Indian Police Question Suspects in Telangana Rape and Murder Case
Aljazeera, India, 11/30/2019
On November 29, 2019, the police detained four suspects after finding the burned body of Dr. Priyanka Reddy, a 27-year-old veterinarian who was raped and murdered in Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana. She had gone missing and her body had been discovered on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Police said the suspects offered to fix a flat tyre on her motorbike and then took her to a secluded spot where the crime was committed. She had made a last phone call to her sister to say her bike had broken down and stated her distress in that situation. While the government has passed a series of laws increasing punishment for rape, cases of sexual violence are prevalent, and often go unreported.
Indonesian Gymnast Dropped After Told ‘She’s No Longer a Virgin’
Reuters - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 11/29/2019
An Indonesian female gymnast training for the Southeast Asian Games was dismissed and sent home on grounds that she was not a virgin. Indonesia’s sports ministry claimed the dismissal was due to performance and disciplinary issues, but the gymnast’s family rejected doubts over her performance. Shalfa Avrila Sania, 17, had been due to leave for the biennial Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines on November 26, 2019, until she was dismissed from the training in mid-November. Sania’s family sent a letter to the ministry to protest her dismissal, according to their lawyer. Human rights groups have previously opposed ‘virginity tests’ on Indonesian women seeking to join the police or military and on students in Indonesian schools, saying the practice was unscientific and degrading.
Stop Transgender Bill: Community Activists Say it Violates Their Rights
India Today - New Delhi, India, 11/28/2019
People from the transgender, intersex and gender non-conforming communities on November 27, 2019, staged a protest against the passage of Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill. The activists from the community have alleged that the bill violated their rights instead of empowering them. ‘We request the President not to sign this bill. It treats us as non-equals and violates some of our fundamental individual rights,’ said one activist at the press conference organised on November 27, 2019. ‘This bill puts all people into one binary. We want comprehensive legislation,’ said another activist. During the course of the protest, activists and members of the trans community also raised the demand for reservation in education and employment in the bill that must be open to transgender people beyond existing binaries.
47 Nigerian Men Plead Not Guilty to Homosexuality Charge
Reuters - Lagos, Nigeria, 11/27/2019
Forty-seven Nigerian men pleaded innocent on November 27, 2019, to a charge of public displays of same-sex affection, an offence that carries a 10-year jail term. The Nigerian men, who appeared at a court in Lagos, were among 57 arrested in a police raid on a hotel in the Egbeda district in 2018. The trial is a test case for a law banning gay marriage, punishable by a 14-year jail term, and same-sex ‘amorous relationships’. It had caused international outcry when it came into force. Nobody has yet been convicted under the law, but Human Rights Watch and other activists say it has been used to extort bribes from suspects in exchange for not pursuing charges. The case has been adjourned until Dec. 11, 2019.
Rajya Sabha Passes Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019
Livemint - New Delhi, India, 11/26/2019
The Rajya Sabha on November 26, 2019, passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 by voice vote, despite ongoing protests against the bill and heavy criticism of it from the transgender community and rights activists. Though Tiruchi Siva, a Rajya Sabha MP pushed for sending the bill to a select committee, so that its regressive provisions could be reviewed and made more comprehensive, the bill has still passed in the upper house as is. Among its many shortcomings, the trans bill, despite claiming to ‘protect’ the rights of trans people, denies them the right to self-identification, fails to recognise family structures beyond the natal family, and fails to adequately address the gender-based violence and discrimination trans people face.
Mongolian Women Fight for Law against Widespread Sexual Harassment
Channel News Asia - Ulaanbatar, Mongolia, 11/25/2019
The arrest abroad of Mongolia's most Senior Judge on allegations that he groped a woman has sparked a fierce debate over his country's lack of laws against sexual harassment. Widespread sexual harassment goes largely unreported in Mongolia, because it is not illegal. ‘If a Mongolian flight attendant is harassed, they can't speak up because there is no law to protect them,’ said a representative of the National Centre Against Violence. While the Mongolian court has voted to dismiss Odbayar as chairman, he remains one of the nine members of the judicial body. This has stirred up the #MeToo movement in Mongolia yet again, and rights groups have made fresh demands that parliament create legislation to protect women against sexual harassment and take harsher action against perpetrators.
K-pop Star Goo Hara's Death Prompts Bullying Debate in South Korea
Japan Times - Seoul, South Korea, 11/24/2019
Fans mourned and conversations around misogyny, rape culture, cyberbullying and their impacts on mental health occurred across South Korea after k-pop star and revenge porn victim Goo Hara was found dead in a possible suicide on November 24, 2019. Goo had been abused by an ex-boyfriend last year who - after they split - had blackmailed her over sexually-explicit videos of her. When CCTV footage of Goo kneeling before him (apparently begging him not to release the explicit videos of her) had released earlier this year, she had been on the receiving end of extreme victim-blaming and slut shaming online and in the media. Her death is yet another casualty of a misogynistic culture that polices women’s sexuality and constantly links it to morality.
Indonesian Ministries Ban Pregnant, LGBT Job Seekers: Ombudsman
Channel News Asia - Jakarta, Indonesia, 11/22/2019
Several Indonesian ministries are banning pregnant, disabled, or LGBTQ job hunters in favour of what they called ‘normal’ applicants, the Ombudsman said on November 22, 2019. Indonesia has seen a jump in discrimination against gay and transgender people in recent years - while sexism in the workplace is also prevalent. The Ombudsman Indonesia commissioner said that an investigation found that the defence and trade ministries as well as the Attorney General's Office (AGO) were discriminating against candidates in their job advertisements. In fact the AGO’s website says job applicants must not be physically or ‘mentally disabled’ and classifies LGBTQ people among those having ‘mental disorders’. The Ombudsman called on the ministries to revoke their hiring policies but only the trade ministry has so far complied.
Thai LGBT+ Activists in Legal Bid to Force Marriage Equality
Reuters, Thailand, 11/22/2019
Thai LGBT+ activists submitted a legal challenge to the Constitutional Court on November 22, 2019, in a bid to change laws that limit marriage to between a man and a woman. The definition of marriage in Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code goes against the constitution which states that ‘all persons are equal before the law’, according to LGBT+ activists. Though Thai lawmakers are currently drafting a Civil Partnership Bill to give more rights to same-sex couples, many LGBT+ activists have said it does not go far enough, as it does not allow marriage, adoption or grant full spousal benefits. Hence, this legal challenge is to ensure that the definition of ‘marriage’ expands under the law, and the same spousal rights are given to same-sex spouses.
Rajya Sabha Members Seek to Send Transgender Bill to Select Committee for Review
News18 - New Delhi, India, 11/20/2019
Several members in Rajya Sabha on November 20, 2019, sought review of a bill on the protection of rights of transgender people, and demanded that it be referred to a select parliamentary committee. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019, which seeks to provide a mechanism for social, economic and educational empowerment of transgenders, was moved for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha by Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot. The bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha in August has faced harsh criticism from the transgender community for not respecting rights to self-identification, for not addressing gender-based violence against transgender people adequately, for not recognising trans people’s chosen families, and having various other provisions that harm rather than help transgender people.
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