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NEWS & LETTERS, July-August 2010
Women Worldwide
by Artemis
The Simone de Beauvoir Institute, a women's studies college at Concordia University in Quebec, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Anglican diocese of Montreal, are speaking against Bill 94, which would prohibit Muslim women from wearing the niqab (face veil) while working in the public sector or receiving government services including education and healthcare.
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The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative interviewed 4,000 rape victims in the eastern South Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo. It found 60% were gang raped. In 2008, over a third of the rapes were committed by civilians, up from 1% in 2004. Rape as a weapon of war influenced its social acceptance. When UN initiatives are carried out, both the rebels and the government use rape to punish civilians.
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In India's West Bengal state, police have arrested ten men from the Oraon tribe for the kidnappings and murders of five women. They stated a priest urged them to murder the women, claiming they were "witches" who had caused a spate of deaths by disease. Indian feminists state that priests, tribal chiefs, and relatives often accuse widows and divorcees of witchcraft so they can take control of their property when they are killed.
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The Reformed Political Party in the Netherlands can no longer bar women from office according to a recent court ruling which states that the Dutch are a party to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
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