How Women in Kenya Mobilized for Peace After Surviving Violence

How Women in Kenya Mobilized for Peace After Surviving Violence

Women are rarely represented adequately at peace negotiations yet they make up half the population of any country in conflict or at war. This remains the case despite increasing global policy awareness on how women are affected by conflict and the importance of including them in peace and security processes. For instance, the UN’s landmark framework on women, peace and security reaffirms the important role women play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts.

Women’s contributions are also underscored in African peace instruments like the Maputo Protocol and Kenya’s National Action Plan.

But how do women in conflict actually engage in peacebuilding? There is considerable academic literature on the links between gender and peace but the lived experiences of women peace builders are not well captured.

The Escalation of Anti-Abortion Violence Ten Years After Dr. George Tiller’s Murder

The Escalation of Anti-Abortion Violence Ten Years After Dr. George Tiller’s Murder

By Jill Heaviside & Rosann Mariappuram. First published on Rewire.News

As we mark the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, it is incredible to think that, just over a month ago, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse was really asking how “the pro-life position is in any way violent.”

Violence has been a central tenet of the anti-abortion movement since before the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. As activists have sought control over the reproductive freedom of millions of people—particularly women of color, low-income women and families, and queer, gender-nonconforming, and transgender communities—they have used violence as a tactic of control, abuse, and fear across the United States.

Dr. Tiller was Wichita’s only abortion provider for 40 years and was known for his deep commitment to trusting women and their families’ reproductive health decisions. Because of his work, Dr. Tiller was a target of many anti-abortion groups; before he was killed, he survived a clinic bombing and a prior shooting.

Dr. Tiller’s murder wasn’t an isolated incident. Anti-abortion extremists have killed at least 11 people since the 1990s. Their violent history includes the first recorded murder of an abortion provider, Dr. David Gunn, in 1993, and the 2015 shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, which claimed three lives and injured nine people.

Why Sierra Leonean Women Don’t Feel Protected By Domestic Violence Laws

Why Sierra Leonean Women Don’t Feel Protected By Domestic Violence Laws

By Luisa T. Schneider, Postdoctoral research fellow, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. First published on The Conversation

Sierra Leone has a long history of sexual and gender based violence, dating back to the colonial era and stretching into the years of independence which began in 1961. The country’s civil war, which raged between 1991 and 2002, brought international attention to the high levels of violence against women.

In this way, Sierra Leone is similar to many young democracies in Africa with a violent history; it struggles with patriarchal attitudes and high levels of violence against women and girls.

After the war, several legal changes were made to try and address this kind of violence. One was the Domestic Violence Act, ratified in 2007. It criminalises all forms of violence – physical, sexual, emotional and economic — against women and outlines strict punishments for perpetrators.

In A Time Of Turmoil, Dr. Mukwege's Nobel Peace Prize Is A Heavenly Gift For Us All

In A Time Of Turmoil, Dr. Mukwege's Nobel Peace Prize Is A Heavenly Gift For Us All

Introduction from Anne: Professor De Reus considered the humanitarian righteousness of awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Congolese physician Denis Mukwege in 2015, a tremendous honor that was not his that year.

AOC has a decade-long history of writing about the courageous vision of Dr. Mukwege and the horrific challenges faced by women of the Congo. To awaken on October 5, 2018 and read that Dr. Mukwege and activist Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman once taken captive by ISIS, were sharing the 2018 Nobel prize was truly good news at a stressful time in America and around the world.

I met up with Professor De Reus in my own East Coast backyard and also watched her TEDx Talk featured at the end of her article. If you don’t know about Dr. Mukwege and his Panzi Hospital, Lee Ann De Reus shares an excellent 2015 overview.

Harvey Weinstein Arrested On Friday Morning & Now Under Arraignment In Manhattan

Harvey Weinstein Arrested On Friday Morning & Now Under Arraignment In Manhattan

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is pictured by New York Magazine, arriving at a lower Manhattan police station early Friday, turning himself in to face a series of charges related to his aggressive sexual tactics with women.

Weinstein was immediately arrested, the NYPD confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter and then charged with rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for his behavior with two women. Arraignment will happen later today. 

A statement released by the NYPD thanked "these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice". 

France Reflects On Having No Age Of Sexual Consent, Even For A 10-Year-Old Girl Legally Raped In Many Countries

France Reflects On Having No Age Of Sexual Consent, Even For A 10-Year-Old Girl Legally Raped In Many Countries

Writing for The Atlantic, Marie Doezema zeroes in on a case in France involving an 11-year-old girl. one that 50 years later has sparked a moment of moral and legal reckoning. The event happened in April, 2017, when a 28-year-old-man met an 11-year-old girl in a park in Montmagny, a small town of 14,000 people in northern France. 

After congenial conversation with her that involved no coercion, the man said he would be happy to show the young girl how to kiss. She did go home with the man, and it's not clear from reading the reports when the girl showed the man her schoolbooks to establish her age. The victim says she did; the accused insists that she did not. 

“She thought … that she didn’t have the right to protest, that it wouldn’t make any difference,” the mother told Mediapart, a French investigative site which first reported on the allegations of the case. The accusations were of an adult raping a child—a crime that, in France, can lead to a 20-year prison sentence for the perpetrator when the victim is 15 or younger.

Facts are that the case was not proceeding towards a rape charge.  Initially, the man was charged with “sexual infraction,” a crime punishable with a maximum of five years in jail and a €75,000 fine. Under French law, a charge of rape requires “violence, coercion, threat, or surprise,” even if the victims are age 11 or 12, as the girl in the Montmagny case.

“She was 11 years and 10 months old, so nearly 12 years old,” defense lawyer Marc Goudarzian said. Sandrine Parise-Heideiger, his fellow defense lawyer, added: “We are not dealing with a sexual predator on a poor little faultless goose.”

Angelina Jolie & John Kerry Talk Women's Rights & Environmental Action In ELLE US March 2018

Angelina Jolie & John Kerry Talk Women's Rights & Environmental Action In ELLE US March 2018

Superstar Angelina Jolie sits down with former US secretary of state John Kerry to talk March 8, International Women's Day in the March 2018 issue of ELLE US. In truth, they spend as much time talking environmental issues as women's rights, although the two intersect in so many ways. As guest editor of the March 2018 issue of Vogue Australia, Emma Watsonmakes the same point: women suffer more than men as a result of climate change.

At age 42, Angelina Jolie has devoted herself to shedding light on women’s rights and violence against women around the world. Jolie serves as a goodwill ambassador and special envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where she’s completed nearly 60 field missions, including visits to Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. As cofounder of the British government’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, Jolie's met with rape survivors in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Nigerian Girls Raped By Boko Haram Are Now Raped By Nigerian Security Forces 'Protecting' Them

Nigerian Girls Raped By Boko Haram Are Now Raped By Nigerian Security Forces 'Protecting' Them

While my self-appointed Grade A feminist friends (note that I have been demoted) obsess with the injustice against the wonderful supporter of women Sen. Al Franken, who resigned yesterday, my own focus today is the dreadful lives of these poor Nigerian girls. (And beating Roy Moore in Alabama) First these innocent young girls were kidnapped from their schools and raped repeatedly for three years by Boko Haram terrorists. Many have babies. And now, having escaped to a Nigerian camp where they are supposed to be safe, these girls are being raped by the men who are supposed to protect them.

Al Franken is a fine, fine, fine man. But I object to him becoming the face of women's rights injustice against men, when women of every age are suffering around the world -- and here in America -- because we do not have body autonomy of ANY KIND. Life is not 'fair' for billions of people around the world. And it's not "fair" at all for these young women.

Angelina Jolie Criticizes UN Peacekeepers For Not Tackling Global Violence Against Women

Angelina Jolie Criticizes UN Peacekeepers For Not Tackling Global Violence Against Women Art of Living

Angelina Jolie remains one of the strongest voices for women worldwide, and she did not hold back in addressing the UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial Conference in Vancouver on Tuesday with her keynote speech.

“Sexual violence is everywhere – in the industry where I work, in business, in universities, in politics, in the military, and across the world,” she said during her keynote address on Wednesday. “All too often, these kinds of crimes against women are laughed off, depicted as a minor offense by someone who cannot control themselves, as an illness, or as some kind of exaggerated sexual need,” she continued. “But a man who mistreats women is not oversexed. He is abusive.”

NYPD Taking Paz de la Huerta's 2010 Rape Claims Against Weinstein Very Seriously, Saying They Would Arrest Him In New York City

NYPD Taking Paz de la Huerta's 2010 Rape Claims Against Weinstein Very Seriously, Saying They Would Arrest Him In New York City

Actor Paz de la Huerta accused Harvey Weinstein of two instances of rape earlier this week, alleging that twice in 2010 he forced himself on her. Although the events happened seven years ago. An important factor in the investigation of Paz de la Huerta's claims is documentation provided by her therapist, who provided a letter outlining her memories of the sessions devoted to the alleged assaults by Weinstein. TIME reports that another individual has corroborated parts of the story, and additional subpoenas have been issued.

Wall Street's Howie Rubin Named In $27 Million Lawsuit Alleging Extreme BDSM Brutality & Rape

WALL STREET TYCOON HOWIE RUBIN AND HIS WIFE, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL ALUM MARY HENRY. THE COUPLE MARRIED IN 1985 AND HAVE THREE CHILDREN.

Wall Street's Howie Rubin Named In $27 Million Lawsuit Alleging Extreme BDSM Brutality & Rape

Well-known Wall Street portfolio manager Howie Rubin was named in a $27 million Brooklyn federal lawsuit filed Thursday. The New York Post broke the story in which Rubin, the legendary big shot featured in best-selling books 'Liar's Poker' and 'The Big Short', is charged with engaging in brutal sex with women paid between $2,000 and $5,000 per session. 

The lawsuit alleges that the three plaintiffs -- including two Playboy Playmates -- allege that Rubin, the married father of three, gagged, tied up and viciously abused them in an $8 million penthouse in Manhattan's Metropolitan Tower with a side room fitted with ropes, chains, sex toys and other BDSM equipment. 

“I’m going to rape you like I rape my daughter,” Rubin barked during one of the alleged assaults.

In one session, he beat one of the women’s “breasts so badly that her right implant flipped,” the papers state. The former Bear Stearns trader paid her $20,000 to repair the damage.

Education Secy Betsy DeVos Announces Plans To Revise Title 9 Sexual Assault On Campus Rules

Education Secy Betsy DeVos Announces Plans To Revise Title 9 Sexual Assault On Campus Rules

US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced changes Thursday to an Obama-era directive regarding sexual-assault allegations on campus. Speaking at George Mason University in Virginia, DeVos said “The truth is that the system established by the prior administration has failed too many students." She pledged to replace the “failed system” with a “workable, effective, and fair system” that addresses the needs and rights for both sexual-assault victims and the accused.

“Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously. Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined,” she said.

Leaving the current rules in place for now, DeVos said that a public comment period would open soon, in order to craft new rules. 

“We will seek public feedback and combine institutional knowledge, professional expertise, and the experiences of students to replace the current approach with a workable, effective, and fair system,” DeVos said.

Jordan Votes To End Its Marry Your Rapist Law | Will The Philippines Take Action Also?

WOMEN CALLING FOR THE REPEAL OF A LAW IN JORDAN ALLOWING RAPISTS TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT IF THEY MARRY THEIR VICTIMS STOOD OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT IN AMMAN ON TUESDAY. CREDITREEM SAAD/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jordan Votes To End Its Marry Your Rapist Law | Will The Philippines Take Action Also?

Jordan's Parliament joined voted Tuesday to revoke a law allowing rapists to escape criminal prosecution if they marry their victims. Such laws are widespread in the Arab world as well as in the Philippines, a majority Catholic country, and have served benefit rapists for centuries. 

Proponents of the marry your rapist laws contend that they protect the female and her family from the shame of rape. Such sexual assault aggression against women is deemed to be her fault in societies where a family's honor is deeply linked to the chastity of its women. 

Bill Cosby Set To Educate Young Men About Charges Of Rape For A Simple Touch

Just read these words. Does Cosby sound like he is a member of the alt-right? Cosby is launching a full-frontal, Trump-like assault on women, suggesting that a brush of the shoulder with a woman could get you on trial for rape. This is truly disgusting.

Looking marvelously better than during his trial, disgraced comedian Bill Cosby is hitting the road, playing the role of victim.

“Mr. Cosby wants to get back to work,” Andrew Wyatt, a spokesperson for Cosby, told a local Fox affiliate in Alabama on Thursday. “We are now planning town halls.... We’re going to talk to young people, because this is bigger than Bill Cosby. This issue can affect any young person, especially young athletes of today. And they need to know what they're facing when they’re hanging out and partying, when they’re doing certan things that they should be doing. And it also affects married men.”

Angelina Jolie Premieres 'First They Killed My Father' in Cambodia, Writes NYT Op-Ed on Refugees, Supports Turkish Series On Refugee Family

Angelina Jolie Premieres 'First They Killed My Father' in Cambodia, Writes NYT Op-Ed on Refugees, Supports Turkish Series On Refugee Family

On Saturday February 18, Angelina Jolie traveled with her children Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10 and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne to Siem Reap, Cambodia for the première of her new film 'First They Killed My Father' based on the memoir of close friend Loung Ung. 

Jolie, whose eldest son Maddox was adopted in 2002 from an orphanage in Battambang, Cambodia gave a free public screening of the memoir-based drama. The Netflix film tells the story of the war time experiences of Angelina's friend Loung Ung, a Cambodian author and human rights activist, who survived the Khmer Rouge regime. Jolie has co-written the screen adaptation with Ung and acted as producer as well as director the film.

Donald Trump in 1994: I Tell My Friends To "Be Rougher" With Their Wives

Donald Trump in 1994: I Tell My Friends To "Be Rougher" With Their Wives

Extraordinary illustration: The Fury and Failure of Donald Trump Rolling Stone

Trump & Surrogates Blame Lying Women As Dr. Ben Carson Demands That Katty Kay's Mic Be Cut Off

Trump & Surrogates Blame Lying Women As Dr. Ben Carson Demands That Katty Kay's Mic Be Cut Off

Floodgates Of Sexual Aggression Open Against Donald Trump As Women's Stories Substantiate Trump's Own Words

Floodgates Of Sexual Aggression Open Against Donald Trump As Women's Stories Substantiate Trump's Own Words

The final weeks of America's 2016 presidential election present a fast ride in which his "shackles have been taken off." As millions of Americans -- and especially American women have tweeted in the last week, our memories of sexual abuse, including firmly delivered sexual aggression and rape were unleashed listening to Donald Trump's Billy Bush video released last Friday by The Washington Post. 

Yesterday, the floodgates opened and rumors are that other women are coming forward. 

More stories about Donald Trump's sexism, misogyny and accusations of sexual aggression on AOC Front Page. 

Republican Defections Mount In Response To Trump's Pussy Grabbing Video

Republican Defections Mount In Response To Trump's Pussy Grabbing Video