AUTHOR
BY LISA JUNG, ZEYNEP ECE KARSLI AND AYÇA ZEHRA KARABABA
THIS WEEK’S BLOG WILL FOCUS ON BOTH VERY RECENT AND MORE GENERAL HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES THAT HAVE OCCURRED LAST WEEK. ESPECIALLY THE DUTCH RULES CONCERNING CORONA HAVE LED TO DEMONSTRATIONS AND VIOLENCE. HOWEVER, SEVERAL LESS VISIBLE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES LIKE FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION AND A TURKISH JOURNALIST SUFFERING CANCER IN JAIL EQUALLY DESERVE ATTENTION.
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION TODAY, AS IN THE PAST, WOMEN ARE EXPOSED TO MANY DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES BASED ON GENDER. THEREFORE, WOMEN HAVE TO STRUGGLE IN MANY AREAS OF LIFE. “CIRCUMCISION” IS ONE OF THE CULTURAL PRACTICES THAT WOMEN ARE SUBJECTED TO AND MUST STRUGGLE WITH. IN 2009 "DESERT FLOWER" MOVIE RELEASED. WITH THIS MOVIE MANY OF US LEARNED AND GAINED AWARENESS ABOUT FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION. THE MOVIE WAS INSPIRED BY A STORY THAT HAD HAPPENED. MAIN CHARACTER WARIS DIRIE WAS ONE OF THE GIRLS IN SOMALI WHO HAD TO EXPERIENCE FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION.
For more than 3,000 years, families believe a girl who has not been circumcised is dirty. Because the thing between our legs is not clean. For this reason, it must be taken ... Before the first painful sexual intercourse on the wedding night, the groom opens this stitch using a knife. People will never marry a girl who has not been circumcised. When noticed, she is expelled from her village and equated with prostitutes. It is not written in the Quran, but this process continues ... I lived, my sister could not stand it. Sofia died of blood loss after circumcision. Amina, on the other hand, died at birth with her baby ... I used to say that I did not want to be a woman when I was a child. In order not to suffer and be unhappy … (Desert Flower 2009)
ACCORDING TO UNICEF'S 2016 ESTIMATES THERE ARE 200 MILLION WOMEN LIVING IN 27 AFRICAN COUNTRIES, INDONESIA, THE IRAQI KURDISTAN REGION AND YEMEN (IN 30 COUNTRIES), WHERE THIS MUTILATION PRACTICE HAS BEEN DONE. THIS PRACTICE, ROOTED IN GENDER INEQUALITY AND UNDERSTANDING OF CHASTITY, KINDNESS AND BEAUTY, IS AN EFFORT TO CONTROL WOMEN'S SEXUALITY. IT IS USUALLY INITIATED AND APPLIED BY WOMEN WHO SEE THIS AS A SIGN OF HONOR AND FEAR THAT THEY WILL BE SUBJECTED TO SOCIAL EXCLUSION IF THEIR DAUGHTERS OR GRANDDAUGHTERS ARE NOT GIVEN THIS PRACTICE. WOMEN'S CIRCUMCISION CAUSES VARIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS. RECURRENT INFECTIONS, DIFFICULTY IN URINATION AND MENSTRUAL DISCHARGE, CHRONIC PAIN, CYST FORMATION, INABILITY TO CONCEIVE, COMPLICATIONS ENCOUNTERED DURING CHILDBIRTH AND BLEEDING LEADING TO DEATH ARE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED. FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION HAS NO KNOWN HEALTH BENEFITS.
ARTICLE 3 (1) OF EU CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS; “ 1. EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO RESPECT FOR HIS OR HER PHYSICAL AND MENTAL INTEGRITY.” . ACCORDINGLY, TO ENSURE THAT DECIDING AND PRACTICING ON BEHALF OF ANOTHER ABOUT CIRCUMCISION (EVEN DECIDING AS PARENTS) MEANS THAT NOT SHOWING RESPECT FOR THE BODY INTEGRITY OF THE PERSON BEING CIRCUMCISED. ACCORDING TO THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE, THE WORD CIRCUMCISION IS "VIOLATION OF PHYSICAL INTEGRITY".
TURKISH JOURNALIST SUFFERED FROM CANCER IN PRISON
ACCORDING TO A REPORT BY THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE ANNOUNCED TO THE PUBLIC "TURKEY IS THE COUNTRY WHERE MOST JOURNALISTS IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD". ONE OF THESE JOURNALISTS WAS MEVLÜT ÖZTAŞ. MEVLÜT ÖZTAŞ WAS DIAGNOSED WITH PANCREATIC CANCER WHILE IN JAIL. HE WAS DISCHARGED FROM THE HOSPITAL AND WAS SENT BACK TO PRISON, DESPITE THE DOCTORS' REPORT THAT ÖZTAŞ WAS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR ARREST. ÖZTAŞ ALSO SUFFERED FROM A NUMBER OF CHRONIC DISEASES SUCH AS ADVANCED ASTHMA, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND CHRONIC RENAL FAILURE DURING HIS DETENTION.
HE HAD TWO SURGERIES IN PRISON, HIS KIDNEYS WENT BANKRUPT, AND HE KEPT HANDCUFFED DURING HIS CHEMOTHERAPY AT THE HOSPITAL WHERE HE WAS TREATED. HIS FAMILY DID NOT INFORMED WHILE HE WAS IN SURGERY. ÖZTAŞ LATER TOLD HIS FAMILY IN A PHONE CALL; HE EXPLAINED THAT HE HAD INTERNAL BLEEDING, WAS HOSPITALIZED, KEPT IN THE HOSPITAL FOR 1 WEEK AND HAD GALL BLADDER SURGERY, AND WAS QUARANTINED WITH SURGERY AFTER RETURNING TO PRISON. LATER, HIS FAMILY, WHO CALLED THE PRISON, LEARNED THAT HE WAS TRANSFERRED TO ANKARA THIS TIME, BUT COULD NOT FIND OUT WHICH HOSPITAL IT WAS.
HIS FAMILY DID NOT HEAR FROM HIM FOR THREE WEEKS DURING THIS PERIOD. MEVLÜT ÖZTAŞ WAS TIED TO A BED IN THE PRISONER WARD, LOCATED IN THE BASEMENT OF THE HOSPITAL, AND UNDERWENT CHEMOTHERAPY. THE HOSPITAL ANNOUNCED THAT IT WOULD NOT DISCHARGE THE PRISONER UNTIL THE DELEGATION REPORT ON ÖZTAŞ'S SITUATION WAS ISSUED, BUT HE WAS DISCHARGED ON JUNE 1 AND TAKEN BACK TO THE PRISON. HE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO MEET WITH HIS LAWYER, WHO WANTED TO MEET WITH HIM, SAYING THAT HE WAS IN QUARANTINE. HIS SENTENCE WAS UPHELD BY THE COURT OF APPEAL, BUT ÖZTAŞ'S ILLNESSES WERE NEVER MENTIONED IN THE REASONED DECISION, AND HIS MULTIPLE DISEASES WERE IGNORED. ALTHOUGH HE REPEATEDLY REQUESTED PAROLE DUE TO HIS HEALTH CONDITION, HIS PETITIONS WERE NOT ACCEPTED. WITH THE EFFORTS OF HIS FAMILY, HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS, ACTIVISTS OF THE INSTITUTIONS IN TURKEY, INTENSE PUBLIC PRESSURE FROM LAWMAKERS AND JOURNALISTS HE WERE EVACUATED. HOWEVER IT WAS TOO LATE. WHEN HE WAS RELEASED, HIS ILLNESSES WERE INCURABLE. HE PASSED AWAY ON 19 AUGUST 2020, 57 DAYS AFTER HIS RELEASE.
DUTCH COVID CURFEW PROTESTS TURN VIOLENT HUNDREDS OF OPPONENTS OF THE FIRST NIGHT-TIME CURFEW IN THE NETHERLANDS SINCE WORLD WAR II HAVE CLASHED WITH POLICE IN EINDHOVEN, AMSTERDAM, AND ELSEWHERE, RESULTING IN SCORES OF ARRESTS. CLASHES BROKE OUT ON SUNDAY IN AMSTERDAM, EINDHOVEN, AND STEIN, OVER THE INTRODUCTION OF A NATIONWIDE CURFEW TO CURTAIL THE SPREAD OF THE CORONAVIRUS. RIOTERS ATTACKED POLICE AND SET CARS AND BIKES ON FIRE TO PROTEST AGAINST A CURFEW INTRODUCED ON SATURDAY. IN EINDHOVEN, GOLF BALLS AND FIREWORKS WERE HURLED AT POLICE IN FULL RIOT GEAR, WHO EVENTUALLY USED TEAR GAS TO CLEAR THE CROWDS. BURNING BIKES WERE BUILT INTO BARRICADES. IN THE EASTERN CITY OF ENSCHEDE, RIOTERS THREW ROCKS AT THE WINDOWS OF A HOSPITAL. THERE WERE SMALLER PROTESTS IN AMSTERDAM, AND IN SOME CITIES AND TOWNS AROUND THE COUNTRY. MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DETAINED, POLICE SAID. SECURITY FORCES IN BOTH CITIES USED WATER CANNONS AS WELL AS BATONS, HORSES, AND DOGS — AND IN EINDHOVEN TEAR GAS — TO QUELL THE PROTESTS. AT LEAST 10 POLICE OFFICERS WERE INJURED IN THE LATEST CLASHES, WHICH LEFT A TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION IN CITIES INCLUDING THE CAPITAL, AMSTERDAM, ROTTERDAM AND THE HAGUE. "THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PROTEST, THIS IS CRIMINAL VIOLENCE AND WE WILL TREAT IT AS SUCH," MR RUTTE TOLD REPORTERS ON MONDAY. REGIONAL SECURITY COUNCILLORS ARE MEETING ON MONDAY TO DISCUSS A RESPONSE.
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