Latin America | Colombia | Activism

Revered Social Leader and Activist Killed in Colombia

Source:
Social leader Tatiana Paola Posso Espitia, 35, was shot twice in the head Wednesday morning in front of her house in El Copey located in the Department of Cesar when two men on motorcycles fired at the activist and fled the scene. The assassination occurred just as Espitia’s taxi driver, Wilson Ortega Palomino, arrived at her home to take the social leader to work, according to local media reports. The bad timing resulted in Ortega also being shot four times by the hitmen. He is in critical condition at a nearby hospital. The National Network for Democracy and Peace in Colombia
Africa | Sudan | Activism

Letter from Africa: How ‘cheating husbands’ are linked to Sudan’s protests

Source:
Unprecedented numbers of women are taking to the streets to join daily nationwide protests that erupted in mid-December. Despite a violent crackdown by the security forces and reports of sexual harassment, they remain undeterred. More than 50 people are thought to have died at the hands of security agents and many have been tortured, rights groups say. Yet women make up 70% of marchers at some protests, observers say, defiant in the face of the repressive laws of the conservative, Islamic state.
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Iran arrests 29 women as headscarf protests intensify

Source:
Tehran police have arrested 29 women for appearing in public without a headscarf as protests against the dress code in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979 intensify, Iranian media reported Friday. Those arrested were accused of public order offences and referred to the state prosecutor's office, the Fars, ILNA and Tasnim news agencies reported without elaborating. Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri had played down the escalating protests on Wednesday, saying they were "trivial" and "childish" moves possibly incited by foreigners.
Middle East | Saudi Arabia | Activism

Saudi human rights activist who broke ban on women driving arrested again

Source:
Saudi Arabian women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul was arrested again on Sunday at King Fahad International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, for an unspecified offense. Samah Hadid, director of campaigns at Amnesty International in the Middle East, has spoken out in support of Loujain al-Hathloul and against what he considers to be a travesty of justice on the part of Saudi Arabian authorities. “The Saudi Arabian authorities’ continuous harassment of Loujain al-Hathloul is absurd and unjustifiable,” Hadid said. “It appears she is being targeted once again because of her pea
Europe | Turkey | Activism

International Women’s Day Rally in Turkey Turns Violent

Source:
Turkish police on Sunday briefly detained at least one woman and fired rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of hundreds of people trying to mark International Women's Day in central Istanbul. The group, which gathered two days before official Women's Day commemorations on March 8 in order to draw more supporters on a Sunday, had ignored a ban on the march by the Istanbul governor who scrapped this year's rally, citing security concerns. They were seeking to draw attention to women's issues in Turkey, which ranks 77th out of 138 countries on a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ind
Asia | China | Activism

China Is Said to Force Closing of Women’s Legal Aid Center

Source:
The Chinese authorities have ordered a leading women’s legal aid center in Beijing to shut down operations, the center’s founder said on Friday, another sign of a continuing crackdown on civil society. As word spread of the closing of the Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Counseling and Service Center, many women’s rights advocates expressed shock. The center was highly symbolic for having been born of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, a moment when China, struggling to be accepted internationally after the 1989 military suppression of pro-democracy d
North America | United States | Activism

Today, This Grandmother Is Going to Jail for Peacefully Protesting the US Drone War

Source:
On Tuesday, a New York grandmother returned to jail on previous charges filed against her for protesting U.S. drone warfare in 2013. Mary Anne Grady Flores, 58, was photographing other activists as they peacefully protested armed drones at the Syracuse Hancock Air Base in February 2013. Judges in the town of DeWitt, where the base is located, had issued “orders of protection” to activists in order to keep them away from the base. Under these orders, often issued by courts to protect victims of domestic violence, Col. Earl A. Evans, a commander at the base, was construed as a “victim�
Asia | China | Activism

China’s most prominent women’s rights lawyer has been arrested by Chinese authorities

Source:
Chinese authorities have formally arrested China's most prominent woman human rights lawyer, accusing her of subverting the state, her lawyer said on Wednesday, as part of a crackdown on activists who have helped people fight for their legal rights. The lawyer, Wang Yu, was taken into custody last July and accused the next month of inciting subversion and "causing a disturbance". Wang is the best-known human rights lawyer targeted in an unprecedented nationwide sweep by Chinese police last July, during which hundreds of lawyers were detained. A formal arrest usually leads to a trial and
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Was This the Poem That Sent a Young Iranian Woman to Prison?

Source:
An award-winning poet has been taken into custody by Iranian officials after a video of her reading a poem critical of the head coverings women must wear in the Islamic Republic of Iran went viral. Hila Sedighi was arrested at a Tehran airport Thursday upon return from a trip to the United Arab Emirates, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group based in New York City.
Middle East | Iraq | Activism

Meet the creator of a secret network of women’s shelters in Iraq

Source:
When an Islamic State fighter stopped their car in Anbar Province, Iraq, Safiyah knew something terrible was about to happen. Her husband, a soldier in the Iraqi Army, had been executed days earlier in Tikrit, and she knew the only way to protect their four daughters now was to flee the city. They had been heading for the city of Kirkuk when their escape was cut short. An armed man forced Safiyah’s driver from the car. Then, with the help of other Islamic State fighters, he dragged the four girls, between the age of 16 and 23 years old, to a truck. Safiyah was left behind, too old to be s
Latin America | Brazil | Activism

Brazilian women react after sexual comments are directed at a 12-year-old girl

Source:
Women in Brazil are reflecting on their own childhood experiences - and sharing these stories on the internet in big numbers. It begun with a sordid episode on Twitter as the nation watched the junior version of Masterchef, the globally popular TV cooking competition. One of the contestants on the programme was 12-year-old Valentina Shulz and during one episode, several men started tweeting suggestive messages about her online using the show's hashtag. "Does anyone know the Twitter of Valentina? She will date me if she wants it or not," wrote one user. "If she wants it, it's not paedophilia
North America | United States | Activism

American Cancer Society, Stop Giving Carcinogenic Cosmetics to Women With Cancer

Source:
I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in December 2014. My whole world changed in 15 minutes. I underwent a bilateral mastectomy that same month and soon thereafter began chemotherapy. Not long after I started chemo, my hair fell out. My eyebrows and lashes disappeared. I felt alone, scared and sick. It wasn't pretty. I started noticing posters at my hospital advertising a program called Look Good Feel Better, which is run by the American Cancer Society and the Personal Care Products Council, which I learned later is the largest trade association for the cosmetic industry. The idea be
North America | United States | Activism

Beth Clarkson, Kansas statistician, suing the state to obtain election records, says voting results don’t add up

Source:
A university mathematician found something that didn't add up, and now she's suing the state of Kansas to make sure every vote counts. Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson requested Sedgwick County release election records for the recent election. This week, Secretary of State Kris Kobach asked a judge to block that request. Clarkson said the election results in some counties, including Johnson County, are impossible to audit. During a celebration for the 95th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Clarkson said, “If we’re not bei
South Asia | India | Activism

Activist terrified that gov’t is trying to ‘eliminate’ her

Source:
Teesta Setalvad, a human rights activist who fought for justice for 2002 riot victims in the Indian state of Gujarat, has accused the government of trying to intimidate, and possibly eliminate, her. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s premier investigating agency, raided her home and offices last week. The CBI says that her organization has accepted 15,000,000 rupees ($235,000) without permission from the Ford Foundation. Setalvad was charged with violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. The CBI, opposing her petition for bail in court, said that she was a thre