Welcome to the 114th edition of The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest!
This month we celebrate International Women’s Day. Take a look at photographs of celebrations of International Women’s Day around the world.
Two gynecologists recently published a paper in a medical journal suggesting a ‘compromise solution’ to female genital circumcision. According to the doctors, current forms of campaigns have not been successful because it fails to take the cultural importance of female circumcision into consideration. The doctors have suggested a ‘ritual nick’ to take its place instead, a suggestion that has been met with criticism by survivors.
Two former members of the military in Guatemala have been sentenced up to 360 years for the murder, rape and sexual enslavement of women in a landmark trial. Rape as a war crime became a front cover feature on TIME magazine. In California, schools are including sexual consent as part of high school education. These are all forms of progress in the continuing struggle to end sexual violence against women.
Every contribution matters. If you have any news you’d like to share about violence against women, please email The Pixel Project at info@thepixelproject.net. If you prefer to receive up-to-the-minute news concerning violence against women, follow us on Twitter.
It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.
Best regards,
The Pixel Project Team
General Violence Against Women
- WORLD: Why the world needs a UN treaty to combat violence against women
- LATIN AMERICA: Zika epidemic restrictions promote violence against women, warns report
- LATIN AMERICA: Struggling economies endanger one of Latin America’s most vulnerable groups
- EGYPT: Is Egypt doing enough to counter widespread sexual harassment?
- FRANCE: France struggles with attitudes to violence against women
- NEW ZEALAND: Reign of abuse on Otago streets
- NIGERIA: Obiageli Ezeksweli to endangered girls everywhere: “We’ve got your back”.
- PAKISTAN: Pakistan Women’s Protection Measure Declared ‘un-Islamic’
- UNITED KINGDOM: The UK is having its first national street harassment study
Domestic Violence
- EUROPE and the CARIBBEAN: Europe funds Caribbean domestic violence project
- AUSTRALIA: Safe smartphones to be given to domestic violence victims
- CANADA: Manitoba passes law to offer victims of domestic violence leave from work
- CHINA: A landmark domestic violence law takes effect this month
- INDONESIA: How a wife’s tiny food shop brought financial freedom and escape from domestic violence
- MALAYSIA: Low conviction rate for domestic violence
- NEW ZEALAND: Radio NZ careless about domestic violence figures
- SAUDI ARABIA: Domestic violence cases on the rise
- UNITED KINGDOM: Domestic violence plot in The Archers prompts rise in calls to helpline
- UNITED STATES: For domestic violence survivors, family court becomes site of continued abuse
Rape and Sexual Assault
- WORLD: UN report – peacekeepers from 21 nations accused of sexual abuse
- WORLD: The Secret War Crime – front cover issue on TIME
- COLOMBIA: 97% of Colombia’s cases of sexual violence remain unpunished
- FIJI, VANUATU and PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Disturbing reality of living in Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea
- GUATEMALA: Rape sentences in landmark military trial
- KENYA: New plan to help women in Kenya, but what about rape survivors?
- KOSOVO: Reparations soon for conflict related sexual violence survivors in Kosovo
- PAPUA NEW GUINEA: The shocking reality of sexual violence epidemic in Papua New Guinea
- SYRIA: To maintain supply of sex slaves, ISIS pushes birth control
- UNITED KINGDOM: Women are sharing London postcodes of where they were sexually assaulted in bid to reclaim the city
- UNITED STATES: California to become the first state to make sexual consent lessons mandatory in high schools beginning next year
Sex Trafficking
- WORLD: Economic freedom essential to fighting human trafficking
- CANADA: Sexual exploitation in spotlight at Manitoba forum
- MEXICO: Sex trafficking is booming, Mexican drug cartels expand their business
- MOLDOVA: Can Moldova’s battered teens be rescued from human traffickers?
- NIGERIA and ITALY: Tracking Nigeria’s human traffickers
- SYRIA: Nepali and Bangladeshi women sold into sexual slavery in Syria
- TAIWAN: Police raid alleged cross-strait sex trafficking ring
- UNITED KINGDOM: Trafficking prosecutions hit record in England and Wales following slavery law
- UNITED STATES: U.S. Senate holds Backpage.com in contempt over sex trafficking ads
- VIETNAM and MALAYSIA: Vietnamese woman gets 14 years for trafficking 10 into Malaysia sex ring
Female Genital Mutilation
- WORLD: Doctors urge ‘compromise’ on female genital mutilation
- WORLD: Response by the Orchid Project to a recent journal article suggesting a ‘lesser cut’ to deal with FGC
- AUSTRALIA: Three sentenced to 15 months in landmark female genital mutilation trial
- CANADA and KENYA: Montrealer seeks to end female genital mutilation by educating girls, elders
- EGYPT: Egyptians call for end to female genital mutilation after surgeon’s ban
- ETHIOPIA: These men stood up to end female genital mutilation in their community
- GAMBIA: The challenge to end female genital mutilation in Gambia
- INDIA and PAKISTAN: Men join campaigns against female genital mutilation rituals among the Bohra
- NIGERIA: Nigerian couple’s journey to end FGM
- UNITED KINGDOM: Two arrested in Heathrow over suspected female genital mutilation
- UNITED STATES: Meet the doctor fighting to restore clitorises and pleasure after female genital mutilation
Honour Killing and Forced Marriage
- WORLD: The time is now: A call to end female genital mutilation, child marriage and son selection by 2030
- WORLD: Launch of new multi-million initiative to protect millions of girls from child marriage
- BANGLADESH: Haunting photos of a 15-year old forced to marry a man twice her age
- GAMBIA: KM Councillors sensitized on combating early, forced marriages
- GHANA: Enact laws to make early and forced marriages unattractive
- INDIA: Separate law sought to curb honour killings
- IVORY COAST: Ivory Coast teen struggles to support cousin in forced marriage
- PAKISTAN: Honour killing of two sisters shock Pakistan as award-winning documentary spurs change
- UNITED KINGDOM: Official data on forced marriages in UK may hide true scale of abuse
- UNITED STATES: It happens here too – thousands of American girls face forced marriage
Activism
- WORLD: International Women’s Day around the world
- WORLD: These girls escaped child marriage. Now they’re raising their voices—and cameras.
- WORLD: 4 YA authors candidly speak up about rape culture
- COSTA RICA: Costa Rica march demands end to street harassment
- GUATEMALA: Fighting for justice in a country where women are educated to accept violence
- ETHIOPIA: Africa, FGC and running marathons
- MALI: ‘From where I stand’ – Assetou Toure, survivor of female genital mutilation speaks up
- NEPAL: Men stage march against gender-based violence
- PAKISTAN: NSF seeks to empower women in the Draw for Feminism campaign
- UNITED STATES: Meet the 24-year old who could change how the US handles sexual assault