. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from Their World

To mark International Day of the Girl today, more than 1000 girls have taken over some of the top jobs around the globe. – from executives at Google and Facebook to government posts and local councils. It’s all part of a campaign called Girls Get Equal, launched on International Day of the Girl by the child rights organisation Plan International. 

Amazing #GirlsTakeover news from Peru. Emily has taken over from her country’s President! “I received the enormous responsibility to become President and represent the voices of Peruvian girls, especially those who live in rural areas like me.“#DayoftheGirl

Around the world, girls are denied equal access to education and opportunity – just because they are girls.

Almost one in 10 girls are not in primary school, according to new United Nations figures. Girls of every age are more likely to be excluded from education than boys. And that leaves them at risk of child labour, early marriage and exploitation.

Among today’s takeovers is Emily – president of Peru!

In Paraguay, 11-year-old schoolgirl Nara has also become president for the day. She dreams of becoming an engineer – but she also fears sexual assault after several of her friends were attacked and raped.

“My example for other girls as president is never give up and be confident in yourself. It’s not just the boys who can achieve things,” Nara told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“I would like that girls are treated as equals. Men always leave us behind and place barriers in our way.”

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Prospects for progress in women’s equality, what are the short and long term prospects?

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Nara said sexual violence is one of the biggest problems holding girls back in Paraguay.

“The thing that’s most difficult for girls here is the abuse, the harassment, the rapes,” she said. “Girls feel trapped inside themselves because of the violence they have experienced.”

Reports show about 18 million girls aged 15 to 19 are victims of sexual violence each year – often leading to school dropout and reinforcing cultural practices such as early marriage.

Millions of girls are harassed on their way to and from school. Even when they get there, they can suffer sexual violence and bullying.

For last year’s International Day of the Girl, Theirworld looked at  13 reasons why girls are not in school. They include early marriage, pregnancy, conflict, disabilities and a lack of female teachers and role models.

More than 50 million child marriages could be prevented by 2030 if all girls finished secondary school, the charity Save the Children said today.

As well as education, the rights of girls and women are routinely being overlooked. A 2017 global survey of 30,000 young people by the World Economic Forum found more than half of young women felt their views were not heard or not taken seriously.

Only about one in four parliamentarians worldwide is a woman, while fewer than one in five government ministers is female.

As part of Girls Get Equal, other takeovers today include girls running the parliaments of Zimbabwe and Western Australia.

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, chief executive of Plan International, said: “It’s girls’ turn to take the lead – to be seen, heard and valued as equals.”

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An announcemet from The Nobel Prize Organization

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. Both laureates have made a crucial contribution to focusing attention on, and combating, such war crimes. Denis Mukwege is the helper who has devoted his life to defending these victims. Nadia Murad is the witness who tells of the abuses perpetrated against herself and others. Each of them in their own way has helped to give greater visibility to war-time sexual violence, so that the perpetrators can be held accountable for their actions.

The physician Denis Mukwege has spent large parts of his adult life helping the victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since the Panzi Hospital was established in Bukavu in 1999, Dr. Mukwege and his staff have treated thousands of patients who have fallen victim to such assaults. Most of the abuses have been committed in the context of a long-lasting civil war that has cost the lives of more than six million Congolese.

Denis Mukwege is the foremost, most unifying symbol, both nationally and internationally, of the struggle to end sexual violence in war and armed conflicts. His basic principle is that “justice is everyone’s business”. Men and women, officers and soldiers, and local, national and international authorities alike all have a shared responsibility for reporting, and combating, this type of war crime. The importance of Dr. Mukwege’s enduring, dedicated and selfless efforts in this field cannot be overstated. He has repeatedly condemned impunity for mass rape and criticised the Congolese government and other countries for not doing enough to stop the use of sexual violence against women as a strategy and weapon of war.

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(click here for the article in French.)

Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?

What role should men play to stop violence against women?

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Nadia Murad is herself a victim of war crimes. She refused to accept the social codes that require women to remain silent and ashamed of the abuses to which they have been subjected. She has shown uncommon courage in recounting her own sufferings and speaking up on behalf of other victims.

Nadia Murad is a member of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, where she lived with her family in the remote village of Kocho. In August 2014 the Islamic State (IS) launched a brutal, systematic attack on the villages of the Sinjar district, aimed at exterminating the Yazidi population. In Nadia Murad’s village, several hundred people were massacred. The younger women, including underage children, were abducted and held as sex slaves. While a captive of the IS, Nadia Murad was repeatedly subjected to rape and other abuses. Her assaulters threatened to execute her if she did not convert to their hateful, inhuman version of Islam.

Nadia Murad is just one of an estimated 3 000 Yazidi girls and women who were victims of rape and other abuses by the IS army. The abuses were systematic, and part of a military strategy. Thus they served as a weapon in the fight against Yazidis and other religious minorities.

After a three-month nightmare Nadia Murad managed to flee. Following her escape, she chose to speak openly about what she had suffered. In 2016, at the age of just 23, she was named the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.

This year marks a decade since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1820 (2008), which determined that the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict constitutes both a war crime and a threat to international peace and security. This is also set out in the Rome Statute of 1998, which governs the work of the International Criminal Court. The Statute establishes that sexual violence in war and armed conflict is a grave violation of international law.  A more peaceful world can only be achieved if women and their fundamental rights and security are recognised and protected in war.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize is firmly embedded in the criteria spelled out in Alfred Nobel’s will. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad have both put their personal security at risk by courageously combating war crimes and seeking justice for the victims. They have thereby promoted the fraternity of nations through the application of principles of international law.