SHOCKING: Teenage Gang-Rape Survivor in Sudan Convicted of ‘Indecent Acts’

February 25, 2014 at 8:00 AM

An 18-year-old Ethiopian migrant woman in Sudan was gang-raped – and now faces prison and a hefty fine for coming forward (Photo by Eric Lafforgue/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images).

By Alice Dahle, Amnesty USA’s Women’s Human Rights Coordination Group

An 18-year-old Ethiopian migrant woman in Khartoum, Sudan was out looking for housing, when she was lured into an empty property and gang-raped by seven men. A police officer found her after the attack and took her to the police station. However, since it was a public holiday, a formal complaint was not filed.

The perpetrators of the rapes filmed the attack and distributed the video through social media six months later. As a result, everyone involved was arrested.

Of the seven men put on trial, three were convicted of adultery and sentenced to 100 lashes. Two more were convicted of indecent acts and sentenced to 40 lashes and fines. Another man was convicted of distributing indecent material and sentenced to 40 lashes and a heavy fine. The seventh individual was released on grounds of insufficient evidence against him. Those sentenced to lashing had their sentences carried out immediately after the trial in a closed court.

But that’s not where the story ends.

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Most Dangerous Journey: What Central American Migrants Face When They Try to Cross the Border

By Guest Writer

February 20, 2014 at 12:58 PM

A group of 33 Central American womeA group of 33 Central American women traveling in a caravan across Mexico in search of migrant relatives (Photo Credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

A group of 33 Central American women traveling in a caravan across Mexico in search of migrant relatives (Photo Credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images).

By Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

The scrub-lands and desert in Mexico’s northern state of Coahuila are the last stop for Central American migrants before attempting to cross the border into the USA.

By the time they reach Saltillo, Coahuila’s capital, they have made a perilous journey of nearly 2,000 kilometers. Along the way, many of these men, women and children suffer assaults, robbery and abduction by criminal gangs. There are also reports of extortion and ill-treatment by police and immigration officials. Tragically, some migrants are killed before they even get this far.

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BREAKING: President Karzai Rejects Law Rolling Back Violence Protections for Women

By Julia Drost

February 19, 2014 at 12:47 PM

Afghan university students and independent civil society activists take part in a demonstration in support of passing the Elimination of Violence against Women law in front of Parliament in Kabul (Photo Credit: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images).

This is what protecting human rights looks like: responding to resounding national and international outcry, including the voices of Afghan women and Amnesty activists around the world, early this week Afghan President Karzai blocked a new discriminatory law that would have denied justice to women and girls subjected to domestic violence, rape, and forced or child marriage.

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On the Desk of President Karzai: A New Discriminatory Law Against Afghan Women

By Julia Drost

February 14, 2014 at 8:00 AM

The deeply flawed Article prohibits the relatives of an accused individual from acting as witnesses during a criminal prosecution, including cases of violence against women (Photo Credit: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images).

President Karzai’s pen is poised to approve a revision to Afghanistan’s Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) passed by Parliament that will prove catastrophic for the ability to Afghan women and girls to seek justice when family members commit acts of violence against them. His signature could come within a week’s time.

The deeply flawed Article 26 (clauses 4 and 6) of the CPC prohibits the relatives of an accused individual from acting as witnesses during a criminal prosecution, including cases of violence against women. This would mean that testimonies of relatives witnessing the rape of a family member or an honor killing will not be taken into consideration – a major concern where violence, including domestic violence and forced or child marriage, is predominantly perpetrated and/or witnessed by family members.

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This Friday, Rise for Justice!

By Cristina Finch

February 11, 2014 at 11:48 AM

Amnesty activists at One Billion Rising demonstration in Times Square last year (Photo Credit: Amnesty International).

Amnesty is once again a sponsoring partner of One Billion Rising, V-DAY’s campaign to mobilize women and men across the world to demonstrate their collective strength and solidarity in support of justice and the elimination of violence against women and girls.

Violence against women is one of the world’s most pervasive violations of human rights. One out of every three women worldwide will experience physical or sexual abuse during her lifetime and in some countries, rates of violence reach as high as 70 percent.

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Closing Morocco’s Rape Loophole is Just the First Step

By Guest Writer

January 31, 2014 at 3:00 PM

Zohra Filali holds a picture of her daughter, Amina, the week after she committed suicide. Amina took her own life by drinking rat poison in March 2012 after being forced to marry the man who allegedly raped her.

By Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program. This post originally appeared in the International Business Times.

Amina Filali was just 16 years old when, in the depths of despair, she decided to take her own life.

Several months earlier the teenager from Morocco had been forced to marry a man whom she said had raped her.

In March 2012, Amina lost all hope. She swallowed rat poison in her hometown of Larache and died shortly afterwards.

Up until last week, men accused of rape in Morocco were able to escape prosecution by marrying their victim, if the girl was aged under 18.

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THIS EXISTS: Law Allows Rapists to Escape Prison If They Marry Underage Victims

By The Editors

January 22, 2014 at 2:30 PM

Amina Filali committed suicide by swallowing rat poison in March 2012. She was 16 years old. Her desperate act showed the depth of her pain and despair: she must have felt that nobody was there to help her.

We soon learned that Amina had been raped in her small Moroccan town, by a man she was then forced to marry. Imagine being married to your rapist, to be forced to see that person all the time – it would be devastating.

He married her because Moroccan law allows rapists to escape prosecution by marrying their victim, if she is aged under 18.

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The “Most Dangerous City in the World” – Especially for Sex Workers

By Larry Ladutke

January 18, 2014 at 8:00 AM

Sex workers wait for customers in Honduras. Honduras now has the highest per capita murder rate in the world and its capital city, Tegucigalpa, is plagued by violence, poverty, homelessness and sexual assaults (Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images).

Ian Lekus of Amnesty USA’s LGBT Human Rights Cogroup contributed to this post.

San Pedro Sula, Honduras, has been called “the most dangerous city in the world.” For sex workers in the city, the risk of violence is multiplied many times over.

Despite the fact that sex work is legal in Honduras, many groups and individuals view their actions as immoral. Those who murder sex workers believe they can literally treat these human beings as garbage to be disposed of. Such violence takes place against the broader backdrop of widespread gender- and sexuality-based violence that imperils women and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) persons all through Honduras.

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U.S. Congress Takes Another Critical Step to Help Afghan Women’s Rights and Security

By Julia Drost

December 20, 2013 at 12:15 PM

Lieutenant Islam Bibi Helmand’s top female police officer (R) talking to a colleague on March 8, 2013. Known as the most senior female police officer in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Bibi was shot dead on July 4, 2013 by unknown gunmen while being driven to work. The attack is seen as part of a series violence against top women officials (Photo Credit: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images).

Elsie De Laere, our Afghanistan country specialist, co-authored this piece.

The situation is unfortunately not unfamiliar yet it deteriorates with each passing day: Afghan women working to protect and advance their rights continue to face growing threats to their lives and safety.

Well-documented threats to female Members of Parliament and government, women’s human rights defenders, and female police officers occur on a daily basis, all set against the terrifying backdrop of an uncertain future currently being shaped by attempts to revoke provisions of the country’s Elimination of Violence Against Women law and potential peace negotiations with the Taliban and other insurgent groups that threaten to rollback gains for women’s human rights.

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HAPPENING NOW: Journalists Being Murdered in Honduras

By Larry Ladutke

December 18, 2013 at 12:11 PM

A man lights a candle during a vigil in memory of over 20 journalists killed in Honduras in the last three years (Photo Credit: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images).

A man lights a candle during a vigil in memory of over 30 journalists killed in Honduras in the last three years (Photo Credit: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images).

“This killing is not just a crime against a an individual but also against the society as a whole. Every country should enjoy a free press in which journalists and media owners are allowed to exercise independence in collecting and reporting news without fearing for violent reprisals.”

– Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Last month, I posted a blog entry asking if the November 25 elections in Honduras would be a victory for human rights. Unfortunately, my question was violently answered on December 7, when two unidentified gunmen murdered journalist Juan Carlos Argeñal. In addition to owning a local television station, Argeñal was a correspondent for Radio Globo and Globo TV.

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Human Rights Now Blog

Tag Archives: Violence against Women

Most Dangerous Journey: What Central American Migrants Face When They Try to Cross the Border

Closing Morocco’s Rape Loophole is Just the First Step

THIS EXISTS: Law Allows Rapists to Escape Prison If They Marry Underage Victims

The “Most Dangerous City in the World” – Especially for Sex Workers

HAPPENING NOW: Journalists Being Murdered in Honduras