Cameroon: Atrocities in NW, SW – Cries of Women
Source: Cameroon Tribune
The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family on behalf of all Cameroonian women and families during an event in Yaounde on September 1, 2020 joined the other litany of women’s associations, government, political parties and the international community to denounce the gruesome killing of women and girls in the security crisis-ridden North West and South West Regions.
Minister Abena Ondoa née Obama Marie Therese in a declaration stated, ” I hereby urge all Cameroonian women and families to mobilise in order to protect life and preserve peace in our country. Together, let us say NO to the atrocities committed on that which Cameroon holds most dear, the women and children.” She re-echoed the tip of the iceberg in the atrocities being the killing of Florence Ayafor in 2019, Mbah Treasure in Bamenda on August 4, 2020 and Sirri Comfort Tumassang in Muyuka on August 11, 2020. Minister Abena Ondoa declared that, “Cameroonian women through my voice, express sincere condolences to the families so cruelly affected and wish to reiterate their indignation at these despicable deeds.”
Read the full story here.
Undressing for Redress: The Significance of Nigerian Women’s Naked Protests
Source: The Conversation / Bright Alozie
Social media went abuzz on July 23, 2020, when hundreds of women – mostly naked – staged a protest in the northwestern state of Kaduna, Nigeria. Wailing and rolling on the ground, they protested at the killing of people in ongoing attacks on their community. The protesters, mostly mothers, demanded justice and called on the government, security agencies and international community to intervene.
Read the full story here.
Mothers, Sisters, Wives: Kenyan Women Lead Fight Against Police Violence
Source: The New Humanitarian / Neha Wadekar
The confrontation was caught on film. As three armed policemen try to pull Wanjira Wanjiru away, she clings to the wing-mirror of a parked car and refuses to move.
“Don’t touch me!” she yells. “Why are you arresting me?”
“Why are you protesting?” one of the steel-helmeted policemen asks.
“I’m protesting because you’re killing us,” replies the 25-year-old anti-police brutality campaigner.
“Who is killing you?”
“You police! You’re killing us in our communities!”
Then, as the policemen back off, Wanjira, fist in the air, defiantly chants what has now become an iconic line: “When we lose our fear, they lose their power!”
Her resistance during the “Saba Saba” protests that day, held annually on 7 July to commemorate Kenya’s pro-democracy movement that emerged in the 1990s, resonated as a symbolic moment in Kenyans’ fight against police violence – an issue now in the global spotlight after a string of police shootings of Black Americans in the United States.
Read the full story here.
New Release: Gender Equality and Peace: Celebrate or Recriminate?
Source: The KOFF Peacebuilding Magazine
The KOFF Magazine recently released its September Issue. KOFF is a well-established platform for exchange, dialogue and network composed of around 40 civil society organizations and 2 state organizations engaged in the fields of peace, human rights and development cooperation. Its objective is to contribute to the reinforcement, the visibility and the relevance of Swiss peacebuilding across the spectrum from fragility to peace.
The September issue contains the following articles and reports:
- Not much to celebrate: Interview with Flurina Derungs, Director of PeaceWomen Across the Globe
- Changing the care-less interpretation of UNSCR 1325
- Moving mediation beyond women’s spaces
- Protecting female human rights defenders in Central and South America
- 1325: Rhetoric or reality?
And many more.
Find the magazine here.
The Deputy Head of Mission at the Office of the Special Envoy Meets with the Group of Nine
Source: Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen
A meeting between the Group of Nine, a coalition of Yemeni women’s organizations and networks supporting the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Muin Shreim, Deputy Head of Mission at the Office of the Special Envoy for Yemen, took place virtually on 18 August. The Group of Nine includes: the Yemeni Women’s Pact for Peace and Security; The Feminist Summit; Women’s Voices for Peace; Peace Partners Alliance; Southern Women for Peace; Women for Yemen Network; Youth Consultative Council; Youth Awareness Platform; Peace Makers. The Group of Nine presented their views and collective efforts for peace in Yemen. They highlighted their advocacy and media campaign, launched in April 2020 in collaboration with UN Women, in support of the UN Special Envoy’s call for a nationwide ceasefire. The campaign targeted 10 governorates in Yemen and called for concluding an immediate ceasefire to counter the spread of COVID 19.
Read more here.
Press Release: Women 20 Advocates Gender Inclusive COVID-19 Economic Recovery
Source: ZAWYA by Refinity / Women 20
On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the landmark Beijing Conference on Women, the Women 20 (W20), an official G20 engagement group whose primary objective is to ensure gender considerations are mainstreamed into G20 discussions and policies, calls on G20 leaders to commemorate 2020 as the Year of Women in recognition of their role battling the COVID-19 pandemic and as agents of economic recovery. There has never been a more critical time for action to address the barriers women and girls continue to face.
Read the full release here.
Let’s Make Women’s Power Culturally Acceptable
Source: Foreign Policy / Rachel Vogelstein & Jennifer Klein
Twenty-five years on from the Beijing Platform, the world has made important advances in gender equity. The next step is to ensure that women claim their rights not just in theory but also in practice.
Read the article here.
