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On the last Friday of July, church bells around the Philippines rang on the orders of the Catholic hierarchy.

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A Statement by WLUML, Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! and the International Human Rights Defenders

The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) network, the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! and International Coalition on Women Human Rights Defenders Coalition are deeply concerned to learn about the recent death of 28 year old Ms. Laxmi Bohara on the 6th June 2008 in the Kanchanpur District of Nepal. Ms. Bohara died after she had been severely beaten by her husband, Tek Raj Bohara to whom she had been married for 12 years, and her mother-in-law, who then forced her to take poison. Bohara was a member of the National Alliance of Women Human Rights Defenders (NAWHRD), as well as a health volunteer and Secretary of Women’s Empowerment Center in the Kanchanpur District.

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Stilettos, wedges, lipsticks and maskaras are among the newest additions to the growing pile of clothing and accessories Muslim women are not supposed to wear in public.

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By Amanj Khalil in Sulaimaniyah

[Editor’s Note: First published on the website of the Institute of War and Peace Reporting as “Iraq-Kurdistan: Women claim new law erodes their rights” on 10 June 2008. Located in northern Iraq, the federal region of Kurdistan is currently drafting a new personal status law that is patterned after the Islamic law. Muslim women oppose such measure which is bound to deny them their human rights. Instead, they demand a prohibition of polygamy and a guarantee for equal inheritance. See http://www.iwpr.net/index.php?apc_state =hen&s=o&o=l=EN&p=icr&s=f&o=345113

They’re angry at plans to base legislation governing marriage and inheritance on Islam.

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by Women Living Under Muslim Laws

[Editor’s Note: First published on the website of WLUML on 10 June 2008. For more information in calling for the release of Bahá’í detainees, please visit http://wluml.org/english/actionsfulltxt.shtml? cmd[156]=i-156-562078

Six leaders of a group managing the Baha'i community's religious and administrative affairs in Iran were arrested at their homes by officers from the Ministry of Intelligence on 14 May 2008, and are now detained in Evin Prison in Tehran. A seventh person, acting secretary for the group, Mahvash Sabet, has been in detention since 5 March. The Baha'i community has long been persecuted by the Iranian government, especially since the Iranian Revolution.

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On 19 June 2008, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1820, which demands an end to sexual violence in situations of armed conflict. As the council further asserted that rape can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or even genocide, it recommended that sexual violence be considered an exception in amnesty provisions. It stressed that, “that sexual violence, when used or commissioned as a tactic of war in order to deliberately target civilians or as a part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilian populations, can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security.”