Archive for November 11th, 2011

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11/11/2011

Pakistan: Girls Tormented by Stigma After Rape

Human Wrongs Watch

Karachi – The three-room house in the Korangi area of the Pakistani city of Karachi, occupied until two months ago by Alam Din and his family of six, stands empty.

A flood-affected family in Pakistan | Credit: UN

Neighbours say Din, a street vendor, left suddenly after his 14-year-old daughter was raped by several local youths while on her way home from an evening lesson, reports IRIN, humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs*.

The crime was never reported; Din and his brothers felt to do so would damage family honour and instead Din apparently bundled his family and possessions on to a truck and left in the dead of night for Punjab province.

“The girl had to be carried out,” said Aleena Bibi, a neighbour. “She had been injured. It is a tragedy this should happen to a child, but now people also consider the house unlucky and are reluctant to buy.”

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Posted in Asia, The Peoples | 4 Comments »

11/11/2011

UNESCO Halts Education, Fight Against Extremism Activities As U.S. Withholds Its Dues

Human Wrongs Watch

Paris – The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will temporarily halt some activities owing to the $65 million budget shortfall resulting from the U.S. decision to withhold its dues.

Education will be affected by U.S. decision to stop funding UNESCO. Photo: Thomas Schoch

Irina Bokova, UNESCO director general, while making this announcement on Nov. 10, also said that the specialized organization has launched a new online tool to enable donors to help offset the loss.

The new fund is one of several measures announced by Bokova in an address to the 36th session of UNESCO’s General Conference that ended in Paris on Nov. 10. “UNESCO is facing a difficult situation,” she told the agency’s highest ruling body. “It’s a test for our organization.”

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

11/11/2011

Exorcising Witchcraft in Ghana

Human Wrongs Watch

By James Wan* – ThinkAfricaPress

Witchcraft in Ghana is a very real phenomenon. It displaces people from their homes, it breaks up families and it destroys lives. Those believed to be responsible for causing illness and misfortune are often tortured, killed or expelled from their villages.

'Witch' Amina Wumbala outside her hut in Gambaga | ThinkAfricaPress

Yaba Badoe’s powerful and heart-rending documentary The Witches of Gambaga, screened in London as part of Film Africa 2011, examines the lives of some of the accused witches who have sought refuge in perhaps Ghana’s oldest and most famous witches’ camp of Gambaga.

Filmed over the course of five years and told largely by the women themselves, the documentary highlights the plight of some of the true victims of witchcraft beliefs.

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Posted in Africa, The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

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