Middle East-Turkey: Turkish opposition warns state is using rape as a means of warfare

URKEY’s opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) warned today that rape is being used as a means of warfare by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

peaking at a press conference in Ankara, the chairwoman of the party’s women’s council, Ayse Acar Basaran, charged the AKP with responsibility for two recent rapes allegedly carried out by Turkish soldiers.

A 13-year-old girl was raped in the largely Kurdish city of Sirnak earlier this month, while a 17-year-old girl was raped in Batman province. In both cases, the alleged perpetrators were non-commissioned officers of the Turkish army.

“It is becoming apparent, almost every day, that this is a method of special warfare of the governing coalition of AKP and MHP [the far-right Nationalist Movement Party],” she said.

The recent murder of 27-year-old student Pinar Gultekin triggered mass protests and a call for the government to ditch plans to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention.

Signatories are obliged to tackle gender-based crime, provide protection and services for women and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted.

Read more at: Turkish opposition warns state is using rape as a means of warfare | Morning Star

Middle East: ISIS uses theology to justify rape, enslavement of Yazidi women - by Ariel Zirulnick

A wrenching look by The New York Times into the Islamic State’s enslavement and rape of women from the Yazidi minority group has shed light on one of the most disturbing aspects of its rule in Syria and Iraq.

The practice, according to reporter Rukmini Callimachi, was formalized a year ago, when IS announced it was bringing institutionalized slavery back. Since then an entire “infrastructure” – warehouses, buses, viewing rooms – has emerged to facilitate the trade of women and girls.

A total of 5,270 Yazidis were abducted last year, and at least 3,144 are still being held, according to community leaders. To handle them, the Islamic State has developed a detailed bureaucracy of sex slavery, including sales contracts notarized by the ISIS-run Islamic courts. And the practice has become an established recruiting tool to lure men from deeply conservative Muslim societies, where casual sex is taboo and dating is forbidden.
A growing body of internal policy memos and theological discussions has established guidelines for slavery, including a lengthy how-to manual issued by the Islamic State Research and Fatwa Department just last month. Repeatedly, the ISIS leadership has emphasized a narrow and selective reading of the Quran and other religious rulings to not only justify violence, but also to elevate and celebrate each sexual assault as spiritually beneficial, even virtuous.

Even if captives are released or manage to escape, the trauma doesn’t end, given the stigma that is associated with rape victims in conservative societies. So far, the Yazidi community has said all the right things. Baba Sheikh, a prominent religious leader, has at least twice reassured women they will be welcomed back to the community, according to a Human Rights Watch report in April.

Read more: ISIS uses theology to justify rape, enslavement of Yazidi women - CSMonitor.com

Afghanistan: President Karzai blocks law protecting perpetrators of domestic violence

Amnesty International commended President Hamid Karzai’s decision not to sign the draft Criminal Procedure Code, which would have denied justice to victims of rape, domestic violence and under-aged and forced marriage. The law was a threat to progress made on women's human rights, and the President’s veto is welcome.

The draft code passed by the Afghan parliament last month included a new provision which would have prohibited relatives of the accused from testifying in criminal cases. With most cases of gender-based violence taking place in the family, this would have made successful prosecutions nearly impossible.

“This is an important step against retrograde legislation that would have let rapists and perpetrators of domestic violence off the hook,” said Horia Mosadiq, Afghanistan Researcher at Amnesty International.

“This draft code would have taken Afghanistan back decades in terms of discrimination of women and girls in the country. President Karzai has taken a crucial step by refusing to sign the amended code. Meanwhile he must ensure that victims of domestic violence, rape and other crimes have a viable path to justice, including by putting in place witness protection programmes.”

Afghanistan: President Karzai blocks law protecting perpetrators of domestic violence | Amnesty International

PoliGazette: In Britain, Rape Cases Seldom Result in a Conviction - by Michael van der Galien

For the complete report from the PoliGazette click on this link

In Britain, Rape Cases Seldom Result in a Conviction- by Michael van der Galien

In Britain, a nation whose justice system has been used as a model around the globe, government officials and women’s rights activists agree that rape goes largely unpunished. Solicitor General Vera Baird, who oversees criminal prosecutions in England, estimated that 10 to 20 percent of rapes are brought to authorities’ attention. According to government figures, 14,000 cases a year are reported and 19 out of 20 defendants walk free.