16 March 2012

Stories from 16 March 2012

Pakistan: Mir Zafar Ali was the first Pakistani to win an Oscar award

  16 March 2012

Pakistan Blogzine informs that contrary to popular belief Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is not the first Pakistani to win an Oscar. Award winning Pakistani visual effects specialist and artist Mir Zafar Ali was the Technical Director of the team that won the Oscar award for best visual effects in 2007, for the...

Morocco: A Protest to End Forced Marriage After Rape

Moroccans are taking a stand tomorrow (March 17) in protest against the plight of 16-year-old Amina Filali, who committed suicide after being forced to marry the man who raped her. Amina's marriage to her rapist was approved by a judge. Her suicide has raised a storm of reactions both on social networks and on the ground.

Egypt: The Plight of Rural Women

Egyptian blogger Ahmed Awadalla writes about rural women in Egypt in this eye-opening post. Such women, he says, suffer the “highest rates of illiteracy; bear the heavy burden of utmost poverty; lack essential healthcare greatly jeopardizing their lives; and is not represented in our new parliament.”

Brazil: Demonstration Demands President Veto on Forestry Code

  16 March 2012

On March 7, Brazilian activists organized an act (#vetadilma) urging President Dilma to veto changes on the new Forestry Code. Biologist Pablo Pessoa published photos and videos of the act, and wrote [pt] about his participation, claiming it was difficult to ensure “preservation or conservation of ecological processes without the recognition by...

Portugal: Visualising Economic and Social Indicators on the Crisis

  16 March 2012

Conhecer a Crise (Meet the Crisis) [pt] is the name of a recently launched website with info-graphics and visualisations on the main economic and social indicators that describe the current crisis in Portugal. The website has a customisable section [pt] – “The crisis as I see it” – where users...

Cameroon: UN Drinking Water Data under Question

  16 March 2012

Oriane Alix in Cameroon reacts to the joint press release from UNICEF and WHO that states that  89% of the world has access to drinking water today. She  writes [fr] the following on the collaborative blog of the West Africa WASH Journalists Network: “To announce having reached these United Nations Millennium Development...

Africa: A Dumping Ground for Energy-related Waste?

  16 March 2012

Dr Yves Ekoué Amaïzo, International Finance Consultant, wrote [fr] the following on the website Amaizo Info: “The year 2012 has been chosen as the International Year of Sustainable Energy. Nevertheless, many rich countries dump their nuclear, chemical and electronic waste in Africa in exchange for sums of money that are...

France: The Human Rights Film Festival Awards

  16 March 2012

Youphil [fr] published the full list of the recent 2012 Human Rights Film Festival awards in France [fr]. This year, the jury award went  to an investigation documentary, Affaire Chebeya: un meurtre d'Etat? [fr] (The Chebeya case: murdered by the State?) by Belgium director Thierry Michel on the murder of human rights activist Floribert...

Armenia: Parliamentary elections

  16 March 2012

Writing on Ararat Magazine, Global Voices’ Caucasus Regional Editor interviews analyst Richard Giragosian and examines the political situation in Armenia ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for 6 May 2012. Following the disputed 2008 presidential election which left 10 people dead, Giragosian argues that the authorities must learn to govern and...