Egyption protesters accuse troops of sexual assault

Story published on Women's Views on News, Thursday, May 11, 2012
Women protesters in Egypt have accused the military authorities there of rape and sexual assault.
Last weekend 12 women were among 300 people arrested outside the Defence Ministry in Cairo.
Activist Aida Seif al-Dawla said female prison guards inspected the vaginas of some of the arrestees, on the pretext that they were searching for drugs.

Another detainee, Aya Kamal, told the Egyptian parliament’s Human Rights Committee that soldiers stormed into a mosque, where she and other protesters were sheltering, and took turns groping, insulting, smacking and spitting at them.

One hit her over the head with a club, knocking her unconscious for a few seconds.
“They insulted us girls, they opened the windows (of the van) and tried to reach out to touch our bodies and harass us.

“We were threatened with sexual assault, and we were threatened that if any one of us opened her mouth, she would be thrown to the soldiers outside, and she knows what would happen to her,” said Kamal.

These latest events will re-awaken concerns about the treatment of women by the Egyptian military.
As WVoN reported, thousands of women protested in March against the acquittal of Dr Ahmed Adel, who was accused of carrying out ‘virginity tests’ on women detained during the protests in Tahrir Square last year.

The protesters are demanding that Egypt’s interim military government give up power immediately.

The country is due to go to the polls on May 23 and 24 for the first round of presidential elections.
One of the leading candidates, moderate Islamist Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, called the arrests “arbitrary” and the abuses an “affront to human dignity and a disregard of laws and traditions.”

Police attack Bangladesh environmental protest

Story published on Blottr, Sunday, May 13, 2012

Environmental protesters in Dhaka say they were beaten up by police as they attempted to demonstrate for more renewable energy.

The National Committee to Protect Oil Gas Mineral resources, Ports and Power is calling on the Government of Bangladesh to ban open cast coal mining, to halt the development of a large coal-fired power station and to invest in gas and other renewable energies.

The demonstrators said they were marching from the Press Club to the headquarters of the Power Development Board last Monday when police set up barricades and used force to end the protest. Fifteen people were injured, including five women.

One of the demonstrators, Anu Muhammad, said if the country repaired its existing gas-fired power stations, stopped exporting gas abroad and brought fields back into use Bangladesh could generate enough power from gas to meet its energy needs for the next two decades, which would give it time to develop more renewable energy.

The protesters demanded the Government of Bangladesh continue to oppose plans for a large open cast mine in Phulbari in North Western Bangladesh and that it should cancel plans to build a coal-fired power plant in Rampal on the edge of the Sunderbans, one of the world’s few remaining mangrove forests, home to the Royal Bengal Tiger and other endangered species.

The Equality Act: what does it mean for local authorities

Story published on Guardian Local Government Professional, May 2, 2012

The 2010 Equality Act requires public bodies to show how they are advancing the equality agenda. In the current economic climate, this is more important and yet more difficult for local authorities than ever before.

Under the legislation, councils employing more than 150 people will have to produce "equality objectives" at least once every four years. These commitments should show how local government will elimate

discriminiation – including on the grounds of race, gender, religion, disability or sexuality – in their areas. The objectives they set must be specific, and they must be measurable.

Some councils have chosen to focus on one or two agreements for the most disadvantaged groups in society. Cumbria county council looked at the composition of its own staff and talked to local voluntary groups representing black and minority ethnic (BME) groups, disabled and gay, lesbian and transgender people before drawing up its priorities.

"We wanted to identify areas where you could measure improvement," says Joel Rasbash, strategic policy advisor for equalities at Cumbria. The process identified important concerns such as monitoring hate crime in the area. The council has also committed to work with Gypsy, Traveller and Roma families to improve access to education.

Others, including Coventry city council, have drawn up a more comprehensive set of guidelines. After consulting with local people, Coventry ended up with 22 aims for the city. Some are focused on specific groups, such as improving education for Black African communities, but wider targets for cleaner streets and increased life expectancy in deprived neighbourhoods should benefit residents already facing multiple-discrimination.

Jenni Venn, assistant director for policy, partnership and performance, says Coventry "didn't want to lose sight of geographical, social and economic disadvantage" in the area, and so employed the legislation in its broadest sense.

Councils are also using a resource provided by the Local Government Association to help them think about inequality and discrimination. The Equality Framework for Local Government allows councils to test how well they know their communities, their commitment to diversity, the services they deliver and their customer care against equality rules. Councils undergo a peer review and are rated as 'developing', 'achieving' or 'excellent'.

Brighton and Hove council is one of just 10 local authorities rated as excellent under the scheme. Its equality and inclusion policy sets out how it will manage its own services and influence the behaviour of the contractors it works with.


Since establishing a living wage commission, all agency care staff employed through the council are now paid £7.20 an hour. "It may mean we have to pay a little more for some services, but we think it's really important we do that. The minimum wage is not enough to live on," says Ben Duncan, cabinet member for communities and community safety.


Michael Keating leads on equalities and cohesion for the London borough of Tower Hamlets – one of the first councils to achieve excellent status. He believes it is crucial to involve residents in difficult decisions taken by local authorities that could impact on residents' lives.


Last year, Tower Hamlets drew up a neighbourhood agreement with residents on its Boundary Estate and plans to extend this to eight more estates this year. The contracts, designed and agreed by residents and public service providers, detail exactly what services will be provided, how, where, and by by whom. In return, residents take on specific roles and responsibilities themeslves.


But Keating is concerned that not only cuts, but school and welfare reform could slow progress on equality of opportunity in the borough. "Last year 62% of Tower Hamlets pupils achieved five or more good GCSEs – one of the best performances in London. The local authority has worked hard with schools to develop teaching practices for pupils, many of whom have English as a second language," he says.


But with three academies and one free school now open – more in the pipeline – sustaining this partnership will be difficult. Tower Hamlets also plans to set up a fairness commission, similar to those already run in Islington and York, to look at the council's ability to protect the one third of its residents hit by welfare reform.


The Equality Act, however, could offer the chance to place equality at the centre of local government work. "It's not seen as an add-on any more. It's work that people do, day in and day out," says Mohammed Ilyas, policy officer at Harrow council. "I think we have definitely cracked it this time."

Calls grow for Scottish women's prison to be shut

Story published on Womens Views on News, April 27, 2012

The chief inspector of prisons in Scotland said this week that conditions at the only prison for women are “unsatisfactory” and that the jail should close.

This was the third inspection that Brigadier Hugh Monro had carried out at Cornton Vale prison, near Stirling, in two and a half years.

He described visiting one of the jail’s units, which houses prisoners with mental health issues, and who are kept separate from others, as a “harrowing experience”, according to the Scotsman.

This follows the recommendation in a report published last week by the Commission on Women Offenders, chaired by former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini  that Cornton Vale should be demolished.

Her report said it should be replaced by a smaller specialist prison for long-term, high-risk prisoners, with regional units for short-term, remand prisoners.

Mr Monro told The Scotsman that he “completely endorsed” the call for the prison to be shut.
Although the Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, has accepted that the jail is not fit for purpose, he said that a new prison could not be “magicked” out of thin air.

He said that he accepted: “the logic and direction intimated by Dame Elish Angiolini, but a prison can’t be just magicked out the air, either in terms of the cost of it or in terms of the construction of it”, according to STV news.

The minister continued: “But I accept the clear implication that it is not fit for purpose, not withstanding the outstanding service of those who work in it, and that it will ultimately have to go. That’s a matter that I will be discussing with the Scottish Prison Service.