Cross-National Protest Action for Women′s and LGBTT′s Rights
(Bianet News, 11 November 2009)
http://www.bianet.org/english/minorities/118178-cross-national-protest-action-for-womens-and-lgbtts-rights
Press Release
International Campaign to Promote Human Rights across Muslim Societies
Human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights have been under attack in all Muslim societies. Rising
conservatism, fueled by militarism, increasing inequalities, the
politicization of religion and Islamophobia have strengthened
patriarchal and extremist religious ideologies. For instance,
last week a woman in Turkey was asked to get written consent from her
rapist in order to have an abortion which is against all existing legal
regulations, while a recent bill passed in the Sudan annulled the
prohibition of FGM/C and a new legislation in Indonesia’s Aceh now
allows for stoning to death as punishment for adultery, while the
bodily and sexual rights of Palestinian women continue to be violated
in the shadow of the apartheid wall… These examples remind us again
that sexuality is not a private issue but a site of political struggle.
On November 9, 2009, a very diverse group of NGOs will stage bold actions in 11 countries to promote human rights. As part of the historic international campaign “One Day One Struggle” organized by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR),
over 20 organizations will hold simultaneous events and public
demonstrations on topics like protesting customary practices such as
honor killings and FGM/C, overturning discriminatory and life
threatening laws like stoning or lashing of women, and calling for LGBT
rights, the right to sexuality education and the right to bodily and
sexual integrity of all people.
During the Campaign that promises to be a milestone event in the
history of the sexual and reproductive rights movement, hundreds will
gather in university campuses in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lebanon and the
Sudan, at press conferences in Cyprus, Egypt and Malaysia, in
conference and concert halls in Tunisia and Pakistan and on the streets
of Turkey and Palestine, to assert that sexual and
reproductive rights are universal human rights based on the inherent
freedom, dignity and equality of all human beings.
CSBR is a globally renowned solidarity network of progressive NGOs
and premier academic institutions in the Middle East, North Africa,
South and Southeast Asia, working to promote sexual and bodily rights
as human rights in Muslim societies. www.wwhr.org/csbr.php
For more detail please contact Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR) - New Ways at: irazca.geray@wwhr.org - Tel: +90 212 251 00 29
To find out more about the Campaign in:
BANGLADESH:
- Centre for Gender, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University: sabina@bracu.ac.bd; dmsiddiqi@yahoo.com
- Boys of Bangladesh (BoB): xecon27@yahoo.com
CYPRUS:
- Feminist Workshop (FEMA): feministatolye@gmail.com
EGYPT:
- Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), New Woman Foundation (NWF): eipr@eipr.org
INDONESIA:
- GAYa NUSANTRA: maria.notes@yahoo.com
- Puan Amal Hayati Foundation (PUAN): atashabsjah@yahoo.com
LEBANON:
- Meem: lynn@meemgroup.org
- Helem: ghassan@helem.net
MALAYSIA:
- Women’s Aid Organization (WAO), All Women′s Action Society (AWAM), Sisters in Islam (SIS), Empower: vizlakumaresan@yahoo.co.uk
PAKISTAN:
- Vision: ahsan_anwari@hotmail.com
- Organization for the Protection and Propagation of the Rights of Sexual Minorities (OPPRSM)
PALESTINE:
- Women Against Violence (WAV): aida_touma_slima@hotmail.com; wav_org@hotmail.com
SUDAN:
- Ahfad University for Women: Amani_elkhatim@yahoo.com
TUNISIA:
- Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD): ahlembelhadj@gmail.com; childpsy_razi@yahoo.fr
TURKEY:
- Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR) – New Ways: irazca.geray@wwhr.org
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