Women, Peace, and Security News archive: Middle East
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2007 Middle East News Archive

Women's Mideast Peace Movement Marks 20 Long Years
December 27, 2007 - (WOMENSENEWS) Women in Black have been publicly mourning Israel's military occupation of the West Bank for 20 years. As members mark the anniversary amid the latest peace talks, they say their message is still timely even if their street protests have dwindled.

Holiday Dispirits Refugees in Lebanese Camps
December 20, 2007 - (WOMENSENEWS) It's the Muslim holiday of Eid but women displaced from a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon are not thinking about feasts. At most they hope they can someday return to a refugee camp smashed in last summer's fighting.

IRAQ: Freedom lost
December 13, 2007 - (The Guardian) After the invasion of Iraq, the US government claimed that women there had 'new rights and new hopes'. In fact their lives have become immeasurably worse, with rapes, burnings and murders now a daily occurrence.

Afghan women make call for peace
December 12, 2007 – (BBC) Women across Afghanistan have been holding meetings to call for peace in their country.

AFGHAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST RECEIVES 2007 INTERNATIONAL SERVICE AWARD
December 6, 2007 - (Women living under muslim laws) Najia Haneefi is the 2007 winner of the coveted International Service award for women's human rights, awarded at a ceremony on 5 Dec. at the House of Commons, London.

Iran: More women's human rights defenders arrested
December 4, 2007 - (Women living under muslim laws) The latest in a string of arrests, One Million Signatures campaign member Jelveh Javaheri was imprisoned on Saturday, December 1 after undergoing interrogation at the security branch of the Revolutionary Courts.

Prostitution ordeal of Iraqi girls
December 3, 2007 - (BBC) With their bright neon signs and glitzy decor, dozens of nightclubs line the streets of the Maraba district in the Syrian capital Damascus. Many of the Iraqi dancers are in their early teens.

Saudi Arabia: Ministry of Justice should Stop Targeting Rape Victim Appeals Court Judge Should be Barred from Case
November 29, 2007 - (Human Rights Watch) The Saudi Ministry of Justice should immediately stop publishing statements aimed at damaging the reputation of a young Saudi rape victim who spoke out publicly about her ordeal and her efforts to find justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

The plight of women in Afghanistan
November 20, 2007 - (CBC News) According to a poll conducted in Afghanistan by Environics in partnership with the CBC, 70 per cent of respondents in Kandahar province believe that women in that country are better off now than they were in 2002. Warrant Officer Lori Coady of the Canadian Forces specializes in civilian-military cooperation and has worked extensively in Kandahar province. From building schools for children in the province, to dealing directly with the issues affecting Afghan women, W.O. Coady has a unique perspective on the realities facing families in Afghanistan.

IRAQ: Extremists fuel anti-women violence in Basra
November 20, 2007 - (IRIN) Anti-women violence in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, about 600 km south of the capital, Baghdad, has increased markedly in recent months and has forced women to stay indoors, police and local NGOs have said.

IRAN: Journalist and Woman Activist, Maryam Hosseinkhah, Arrested
November 18, 2007 - (Payvand's Iran News) Maryam Hossienkhah, Journalist, member of the Women's Cultural Center, and an active member of the One Million Signatures Campaign was arrested earlier today.

Basra militants targeting women
November 15, 2007 - (BBC World Service) The chief of police in the southern Iraqi city of Basra has warned of a campaign of violence against women carried out by religious extremists. It has, Maj-Gen Abdul Jalil Khalaf said, included threats, intimidation and even murder.

Iran suspends sentence of women's rights activist
November 12, 2007 - (Jurist) Iran temporarily suspended the sentence of women's rights activist Delaram Ali Monday for two weeks while officials decide whether to review her case.

Iran: Suspend Heavy Sentence for Women’s Rights Activist
November 10, 2007 – (HRW) The head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahrudi, should suspend a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence upheld this week against women’s rights activist Delaram Ali, Human Rights Watch said today. Such a step is permitted under Iranian law. The government should also release at least 10 other students and activists it has detained for their participation in peaceful demonstrations and campaigns.

Israeli women monitor human rights violations at checkpoints
November 5, 2007 - (Women living under muslim laws) Yehudit Kirstein Keshet and other Israeli women like her have spent six years monitoring activities at Israeli checkpoints leading to the West Bank. What motivates these women to monitor the men who are supposed to be protecting them?

Iran confirms jail for female activist
November 5, 2007 – (Middle East Times) An Iranian appeals court has upheld a 28-month jail sentence handed down to a young female activist for taking part in a women's rights protest last year, her lawyer said Monday.

Iraqi Reporters Run Risks to Cover Women's Angle
November 1, 2007 - (WOMENSENEWS) Six women from McClatchy's Baghdad bureau took on the high-risk assignment of covering the war. Sometimes working in secrecy, they reported the sweeping changes facing their homeland and worked to put women's stories on the record.

Qatar: First woman Colonel in the Qatar Armed Forces
October 15, 2007 – (Women living under muslim laws) Sumayya Hassan Nasser Al Rashid has become the first Qatari woman to be promoted to the rank of a Colonel at the Qatar Armed Forces. She currently heads the Internal Diseases Section at the Medical Services Department of the Armed Forces. November 1, 2007 - (WOMENSENEWS) Six women from McClatchy's Baghdad bureau took on the high-risk assignment of covering the war. Sometimes working in secrecy, they reported the sweeping changes facing their homeland and worked to put women's stories on the record.

Turkey: Women condemn Turkey's new draft Constitution
October 14, 2007 – (Women living under muslim laws) Women's groups in Turkey have condemned a new draft constitution, saying it sets the country back years in terms of gender equality. A new civilian constitution is being prepared to replace the current one, introduced after a 1980 military coup. The document describes women as a vulnerable group needing protection.

Bahraini Authorities Impose Media Blockade on Women Activist Ghada Jamsheer
October 7, 2007 – (Defending Women – Defending Rights) The president of the Women's Petition (WP), the Bahraini activist Ms Ghada Jamsheer rrevealed the existence of a formal decision preventing her from appearing in any of the Bahraini media.

Iran: 25 women's rights campaigners arrested
September 18, 2007 – (Women living under muslim laws) An educational workshop on women’s rights in Khoram Abad was disrupted after police violently attacked participants and took them into custody.

JORDAN: Project launched to fight violence against women
September 12, 2007 – (IRIN) Jordanian officials have joined hands with the private sector to fight violence against women by launching a five-year project that will attempt to rectify misconceptions about this phenomenon and provide badly needed aid to victims, say women rights activists.

NATO Provincial Reconstruction Teams Need a Gender Policy, Say Afghan Advocates
September 6, 2007 - (Advocacy Net News) Advocates for women's rights in Afghanistan are urging NATO to develop a gender policy for NATO's 25 provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs), in an effort to better address the needs of women and bridge the gap between military and civilian reconstruction efforts.

Iran activists confident over women's rights petition
August 27, 2007 - (The Middle East Times) Iranians backing a petition to gather 1 million signatures in favor of equal rights for women Monday expressed confidence they could change mentalities despite arrests and a lack of domestic publicity.

Jordan: Government pledges to amend discriminatory laws
August 12, 2007 - (Jordan Times) Women activists on Saturday said the government had promised to work on amending all laws that discriminate against women within the next two years.

Qatar: 25 female police cadets complete foundation course
July 26, 2007 - (The Peninsula) Police institute celebrated 17th graduation ceremony of foundation course for 25 lady police cadets yesterday.

Record number of women elected to Turkish parliament
July 24, 2007 – (The Middle East Times) A record number of women, about double the current 24, won seats in Turkey's parliament in general elections, but they still face an uphill struggle to have a say in politics, activists said Tuesday.

Three women killed east of central Gaza: witnesses
July 23, 2007 (People's Daily Online) Three Palestinian women were found killed early on Sunday in an opened area east of the central Gaza Strip town of Deir el-Ballah, eyewitnesses and police sources reported.

IRAQ: Women Resist Return to Sectarian Laws
June 25, 2007 - (IPS) WASHINGTON - As Iraq struggles to define its future, there is one important group that has been largely left out of the process: women.

Afghan Women Demand a Halt to Intimidation and Murder
June 22, 2007 - (AdvocacyNet) Kabul, Afghanistan: Outraged by several recent acts of extreme violence, Afghan women advocates are demanding that the Afghan government and international community do more to protect women in their war-torn nation.

WOMEN UNDER SIEGE IN AFGHANISTAN
June 20, 2007 - (BBC) For the past three months, Afghan female MP Shukria Barakzai has been receiving a letter saying she may be targeted by a suicide bomber in the next six months.The cryptic government letter contains an intelligence warning that Ms Barakzai's life is under threat and she should be careful. She is one of six MPs getting such a letter these days

Israeli FM with senior Palestinian calls for peace
June 1, 2007 – (Middle East Times) Israeli foreign minister Tzippi Livni made a plea for Israelis and Palestinians to begin talking with each other after meeting with several leading Arab women at a conference May 31.

Women's Rights Activist Suspended from Afghan Parliament
May 22, 2007 – (Feminist Daily News Wire) Women's rights activist and lawmaker Malalai Joya, a 29-year-old from the Farah province, was suspended from the Afghan Parliament yesterday after she described the Parliament as a barn full of animals.

A Snapshot Of Afghan Women
April 5, 2007 (Coastal Post Online) - There never has been any reliable demographic statistics on Afghanistan for the past two decades. Of the estimated 16 million Afghans at the end of the 70s, over two million have been killed in the war of resistance against Soviet occupiers and later on in the civil war unleashed by fundamentalist groupings enjoying the support of foreign powers.

Women bear brunt of Iranian crackdown on civil liberties
April 28, 2007 - (Associated Press) Iranian police shoved and kicked them, loaded them into a curtained minibus and drove them away. Hours later, at the gates of Evin prison, they were blindfolded and forced to wear all-enveloping chadors, and then were interrogated through the night.

Lebanese former militia woman now fights for peace
April 13, 2007 (LEBANESE LOBBY) - Jocelyne Khoweiry was 20 years old when she first carried arms during the 1975-1990 civil war. Now 51, she is working forcefully for peace.

Iran: Release Women's Rights Activists
April 7, 2007 (Human Rights Watch) - The Iranian government should immediately release two women's rights activists arrested on April 1 and end its harassment and persecution of human rights defenders, Human Rights Watch said today.

Iraqi Women's Freedom Vanishing: Read All About It
April 4, 2007 - (WOMENSENEWS) Washington politicians in favor of the Iraq war like to talk about how they are "planting seeds of democracy," supporting "freedom-loving people" and "fighting terrorists in their streets so we don't have to fight them in ours." What they rarely talk about are the vanishing freedoms for Iraqi women, for whom democracy is a receding goal.

Iraq Refugee Crisis Engulfs Women Silenced by Rape
April 1, 2007 - (WOMENSENEWS) BEIRUT, Lebanon : An Iraqi woman who survived a rape before she and her family moved to Lebanon is finding a way to talk about her ordeal. But aid workers say that in the major Iraqi refugee communities of Syria and Jordan this war wound goes unmentioned.

Alice Shalvi, Dov Lautman win Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement
March 26, 2007 (Haaretz.com) The Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Special Contribution to Society and the State of Israel will be awarded to Professor Alice Shalvi, a religious scholar and one of the country's leading feminists, and to Dov Lautman, former head of the Israel Manufacturers Association.

Iraqi Women: Four Years after the Invasion
March 16, 2007 - (Foreign Policy In Focus) Every-day survival is a priority in a context where lack of security goes side by side with incredibly difficult living conditions. The Iraqi infrastructure which was already severely debilitated as a result of economic sanctions and a series of wars has deteriorated even further since 2003. Electricity shortages, lack of access to potable water, malfunctioning sanitation systems and a deteriorating health system are part of every-day lives in post-2003 Iraq.

Iraqi Women's Death Sentences Spur European Outcry
March 13, 2007 - (WOMENSENEWS) Death sentences imposed on three Iraqi women--some of them mothers with young children--have spurred international concerns about the conduct of their trials andthe abrogation of international prohibitions against the death penalty for new mothers.

Women Suffer Untold Violence and Repression in U.S.-Occupied Iraq
March 12, 2007 – (scoop) The situation for Iraqi women since the U.S. invasion four years ago this month has deteriorated dramatically by every measure of daily survival: lack of access to clean water, electricity, food, education and jobs; and the absence of personal security. Women have virtually disappeared from public life in Iraq, yet their disappearance has been barely noted by media coverage of the war.

New contract to curb child marriages
March 14, 2007 - (IRIN) Kabul: The Supreme Court of Afghanistan has approved a new marriage contract which is expected to help stop child and forced marriages in the country. The new 15-page formal marriage contract, the ‘Nikah Nama’, has been welcomed by women’s rights NGOs in a country where 60 to 80 percent of marriages are forced, according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).

Afghan women battling repression
March 8, 2007 - (Toronto Star) Five years after the Taliban were ousted from power in Afghanistan, many women are still facing violence and discrimination.

Iraq's Other War: Violence against Women Under US Occupation
March 08, 2007 – (Znet) Last week, Houzan Mahmoud opened her e-mail and found a message from Ansar al-Islam, a notoriously brutal Sunni jihadist group. The message read simply, "we will kill you by the middle of March." Houzan is an outspoken Iraqi feminist. The 34-year-old journalist and women's rights activist believes that hope for Iraq's future depends on building a society based on secular democracy and human rights. For this, she has been condemned to death.

Rights Group Lashes U.S. on Status of Iraq Women
March 6, 2007 - (WOMENSENEWS) Washington: The international rights group Madre chastises the Bush administration for supporting Islamist groups and allowing an erosion of women's rights in Iraq. Rape allegations directed at Iraqi forces are focusing the debate on U.S. involvement in Iraq.

IRAN WOMEN ARRESTED OVER PROTEST
March 4, 2007 - (BBC) Iran's authorities have arrested more than 32 women activists protesting outside a courthouse in Tehran.

Iran: Activists Barred From Traveling Abroad
February 8, 2007 – (Human Rights Watch) The Iranian government should immediately lift foreign travel bans used to prevent human rights activists and journalists from attending international forums, Human Rights Watch said today. In recent months, Iranian security forces have repeatedly confiscated passports of activists as they prepared to leave for international conferences. In some cases, the authorities detained and interrogated activists upon their return to Iran.

Challenging the mullahs, a signature at a timE
February 7, 2007 – (International Herald Tribune) Well-behaved women rarely make history," my favorite bumper sticker says. It surely applies to Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner whose relentless campaign against discrimination has enraged the mullahs for more than 25 years.

Lebanese women protest against return to civil war
February 6, 2007 - (AFP) About 300 Lebanese women held a sit-in protest in Beirut Monday to warn that sectarian strife could plunge the country back into civil war.

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