Sexual Violence and the Politics of Forgiveness in Guinea

2020 ◽  
pp. 145-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nomi Dave

This chapter examines the limits of musical activism by considering some of the varied ways in which music has addressed women’s rights and gender-based violence in Guinea. It centers around the case of a young Guinean rapper who was recently charged with sexual assault, and whose case generated intense criticism from feminist activists and intense support from his fans. The chapter considers two songs closely connected to the case: one that calls for an end to violence against women, and one that calls on women to forgive him. These two songs seem to reflect radically divergent views on gender-based violence. But they are both linked to an underlying ambivalence about women’s rights on the behalf of musicians, audiences, and the state. Survivors of sexual violence are absent in both cases, erased by a politics of forgiveness that calls on them to forget and to be forgotten.

Author(s):  
Zahra Ali

This chapter explores the evolution of gender and women’s rights struggles in Iraq since the establishment of the Personal Status Code in 1959 and shed light on the ethnosectarian fragmentation of women’s legal rights in post-invasion Iraq. The chapter argues that in order to explore women’s rights and conditions of lives in Iraq it is essential to explore the evolution of women’s rights and gender issues historically and through a complex lens of analysis rather than applying a predefined argument involving an undifferentiated “Islam” or age-old gender-based violence. It seeks to show that gender issues have been entangled with issues of nationhood, religion, and with the nature of the political regime since the very foundation of the Iraqi Republic in 1958. First, the chapter examines the debates and mobilizations around women’s legal rights in Iraq. Secondly, it highlights the development of political, economic, and military violence since the 1980s and its impact on gender norms and relations. Finally, it analyzes the specific context of ethnosectarian fragmentation in which Iraqi women have lived and mobilized since 2003.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-46
Author(s):  
Yetimwork Anteneh Wondim

Irrespective of their contribution, women in Ethiopia have been facing issues like violence, gender-based discrimination, access to education and training, lack of basic human rights protection, and others. Girls' enrollment in education at all levels is much lower than boys. Female education is hampered mainly by the sexual division of labor, which confines girls to household activities. In addition, women have been suffering from gender-based violence under the guise of tradition and culture but condoned by society. In response to these problems, the Government of Ethiopia adopted relevant instruments pertaining to gender including the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), The Beijing Platform for Action, The Ethiopian Constitution, and various other policies and establishing the national machinery for addressing gender issues. However, several challenges still exist in the realization of women's rights. Therefore, all the respect and protection given for human rights should also be given to women because women's rights are human rights.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 172-180
Author(s):  
Sunil Gambhir ◽  
Akash Deep Aggarwal ◽  
Aatika Mahajan ◽  
Ritu Setiya

This paper examines violence against women, with a special focus on domestic violence, along with sexual violence and sexual assault, in multidimensional perspective for the period of two years so as to understand its magnitude and its impact on the rights of women in the northern part of India. Among all such cases, there were 57.2% cases of domestic violence, 20.3% cases of sexual violence and sexual assault, 17.8% cases of attempted poisoning, 1.5% cases of homicidal burns, and 1.2% cases of attempted suicide. The greatest number of cases was recorded during the spring, followed by summer. It was observed that the greatest number of cases (60.24%) was recorded under the homemaker (housewife) category of women followed by the working category (26.80%). The greatest number of cases is seen in the age group of 20 to 30 years (42.77%), followed by the age group of 30 to 40 years (23.49%). A slightly higher number of cases (51.20%) was reported from rural areas. The greatest number of cases was recorded under the domestic violence category. The second highest percentage of cases reported involved sexual violence and sexual assault. The greatest number of married cases had a duration of zero to ten years (43.37%), followed by the unmarried category (19.87%). With reference to duration of violence, the greatest number of cases is seen in the age group of zero to six months (32.53%). The greatest number of cases is seen under the no child category (40.96%). Regarding the alleged perpetrator, the greatest number of cases is seen under the husband category (23.79%), followed by unknown category (22.28%).


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-40
Author(s):  
Philipp Schulz

This article examines how male survivors of wartime sexual violence in Northern Uganda conceptualize justice. Whereas recent years have witnessed increasing consideration for redressing conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence against women, specific attention to justice for male-directed sexual violence remains absent. Drawing on the empirically-grounded perspectives of 46 male survivors, this article incorporates the seldom-heard voices and perspectives of male wartime rape survivors into debates about justice in the context of sexual violence, thereby contributing towards a gender-inclusive and holistic understanding of gender justice debates. The findings underpinning this article demonstrate that male survivors’ justice priorities primarily centre around three interrelated themes: (a) justice as recognition, (b) government acknowledgement and (c) reparative justice. According to male survivors, these three aspects of justice imply the potential to respond to the misrecognition of male survivors’ experiences and to remedy their sexual and gendered harms in a reparative and gender-sensitive capacity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 731-747
Author(s):  
Elise Ketelaars

AbstractWith RRW populist actors’ discovery of gender norms as a useful foreign policy tool, narratives constructed in terms of geographical value spaces have become central to the struggle for women's rights. Through a detailed examination of international and domestic actors’ engagement with the failed ratification process of the Istanbul Convention in Ukraine, this article aims to enhance understanding of the appropriateness of the use of these geographical value spaces when describing the struggle to combat GBV in Ukraine, and how connecting gender justice issues to geographically restricted value spaces impacts this fight. It finds that in practice neither the EU – despite Russia's allegations to the contrary – nor domestic political elites in favour of closer cooperation with Europe have provided meaningful support to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Faced with this situation, some Ukrainian feminists have increasingly sought to present the struggle to combat gender-based violence in a locally acceptable vernacular. This article, however, concludes that framing the struggle for women's rights in any type of geographical terms – be they of an international or domestic nature – increases the risk of either instrumentalisation of or selective engagement with the feminist agenda.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Atnike Nova Sigiro

<p>This article was formulated based on interviews with 5 (five) trade union confederations from a number of confederations in Indonesia, namely: Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Nasional (KSPN), Konfederasi Sarikat Buruh Muslimin Indonesia (KSarbumusi), Konfederasi Serikat Buruh Seluruh Indonesia (KSBSI), Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia (KSPI), and Konfederasi Kongres Aliansi Serikat Buruh Indonesia (KKASBI). This article seeks to explore the efforts made by the trade union confederation in promoting gender equality - specifically in advancing the agenda for the prevention and elimination of sexual violence in the world of work. This article was compiled based on research with a qualitative approach, with data collection methods through interviews and literature studies. The results of this study found that the confederations interviewed had already set up internal structures that have specific functions on issues related to gender equality, gender-based violence, and women’s empowerment; although still limited and on ad-hoc basis. This research also finds that the role of the trade union confederation is particularly prominent in advocating policies related to sexual violence and gender-based violence in the world of work, such as advocating the Bill on the Elimination of Sexual Violence, and the ratification of the ILO Convention No. 190 on Violence and Harassment.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 862-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieko Yoshihama ◽  
Tomoko Yunomae ◽  
Azumi Tsuge ◽  
Keiko Ikeda ◽  
Reiko Masai

This study reports on 82 unduplicated cases of violence against women and children after the Great East Japan Disaster of March 2011. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from informants who worked with the disaster-affected populations. In addition to domestic violence, reported cases involved sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact, including quid pro quo assault perpetrated by nonintimates. Perpetrators often exploited a sense of fear, helplessness, and powerlessness and used threats to force compliance with sexual demands in exchange for life-sustaining resources. Findings point to the urgent need to develop measures to prevent and respond to postdisaster gender-based violence.


2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaniv Voller

AbstractThe struggle against gender-based violence in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region has witnessed some significant achievements since the late 1990s. A subject long excluded from public discourse in the region, it has now moved increasingly into the mainstream, compelling the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to take legal and practical measures against such practices as honor killings, female genital mutilation, and domestic violence. This article traces the sources of these shifts in the KRG's stance, looking especially at the role of transnational women's rights networks in the region. It highlights these networks’ successful strategy of binding their cause to the KRG's endeavor to legitimize and consolidate its contested sovereignty over the Kurdistan Region. In doing so, the paper addresses an underexplored subject in the literature on women's rights campaigns in the Kurdistan Region and contributes to the study of transnational advocacy as a source of normative change.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 44-47
Author(s):  
Eileen Alma

In the last two years, ethnically motivated sexual and gender-based violence rose in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a country marked with ethnic-based tensions and conflict over the control of its extractive industries over decades. According to the 2018 Report of the United Nations Secretary General to the United Nations, sexualized violence cases emerged and spread in several provinces in 2017 with at least 804 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in this period, affecting 507 women, 265 girls, 30 men and 2 boys. Despite progress by the international community actors to end these abhorrent practices, this marks a significant increase from the previous year and the delay in national elections has exacerbated conflict. Both non-state actors and state actors are identified perpetrators of sexual violence, including the Congolese National Police.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-324
Author(s):  
Daniela Kravetz

Abstract This article examines how national courts in Argentina and Guatemala are applying the international criminal law framework to address sexual violence perpetrated during mass repression and in conflict. It focuses on the emerging domestic jurisprudence in both countries and explores the challenges to prosecuting sexual and gender-based violence at the domestic level and the lessons learned from these experiences.


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