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Isis International stands in solidarity with the three human rights defenders who have come under attack from the state media in Sri Lanka for their active involvement with the on-going session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. We extend our support to Sunila Abeysekara, Nimalka Fernando, and Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, at this critical time in the history of the country, in their fight to ensure human rights accountability prevails.
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http://www.siawi.org/article3112.html
An Open Letter to Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch
Dear Kenneth Roth,
In your Introduction to Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2012, “Time to Abandon the Autocrats and Embrace Rights,” you urge support for the newly elected governments that have brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Tunisia and Egypt. In your desire to “constructively engage” with the new governments, you ask states to stop supporting autocrats. But you are not a state; you are the head of an international human rights organization whose role is to report on human rights violations, an honorable and necessary task which your essay largely neglects.
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The goal of reducing gender inequalities in political representation has been elusive in many different kinds of political systems, even though women have made substantial progress in legal rights, education, economic resources, employment opportunities, and healthcare in the same polities. This book argues that gender quotas are an important strategy to improve women's political representation in legislatures and political parties and it lays out the history of this approach across the globe. It suggests however, that gender quotas are themselves not an 'easy fix' to gender discrimination since similarly designed quotas have had different outcomes across cases. The book's comparative approach untangles the various factors which need to be considered in designing, lobbying for, and implementing gender quotas so that they can be effective. While teasing out some shared experiences, this volume encourages coalitions of activists to develop context-appropriate strategies to craft effective campaigns to end women's exclusion from poltiical decision-making. It also emphasises that women's movements need to build public support for gender quotas and influence their design and implementation if they are to move beyond 'tokenism' and significantly improve political representation for women. It is a tremendously useful and informative volume for activists and scholars across the globe and does a masterful job in explaining divergent outcomes both within regions and across them. Hoodfar and Tajali argue that although more and more countries are successfully and creatively using gender quotas, some of the wealthiest long-standing democracies still continue to experience greater legislative gender inequalities.
-Diane Singerman (Co-Director of Middle East Studies at American University)
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On 10 December 2011, Leymah Roberta Gbowee of Liberia, Tawakkol Karman of Yemen and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf were presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.
In their acceptance speeches, they spoke of the commitment and achievements of countless other women working for peace and called upon women and men to continue nonviolent struggle.
We reproduce some short excerpts here. The full Nobel lectures can be found at: http://www.nobelprize.org/
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October 22, 2011
marieme helie lucas
On the eve of the elections in Tunisia that will shape the future of the country and even that of the Arab world as well, Western do-gooders and Islamic fundamentalists hand in hand rejoice in ‘Tunisia’s first free elections’ and its access to ‘ democracy’. The recent history of Iran and Algeria have taught us better… And women in Tunisia watch in horror the rise of Muslim fundamentalists, as a possible replication of the Algerian scenario of 1989 .
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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen
7 October 2011
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 was awarded to three women peace builders, human rights defenders and women’s rights activists, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. The announcement was made by the Nobel committee in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on Friday, 7 October 2011.
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