Flagship report from the new UN agency shows there is a way to go before improvements in the legal position of women are translated into equality and justice for all More than half of working women in the world, 600 million, are trapped in insecure jobs without legal protection, according to the first flagship report of the new agency UN Women . A similar number do not have even basic protection against domestic violence, it finds, while sexual assault has become a hallmark of modern conflict. Michelle Bachelet, the executive director of UN Women, said the document showed that many millions of women had no access to justice. “The report reminds us of the remarkable advances that have been made over the past century in the quest for gender equality and women’s empowerment,” she said. “However it also underscores the fact that despite widespread guarantees of equality, the reality for many millions of women is that justice remains out of reach.” For millions of women in both rich and poor countries, the search for justice is fraught with difficulty and is often expensive; laws and legal systems frequently discriminate against them. In Cambodia, for example, the forensic test necessary to lay a rape charge costs two weeks’ wages, while in Kenya a land claim in an inheritance case can cost $800 and extend across 17 different administrative stages. Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice is a comprehensive survey of women’s access to justice across the globe. The report offers 10 recommendations to overcome the paradox that while huge improvements have been made in the legal position of women over the last century, there is still a dramatic lag in translating that into equality and justice. For example, 127 countries do not have effective laws on marital rape, and attrition rates in cases brought by women are high, ensuring that only a fraction of reported rapes result in conviction. The report cites one 2009 European study which found that, on average, only 14% of reported rapes ended in a conviction. The first of the 10 recommendations is providing support for women’s legal organisations, which often step into the gaps left by inadequate legal aid systems. In a number of countries, women’s groups have been at the forefront of cases that have led to laws being repealed, or new laws created, with a positive impact on women’s lives. In Nepal, for example, the supreme court ordered parliament to amend the rape law in 2002 to allow prosecutions for marital rape after a case brought by the Forum for Women, Law and Development. In Indonesia, a local NGO has trained community-based paralegals to support women to use the religious courts to get the marriage and divorce certificates they need to claim benefits. Other recommendations include further legal reform to ensure paid maternity leave, equal pay and equal property rights, support for the development of one-stop services to deal with crimes such as rape, and an increase in the recruitment of women into the police force. The report highlights best practice around the world, arguing that change can be achieved with innovative policy. Nepal, for instance, has trebled female land ownership in the last decade by offering tax exemptions to drive the adoption of new inheritance laws. In Sweden, the introduction of “daddy leave” – reserved time off for fathers – has helped narrow the pay gap. And in South Africa, the Thuthuzela care centres, which bring together police, health staff and legal advice, have driven up conviction rates to 89% from a national average of 7%. The report offers a clear indication of some of the areas that UN Women, which started work in January under the leadership of the former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, is keen to prioritise in its work. But the new agency is struggling to raise the funding it needs. Only US$88m has been pledged against a target of $500m. The UK has yet to announce its pledge. Pressure groups are warning that the funding shortfall is jeopardising the success of the agency. Gender has now been identified as a priority issue by many donor agencies, but the report points out how little funding has gone into strengthening women’s legal rights. Of the $874bn spent by the World Bank in the last 10 years, $126bn went into public administration, law and justice systems, but only $7.3m went into programmes aimed at gender equality – 0.001% of the total budget. Access to justice underlies every aspect of women’s lives, not least their access to land and education, and now that gender has been designated as one of four priority areas for the World Bank up to 2014, there is a real need to invest in improving justice for women. Other recommendations in the report include better training for judges to challenge the notion that women’s behaviour may contribute to rape, and using quotas to increase the number of female legislators. Of the 28 countries that have more than 30% female representation in parliament, 23 have used quotas. Looking in detail at six of those countries, there was a clear link between increased female representation and the passage of laws to strengthen women’s rights. Given how sexual violence is used in conflict, the report says more effort needs to be made to increase women’s access to the courts and truth commissions during and after conflict. The report recognises that significant advances in international law in the past two decades have made it possible to prosecute sexual violence crimes. But international courts now need to prioritise gender-based crimes in prosecution strategies. Women have a crucial role to play in peacebuilding, but the report argues that more attention needs to be paid to women’s access to post-conflict justice mechanisms, such as reparations. It points to the example in Sierra Leone, where a reparations programme is helping female survivors of sexual violence, providing small loans and skills training to set up small businesses. The organisation VSO described the report as a “wake-up call” to world leaders who are not providing equal rights to women. “In many countries there are still too many gaps in the law, which leave women without adequate protection. For others, the laws are barely worth the paper they are written on because implementation is so weak, or justice systems actively discourage women from using them,” said Kathy Peach, head of external affairs at VSO UK. “This report clearly highlights that too much aid is still gender blind. How can it be that out of $126bn that the World Bank spent on improving public administration, law and justice, just $7.3m went to make sure that women had access to these vital services too?” UN Women report 2011 Gender Madeleine Bunting guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Casey Anthony’s surprise acquittal today on all the big charges did wonders for the nation’s web traffic today. News site page views surged from 2 million to 3.3 million per minute around the time of the verdict, reports Mashable . Facebook posts from people enraged at the verdict came too…
Continue reading …A clear majority of Jewish Americans—some 60%—still support President Obama, Gallup finds. That figure is 14 points higher than his overall 46% approval rating, a gap that matches the average since the president entered office. US Jews’ approval of Obama’s performance is statistically unchanged from April’s 64%, and…
Continue reading …A lack of rain and rising world prices have left an estimated 12 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia in dire need of food, the Telegraph reports. The reality is especially difficult to ignore in Dadaab, a city in northern Kenya experiencing its second-lowest rainfall in 60 years. Dadaab…
Continue reading …Everyone’s favorite failed doomsday predictor is out of the hospital. Harold Camping has been moved to an Oakland nursing home for rehab as part of his recovery from a stroke he suffered last month . It’s unclear, however, whether he will be able to return to his Family Radio network, which…
Continue reading …Twitter’s latest private fundraising effort values the firm at up to $7 billion, an insider tells the Wall Street Journal . Just seven months ago, a round of fundraising that brought in $200 million valued the firm at $3.7 billion. Twitter is hoping its ad system, begun last year, will…
Continue reading …Air pollution isn’t just a threat to the heart and lungs: It can also affect learning, memory, and mood, researchers find. They exposed mice to extended periods of polluted or filtered air, and found that those exposed to pollution were slower to learn, quick to forget, and possibly more vulnerable…
Continue reading …
New revelation deepens crisis at News of the World after it emerges that officers will review child murder cases The phone-hacking crisis enveloping the News of the World intensified on Tuesday night after it emerged that Scotland Yard has started to contact the relatives of victims of the 7 July 2005 attacks to warn them they were targeted by the paper. The revelation that bereaved family members may have had their mobile phone messages intercepted by Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator employed by the paper, in the days following the 2005 London bombings will heap further pressure on the title’s owner, News International, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Graham Foulkes, whose son David was killed in the attack at Edgware Road tube station, confirmed that he had been contacted by officers from Operation Weeting, the Met’s investigation into phone hacking. He said they had told him his mobile phone number, ex-directory landline number and address had been found in records made by Mulcaire that were recovered from the investigator’s office in south London. Foulkes’s solicitor, Clifford Tibber, who represents several families who had relatives killed in the terrorist attack, said the news had “come as a terrible shock” to them as they prepared to mark the sixth anniversary of the bombings this week. The news capped a dramatic day of unfolding developments in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Police officers are turning their attention to examine every high-profile case involving the murder, abduction or attack on any child since 2001 – in response to the revelation that journalists from the tabloid newspaper hacked into the voicemail messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. Officers have already told the parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the girls killed in Soham in 2002 by Ian Huntley, that their mobiles had been hacked. Documents seized by the Metropolitan police in a 2006 raid on Mulcaire’s home show he targeted Leslie Chapman, the father of Jessica Chapman. It is understood the name “Greg” appeared in the corner of notes taken by Mulcaire – believed to be a reference to the News of the World’s former assistant editor (news) Greg Miskiw. It is thought that parents of Holly Wells, were also targeted. The move is a direct response to the Guardian’s exclusive story on Monday that Mulcaire caused Milly’s parents to wrongly believe she was still alive – and interfered with police inquiries into her disappearance – by hacking into the teenager’s mobile phone and deleting messages. On Tuesday night it also emerged that News International had given the Metropolitan police details of payments made by News of the World to senior police officers between 2003 and 2007, the period when Andy Coulson was the paper’s editor. The development brings the crisis closer to the door of prime minister David Cameron who appointed Coulson as his director of communications when in opposition and then staunchly defended him until Coulson quit in January 2011. News International said on Tuesday night: “As a result of media enquiries, it is correct to state that new information has recently been provided to the police. As News International and News Group Newspapers has reiterated many times, full and continuing cooperation has been provided to the police since the current investigation started in January 2011. Well understood arrangements are in place to ensure that any material of importance to which they are entitled is provided to them. We cannot comment any further due to the ongoing investigations.” The revelation also suggests there is now a breaking of ranks inside News International since the files on payments to the police are unlikely to have emerged only yesterday, but instead were released to the police as senior executives said the paper could no longer continue to cover up the scale of the wrong doing at the paper. Pointedly, News International insisted on Tuesday night that the payments to the police did not relate to the period from 2000-2003, when Rebekah Brooks was the paper’s editor. Commentators suggested that was a way for the company to deflect the blame on to Coulson. Pressure has intensified on the newspaper and Brooks – now News International chief executive – who insisted she knew nothing of the Dowler hacking allegations. She edited the News of the World at the time the hacking of Dowler’s phone messages took place. On Tuesday night, former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan claimed on BBC Newsnight that Brooks was aware of the phone hacking. Asked if his former editor knew of the activities, he said: “Of course she did.” McMullen, who made similar claims in a conversation that was secretly by taped by actor Hugh Grant earlier this year, described the hacking of Dowler’s phone as “not such a big deal”. He said: “The journalists might have helped. The mistake that was made was that [Mulcaire] was so keen to get new messages he deleted the old ones.” The case of Madeleine McCann is expected to be one of the first to be re-examined by detectives. Clarence Mitchell, Kate and Gerry McCann’s spokesman, said he had been interviewed and was due to be interviewed a second time. Another case likely to be re-examined is that of 15-year-old Danielle Jones, who was abducted and murdered in East Tilbury, Essex, in 2001 by her uncle. Police officers will trawl through their collection of 11,000 pages of notes kept by Mulcaire, and seized from him in 2006, when he and the News of the World’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, were jailed for hacking into mobile phones belonging to aides to Prince William and Harry. Mulcaire issued a public apology on Tuesday to all those hurt or upset by his activities, saying that after the developments of the past 24 hours he had to “break his silence”. He said: “I want to apologise to anybody who was hurt or upset by what I have done. I’ve been to court. I’ve pleaded guilty. And I’ve gone to prison and been punished. I still face the possibility of further criminal prosecution. “Working for the News of the World was never easy. There was relentless pressure. There was a constant demand for results. I knew what we did pushed the limits ethically. But, at the time, I didn’t understand that I had broken the law at all.” The media regulator, Ofcom, is understood to be ready to examine whether News Corporation directors would be “fit and proper persons” to own BSkyB – if any senior employees at News Corporation or its UK arm, News International, were charged with hacking-related offences. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is closing in on winning regulatory approval for its proposed £8bn-plus takeover of the 61% of BSkyB it does not own. Sources close to the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who will decide on the issue, insisted he could not take phone hacking into account in the decision that is focused on “media plurality”. Meanwhile a string of high-profile companies – including Ford, npower, Halifax, T-Mobile and Orange – said they would be reviewing or withdrawing their advertising in the News of the World. Those five brands are estimated to account for more than £2m worth of advertising in the tabloid in the past year. T-Mobile and Orange are thought to have spent an estimated £1.5m between them. Ford said it would be using “alternative media within and outside News International Group instead of placing Ford advertising in the News of the World” while it awaited the outcome of an internal investigation. The company added: “Ford is a company which cares about the standards of behaviour of its own people and those it deals with externally.” Calls for boycotts of the News of the World appeared on Twitter and Facebook , and companies came under sustained pressure to pull their advertising from it . Those wishing to direct their fury at the firms who advertise through the News of the World were provided with a one-stop page where they could automatically tweet their concerns to companies such as the Co-operative, easyJet, Butlins and Renault. Others went further, and calling for direct boycotts of the firms unless they took their advertising money elsewhere . John Bercow, the speaker of Commons, granted a debate – which will happen on Wednesday – into calls for a public inquiry into phone hacking by News International journalists, and whether there was a potential cover-up by its senior executives. Ministers in the Commons opposed the emergency debate but, in what will be seen as another show of force by Bercow, he accepted arguments in favour put by the Labour MP Chris Bryant. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said Brooks needed to “examine her conscience” and that he was sure that she would because “this happened on her watch”. Although his words were Labour’s strongest intervention so far on the phone-hacking crisis, the party is still undecided about whether to put forward a substantive motion calling for a public inquiry that could be subject to a vote or amendment. Media regulator Ofcom is understood to be standing by ready to examine whether News Corporation directors would be “fit and proper persons” to own BSkyB – if any senior employees at News Corporation or its UK arm News International were charged with any hacking related offences. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is closing in on winning regulatory approval for its proposed £8bn-plus takeover of the 61% of BSkyB it does not own – with sources close to the deciding minister, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, insisting again that he could not take phone hacking into account of a decision that is focused on “media plurality”. Channel 4 News reported that Brooks was confronted by the Met in 2002 about the fact a senior detective investigating the murder of a private investigator, Daniel Morgan, was targeted by Mulcaire on behalf of the News of the World. The main suspect in the case, which was being led by Detective Superintendent David Cook, was a man with close links to the News of the World. Cook and his wife, Jackie Haines, were told by Scotland Yard in April this year their mobile phone numbers and payroll details had been found in Mulcaire’s notebook. News International said it could not confirm or deny whether Brooks had ever attended such a meeting. Lady Buscombe, the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, said she was lied to by the News of the World over phone hacking. “There’s only so much we can do when people are lying to us. We know now that I was not being given the truth by the News of the World,” she told the BBC’s Daily Politics. Brooks emailed employees at News International on Tuesday to insist she knew nothing about phone hacking: “It is inconceivable that I knew or worse, sanctioned these appalling allegations. I am aware of the speculation about my position. “Therefore it is important you all know that as chief executive, I am determined to lead the company to ensure we do the right thing and resolve these serious issues.” Phone hacking 7 July London attacks Newspapers & magazines National newspapers News International Rebekah Brooks Metropolitan police Glenn Mulcaire Newspapers Andy Coulson Police News of the World James Robinson Amelia Hill Sam Jones Nick Davies Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …New revelation deepens crisis at News of the World after it emerges that officers will review child murder cases The phone-hacking crisis enveloping the News of the World intensified on Tuesday night after it emerged that Scotland Yard has started to contact the relatives of victims of the 7 July 2005 attacks to warn them they were targeted by the paper. The revelation that bereaved family members may have had their mobile phone messages intercepted by Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator employed by the paper, in the days following the 2005 London bombings will heap further pressure on the title’s owner, News International, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Graham Foulkes, whose son David was killed in the attack at Edgware Road tube station, confirmed that he had been contacted by officers from Operation Weeting, the Met’s investigation into phone hacking. He said they had told him his mobile phone number, ex-directory landline number and address had been found in records made by Mulcaire that were recovered from the investigator’s office in south London. Foulkes’s solicitor, Clifford Tibber, who represents several families who had relatives killed in the terrorist attack, said the news had “come as a terrible shock” to them as they prepared to mark the sixth anniversary of the bombings this week. The news capped a dramatic day of unfolding developments in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Police officers are turning their attention to examine every high-profile case involving the murder, abduction or attack on any child since 2001 – in response to the revelation that journalists from the tabloid newspaper hacked into the voicemail messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. Officers have already told the parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the girls killed in Soham in 2002 by Ian Huntley, that their mobiles had been hacked. Documents seized by the Metropolitan police in a 2006 raid on Mulcaire’s home show he targeted Leslie Chapman, the father of Jessica Chapman. It is understood the name “Greg” appeared in the corner of notes taken by Mulcaire – believed to be a reference to the News of the World’s former assistant editor (news) Greg Miskiw. It is thought that parents of Holly Wells, were also targeted. The move is a direct response to the Guardian’s exclusive story on Monday that Mulcaire caused Milly’s parents to wrongly believe she was still alive – and interfered with police inquiries into her disappearance – by hacking into the teenager’s mobile phone and deleting messages. On Tuesday night it also emerged that News International had given the Metropolitan police details of payments made by News of the World to senior police officers between 2003 and 2007, the period when Andy Coulson was the paper’s editor. The development brings the crisis closer to the door of prime minister David Cameron who appointed Coulson as his director of communications when in opposition and then staunchly defended him until Coulson quit in January 2011. News International said on Tuesday night: “As a result of media enquiries, it is correct to state that new information has recently been provided to the police. As News International and News Group Newspapers has reiterated many times, full and continuing cooperation has been provided to the police since the current investigation started in January 2011. Well understood arrangements are in place to ensure that any material of importance to which they are entitled is provided to them. We cannot comment any further due to the ongoing investigations.” The revelation also suggests there is now a breaking of ranks inside News International since the files on payments to the police are unlikely to have emerged only yesterday, but instead were released to the police as senior executives said the paper could no longer continue to cover up the scale of the wrong doing at the paper. Pointedly, News International insisted on Tuesday night that the payments to the police did not relate to the period from 2000-2003, when Rebekah Brooks was the paper’s editor. Commentators suggested that was a way for the company to deflect the blame on to Coulson. Pressure has intensified on the newspaper and Brooks – now News International chief executive – who insisted she knew nothing of the Dowler hacking allegations. She edited the News of the World at the time the hacking of Dowler’s phone messages took place. On Tuesday night, former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan claimed on BBC Newsnight that Brooks was aware of the phone hacking. Asked if his former editor knew of the activities, he said: “Of course she did.” McMullen, who made similar claims in a conversation that was secretly by taped by actor Hugh Grant earlier this year, described the hacking of Dowler’s phone as “not such a big deal”. He said: “The journalists might have helped. The mistake that was made was that [Mulcaire] was so keen to get new messages he deleted the old ones.” The case of Madeleine McCann is expected to be one of the first to be re-examined by detectives. Clarence Mitchell, Kate and Gerry McCann’s spokesman, said he had been interviewed and was due to be interviewed a second time. Another case likely to be re-examined is that of 15-year-old Danielle Jones, who was abducted and murdered in East Tilbury, Essex, in 2001 by her uncle. Police officers will trawl through their collection of 11,000 pages of notes kept by Mulcaire, and seized from him in 2006, when he and the News of the World’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, were jailed for hacking into mobile phones belonging to aides to Prince William and Harry. Mulcaire issued a public apology on Tuesday to all those hurt or upset by his activities, saying that after the developments of the past 24 hours he had to “break his silence”. He said: “I want to apologise to anybody who was hurt or upset by what I have done. I’ve been to court. I’ve pleaded guilty. And I’ve gone to prison and been punished. I still face the possibility of further criminal prosecution. “Working for the News of the World was never easy. There was relentless pressure. There was a constant demand for results. I knew what we did pushed the limits ethically. But, at the time, I didn’t understand that I had broken the law at all.” The media regulator, Ofcom, is understood to be ready to examine whether News Corporation directors would be “fit and proper persons” to own BSkyB – if any senior employees at News Corporation or its UK arm, News International, were charged with hacking-related offences. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is closing in on winning regulatory approval for its proposed £8bn-plus takeover of the 61% of BSkyB it does not own. Sources close to the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who will decide on the issue, insisted he could not take phone hacking into account in the decision that is focused on “media plurality”. Meanwhile a string of high-profile companies – including Ford, npower, Halifax, T-Mobile and Orange – said they would be reviewing or withdrawing their advertising in the News of the World. Those five brands are estimated to account for more than £2m worth of advertising in the tabloid in the past year. T-Mobile and Orange are thought to have spent an estimated £1.5m between them. Ford said it would be using “alternative media within and outside News International Group instead of placing Ford advertising in the News of the World” while it awaited the outcome of an internal investigation. The company added: “Ford is a company which cares about the standards of behaviour of its own people and those it deals with externally.” Calls for boycotts of the News of the World appeared on Twitter and Facebook , and companies came under sustained pressure to pull their advertising from it . Those wishing to direct their fury at the firms who advertise through the News of the World were provided with a one-stop page where they could automatically tweet their concerns to companies such as the Co-operative, easyJet, Butlins and Renault. Others went further, and calling for direct boycotts of the firms unless they took their advertising money elsewhere . John Bercow, the speaker of Commons, granted a debate – which will happen on Wednesday – into calls for a public inquiry into phone hacking by News International journalists, and whether there was a potential cover-up by its senior executives. Ministers in the Commons opposed the emergency debate but, in what will be seen as another show of force by Bercow, he accepted arguments in favour put by the Labour MP Chris Bryant. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said Brooks needed to “examine her conscience” and that he was sure that she would because “this happened on her watch”. Although his words were Labour’s strongest intervention so far on the phone-hacking crisis, the party is still undecided about whether to put forward a substantive motion calling for a public inquiry that could be subject to a vote or amendment. Media regulator Ofcom is understood to be standing by ready to examine whether News Corporation directors would be “fit and proper persons” to own BSkyB – if any senior employees at News Corporation or its UK arm News International were charged with any hacking related offences. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is closing in on winning regulatory approval for its proposed £8bn-plus takeover of the 61% of BSkyB it does not own – with sources close to the deciding minister, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, insisting again that he could not take phone hacking into account of a decision that is focused on “media plurality”. Channel 4 News reported that Brooks was confronted by the Met in 2002 about the fact a senior detective investigating the murder of a private investigator, Daniel Morgan, was targeted by Mulcaire on behalf of the News of the World. The main suspect in the case, which was being led by Detective Superintendent David Cook, was a man with close links to the News of the World. Cook and his wife, Jackie Haines, were told by Scotland Yard in April this year their mobile phone numbers and payroll details had been found in Mulcaire’s notebook. News International said it could not confirm or deny whether Brooks had ever attended such a meeting. Lady Buscombe, the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, said she was lied to by the News of the World over phone hacking. “There’s only so much we can do when people are lying to us. We know now that I was not being given the truth by the News of the World,” she told the BBC’s Daily Politics. Brooks emailed employees at News International on Tuesday to insist she knew nothing about phone hacking: “It is inconceivable that I knew or worse, sanctioned these appalling allegations. I am aware of the speculation about my position. “Therefore it is important you all know that as chief executive, I am determined to lead the company to ensure we do the right thing and resolve these serious issues.” Phone hacking 7 July London attacks Newspapers & magazines National newspapers News International Rebekah Brooks Metropolitan police Glenn Mulcaire Newspapers Andy Coulson Police News of the World James Robinson Amelia Hill Sam Jones Nick Davies Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Pet stores in New York City’s West Village have discovered an unlikely downside of keeping shop in an area particularly dense with bars—drunk puppy buying, in the words of DNA Info . Yes, the pups playing in shop windows are apparently just too adorable for inebriated people to pass up….
Continue reading …