Prostitution in Cambodia: New Law Doesn’t Protect Women

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1152&catID=6

The Good War? Afghanistan in the Media

Despite widespread coverage of the conflict in Afghanistan, it is almost impossible for journalists to report independently from the frontline. A meeting is being held next week to discuss the impact.

Speakers to include:
Stephen Grey: investigative journalist who, embedded with British troops in Helmand found that the Army is effectively controlling media access to the conflict: http://tinyurl.com/n327kr

Guy Smallman: photojournalist, who recently visited the Afghan village of Granai in which a US air strike killed 147 civilians in May of this year, the highest number of civilian casualties since the Afghanistan conflict began. Read his report for the Financial Times: http://tinyurl.com/my7urf 

Seumas Milne: Guardian columnist, reports that politicians and the media urge
support for the occupation of Afghanistan as a war for civilisation. In
reality, it is a war of barbarity, whose contempt for the value of Afghan life
has fuelled the very resistance that western military and political leaders are
now unable to contain. Read it here: http://tinyurl.com/49pyrj 

Monday July 13, 7pm
Friends Meeting House
173 Euston Road
NW1 2BJ

Open Shutters: Iraq Through the Eyes of its Women

In 2006, photojournalist, Eugenie Dolberg, brought together a group of Iraqi women from 5 cities in Iraq – Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk and Falluja – to take part in an extraordinary participatory photography project, called Open Shutters Iraq.

The women met in Damascus and learning the photographic process, compiled ‘life-maps’, using old photographs, autobiographical details and poetry, representations charting the emotional turning points in their lives. They shared stories of their lives inside post-Saddam Iraq; their childhoods, their struggle for education, loves and betrayals, births and deaths, wars, abductions, violence and acts of daily resistance. They then returned to Iraq and, under extremely difficult and circumstances, shot photo-stories, which expressed, in a deeply personal way, how they felt about what was happening around them.

Lulua’s story tells how she was abducted whilst walking home from work. When she was released, her husband would not accept that she hadn’t been raped, their relationship ruined. Her photos explore the isolation she felt from her family when she returned. All of the women’s stories are poignant and captured beautifully in their photography.

A fundraiser is being held at The Calthorpe Project in Kings Cross, London, on Sunday 5th July to raise money for the project. open_shutters_iraq_invitation

Demand Change! Challenging the Demand for Prostitution

The UK’s first ever campaign challenging the demand for prostitution was launched this week at a high profile event in Portcullis House, Westminster.

The Demand Change! Campaign, a joint initiative between feminist charity Eaves and the human rights organisation OBJECT aims to promote an increased understanding of myths and realitites surrounding prostitution whilst calling for it to be seen as a form of violence against women.

Historically, the UK has failed to deal with the human rights implications for women involved in prostitution (WIP). However, the realitites of prostitution evidence that women involved are chronically vulnerable. 75% of women become involved in prostitution under the age of 18, 70% of WIP have spent time in care as children, 80% are involved to fund drug addiction and 68 % of WIP meet the criteria for suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Failure to explore the widely held contention that prostitution is the oldest ‘profession’ has served to prevent investigations into its exact nature. This has occured because of notions of choice, that is that men have a right to buy sex, and that the women who are involved in prostitution do it out of ‘choice’. However, most WIP do not ‘choose’ to become involved in a life of addiction and abuse, routes into prostitution are awash with sexual and physical violence and it is the very lack of choice which results in women selling sex.

Moreover, it is the demand by the buyer which fuels prostitution. At the launch, award winning Canadian journalist, Victor Malarek, spoke about his research for his recently published book, ‘The Johns, Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It’. ‘Demand is fuelling the trafficking of women and girls, and payment is, for the Johns, the ultimate conscience-pacifier’, he said. 

Roger Mathews, professor of criminology at London’s South Bank University said: ‘Punters often feel ambivalent and guilty about their use of women. We need to understand and build on that ambivalence. We need a major campaign, like the smoking ban. Attitudes towards smoking have been changed very effectively- we need to do the same regarding prostitution’.

For more information: www.demandchange.org.uk, www.eaves4women.co.uk, and www.object.org.uk.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/feb/29/women.ukcrime

Reporting the BNP: No Platform for Nazis

The enduring political hangover of the recent BNP election victories raises questions for journalists about how to report a party which is fascist? Just how should the media handle the requirement for balance whilst not promoting racist views? The National Union of Journalists held a meeting last week to discuss the issues.

Certainly the ‘no platform for racists’ strategy employed previously by many media outlets now holds less sway: a worrying 1 million people voted BNP in on the 4th June and ignoring them now isn’t an option. That there are now two BNP Euro MPs will lead to pressure on media workers with some editors arguing that the BNP should be treated as a legitimate political voice and there is a real danger that racist ideas that ten years ago would have been considered unacceptable could become part of the daily business of politics unless handled appropriately.Indeed, when BBC Breakfast ‘congratulates’ Nick Griffin on his electoral success, serious questions of ethics are posed to journalists working in newsrooms all over the UK.

But history has shown what happens when fascist parties ‘manage’ the media, they’re able to normalise racist arguments, and pull the political spectrum to the far right with devastating consequences.

The NUJ, BECTU and other organisations like Unite Against Fascism are urging media workers to deny the BNP that platform. Crucial to this is effective challenging, and unsurprisingly, the BNP don’t like this. The Manchester Evening News in the run up to the elections reported accurately BNP manifestos, and have have now been barred from BNP press conferences for their trouble. Other journalists who have challenged BNP policies report being intimidated by BNP ’thugs’ in attempts to silence them. 

As the BNP’s political profile increases, inevitably so too will racist attacks, as was seen in Belfast this week. BBC Scotland’s recent phone in show which platformed the BNP has resulted in an investigation for incitment of racial hatred but this is scant consolation for those at the sharp of BNP violence. 

Journalists are therefore being urged that when reporting on BNP stories to clearly identify them as a fascist organisation, to challenge the myths they expound and avoid repeating their claims uncritically. A recent study has showed a correlation between increasing votes for the BNP and partial reporting: journalism does indeed matter and the media’s responsibilities in negating the risks posed by the BNP need to be taken seriously and acted upon swiftly.

http://www.nujleft.org/2009/06/reporting-the-bnp-summit/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6488664.ece

No Recourse, No Help, No Safety

Women who have come to the UK, often legally, but whose immigration status is uncertain can’t get benefits in the UK, having what’s termed ‘no recourse to public funds’. If a woman in this situation experiences domestic violence, she can’t get help to find somewhere safe to stay because she can’t work or get housing benefit to pay for the room. Women have no choice but to stay in violent relationships or leave and face destitution. Many are forced into prostitution.

I recently interviewed a woman called Ayan, who has experienced just this. Her story appeared in The Guardian Weekly: http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1120&catID=9

The Government proposals to offer refuge services just 25 days backpayment in rent if a woman is successful with her immigration application under the domestic violence provision is woefully inadequate. Immigration applications can take months or indeed years and on these grounds women will still be denied human rights to safety.

Amnesty and Southall Black Sisters have been campaigning against the no recourse rules. For more information: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11227

Nick Griffin: Once a Nazi…

Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, could become the party’s first member of the European Parliament when elections are held on the 4th June.

Griffin’s progression from National Front organiser via the ludicrous International Third Position organisation to BNP leader has run the gamut from jack boot white supremacist to suited family man spouting dog-whistle semiotics of fear. In a culture of despondency and ignorance however, hatred and fear stem from the same seed and the BNP now have 54 councillors at district and borough level. Moreover, voter turnout at European elections is notoriously poor and worryingly the BNP could gain seats as voters vent their anger over financial meltdown and corruption in the Government. Certainly, in the hope of getting Griffin elected, all the BNP’s resources are now being concentrated on the European elections and in the North West, where Griffin is standing, they only need to add 2% to its 2004 vote of 6.4% to be virtually guaranteed a seat.

For more information about the BNP and the European Elections, click on the link: http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/

Sima Valand: Deportation Cancelled

Some good news. Sima Valand, who was due to be deported from the UK back to India last Wednesday has had her removal order cancelled.

Sima arrived in the UK, from India, in 2006 with her husband. During their marriage Sima was subjected to frequent physical and sexual abuse by her husband. Following their arrival in the UK, the severity of the violence escalated and culminated in a horrific rape in May 2008. The attack was so severe that Sima made the brave decision to report it to the police but further to this, Sima was subjected to frequent death threats from the husband’s family both here in the UK and in India.

In spite of this, Sima continued with the case and her husband was eventually convicted and given a lengthy prison sentence.

As a result of the persecution, Sima applied for asylum in the UK on the grounds that she had a genuine fear of being killed by her husband or his family if she were returned to India. Before she left India, she’d been treated as a slave and beaten by her husband’s family. The husband’s jail sentence and the fact that she’d begun divorce proceedings exacerbated their malice towards her. Her in-laws threatened to cut her up and kill her if she returned to India.

It is common in India that incidents of serious domestic violence are not taken seriously as the authorities are often unwilling to intervene in such matters. Despite this, Sima’s asylum application was denied, she was held in a detention centre and had been due to be deported on two occasions.

Sima was finally informed this week that due to the seriousness of the threats against her and public pressure on the home office to reconsider her case, she will be allowed, for now, to stay in the safety of the UK and proceed with her asylum appeal.

Jacqui Smith Backtracks on Prostitution Law:

No surprises there…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8056767.stm

Japanese Rape Game: Campaign Launched

Equality Now has launched an international campaign calling on the Japanese government to ban RapeLay, a rape simulation game based on the repeated rape of two teenage girls and their mother.

The game, produced by Illusion Software, begins with the player molesting a 12-year-old schoolgirl on a train, before following her into a public toilet where he handcuffs and rapes her. The player must then keep her, her teenage sister and their mother prisoner and repeatedly rape and sexually assault them until they begin to ‘enjoy it’ and ‘beg their rapist to indulge them’. One online reviewer of the game said: “you have the illusion of a totally physical interaction with the girl. It’s the most realistic sex simulation ever seen.”

Sexual assault is very common in Japan: in 2005 the government introduced women-only carriages on their trains after a survey found that 64% of women in their 20s and 30s had been sexually assaulted on public transport in Tokyo. Despite ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, Japan only made child pornography illegal in 1999, and still permits the unregulated sale of videos of real gang rapes.

The Equality Now campaign has so far succeeded in having the game taken off Amazon Japan’s website, but is still campaigning to have RapeLay banned by the Japanese government.

For more information on Equality Now’s campaign click on the link: http://www.equalitynow.org/english/actions/action_3301_en.html