Carnival of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Carnival by submitting posts as well as those who linked and promoted the carnival on their blogs. Thinking about how to group the Carnival posts I finally decided on two groupings, those that speak specifically to the Global South and those which speak to a more universal GBV.

One of the first bloggers I linked to over three years ago is Bengladeshi blogger, Rezwan. Rezwan has written a report on how Bangladeshi bloggers are responding to the issue of domestic violence and influencing the local mainstream media to take gender based violence on board.

And it worked like a wonder, as articles have started to appear in the local media. This has prompted local journalists like Foisal Noi [bn] to go to Rahela's village and dig up more information on the case. A significant TV broadcast about Rahela's case is planned for October 29. Whether Rahela will get justice, only time will tell. But that single post by Manobi led to a level of activity in the society that was certainly unprecedented.

Alex Engwete's post on Sexual Terrorism is located in the DRC. In the midst of continued psychological and physical destruction and extinction of Congolese women? he asks why is it that African and Congolese social scientists have failed to develop a theoretical tool able to map out, trace, and explain the horrific phenomenon? As a result there are inadequate statistics which would determine the true extent of the violence against Congolese women.

Perceived as a particularly effective weapon of war and used to subdue, punish, or take revenge upon entire communities, acts of sexual and gender-based violence increased concomitantly. Attacks have comprised individual rapes, sexual abuse, gang rapes, mutilation of genitalia, and rape-shooting or rape-stabbing combinations, at times undertaken after family members have been tied up and forced to watch. The perpetrators have come from among virtually all of the armies, militias and gangs implicated in the conflicts, including local bands that attacked their own communities and local police forces.

Read the rest here