Sorry! It was all a mistake

Mixing sexes in Saudi Arabia: Not so terrible after all? | The Economist.

Top Saudi Arabian religious officials have begun to endorse a clear distinction between the innocent meddling of the sexes and sinful behavior in recent weeks.

For decades, agents of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, (religious police) have enforced a strict separation of the sexes in Saudi Arabia. This policy has circumscribed the lives of women and girls and in some instances has resulted in tragic deaths.

In 2002, the religious police stopped girls from leaving their burning school because they were not wearing strict Islamic dress. The police also stopped men who tried to rescue the girls, warning, “It is sinful to approach them.” Several girls died.

Now, it seems, this was all a mistake. Religious officials have declared that prohibitions against the mixing of the sexes in public places come from conservative tribal customs not the rules of sharia.

This sort of confusion is nothing new, nor is it unique to Islam or Saudi Arabia. Religion has long been used as a way to reinforce ethnic and cultural traditions that limit the rights of women and girls, including the right to inheritance and access to education, healthcare and decent work. Religion has also been used to justify harmful cultural practices such as FGM and child marriage.

It is to be hoped that religious leaders throughout the world will continue on this path of making honest distinctions between true religious law and discriminatory practices against women and girls that have their roots in custom and tradition.

What has Changed for Girls since 1995?

In September of 1995 the United Nations convened the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. The official name of the Conference was “The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace”. 189 governments participated in the conference and more than 5,000 representatives from 2,100 non-governmental organizations.

The outcome document of this conference known as The Platform for Action set out a number of actions that were to lead to fundamental changes in the lives of women and girls. Section L of the document focuses on the girl child and contains nine strategic objectives with corresponding actions that were to be taken by governments and civil society.

The objectives are:

1. Eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl-child.
2. Eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against girls.
3. Promote and protect the rights of the girl-child and increase awareness of her needs and potential.
4. Eliminate discrimination against girls in education, skills development and training.
5. Eliminate discrimination against girls in health and nutrition.
6. Eliminate the economic exploitation of child labour and protect young girls at work.
7. Eradicate violence against the girl-child.
8. Promote the girl-child’s awareness of and participation in social, economic and political life.
9. Strengthen the role of the family in improving the status of the girl-child.

In 2010 the United Nations will review progress on Beijing. An important part of this Beijing +15 review will be to ask how and in what ways girls are better off or worse off than they were in 1995.

As an NGO representative at the UN working on girls’ issues I am interested in what you think, especially if you are a girl.

Can you cite one success and one failure regarding any or all of these objectives? Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas.

Read more at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/girl.htm

Dozens of Men Stone a 13 Year Old Girl to Death in Somalia

via Amnesty: Rape girl, 13, killed for adultery – CNN.com

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

At one point during the stoning, Amnesty International has been told by numerous eyewitnesses that nurses were instructed to check whether Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was still alive when buried in the ground. They removed her from the ground, declared that she was, and she was replaced in the hole where she had been buried for the stoning to continue.

Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was victimized over and over again during her short life. Since she was accused of adultery she must have been married – a child bride. She was raped. None of the men she accused of rape were arrested. She became an afternoon’s entertainment, stoned to death before a stadium full of people.

Sadly, her story is not unusual. Girl children around the world are routinely forced to marry. They suffer injustice, violence with impunity and are often murdered in the name of religion or honor.

You can read more about this story and also learn what you can do to make a difference at: http://www.amnestyusa.org