Month: August 2009

Mali: Threats of violence greet new family code offering rights for women

Mali: Threats of violence greet new family code
— “While rights groups are celebrating a newly-adopted family code in Mali that changes marriage laws and expands girls’ rights, Muslim leaders and youths have vowed, even threatening violence, to block the code from becoming law.”
— “The code – under discussion for 10 years before its adoption on 3 August – includes more than 1,100 new articles, including setting the legal minimum age for marriage at 18, abolishing the death penalty, recognizing only secular marriages and expanding inheritance rights to girls. The code must be approved by the president to become law.”

Egypt: Report on Increasing Extremist Intolerance to Women, Christians

— NYT report: On Beaches, Intolerance Wears a Veil
— also addresses increasing violence against Christians
— “there are sharper signs of intolerance: increasing Christian-Muslim clashes, unfamiliar to old Alexandrine eyes”
— “On April 4, a Muslim man was allegedly stabbed by his Coptic Christian landlords in a dispute over garbage collection, according to a July 30 report by the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a human rights watchdog. When the man died the next day, Muslims praying at a mosque in the city’s Karmouz district chanted ‘they will die’ and then trashed Christian-owned stores, the report said.”

Georgia: Swastika painted outside Black Congressman’s office

Georgia: Swastika painted outside Black Congressman’s office

— Swastika painted at Georgia congressman’s office
— AP: “Scott, who is black, said he also has received mail in recent days that used N-word references to him, and that characterized President Barack Obama as a Marxist.”

— Congressman David Scott’s Office Vandalized With Spray-Painted Swastika
— FBI Makes Federal Case of Swastika

Burma: Myanmar sentences Aung San Suu Kyi to more house arrest

(Burma) Myanmar sentences Suu Kyi to more house arrest

— AP reports:
— “Myanmar’s generals have again succeeded in isolating democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but her fleeting emergence during a grueling trial showed that her steely resolve and charisma remain intact.”
— “A Myanmar court on Tuesday convicted the 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate of violating her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home. Her sentence of three years in prison with hard labor was quickly commuted to 18 months house arrest after an order from the head of the military-ruled country, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.”
— “Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, and the extension will remove her from the political scene next year when the junta holds its first election since 1990. Her party won in the polls then but was never allowed to take power.”
— “Her conviction and continued detention were condemned by world leaders and sparked demonstrations in cities from London to Japan. The European Union began preparing new sanctions against the country’s military regime and a group of 14 Nobel Laureates, including the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, called on the U.N. Security Council to take strong action against the country.”
— “President Barack Obama termed Suu Kyi’s conviction a violation of ‘the universal principle of human rights’ and said she should be released immediately.”

Congo: “Rape in Congo: What got me was the laughter”

(Congo) Rape in Congo: What got me was the laughter

According to V-Day reports on the Congo war, “[a]n estimated 5 million people have died here since 1996, with over 250,000 victims of rape.”  U.S. Department of State Secretary Hillary Clinton recently reported from a trip to the Congo: “Women and girls in particular have been victimized on an unimaginable scale, as sexual and gender-based violence has become a tactic of war and has reached epidemic proportions. Some 1,100 rapes are reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day.”  This misogyny against women in Africa includes the use of rape as acts of war by military and terrorist organizations.  Regarding the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations reports that “the Congolese army, security sector personnel, and several armed groups still use sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC. Further, international actors, including UN personnel, have been implicated in perpetrating sexual violence in the DRC.”  While the United States is providing funding for medical care and support for rape victims in the Congo, it must also set expectations for President Kabila to prosecute Congo military involved in such sexual violence, and U.N. Secretary Ban to ensure action against any UN personnel involved in such sexual violence.  The violence in the Congo is linked to violence in Sudan (where a human genocide continues to rage) and Uganda on its borders.  In addition, these rapes are also performed by the Uganda rebel terrorist organization, the “Lords Resistance Army” (LRA).  The LRA terrorist organization claims to seek to create theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments, while murdering and raping other Christians and destroying their churches.  In addition to setting expectations for the Congo and U.N. leaders, we must have a continued commitment against the LRA Ugandan terrorist organization, and Christian organizations must publicly and aggressively reject the actions of the LRA.  The continuing conflicts in the Congo, Uganda, and Sudan must be a priority for Africans, Christians, Muslims and human beings around the world.

Al-Arabiya TV Deputy Secretary-General on Palestinian Human Rights

MEMRI: “Al-Arabiya TV Deputy Secretary-General Calls for Resettlement of Palestinian Refugees”
— “Objecting to Refugee Resettlement Is Objecting to Peace”
— “Stop Treating the Palestinians Like A Plague”
— “The Arabs Have Turned the Palestinians Into a People Defeated Both Morally and Materially”
— Daoud Al-Shiryan, Al-Hayat columnist and deputy secretary-general of Al-Arabiya TV reported as stating regarding Arab countries:
— “These countries must stop treating the Palestinians like a plague, using slogans which, as we all know, have become nothing but empty utterances in a loathsome struggle. We must break the isolation of the Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. A Palestinian should be made to feel like a welcome and dear guest – before some external intervention comes along and grants him the right to live in dignity, to everyone’s consternation.”

August 10, 2009 – Washington DC: National Press Club “Black Day” Press Conference Videos Online

August 10, 2009 – Washington DC: National Press Club “Black Day” Press Conference Videos Online – Calling for End to Pakistan Blasphemy Laws
— Part 1: Introduction by Ahmar Mustikhan and Jeffrey Imm of Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
— Part 2: Dr. Nazir Bhatti – Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC)
— Part 3: Jeremy Sewall, International Christian Concern (ICC)
— Part 4: Ahmar Mustikhan, AFB
— Part 5: Ahmar Mustikhan, AFB Continued – on Baluchistan