Equality Now fights human rights abuses against women
By David on Jul 19, 2008 in World
Equality Now (New York), founded in 1992, documents violence and discrimination against women and mobilizes international action to support their efforts to stop human rights abuses.
Issues or great concern include rape, domestic violence, reproductive rights, trafficking of women, female genital mutilation, and the denial of equal access to economic opportunity and political participation.
Equality Now distributes information about human rights violations, takes action to protest these violations, and brings public attention to human rights violations against women.
Equality Now participates with more than 35,000 members of the Women’s Action Network in 160 countries to jointly protest human human rights violations against women and girls around the world.
Some of the many specific campaigns of Equality Now include:
* Calling for reinstatement of Malalai Joya as a member of Afghanistan’s Parliament.
* Calls on Iran to stop the imminent execution of Iranian sisters recently sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.
* Launches campaign to end sex trafficking in India.
* Convening an Afghan Women’s Summit to call for women’s inclusion in the Middle East peace process.
* Calls on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women to investigate the murders of women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
* Has issued action alerts and organized a benefit focusing on the sexual exploitation of women, including supporting international and U.S. legislation to protect victims of trafficking.
Equality Now has regional offices in London (U.K.) and Nairobi (Kenya).
Information on donation opportunities and full details on their activities can be found on their website.
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Elavarthi Manohar | Jul 19, 2008 | Reply
EQUALITY NOW SUPPORTS CRIMINALIZATION OF POOR WOMEN IN INDIA
Equality Now supports efforts to criminalize clients of sexworkers in the name of combating trafficking. Criminalization of clients is nothing but harming sexworkers by making their profession unsafe - which will lead to pushing sexwork underground - which inturn will increase human rights violations against them and increase the spread of HIV-AIDS. Equality Now’s efforts are basically to punish sexworkers, most of whom are poor women.
Does Equality Now wants these poor women to die?
If Equality Now believes in democracy it should talk to sexworkers in India about what they want? Not doing this is nothing but denying their agency, i.e. agency of women?
I strongly protest the efforts of Equality Now to criminalize poor women in India
- Elavarthi Manohar
Advisor, Karnataka Sexworkers Union (Trade Union of sexworkers affiliated to NTUI - New Trade Union Initiative)
Lakshmi Anantnarayan | Sep 15, 2008 | Reply
On almost all campaigns, Equality Now works in strong collaboration with grassroots groups from around the world. In India, Equality Now partners with Apne Aap (http://www.apneaap.org/) and Prajwala, (http://www.prajwalaindia.org/), two groups that are survivor led, and that work to end the commercial sexual exploitation of women. Equality Now launched its global campaign calling for swift passage of the Amendments to India’s trafficking law (Immoral Traffic Prevention Act) by joining the on-going efforts of Prajwala and Apne Aap.
This is to clarify that in the amendments Equality Now is calling for the decriminalization of women in prostitution. There is a logical link between prostitution and sex trafficking, the demand for prostitution leads more women to be trafficked for sexual purposes. Addressing demand is the most effective way to end sex trafficking. Further curtailing the commercial sex industry is a more sustainable way to end HIV/AIDS. While condom distribution aims at harm reduction, ending the commercial sexual exploitation of women targets harm elimination.
There are a lot of women in prostitution in India and around the world who find themselves in it because of desperation and no choice. Many of these women do not want to be in it. What about the rights of these women? The right to dignity, safety, health and the right not to be prostituted.