Citizens for Justice and Peace
Portugal’s parliament passes gender change law
20-Jul-2018
Portugal’s parliament recently passed a law permitting citizens aged 16 and above to change their name and gender without requiring a medical report that indicates “identity disruption,” AFP reported. This makes Portugal “the sixth European country to grant the right to self-determination of transgender identity…without the guardianship of a third party and without a diagnosis…
Sudan: Teenager who killed husband who raped her appeals death penalty ruling
30-May-2018
Lawyers for Noura Hussein, 19, have formally filed an appeal after Hussein was given the death sentence for killing her husband as he attempted to rape her, the Guardian reported last week. Hussein was forced to wed at age 16 to an older man selected by her father, but she escaped to her aunt’s house. However, after…
Norway approves ban on all child marriage
30-May-2018
On Tuesday, May 22, the Norwegian parliament voted unanimously for a law banning all child marriage, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported. Norway has a minimum age of 18, but permits those aged 16 and 17 to wed provided they have parental consent and permission from the county governor. A government spokeswoman said that very few people…
Gender discrimination led to “excess deaths” of girls in India: Study
30-May-2018
According to a study recently published in the online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal Lancet Global Health, annually, there have been 2,39,000 “excess deaths” of girls under five in India. This translates to 2.4 million excess deaths every decade. Excess mortality is the difference between expected mortality rates and observed mortality rates for both genders. Researchers said…
30.6 million people were internally displaced in 2017
18-May-2018
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), in 2017, “there were 30.6 million new displacements associated with conflict and disasters across 143 countries and territories.” Conflict resulted in 11.8 million new internal displacements last year, while disasters resulted in 18.8 million internal displacements. Of the former, 7.9 million displacements were driven by armed conflict,…
Mexico sees fourth journalist killed in 2018
18-May-2018
On Tuesday, May 15, Juan Carlos Huerta, a television host and director of a radio station, was shot dead in Mexico’s Tabasco state, the Guardian reported. Arturo Núñez, the state governor, said the murder was not a robbery, and seemed to be linked to Huerta’s work. “They apparently went to execute him,” he said. Huerta’s murder…
Pakistan approves historic transgender rights bill
18-May-2018
On Tuesday, May 8, Pakistan’s parliament passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, which specifically makes illegal discrimination against transgender people by employers, healthcare providers, transportation providers, educational institutions, and any private businesses or service providers, Al Jazeera reported. The law grants Pakistani citizens the right to identify themselves as female, male, or a mix…
UN announces new land ready to relocate Rohingya refugees ahead of monsoon
14-May-2018
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in Bangladesh issued a release on Tuesday, May 8, announcing the first new land ready for the relocation of Rohingya refugees to safer ground ahead of the monsoon. This was part of a joint initiative between the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme, and UNHCR, and involved several dozen…
US toughen border rules, separate children from parents
14-May-2018
US officials said on Monday, May 7, that the Trump Administration will step up criminal prosecution of parents who illegally enter the country, and put their children in protective custody, Reuters reported. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Thomas Homan, acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that this is not a new policy, and…
Malawi cuts cost for women running for election
14-May-2018
Authorities in Malawi have said that women candidates will 25% less than men to seek election to parliament, in a bid to increase the number of women elected in a general election in 2019, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported. The standard fee is 200,000 kwacha, or around $280. The move, which was announced on May 3…