Female Genital Mutilation Still Prevalent In Parts Of Northeastern Nigeria
This week, we start in Cameroon, where the Anglophone conflict is making mental health problems worse for citizens. Next, we go to Uganda to take a look at an LGBTQ+ inclusive church. Finally, we stop in Kenya, where a serial killer suspect has escaped police custody.
But first, in Nigeria, there is growing concern over a bill to repeal the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, which has recently passed its second reading in the Senate.
This bill, sponsored by Senator Jibrin Isah of Kogi East, was first proposed in July 2022. Senator Jibrin believes that repealing the VAPP law is necessary to create a more holistic approach to addressing gender violence and to clear up ambiguities.
For instance, he highlights that the Act’s definition of rape lacks clarity, and that a distinction should be made between the “absence of consent” and “consent obtained by fraud or undue influence”. He also argues that the law, despite its gender-neutral language, is biased in favor of women.
However, regardless of his intentions, repealing the VAPP Act would result in a total overhaul, leaving victims of gender-based violence without protection in the meantime. Many critics are advocating for an amendment of the law instead.
The VAPP Act, signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in May 2015, was the first national legislation protecting women from violence, which was increasing at an alarming rate. Its enactment was as a result of the hard work of the Legislative Advocacy Coalition on Violence Against Women (LACVAW), a group of over 55 organizations and individuals.
Repealing this law would undo years of progress and send a troubling message about Nigeria’s commitment to protecting human rights. It would risk taking away hard-won protections and set us back in the fight against gender-based violence.
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On a fateful day in 2018, Rick went from renting a bike on his way home from school to blacking out in a gutter in Bamenda, Cameroon. Rick and everyone that day were running from the Cameroonian security forces.
“I noticed a massive group running in all directions, some towards me. Before I could turn around I heard a gunshot right next to my ear.” Rick narrates his ordeal that day. “I remember screaming so much and in panic, I ran into a gutter. I only woke up hours later in the evening and the town was deserted. The memory remains fresh in my mind, it never goes away”
Rick’s hometown, Bamenda, was the focal point of the Coffin Revolution, spearheaded by journalists in Cameroon’s NorthWest region. The revolution was in reaction to the government’s use of security forces to suppress a peaceful protest organized by Anglophone lawyers who were protesting decades of grievances over the marginalization of English speakers in Cameroon.
‘’As an Anglophone in a country divided by language, I faced discrimination and barriers to education from a young age, I saw the disparity with getting job opportunities and even in the way Anglophones were spoken to in government ministries.” All of these Mario, a champion of justice in Bamenda, says, encouraged his push for advocacy in him and thousands of others.
‘There is no Judgment’: A look inside Uganda’s LGBTQ+ inclusive church
It is a quiet Sunday morning in a Kampala suburb. From a distance, the distinct voices of people singing can be heard. As one draws closer to the origin of the song, it becomes more apparent, the emotions unmistakable, as a group of about two dozen people chorus in unison, “Let your living water flow over my soul. . .”.
At first glance, it looks like a usual church gathering. But the person seated by the entrance keeping watch and scanning the area around the hall, the suspicious gazes from the congregation whenever someone enters the room, and the rainbow-themed backdrop reveal a more profound truth.
This is no ordinary congregation. This gathering has been organized by Adonai Inclusive Christian Ministries, an LGBTQ+ affirming church in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. It is led by and welcomes gay people, a huge fraction of who struggle with reconciling their faith and sexuality.
When I arrive at the venue, I am met with skepticism. The person at the entrance nervously looks at me as if asking, “Who are you?”
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All names and details of the family have been removed as Indian laws prohibit identifying a rape victim or her family.
“Please make sure dad takes his medicines on time. Don’t worry about me.”
This was the last thing the 31-year-old doctor said to her mother, hours before she was brutally assaulted in a hospital where she worked.
“The next day, we tried reaching her but the phone kept ringing,” the mother told the BBC at their family home in a narrow alley, a few kilometres from Kolkata.
The same morning, the doctor’s partially-clothed body was discovered in the seminar hall, bearing extensive injuries. A hospital volunteer worker has been arrested in connection with the crime.
The incident has sparked massive outrage across the country, with protests in several major cities. At the weekend, doctors across hospitals in India observed a nation-wide strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), with only emergency services available at major hospitals.
The family say they feel hollowed out by their loss.
“At the age of 62, all my dreams have been shattered,” her father told the BBC.
HumAngle
Life Post-Abduction For Three Women In Northeastern Nigeria
In the town of Madagali, a Local Government Area of Adamawa, North East Nigeria, where Boko Haram’s insurgency once held sway, three women carry the scars of captivity, loss, and the enduring struggle for survival.
While the frequency of insurgent attacks in Madagali is waning, the trauma endured by its residents persists. Three women — Dudu Hamma, Zainabu Yakubu and Amina Bamanga — told HumAngle the stories of how their lives have been altered since the terrorists invaded their communities and captured them after killing their loved ones.
Like these three, many women in Madagali have lost their husbands, children, and livelihoods. They now face the harsh choice of becoming refugees in a foreign community or remaining displaced within the familiar but devastated surroundings of their hometown.
Dudu is from Humshi, a community in Madagali. Her life was forever altered on the day Boko Haram insurgents overran their village. In a desperate attempt to escape the marauding fighters, Dudu and her family fled towards the Cameroonian border, but the freedom they longed for eluded them.
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A Kenyan man arrested on suspicion of having killed and dismembered 42 women has escaped from his jail cell in Nairobi, police said on Tuesday.
A dozen other detainees also got free along with the 33-year-old Collins Jumaisi Khalusha
“They escaped last night, 13 in total, including the key suspect in the dump murder case,” Kenya police spokesperson Resila Onyango told news agency AFP. The escape comes as Kenyan police come under increasing scrutiny over the murders.
Khalusha was arrested in July and appeared before a court in Nairobi on Friday where the judge ordered his detention be extended for another 30 days. The arrest came after the discovery of the bodies of 10 butchered women were found in plastic bags at a dumpsite at an abandoned quarry in a Nairobi slum.
“We are dealing with a vampire, a psychopath,” the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin, said after the arrest.
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“Very demure” TikToker Jools Lebron’s viral fame is allowing her to fund her transition
If you’ve been anywhere near social media in recent weeks, you’re probably already well aware of Jools Lebron and her “very demure, very mindful” moment.
The Chicago-based trans TikToker sparked a viral trend earlier this month with a video showcasing her on-the-job style.
“You see how I do my makeup for work? Very demure. Very mindful,” Lebron explains in the August 5 clip. “I don’t look like a clown when I go to work. I don’t do too much, I’m very mindful at work. See how I look very presentable? The way I came to the interview is the way I go to the job.”
“Very demure, very mindful” caught on like wildfire, with seemingly everyone on social media — including celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Gillian Anderson, Penn Badgley, Olivia Rodrigo, Lindsay Lohan, and Jamie Lee Curtis — picking up on the trend. Lebron’s video has received 36 million views since August 5 and she’s amassed nearly two million followers on TikTok.