Latest news with #violenceagainstwomen
Associated Press
15 hours ago
- Associated Press
Father among 9 people arrested in Pakistan over suspected honor killing
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — The father and the ex-husband of an alleged honor-killing victim are among nine people arrested in eastern Pakistan in connection with the young woman's death. Police said Sidra Bibi, 18, was killed on the orders of a local council of elders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi after she married a man of her choice. Some of her relatives are alleged to have buried her body and flattened the land to erase evidence of a grave, police official Aftab Hussain said Monday. The victim was suffocated using a pillow placed over her face, he added. The arrests came after authorities exhumed the body and carried out an autopsy, which confirmed she had been tortured before being killed. The case has drawn widespread condemnation in a country where honor killings are still common. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 405 women were killed in 2024 in such cases, compared with 226 in 2023. 'The actual number is believed to be higher due to underreporting,' said Sadia Bukhari, a member of the commission's council. Honor killings, in which family members kill women for actions perceived as bringing shame to the family — such as choosing their spouse — have increased in recent years. Earlier this month, police in in southwestern Balochistan province arrested 11 suspects after a video shared online appeared to show a young couple being fatally shot for marrying without their families' approval. Police confirmed the authenticity of the footage, saying the killings happened in the Deghari district in the province of Balochistan. In January, police arrested a Pakistani man suspected of killing his U.S.-born 15-year-old daughter for refusing to stop posting videos on TikTok, a platform with more than 54 million users in the country. 'These so-called honor killings reveal a deep-rooted mindset that views women as the property of men,' Bukhari said. 'Most women in Pakistan face discrimination from childhood through adulthood.' __ Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer contributed to this story from Multan, Pakistan.
The Herald
2 days ago
- The Herald
SABC launches radio campaign to end GBV
The Gqeberha Pride Festival and nonprofit Transforming Women and Youth in Social Trends (TWYST) Foundation, have welcomed the SABC 's anti-gender-based violence (GBV) campaign. The broadcaster said on Saturday the campaign would run on the SABC ' s 19 radio stations with the aim of creating awareness about the damage caused by GBV. This would be done through programmes geared towards educating the youth, caregivers and communities at large. The message is: 'If you see it, speak out. If you're hurting, reach out. Because doing nothing is not an option. GBV. It ends with you. Call 0800-428-428 to report abuse or get help.' TWYST founder Ntombozuko Jafta, from KwaNobuhle, welcomed the SABC's initiative, saying it came at a time when she had started to feel defeated by the scourge of violence against women. In June, a 12-year-old-girl was killed in Motherwell and two girls were found burnt in KwaNobuhle just days apart. 'GBV is getting worse,' Jafta said. 'Two sisters were gunned down while they were sleeping in Kariega, and while we were looking at a report about that a police officer shot his ex-girlfriend and their friend before killing himself in Central. 'There are also cases which are not reported. 'While we are protesting, you find people telling you that the neighbour raped their younger sister and threatened to kill them if they told anyone. 'There are cases of children with disabilities who cannot talk. 'Unlike our small protests in Motherwell, Kariega or Despatch, our voices will now be on the airwaves and this will have a huge impact on the people on the ground.' The Herald Nelson Mandela University Citizens of the Year Awards 2022 winner in the gender-based violence category said men needed to be in the forefront in the fight against GBV. SABC group executive for radio Nada Wotshela said: 'As the country grapples with GBV, which has become a national emergency affecting women, children, men and members of the LGBTQ+ community, the public broadcaster felt it was important to lend its voice and platforms in further fighting this deadly societal disease through our platforms. 'We will be amplifying various stakeholders ' efforts through specially curated daily content on this matter.' According to Sicebise Social Inclusion programme manager Mbulelo Xinana, the SABC's campaign forms part of the national strategic plan on GBV. Sicebise Social Inclusion hosts the annual Gqeberha Pride Festival, which serves as an awareness campaign against GBV, especially on issues of violence against the LGBTQ+ community. 'The best way to fight GBV is to raise awareness which is how you make a change by interacting with stakeholders to make a difference,' Xinana said. 'When we talk about GBV we must acknowledge that violence against the LGBTQ+ community is GBV. 'One of the things not talked about much is the intimate partner violence, because being in the LGBTQ+ community is already taboo. 'How do you even report such an issue not knowing how it would be handled? 'Those are [some of the] issues that we are looking into as an organisation.' The Herald
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
‘The matter is in his hands alone': president of Sierra Leone urged to ban FGM as court rules it tantamount to torture
As Kadijatu Balaima Allieu walked to a neighbour's house in her village in Sierra Leone, she had no idea that what was about to happen would alter the course of her life for ever. It was a beautiful September morning in 2016 and Allieu, 28 at the time, had gone to resolve a dispute she had with another woman, who belonged to the Bondo society, an influential and secretive group of women. Shortly after she arrived, she was forced into a room and the door locked. Her hands were tied. She was beaten, blindfolded and gagged. Then a woman sat on her chest while others forced her legs apart. She was forcibly subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM), the partial or total removal by cutting of the female genitalia. 'There was nothing left of me [to fight],' says Allieu. 'Out of 100% energy, I was left with something like 1%. So they carried on with their operation.' Nine years later, Allieu's experience has led to a ruling against Sierra Leone by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) court of justice, which described FGM as 'one of the worst forms of violence against women' which 'meets the threshold for torture'. The case, filed by Forum Against Harmful Practices (FAHP), We Are Purposeful, and Allieu, held the government liable for human rights violations due to its failure to criminalise FGM. The court ordered Sierra Leone 'to enact and implement legislation criminalising female genital mutilation and to take appropriate measures toprohibit its occurrence and protect victims'. Though the UN passed a resolution to ban FGM in 2012, it is still practised in about 30 countries. In Sierra Leone, a national survey in 2019 found that 83% of women had undergone FGM, with 71% of them subjected to the practice before the age of 15. There is no law explicitly criminalising the procedure, part of a traditional initiation ritual that marks a girl's entry into womanhood, carried out by senior members of Bondo societies. Every year, women and children are left with health complications, and some die, as a result of such rituals. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the removal of part or all of the external genitalia for nonmedical reasons, as defined by the World Health Organization. There are different types of cutting: removal of the clitoris and/or its hood; removing the clitoris and the inner fold of the vulva (labia minora); and the narrowing of the vaginal opening by cutting and repositioning the labia minora through stitching. Also known as infibulation, this has the worst health consequences. The fourth type of cutting includes other forms of injury to the genitalia such as incising, scraping or cauterising. Since traditional practitioners use razor blades or knives, with no anaesthesia, girls experience excruciating pain and are at risk of severe bleeding and infections which can lead to sepsis. Some do not survive. For the girls, who are often married off soon after genital cutting, sex is traumatic and painful, and enjoying sex will always be difficult unless they have surgical reconstruction. In pregnancy, delivery is often risky due to obstructed and prolonged labour. Women are at risk of developing obstetric fistula (an abnormal opening between a woman's genital tract and her urinary tract or rectum) which can cause incontinence – leading to shame, stigma and rejection from their partners. When members of the Bondo society had finished mutilating Allieu, she was dragged to another room and left in a pool of blood for three days, until police found her and took her to hospital. She had three operations to fix some of the damage that had been inflicted. After the third operation, Allieu remembers the doctor telling her 'he had never seen this level of wickedness'. Even so, a crowd, including Bondo society members, marched on the hospital, calling for Allieu to be handed over. The woman who had cut her was very influential and was angry that Allieu had escaped, with the help of the police. Unable to walk, Allieu was dragged by staff to the basement to hide. 'I felt like this was the end of the road,' says Allieu. 'I was in so much pain, I was tired and had nothing left.' Police and soldiers were called to protect the hospital and the crowd dispersed, but remaining in the hospital was impossible. One of Allieu's neighbours worked for the UN and offered to drive her to the border with Liberia so she could leave the country. She made it to the other side and after 14 days arrived at a friend's house. Over the next five years, Allieu was helped by various people and organisations. She also met someone who offered to help after hearing her story, and paid for her to go abroad for surgery on her injuries. After her trauma had subsided and she found out there had been a change of government, Allieu's thoughts turned to her family, especially her son who was 10 when she left. She decided to return to Sierra Leone. 'People saw me, said I was dead and came to feel me to check I was alive,' she says. 'When I saw my son and my family, it was good, I was happy.' Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion When word spread she was back, an activist got in touch and introduced her to Yasmin Jusu-sheriff, a human rights lawyer and former vice-chair of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, who was instrumental, among others, in bringing the case to Ecowas. The ruling on 8 July comes at a critical time in the fight against FGM in Sierra Leone. A few weeks before, on 21 June, the president of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, became chair of Ecowas, marking a historic moment as the first Sierra Leonean head of state to hold the position. He has yet to acknowledge the ruling publicly. Meanwhile, celebrations at the passing of the Child Rights Act 2025 in Sierra Leone in early July were tempered when parliament issued a press release on 7 July stating that the act, which prohibits all forms of violence against children, including physical and mental abuse, 'does not contain any provision imposing a fine, penalty, or punishment specifically addressing FGM'. The act is awaiting presidential assent. But as there is no mention of banning FGM, Josephine Kamara, advocacy and communications manager at Purposeful, says: 'If we can't name a violent action for what it is, and boldly call it out, we cannot begin to end it.' 'Politically and internationally, the situation just does not look good,' says Jusu-sheriff. 'Since the president is chairman of Ecowas, and in light of the Ecowas decision, let him send the act back to parliament and let them rethink it.' She adds: 'The matter is in his hands, and his hands alone. He holds the sword of Damocles over himself. This is the thing that will determine whether he will go down as the greatest, most human rights-loving president of all time, or not.' Allieu, who is bringing a separate case in Sierra Leone against the woman who mutilated her, is due to be awarded $30,000 (£22,000) in compensation as part of the Ecowas ruling. She says she can't find work because of the public stigma surrounding her case, but wants to use the money to further her education and become an activist. 'I really want the government to look into this, especially the sitting president with his power as head of state,' she says. 'I want him to honour the ruling of the Ecowas court and [make it so] the Child Rights Act can help eradicate FGM.'
The Independent
4 days ago
- The Independent
Nothing has been done to tackle violence against women – son of murdered artist
The son of an artist who was murdered in a random attack as she walked her dog has said 'nothing has actually been done' to tackle violence against women. Claire Knights, 54, from Upstreet near Canterbury, was walking back from a beach near Minnis Bay in Kent when she was ambushed, sexually assaulted, and beaten to death by a stranger on August 23 2023. Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss, 21, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25-and-a-half years in February – but on Friday, judges sitting at the Court of Appeal increased his minimum term to 31 years, having found his original sentence 'unduly lenient'. The court heard Van-Pooss had been dismissed from his job the day before Ms Knights' murder for upskirting a woman at the pub where he worked, and is believed to have camped out overnight on the beach at Minnis Bay waiting for a lone woman to attack, The Times further reported. Ms Knights' son, Elliott Knights-Sloane, now 26, found his mother's body hidden in a dyke two days after she was reported missing. He told The Times: 'No son should have to find their mum in such a situation. 'I felt crushed that her life was taken away in such horrific circumstances. 'She was an incredible mum, a role model for me. She was just coming back from the beach.' Mr Knights-Sloane further told The Times he 'really struggled' with the lack of public outcry surrounding his mother's murder, adding: 'Why aren't people more incensed that someone can be walking their dog and that this can happen to them?' Reflecting on how the issue of violence against women and girls appears to have dropped down the agenda, he said: 'Nothing has actually been done to change anything. 'There's nothing that makes any women safer, or solves anything, other than telling them, 'You shouldn't be out on your own. Don't walk the dog. Look at what you're wearing.'' Also speaking to The Times, criminologist David Wilson warned that 'overkill' – when an assailant uses disproportionate force to control and overpower a victim, potentially resulting in death – is on the rise. 'Now, it's relatively common,' he said. 'What has changed is the mainstreaming of misogyny. 'A lot of young men are influenced by incel culture, the toxic manosphere, the sense of entitlement that women should be available to them, that they should take what is naturally theirs — to overpower and have sex with them.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Nothing has been done to tackle violence against women – son of murdered artist
The son of an artist who was murdered in a random attack as she walked her dog has said 'nothing has actually been done' to tackle violence against women. Claire Knights, 54, from Upstreet near Canterbury, was walking back from a beach near Minnis Bay in Kent when she was ambushed, sexually assaulted, and beaten to death by a stranger on August 23 2023. Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss, 21, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25-and-a-half years in February – but on Friday, judges sitting at the Court of Appeal increased his minimum term to 31 years, having found his original sentence 'unduly lenient'. The court heard Van-Pooss had been dismissed from his job the day before Ms Knights' murder for upskirting a woman at the pub where he worked, and is believed to have camped out overnight on the beach at Minnis Bay waiting for a lone woman to attack, The Times further reported. Ms Knights' son, Elliott Knights-Sloane, now 26, found his mother's body hidden in a dyke two days after she was reported missing. He told The Times: 'No son should have to find their mum in such a situation. 'I felt crushed that her life was taken away in such horrific circumstances. 'She was an incredible mum, a role model for me. She was just coming back from the beach.' Mr Knights-Sloane further told The Times he 'really struggled' with the lack of public outcry surrounding his mother's murder, adding: 'Why aren't people more incensed that someone can be walking their dog and that this can happen to them?' Reflecting on how the issue of violence against women and girls appears to have dropped down the agenda, he said: 'Nothing has actually been done to change anything. 'There's nothing that makes any women safer, or solves anything, other than telling them, 'You shouldn't be out on your own. Don't walk the dog. Look at what you're wearing.'' Also speaking to The Times, criminologist David Wilson warned that 'overkill' – when an assailant uses disproportionate force to control and overpower a victim, potentially resulting in death – is on the rise. 'Now, it's relatively common,' he said. 'What has changed is the mainstreaming of misogyny. 'A lot of young men are influenced by incel culture, the toxic manosphere, the sense of entitlement that women should be available to them, that they should take what is naturally theirs — to overpower and have sex with them.'
