This No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) news digest rounds up some of the week’s top FGM & Women’s Rights stories for the week ending 14 May:
Women’s rights under microscope in Afghanistan as female political adviser killed
Global News, 13 May 2019
Gunmen shot dead a former television journalist and adviser to the Afghan parliament in Kabul on Saturday, underlining threats to women and drawing widespread condemnation. Mina Mangal, who used to report for prominent TV station Ariana News, was killed by two unidentified men on a motorbike close to her home in eastern Kabul, police spokesman Basir Mujahid said. She had been on her way to work as an adviser to the parliament’s cultural affairs commission.
On Mother’s Day, Protect Women’s Rights in Disaster Zones
Human Rights Watch, 12 May 2019
Today is my first Mother’s Day as a new mum in the United States. Today I am also flying to Puerto Rico, to better understand how Hurricane Maria impacted pregnant women and women with newborns when the massive storm hit in September 2017. My 9-month-old daughter, Eve, is coming with me to the Caribbean island. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1. Scientists found that a storm of Maria’s rain magnitude is nearly five times more likely to occur again than in 1950, largely as a result of climate change.
The Guardian view on abortion: protecting a human right
The Guardian, 12 May 2019
No law can end abortions, however severe its restrictions and however harsh its penalties. Each day almost 70,000 unsafe abortions are carried out around the world, and they are vastly more likely to happen in countries with strict laws. What such legislation does do is force some women to continue pregnancies against their wishes, while risking the lives and wellbeing of others.
Breast ironing is a harmful practice to young girls that isn’t getting sufficient attention
Quartz Africa, 08 May 2019
Recent news reports in the UK of breast ironing portray yet more ways in which culture causes harm to young girls. The reports followed renewed calls for stronger action against the practice, which is observed to prevent the development of a girl’s breasts and subsequently reduce the sexual attention she may receive. It involves using an object to massage, pound, or press the breasts flat.
The Trump administration decided not to defend a 20-year-old ban on female genital mutilation
Business Insider, 07 May 2019
Two years ago, a Detroit emergency room doctor, Jumana Nagarwala, allegedly texted, and called, two mothers in Minnesota to arrange clandestine operations for their 7-year-old daughters. Later, the mothers brought their daughters to a Michigan clinic where Nagarwala cut their clitoral hoods.
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