trial111

Interestingly I read an article about stopping FGM in muslim countries. A suggested way was to create a fatwa in order to stop FGM and to then push foward the debate through religious leaders.

But what is a Fatwa? Here are three interpretations from some friends who are also suscribed to the blog:

1. Yes, Fatwa is in the Islamic Law a "parere" , an opinion, given by a religious law expert. Wikipedia has described it quite well. I think that could be imagined that he serves a similar position such as a Bishop, province "jugde" or in Germany "Richter", so a position with authority, but which depends mainly on its civil position in the big variety of Muslim countries: you need to know what are the sources of law in the particular country you are looking at.

There are three main sources of law in the Western world. They are
1. legislation (it includes constitution and statutes which are prepared by Parliament)
2. case law or decisions of the higher court
3. customary law or custom (that can be and is in many cases religious)

You need to know if in the country you are looking at Sharia is the only law source, part of law source or no law source at all.
In Turkey it has been eliminated as law source as well in Tunisia. But Tunisia for example has civil law courts and use only for personal status the Islamic law as basis and they apply it not through Muftis but through special sections of civil courts (therefore by under state control). Saudi-Arabia and Mauretania follow instead only Sharia.

Muslim countries who adopt
*Sharia (Islamic law), have also the
*Coran [word of God] and the
*Hadith [words of Mohammad]
as primary law sources, so they come before Sharia, which is their interpretation through the times. Like Wikipedia says there are then different law schools, divided into sunnites (mainstream Arab world, Indonesia?, Malaysia?) and shiites (Iran, a little bit in Iraq, Yemen, spread in minorities), which follow different interpretation patterns...it's getting much complicated..

In Western countries however: France has eliminated every religious law source, the famous "laicite' francaise". In Italy for example you can still marry in Church and it has civil value. The religious law component is regulated by the Concordat subscribed by Mussolini, mainly regards some civil rights and loads of money, as well similar in Germany, Austria, Poland, ... who have single contracts with the Vatican, for example concerning religious teaching in public schools, it is organized through teachers instructed by Vaticans own institutes.

So meanwhile the emission of a Fatwa can be quite easy, it is difficult to know its legal, political and customary incidence, it differs from country to country.

2. Fatwa as i understand,....

It is an edict, normally released by islamic religious mufti (plain language - those with sound knowledge of the religion)
When an issue can be solved by referring to quran and hadith, then all is well, but occasionally certain issues go beyond these religious parameters....then the qualified personal will have certain religious "prayer like" ijithad to find a solution.The solution will be fatwa.
Recently in malaysia, the religious council has declared fatwa on Yoga practices. It is said that it is not islamic for a muslim to practice Yoga.

But then, fatwa in not etched on stone, so differing view always arise and it is up to the individual to follow it or not. Some feel that fatwa is not more than legal opinion.
Not all fatwa is based on protecting the sanity of the religion,but on personal capacity of individual such as the fatwa on Salman Rushdie

It is still a good method to instill reverence to the religion.

3. Fatwa is the term for religious edict/opinion based on derivation from 3 main sources as follows:
1. the primary source which is the QUR'AN (in english KORAN)
2. secondary source which is the HADEETH and SUNNAH (essentially teachings of Prophet Muhammad) and finally;
3. consensus of Scholars.

For example take the issue of Cloning or Stem Cell. Muslims when confronted with moral issues of Cloning will first look at the primary source i.e KORAN, if cloning is not treated in the KORAN , they will then check the secondary source which is the HADEETH. Hadeeth is the sayings and practices of the Prophet while he was alive. If the secondary source i.e Hadeeth did not offer an answer to the problem. Scholars will then refer to the third source which is the CONSENSUS of past Scholars. Here Past scholars refers to the period after the death of Prophet Muhammad when society face challenges which were not encountered during the lifetime of the Prophet.

If the third source did not treat the issue of cloning as well then the present day scholars will come out with a position using all the three sources as a guide. Whatever position they come out with is then referred to as a FATWA. Hence Fatwa is a derived position based on the three main sources i.e. KORAN, HADEETH AND CONSENSUS.

I must add here that the secondary source HADEETH is composed of two parts referred to as HADEETH & SUNNAH. Hadeeth is the sayings of Prophet Muhammad while Sunna is actions of the Prophet (i.e. what the Prophet did or didn't do) while he was alive.


What do you guys think?

I find the strength of some women incredible. There are women in this world who don't have any opportunities, who are beaten up by their own husbands but don't have any right in front of the courts. However, some of them write about their daily lives and what is of interest to them but no one knows about them except us!

For the full article please see:

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/12/200912675616888150.html

For their blogg see:

http://awwproject.wordpress.com/

Since 2004, more than 650 gay men have been killed in Iraq and the unofficial number is suppose to be much higher. During the 60s and 70s Iraq was a very liberal country, especially with regard to its gay community. However, this has changed during the last five years. Islamists are using the internet to track down gay groups and its members. These gay men are then first tortured and afterwards brutally murdered. These killings are terrible and horrific and there is no need for them. It will be up to the new government to change the current situation and to protect its minorities!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/13/iraq-gays-murdered-militias

More than 20 African countries have tried to enforce laws against the practices of FGM but these laws somehow seem to be unenforceable. Although top government officials may want to enforce these laws, the problem remains at the local and communal level. Still, many people believe in these traditions and local officials don't understand and refuse to enforce the laws against FGM. Some sources even say that these laws are not enforced because they are "too" harsh. For example, a new law in Uganda would consider up to 10 years imprisonment on traditional surgeons and 15 years on parents. If the girl acutally dies the practitioner could face life improsenment.

But there is light, people try to act against FGM and are opening schools for girls who face FGM and would like to be safe.

A single example ... A 10 year old girl who was suppose to be married to a 69 year old man for 45 cows. Furthermore, she was soon to be "cut". The girl run away to the boarding school of Kajiado, Kenya. And since then she has been safe.

A Sudanese woman was suppose to get 40 lashes for wearing pants. However, the court decided that she will not get the 40 lashes but she would have to pay ca. 120 Pounds for wearing indicent clothing.

This woman and many of her supporters said no to the court's ruling. Hence, they started a demonstration, some of the women were even wearing trousers. As a result to this, many man started to attack these women because of their point of view.

Why is this world so unfair? ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/07/sudanese-woman-escapes-lash-trousers

There was a really interesting article in Spiegel Online today. A woman in Kenia founded a village for women who have been abused by their fathers or husbands, were raped by soldiers, had undergone female genitale mutilation or had an arranged marriage. These women learned to live on their own and to make money by selling self-made jewellery or fresh vegetables.

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/0,1518,643155,00.html

I just saw this really good report on the Economist:
http://audiovideo.economist.com/?fr_chl=0fa322324169698ba7c97f415d40939f65d6df2d&rf=bm

It is a report about girls being married at a young age. Imagine, 60% of all girls below the age of 16 are married in Afghanistan. They don't even know what is ahead of them and that they can never return to school. It shows so much how important education is for boys and girls.

Only last week a Moslem women was tried in Malaysia for drinking beer in public and she was found to be guilty. Her penality was 40 lashes!

Today a women in Sudan was accused of wearing indicent clothing and also got 40 lashes. Another 10 women got 10 lashes. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8182658.stm

Personally, I wish that women women would have the same rights than men. Why are women punished for what they are wearing or what they were doing? Would a men get 40 lashes for wearing shorts or drinking beer?

April 2009 - Entgegen der Presseerklärung des Bundesfrauenministeriums (BMFSFJ) zur Anhörung vor dem 43. CEDAW-Ausschuss der Vereinten Nationen am 2. Februar in Genf, in der der "CEDAW-Ausschuss der Vereinten Nationen sich zufrieden mit den Fortschritten der deutschen Gleichstellungspolitik zeigt", betrachtet der Ausschuss in seinem Abschlussbericht vom 10. Februar die frauen- und gleichstellungspolitischen Fortschritten in Deutschland und die Maßnahmen der Bundesregierung als unzureichend.

Die abschließenden Bemerkungen des CEDAW-Ausschusses (in deutscher Übersetzung) können unter folgendem Link heruntergeladen werden: http://www.frauenrat.de/deutsch/allgemein/panel-linke-seite/weitere-meldungen/meldungsdetails/back/48/article/cedaw-2009.html


Inhalt und Bedeutung von CEDAW

Es gibt auf der Ebene der UN insgesamt sieben Menschenrechtskonventionen, die für die Staaten, die diese Konventionen ratifizieren, verbindliche Regelungen zum Menschenrechtsschutz enthalten.

Eine der Konventionen ist die UN-Frauenrechtskonvention zur Beseitigung jeder Form der Diskriminierung der Frau (CEDAW - Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women). Diese Konvention ist das wichtigste verbindliche internationale Instrument für die Stärkung und Verwirklichung von Frauenrechten. Sie enthält unter anderem ein umfassendes Diskriminierungsverbot, welches sich auf alle Lebensbereiche erstreckt. Für den KOK (Bundesweiter Koordinierungskreis gegen Frauenhandel und Gewalt an Frauen im Migrationsprozess e.V.) ist insbesondere Artikel 6 CEDAW von großer Bedeutung. In diesem heißt es:

„Die Vertragsstaaten treffen alle geeigneten Maßnahmen einschließlich gesetzgeberischer Maßnahmen zur Abschaffung jeder Form des Frauenhandels und der Ausbeutung der Prostitution von Frauen.“

Alle Vertragsstaaten, die CEDAW ratifiziert haben, müssen als rechtsverbindliche Verpflichtung die Ziele der Konvention durch gesetzgeberische und gleichstellungspolitische Maßnahmen umsetzen.

Damit überprüft werden kann, ob die Vertragsstaaten ihren Pflichten nachgekommen sind, erstellen sie in regelmäßigen Abständen Berichte über die getroffenen Maßnahmen und diesbezügliche Fortschritte (Verpflichtung zu sogenannten Regierungsberichten).

Diese Berichte werden vom CEDAW-Ausschuss, dem 23 unabhängige Sachverständige angehören, sorgfältig geprüft.

Für unabhängige Nichtregierungsorganisationen (NGOs) hat sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten die Möglichkeit der Beteiligung etabliert. NGOs können in einem "Alternativ"- oder "Schattenbericht“ ihre Kritik an dem vorgelegten Regierungsbericht und an der Situation der Frauenrechte in dem jeweiligen Land darstellen.

Ausgehend von den Verpflichtungen der Regierungen, die Vorgaben von CEDAW zu erfüllen, gibt ein solcher Bericht den NGOs die Gelegenheit dezidiert ihre Sichtweise darzulegen. Für den CEDAW-Ausschuss sind diese NGO-Berichte eine zusätzliche wichtige Erkenntnisquelle.

Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland hat CEDAW im Jahr 1985 ratifiziert, so dass die Bestimmungen der Konvention für die Bundesrepublik rechtlich verbindlich geworden und auch die Pflicht besteht, ihre Bemühungen in einem Regierungsbericht dem CEDAW Ausschuss mitzuteilen.

Die Regierungsberichte wurden in den vergangenen Jahren von deutschen NGOs in Alternativ-, bzw. Schattenberichten kommentiert. Durch die Erstellung eines Alternativberichtes wurden Themenbereiche, in denen die Bundesrepublik nur unzureichend die Vorgaben der Konvention umgesetzt hat, angesprochen und zum Diskussionsgegenstand zu machen.

So hat der CEDAW-Ausschuss bei seiner letzten Befragung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im Januar 2003 einige Aspekte aus dem Alternativbericht der NGOs aufgegriffen und dazu konkrete Fragen an die Regierungsvertreter/Innen gestellt. Die Berücksichtigung der Kritik und der Forderungen von NGOs durch den CEDAW-Ausschuss bei der Beurteilung des Regierungshandelns verleiht der Arbeit der NGOs einen außerordentlichen Zugewinn an politischer Bedeutung. Dadurch können gesellschaftliche Veränderungsprozesse auf höchster politischer Ebene angestoßen werden.

Nachdem die Bundesregierung 2007 ihren sechsten Regierungsbericht vorgestellt hat, ist es erstmals gelungen, dass sich eine Allianz von mehr als 25 deutschen NGOs zusammengefunden hat, um ausführlich und umfassend auf die Situation der Frauenrechte in der Bundesrepublik einzugehen.

Der CEDAW - Alternativbericht kann über folgenden Link heruntergeladen werden: http://www.frauenrat.de/deutsch/allgemein/panel-linke-seite/weitere-meldungen/meldungsdetails/back/48/article/cedaw-2009.html