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.

World Moves Closer towards Abolition of the Death Penalty

Amnesty International released its annual report on the death penalty today. According to the group, the world moved even closer towards abolition of the death penalty in 2008.

In December, the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) adopted by a large majority a second resolution calling for a moratorium with a view to abolish the death penalty. This resolution consolidates three decades of steady progress towards complete abolition of the death penalty. It was passed by a vote of 104 in favor and 54 against, with 29 abstentions.  The United States, along with countries such as China, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia voted against.

See the vote of every country here: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/ga10678.doc.htm

On a positive note, in its overview of the use of the death penalty worldwide, Amnesty International noted that :

Europe and Central Asia is now virtually a death penalty free zone following the abolition of the death penalty in Uzbekistan for all crimes. There is just one country left – Belarus – that still carries out executions.

In the Americas, only one state – the United States of America (USA) – consistently executes. However, even the USA moved away from the death penalty in 2008. This year, the smallest number of executions since 1995 was reported in the USA.

Two states, Argentina and Uzbekistan abolished the death penalty.

The majority of countries now refrain from using the death penalty. Furthermore, in 2008 Amnesty International recorded only 25 out of 59 countries that retain the death penalty actually carried out executions. The practice of states indicates that there is increasing consolidation of majority international consensus that the death penalty cannot be reconciled with respect for human rights.

However, tough challenges remain. Countries in Asia carried out more executions in 2008 than the rest of the world put together.

The five countries with the highest rate of executions were:

• China – at least 1,178 (the exact number is a state secret)
• Iran – at least 346
• Saudi Arabia – at least 102
• Pakistan – at least 36
• United States of America – 37

Some of the methods used to execute people in 2008 included beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection, shooting and stoning.

Read more and link to the full report here: http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty

Saudi judge refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8 – CNN.com

Saudi judge refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8 – CNN.com.

(CNN) — A Saudi judge recently refused to annul a marriage between an 8-year-old girl and a 47-year-old man — a union apparently arranged by the girl’s father to settle his debts — a lawyer in the case told CNN.

The judge said that the girl may sue for divorce herself when she reaches puberty. The husband has been asked to refrain from sexual relations with her until puberty.

See also: Top Saudi cleric: OK for young girls to wed

It is incorrect to say that it’s not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, the kingdom’s grand mufti, said in remarks quoted Wednesday in the regional Al-Hayat newspaper. “A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she’s too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her.

Some Facts About Child Marriage

Child marriage is a violation of human rights whether it happens to a girl or a boy, but it represents perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls. The harmful consequences include separation from family and friends, lack of freedom to interact with peers and participate in community activities, and decreased opportunities for education. Child marriage can also result in bonded labor or enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation and violence against the victims. Because they cannot abstain from sex or insist on condom use, child brides are often exposed to such serious health risks as premature pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and, increasingly, HIV/AIDS. – UNICEF

Facts and Figures

• More than 100 million girls in the developing world will be married during the next 10 years.
• Although the definition of child marriage includes boys, most children married under the age of 18 years are girls.
• An estimated 14 million adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth each year. Girls is this age group are twice as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth as women in their twenties
• While the practice has decreased globally over the last 30 years, it remains common in rural areas and among the poorest of the poor.
• In Southern Asia, 48%—nearly 10 million—of girls are married before the age of 18.
• In Africa, 42% of girls were married before turning 18.
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, 29% of girls are married by age 18.

Child brides are more likely than unmarried girls to die younger, suffer from health problems, live in poverty and remain illiterate. Child marriage is both a response to poverty and a harmful practice that perpetuates poverty. Despite devastating consequences for girls and their communities early marriage persists because of economic and social pressures and tradition.

Child Marriage is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that free and full consent by both partners is required for marriage. A child is not sufficiently mature to give such consent. Saudi Arabia is a signatory of both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Child Marriage violates both.

The Saudi Arabian government has been known to reverse such rulings when international pressure is brought to bear.  Information about how you can take action can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/341/take-action.html

Who (or what) will be Saved?

via BBC NEWS | Africa | Hijacked oil tanker nears Somalia

A giant Saudi oil tanker seized by pirates in the Indian Ocean is nearing the coast of Somalia, the US Navy says.

The Sirius Star is the biggest tanker ever to be hijacked, with a cargo of 2m barrels – a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s daily output – worth more than $200m.

The vessel was captured in what the navy called an “unprecedented” attack 450 nautical miles (830km) off the Kenyan coast on Sunday.

GARISSA, Kenya, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Heavily-armed Somali gunmen kidnapped two Italian nuns on Monday in a pre-dawn raid on a remote Kenyan border town, witnesses said.

Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for aid workers, who are often abducted or killed in attacks usually blamed on Islamist insurgents or clan militia.

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.

It will be interesting to see whether the international community does more to rescue the oil than it has to save all of the people who have been caught up in the violence and chaos that is Somalia.

I am feeling rather cynical tonight.