Crumbs of human rights

Because at their home country, they are not respected. Although forced and early marriage is illegal in Burkina Faso, over 52% of the girls get married before they turn 18 and  10% before 15 - according to a UNICEF report. In extreme cases,  In Burkina Faso, some girls were as young as 11 when they were forced to enter into a marriage with a spouse who could be even 30 to 50 years older than the bride.  >> Watch Amnesty International's video. In Burkina Faso, women and girls are far too often prevented from making other crucial decisions, such as whether or when to get pregnant.  When women raise the issue of birth control with their partners, they very often suffer verbal abuse or physical violence.  “Once married, girls are expected to have children as soon as possible. Early pregnancies greatly increase the risk of girls dying or experiencing life-changing physical injuries,"  says  Alioune Tine, Amnesty International’s Regiona...

Throughout 2015, the human rights situation of women in Iran hasn’t got any better. In the spring, Amnesty International has begun an intensified campaign, when the Iranian Parliament held its legislative session and considered Bill 315 . This draft law proposes various harmful and discriminatory measures aimed at encouraging early marriage and repeated childbearing. Furthermore, this bill would allow discrimination against female job applicants, particularly if they are single or childless. It would also make divorce more difficult for couples, by incentivising judges to settle family disputes.    Last month, this draft law moved one step closer to entering into force : its general principles were passed by an overwhelming majority in Parliament. Currently, the legislature's Cultural Commission is analysing the budgetary costs necessary to the bill’s incentive schemes, which would be entitled to families with three or more children. (Source: www.epa.eu) Over 2...

The Iranian Female Football Star can’t take part in the next international tournament due to the travel ban imposed by her husband. Niloufar Ardalan (alias Lady Goal) is one of Iran's best female players and the captain of the national team. She was meant to kick the ball at the Asian Football  Confederation's championship in futsal, held at the end of September in Malaysia. (Source: www.dailymail.co.uk) As Ms Ardalan said, her husband has refused to grant her permission to travel abroad. Allegedly, the reason: her husband wants her to be at home on the first day of school for their 7-year-old son. In Iran, married women need the consent of their spouses to leave the country . They can be banned from travelling abroad if their husbands refuse to sign the papers needed to get or renew a passport. This is not the first discriminatory measure that favours men, related to sports. We have learnt from the story of Ghoncheh Ghavami that women aren’t allowed to ent...

Our high-profile human rights defender of the month is Narges Mohammadi, who is well-known within Iran and beyond. In early May, she was arrested at her home. Security forces took her to Tehran's Evin Prison. Amnesty International considers Narges Mohammadi a prisoner of conscience, who has been held solely for the peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Latest information: Amnesty International's has just learnt that Narges Mohammadi was taken to hospital on 1 August suffering from partial paralysis. She is being denied the specialis ed treatment she needs, and is facing charges based on her human rights activities. You can read more about her case and take action for her here. Send your own tweet! Tweet #FreeNargesMohammadi You can also read the latest tweets about here below. Feel free to post your own tweet on Twitter and use the hashtag #NargesMohammadi to join the conversation. #NargesMohammadi Tweets

On 15 June, shortly after the day of solidarity with Iranian women (12 June), about three dozen people gathered at Amnesty International UK’s Human Rights Action Centre to take part in an event on women’s rights in Iran. They came to learn more about Iranian women’s fight for gender equality and take various actions for female human rights defenders. The evening kicked off with an excellent documentary by Sheema Kalbasi, which gave the audience a good overview on the restrictions imposed on women’s daily lives. With the help of this film, ‘Women on the Front Line’, we learnt about the discriminatory laws and practices that exist in the country, such as the fact that a woman’s testimony at court is valued half as that of a man. Or to name another typical example: the law says that the guardianship of a child is with her father. After the film, we turned to our special guests who enlightened us about the situation of women in some specific contexts. Our first speaker, Dr ...

I n the Western world we are used to the process that women or the partners together decide on whether to have kids, how many of them and over what period. Iranian women have exercised the same rights. But if the parliament adopts two new bills (Bill 446 and Bill 315) within the next few weeks, politicians will determine women’s family life in the future. These bills would mean taking several steps back regarding ending discrimination against women . www.amnesty.nl Let’s examine the two bills in more details. The so-called Bill 446 (or as its full title says “ The Bill to Increase Fertility Rates and Prevent Population Decline”) concentrates on methods as to how a rapid increase in the Iranian population could be reached, not taking into account the threats, which this bill would impose on women’s sexual and reproductive health. This bill would restrict women’s access to modern contraceptive methods and proscribe spreading information about them. It would also demolish sta...