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	States must act to fulfil obligation to prevent violence against women by Rashida Manjoo Special Rapporteur on violence against women   October 2011   The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women has told the UN General Assembly that violence against women across the world continues to be pervasive and widespread and reminded States of their obligation under international law to protect women.   “Whether it occurs in times of peace and conflict, the various forms and manifestations of violence against women are simultaneously causes and consequences of discrimination, inequality and oppression,” said Rashida Manjoo, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.   “Wherever it occurs, any violence that is either directed at women, or experienced by a group that is overwhelmingly female represents a violation of international human rights law,” she said when she presented her report on violence against women to the Assembly.   Ms. Manjoo reiterated that States must uphold their international human rights obligations to prevent acts of violence against women, investigate and punish crimes against women, protect women against such violence, and provide remedy and reparation to the victims.   “The fight for the human rights of women remains a collective endeavour in which we should jointly take action to ensure their full enjoyment by all women and girls worldwide,” she told a news conference.   Silvia Pimentel, the Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), pointed out that equal pay for equal work remained elusive for women workers compared their men counterparts, she said.   “Violence against women, in particular sexual violence, is prevalent in many parts of the world, and is only on the rise. Female genital mutilation is still widely practised – it is a scourge on women and girls which must be eradicated.”   Conflict had disproportionate impact on women, Ms. Pimentel said stressing that “women and girls’ bodies have become part of the battleground.”   Oct 2011   In the Rape Center, the Patient was 3, by Nicholas D. Kristof. (NYT)   In a rape treatment center, I met a 3-year-old patient named Jessica, who was cuddling a teddy bear.   Jessica had seemed sick and was losing weight, but she wouldn’t say what was wrong. Her mother took her to a clinic, and a doctor ferreted out the truth. She had been raped and was infected with gonorrhea.   As I stood in the rape center corridor, reeling from the encounter with Jessica, a 4-year-old girl was brought in for treatment. She, too, turned out to have been infected with a sexually transmitted disease in the course of a rape. Also in the center that day were a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old, along with older girls.   Sexual violence is a public health crisis in much of the world, and women and girls ages 15 to 44 are more likely to be maimed or killed by men than by malaria, cancer, war or traffic accidents combined, according to a 2005 study.   Such violence remains a significant problem in the United States, but it’s particularly prevalent in countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia or Congo that have endured civil war. The pattern is that after peace arrives, men stop shooting each other but continue to rape women and girls at staggering rates — and often at staggeringly young ages.   The International Rescue Committee, which runs the rape center here in Freetown, the nation’s capital, says that 26 percent of the rape victims it treats are 11 years old or younger. Last month, the center said, a 10-month-old baby was brought in for treatment after a rape.   “The girls are being blamed,” noted Amie Kandeh, a heroic American-educated Sierra Leonean who runs women’s programs here for the International Rescue Committee (www.rescue.org). “If a girl is raped and she’s above 5, then it’s the way she was dressed. But we’ve had a girl of 2-and-a-half months who was raped. Was it the way her mom put her diaper on?”   That 2-and-a-half-month-old baby died of internal injuries sustained during the rape, said Ms. Kandeh.   The struggle against sexual violence will be won or lost primarily within each country, but the United States could help if Congress reintroduced and passed the International Violence Against Women Act, which would take modest steps to raise the profile of such violence.   And the United States could hurt the effort if House Republicans succeed in eliminating financing for the United Nations Population Fund, which works in places like Sierra Leone to combat rape.   Ultimately, the only way to end the epidemic of sexual violence is to end the silence and impunity and send people to prison. But that almost never happens.   Ms. Kandeh says that the International Rescue Committee rape centers have treated more than 9,000 patients since 2003 — and fewer than one-half of 1 percent of the rapes have resulted in criminal convictions.   In the eastern city of Kenema, a day’s drive from the capital, I met a 13-year-old girl, named TaJoe, who was being treated for a rape — and whose case underscores why survivors keep quiet.   TaJoe is a bright seventh grader, ranking third in her class of 18. One evening recently, she needed to use the outhouse, some distance away, and she asked her sister to escort her. The sister scoffed and said she’d be fine. TaJoe went by herself, and she says that on her way back she was grabbed by a businessman, thrown to the ground, and raped.   Ashamed and afraid, TaJoe confided in no one. But she developed a sexually transmitted infection that caused a raging fever. She stopped eating, and her health deteriorated. When her family took her to a clinic, doctors discovered the problem and she “confessed.”   The businessman was suspected of raping two other girls in the village, but he also was educated and rich. When TaJoe implicated him, the police acted quickly. They detained TaJoe and her mother, accusing them of sullying the name of a respected member of the community. The police later released them, but the episode terrified TaJoe. Visit the related web page
	Nobel Peace Prize awarded to 3 women’s rights advocates by Reuters, AP, NYT, UN News & agencies   Oslo, 7 October 2011   The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 is to be divided in three equal parts between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.   We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.   In October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325. The resolution for the first time made violence against women in armed conflict an international security issue. It underlined the need for women to become participants on an equal footing with men in peace processes and in peace work in general.   Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s first democratically elected female president. Since her inauguration in 2006, she has contributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women.   Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections. She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war. In the most trying circumstances, both before and during the "Arab spring", Tawakkul Karman has played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen.   It is the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s hope that the prize to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent.   "We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told reporters.   Jagland noted that while it was hard to discern the leadership of the Arab Spring, Karman "started her activism long before the revolution took place in Tunisia and Egypt. She has been a very courageous woman in Yemen for quite a long time."   Jagland called the oppression of women "the most important issue in the Arab world" and stressed that the empowerment of women must go hand in hand with Islam.   7 October 2011   UN lauds awarding of Nobel Peace Prize to three women’s activists. (UN News)   United Nations officials have hailed today’s awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to three women’s activists, saying the recipients demonstrate the vital role that women play in advancing peace and security, boosting development and securing human rights around the globe.   Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female elected head of State; Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist; and Tawakkul Karman, a journalist and pro-democracy activist from Yemen, are the joint winners of this year’s prize.   Nobel judges, announcing the decision in Oslo, Norway, cited the winners’ “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peacebuilding work.”   Speaking in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the award could not have been better chosen. “It underscores the vital role that women play in the advancement of peace and security, development and human rights,” he said.   “I myself have met women who have been the victims of sexual violence. I have seen for myself women’s leadership power in building and sustaining peace. And I have heard the voices of women calling for justice and democracy in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.”   He described the winners as “three inspirational women of uncommon courage and commitment” and reaffirmed that promoting the cause of women is a top priority of the UN. “With this decision, the Norwegian Nobel Committee sends a clear message: women count for peace. It is a testament to the power of the human spirit and underscores a fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter: the vital role of women in the advancement of peace and security, development and human rights.”   Michelle Bachelet, the Executive Director of UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, who noted that each of the three Nobel recipients had overcome huge obstacles.   “All over the world, women are demanding their rights and their equal participation in peacebuilding, democracy and the development of their nations, and this year’s Nobel Peace Prize sends a message to the world that now, the 21st century, is the time for women’s full and equal participation at all levels of society,” Ms. Bachelet said.   Helen Clark, the Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said Ms. Johnson Sirleaf, Ms. Gbowee and Ms. Karman demonstrate “what can be achieved when women participate and take on decision-making roles, and they serve as an example for us all.”   Margot Wallström, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said the recipients’ careers offer motivation to other women. “If only three of the world’s women can achieve all they have, imagine what can be done if half of the world’s population is allowed the rights women are entitled to,” she said.   3 women share Nobel; led change in Africa, Mideast (AP)   Leymah Gbowee confronted armed forces in Liberia to demand that they stop using rape as a weapon. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Africa"s first woman to win a free presidential election. Tawakkul Karman began pushing for change in Yemen long before the Arab Spring. They all share a commitment to advancing women"s rights.   The Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said it would have been difficult to identify all the movement"s leaders, and that the committee was making an additional statement by selecting Karman to represent their cause.   "We have included the Arab Spring in this prize, but we have put it in a particular context," Jagland told reporters. "Namely, if one fails to include the women in the revolution and the new democracies, there will be no democracy."   Sirleaf, 72, won Liberia"s presidential election in 2005 and is credited with helping the country emerge from an especially brutal civil war. "This gives me a stronger commitment to work for reconciliation," Sirleaf said from her home in Monrovia, the capital.   She said Liberians should be proud that both she and Gbowee were honored. "Leymah Gbowee worked very hard with women in Liberia from all walks of life to challenge the dictatorship, to sit in the sun and in the rain advocating for peace," Sirleaf said. "I believe we both accept this on behalf of the Liberian people and the credit goes to them."   “We particularly give this credit to Liberian women, who have consistently led the struggle for peace, even under conditions of neglect.”   While Liberians widely acknowledge that peace and security have improved markedly during her tenure, Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s success in securing forgiveness for billions of dollars worth of Liberian debt, unemployment remains daunting, and the country is still mired in poverty.   Gbowee, 39, has long campaigned for the rights of women and against rape, organizing Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia"s warlords. In 2003, she led hundreds of female protesters - the "women in white" - through Monrovia to demand swift disarmament of fighters who continued to prey on women even though a peace deal ending 14 years of near-constant civil war had been reached months earlier.   Her brother, Alphonso Diamond Gbowee, told Reuters: "I am so excited that her relentlessness to ensure the development of women and children in our region has been recognized." She"s very hard-working, helping with women and children all over the place, especially in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. I have no doubt she"ll continue to impact those vulnerable lives."   Gbowee"s Women For Peace movement is credited by some for bringing an end to the civil war in 2003. The movement started humbly in 2002 when Gbowee organized a group of women to sing and pray for an end to fighting in a fish market.   Gbowee was honored by the committee for mobilizing women "across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women"s participation in elections."   Gbowee works in Ghana"s capital as the director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa. She said that although she had never considered herself worthy of the prize, "women have important roles in peace and security issues and I think that this is an acknowledgment of that."   Tawakkul Karman a mother of three from Taiz, a city in southern Yemen has long been an advocate for human rights and freedom of expression in Yemen. She now lives in the capital, Sanaa and is a journalist and member of the Islamic party Islah and heads the human rights group Women Journalists without Chains.   Jagland noted that Karman, 32, is a member of a political party linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement sometimes viewed with suspicion in the West. Jagland, however, called the Brotherhood "an important part" of the Arab Spring.   Jagland noted that while it was hard to discern the leadership of the Arab Spring, Karman "started her activism long before the revolution took place in Tunisia and Egypt. She has been a very courageous woman in Yemen for quite a long time."   Jagland called the oppression of women "the most important issue in the Arab world" and stressed that the empowerment of women must go hand in hand with Islam. "It may be that some still are saying that women should be at home, not driving cars, not being part of the normal society," he said. "But this is not being on the right side of history."   “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told reporters.   The Committee said it hoped the three-way award "will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realize the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent."   The committee said all three women were rewarded for "their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women"s rights to full participation in peace-building work."   Last year"s peace prize went to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.   Oct 2011   “Giving it to a woman and an Islamist? (New York Times)   When Tawakkol Karman was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, she became a standard-bearer for the Arab Spring and for the role of women across the Middle East. And as a liberal Islamist she stopped wearing the full facial veil three years ago.   “Giving it to a woman and an Islamist? That means a sort of re-evaluation,” said Nadia Mostafa, a professor of international relations at Cairo University. “It means Islam is not against peace, it’s not against women, and Islamists can be women activists, and they can fight for human rights, freedom and democracy.”   Ms. Karman was one of three women awarded the prize on Friday, alongside President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and the Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. They were the first women honored by the committee since 2004, and the Nobel citation made clear that female empowerment was the primary message.   “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,” it read.   Ms. Karman seemed stunned by the award as she sat surrounded by admirers in the worn blue tent where she has lived in a sprawling protest camp for nine months. Many expected the award to go to one of the protest leaders in Egypt or Tunisia, where the revolts have succeeded in toppling authoritarian leaders. Yemen’s rebellion is far from over, and some fear that it could still devolve into civil war.   Ms. Karman’s selection was also widely seen in the Middle East as an endorsement of the revolts that broke out across the Arab world early this year, where popular uprisings have challenged entrenched leaders and empowered the disenfranchised. Ms. Karman made clear that she saw the prize that way. “This is a victory for Arabs around the world,” she said. “This is a victory for Arabs around the world,” she said of the prize, adding “and a victory for Arab women.”   Yet Ms. Karman’s Islamist politics are central to her role here. In a sense, she stands as an exemplar of the complexity of Islamic political movements, which are often misperceived in the West as monolithic and menacing, and are likely to play a powerful role in any governments that emerge from the Arab revolutions of 2011. Islamist parties are expected to do well in Tunisia and Egypt, which plan to hold parliamentary elections soon.   Ms. Karman has repeatedly clashed with the leaders of Islah. But instead of leaving the party, as many others have, she has tried to reshape it in a more open and tolerant direction.   Women like Ms. Karman have played roles across the Arab world in the protests of 2011, raising hopes that their contributions would translate into broader social and political rights. But that too, remains an aspiration, and women appear to have lost their voices in the new orders taking shape in Egypt and elsewhere.   In person, Ms. Karman flouts stereotypes: she speaks in a passionate voice, as she defends her views on the Yemeni revolution. She seems as comfortable talking politics with men as she is with women.   She has received countless death threats, and for months she has not dared to visit her own home except in disguise. But after the award was announced, even the government joined in the general celebration.. Sitting in her tent, Ms. Karman reminisced about her path to politics. She founded an advocacy group in 2005 called Women Journalists Without Chains. In 2007, she began staging sit-ins in front of Yemen’s Parliament and cabinet buildings, demanding greater press freedoms and more humane treatment for marginalized groups.   She only gained national recognition when she took to the streets in January with a few dozen other young people to call for the President Mr. Saleh’s resignation. She was arrested, and her detention drew large crowds onto the streets for the first time, in what is now seen as the start of the Yemeni uprising.   “Martin Luther King has inspired me the most because he sought change peacefully,” Ms. Karman said. “Also Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, but really to the largest extent it’s Martin Luther King. We try for change using his same methods.”   October 2011   Human Rights agencies renew calls for release of Imprisoned Chinese Nobel Laureate(NYT)   Human rights groups have renewed calls on China to release the imprisoned dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, and to end the house arrest of his wife, Liu Xia.   Mr. Liu has rarely been allowed to talk to family members, and has been allowed to leave prison only once, according to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and China Human Rights Defenders. Ms. Liu has been kept under detention in the couple’s home in Beijing but has not been charged with any crime.   Mr. Liu, a longtime human rights advocate and writer, was detained on Dec. 8, 2008, for playing a leading role in drafting Charter 08, which calls for gradual political and legal reforms based on constitutional principles. The document was circulated via e-mail and was signed by thousands of Chinese. On Dec. 29, 2009, a court in Beijing sentenced Mr. Liu to 11 years in prison for "inciting subversion of the state".   Mr. Liu’s Nobel Peace Prize has done little to blunt the Chinese government’s harsh measures against any criticism or dissent. The country’s leaders, anxious about the protests in the Middle East, have carried out a broad crackdown on human rights advocates. Visit the related web page
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