#MeToo: Nepal’s Women Speak Up
The Diplomat - Kathmandu, Nepal, 10/31/2018
As India’s #MeToo Movement continues to expand, the global movement has gathered momentum in Nepal too. Under the #MeToo hashtag, Nepali women who faced sexual assault and misconduct in the past are slowly and gradually coming out with their stories. One of the most high-profile accusations have been by two female journalists against Keshav Sthapit, a minister and party leader, of sexual harassment. Women rights activists are also encouraging more women to share their stories, and more revelations are likely in the future as the campaign gains momentum. But still, a large section of Nepali women who cannot access social media and English-language media are being relatively excluded from this global movement.
Tanzania: Anti-Gay Crackdown in Dar es Salaam
BBC, Tanzania, 10/31/2018
Paul Makonda, the Governor of Tanzania’s economic capital Dar es Salaam, has announced the creation of a surveillance squad dedicated to hunting down gay people, round-ups would begin the coming week. The team will apparently scrutinise social media in order to track down and arrest people in same sex relationships, Makonda said. Homosexuality is illegal in Tanzania, where anti-gay rhetoric has been on the rise since President John Magufuli's election in 2015. Many gay, lesbian and transgender people are forced to hide their sexuality as a result. Last year, the country's deputy health minister defended a threat to publish a list of gay people, effectively outing them against their consent. LGBTQ rights in Tanzania are under a constant threat.
Massive Taiwan Gay Pride Parade Pushes Key Referendum Vote
The Star, Taipei, 10/29/2018
On October 27, 2018, thousands took part in Taipei's Gay Pride parade – the biggest in Asia – ahead of a landmark upcoming vote on LGBTQ rights on the island. Taiwan's top court in May 2017 had legalised gay marriage, the first place in Asia to do so, and ruled its decision must be implemented within two years – but little has been done since then in terms of implementation. Therefore, anti-gay rights campaigners have mounted a referendum against allowing same-sex marriages, which will take place alongside local elections in November, in response to which, pro-LGBTQ groups are putting forward their own referendum in the favour of legitimising same-sex marriage. Thus, the theme of this year's march was to support these pro-gay rights referendums.
Protesters Burn Hindu Religious Center in Southern India
Washington Post - New Delhi, India, 10/27/2018
Protesters on October 27, 2018, set fire to a Hindu religious center in Southern India for supporting a Supreme Court decision allowing women of menstruating age at Sabarimala Temple, one of the world’s largest Hindu pilgrimage sites. Ever since the Supreme Court ruling, several religious groups have filed petitions against it, and the State Government says it has arrested about 2,000 people for blocking the entry of women ages 10-50 when the temple opened for prayers for five days. This incident is yet another means to condemn the progressive decision. The Supreme Court ruling has been a rare feminist victory in recent times, but it remains to be seen whether women entering the temple will continue to receive this kind of resistance.
Tax on Drinks to Raise Funds for HIV Treatment in Uganda
The Guardian, Uganda, 10/26/2018
Taxes levied on alcohol and soft drinks in Uganda will be used to fund the country’s HIV treatment programmes, in a move designed to make the country less reliant on donors. The Government believes $2.5m a year will be generated from the 2% total tax levies collected from alcoholic drinks, which will be channelled into a new HIV and AIDS trust fund (ATF). Provision for the fund was included in the HIV Prevention and Control Act, passed in 2014, but the regulations for its operation have only recently been passed. Activists welcomed news of the fund being operational, although the amount expected to be generated is still a fraction of what is needed to combat HIV and AIDS in the country.
Ethiopia Appoints 1st Woman President, After Approving Gender-Balanced Cabinet
ABC News, Ethiopia, 10/25/2018
Ethiopia's parliament appointed the country's first woman president October 25, 2018, just days after the reformist Prime Minister unveiled a new Cabinet that is half female. Sahle-Work Zewde, a seasoned diplomat who has held positions with the United Nations, was unanimously voted in by parliament members, and though it is still the Prime Minister who wields the executive power (the position of President, while it carries significant social influence, is largely a ceremonial post), this is a big win for women’s rights in Ethiopia. In her remarks to parliament following her swearing-in, Sahle-Work vowed to uphold peace and promote gender equality in Africa's second-most populous nation.
Centre Asks Internet Providers to Block 827 Porn Websites
News 18 - New Delhi, India, 10/25/2018
The Government has directed Internet Service Providers to block 827 websites that host pornographic content following an order by the Uttarakhand High Court, according to official sources. While the Uttarakhand High Court has asked to block 857 websites, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) also added 30 portals without any pornographic content. Meity asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to block the websites named in the list issued as part of the order. This was meant to be a follow-up of the order the DoT had issued in July 2015, pushing for the ban of pornographic websites to curb the distribution of child pornography. However, at that time, the Department of Telecom had changed the order to exclude websites that do not have pornographic content about minors.
Shandong Domestic Violence Rule Raises Hopes from LGBT
Global Times, China, 10/23/2018
East China's Shandong Government has released a draft regulation against domestic violence which raised hopes for LGBT groups that have long called on the country's legislature to revise laws to protect gay people from domestic violence. The existing Anti-Domestic Violence Law, which took effect in 2016, is applicable to "people living together but are not family", however a legislative official from the National People's Congress (NPC) had announced at a press conference after the national law was approved that same-sex relationships were not protected by this law. But the new regulation has more gender-neutral language, and may set the legal basis for LGBT people to defend themselves against domestic violence. Statistics show that in China, more gay people faced domestic abuse than straight people.
Sex Harassment at Work Cases Up 4,000% in 4 Years
New Indian Express - New Delhi, India, 10/22/2018
The number of cases of sexual harassment at workplaces shot up by almost 4,000 per cent across the country in the last four years, government data has revealed. The figures, accessed by TNIE, show that while 371 cases were reported in 2014, the number shot up to 14,866 in 2018 (till October) – a rise of over 3,907 per cent. Uttar Pradesh reported the most cases, followed by Delhi and Haryana. The emergence of this data in light of India’s #MeToo movement – where, in the last two weeks, a number of women mainly in the entertainment, film and media industries have called out alleged predators while sharing their ordeals of workplace harassment – will hopefully lead to more conversations around reforming the country’s work culture.
Indonesian Police Arrest Two Men Linked to LGBT Facebook Page
Reuters - Jakarta, Indonesia, 10/21/2018
Indonesian police have arrested two men who allegedly operated a Facebook account to facilitate meet-ups for gay people and other sex-related services, a senior officer in the province of West Java said on October 21, 2018. The men were charged with breaking electronic information law by creating and transmitting pornographic content, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of six years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of one billion rupiah ($66,000). Homosexuality is not regulated by law in Indonesia, except in the conservative Province of Aceh, but the country has seen an increase in raids targeting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people, forcing many members of the community underground.
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