The Effects of PCOS Go Beyond Fertility Issues For Women

Today, we start in Nigeria, where traditional practices are being used to suppress women’s rights. Next, we travel to Uganda to witness the efforts of sex workers to stop decriminalization of their profession. And lastly, we delve into the story of the Pakistani parents sentenced to life imprisonment for the “honor killing” of their teenage daughter.

But first in Malawi, where the government recently expelled the refugee rights group – INUA Advocacy from the Dzaleka refugee camp. 

The Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi is one of Africa’s largest. For the last three decades, it has been a home for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing from political instability and violence in their home countries. The Malawian government’s partnership with INUA Advocacy granted the group access to the camp to scrutinize the human rights situation. However, the recent termination of this partnership raises eyebrows at the already deteriorating situation in the refugee camp.

In March 2023, the Malawian government gave a directive to enforce its encampment policy, which ordered all refugees in cities, villages, or towns outside the camp to return. In May, the police began rounding up thousands of refugees across Malawi, temporarily detaining and forcefully relocating them back to the Dzaleka camp. 

As expected, not long after, the forceful relocations birthed numerous challenges in the camp, such as out-of-school children due to overcrowded schools and the shortage of food, shelter, water, health services, and sanitation facilities. 

The Dzaleka refugee camp was initially meant to host 12,000 people but currently accommodates around 50,000. And despite President Lazarus Chakwera’s promise in June to improve the living conditions of the refugees in the camp, there has been no significant progress. 

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The Effects Of PCOS Go Beyond Fertility Issues For Women

BBC

Afghanistan: Taliban sends abused women to prison – UN

From our Site

Homosexuality predates colonialism. It is homophobia that’s new

We see and acknowledge the support and allyship from some of our white brethren towards gay people on the African continent. We are however sensitive to the ways in which this support can exclude certain things from the conversation. 

Many times when white people and former colonial countries refer to homosexuality on the continent, it is often from a lens of casting Africa as “unprogressive,” “close-minded,” further feeding the narrative of whiteness as “evolutionary” without taking into account the era of colonialism and how it in many ways created and bolstered the current homophobia many gay Africans experience. 

There is a recasting that is happening of colonialists as “saviors” quick to render a hand to as always “close-minded” and “monolithic” Africa, a recasting that is more than just worrying, also incredibly dangerous. It is important for us to approach every conversation with context and understanding, homophobia in Africa is no different. 

“I have been treated unfairly”: The harmful traditional practice suppressing women in Nigeria

Across the Idoma, Igala, and Ekureku people of Nigeria, certain traditions are keeping tabs on women’s fidelity, income, and their choice to bear children.

One Tuesday morning in April 2016, the Easter celebration was around the corner when, at about 3:34 AM, a thunderous knock startled 52-year-old Janet* and her six children. As she struggled with the door bolt, she whispered a prayer to herself, “Lord, not again.” At the door was Oche*, her 77-year-old husband, who had come home drunk as usual in the company of a strange woman. As soon as he saw Janet, his jaw tightened and his hand curled into a fist. “I told you not to get a job but you are adamant!” he snapped.

Janet was only 17 when she was forced to marry Oche who was 42 in 1987. She had written her Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE), the final lap in Nigeria’s basic education system, hoping to be a nurse. Oche, a civil servant at the time, didn’t allow Janet to learn a skill or further her studies. “Anytime I tried to seek a job, he would threaten me with Aleku, the spirit of justice,” she says.

This prominent traditional practice is prevalent amongst the Idoma people of Benue State, Igala people of Kogi State, and Ekureku people of Cross River State in Nigeria. The Idoma people believe in Aleku to maintain justice in the land. The Igala people believe in Ibegwu to uphold justice, while the Ekureku people believe in Edu-ekolo to protect the family. The common feature in this tradition is that the spirit oversees women and keeps a tab on whether they are loyal to their husbands or not.

Fact of the week

Did you know that the Great Rift Valley, stretching across East African countries like Kenya and Ethiopia and even reaching Lebanon in Asia, is often considered the cradle of humanity? Scientists have found many ancient fossils within the Rift Valley that have shed light on the origin and evolution of humans.

Stories from Around the world

Human Rights Watch

Kyrgyzstan: Domestic Violence Against Women, Girls with Disabilities

 

Women and girls with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan experience abuse, including rape, beatings, neglect, and humiliation, often by those closest to them as said in the Human Rights Watch report. Kyrgyzstan has taken positive steps in recent years to tackle domestic violence and to uphold the rights of people with disabilities and should act now to protect women with disabilities from such violence.

The 63-page report, “‘Abused by Relatives, Ignored by the State’: Domestic Violence against and Neglect of Women and Girls with Disabilities in Kyrgyzstan,” documents how violence by family members or partners often goes unreported and unaddressed due to widespread discrimination against people with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan, especially women and girls. 

Families often perceive their existence as shameful and hide them from society. Law enforcement and judicial bodies often ignore or downplay reported cases, and a shortage of shelters and other services for survivors of domestic violence who have disabilities makes it harder for them to escape abuse.

BBC

Italian court jails parents for life over ‘honour killing’ of Pakistani teen

An Italian court has given a Pakistani couple life sentences for killing their 18-year-old daughter because she refused an arranged marriage.

Saman Abbas’s body was found at a farmhouse in northern Italy in November 2022, 18 months after she disappeared. Her father, Shabbar Abbas, was arrested in Pakistan and extradited to be tried for her murder in August.

Her mother, Nazia Shaheen, was convicted in her absence. She is believed to be hiding in Pakistan. Shabbar Abbas had earlier made an impassioned plea to the court, asserting that “never in my life did I think of killing my daughter”. The teenager’s uncle, Danish Hasnain, was given 14 years in jail for involvement in the murder, but two of her cousins were cleared. Saman Abbas’s so-called honour killing by her family in late April 2021 shocked Italy. Following her disappearance, Italy’s union of Islamic communities issued a fatwa – a religious ruling – rejecting forced marriages.

Aljazeera

Sisters in support: Decriminalising sex work from inside Kampala brothels

In Uganda, sex workers face stigma and abuse. But a sisterhood within the brothels is helping them navigate multiple challenges.

Down a muddy alley in a slum in Wabiduku on the eastern edge of Kampala, past vendors hawking bits of fried fish and rubber flip flops, sits a bright, pink shipping container. It is painted with cartoon condoms and banners advertising the importance of HIV/AIDs testing.

This unexpectedly colorful place in the Ugandan capital is operated by the Lady Mermaid Empowerment Centre. It is an organization led by sex workers fighting to decriminalize their profession while documenting violations and providing free contraceptives and counseling.

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CNN

Eight-year-old chess ‘phenomenon’ wins women’s first prize at European Rapid and Blitz Championship

An eight-year-old British schoolgirl “phenomenon” won the women’s first prize in the Blitz category at this year’s European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Zagreb, Croatia.

The “super talented” – as the competition described her – Bodhana Sivanandan scored 8.5/13 points in the 13-round Blitz competition, which attracted 555 players, including 48 grandmasters (GM) and 50 international masters (IM), according to Chess.com, to claim the women’s first prize on Saturday in the Croatian capital.

Sivanandan beat one IM and one FIDE Master (FM), Chess.com reported, noting that she finished in 73rd place overall with 8.5 points and scored a rating performance of 2316, ahead of several GMs and masters.