Women's rights activists in Iraq are sounding the alarm that certain freedoms, particularly freedom of dress and movement, exercised by women even under the regime of Saddam Hussein, are being degraded and threaten to disappear. Iraqi feminist activist Ban Jamil, who runs the Rasafa Branch of Assyrian Women Union, told Agence France Presse that “women cannot walk freely out in the street…[they] face a lack of respect when they walk uncovered.” Jinan Mubarak, who directs the Iraqi Center for Training and Employing Women, told AFP that now Iraqi women “cover and change the way we dress unwillingly due to pressure.” Those who are not willing to wear a veil are now unable to walk through certain neighborhoods.
Iraqi feminist activists also continue to be concerned with the status of women in the constitution. Nearly 200 women had protested in Baghdad in July to demand full equality in the new constitution. Most recently, during a discussion sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the Iraqi Women’s Caucus, Iraq’s Minister of State for Women’s Affairs, Azhar al-Sheikhly, stated her concern with the status of women’s rights in the new constitution, and Iraqi First Lady Hero Ibrahim Ahmed noted the potential dangers of deference to Islamic law in the creation of civil legal codes.
6/18/2013 Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Voter Requirements - On Monday, the United States Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed register to vote.
In an opinion written [PDF] by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled that the Arizona statute violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, also known as the "Motor Voter Law") of 1993, which created a federal form that individuals can mail in to register to vote in federal elections. . . .
6/18/2013 Pakistani Women's University Bus, Hospital Bombed - A bus for a women's university in Pakistan and the hospital that treated victims from the blast were bombed on Saturday, killing 14 students and 24 others at the hospital.
The bus was transporting female students and teachers from Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University in Quetta, located in the southwestern part of Pakistan. . . .
6/18/2013 Taliban Attack In Afghan Capital As NATO Transfers Power - Yesterday, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) transferred responsibility for the country's security forces to the Afghan government after a bomb blast targeting a political official left three civilians dead in Kabul. . . .
