The US Supreme Court has preserved access to a commonly used abortion pill, ruling the drug can remain available while a legal case continues.

In a split decision, it also rejected restrictions on mifepristone implemented by a lower court, essentially maintaining the status quo.

The future of the drug was called into question after a Texas judge sought to invalidate its long-standing approval.

The case could have wide-ranging implications for abortion access.

It comes after the Supreme Court – which has a 6-3 conservative majority – overturned Roe v Wade in June last year, ending the nationwide guarantee to abortion and giving states the power to ban the procedure.

With Friday’s ruling, the mifepristone case now returns to the lower 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

It is likely that the case will come before the Supreme Court once again, setting up the most significant ruling on the issue of abortion since Roe was overturned.

Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen that now accounts for more than half of abortions in the country. It has been used by more than five million women in the US to end their pregnancies.

It was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more than 20 years ago after four years of review.

The FDA also placed mifepristone in a category of 60 drugs that are regulated under a system of extra restrictions and regular evaluations.

Mainstream medical organisations, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists and the World Health Organization, have said the abortion pill is safe and effective. 

But earlier this month, Texas court judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled to suspend the FDA approval of mifepristone, saying the agency had violated federal rules that allowed for the accelerated approval of some drugs, and had erred in its scientific assessment of the drug.

Judge Kacsmaryk’s preliminary decision came after a group of anti-abortion health professionals launched a case challenging the safety of mifepristone.

His 7 April ruling was made just minutes before a decision from a judge in Washington state ordered the FDA to make no change to the drug’s availability and preserved access to mifepristone in 17 US states.

US President Joe Biden’s administration appealed the Texas ruling, and asked for the Texas court’s order to be placed on hold.

A divided appeals court said mifepristone could remain available, but with certain restrictions, while the appeal was under way.

Among the restrictions imposed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was a limit on sending the pills by mail, effectively requiring in-person visits. These restrictions have now been overturned by the Supreme Court, for now.

Two of the Supreme Court’s conservative members, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, dissented publicly to the decision, which came in a single paragraph, issued hours before a self-imposed deadline.

Justice Thomas provided no reasons for his dissent, while Justice Alito wrote that the Supreme Court has been criticised in the past for issuing emergency orders, called the « shadow docket » by critics.

A full vote breakdown was not released.

Legal battle continues

The decision drew immediate reaction from anti-abortion advocates, who have concentrated their efforts on abortion pills since the fall of Roe.

Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative advocacy group that filed the initial lawsuit, said the FDA « must answer for the damage it has caused to the health of countless women and girls ».

« We look forward to a final outcome in this case that will hold the FDA accountable, » it said.

Kristan Hawkins, president of anti-abortion group Students for Life called the Supreme Court’s decision a « tragedy ».

Pro-choice advocates « have weaponised and weakened the medical standards to favour abortion industry interests, » she said. 

The latest ruling was welcomed by medical experts and organisations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University said: « Imposing restrictions on access to mifepristone, a drug that’s been on the market for two decades, is a bridge too far even for a highly aggressive and conservative Supreme Court. »

He said restrictions on mifepristone would post « immeasurable » harms to the drug approval process in the US. « In some ways it would be open hunting season to all of the FDA’s drugs. »

Pro-choice politicians also applauded the top court’s decision, including Mr Biden who said he would continue to defend the FDA’s independence and fight political « attacks on women’s health ».

That fight is not over – oral arguments for the case will begin before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in mid-May.

But for now, Friday’s ruling had the immediate effect of reassuring healthcare providers that access would continue, at least for the time being.

Kristyn Brandi, a gynecologist, or OB-GYN, and abortion provider in New Jersey, said she was relieved to learn about the ruling. Before it came, she and other providers were unsure of what services they would be able to offer patients attending clinics this weekend.

« Tomorrow morning at 7AM the patients will be able to access the care that they need, » she said. « That’s all that matters today. »

By Holly Honderich – BBC News

L’article Mifepristone: US Supreme Court preserves abortion drug access est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning most abortions after six weeks, paving the way for drastic changes in access to the procedure across the state.

Opponents argue six weeks is before many women know they are pregnant.

The law will not go into effect until a court rules on an ongoing legal challenge to the existing 15-week ban.

« We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida, » the governor said in a statement.

He claimed the law would « defend the dignity of human life and transform Florida into a pro-family state ».

The state has been a safe haven for those seeking abortion in the country’s south-east since Roe v Wade – which gave women in the US the constitutional right to abortion – was overturned last year.

The state’s current 15-week limit on abortion is one of the most lenient in the south-east, with many travelling from other states to Florida to have the procedure.

The six-week ban makes exceptions for abortions in cases of rape or incest, as long as the woman can provide documentation such as a police report or a restraining order.

Mr DeSantis’ signed the bill late Thursday night just hours after Florida’s Republican-led House of Representatives approved the ban on Thursday, with 70 voting for and 40 voting against. It had been passed in the state Senate on 3 April.

« A woman’s right to choose, I’ve heard people talk about that, » Republican lawmaker Kiyan Michael said during the debate, as quoted by CNN. « Well, that right to choose begins before you have sex. »

In a statement shortly after Mr DeSantis signed the bill, the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates said the ban’s exceptions for rape or incest would not provide « meaningful access to patients in need ».

The group argued the bill as a whole would « shut down a critical abortion access point for millions across the southeast, Caribbean, and Central and South America ».

The fate of the new six-week abortion law is still contingent upon another ruling from Florida’s Supreme Court.

Florida’s highest court is hearing a challenge brought by abortion clinics to the state’s existing 15-week ban. The latest law signed by Mr DeSantis contains language that says the six-week ban would only go into effect if Florida’s highest court upholds the 15-week law that is already in place.

Florida’s conservative Supreme Court is expected to side with anti-abortion activists and rule the 15-week ban is constitutional.

National debate over abortion in the US has been raging since a federal judge suspended the original approval of a widely used abortion drug, mifepristone, last week.

That suspension was later blocked by an appellate court, and the Biden administration has said it will ask the Supreme Court to restore full access to the drug.

By Alys Davies – BBC News

L’article Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signs six-week abortion ban into law est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Iran drew international condemnation on Saturday after it executed two men for killing a paramilitary force member in November during protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman.

The latest killings double the number executed so far in connection with the nationwide protests. Two men were put to death in December, sparking global outrage.

They also come in defiance of a campaign by international rights groups for the lives of the two men to be spared.

“Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, the main perpetrators of the crime that led to the martyrdom of Ruhollah Ajamian, were hanged this morning,” judicial news agency Mizan Online reported on Saturday.

The UN human rights office decried the executions, which it said followed “unfair trials based on forced confessions”.

“We urge Iran to halt all executions,” it said on Twitter.

The British foreign minister James Cleverly condemned the executions and urged Iran to “immediately end the violence against its own people”.

Campaigners call for greater global action after deaths of Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini

“The execution of Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini by the Iranian regime is abhorrent,” Cleverly said on Twitter. “The UK is strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.”

Iran hanged the two men for allegedly killing a member of the security forces during nationwide protests that started after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini last September.

The European Union said it was “appalled” by the executions.

“This is yet another sign of the Iranian authorities’ violent repression of civilian demonstrations,” the spokesperson for the bloc’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, said, urging an immediate end to death sentences against protesters.

The court of first instance had sentenced the two men to death in early December, it said, and on Tuesday the supreme court upheld the death sentences, accusing them of killing Ajamian on 3 November.

The victim was a member of the Basij militia – linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – who died in Karaj, west of Tehran.

Prosecutors previously said the 27-year-old was stripped naked and killed by a group of mourners who had been paying tribute to a slain protester, Hadis Najafi.

Karami’s parents issued a video pleading for authorities to spare his life in December.

“I respectfully ask the judiciary, I beg you please, I ask you … to remove the death penalty from my son’s case,” said Mashallah Karami.

He described his son as a former national karate team member and told Iranian media that a family lawyer had been unable to access his case file.

Karami was not allowed to have a final meeting with his family and had foregone food and water in protest, according to Mohamad Aghasi, whom relatives wanted to handle the case, in remarks on Twitter.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR), said both men “were subjected to torture, sentenced after sham trials … without the minimum standards for due process”.

Nazanin Boniadi, a British actor of Iranian origin and an ambassador for Amnesty International in the UK, said on Twitter that the “political cost of Iran executions” must increase.

Campaigners have called for stronger international action after the latest executions.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said foreign nations must withdraw their ambassadors from Iran and call for a moratorium on executions and state violence against peaceful dissent.

“We are mourning as a nation,” prominent US-based dissident Masih Alinejad said in a Twitter post. “Help us save others.”

Authorities have arrested thousands people in the wave of demonstrations that began with the September death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested by morality police for allegedly breaching the strict dress code for women.

Since the beginning of the protest movement, courts have sentenced 14 people to death in connection with the demonstrations, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on official information.

Among those, four have been executed, two others have had their sentences confirmed by the supreme court, six are awaiting new trials and two others can appeal.

World Opinions – Theguardian.com

L’article Iran condemned for executing two men over alleged crimes during protests est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

The first all-women media house in Somalia has been launched, creating a rare opportunity for female journalists in the country to research and publish stories they want to tell.

Led by one of the few female senior news producers in the country, the team of six will produce content for TV, radio and online media on issues such as gender-based violence, women in politics and female entrepreneurs.

Crucially, they will have the autonomy to make editorial decisions.

“We want to cover these issues and challenge societal beliefs that women should stay at home,” said the editor-in-chief, Nasrin Mohamed Ibrahim, who has worked as a journalist for 12 years and is a founding member of the Somali Women Journalist Organisation.

Women working in the media in Somalia face multiple challenges, from being ignored and denied promotions to bullying and sexually harassment. “Men think you should come in, read the news and go home,” said Ibrahim, 27.

Bilan’s deputy editor, Fathi Mohamed Ahmed , 25, said sexual harassment was rife in the media sector and she has had to develop tactics to ward off advances from male colleagues. “The biggest challenge facing female journalists in Somalia is abuse, especially from male journalists,” she said. “They offer to help you but only if you give them something in return.”

Ahmed added: “Men have said things to me like, ‘you’re beautiful, I like your body’, and it was only when I said I was engaged that they stopped.”

Bilan, which means bright and clear in Somali, will be based in the capital, Mogadishu, at Dalsan Media Group, one of the country’s largest media organisations. It will publish news and features, and provide training and mentorship from established Somali and international journalists, including the BBC’s Lyse Doucet and Razia Iqbal, Channel 4’s Lyndsey Hilsum and Mohammed Adow at Al Jazeera. Six-month internships will be offered to the best final-year female journalism students at two universities in Mogadishu.

Funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the project is a year-long pilot, but Jocelyn Mason, UNDP’s resident representative in Mogadishu, is confident it will become a permanent set-up, and may also be extended into Somalia’s regions. “We hope this will be a gamechanger for the Somali media scene, opening up new opportunities for women journalists and shining a light on subjects that have been ignored, particularly those that are important for women,” said Mason.

The team at Bilan includes a woman who is leaving her family for the first time to work in Mogadishu. “I come from a rural clan which does not want any of its members to become journalists, especially young women,” said Shukri Mohamed Abdi. “We come from the bush, where the concept of being a journalist does not exist.”

Another member of the team, Kiin Hasan Fakat, grew up in one of the three Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. She hopes Bilan will provide a safe and inspiring environment for women to tell their stories. “Ask any Somali who they depend on. They will always say ‘my mother’. Everything in Somalia depends on women – the economy, the home, the children, the family.”

World Opinions – The guardian

L’article All-female newsroom launched in Somalia to widen media’s scope est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

A crowd of women has marched through the Afghan capital calling for women’s rights to be respected and accusing Taliban authorities of covertly killing soldiers who served the former United States-backed government.

About 30 women gathered near a mosque in the centre of Kabul on Tuesday and marched a few hundred metres chanting “justice, justice” before they were stopped by Taliban forces, an AFP correspondent reported.

The Taliban also tried to prevent journalists from covering the march, organised against the “mysterious murders of young people, particularly the country’s former soldiers”, according to social media invitations for the march.

Taliban fighters briefly detained a group of reporters and confiscated equipment from some photographers, deleting images from their cameras before returning them.

Since the Taliban returned to power in August, it has effectively banned unsanctioned protests and frequently intervene to block demonstrations against its rule.

The protest comes weeks after separate reports by the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said there were credible allegations of more than 100 extrajudicial killings by the Taliban since the takeover.

“I want to tell the world, tell the Taliban to stop killing. We want freedom, we want justice, we want human rights,” protester Nayera Koahistani told the AFP news agency.

In a statement read aloud by protester Laila Basam, the demonstrators called on the Taliban “to stop its criminal machine”.

Protesters say former soldiers and ex-employees of the overthrown government are ‘under direct threat’.

The statement said former soldiers and ex-employees of the overthrown government are “under direct threat”, violating a general amnesty announced by the Taliban in August.

The protesters also aired objections to the ratcheting restrictions women are facing under the Taliban rule.

The government issued new guidelines at the weekend, banning women from travelling long distances unless escorted by a close male relative.

“Women’s rights are human rights. We must defend our rights,” said Koahistani.

Speaking from Kabul, Mahbooba Saraj, chair of the Afghan Women’s Network, said the move made it difficult for women to get around as many “do not have a mahram [male guardian]” to accompany them.

“This is another way of placing restrictions on women for no apparent reason,” she told Al Jazeera.

Taliban leaders have sought to project a more moderate image in recent months, including saying women and girls will be able to attend school and work in accordance with Islamic law.

School for girls under the Taliban is erratic, and in many provinces, they are not allowed to attend school after grade six, but in more than 10 provinces, schools are open.

Video footage posted online on Tuesday showed another women’s protest held elsewhere in the capital that also called for women to be allowed education and work opportunities.

Taliban fighters fired into the air bringing an abrupt end to the protest demanding improved food supplies and work opportunities.

World Opinions – Agencies

L’article Afghan women call for rights, protest alleged Taliban killings est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

About 1 in 3 (30%) women worldwide have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization, WHO. .In its annual report of March 2021, the organization finds that  most of this violence is intimate partner sexual violence. But the violence is also committed by non-partners.

Worldwide, almost one third (27%) of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner. These shocking facts show that the intimate partner violence is happening not only in the Third World or in poor/ less educated communities but also in Europe and parts of the Americas.

Most surprising, WHO’s statistics show that: the violence ranges from 20% in the Western Pacific, 22% in high-income countries in Europe, 25% in the WHO regions of the Americas to 33% in the WHO African region, In the Eastern Mediterranean the percentage is 31%, and 33% in the WHO South-East Asia region. On top of this horrifying picture, women also face murder at the hands of their intimate partners with about 38% of all murders of women are committed by intimate partners!

Women Deserve More

    Women have for long proven that their gender is not hindering their abilities and, yes, their brilliance in many jobs. The keyword is education. When both genders are receiving equal opportunities in education, nothing can stop women from their rights to flourish in any job, except that, some men would roll their eyes when a woman is their manager, or when a woman present a pioneer idea in a business meeting!

    Nevertheless, women are not receiving an equal pay with men at the same job in the US.  According to the World Economic Forum’s study, released in October 2021,  about Gender pay gap, women earn nearly 20% less than their male counterparts in the US, i.e., on average, American working women are paid 82 cents for every dollar that working men make in the US. On top of gender inequalities, American women are also facing race-related inequalities regarding their income.

US Voters Not Ready

   Regardless of the American women’s voting rights that were ONLY achieved in June 4, 1919, in the presidential elections 2016, many Americans couldn’t accept to vote for a female presidential candidate! In spite of winning the popular votes, Hillary Clinton lost the elections.

As stated then, Donald Trump won the electoral college vote because America was not YET ready for a female president! Wait a second here. So, is it ok that the electoral college vote went to the candidate who has the most racist comments about women in the history of the US?  Well, that is very ironic and contradicting with all the human rights and gender equality principals that the US is promoting worldwide.

In a sense, the U.S. seems to resemble those Third World countries which it keeps advising to follow! So, when can we have an American version of Margret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of the UK (1979-1990),, or Angela Merckel, the Chancellor of Germany (2005-2021)?

Me Too

    The “Me Too” movement, that was funded by Tarana Burke in 2006 to raise awareness of women, who had been sexually abused, and who found global recognition after a viral tweet by actress Alyssa Milano in October 2017, has revealed a lot of secrets about the sexual harassment that women were facing at some toxic work environments. This movement that dominated the world’s social media has succeeded in fighting gender-based violence by exposing those men who are abusing their power over their fellow women co-workers.

A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that the #Me-too hashtag was used more than 19 million times on Twitter since Milano’s initial tweet. That’s more than 55,000 uses of the hashtag per day.

Bombshell

      The movement at least has changed Hollywood by revealing and exposing those abusive men. Bombshell movie that snapped two Golden Globe and four SAG Awards nominations has handled the sexual harassment scandal that took down Roger Ailes, the former head of Fox News and a kingmaker in the Republican party. In 2016, A total of 20 women accused Ailes of sexual harassment, including Megyn Kelly, the rising star at the network, and he was forced to resign from his position in July of that year.

Biden’s Initiatives

   On the International Women’s Day, October 28^th, 2021, The first official step was taken by the Biden administration in releasing the national strategy to foster gender equality in the U.S. and abroad. The strategy’s priorities include preventing gender-based violence and promoting economic security, health, education, fairness in the justice and immigration systems. It also promotes  human rights and equity in the law by launching several initiatives such as eliminating gender-based violence, expanding access to health care and creating a national paid-family-leave program, In addition, it seeks to improve women’s educational opportunities and access to STEM jobs (in science, technology, engineering and mathematics), It promotes global legal reform to combat gender discrimination in other countries, recruit more women in the  military and leadership positions.

Last but not least, it closes the gender pay gap and improve childcare quality and affordability. We hope to witness these changes in our lifetime. People in America need to believe that gender equality is not a luxury, but it is a must for a better future, by raising the equality in our education, culture, media, and above all, social equality. 

By Jihan Mansour – newslooks.com

L’article Violence Against Women: Gender Equality Is A Must est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Female players from Afghanistan’s junior national soccer team have crossed the border into Pakistan.

The girls had spent the past month in hiding amid fears of a crackdown on women’s rights by the Taliban.

The adult side flew out of Kabul last month but the youth team were reportedly left stranded as they lacked passports and other documentation.

Thirty-two players and their families won visas after the charity « Football for Peace » lobbied Pakistan.

An official with Pakistan’s Football Federation said the group, totalling 81 people, would travel from Peshawar to the eastern city of Lahore, where they would be housed at the federation’s headquarters. A further 34 people will arrive on Thursday he said.

The players will remain in Pakistan under tight security for 30 days before applying for asylum in third countries, the official said.

The Independent recently revealed that the players had written to the Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to ask for permission to urgently enter the country.

The letter claimed that the girls were at risk of « grave threats » from the Taliban.

After the fall of Kabul players were warned by the national team’s former captain, Khalida Popal, to delete pictures of themselves playing on social media and to burn their kits to protect themselves from potential reprisals from the new regime.

Last week the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, cast doubt over the future of women’s sport in the country when he said it was considered neither appropriate nor necessary in response to a question about the fate of the women’s cricket team.

« In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this », Wasiq said.

« It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate [Afghanistan] do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed. »

Women were barred from participating in sports during the Taliban’s last spell in power from 1996-2001.

Their departure is part of a wider exodus of Afghan sports and cultural stars amid fears of a crackdown on women’s rights following the takeover of the country by the Taliban last month.

As well as the departure of the women’s football teams, the country’s biggest pop singer Aryana Sayeed and the famed film director Sahraa Karimi both left during the evacuation last month.

World Opinions News – BBC News

L’article Afghanistan women’s youth soccer team escapes to Pakistan est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Afghan universities will be segregated by gender, and a new Islamic dress code will be introduced, the Taliban has said.

Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani indicated women would be allowed to study, but not alongside men.

He also announced a review of subjects taught.

Women and girls were banned from schools and universities under Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001.

The Taliban have said they will not prevent women from being educated or having jobs. But since they seized control on 15 August, they have asked all women, except those in the public health sector, to stay away from work, until the security situation improves.

Sunday’s announcement of the higher education policy comes a day after the Taliban raised their flag over the presidential palace, signalling the beginning of their administration. They seized control from the elected government a month ago.

The policy marks a significant change from the accepted practice before the Taliban takeover. Universities were co-educational, with men and women studying side by side, and female students did not have to abide by a dress code.

But Mr Haqqani was unapologetic about bringing an end to mixed classes. « We have no problems in ending the mixed-education system, » he said. « The people are Muslims and they will accept it. »

Some have suggested that the new rules will exclude women from education because the universities do not have the resources to provide separate classes. However, Mr Haqqani insisted there are enough female teachers and that where they are not available alternatives will be found.

« It all depends on the university’s capacity, » he said. « We can also use male teachers to teach from behind a curtain, or use technology. »

Girls and boys will also be segregated at primary and secondary schools, which was already common throughout Afghanistan.

Women will be required to wear hijabs, however Mr Haqqani did not specify if additional face coverings would be made compulsory.

The newly installed minister also said that the subjects taught in universities will be reviewed. He told reporters that the Taliban wanted to « create a reasonable and Islamic curriculum that is in line with our Islamic, national and historical values and, on the other hand, be able to compete with other countries ».

The announcement comes after a demonstration by women supportive of the Taliban’s gender policies at Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul yesterday.

Hundreds of women, most of them wearing black niqabs and carrying small Taliban flags, listened to speeches that praised the new regime and attacked those involved in large demonstrations across the country demanding the protection of women’s rights.

The new government has also replaced the Women’s Affairs Ministry with the Ministry of Vice and Virtue.

The much feared department was responsible for deploying religious police to the streets to enforce Sharia law during the Taliban’s previous spell in power. It became known for beating women for infractions such as dressing immodestly and being outside without a male guardian.

Many prominent professional women fled Afghanistan in anticipation of the group’s stifling rule. The country’s biggest pop singer Aryana Sayeed left the country on a US cargo plane and the famed film director Sahraa Karimi was evacuated to Ukraine.

World Opinions News – BBC News

L’article Afghanistan: Taliban announce new rules for female students est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

The Taliban is promising to protect women’s rights and press freedom in the group’s first news conference following its stunning takeover of Afghanistan as the group’s co-founder returned to the country.

“We are going to allow women to work and study. We have got frameworks, of course. Women are going to be very active in the society but within the framework of Islam,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s spokesman, said at a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday.

Following a lightning offensive across Afghanistan that saw many cities fall to the group with minimal resistance, the Taliban has sought to portray itself as more moderate than when it imposed a brutal rule in the late 1990s.

Mujahid, who had been a shadowy figure for years, said that “there will be no discrimination against women” adding that “they are going to work shoulder to shoulder with us.”

Pressed on how the new Taliban government will differ from the previous one, Mujahid said that the group has evolved and will not take the same actions they did in the past.

“There will be a difference when it comes to the actions we are going to take” compared with 20 years ago, he said.

The group says it will allow Afghan women to work and study, assures media workers they will be protected.

The group is committed to protecting the rights of media workers, Mujahid assured the gathered journalists.

“We are committed to the media within our cultural frameworks. Private media can continue to be free and independent. They can continue their activities,” he said.

He also said the group has no plans to enter the homes of people or carry out retaliatory attacks on anyone who served in the previous governments, worked with foreigners or were part of the Afghan National Security Forces.

There have been unconfirmed reports of Taliban fighters entering the homes of Kabul residents, but Mujahid said those were impostors who should be turned over to the Taliban and face appropriate punishment.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the group’s co-founder and now deputy leader, arrived in the country’s second-largest city Kandahar from Doha, Qatar where he has spent months leading talks with the United States and then Afghan peace negotiators. Kandahar is the Taliban’s spiritual birthplace and capital during their first stint in power.

Baradar’s arrival may signal a deal on forming a government is close at hand. But in a possible complication, the vice president of the deposed government claimed on Twitter on Tuesday that he was the country’s “legitimate” caretaker president.

Amrullah Saleh said, under the constitution, he should be in charge because President Ashraf Ghani has fled the country.

Additional reporting by Ali M Latifi in Kabul / AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

L’article Taliban says will respect women’s rights, press freedom est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Cascading scandals of alleged rape, sexual misconduct and discrimination inside Australia’s parliament have destabilised the conservative government as accused ministers are sidelined and assault victims, women’s groups and female politicians demand a shakeup of what they describe as an endemic culture of ‘toxic’ masculinity within politics. 

It’s almost been a week since the #March4Justice protests and I wanted to acknowledge all the women and men who took time out from their busy lives to advocate for a safer, more equitable Australia. Truly, from the bottom of my heart thank-you.

📷: @mpbowers & @DomLorrimer pic.twitter.com/zVariIWYdh

— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) March 21, 2021

Repeated reports of sexual misconduct, abuse and harassment of women by Australia’s political elite have triggered the biggest mass women’s rallies the country has seen. Using the #March4justice hashtag, hundreds of thousands of women gathered all over the country in a second-wave #Metoo moment that galvanised women – from the very young to the elderly – and from all political stripes.

At the march on the capital, the wives of former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd stood hand in hand in a show of solidarity with Australian women, despite their allegiances to opposing political parties.

Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said she’d “never seen any moment like this”.

But by Monday, the fury unleashed at the March 15 demonstrations boiled over as Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that two of his ministers caught in the eye of the storm of the Canberra allegations – defence minister Linda Reynolds and attorney general Christian Porter – would lose their high-profile portfolios but remain part of the cabinet.

It’s almost been a week since the #March4Justice protests and I wanted to acknowledge all the women and men who took time out from their busy lives to advocate for a safer, more equitable Australia. Truly, from the bottom of my heart thank-you.

📷: @mpbowers & @DomLorrimer pic.twitter.com/zVariIWYdh

— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) March 21, 2021

The PM’s decision not to force the implicated ministers to resign has played into public perceptions of an entitled political class.

Professor Catharine Lumby, a researcher and consultant on workplace cultures at Sydney University, says that like many countries, Australia has huge issues with sexual assault and harassment that have been ignored for decades despite women consistently raising them.

“Unfortunately there is a culture of masculinity in this country that can be toxic,” Lumby says. “There’s what’s called a ‘rape myths acceptance’. What that is about is men placing blame on women for their decision to sexually assault, thinking ‘Well, she deserved it, she was drunk or she was wearing provocative clothing.’ The reality is there’s a deeply entrenched culture of misogyny among our so-called leaders and it’s born out of a culture of entitlement and privilege.”

Lumby’s assessment is reflected in the shocking and widespread allegations of abuse and mistreatment of women that have emerged from the highest political offices in the country. 

The allegations detail a range of abuses from the use of the parliament’s chapel for sexual relations, signing sex workers into Parliament House, to a ministerial aide sacked after video footage emerged of him masturbating over the desk of a female minister’s desk and to the story of a woman who committed suicide after reporting to police a historical rape involving then Federal Attorney General Christian Porter. The woman had alleged the assault occurred when she was 16 years old in 1988, when both were still students. 

Porter has denied the allegations and launched defamation proceedings against Australia’s public broadcaster ABC, which first aired the claims.

Another MP, Dr Andrew Laming, accused over the weekend of ‘upskirting’ and other inappropriate behaviour towards female staff and constituents, has agreed to undergo empathy training.

But it was the story told by a former young staffer to the government, Brittany Higgins, that first burst the bubble shielding Canberra and the several male ministers and staffers whose transgressive behaviours had been allowed to go unchecked. Higgins went public on February 15 with accusations that a senior colleague had raped her inside a government minister’s office in March 2019. 

Higgins, who was 24 years old at the time of the alleged rape, said she did not receive adequate support after she reported the incident and that she was called ‘a lying cow’ by then defence minister Reynolds. The minister was forced to apologise and is to pay damages to Higgins. Since Higgins went public, three other women have come forward to accuse the same man of sexual assault or harassment.

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