Milestones for the LGBTI Movement in Indonesia

The Jakarta Post recently featured a list of milestones of the LGBTI movement inGN Triangle Indonesia, which included the founding of CSBR member and current coordinating office Gaya Nusantara! Read the article below.


Milestones for the LGBT Movement in Indonesia

Indonesia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy movement has come a long way since the 1960s, when then Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin first facilitated a transgender association in the city.

“The era after the 1998 reform was the dawn for more political LGBT organizations. […] Before 1998, the LGBT movement was accepted but controlled. After the reform era, LGBT organizations could get more political,” the director of LGBT rights group Suara Kita, Hartoyo, said on Monday.

Here we list the milestones of the Indonesian LGBT advocacy movement:

1960: Establishment of the Jakarta Transgender Association (Hiwad), with the support of then Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin. Other cities subsequently established similar organizations.

1982: Creation of the first public gay organization, Lambda Indonesia. Lambda members were mostly gay men, with little participation from lesbians or transgenders. The organization was disbanded in 1986.

1987: Creation of GAYa Nusantara, the oldest LGBT group still in existence.

1993: Indonesian Lesbian and Gay Congress (KLGI) held in Kaliurang, near Yogyakarta. Subsequent congresses were held in Lembang, West Java, in 1995, and in Denpasar, Bali, in 1997.

1998: Lesbian and bisexual women, as well as transgender men, participate in the Indonesian Women’s Congress in 1998.

2006: Signing of the Yogyakarta Principles, the first international principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity.

2007: Establishment of the Gay, Transgender and Men Who Have Sex with Men Network (GWL INA), which aims to support the scale-up of HIV prevention and care programs for targeted communities.

2008: After the third International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) Conference in Thailand, six LGBT organizations from Jakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta team up to strengthen the movement, the forerunner of today’s LGBTIQ Forum.

2013: National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) sets LGBT rights as a topic for a plenary discussion for the first time in 10 years.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Response to Illegal block of Istanbul Pride 2015

Illegal Block of Istanbul Pride 2015

The Istanbul LGBTI Pride Parade has been held for thirteen years. Yet this year the Istanbul Governor’s Office blocked the parade, citing the fact that it coincided with Ramadan. The use of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, as an excuse to curtail the freedoms of assembly, demonstration, and speech is a clear violation of rule of law. In taking this illegal decision, the Governor’s Office has thus broken the law.

In applying the governor’s illegal order, law enforcement officials, too, became accomplices in a crime. They attacked tens of thousands of people with tear gas, riot-control vehicles, and plastic bullets, even though those people had come to assemble peacefully, just as they had last year. Law enforcement officials violated their legal obligations by carrying out the unconstitutional and illegal order handed down by the Istanbul governor’s office. Indeed, on the day of the attack, many police officers lacked helmets and registration numbers that would have helped identify them.

Moreover, the decision to block the parade because of Ramadan artificially inflames tensions by presenting LGBTI status and Muslim faith as if they were supposedly two opposing identities. It purposely ignores the fact that LGBTI individuals can come from all walks of life and aims to demonize them in the eyes of the wider public, preparing the ground for future attacks against LGBTI individuals. The government and the governor’s office will thus be held directly responsible for any attacks against LGBTI individuals that may be committed from this point on.

In a statement following the events, the Istanbul Governor’s Office stated that it had not received any notification about the parade and also that it had felt that certain groups were going to react violently to the parade.

First, if there was indeed credible information that an outside attack was to occur, it is the duty of the governor and of law enforcement to take measures to prevent such an attack, not to themselves attack the group exercising its right to assemble.

Second, Law No. 2911 on Assembly, Demonstrations, and Parades, as well as the relevant article of the constitution, are both entirely clear: Such assemblies are not subject to the prior permission of the governor’s office, nor is there even any obligation to notify the authorities. The 13th annual LGBTI Pride Parade planned for Sunday, 28 June in Taksim Square, was thus not in violation of any law. Moreover, after the parade itself was blocked, law enforcement continued to attack people gathered on the streets for hours. The streets and venues where the Pride Party was being held were attacked by police using gas canisters and plastic bullets long into the night. Such behavior on the part of the police goes beyond merely preventing an “unannounced” parade: It shows that this was an attack on our identities and our very existence.

Hundreds of people who came to participate in the parade were affected or harmed by the attacks, some with injuries serious enough to warrant hospital reports. We would like to take this opportunity to wish a speedy recovery to all of our friends and supporters who were victims of police violence on Sunday. For years, the state purposely ignored systematic violence being inflicted on LGBTI individuals and even reduced the punishments faced by perpetrators; now it is the state itself that has directly and physically attacked the existence of LGBTI individuals in Turkey.

Furthermore, we fail to understand how the same government that assured the United Nations on Friday (26 June) that it would protect LGBTI rights could on Sunday (28 June) go and attack the 13th annual Istanbul LGBTI Pride Parade without providing a legal justification. At the UN meeting on Friday, Turkey approved Norway’s proposal that “Turkey should carry out its human-rights obligations by ensuring that LGBTI individuals and non-governmental organizations are included in the process.” It also declared that it would carry out all proposals approved within the framework of the United Nations. A mere two days later, however, the government acted in violation of these proposals.

We repeat: We were here before, we are here now, and we will always be here!

Turkey has held an LGBTI Pride Parade for thirteen years. It is just one of the many activities of Istanbul LGBTI Pride Week in late June, which has been held for 23 years to mark the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. It will continue to take place next year and every year thereafter. We will persist in our struggle for existence regardless of the government in power. We will continue to resist all forms of oppression, as we have for years.

We’re here to stay, so get used to it!

At 12:30 on Thursday, 2 July, we will file an official criminal complaint at the Çağlayan Courthouse in Istanbul against Interior Minister Sebahattin Öztürk, Istanbul Governor Vasip Şahin, and Istanbul Police Chief Selami Altınok for their role in ordering the attacks on the 13th Annual Istanbul LGBTI Pride Parade. We call on all political parties, labor unions, the democratically minded Turkish public, and international non-governmental organizations to come and express their solidarity with our cause.

Istanbul LGBTI Pride Week Committee

Reposted from: SPOD

Resistance in the face of police violence at Istanbul Pride 2015

Police attacked the LGBTI Pride Parade with water cannon and tear gas to disperse the participants at Istanbul Pride on Sunday 28 June 2015.

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The participants as well as journalists were exposed to violence, the disproportionate use of tear gas, and arbitrary detention by Turkey’s police forces. MPs from the CHP and HDP resisted together against the police attack. Despite of the police violence, rainbow flags were waived everywhere in Beyoğlu Street.

Turkish police fired water cannon and rubber pellets to disperse a crowd gathered around the LGBTI Pride Parade by using the month of Ramadan as an “excuse”.

A similar parade occurred peacefully in Istanbul without any incident last year during the month of Ramadan.

Pride Parade participants chanted slogans like “legs to shoulders against fascism”, “don’t keep silent, shout it out, gays exist”, “Police, prostitute yourself and live proudly” against police brutality.

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Just before the Parade, Kaos GL and Bianet editors were about to be taken into custody while recording police violence.


Cyber attacks to KaosGL.org

When police was attacking to pride participants, KaosGL.org faced cyber attacks. Could not access the site long time, technical difficulties continued until late at night.

U.S. Consul General in Istanbul Charles F. Hunter, MPs Filiz Kerestecioğlu, Beyza Üstün and Sezai Temelli from the HDP and MPs Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Mahmut Tanal from the CHP and Beşiktaş Mayor Murat Hazinedar were also in Taksim. MPs from the HDP and CHP formed a human chain to prevent riot police from attacking the participant of the Parade. They resisted against homophobia together.

The 23rd Istanbul LGBTI Pride Committee released an announcement and urged the participants to remain in place!

The announcement is as follows:

The 13th Istanbul LGBTI Pride Parade scheduled to take place at 17:00 in Taksim has suddenly been banned by the Governorate, using the month of Ramadan as an excuse, without any announcement.

The police is attacking tens of thousands of people with pepper spray, plastic bullets, and water cannon.

All entrances and exits to and from Taksim and Istiklal Street have been shut down.

We call on the Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin to adhere to the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, to immediately cease the attacks, and to make a public statement.

All Pride Parade participants are urged to remain in place and not leave Beyoglu until the walk can be started as planned.

People who believe in a free world but could not make it to Taksim: we invite you to make some noise with pots & pans or whatever you find, whereever you are, at 6pm.

WE ARE HERE, GET USED TO IT, WE ARE NOT LEAVING!

Love wins!

#GelYanima #JoinUs

The police did not allow the Pride Parade participants to make a press release at first, and then the participants walked through the Tunnel Square and were able to make a press release in such unfair conditions.

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Participants walked to the Tünel Square, Police didn’t allow for press statement

At 19:00, Pride Parade participants walked into a crowd of police barricades and police opened the Tünel Square. In a press statement; Committee highlighted police attack. Police didn’t allow the full press statement.

5 LGBT individuals were attacked by unidentified persons. Nose of one of LGBT activists and hip of one activist were broken.

Police also continued to attack the night after the party.

Despite the ongoing police attack rainbow flags waved in all the streets of Beyoğlu all day!


Photos: Barış Paksoy Docu News Agency

Reposted from: KAOS-GL

Response to the Zero-Draft of the Outcome Document of the Post-2015 Summit

During the 20-24 June 2015 intergovernmental negotiations, ARROW submitted a detailed response to the zero-draft of the Outcome Document of the Post-2015 Summit. The response was supported by 116 women’s groups and allied civil society and social movements from 33 countries and 7 regions.

The response includes both general comments on the framing of the draft, and specific comments on the language. Overall the response calls for the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights across the document from an intersectional gender-responsive approach that ensures accountability to human rights, environmental and labour standards, and non-discrimination on the basis of diverse identity markers.

Read the response here.

Response to Zero-Draft of Post-2015 Outcome Document

A lesson in body positivity for Pakistan

6 December 2014

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Luavut Zahid is Pakistan Today’s Special Correspondent. Her work places an emphasis on conflict and disasters, human rights, religious and sexual minorities, climate change, development and governance. She also serves as the Pakistan Correspondent to the Crisis Response Journal.

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A much needed conversation just got started. 

To mark the One Day, One Struggle (ODOS) on 9th November, Drag It To The Top began a series of workshops which focused on human rights and bodily rights. The ODOS workshop, which falls under the umbrella of the Coalition of Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR), took place at the Institute of Peace & Secular Studies (IPSS) in Lahore.

The workshops can potentially cause an extremely positive ripple effect because they don’t just aim to drum up dialogues and get people talking, it has the ability to break actual stereotypes. It is the result of collaboration between human rights activists Hadi Hussain, Aisha Haleem, Fakhra Hassan and Fatima A Athar.

In a country like Pakistan, focus on these issues is desperately needed and unfortunately rare. The two-hour multilingual workshop had a focus on Urdu as the main language. Through use of participatory theatre and interactive dialogue it tried to create a safe space where a diverse set of people could come together and discuss body acceptance, body positive and fat-positive attitudes. “Audience members were randomly asked to pick a word (a commonly used label or slur for body type/feature or outward appearance) which they then had to communicate to the audience by enacting it. After the audience guessed it, there would be discussion about the connotations, stereotypes and personal experiences of the audience members as a way to motivate us to think about these things as they manifest in our daily lives,” Fatima informed.

JHIH-Workshop-Poster

“Our purpose behind the format was to facilitate the process of rethinking as well as relearning of the participants where they would be able to realise the whats, whys and hows of body politics,” Hadi informed while explaining the format. “Through this indirect learning methodology, we gave them space to be open enough to share their ideas regarding various body types and appearances and see what effects they have on others. It was an attempt to initiate self-actualisation process where one can recognise the social construction of all such labels,” he added.

The size of the workshop was also kept small on purpose; however, it doesn’t seem as though the group believes in strength in numbers. Fatima elaborated: “We knew from the get-go we didn’t want the ‘standard’ workshop model that divides attendees into teacher and taught, actor and spectator. There’s too much of that going on already!

“Our aim was to encourage critical thought, and for that we came up with a somewhat unusual model. So we kept the pilot workshop small, with attendees from all walks of life but not very many in total, and plenty of room for individual feedback. This was a workshop where the audience was also the teacher, and we wanted to make sure everyone received the time, attention, and safe space needed to draw out their thoughts. We’re thrilled by the response.”

Figuring out the best way to put the workshop together was also a journey for the group. “Initially, I was thinking of putting together a theatrical performance focused on the politics of oppression but then realised that this kind of activity was in danger of becoming one-sided and detached from experiences of daily life,” Fakhra said. “Drag It To The Top has a tradition of following a community-based approach to events that we have been organising since 2012. We believe in capitalising on human experiences and human bondage. Before the event, at the event and after the event, there is no hierarchy between an organiser and a participant,” she added.

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The manner in which the workshop functions is inspired by a need to change the way people perceive things, the way they consume information and the way they react to it. “One fine evening, we started talking about the “extreme news” in the media on violence, sexual harassment, murders, honour killings, rape, insanity and other horror stories of life we see in the papers and in our own lives occupied with nationalist and world politics. I thought “Oh my God, look at all the violence around us. We are so desensitised. We see violence and take it as a given, like passive recipients.

“This happens because we hardly find time and space to talk about our own selves. Look at our lives. Have we ever thought about how it affects our bodies and our psyche? Have we ever talked about how we really perceive ourselves and the others in light of all this violence and injustice in the world? Have we taken a stand to do something uplifting for those we care about? Are we really being true to ourselves?” questioned Fakhra.

The initiative is extremely important because people from Pakistan, and South Asia in a larger context, tend to undermine how essential it is to actually create a dialogue around their bodies. Fakhra feels that this has to change. “We usually undermine the importance of talking about our bodies, our perceptions and our feelings unless there is some kind of violation happening, which is quite frequent here anyway. Unfortunately most of us forget to acknowledge that our bodies are political, the very fabric of our being is political and therefore needs looking after and cared for. “I feel, therefore I am” is highly underrated,” she asserted.

And that is where the group also found their muse. “There it was. The talk had to be about body acceptance and body positivity and creating safe spaces for talking about these issues with comfort and ease. We later on settled for enacting body labels to begin with and decided to bring up the issues during the discussion. I think that worked out quite well,” Fakhra explained.

What seemed like just a discussion on labels at the start began to look more and more like an exercise in addressing and breaking stereotypes soon. The workshop was a multifaceted affair. “Although the labels we talked about involved body politics but it’s all about breaking stereotypes and that’s why we developed the idea of having this workshop in the first place. We wanted to question the hierarchical social construction of different body labels which gives a privileged status to a few while downplaying others. We wanted to challenge why the idea of beauty is always associated with being fair skinned, tall and having a toned/slim body. Why can’t a dark skinned, short, and fat person be beautiful?” Hadi asked.

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Pakistan can only progress with this kind of a conversation. The fact that it’s taking place under something like the CBSR also ensures that it will be done in a way that does not alienate anyone’s sentiments. Hadi feels that these kinds of initiatives serve the Pakistani society on multiple levels. “The idea of talking about bodies isn’t unique, as we are always commenting about how people look and appear, but yes talking about bodies in a non-stereotypical way, detached from normative depiction, is quite radical,” he excitedly explained.

“On one hand it will create a discourse of questioning and challenging the way people view various body labels while developing a non-judgmental approach of addressing such labels and on the other it will enable individuals to rise above the body shaming or body privilege they have been experiencing in their daily life. This will definitely have a positive impact on the physical and psychological well being of the individuals,” Hadi said.

The initiative has a lot of things on its list of things-to-do. This was just a small taste of what’s to come. “The workshop series’ overall aim is to promote body positivity and acceptance by exploring the intersection between racism, ableism (a pressing issue — consider the recent event where police beat up blind people protesting for their rights on World Disability Day), sexism, homophobia and transphobia,” Fatima explained.

“Since the first step to solving a problem is naming it, the pilot workshop focused on encouraging participants to reveal and discuss their own bias (conscious or unconscious) as well as personal experiences, as part of putting together a critical evaluation of the cultural vocabulary we use to describe, depict, and shape the ways we think about non-normative bodies and the labels those human beings are reduced to: the disabled, the unattractive, the unusual, the different,” she added.

The group plans to hold multiple workshops addressing the same issues in the future. Fortunately, this is just the beginning.

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Re-posted from: Pakistan Today

Pertubuhan Pertolongan Wanita (WAO) Melancarkan Laporan Keganasan Rumah Tangga 2015 dan Kempen Kesedaran Awam, “Bolehkah Anda Simpan Rahsia?”

WAO Launch 'Can You Keep A Secret'

Kuala Lumpur, 23 Jun 2015 – Pertubuhan Pertolongan Wanita (WAO) melancarkan laporan tahunan bertajuk “Berganding Bahu: Kajian Kes dalam Respons Keganasan Rumah Tangga, Laporan 2015”, sekaligus melancarkan pameran seni seramik bertajuk “Bolehkah Anda Simpan Rahsia?” bersama Leo Burnett/ Arc Worldwide Malaysia hari ini di Publika. Majlis pelancaran tersebut dirasmikan oleh Menteri Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat, YB Dato’ Sri Rohani Abdul Karim.

Laporan tersebut membutirkan pengalaman mangsa-mangsa keganasan rumah tangga dan cabaran yang dihadapi mereka dalam mencari perlindungan dan keadilan. Laporan ini juga menyenaraikan saranan komprehensif yang ditujukan kepada pihak berkuasa kerajaan yang berkenaan.

Pameran “Bolehkah Anda Simpan Rahsia?” merupakan inisiatif pendidikan awam bertujuan mempertingkatkan kesedaran orang ramai terhadap keganasan rumah tangga. Pameran ini akan mengetengahkan 12 kepala seramik saiz sebenar yang memaparkan wanita yang mungkin merupakan mangsa penderaan. Setiap kepala seramik ini mengisahkan cerita mangsa keganasan rumah tangga yang berbeza, dan menyeru orang ramai untuk tidak berdiam diri jika mereka mengesyaki berlakunya penderaan.

Barisan kepala ini dihasilkan secara sukarela oleh artis James Seet daripada Leo Burnett/ Arc Worldwide Malaysia. “Seni seramik digunakan untuk menceritakan kisah sebenar mangsa kerana menggambarkan betapa rapuhnya hidup mangsa penderaan jika tidak dibela. Mangsa biasanya hidup bertopeng sedangkan jiwa mereka sebenarnya terseksa,” kata Seet.

“Seiring dengan pegangan ‘Keinsanan’ Leo Burnett, kami ingin menyedarkan orang ramai akan WAO 2015 Report Working Togetherkeparahan isu keganasan rumah tangga. Isu ini tidak mungkin diatasi dalam sekelip mata, tetapi berkat pendedahan dan pendidikan dalam topik ini, kami berharap dapat menggalakkan rakyat Malaysia supaya bertindak apabila menyedari wujudnya keganasan rumah tangga,” jelas artis tersebut.

“Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat amat mengutamakan hak golongan wanita, dan sedang bekerja ke arah mencapai kesaksamaan jantina. Malaysia amat komited kepada Konvensyen berkaitan Penghapusan Segala Bentuk Diskriminasi terhadap Wanita (CEDAW). Kementerian sangat menyokong usaha-usaha untuk membantu mereka yang didera oleh ahli keluarga, tidak kira dari pihak kerajaan mahupun bukan kerajaan,” tekan YB Dato’ Sri Rohani Abdul Karim.

Beliau mengiktiraf kekuatan dan kelemahan dalam sistem respons bagi mangsa, sebagaimana digariskan oleh laporan WAO. Beliau berkata bahawa kementerian akan “mempertimbangkan cadangan-cadangan yang terdapat di dalam laporan” WAO agar keganasan rumah tangga dapat ditangani dengan lebih baik.

Sumitra Visvanathan, Pengarah Eksekutif WAO, menekankan peri pentingnya menangani keganasan rumah tangga dengan melibatkan kesemua pihak berkepentingan. Beliau berkata, “Semua agensi berkaitan termasuk pihak bukan kerajaan dan agensi kerajaan seperti pihak hospital dan pihak polis mesti berganding bahu demi mempercepat respons kita terhadap keganasan rumah tangga dan terus memastikan mangsa mendapat sokongan dan bantuan yang disediakan.”

WAO Launch 2Laporan ini mengutarakan peranan utama polis sebagai pihak bertindak pertama  dalam kebanyakan kes keganasan rumah tangga. Daripada 110 mangsa yang ditinjau, 68 (61.8%) daripada mereka mendapatkan bantuan polis terlebih dahulu sebelum pihak lain.

“Polis memainkan peranan penting dalam respons keganasan rumah tangga. Adalah amat penting untuk pegawai-pegawai polis menerima sokongan dan latihan sewajarnya untuk mengendalikan kes-kes sebegini,” jelas Visvanathan.

Satu lagi isu yang diketengahkan dalam laporan ini adalah beberapa kejayaan pihak mahkamah dalam membicarakan kes penderaan rumah tangga. Contohnya: kenyataan impak mangsa (victim impact statement, VIS) berjaya digunakan untuk mendakwa pelaku, manakala seorang pelaku lain berjaya dipenjarakan kerana melanggar arahan perlindungan, kali pertama untuk Malaysia.

Naib Presiden WAO Tashia Peterson berkata semasa majlis pelancaran, “Keganasan rumah tangga bukan perkara yang normal; wanita berhak hidup tanpa keganasan.  Orang ramai perlu mengenal pasti hakikat ini dan menyedari bahawa setiap daripada kita mempunyai peranan penting dalam membanteras keganasan rumah tangga.”

“Setinggi-tinggi terima kasih kepada Arc Worldwide/ Leo Burnett Malaysia atas bantuan mereka dalam menjayakan pameran seni ini, pejabat YB Senator Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, dan Brickfields Asia College (BAC) atas sokongan murah hati mereka dalam penerbitan laporan ini. Terima kasih juga kepada Publika kerana menyediakan ruang untuk menjalankan inisiatif-inisiatif ini,” sambung beliau.

Pameran seni WAO akan berlangsung di Blue Bridge, Aras G3, Publika, sehingga 22 Julai dan seterusnya di lokasi-lokasi lain.

Laporan WAO boleh dimuat turun di bit.ly/WAOreport.


Pertubuhan Pertolongan Wanita (WAO) menyediakan tempat tinggal sementara, kerja sosial dan perkhidmatan nasihat untuk mangsa keganasan rumah tangga dan berjuang untuk hak wanita. Sila hubungi talian nasihat kami di 03 7956 3488 atau SMS TINA di 018 988 8058 sekiranya anda atau kenalan anda mengalami penderaan. Bersama-sama, kita merubah kehidupan.

Untuk maklumat lanjut: Kristine Yap, kristine.wao@gmail.com 

WAO Reveals 2015 Domestic Violence Report & Launches Public Education Campaign “Can You Keep A Secret?”

WAO Launch 'Can You Keep A Secret'


Kuala Lumpur, 23 June 2015
– Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) revealed their annual “Working Together: Case Studies in Domestic Violence Response, 2015 Report”, simultaneously launching their public education campaign with a ceramic art installation entitled, “Can You Keep A Secret?” in collaboration with Leo Burnett/ Arc Worldwide Malaysia today in Publika. The launch was officiated by the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, YB Dato’ Sri Rohani Abdul Karim.

The report details the experiences of domestic abuse survivors and the challenges they faced in obtaining protection and justice. WAO also compiled a comprehensive list of recommendations directed towards relevant government authorities.

“Can You Keep a Secret?” is aimed at raising awareness on domestic violence and will be onWAO 2015 Report Working Togetherdisplay at the Blue Bridge on Level G3 of Publika, featuring live-size ceramic head sculptures representing everyday women who could be victims of abuse. The twelve ceramic heads feature different stories of domestic violence survivors, drawing the public’s attention and urging them to speak out when it matters most – when they notice abuse.

Artist James Seet from Leo Burnett/ Arc Worldwide Malaysia volunteered his time and skills to create the sculptures as it was an issue he strongly wanted to champion. Ceramic art was used to mirror real stories of survivors, representing the fragility of abused victims. Masking their internal emotions with a strong façade, victims develop deep mental and emotional scars that affect their wellbeing,“ Seet said.

“In line with Leo Burnett’s Humankind philosophy of creating work that influences behaviour, we hope to be able to bring the severity of domestic violence to attention through this art installation. This issue will not resolve overnight, but with the little exposure and education on this topic, we hope to encourage Malaysians to take action when they come across domestic violence,” James added.

“The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development prioritises women’s rights, and is working towards achieving gender equality. Malaysia is committed to our obligations to Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Ministry strongly supports efforts by government and non-governmental agencies to assist survivors of domestic violence,” the Minister stressed.

WAO Launch "Can You Keep A Secret?" 2The Minister also noted that there were strengths and weaknesses in the response system for domestic violence survivors, which the report points out. The Minister added that her Ministry would “consider all suggestions and recommendations that WAO has raised in the report to better address domestic violence.”

Sumitra Visvanathan, Executive Director of WAO, emphasised the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in addressing domestic violence. She stated, “All relevant bodies, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government agencies such as hospitals and the police must work together to improve our response to domestic violence and continue to ensure that victim-survivors have access to the crucial support and assistance that we collectively provide.”

The report highlights the key role of police as first-responders in most domestic violence cases. From the 110 victim-survivors surveyed, 68 (61.8%) of them sought help from the police before anyone else.

“The police play a vital role in domestic violence response. It is exceedingly important that officers receive proper support and training to deal with these cases,” Visvanathan further commented.

Another highlight in the report is breakthrough developments in the courts where domestic violence cases are tried. For example, a victim impact statement (VIS) was successfully used in convicting a perpetrator. In another case, the perpetrator was successfully jailed for breaching a protection order, a first in Malaysia.

WAO Vice-President Tashia Peterson said at the launch, “Domestic violence must not be seen as normal; women have the right to a life free from violence. We want the public to recognise that and realise that we all have a part to play in ending domestic violence.”

“We would also like to thank Leo Burnett/ Arc Worldwide Malaysia for helping to make our campaign a success,as well as the office of Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, and Brickfields Asia College (BAC) for their generous support towards publishing the report. Thank you as well to Publika for providing us the space to conduct these initiatives,” she added. `

The art installation will be on display in Publika, on the Blue Bridge on Level G3, until the 22nd of July. It will then exhibited in other locations.

The report is available for download at bit.ly/WAOreport.

Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) provides temporary shelter, social work and counselling services for domestic violence survivors and advocates for women’s human rights. Call our counselling line at 03 7956 3488 or SMS TINA at 018 988 8058 if you or someone you know is experiencing abuse. Together, we change lives.

For more information, contact: Kristine Yap, kristine.wao@gmail.com

 

 

LGBTI People Gain Ground on Rights Advocacy in Turkish Parliamentary Elections

LGBTI Rights Turkey

June 10, 2015 (New York)- The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) welcomes the results of the June 7 parliamentary election in Turkey, which has seated an unprecedented 22 outspoken advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights. These new members of Parliament are allies of the LGBTI community who have signed a pledge to support LGBTI rights.

“The fact that Turkey’s population has elected 22 acknowledged advocates for LGBTI rights is a tremendous victory,” said Hossein Alizadeh, a program coordinator for IGLHRC, which works closely with LGBTI partner organizations in Turkey. “It is particularly important in a political landscape that recently has been quite conservative and where some high-level politicians have rejected even basic rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

While Turkey does not criminalize same-sex sexual relationships, and LGBTI groups are allowed to operate legally, social discrimination and rights violations against individuals suspected of being gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual, or who otherwise do not conform to prevailing gender norms, are a regular occurrence in the country. The authorities have so far ignored demands from international bodies, including the United Nations and the European Union, to recognize rights and protect LGBTI people against discrimination and abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the months leading up to the election, LGBTI organizations and activists across Turkey came together to launch a national campaign entitled “LGBTI in the Parliament” (Mecliste LGBTİ), urging parliamentary candidates to sign a pledge to support LGBTI rights in Turkey. In total, 64 candidates signed the pledge in the days leading up to the June 7 election. Twenty-two of those who signed the pledge were elected as members of Parliament. Seven of those who publically committed to LGBTI rights are from the liberal Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and 15 of them represent the secularist Republican’s People Party (CHP) from across the country.

“Despite former Prime Minister Davutoglu and current President Erdoğan’s public statements against the involvement of LGBTI organizations in the election campaign, including the candidacy of Baris Sulu, a LGBTI rights activist from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the election results proved that homophobic and transphobic statements do not have any negative impacts on the voting behavior of the constituents.” said Volkan Yilmaz, the head of the Executive Board of the Social Policies, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD), one of Turkey’s leading LGBTI organizations. Yilmaz added, “Thanks to the ‘LGBTI in the Parliament’ campaign as well as the efforts of LGBTI rights activists in different political parties, we have now at least 22 MPs in the new Parliament who have declared their commitment to LGBTI rights.”

Two days before the election at a campaign rally, for example, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said homosexuals were the “representatives of sedition.”

In Sunday’s election, the main opposition group, the secularist Republican’s People Party secured 132 votes in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (the Turkish Parliament), while in a landslide victory, the liberal Peoples’ Democratic Party succeeded in occupying 82 seats in the Parliament. HDP has a long history of supporting LGBTI rights in Turkey, with the leader of the party, Selahattin Demirtas, an open advocate for LGBT rights, both during this election and back in August 2014, when he ran as one of the three contenders for the Presidential election. In recent years, CHP has also been vocal in supporting equal rights and protections for the LGBTI community, with the leader of the party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, recently supporting same-sex partnership, arguing that “nobody can interfere with anybody’s [private] life.”

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-430-6018, strimel@iglhrc or
Hossein Alizadeh, 212-430-6016 halizadeh@iglhrc.org

Source: ILGHRC

Regional Consultation on Expression, Opinion and Religious Freedom in Asia

Regional Consultation - Expression Opinion Religious Freedom Logo

From 3-5 June 2015, human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers and activists met in Jakarta for a
regional consultation on ‘Expression, Opinion, and Religious Freedom in Asia’.  The aim of the Consultation was to discuss, debate, understand and identify solutions for urgent human rights challenges that emerge at the intersections between freedoms of expression and freedom of religion and belief.

While human rights are universal and indivisible, across Asia states and non-state actors are increasingly positing that the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief are in opposition, and developing laws and policies to curtail a multitude of fundamental human rights on this basis. The consultation sought to map out some of these threats across countries, including the impacts on education, sexual and reproductive health, freedom of assembly,  privacy, the rights to fair trials and due process, and more.

The main objectives of the event were:

  • To develop an understanding regarding the direction of future advocacy of FoE in the context of religious freedoms;
  • To understand what role the internet is playing and can play in promoting freedom of expression and religious toleration online;
  • To raise awareness about Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred;
  • To engage the relevant UN Special Procedures mandate holders in the current debate over issues of Freedom of Expression and Religious Freedoms in Asia; and
  • To generate global support for the region from research think tanks, academia, donors and human rights friendly governments to help reverse the negative trends on basic freedoms.

 

In addition to civil society members, the consultation also brought together the former and current UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, David Kaye and Frank La Rue, to share insights and perspectives on the scope of freedom of expression in line with international human rights law.

David Kaye delivered the keynote address, and also a public lecture outlining the basic framework for freedom of opinion and expression in human rights law, and varying social, cultural, demographic pressures that hinder freedom of expression today. View the lecture here.

After three days of plenaries, round table discussions, and small group work, one outcome of the consultation was the development of the Jakarta Recommendations, a set of civil society calls made to governments and intergovernmental bodies to address setbacks in freedoms of expression and religion, and the intersection of these rights, in the region.

The event was organized by Bytes4All Pakistan, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), ICT Watch, Global Partners Digital, the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), the Internet Democracy Project, KontraS and the Open Society Foundation.

Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition

Men in Charge? Front Cover
In April 2015, MUSAWAH–the global movement for equality in the Muslim family–launched an exciting new book which “shows that the assumption that God gave men authority over women is a theological fiction that became a legal fiction, whose main function now is to sustain gender inequality.” [1]

SYNOPSIS

Muslim legal tradition does not treat men and women equally. At the root of this discrimination lies a theological assumption: God has given men authority over women. This assumption is justified with reference to a Qur’anic verse (4:34) and is expressed in two key legal concepts that underlie the logic of most contemporary Muslim family laws. One, qiwamah, generally denotes a husband’s authority over his wife. The other, wilayah, refers to the right and duty of male family members to exercise guardianship over female members and the privileging of fathers over mothers in guardianship of their children.

Based on exciting new feminist research, Men in Charge? critically engages with this assumption and challenges male authority and gender discrimination from within the Muslim legal tradition. The authors trace how male dominance came to be inherent in the tradition, show how it is produced and sustained in contemporary times, and indicate how the tradition can be reformed in order to promote gender equality and justice.

The contributors are academics and activists from varied disciplines and backgrounds who were brought together by Musawah. Since its launch in 2009, Musawah has sought to produce new knowledge to support local and national movements as they develop and advocate for change.

Summaries of the chapters are available on MUSAWAH’s site here, and insights on the processes behind the book by editor Ziba Mir-Hosseini can be read on Open Democracy here.

KOHL – A Journal for Body and Gender Research, Vol. 1

KOHLIssue-1-cover

 

The first volume of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research كحل: مجلة لأبحاث الجسد و الجندر is available in English here. Arabic version coming soon.


About Kohl:  
Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research كحل: مجلة لأبحاث الجسد و الجندر is a progressive, new journal on gender and sexuality in the Middle East, South West Asia and North Africa region. Kohl is a biannual, multilingual, open access, and peer-reviewed academic journal. It targets mainly, but not exclusively, graduate-level academics, fresh graduates, independent writers, activists, and researchers who are not affiliated with an academic institution. [1]

 

Rethinking Intersections: A MENA-centred Definition of Gender and Sexuality (Vol. 1): Table of Contents

Rethinking Intersections, Rethinking Contexts: Writing in Times of Dissent (Editorial) – Ghiwa Sayegh

Feminism as a Moral Imperative in a Globalised World (Commentary) – Arianne Shahvisi

Women as Space/Women in Space: Relocating our Bodies and Rewriting Gender in Space – Jana Nakhal

Reconceptualizing Sexual Harassment in Egypt: A Longitudinal Assessment of el-Taharrush el-Ginsy in Arabic Online Forums and Anti-Sexual Harassment Activism – Angie Abdelmonem

From Diaspora to Nationalism via Colonialism: The Jewish “Memory” Whitened, Israelized, Pinkwashed, and De-Queered – Sahar Mandour

Re-Orienting Desire from With/In Queer Arab Shame: Conceptualizing Queer Arab Subjectivities through Sexual Difference Theory in a Reading of Bareed Mista3jil – Sarah Hamdan

Signifying Bodies: Artistic Representations of Embodiments in the Works of Samir Khaddaje, Rabih Mroué and Lina Saneh – Zéna M. Meskaoui

Pinkwashing: Israel’s International Strategy and Internal Agenda (Testimony) – Ghadir Shafie

Women’s Rights in Iraq: Old and New Challenges (Testimony) – Ilham Hammadi

A Political Movement in Lebanon? A Conversation on Feminism and Queerness (Openings) – Sanaa H.

The Bill on Fighting Violence against Women in Morocco: Anything new? (Resource) – Anass Sadoun


Call for Submissions for Vol. 2

The deadline to apply for submissions for volume 2, “The Non-Exotic Erotic: Questions of Desire and Representation”, has been extended to 2 August 2015. Find out more here.

 

Ensuring Women and Girls’ Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights in the Post-2015 Agenda

This 28 May 2015, on the international day for action on women’s health, the Women’s Global May-28-slogan-finalNetwork for Reproductive Rights (WNGRR) and partners launched a Call to Action to ensure that women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health rights are included within the Post-2105 agenda.

The action called on governments worldwide to respect, protect, and fulfill women’s right to health, dignity and bodily integrity, and end violence against women in ALL its forms, including the one form of violence particularly experienced by women and girls if they are young, unmarried, poor, HIV affected, of diverse sexual orientations or gender identities, living with a disability, or in other vulnerable situations, that remains rampant and unaddressed: namely, the institutional violence they experience when they are denied their right to health and are unable to access sexual and reproductive health services. 

“Institutional violence,” or violence perpetrated by the State, has traditionally been understood as largely occurring within extreme circumstances of conflicts, disasters, and economic crises.[3] As defined by the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, however, violence against women includes “physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State or its agents regardless of where it occurs.”[4] With this definition in mind, examples of violence and discrimination resulting from the violation of women’s right to sexual and reproductive health are far too common and widespread, such as:

  •  The denial of the right to access safe and legal abortion services, thereby forcing women through restrictive abortion laws to carry to term an unwanted pregnancy, even if it puts their health and life at risk, or even in cases of rape or incest, subjecting them to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, particularly if women are then criminalized and incarcerated;
  • Forced or coerced sterilization or abortion, as all too often experienced by women living with HIV, women living with disabilities, individuals of diverse SOGI, among others;
  • Obstetric violence, discrimination and denial of medical care to pregnant women, particularly if they are single and/or unmarried, forcing them to go through their pregnancy and/or labour in unsafe and life-threatening conditions;
  • The denial of young people’s access to comprehensive SRH services, particularly in the form of denying access to emergency contraception even in cases of rape, thereby subjecting young women and girls to forced teenage pregnancy and exacerbating the violence they already experienced.

While these examples may seem extreme, they happen all too frequently, and share a common root cause: namely, the denial of women’s right to sexual and reproductive health, and the denial of women and girls’ right to exercise autonomous decision-making over their bodies and their lives. The denial of these rights results in violence against women[5] and in some cases results in cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment paramount to torture, as recognized by Human Rights Bodies.[6]
As a follow-up to the action, WNGRR submitted a letter to the delegates of 58 UN Member States who delivered a joint statement in support of SRHR at the OWG13 session.

See the original call to action here: http://www.may28.org/call-to-action/, and the final letter to UN delegates endorsed by 177 organizations and 290 individuals worldwide here.

 

WLUML condemns the harassment of Sri Lankan activist Sharmila Seyyid

Statement of Solidarity CSBR

Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) condemns the backlash faced by Sri Lankan Human Rights Defender, Sharmila Seyyid, and calls for her security and freedom to be guaranteed.

In November 2012, Ms. Sharmia Seyyid stated during a radio interview with the Tamil Rado Service of the BBC that the suffering of sex workers would be alleviated if prostitution was legalized.

Severe backlash from the Muslim community has since ensued; Seyyid has been accused of being a heretic, of disobeying the tenets of Islam, has received death threats, and has had her English academy attacked by arsonists. Persecutors have used social media to intimidate Seyyid, which has involved sexualized harassment, and threats of violence and death.  The harassment has resulted in her fleeing the country, and it continues to this day, having also affected other family members.

Ms. Seyyid is a poet, novelist, journalist, social worker and single mother from Eravur, a largely Hindu Tamil province in eastern Sri Lanka. She is an active Woman Human Rights Defender who has been doing valuable social work related to women’s issues in the Batticaloa District and has worked closely with minority women in the East. In 2009, she founded the Organization for Social Development, a community-based organization in Eravur, to help address post-war women’s issues.

Sharmila Seyyid’s exposure to physical and online threats is intolerable, and just another example of the particular persecution WHRDs face for daring to speak up.

Her persecution follows a climate of increasing influence of Wahhabist strands of Islam in Sri Lanka, which is yet to recover after the protracted civil war and ethnic conflict. Non state forces are pushing an overarching majoritarian ideology and hampering the initiatives of the few civil organisations trying to forge inter-ethnic cohesion and citizen rights. These growing influences have contributed to an increase in intra-religious tensions.  Notably, the resulting homogenizing trends of the ‘Muslim identity’ have also curtailed Muslim women’s freedoms in the name of ‘tradition, religion and culture.’

The backlash Ms. Seyyid is experiences is an example of the harassment that activists face when speaking up about social realities.

WLUML strongly believes that Ms. Seyyid has every right to express her views without facing such damaging repercussions. 

We heavily condemn all forms of persecution and harassment and are gravely concerned for her safety. Ms. Seyyid, like many WHRDs around the world, has been victim of the fundamentalist backlash that strongly hampers women’s entry into the public sphere, their political participation, and their freedom to express dissenting views. The defaming, hatred, and threats against a person, particularly a woman, for having a particular opinion is unacceptable.

We support Sri Lanka’s civil society leaders in urging the Sri Lankan authorities, community religious leaders, and civil society actors of the Muslim community to halt the targeting of fellow Muslims and all fellow citizens, to encourage a safer, fairer society, and to actively strive to uphold citizen rights. We urge the Sri Lankan authorities to ensure that investigations will be carried out against those who caused the misconduct and that justice will be meted.


If you would like to support this statement as an organisation or an individual, please email ifra@wluml.org.

This statement is supported by:

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
Emilia Novo
Faizun Zackariya, Muslim Women’s Research and Action Front (MWRAF), Sri Lanka
Sally Armstrong, Journalist, Canada
Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights
Gita Sahgal, Centre for Secular Space, UK
Women’s Action Network Sri Lanka
Shreen Abdul Saroor, Mannar Women’s Development Federation, Sri Lanka
The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR)
PILIPINA Legal Resources Center, The Philippines
Matthew Abely, student teacher, San Jose, CA, USA