Gambian parliament debates bill to reverse ban on female genital mutilation
Banjul, Gambia Reuters Gambian lawmakers on Monday debated whether to repeal a ban on female genital mutilation, which has been on the rise in recent years despite activist campaigns to end the practice. The small West African nation imposed steep fines and jail sentences in 2015 for those who carry out female circumcision, known by […]
Calls for new laws as tech fuels “explosion” of online sex abuse
London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation As a schoolgirl, Sarah Cooper became close to an online buddy called “J”, bonding over a love of pop singers like Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, and confiding about problems at home. Some two years later he sold her into sexual slavery. Cooper, from the US city of Boston, told […]
Crime and what punishment? Russian women pin hope on domestic violence ruling
Tbilisi, Georgia Thomson Reuters Foundation She got slammed against her bathroom door and beaten up for refusing her husband sex. He got off with a small fine. Welcome to Russia – where an estimated one in five women suffer violence from their husband and where rights groups say the law offers little punishment and even […]
“Alarming” number of babies being sold in Uzbekistan, anti-trafficking groups say
Tbilisi, Georgia Thomson Reuters Foundation Anti-slavery groups have urged Uzbekistan to step up action to tackle baby trafficking after government figures revealed an “alarming” number of infants were being sold in the country. Uzbek authorities recorded 185 such cases during the past four years, the interior ministry said earlier this month, with officials citing difficult […]
India’s low-caste women raped to keep them “in their place”
Chennai, India Thomson Reuters Foundation Lower-caste Dalit women in northern India are targeted for rape by upper caste men who usually escape justice as survivors bow to pressure to drop their cases, researchers said this week. Only 10 per cent of 40 rape cases involving Dalit women and girls in Haryana state ended with the […]
Sudan makes female genital cutting a crime in “new era” for women’s rights
Nairobi, Kenya Thomson Reuters Foundation Sudan has criminalised female genital mutilation, making it punishable by three years in jail, a move campaigners said ushered in a “new era” for women’s rights in the African nation. Almost nine out of 10 women and girls in predominately Muslim Sudan have undergone FGM, United Nations data show. The […]
World “woefully” underestimating female genital mutilation, study finds
London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation Female genital mutilation affects far more countries than previously thought, meaning global estimates for the number of women who have been cut are “woefully” low, researchers said on Tuesday. FGM is traditionally associated with a swathe of African countries, but the study highlights growing evidence that the ritual is also […]
From job bans to child marriage, countries told to scrap sexist laws
London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation From parts of the United States where child marriage remains legal to Russia, where women are banned from a host of jobs, almost every country has broken long-standing promises to eradicate discriminatory laws, legal experts said on Monday. Rights group Equality Now urged all governments to review their laws as […]
Burundi school ban on expectant teens “skewed” against girls’ education
Thomson Reuters Foundation Burundi’s ban on pregnant girls and expectant teen fathers attending school is not only a violation against children’s right to education, but also unfairly discriminates against girls, campaigners said on Wednesday. The ministry of education in Burundi last week issued a directive to provincial authorities saying pregnant teens and young mums, as […]