NPWJ in the news

Bangladesh court rejects Islamist leader's final death sentence appeal
The Guardian / Reuters, 05 May 2016

Bangladesh’s supreme court has rejected a final appeal by the leader of the top Islamist party against a death sentence for atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence, lawyers say, meaning he could be hanged at any time. The supreme court in January upheld the death penalty for Motiur Rahman Nizami, head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, for genocide, rape and orchestrating the massacre of top intellectuals during the 1971 war. Nizami, 73, a former legislator and minister under Khaleda Zia when she was prime minister, has been in jail since 2010, when he was charged with war crimes by a tribunal set up by the current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, that year.
The war crimes tribunal has sparked violence and drawn criticism from opposition politicians, including leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, that it is victimising Hasina’s political opponents. “All the legal battles are over,” Nizami’s lawyer, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, told reporters on Thursday. “Now it is up to him whether he will seek clemency from the president or not.” Hundreds of people flooded the streets of the capital, Dhaka, to cheer the verdict, but there has been no report of violence, although Jamaat called a nationwide strike for Sunday in protest. Authorities have deployed additional security forces in Dhaka and elsewhere as similar previous judgments triggered violence that killed around 200, mainly Jamaat activists and police.
No Peace Without Justice, a non-profit body based in Italy, has called the tribunal’s proceedings “a weapon of politically influenced revenge whose real aim is to target the political opposition”. The government denies the accusations. The verdict comes as the Muslim-majority nation suffers a surge in militant violence in which atheist bloggers, academics, religious minorities and foreign aid workers have been killed. In the last month alone, five people, including a university teacher, two gay activists and a Hindu have been hacked to death by suspected Islamist militants. The government has blamed the increase in Islamist violence on Jamaat-e-Islami, but the group denies any link to the attacks. Four opposition politicians, including three Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, have been convicted by the war crimes tribunal and executed since late 2013. About 3 million people were killed, official figures show, and thousands of women were raped, during the nine-month war, in which some factions, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, opposed the break from what was then called West Pakistan. But the party denies that its leaders committed any atrocities.

Forum sous-régional ministériel au Sénégal pour mettre fin aux MGF
CCTV, Afrique Infos, 29 Apr 2016

Les Nations unies et les organisations des droits de l'homme appellent à un arrêt complet de la pratique néfaste de la mutilation génitale féminine. Un forum sous-régional ministériel vient de se conclure à Dakar, au Sénégal. Ce forum vise à favoriser l'application de la résolution de l'Assemblée générale des Nations unies pour une interdiction mondiale de la MGF.
Des représentants du gouvernement de la région du Sahel se sont rassemblés aux deux jours de conférence dans la capitale sénégalaise.
ALVILDA JABLONKO, Directrice de No peace without justice: "Selon les derniers rapports des Nations unies, la mutilation génitale féminine et l'excision ne montrent aucun signe de ralentissement dans certains pays. Peu de poursuites ont lieu dans les pays afin de sanctionner et de réprimer la poursuite de cette pratique, même si la plupart des gouvernements ont adopté des lois et des mécanismes de protection assez puissants."
MARIAM LAMIZANA, Présidente du comité de l'interafrique : "Il y a trois parties dans notre stratégie principale. La prévention, la protection et le soin. Le soin est administré aux personnes souffant physiquement. Par conséquent, lors de notre campagne de sensibilisation, nous déclarons qu'il existe des possibilités de soigner les personnes qui vivent avec les effets secondaires de l'excision. Dans le cadre du soin, au Burkina Faso, grâce au comité interafricain et à l'UEMOA, nous avons formé un certain nombre de médecins dans les techniques de réparation des effets secondaires de l'excision. Dans ce domaine, les soins sont gratuits." Des ministres, des hauts-représentants du gouvernement, des parlementaires et des militants des droits civils du Sénégal et de 14 autres pays de la région dont le Libéria, où ces pratiques sont toujours légales, ont participé à ce forum.
SIANE ABDUL-BAKI, Ministre adjointe, Ministère social du genre et des enfants : "Au Libéria, parce que la pratique de la MGF est profondément ancréée dans notre culture et tradition, l'une des plus importantes stratégies est de travailler avec les personnes traditionnelles, de changer la perception, l'attitude et de sensibiliser les gens autour de la MGF." Certaines agences des Nations unies ont prévenu que le taux global de progrès pour mettre fin à la mutilation génitale féminine ne suffit pas par rapport à la croissance démographique. Selon les représentants, le nombre de jeunes filles et de femmes sujettes à cette pratique augmentera de manière significative d'ici les 15 prochaines années si la tendance actuelle continue. 

Faible sanction sur l’excision au Sénégal. Seuls huit jugements en 17 ans
Mouhamadou BA, Rewmi, 27 Apr 2016

Malgré l’existence d’une loi interdisant l’excision, depuis 1999, au Sénégal, seuls huit cas ont été jugés en 17 ans.
Comme toutes les traditions, l’excision qui consiste en l’amputation d’une partie du sexe de la femme à la vie dure. L’État du Sénégal, tout en continuant d’user de stratégies de persuasion, d’éducation et de sensibilisation, s’est d’abord résolument engagé à user de l’arme juridique pour mettre un terme à cette pratique. Mais la loi sur l’excision souffre d’une application faible par rapport à l’ampleur de la pratique et aux résistances enregistrées, selon un rapport présenté, hier, par le ministère de la Famille. Après 17 ans de lutte, seuls 08 cas ont été portés au tribunal, lit-on dans le même rapport présenté  en marge d’une consultation ministérielle sous-régionale sur la mise en œuvre de la Résolution 69/150 de l’Organisation des Nations-Unies interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines. Selon la même source, la  loi est appliquée avec souplesse, car les peines prononcées sont faibles. Selon toujours le rapport, il y a l’intervention des lobbies religieux pour obtenir la clémence du tribunal. Même des responsables d’ONG impliqués dans la lutte contre les mutilations génitales féminines (MGF) sont intervenus « pour solliciter plus de compréhension de la part du tribunal et sa clémence ».
Aussi, les réponses particulières des communautés villageoises renvoient-elles, aux spécificités sociologiques de ces milieux faits de solidarité et de capacité de dissimulation. D’où l’absence de dénonciation. Jeunes et femmes se sont contentés de dire, après un temps perceptible d’hésitation et d’intense réflexion, qu’ayant abandonné l’excision, ils n’ont connaissance d’aucune personne ayant pratiqué l’excision dans leurs villages, selon le rapport. Caractérisant un tel unanimisme, le même rapport  parle  de « complicité communautaire », et d’une « omerta communautaire ». Alors que la pratique continue,  les populations savent, mais refusent de dénoncer. Ces réponses montrent à quel point il peut être difficile de se faire une idée précise du nombre de filles excisées et de déterminer la prévalence de l’excision dans les communautés, dit le rapport.  Qui précise qu’au Sénégal, 25% des filles et de femmes sont actuellement touchées. Environ 13% des filles de moins de 14 ans restent excisées, chaque année, en moyenne autour de l’âge de 6-7 ans.
À signaler que la consultation régionale réunit, entre autres participants, des ministres et représentants gouvernementaux, des parlementaires et des activistes du Sénégal et de 14 pays ainsi que des représentants des agences des Nations-Unies et d’autres organisations internationales et des représentations diplomatiques.

Seuls huit jugements en 17 ans pour pratique de l'excision au Sénégal
APA / Star Africa, 26 Apr 2016

Malgré l’existence d’une loi interdisant l’excision depuis 1999 au Sénégal, seuls huit cas ont été jugés en 17 ans pour sévir contre cette pratique, a appris APA mardi à Dakar, de sources officielles.
« Au Sénégal, la loi contre l’excision peine à s’appliquer et on ne compte que 8 cas jugés pour pratique de l’excision sur une période de 17 ans», relève un document remis à la presse par le ministère sénégalais de la Femme, de la Famille et de l’Enfance et l’ONG No Peace Without Justice en marge d’une consultation ministérielle sous-régionale sur la mise en œuvre de la Résolution 69/150 de l’Organisation des Nations Unies interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines.
Ils organisent cette rencontre en partenariat avec le Comité inter-africain sur les pratiques traditionnelles ayant pour effet sur la santé des femmes et des enfants (CIAF). Selon ses organisateurs, la conférence vise à encourager la mise en œuvre de la Résolution 69/150 de l’ONU interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines dans le monde. La Résolution 69/150 de l’ONU interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines dans le monde adoptée grâce aux efforts et à la volonté des Etats africains, est devenue un point de référence crucial de la lutte globale contre cette violation des droits humains et pour assurer la protection des victimes et la poursuite des responsables.
Au Sénégal, 25% des filles et des femmes sont actuellement touchées et environ 13% des filles de moins de 14 ans restent excisées chaque année, en moyenne autour de l’âge de 6-7 ans.
« La lutte contre les mutilations génitales demeure une priorité absolue pour le Sénégal. Nous devons redoubler d’efforts à la fois en tant que pays individuel et conjointement avec d’autres pays de la sous-région afin de mettre fin à cette pratique», a indiqué Mariama Sarr, ministre de la Femme. Toutefois, elle a souligné qu’une victoire a été enregistrée dans le combat contre les mutilations génitales, surtout que l’éradication se heurte à de fortes résistances socio-culturelles. «Aujourd’hui, l’éducation aux droits humains et la communication ainsi que l’implication des leaders d’opinion, entre autres, ont permis d’engranger d’importants résultats», a dit Mme Sarr.

Conférence de Presse (extrait) sur la Conférence Ministérielle sous-régionale de Dakar
Senego TV, 26 Apr 2016

 
 
 
Intervenants: Mariama Sarr (Ministre de la Femme, de la Famille et de l’Enfance du Sénégal), Niccolò Figà Talamanca (Secrétaire Général de NPWJ), Mariam Lamizana (CI-AF), Khady Koita (La Palabre).

Ouverture à Dakar d’une conférence sous-régionale contre les mutilations génitales
APA / Star Africa, 26 Apr 2016

Une conférence sous-régionale sur la mise en œuvre de la Résolution 69/150 de l’Organisation des Nations Unies interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines s’est ouverte mardi à Dakar pour s’achever mercredi, a constaté APA.
Cette rencontre est organisée par le ministère sénégalais de la Femme, de la Famille et de l’Enfance et No Peace Without Justice, en partenariat avec le Comité inter-africain sur les pratiques traditionnelles ayant pour effet sur la santé des femmes et des enfants (Ciaf).
Selon ses organisateurs, la conférence vise à encourager la mise en œuvre de la Résolution 69/150 de l’ONU interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines dans le monde.
La Résolution 69/150 de l’ONU interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines dans le monde adoptée grâce aux efforts et à la volonté des Etats africains, est devenue un point de référence crucial de la lutte contre globale contre cette violation des droits humains et pour assurer la protection des victimes et la poursuite des responsables.
La consultation régionale réunit, entre autres participants, des ministres et représentants gouvernementaux, des parlementaires et des activistes du Sénégal et de 14 pays ainsi que des représentants des agences des Nations Unies et d’autres organisations internationales et des représentations diplomatiques.

Des ministres de la sous-région en consultation sur l’interdiction des Mutilations génitales féminines, Pana - 24 avril 2016
PANA, 24 Apr 2016

Dakar, Sénégal (PANA) – Les ministres de la Femme, de la Santé et de la Justice des Etats membres de la Communauté économique des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO) et de la Mauritanie prennent part ce lundi à Dakar (Sénégal), à la Consultation sous-régionale sur l’application de la Résolution onusienne 69/150 interdisant les Mutilations génitales féminines (MGF).
Cette rencontre, qui vise à renforcer en particulier le cadre politique, législatif et juridique interdisant la pratique, se veut un moment-clé de la Campagne « BanFGM : Pour l’Elimination des Mutilations génitales féminines » dont le lancement effectif avait été effectué à Dakar en avril 2010.
Cette campagne financée par le ministère italien des Affaires étrangères et du Développement international, est menée par un groupe d’organisations de la société civile, composé de No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), du Comité inter-africain sur les pratiques traditionnelles ayant effet sur la santé des femmes et des enfants (CI-AF) et des organisations nationales partenaires.
Aussi, la Consultation sous-régionale entend-elle harmoniser les législations nationales avec les conventions et traités internationaux ratifiés par la plupart des Etats de l’Afrique subsaharienne et renforcer l’engagement des acteurs impliqués à la mise en œuvre des dispositions de la Résolution 69/150.
Il faut rappeler qu’en 2012, l’assemblée générale des Nations unies avait adopté par consensus, la Résolution 67/146, qui sera renouvelée en 2014 et remplacée par la Résolution 69/150, interdisant les MGF de façon universelle.
« Aujourd’hui, un cadre législatif clair et efficient interdisant les MGF est désormais considéré comme un pilier incontournable dans la lutte contre cette violation des droits humains », affirme le ministère sénégalais de la Femme, de la Famille et de l’Enfance, dans un communiqué qui met en exergue le « leadership très fort » du Sénégal dans le mouvement de promotion de l’abandon des pratiques néfastes.
Le communiqué de presse rapporte, à cet effet, « une réelle volonté politique marquée par un engagement au plus haut niveau de l’Etat sénégalais depuis les années 70 », précisant que l’année 1997 avait marqué un tournant décisif avec la prise de position publique du président d’alors, Abdou Diouf, condamnant la pratique des MGF, à l’occasion du congrès mondial des droits de l’homme, tenu à Dakar.
L’Assemblée nationale avait ensuite voté la loi 99-05 interdisant la pratique des MGF le 13 janvier 1999, sous l’impulsion du collectif des femmes parlementaires et des organisations de femmes.
Ces efforts en faveur de l’abandon des pratiques néfastes avaient conduit à l’élaboration de deux plans d’actions quinquennaux (2000-2005 et 2010-2015), « dont les exécutions ont permis d’enregistrer des progrès considérables », indique le communiqué qui invite tous les pays du monde entier à adopter des stratégies permettant de « pérenniser les acquis et de relever les défis pour le bonheur des femmes et des jeunes filles ».

Outrage at UN court's 'rewriting' of Balkans wars
Jo Biddle, AFP, 01 Apr 2016

Legal experts and historians have reacted with outrage to the controversial war crimes acquittal of firebrand Serb Vojislav Seselj, saying it overturns international law and rewrites the history of the Balkans conflict.
"The decision of the majority (judges) is divorced from the reality of what was happening in Croatia and Bosnia," former top US diplomat on war crimes issues, Stephen Rapp, told AFP. No stranger to complex cases, having led the prosecution of ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor, Rapp said he was very "disappointed" that Seselj was on Thursday found not guilty of nine charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The majority ruling by a three-judge panel at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) departed "from established law and accepted practises of fact-finding," said Rapp, now an expert with the Hague Global Institute for Justice, a think tank.
Seselj, once a firebrand paramilitary leader, had been charged with murder, persecution and torture of non-Serb civilians by being allegedly a member of a "joint criminal enterprise" along with the late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. But in essence, the judges found that Seselj was a politician who ardently supported his vision of a Greater Serbia, but was not a criminal.
The judges also tossed aside decades of international law by saying "the crimes happened in an atmosphere of war, and this justifies them," Balkans expert Eric Gordy told AFP. "This is simply in conflict with the law," added Gordy, a senior lecturer on Southeast European politics at University College London. Chief ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz is already studying the judgement to see if there are grounds for appeal, and said many of the judges' arguments were "absolutely not in line with the factual reality."
- 'No reasoning' -
Dissenting judge Flavia Lattanzi, in an unusually strong opinion, said her two colleagues had used "insufficient reasoning, or no reasoning at all" to support their acquittal of Seselj, "in contravention" of the court's rules. Read by French judge Jean-Claude Antonetti, the judgement acquitted Seselj of any wrongdoing during the period of the indictment between August 1991 and September 1993.
"The prosecution failed to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that there was a widespread and systematic attack against the non-Serb civilian population in large areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina," Antonetti said. He specifically mentioned Vukovar, a Croatian town razed by Serb forces in November 1991, and Zvornik where some 40,000 non-Serb Bosnians were expelled by paramilitary groups in 1992. The judges could not rule out that the buses used to transport non-Serbs away from Serb-claimed territories "were in fact provided on humanitarian grounds," Antonetti said.
As for Seselj's inflammatory speeches such as urging Serb forces attacking Vukovar "to spare no one," he was "participating in the war effort by galvanising the Serb forces," the judges concluded.
The historical facts outlined by the judges "conflict with what the tribunal has found and what researchers and others know about what happened," said Gordy, the Balkans expert. He highlighted in particular the finding that there was no sustained attack on civilians in the Croatian town of Vukovar. "This is an impossible claim," said Gordy.
- 'Revisionism' -
Vukovar suffered a three-month long siege before being captured by Serb forces in November 1991. The hospital was heavily shelled throughout the siege, but stayed open, coping with desperate conditions including a lack of medicines, electricity, food and water. In late November 1991, Serb soldiers bused some 400 wounded Croats and other non-Serbs from the hospital to nearby Ovcara. Some 260 of them were taken to a secluded pig farm, where they were beaten, killed and buried in mass graves. Seselj was acquitted of murder as a war crime for the massacre committed by volunteers known as "Seselj's men" as the judges found he had no "hierarchical" responsibility for his militiamen.
"This kind of historical revision is quite simply unacceptable," said Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, head of the No Peace Without Justice non-governmental organisation. The judges had said "their role is not to establish the entire truth about the events that occurred; this may be true, but their role is equally not to deny the truth."
Noted author and Balkans expert, Jelena Subotic, writing for the EU-backed Balkans Transitional Justice initiative, denounced Thursday's verdict as "an embarrassment." "The Seselj verdict so fundamentally changes the interpretation of the character of the Yugoslav wars that it flips the main causal chain of events completely backwards," she said. 

"Restoring faith in U.N.’s role"
By Jamal Mamo, Orient Net, 24 Feb 2016

U.N‘s role in resolving conflicts in the world has been jeopardized throughout the long five years of the Syrian crisis. Syrians have already lost their faith in the international community and its ability to stand firmly next to their just cause. However, there are still many Syrian activists and former international officials who are willing to give new hopes for Syrians who are eagerly fighting to make their voice heard.
In this context NPWJ Syria Program Coordinator Rami Nakhla held a panel discussion on February 22 to address the best course of practical action that needs to be taken by Syrian Civil Society Organizations and the International Community to restore the faith of Syrians in International Justice Mechanisms. The panel discussion takes place as a side event during the ongoing workshop “Promoting Accountability through UN Mechanisms with a focus on Women and Children” organized by NPWJ. The Panelists who participated in the panel discussion are: Flavia Pansieri: Former United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights; Jeremy Sarkin: Professor of Law at the University of South Africa (UNISA); Mustafa Haid: Syrian Activist and Dawlaty Chairperson.
One of the major drivers perpetuating the conflict in Syria is the sense of impunity for those committing crimes and human right violations, due in part to the paralysis of international justice mechanisms in holding perpetrators accountable. In turn, this fuels the feeling of a sense of abandonment by the Syrian people and promotes the idea that ‘Victors Justice’ is currently the only real option for Syria – repeating the cycle of revenge and violence. This has made reaching a political solution through negotiation next to impossible. In order to restore Syrians’ faith in international mechanisms to facilitate a political solution, we need first to restore their trust in the capabilities of international mechanism to facilitate justice for them.
The Former deputy high commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations Flavia Pansieri said that the U.N as much as it is secretariat alone can’t find a political solution unless Security Council members cooperate for this goal. This is essential to deal with the current crisis. But concurrently while working for that solution there are many measures the U.N can and is already taking to address the problem in Syria. First, in terms of saving lives through humanitarian response. Second, through providing along with other partners capacity building to ensure that the ground is laid for whenever the current political crisis will be resolved to rebuild the institutions of the state on the basis of transparent, accountable and democratic principles. Third, documenting the grave violations of human rights that are going on to make sure that when the moment comes and it will come there will be accountability for what perpetrators have committed in terms of human rights violations. Professor Jeremy Sarkin said that U.N played an important role in implementing transitional justice in countries which have had wide-scale human violations. Despite being delayed due to political conflicts between U.N members, countries such as Angola, Liberia, Rwanda and Bosnia have managed to bring war criminals to justice.  Professor Sarkin advised Syrian activists not to lose hope and to keep documenting everything because documentation is their weapon to prove their just cause. Mustafa Haid commented on the main issue of the panel saying: “Syrian citizens are feeling let down and abandoned by the whole world. They are certainly feeling alone while facing the regime’s brutality.” Haid added that in order for Syrians to restore their faith in the U.N’s role and its mechanisms of implementing justice many tangible steps should be taken in this concern.
Syrians haven’t been going through hell by a brutal regime that has no equal in human history. They thought that the international community represented by the U.N. would definitely be on their just side.Their hopes and expectations weren’t met to the dismay of the international organization. However, they still count on the conscience of humanity to realize one day that they have a just cause and case. 

Emma Bonino: «Le torture di Assad che Roma non vuole vedere»
di Lorenzo Cremonesi, nostro inviato a Gaziantep, Corriere della Sera, 11 Feb 2016

L’esponente radicale al confine turco-siriano: perché Camera e Senato non espongono quelle foto? Sono 53mila immagini che documentano gli orrori del regime di Damasco.
GAZIANTEP (Turchia) Quando hai il corpo impegnato nella lotta contro il tumore, come è il caso di Emma Bonino per sua stessa ammissione, dopo mesi e mesi di chemio nell’altalenarsi di crisi e speranze, ogni viaggio, ogni incontro, ogni discorso, diventano estremamente affaticanti. Il fisico si rifiuta, ci sono vertigini, un grande sonno, l’affievolirsi dei sensi. Anche soltanto leggere un breve documento può trasformarsi in una missione impossibile. Eppure, ieri mattina Emma appariva più combattiva che mai nel cercare di capire la situazione dei disperati che fuggono verso la Turchia dai bombardamenti in Siria. Capire e denunciare. «Possibile che noi europei si faccia così poco? Qui si sta consumando una tragedia terrificante», ci ha detto con la parlantina di sempre nella lobby del suo hotel con la valigia in mano. Un foulard discretamente avvolto sul capo a nascondere gli effetti collaterali delle cure. Gli occhi luccicanti di passione, dietro le lenti spesse. Più spesse di pochi mesi fa? O è forse un’impressione?
Posizione incomprensibile
Emma Bonino non le manda a dire. Hanno fatto molto rumore, dalla Turchia, le parole pronunciate in veste di membro della delegazione dell’European Council e di attivista-fondatrice dell’organizzazione non governativa «Non c’è Pace Senza Giustizia». «Da mesi vorremmo portare anche a Roma la ben nota sequenza di foto della cosiddetta Esposizione Caesar, che testimonia le terribili torture commesse in modo sistematico dal regime di Bashar Assad contro i detenuti in carcere. Ma sia il Senato che la Camera l’hanno rifiutata, vuoi per motivi di opportunità politica, vuoi perché considerate troppo crude», spiega. Emma ha uno scatto. «Mi sembra una posizione incomprensibile. E’ dal 2013 che quelle oltre 53.000 immagini che documentano le sofferenze di quasi 7.000 prigionieri fanno il giro del mondo. Sono state nei corridoi delle Nazioni Unite, nelle maggiori università americane e inglesi, al parlamento di Londra, a Bruxelles. Come è concepibile che invece noi italiani le si abbia rifiutate? Per Laura Boldrini non possono essere esposte alla Camera, offendono le nostre sensibilità. Ma sono vere, sono lo specchio di eventi reali. Se andiamo avanti a edulcorare i fatti in questo modo finiremo per creare nuove generazioni incapaci di confrontarsi con la durezza dell’universo che ci circonda».
Scuole e ospedali nel mirino
Il tema è indubbiamente all’ordine del giorno. «Gli osservatori che lavorano in Siria, e riportano anche alla nostra organizzazione, raccontano degli effetti terrificanti dei bombardamenti russi sulla popolazione civile. Ci sono voci di massacri da parte delle truppe lealiste e delle milizie sciite>, continua l’esponente radicale. Le fanno eco i rappresentanti della sua organizzazione qui a Gaziantep. «Abbiamo testimonianze di scuole, cliniche e ospedali colpiti in modo ripetuto a nord di Aleppo. Nella cittadina di Azaz in meno di 24 ore sono stati presi di mira almeno cinque ospedali. I profughi scappano nel timore di massacri da parte dei fedelissimi di Bashar.
Un fenomeno nuovo vede molti civili delle zone sunnite dove prima operavano le milizie ribelli che, di fronte alla chiusura dei confini turchi, scelgono di scappare nelle zone controllate da Isis, piuttosto che subire le vendette delle squadracce legate al regime di Damasco», sostiene Rami Nakhla, esponente locale di «Non c’è Pace Senza Giustizia». Incontrando ad Ankara il premier Ahmet Davutoglu, la delegazione europea si è sentita ripetere le ragioni del permanere della chiusura della frontiera, che comunque per le autorità turche resta «formalmente aperta». Dal confine con la Siria non lontano da Gaziantep gli aiuti umanitari affluiscono al campo di tende approntato a pochi metri dal filo spinato, in territorio siriano. E i casi di feriti più gravi hanno accesso agli ospedali turchi. Ma resta il timore che l’esodo sia solo agli inizi.

Emma Bonino in collegamento con Ballarò dalla città turca Gaziantep vicina al confine con la Siria
RAI 3, 09 Feb 2016

"Sei paesi che di fronte a questa situazione chiudono le frontiere è un'immagine dell'Europa che francamente non avremmo mai voluto vedere". Così Emma Bonino ospite di Ballarò in collegamento da Gaziantep al confine tra Turchia e Siria. Solo a gennaio 369 migranti morti nel Mediterraneo. In 5 mesi 330 bambini annegati nel braccio di mare tra Turchia e Grecia.
"In Siria c'è una guerra. Continueranno a scappare finché non ci sarà una soluzione a casa loro. Dalle bombe si scappa, come è umano.
E noi che facciamo, li vogliamo affogare nel Mediterraneo? Francamente non mi pareva che fosse per questo che ci eravamo messi insieme come europei".
Nel corso della trasmissione ha parlato anche delle attività promosse da Non c'è Pace Senza Giustizia dall'inizio conflitto con lo scopo di sostenere le organizzazioni della società civile e gli attivisti democratici siriani nella loro capacità di azione e di difesa per la giustizia di transizione, la lotta contro l'impunità per le violazioni massiccie dei diritti umani commesse e l'avvio di un processo di transizione verso la democrazia e lo stato di diritto nel paese. A partire dall’ottobre del 2013, ha svolto questo lavoro dal suo ufficio di Gaziantep, Turchia.

Así luchan las mujeres sirias por la paz dentro de la guerra
Mario Cuesta, El Diario, 28 Jan 2016

Entrevista a Oula Ramadan, fundadora de la ONG que ha publicado un informe exhaustivo sobre el trabajo por la paz de las mujeres activistas dentro de Siria
El acuerdo firmado por distintos grupos de la oposición siria en Arabia Saudí y el comienzo de un nuevo proceso de paz, sigue sin despejar la duda sobre el futuro de las mujeres en el país. La realidad es que, desterradas de los órganos de poder, algunas activistas llevan trabajando por la paz dentro de Siria, con grave riesgo para sus vidas, desde el comienzo de la guerra. Recientemente la organización Badael, en colaboración con la Fundación Kvinna till Kvinna, ha publicado el primer informe exhaustivo sobre esta materia. Oula Ramadan (1983) es la fundadora de Badael, y un perfecto ejemplo de este compromiso. 
Activista por los derechos humanos -lo que le ha acarreado graves problemas con la policía-, ha trabajado para UNCHR y participado en varias organizaciones clandestinas, como el Foro por un Diálogo Democrático Nacional , y el Centro de Estudios por los Derechos Humanos de Damasco.
Desde la revolución de 2011 trabaja por la transición política, siendo un miembro destacado de la Iniciativa de Mujeres Sirias para la Paz y la Democracia . En 2014 recibió el premio a los Derechos Humanos de la organización 'No Peace without Justice', que preside la excomisaria europea Emma Bonino.

Circoncisione femminile: il 6 febbraio la Giornata per dire "basta"
Giulia Vola, Magazine delle Donne, 24 Jan 2016

La circoncisione femminile è solo la più praticata delle quattro voci dell’orrore; escissione del clitoride, infibulazione o circoncisione faraonica e mutilazioni genitali sono le altre tre. La classifica è dell’Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità, che ha fatto i calcoli: 130 milioni di donne sono già state mutilate, 3 milioni di bambine, ogni anno, sono a rischio. Ovunque nel mondo, perfino in Italia. Perché i rapporti raccontano un’abitudine dura a morire, subita dalle figlie, inflitta anzitutto dalle madri, fedeli alla cultura ereditata, convinte di fare la cosa giusta. E invece. Invece di circoncisione femminile si può anche morire, basta un’infezione o un’emorragia. E quando si sopravvive la quotidianità è tempestata di cisti, i rapporti sessuali sono difficili e dolorosi. I parti non ne parliamo: capita che il bambino muoia, stremato dai tentativi di venire al mondo attraverso una via d'uscita troppo stretta.
(...)
Circoncisione femminile: la battaglia legale
Una battaglia che l’Italia dovrebbe combattere in prima linea dal momento che i dati (aggiornati al 2009) stimano in 35mila le vittime di circoncisione femminile, numeri che assegnano alla Penisola il quarto posto - dopo Gran Bretagna (170mila donne), Francia (53mila) e Svezia (42mila) - nella classifica europea in questione. Eppure molto è stato fatto e qualcosa è cambiato anche se del tanto clamore che fece Non C'è Pace Senza Giustizia, la campagna che Emma Bonino iniziò negli anni Novanta organizzando eventi, convegni e conferenze sul tema, è rimasto un’eco lontana. 
La legge 7 del 2006 prevede da 3 a 16 anni per chi pratica la circoncisione femminile ma le denunce si contano sulle dita di una mano e dei 5 milioni l’anno che proponeva di stanziare per indagini, campagne e corsi di formazione per docenti e mediatori si sono visti solo spiccioli; nel 2010 le firme raccolte in tutto il mondo dal movimento Non C'è Pace Senza Giustizia sono sbarcate all'Assemblea generale delle Nazioni Unite e il 20 dicembre 2012 è stata approvata la risoluzione sulla messa al bando universale delle mutilazioni genitali femminili. Il 5 febbraio 2013, Plan Italia e Nosotras hanno lanciato la petizione Stop alle Mutilazioni Genitali chiedendo ai governi di impegnarsi concretamente: il 1º giugno 2015 l’ha fatto, per primo, l’allora presidente nigeriano Goodluck Jonathan istituendo il reato di mutilazione genitale femminile. Massimo della pena 4 anni di carcere e una multa pari a 900 Euro. Il 6 febbraio è la Giornata Mondiale contro l'infibulazione e le mutilazioni genitali femminili, il dipartimento per le Pari opportunità ha assicurato che pubblicherà le iniziative finanziate finora. 

South Africa needs more time on al-Bashir-ICC matter
By SABC, 14 Jan 2016

The South African government has made a submission for an extension to explain to the International Criminal Court (ICC) why it did not transfer Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to The Hague when he attended the European Union (EU) summit in Johannesburg in June 2015. The ICC has released the document submitted by the South African government, which is calling for a three months extension to explain why ICC indicted Omar Al-Bashir wasn't transferred to The Hague. The report dated 21 December 2015, but only being released publicly now says that this issue is not urgent and that rushing to provide the requested explanation could mean relevant facts are not obtained. No Peace Without Justice Spokesperson, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, says: "In practical terms there is absolutely no urgency. Al Bashir is not in South Africa so there is no issue that needs to be resolved immediately however the political fall back of a continuing and prolonged back and forth in front of the court does not look good for the court, does not look good for South Africa." ICC judges will now decide whether to grant South Africa a 3 month extension.