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The Arab Women's Organization, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Fund and the League of Arab States, recently met in Cairo to discuss the preparation of quantitative and qualitative indicators of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in their organization. It was the third meeting by experts, and held in order to provide support for the Arab States in preparing their national reports on their commitment to CEDAW.\ The Kingdom of Bahrain with host the event entitled Be Free on June 9-10. International organizations such as UNICEF and the Organization of Internet Control along with and a number of world-renown experts will participate. The goal of the two-day event is to discuss ways to prevent the trafficking and physical abuse of children through the Internet. \ The Center for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut has issued a new book on the concept of crimes against humanity in international law. Written by William George Nassar, the book covers the concepts of crimes such as genocide, torture, and apartheid, along with ways to identify criminal prosecution and the need for international protection for humanity. \ The Arab Today reported that the Jordanian Ministry of Development plans to conduct a study on the subject of elderly unmarried women in the upcoming months. Thought to be widespread throughout Jordan, the study will focus on the economic and social impediments of spinsterhood.\ An Australian court has agreed to allow a 17 year old female to continue medical treatment that has lead to confusion of her legal gender identification. After the ruling, the court has allowed doctors to remove her breasts in order to appear more masculine. She has already completed several hormonal therapies in order to prevent the onset of menstruation. Doctors have attributed her desire to change her gender due to depression.\ Doctors at the British Queen's University reported that the number of patients with juvenile diabetes has increased significantly within Europe. More than 20,000 children under the age of five are now believed to be afflicted.\ The United Nations Children's Fund "UNICEF" has been asked to take firm action to stop the trafficking of children amidst the background of a new report stating that more than 150 million girls and 73 million boys under eighteen years of age are forced to have sex every year in different parts of the world. \ The government of the United Arab Emirates has launched a humanitarian initiative which ensures that, upon legal age, any citizen the country deems an orphan will be submitted for employment and receive a secured monthly income. The Human Resources Section of the Dubai police will implement this initiative.\ 18 organizations in a local Jordanian community recently signed the Memoranda of Understanding with the Organization of American Jurisdiction to implement the program "Combating Child Labor through Education." The program will continue for a period of four years, with funding from the Department of Labor in America, at an estimated cost of U.S. $ 4 million.\ A U.S. study reported that an estimated 3.5 million children under the age of five are at risk of starvation in the United States alone. These findings coincide with another study by the U.S. Food Group, which indicated that more than 20% of American children in eleven states suffer from hunger due to the lack of food.



Initiatives to Reinforce Backwardness:

a women- only mall in Aleppo and taxis just for women in Damascus

Fattah Issa

Translated by:Charlotte Fryer

12/06/2010

People are baffled when they hear about these "moral" initiatives. Despite the fact that initiatives are usually a means to realize progress and development, our initiatives on the other hand, are more aptly described as backward. Society is regressing and segregation of the sexes increases cultural regression. Essentially, segregation occurs from birth onwards, with separate bedrooms for males and females, segregation in schools and on the streets and it is not possible for a woman to go out or to socialize.

This is how the two genders are born and grow, and the culture of segregation grows with them. In the minds of members of each sex grow strange ideas about the other, and all this leads to repression in the future, and in turn psychological illnesses, social problems and ethical offenses. In this closed society we see a rise in these offences and social problems such as rape and harassment.
Our first, astonishing initiative is the opening of a women-only mall in the city of Aleppo. This mall will be unique in its welcoming of women without men, and of course those employed will also be female. The mall's opening represents a new step in the separation of females and males, a separation which arises in order to fulfil economic aims and perhaps other goals as well.
Our second initiative is the 'new project' for women-only taxis in Damascus. Its administration is female, as are the drivers who receive telephone requests from female clients. The car is even female!
This new project has been adopted in the religious west of Damascus from where the cars that drive to different districts, markets and Syrian cities depart. According to the passengers' demands, there is a service which drives women to the borders of neighbouring countries (Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan). There will also be a service organizing journeys for ladies within Syria which would be a way to encourage women's tourism (of course, this would need to be to touristic sites only frequented by women without men!).
I honestly don’t know if we are really in the 21st century, the century of technology and cultural development! The ways in which the genders are divided have evolved instead of integration and rapprochement. Gender segregation in education, the separation of men and women at occasions like weddings for example, and now segregation in driving! Perhaps next they will create pavements especially for women and for pavements for men, since it is not permissible for them to encounter one another in the same place. In the light of these initiatives those driving them ought to think about establishing research centres for women too!
This segregation is against human nature and conflicts with the nature of communal living in the different stages of human development; before, during and after the emergence of religions, before the appearance of malls, taxis and planes. It should remain this way afterwards also.
In ancient times and during the age when horses were the means of transport, women's bodies would touch men's bodies. With development, came cars and men and women moved a little further away from each other.
The more we "evolve" the more we distance ourselves from one another.......because we exploit technology, we manufacture backwardness!



Thara E- Magazine No. 237 ,12/6/2010
Reproduction permitted with appropriate citation


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