Academic

Equality Now: Take action to support women in Afghanistan and human rights organizations in Ethiopia

By Ann Bartow

From the FLP mailbox:

Equality Now has just issued Women’s Action Update 21.6 in its Afghanistan campaign, re-iterating its call to the Afghan government to immediately and unconditionally reinstate to Parliament Malalai Joya, who was wrongly suspended for criticizing fellow members of Parliament as being warlords.

The Action highlights generally the increased vulnerability of high-profile women in Afghanistan , many of whom have been killed for promoting women’s rights or just for participating in public life. It urges the Afghan government to guarantee the personal safety of Malalai Joya and all those seeking to protect and promote the full equal rights of women in Afghanistan .

Click here for Women’s Action Update 21.6.

Equality Now has also just issued Women’s Action Update 22.5 highlighting the draft law now being considered by the Ethiopian government that would effectively prohibit human rights organizations from operating in the country. The Action is calling on the Ethiopian government to remove the provision requiring groups working on women’s rights and other specific areas to obtain 90% of their funding from within the country and urges a comprehensive revision of the text to guarantee that all groups working on human rights, including women’s rights, are allowed to operate freely and without government interference. The Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association is one group that would be severely affected if these changes are passed into law, which would put at risk the vital work being done to promote women’s rights in Ethiopia, including on behalf of Woineshet Zebene Negash whose abduction and rape were highlighted in a previous Women’s Action.

Click here for Women’s Action Update 22.5.

Full post as published by Feminist Law Professors on December 30, 2008 (boomark / email).