Reports of virginity testing performed on young Zimbabwean schoolgirls have been met with criticism from women’s and children’s rights groups who are decrying the practice as a violation of dignity and respect. The tests were carried out on Grade 7 girls at Tsetse primary school without parental consent; parents have claimed that “the Child Protection Committee and the teachers threatened to beat up the pupils if they did not reveal whom they have slept with.” Linda Valerie Guzha, the Zimbabwe Programme Director for Days for Girls, has termed the process of virginity testing on girls as “taking 10 steps back in...

Children’s rights activists in Egypt have united in their call for the government to act against the increase in child abductions since the revolution. A coalition consisting of 100 child advocacy groups has expressed serious concern at the negligible attention paid to the crisis by the new administration. Reports suggest that child abductions have risen threefold since the popular uprising and the Coalition on Children’s Rights has indicated a 300 percent increase in the number of abduction-related calls it receives from parents. Hani Helal, secretary-general of the Egyptian Coalition on Children’s Rights, has suggested...

The use of fattening steroids among teenage prostitutes is becoming the norm in Bangladesh. Approximately 90% of sex workers in Bangladesh’s legal brothels use cow-fattening steroids to improve their appearance. Prostitution in the South Asian country is legal for those who over 18. However, some sex workers in brothels are as young as 12 and the girls younger than the legal age are made to take steroids in order to look older than they are. Forced to take the drugs by their madams, the drugs work to increase the young girls’ appetites, which adds curves and makes them appear healthy and older. The steroids also make them...

Women’s Rights – The Moroccan administration is coming under increasing pressure from women’s rights activists following the suicide of 16-year old Amina Filali, after she was forced to marry her alleged rapist. Her death has thrown the status of Moroccan women into the spotlight, with particular focus on Clause 475 of the criminal code that allows for a prosecution to be dropped if a minor agrees to marry her abductor. Official statistics indicate that, in 2010 alone, 41,000 female minors were married, a 25% increase on the previous year. Hanane Jazouani, a journalist at the Casablanca website Yabiladi, has suggested that...

Social Issues – The United States’ Afghanistan exit strategy has taken another hit this week with a report from the International Crisis Group (ICG) concluding that U.S. attempts to negotiate with the Taliban have been a failure. The report comes after several turbulent months in U.S.-Afghan relations, with its findings likely dramatically affected by the recent killing of 17 Afghan civilians and the burning of Korans at an American military base. The ICG report represents a significant dent in hopes that a negotiated settlement would mark the end of the war. Candace Rondeaux, the report’s lead author, stated that...

Environment – Proving that it is possible to stand up to seemingly insurmountable money and pressure, Peru has recently placed ban on genetically modified foods that cannot be revised for ten years. It goes in the face of significant lobbying by multinational food corporations and is a bold move toward environment and public health. The decision came after three years of congressional consideration, but the Pervuian Congress ultimately sided with its farmers, including the farming community, Parque de la Papa. The community’s argument rested largely on the threat that genetically modified foods held to native species unique to...

Social Issues – Iran continues to insist that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and after searching for years for evidence showing otherwise, reports are coming in from Mossad, Israel’s Intelligence Service, and a source in U.S. Intelligence, that there is no proof that Tehran is working on a nuclear weapons program. In fact, it is believed that Iran’s program was shut down in 2003. “Mossad does not disagree with the U.S. on the [Iraninan] weapons program,” an unnamed former senior U.S. Intelligence official told the New York Times. “There is not a lot of dispute between the US and...

Human Rights – Eurasia – In 2011 Azerbaijan won the famed Eurovision singing competition, which draws 125 million viewers from more than 40 countries. In May they will host the 2012 contest in Baku, the capital. However, many people are calling for a boycott of the competition as the government has come under fire for a poor human rights record and its dissident clampdown. The Azerbaijan government was recently called out by Human Rights Watch (HRW) for entering into a controversial “city beautification” process in anticipation of Eurovision, which forced many people from their homes without compensation....

Human Rights – The bloody conflict continues in Syria after failed attempts to reach a ceasefire agreement between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition this weekend. Reports of more killings in Homs are coming in today with at least a dozen people dead, including children. Today’s UN Security Council meeting to review the Arab Spring uprisings, will likely have a large focus on stopping Assad’s brutal crackdown on the opposition. The State Media in Damascus has confirmed the reports of the most recent deaths, however, they are blaming “armed terrorists” for the brutality. There are conflicting...

Human Rights – The void between the U.S. and Afghanistan has widened this weekend with the murder of 16 Afghan civilians by an American soldier. He opened fire in a village near his base in the south of the country, leaving nine children and three women among his victims. President Hamid Karzai has described the attack as “an assassination, an intentional killing of civilians” which he says “cannot be forgiven.” With tensions between the two countries already heightened following the burning of Qurans by U.S. forces and subsequent violence by protestors, this newest development has created an even more volatile...