Women making strides towards equality

Amnesty International reports that their fight for human rights has been more vocal this year

WOMEN activists across the world have been at the forefront of the battle for human rights this year, facing “tough guy’’ leaders trying to undermine rights and equality, according to Amnesty International (AI) report on human rights.

“They (leaders) sought to demonise and persecute already marginalised and vulnerable communities. But nowhere has the struggle for equality this year been louder or more visible than in the fight for women’s rights.

“In India and South Africa, thousands took to the streets to protest against endemic sexual violence. In Saudi Arabia and Iran respectively, women activists risked arrest to resist the driving ban and forced hijab (veiling). In Argentina, Ireland and Poland, demonstrators rallied in vast numbers to demand an end to oppressive abortion laws,” AI said.

The report coincides with the UN Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948.

Millions of people in the US, Europe and parts of Asia joined the #MeToo campaign led by women to demand an end to misogyny and abuse. In north-eastern Nigeria, thousands of displaced women mobilised for justice for the abuses they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram fighters and the Nigerian security forces, said the report.

It added that despite the strides made by the courageous females, governments openly supported policies and laws that subjugated and suppressed women.

“Globally, 40% of women of childbearing age live in countries where abortion remains highly restricted, and some 225 million do not have access to modern contraception. Gender-based violence disproportionately affects women, transgender people and gender non-conforming people; yet it remains a human rights crisis that politicians continue to ignore.

“One in 10 girls worldwide is reportedly sexually assaulted by the age of 20, while only a third of EU countries recognise that sex without consent is rape. Elsewhere, in interviews with Amnesty International, women from conflict-affected areas of Nigeria, Iraq, South Sudan and Myanmar described the horrors of sexual violence they have faced, often by their country’s own security forces.”

The AI research noted that on the African continent, despite some progress, it saw too many governments in sub-Saharan Africa continuing with brutal repression. “But here were signs of hope, as in Ethiopia and Angola, as a result of the change in leadership.

“The best news of all, however, is the extraordinary bravery displayed by women human rights defenders.”

One of the courageous women is South Africa’s Nonhle Mbuthuma, an activist for the preservation of the aMadiba people’s ancestral land in Xolobeni, Eastern Cape. Mbuthuma had to live in hiding after receiving death threats. Last month, a high court order granted the community the power to refuse an Australian mining company the right to extract titanium in Xolobeni. Mbuthuma lost some of her fellow activists, who died in mysterious circumstances.

She said: “When you take my land, you take my identity. The land belonged to my grandparents, who inherited it from their parents. What am I going to leave for my children?

“Mining is not an option. They tried to intimidate us and they failed… I’m still standing.”