opening the door of one of the containers, one enters a brightly lit space where some smiling women sit behind eight sewing machines working on colourful fabrics. There are four rows of sewing machines, two in each row. The remaining empty space is occupied by other women waiting for their turn to get behind the sewing machines and finish the pieces they are working on.



“My husband is an injured military defector. He cannot work so I took it upon myself to help provide for him and my three kids. By mere chance, a woman told me about UN Women’s oasis and the tailoring workshop and here I am. It is the best thing that ever happened to me since we fled Syria three months ago,” says Fatima, beaming while Hajar nods her head in agreement.
At the Syrian refugee camp of Zaatari, UN Women Jordan is supporting the establishment of a “safe space” named “Women and Girls Oasis.” The “cash for work” programme enables Syrian women refugees who are professional tailors and hairdressers to work six hours a day in the workshops and earn a living. The tailors sew newborn outfits for babies that are delivered at the hospitals operating within the camp.
Hajar, another participant, opens up and speaks with incredible candor about the hardships she has faced: “I have been through a lot and did not expect my life to turn out the way it did. I fled Syria with my five children because I received threats on my son’s life. I left everything behind, my house, my husband and all my belongings and embarked on a trip to the unknown. I reached the camp already depressed with very few words to exchange with others. At some point, my words got stifled by sadness, the smile left my face and tears became a permanent companion.”
However, Hajar says her grief started to gradually dissipate after learning about the Tailoring Workshop. As a professional tailor, she became involved, in the activities taking place in the Oasis, along with some 300 women and teenage girls. They do tailoring, hairdressing, drawing, English classes, mosaic and handcrafts as well as learning gymnastics.
The impact of the Oasis goes far beyond a mere source of income for these women. The growing bonds and trust formed with the Oasis’ staff and other women have encouraged many to speak out about taboo subjects such as gender-based violence in the private sphere. They exchange stories, and no longer shy away from sharing their experiences about psychological and emotional violence they face in their homes.
The Oasis has allowed refugee women to take advantage of this safe haven and experience a different and unexpected role in the camp’s social life, as well as within their own family structure. They have become the breadwinners and their contribution to their households is well recognized by their husbands, as Fatima indicates. The Oasis is considered an intervention that has brought smiles back to the faces of Fatima and Hajar.
“We have hope now! We feel safe, and are looking forward to the day when we go back to a peaceful and stable Syria,” Hajar concludes.

Italy: Failing Economy pushes young women into global webcam sex industry

Original Source:



(WNN) Rome, ITALY, WESTERN EUROPE: In Italy prostitution is not illegal. What is outlawed is the exploitation of prostitution. Many sex workers on the street deal with pimps and the harshness in the physical realities of the industry. Women working as virtual prostitutes though have a different and invisible enemy to fight: the economic crises in Italy.
Desperate Italian women, faced with unemployment and rising costs of living, on the backs of government austerity measures, are now turning to ‘virtual sex’ work to fight the Italian credit crunch. In an exclusive investigative undercover report WNN – Women News Network discovered the harrowing stories and struggling lives that outline how normal existence can change into a shame-filled life in only one day.
While Italy is facing economic recession and austerity measures, numerous people have cut back on spending as they begin to wonder where their next meal is coming from. Increasing numbers of women have turned to lives as webcam girls (also known as webgirls or camgirls) as a last resort to support themselves and their families.
Recent figures from the popular Italian magazine, Pianeta Donna, (Woman Planet), show a sharp increase in the number of women currently working inside the sex-industries in Italy. While exact figures are hard to access the number of cyberporn sex-workers appears to be rising.

Cyberporn is defined as: all pornography that can be accessed online via the internet. Webcam cyberporn is the part of the online pornography industry that is usually delivered live person-to-person. Generally one person is the ‘viewer’ and the other person is the ‘performer’. Key to the element of degradation for camgirls is that those who perform sexually via webcam must also respond and follow every sexual whim and direction their viewer gives them.
‘The Internet has become a site for the global sexual exploitation of women,” outlines Donna M. Hughes in her acclaimed academic report ‘Men Create the Demand; Women Are the Supply’, published over a decade ago in November 2000. “In the past five years, sex industries have been the leaders in opening up the Internet for business,” continued Hughes. “The Internet is almost without regulation because its international reach has made local and national laws and standards either obsolete or unenforceable,” Hughes continued. “With new types of technology, pornographers have introduced new ways to exploit and abuse women. With the techniques of videoconferencing, live sex shows are broadcast in which men dictate the performances of the women.”
Women face increasing humiliation at their time of  financial crisis
Investigating the issue of Italian unemployment and its true impact on women in the region, WNN used an undercover identity to reach out to numerous women working in the cybersex industry. In the investigations we interviewed 15 different Italian women, all who have drastically changed their personal lives to become webcamgirls in order to fight their own adverse living conditions. In the process we discovered a number of webgirls who shared with us dramatic stories that began as the economic crisis in Italy intensified, and also spread throughout Europe.
“It is hard to say, but if worse-comes-to-worse you must put yourself beyond your women’s dignity and find out a way to feed your kids.” This is the first statement made by a woman sex-worker who currently works for a popular Italian live-sex web portal. She is a 30-year-old single mother with two daughters using ‘Susanna’ as a her cover name.

“There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.” – Dennis Diderot

In a candid talk she told WNN she used to be an independent woman who had a well paid job as a chef in a posh restaurant in Pisa. But as soon as the economic crisis hit Italy she lost her job.
“Before the economic crisis the restaurant I worked for was always fully booked, especially on the week ends,” shared Susanna. “After 2008 customers became less and less, so I was fired,” she explained.
Trying her best to get another job no one was willing to pay Susanna even a minimum wage salary. Even when she told perspective employers she had two children to take care of no jobs became available.
“When I put my daughters to bed I usually tell them a fairy tail. It is hard to end up with a happy ending and then become a ‘virtual prostitute’ to assure them a house and food,” added Susanna. “I couldn’t find any other way to survive,” she continued. “…I hope one day to come back to my old life.”
Swimming through a spiraling financial crisis in Italy
As the close of 2011 fell on the European financial markets, “the center of the debt crisis shifted to Italy,” says an April 2013 comprehensive report from the Council on Foreign Relations.
Job loss for women often comes with increasing compromise and exclusion. But the difference in handling loss between men and women inside Italy may be a bit more obvious. What some Italians call the ‘sucker-punch’ for women in the down-spiraling economic climate has been driving them from every part of the country to jump into an online industry that makes their physical bodies available to men for a fee as women “just try to survive.”
“Women are generally the first to be dismissed, especially in times of crisis,” says the European Psychology Association. This may put them in the face of danger as a study inside the U.S. shows: that unemployed women are more likely to experience domestic abuse than employed women.
“The fear of job loss or being unable to successfully provide for one’s family is ever present,” outlined UNICEF – The United Nations Children’s Fund, in a 2005 report covering masculinity and gender-based-violence. “Meanwhile, the impact of unemployment can be devastating. Job loss can be emasculating, rendering men depressed, overwhelmed by feelings of worthlessness… …Men may consequently seek affirmation of their masculinity in other ways; for example, through irresponsible sexual behavior or domestic violence.”
In 2010, women represented 47.8 per cent of Italy’s labor force, a slightly larger share than at the start of the recession in 2008. Overall in that year 70 thousand women became unemployed or were looking for work, representing 50.2 percent of all women in Italy aged 16 and over, according to research issued by Istat – Italy National Institute of Statistics last March 2013.
But the burgeoning financial crisis for women living inside Italy’s economy and throughout Europe didn’t stop there.
In early 2012 with a focus on ‘cautious growth’, the new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti began to push policies that included billions in tax increases, along with spending cuts in the region, as pressures on the ground for Italians increased to the boiling point and Italy’s government reeled from mounting fiscal challenges.
Struggling in life to survive
At 22-years-of-age Cristina was forced to get a job as a ‘sexy web girl’ whether she wanted to or not. Only one year ago she was a student at the prestigious Bocconi Universty – School of Economics in Milan. As the only daughter of a rich building contractor her father had given her a house in the center of Milan with money to live on and a comfortable life.
When the global credit crunch in Italy affected the the home building field, especially as her father’s construction business fell to never before lows, Cristina decided to give up her university studies to look for a job. But the outcome was not what she expected.
“Nobody wanted to hire someone who had no experience at all, so to help my father’s business I decided to get this humiliating job,” said Cristina during her interview with WNN, as she explained why she became a camgirl.
In her interview she revealed she “deeply hated” the webcam work she felt she has been forced to do, but this was the only way she felt she could help her father pay back his debts.

Women suffering under exploitation, especially sexual exploitation, suffer under constant pressure as they are expected by their ‘employers’ to smile when they feel instead like crying, sobbing or screaming out because of their difficult experiences. Image: Tojciciva

“I cry every night,” outlined Cristina. “My parents don’t know who I’ve become. I’ve lied to them. I said I got a well paid job as an academic researcher,” she continued. “I feel so bad for what I am doing. But at least with my job I am able to help my Dad,” added Cristina.
Like Cristina, other students in Italy have been forced to quit their path of University studies under growing and deteriorating economic circumstances.
This is not the case with Ramona though, a 20-year-old who comes from a family with tight money constraints who live in Southern Italy. Ramona is still a student at La Sapienza, the well known Italian University based in Rome. Almost exactly one year ago she earned a full scholarship to go to school. Now she is eager to pursue a degree in Political Science.
Despite Italian government cuts drastically reducing Italy’s education funding for students in need, Ramona made the tough decision to carry on with her academic studies, whatever the cost.
“After four badly paid jobs, and sometimes not even getting paid at all, this was the only solution I found to make ends meet,” outlined Ramona describing her own reasons for jumping into a secret life as a webcam girl.
Susanna, Cristina and Ramona, along with the other 12 camgirls interviewed by WNN, have also conveyed they too feel like they are hiding a ‘life of shame’. But the trade-off with no job is not an option for any of them. The pay-offs keep the young women at their jobs.
The payment for Italian webcam girls is high compared to any other  jobs they can get. All of the 15 interviewees claimed a medium salary of 3,000 euros ($3,988 USD) or more per month. But the adequate money is definitely not always worth the degradation.
“It is true, I earn a lot of money. But money can’t give me back my dignity as a woman,” Ramona added.
55-year-old Mrs. Oria Gargano is president of the Be Free Cooperative Society, an Italian NGO based in Rome that focuses on women rights and women’s protection from violence. She is also an Italian representative for the European Women’s Lobby, a wide umbrella organization of women’s associations working within the European Union.  In a phone interview Gargano underlined how historically women in Italy have always been affected by economic crisis, since as far back as the Middle-ages.
The current credit crunch in Italy is following the trend, Gargano conveyed. “Economic impoverishment can reaffirm and harden gender inequities by increasing women’s financial dependence.”
Gargano also pointed out that in the ever-growing Italian sex market, it’s the male customers who are destroying their own lives, trapped inside the industry as cybersex addicts.
“I believe men who benefit from virtual sex tend to sharpen it [down] as a private vice, splitting their personality between [being] a family man and a man who can impose his sexual perverse desires on woman…using [the] internet,” continued Gargano.
In Italy 2011 unemployment for youth up to 25-years-of-age was tracked at an alarming figure: 29.1 percent. These figures indicate that those youth who have been thrown out of the labor market, especially young women, have little-to-no chance these days of pulling out of poverty when it hits in Italy.
A resolution passed and adopted with a final 23 to 1 vote in the European Parliament in January 2011, recognizes that “‘the feminization of poverty’ means that women have a higher incidence of poverty than men, that their poverty is more severe than that of men and that poverty among women is on the Increase.”
It’s obvious that being a camgirl inside Italy can come with a lucrative potential to put more than just a ‘meal-on-the-plate’ or pay the rent. But it also means that from the depths of this lucrative career an old saying resurfaces: ‘Women are driven to prostitution by economic misfortune’.

Speaking Truth to Power: Mothers of Plaza De Mayo

Original Source:http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/contemporary-07.html

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During the “Dirty War” in Argentina, waged from 1976 to 1983, the military government abducted, tortured, and killed left-wing militants, and anyone they claimed were “subversives,” including all political opponents of the regime. Many of the dissenters were young people, students and other youth trying to express their dissatisfactions with the regime. The kidnapped people became referred to as the “disappeared.” The government obliterated any records that would help the families find the bodies or reclaim their grandchildren. They stole babies born to pregnant prisoners.
The military government’s censorships prevented any discussion of the matter. Within a terrorist state, those who spoke out put their own lives in danger. Yet, in the face of the disappearance of their children, in 1977 a group of mothers began to meet each Thursday in the large Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, the site of Argentina’s government. There they walked in non-violent demonstrations. As they walked they chanted: “We want our children; we want them to tell us where they are.” The madres said, “No matter what our children think they should not be tortured. They should have charges brought before them. We should be able to see them, visit them.”
The mothers simple request was the first time any of the public had spoken out against the brutality of the regime. The movement and numbers of women whose children had “disappeared” grew. In their weekly demonstrations some carried pictures of the missing children. Later they wore white scarfs to symbolize the white dove of peace, which “can unit all women.”
The mothers nonviolent expression of truth to power eventually drew international attention. Human rights groups arrived to help them open up an office, publish their own newspaper and learn to make speeches. Although the police continued to harass them, (the early founders in fact “disappeared” themselves), it became more difficult for the government to ignore the moral presence of mothers standing witness to the illegal and brutal acts of the regime. As mothers, they presented a powerful moral symbol which, over time, transformed them from women seeking to protect their children to women wishing to transform the state so that it reflected maternal values.
With the return to civilian government in 1983, the Madres resisted the decision to pardon the Dirty War officials. One group focused on working with the democratic government promoting legislation to help recover remains; another group split from this approach continuing to hold silent vigils until the laws of immunity for former military leaders were lifted.
Madres organizations which used similar non-violent techniques to speak truth to power were formed in other authoritarian countries which also “disappeared” citizens, such as Bolivia, Brazil, Chile Paraguay and Uruguay in the mid-1970s. A government commission has put the number of unresolved disappearances in Argentina at about 11,000; the Madres say there are about 30,000.

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Statements from some of the mothers:

“One of the things that I simply will not do now is shut up. The women of my generation in Latin America have been taught that the man is always in charge and the woman is silent even in the face of injustice...Now I know that we have to speak out about the injustices publicly. If not, we are accomplices. I am going to denounce them publicly without fear. This is what I learned.”
María del Rosario de Cerruti
“Becoming aware of all the terrible things the young people were enduring made us see the ferociousness of the enemy clearly. The ferocity of the enemy gives us the strength to face him. I mean, how are you going to allow him to go on? “
Hebe Mascia
“We realize that to demand the fulfillment of human rights is a revolutionary act, that to question the government about bringing our children back alive was a revolutionary act. We are fighting for liberation, to live in freedom, and that is a revolutionary act...To transform a system is always revolutionary.”
Madres of the Plaza de Mayo

Mountains Resonate with Change

Original Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/mountains-resonate-with-change/article4994027.ece

How Kashmiri women have striven for economic freedom

BREAKING FREE:Kashmiri women expand their opportunities.PHOTO: SANA ALTAF/ WFS.

Naqshib Mushtaq, 22, was barely 19 when she landed her first job. She worked as a salesgirl at a local chemist shop for three years until she completed her graduation in the Arts from the University of Kashmir. Once she graduated, she took up a job with a private telecom company. However , Mushtaq's professional ambitions did not end there. She is planning to enroll for a Masters in Business Administration, which she feels will enable her to fulfill her ultimate dream of setting up her very own business.

"I have been working in order to support my education since my father's income was not sufficient to take care of all the needs of our large family. Thankfully, now I am able to save some money for the family, too," says Mushtaq.

Nargis Sofi, 25, from Srinagar, tries to save as much money as possible so that later she is able to contribute to future expenses. Many Kashmiri families get into debt during marriages, and Nargis wants to avoid such pitfalls. This young woman is currently working in a call centre and is simultaneously pursuing a Master’s degree is Education through distance learning. "Although my family's financial status is what you could call ‘decent’, I never wanted to be a burden on my parents, which is why I decided to start earning on my own. I would like to have saved enough in a few years’ time to be able to pay for future eventualities, like my own wedding," says a confident Nargis.

Mushtaq and Nargis represent the swiftly changing face of the Kashmiri woman, indicative of the steady transformation of the society itself. There was a time when majority of women in the region – educated or not – could not consider making a living for themselves outside their homes. Only women from a small sliver of the educated elite could benefit from the opportunities that came their way, whether in terms of education or employment. But today , many women who are making it into professional arenas could just as easily be from the lower middle classes, as they would from the topmost quintile.

So what changed? Today , not only are young girls being encouraged to study, but the career opportunities before them have expanded considerably. In addition to jobs in the formal sector, in educational institutions, or in the administration; women have started opting for careers as sales personnel or as call centre operators – jobs that were hitherto dominated by men.

Migrating to other states for education or a lucrative job prospect has also become quite common. Take Ayesha Ahmad for instance, who has been living alone in Delhi for the past five years, far from her home in the Baramullah district of Kashmir. She moved to the national capital so that she could pursue a course in Mass Communications and is now working as a Public Relations Officer in a private firm. In her free time, she takes tuition classes.

"Ever since I’ve come here, I haven't taken a rupee from my father. I have learnt to struggle and be strong," says the young professional, who lost her mother at the age of four. Ayesha is now aiming to do a doctorate from the US.

As women are breaking free from the trajectories set by the traditionally defined roles of domesticity, they are in the process also changing society. Many women-headed establishments have opened up in the Valley, ranging from boutiques and beauty salons to restaurants. Take Nazish Akram, 30. After completing a Master's degree in English, she found it difficult to land a suitable job, so she decided to set up her own boutique. Says Nazish, “I am glad I made this choice. It has given me a great feeling of independence.”

But not everyone is as fortunate as Nazish. Ambreen Sultan had to face a lot of family displeasure, even condemnation, when she first spoke of starting her own beauty salon. It took her months to convince her parents that she was doing the right thing. "My parents said the beauty business does not fit into our culture and tried to dissuade me. But for months on end I was doggedly after them, pleading with them to change their mind. Finally they did”. Ambreen’s salon turned out to be very popular.

Though women still face a lot of opposition and have to think a hundred times before they can follow a career of their choice, there is no doubt that times are indeed changing for the career-oriented women of the Kashmir Valley

(Names of some women have been changed on request.)

(Women's Feature Service)

Libya aiming to make rape in armed conflict a war crime

Original Source:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/jul/05/libya-rape-war-crime

Silent protest … demonstrators with taped mouths take part in a march supporting women raped during the war in Libya. Photograph: Mohamed Salem/Reuters

When Hussein was searching desperately for his son in the last days of the 2011 revolution that toppled Libya's dictator, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, he was told of a villa in Tripoli. He and other anti-government fighters went there on 20 August.
They found nothing. At first.
But inside was a massive door that it took them a long time to open. "Beyond it was a long, shallow flight of stairs – about 80 in all," says Hussein, 57, whose full name is being withheld at his request.
At the bottom was a torture chamber, including apparatus for electrocution. Beyond was a corridor lined with cells.
"When we broke into the cells, we were astonished," says Hussein. "The first three were full of naked women – maybe 35 in all."
He and his companions could not have guessed, but they were setting in train a sequence of events that has led to the drafting of a bill that Libya's new leaders and NGOs believe is a world first. It would make rape during armed conflict a war crime.
"It has already been discussed in committee," says Juma Ahmad Atigha, deputy president of the general national congress (GNC). "In a few weeks it will be put to a vote in the GNC."
Atigha, who was in Rome this week for a conference on reconciliation in the Arab spring countries, points out that rape is already a crime under Libyan law. "The usual sentence is around 10 years," he says. But rapists convicted under the proposed new law would face life.
It has yet to be decided whether those affected would be entitled to a war pension. But, says Atigha, it was agreed that they should get lump-sum compensation from the state. "That is a must. The plan is for the courts to set the level of compensation case by case. Among the criteria would be whether a pregnancy resulted from the rape and the severity of the injuries suffered by the victim. Some of these women died."
Getting the bill to this stage was not easy, Atigha says. "Ours is a conservative society and anything that has to do with women is very sensitive. Rape is a very big scandal for a family, even though the woman has been forced: it is an attack on the dignity of the family, and the tribe to which it belongs.
"But that is why the regime used rape. So it was logical to regard it as a war crime."
The number of women affected ran into the hundreds, according to Atigha. Nicoletta Gaida, president of the Ara Pacis Initiative, an Italian NGO, thought it could be thousands.
The turning point for the bill came at a conference in Tripoli on 4 May, Gaida says. Her NGO and a Libyan one, the Observatory on Gender in Crisis, had arranged for one of the women freed by Hussein to be present.
Defying the taboos of Libyan society, she stood up and – in appalling detail – told her story.
"She was one of three sisters who, in the early stages of the revolution, had put an anti-Gaddafi post on Facebook," says Gaida. "They were arrested. For nine months, she was sexually tortured with everything you can imagine. When you say rape you think of a man violating a woman. But this was far, far worse."
By the time the young woman had finished her account, the Libyan minister of justice and several other men present were in tears. "It was then that she turned to the minister and asked him: 'What will you do for us?'", Gaida recalls. "The minister stood up and said: 'You and your sisters are the pearls in the crown of the new Libya'."
The idea that the survivors of rape might be thought of as anything but a source of disgrace was a drastic break with the past, and helped the bill being pushed by the Observatory on Gender in Crisis to get the government's backing.
"The main problem once the law has been passed will still be a cultural one," says Atigha. "We know many victims prefer to keep what happened a secret. One thing we want to do is to ensure cases are dealt with by female investigating magistrates."

SRI LANKA: Battles for Women Ahead

Original Source-


More policies and programmes must address the needs of female-headed households in Sri Lanka's former conflict zone, experts say.

"Most programmes don't take into account the unique role of women here," Saroja Sivachandran, director of the Center for Women and Development (CWD), an advocacy body based in northern Jaffna, told IRIN.

"They may be providing for the families, but [women] still have to cook, look after children and do all household chores."

Since returning to their villages in the conflict-affected north at the end of the country's 26-year-long civil war in 2009, women have found their traditional role of household chores and child-rearing expanded with the burden of making a living, rebuilding damaged houses and a host of other tasks. "Unfortunately, very few [organizations] seem to have recognized this," Sivachandran said.

Though no official figures are available, the CWD estimates the war left 40,000 widowed, female-headed households in the north, not including women whose husbands went missing during the conflict or who are in government detention for ties to the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who had been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland.

In August, the World Bank re-launched a cash-for-work programme in the Northern Province, originally modified in 2010 to accommodate women's familial obligations. Sixty-five percent of participants were women and the programme allowed them to choose how long they worked, and provided day-care by paying elders to look after the children, said Susrutha Goonasekera, a social protection economist for the World Bank.

But, more than two years since the end of the conflict, adapting to the changing role of women in the northern Vanni is still lagging, locals say.

Aside from balancing work with other responsibilities, a high demand for labour for jobs such as building roads has made appropriate work scarce for this population of both bread-bakers and winners.

"Women can't compete with men for those jobs," Sivachandran said, adding that except in cash-for-work programmes, where pay was equal, women also tended to get paid less than men for the same work.

Photo: Amantha Perera/IRIN

Selvakumar Arundha tends to her chickens

The lack of new jobs, partly blamed on the slow inflow of private investment, is also a big factor behind many of these women feeling helpless, according to government officials.

Working from home

In some cases women have formed small groups to start cottage industries, said Nagmani Rathnaraja, deputy director of the Re-awakening Project for Mullaithivu District, under the Ministry of Economics, such as poultry and vegetable cultivation.

In Allankulam, a village in the Vanni about 320km from the capital Colombo, Selvakumar Arundha has started a small poultry farm with six other women using funds saved from a cash-for-work programme. The group invested US$450 and now each member makes about $12 per week without going far from home.

"We could do much better if we had assistance and outside buyers," Arundha said, standing in front of the chicken coop.

Sivachandran said this type of planning was lacking. "We need someone to assist in poultry farming and finding buyers, then there will be large income generation. Now the sales are limited to what the village wants and people are already poor here," she said.

Arundha, who looks after two teenage children, said a job that did not require her to travel was essential. "Who will cook then?" she asked.