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	Protests continue a week after woman lynched in Afghan capital by Reuters, Al Jazeera   24 Mar 2015   Thousands march in Kabul over mob killing of woman.   Thousands have marched through the Afghan capital, demanding justice for a woman who was beaten to death by a mob a week ago after being falsely accused of burning a Quran.   Men and women of all ages carried banners and some painted their faces red as a symbol of the bloodied face of Farkhunda, the 27-year-old religious scholar killed last week by the mob.   Farkhunda, who went by one name like many Afghans, was beaten, run over with a car and burned before her body was thrown into the Kabul River.   Organisers of the march - the second protest over the brutal slaying in as many days - estimated that up to 3,000 people took part. Marchers chanted "Justice for Farkhunda!"   Amrullah Saleh, a political leader and former director of the intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, said the demonstrators sought to make Farkhanda an icon of the struggle against "injustice, mob court, street violence, violence against women, lawlessness, extremism" and, especially the injustice suffered by women.   "She is an example of probably what has happened silently to many," Saleh told the Associated Press news agency. "She drew a line with her blood between those who want justice, rule of law, and those who are extreme in their views and who breed in lawlessness."   Police reportedly stood by without intervening as the attack happened. The Interior Ministry said 28 people have been arrested and 13 police officers suspended as part of investigations.   The spokesman for the Kabul police, Hashmat Stanikzai, has been sacked over comments he made on social media supporting Farkhunda''s killers.   The attack appeared to have grown out of a dispute between Farkhunda, a veiled woman who had just finished a degree in religious studies and was preparing to take a teaching post, and men who sold amulets at Kabul''s famous Shah-Do Shamshera shrine.   Farkhuda urged women not to waste their money on the amulets, her friends and family have said. Her father, Mohammed Nadir, said the men responded by making false accusations that she had torched a Quran, which set off the brutal assault.   Among the protesters on Tuesday were prominent rights activists, including Fatana Gailani, the head of the Afghanistan Women''s Council, who said she hoped the incident would be a catalyst for change in a society traumatised by war, corruption and lack of leadership.   "The new generation has known nothing but war, they are not educated," she said.   The demonstrators also called for action against officials and religious leaders who had initially said that Farkhunda''s killing was justifiable if she had burned pages of a Quran, the Muslim holy book.   President Ashraf Ghani took office in September following a bitter election campaign during which he promised to champion women''s constitutional rights, end corruption and bring peace.   Despite constitutional guarantees of equality and protection from violence, women in Afghanistan are still widely subject to violence, both privately and publicly.   It is the first time since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 that a popular movement has mobilised in support of a woman. Under the Islamist regime, women were banned from leaving home without a male guardian, denied education and forced to wear the all-covering burqa.   Protesters included both liberal civil society members and religious officials demanding swift justice from the government after it moved to arrest dozens of people, including police officials for failing to rescue her from her attackers.   The killing has fuelled anger about the weak rule of law and corruption that is crippling the country''s instutitions. Further demonstrations are planned.   http://www.aihrc.org.af/ http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15861&LangID=E http://www.amnesty.org/en/articles/news/2015/04/afghanistan-women-human-rights-defenders/ Visit the related web page
	For Women, the World Remains an Extremely Dangerous Place by Kelly Askin Senior legal officer for international justice, Open Society Foundations   March 2015   In every nation on earth, sexual violence within and outside of conflict occurs far more commonly than is reported.   The failure worldwide to prevent and punish sexual violence is more than dire—it is downright shameful. The so-called Islamic State (“so-called” because they do not reflect core Islamic values and are assuredly not a state) viciously slaughters, rapes, enslaves, and forces into “marriage” tens of thousands of women and girls in Iraq and Syria.   The Boko Haram terrorist group kidnaps hundreds of school girls in Nigeria. Rape and sexual slavery is epidemic in the Central African Republic.   Armed groups in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue to commit mass rape with impunity. From France to China, India to Kenya, Bosnia to the United Kingdom, Colombia to Burma, Sudan to Russia—to be more specific, in every nation on earth—sexual violence within and outside of conflict occurs far more commonly than is reported.   In the United States and Europe, rape on college campuses and throughout Western cities is commonplace. Millions of women and girls are trafficked for forced labor, sex, or exploitation.   Successful prosecution of any of these crimes is low, whether committed in the Global North, South, East, or West.   In the 20 years that I’ve been working on efforts to prosecute sexual violence at the international level, enormous strides have been made in recognizing various forms of such violence as crimes of war, instruments of genocide, and crimes against humanity.   Atrocity tribunals have punished individuals for rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, forced marriage, torture, persecution, and other crimes of conflict-related sexual violence.   Indeed, the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone have greatly advanced gender jurisprudence, and have had women in leadership positions within these tribunals. Mobile courts in the DRC have adjudicated hundreds of rape cases.   The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia only recently brought charges for decades-old rape offenses committed by the Khmer Rouge.   Hundreds of millions of sexual atrocities go unreported, uninvestigated, unprosecuted, or unpunished. Yet disappointingly, in its 13-year history, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has failed to convict a single person of rape crimes, despite massive numbers of sex crimes committed in countries within the ICC’s jurisdiction. The ICC has, however, adopted a detailed policy paper prioritizing sexual and gender-based crimes.   In assessing the current state of the world’s women for International Women’s Day (March 8), it is clear that we have made grossly insufficient progress in addressing one of the most pervasive and insidious forms of violence.   It is incumbent upon governments, citizens, armies, police, families, medical centers, neighbors, educators, and organizations, among others, to redouble efforts to establish accountability for the sexual violence directed against half the world’s population.   The United Nations, countries, and donors must invest far more resources and energy into tackling this odious scourge. International and domestic laws intended to protect civilians against sexual assault must be enforced and governments held accountable for their failures to protect, investigate, and prosecute violence committed against their citizens or on their territory, including by state agents.   The ICC and other international tribunals must ensure that gender-related crimes are effectively adjudicated and the ICC prosecutor’s policy paper on sexual and gender-based crimes rigorously implemented.   To be sure, countless efforts are afoot to undermine the notable gains women have made over the last few centuries, and the unprecedented advances in international law made during the past two decades. It is widely recognized that rape and other forms of sexual violence are intentionally used as tools of warfare precisely because of their effectiveness in terrorizing, harming, and even destroying groups far beyond the individual victims.   Until that dynamic is reversed, in part by punishing and stigmatizing the perpetrators and others responsible for sexual atrocities, the legal advances will not be realized in practice.   It is deeply troubling that a broad range of sexual violence continues to flourish in the year 2015, and it is equally problematic that these crimes have a low probability of receiving any form of accountability.   If we are to have any hope of improvement for future generations, we must invest significantly more into efforts to prevent and punish these crimes, and make addressing them a priority. It will not be easy in the face of wars, terrorism, religious extremism, propaganda, archaic attitudes, and indifference. But we must persevere, for the sake of humanity. http://endviolence.un.org/ Visit the related web page
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