Femisphera - stejné ženy, jiný svět...

Saúdi Arabia, 31. 7. 2008

Silvie Burjanková

Do you plan to meet or flirt with a woman, while walking your dog in the park of Rijad? Forget it! Instead of pleasant meeting, you might end up behind the bars. Local religious police attempts to keep men and women apart as far as possible. Single men used to pick up with women while walking their pets.

November 2008, The city of Goma

Lenka Klicperová

Jeep tries to go as fast as possible on the poor road through afternoon´s Goma. Devilled city runs behind the closed window. They allowed me only a small chink for some photographic experiment. People could allegedly throw the stones at us. Who? Locals. They do not like Whites, they do not like MONUC and neither do they like the UN armed forces, which operate here quite unsuccessfully. It was not easy to convince someone to take us to refugee camps, which are located north of Goma. One can still feel sensible intensity in the city, general Laurent Nkunda is not far. The situation can change every day. As soon as it gets dark, the looting and murdering take place in Goma. The real hell on the Earth.

Bahrain, 25.7. 2008

Silvie Burjanková

Saying or writing a sentence "I am repudiating you" for three times, enables Muslim men valid divorce with their wives. Women certainly protest against it and attempt for better rights. Press agency DPA informed referring to Gulf Daily News, published in Bahrainean capital Manáma. Divorces through sms messages became very popular predominantly in the countries near-by the Persian Gulf. However some cases already reach its extremes. Human rights defenders started to look for a way, how to fight against such policies. Despite the fact that Muslim men can divorce through the above mentioned sentence, women, in case of the same decision, need a courts verdict. Nonetheless, they can wait for it even for several years.

November 2008, City of Goma

Lenka Klicperová

"I was married at that time, I had two children. Mayor 106 (that is, how one of the leaders of armed forces of Mai Mai calls himself) sent his men to the province to catch some beautiful women. I was not lucky, they liked me. They deported me to the bush and started to torture me. Then I became a personal sexual slave of mayor 106." says 30-year old Faraja Lembalemba. They had been raping and torturing her every day for three months. When she managed to escape, she returned to the village to look for her husband. He was dead. Meanwhile Faraja delivered another child and went to search for a protection to her husband´s family. They expelled her as well as her own family. The reason? She was raped, so what should they do with her...

Abuja, 17.8. 2008

Silvie Burjanková

"Do not take me as an example" advises 84 year old to Nigerian Muhammad Ballu Abubakar to other men. Former teacher and Muslim preacher has to 86 official wives and is a father of more than 170 children, BBC informed. The man claims, that women searched for him due to his medicinal abilities. Abubakar perceived marriage with them as a sign from God. However the abnormal amount of his wedding ceremonies irritates Islamic authorities in Nigeria. They compare his family to a sect.

November 2008, DRC

Lenka Klicperová, published in daily newspapers E 15

It could have been one of the richest countries in the world. It could have been a country, where everyone would live in plenitude and comfort. It could have, but it couldn´t lie in Africa. We are talking about Democratic republic of Congo, where its huge natural resources have caused only violence and misery so far. The richest country in the world, which is the real gate to hell...

Iraq 25.8. 2008

Silvie Burjanková

A 13-year-old Iraqi girl wearing a vest packed with explosives turned herself in rather than go through with a suicide bombing in a violence-torn city north of Baghdad, the U.S. military informed. Girl surrendered to police on Sunday in Baquba. She was still wearing the vest, which police had to remove before detaining her. It has still not been clear, whether she was forced to put on the vest or if she did it voluntarily. The amount of women commiting suicide bomb attacks in Iraq has been lately increasing. Female suicide bombers attacked Shi'ite pilgrims during two annual rites in July, killing dozens of people. Al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants favour female bombers because they can escape detection by police reluctant to search women.

An article from magazine Lide a Zeme.

Photos are available on 

http://www.lideazeme.cz/clanek/jak-se-valci-v-kongu

Saudi Arabia, 25.8. 2008

Silvie Burjanková

A mother asked the court in Saudi Arabia to divorce her 8-year old daughter. Her husband wedded her without wife´s knowledge to a 50-year old man. The case will be solved at the court in province of Kasim, where the wedding contract had been signed. 8-year old wife has not known about her marriage so far.

November 2008, DRC

Lenka Klicperová, published in daily newspapers E 15

To understand all the armed forces, which operate in the eastern part of Democratic republic of Congo, is not that easy. Everyone, who has a weapon and at least a bit of authority, can basically create his own armed force. However the main fighting groups include:

FDLR (Democratic front for freedom of Rwanda) - Hutu´s militia. They originally came from Rwanda after the genocide in 1994 and are currently operating mainly in the forests predominantly in the province of South Kivu. Their headquarters is located in Ekingi, which is a forest near from the village of Hombo. The Hutu´s do not have any strog personality in the leading position at the moment, they loot and murder without certain coordination. They try to take control over the greatest possible amount of mineral resources and contribute this way to the precipitation of the Tutsi´s government in Rwanda. In many places, there even exist certain agreements of peace and non attacking - local people for example allow Hutu´s the access to the markets in exchange for the security on the roads, which the Hutus will not attack.

Somalia, 25.8. 2008

Silvie Burjanková

After two days the somalian authorities finally managed to indentify the two missing journalists in their country. It is an Australian reporter Nigel Brenan with his Canadian colleague Amanda Lindhaut. Somalia's National Union of Journalists said they had been abducted along with a Somali reporter and their driver.

November 2008, Kando village

Written by Lenka Klicperová

Siska Kusimua is a 25-year old educated and beautiful Congolese. Currently she lives in the village of Kando, in the middle of forest in the region of Bunyakiri. She is a small, charming and very sweet woman. She carries her last child sitting in the scerf on her back - his father is one of those, who raped her. Siska told us her story full of terror and misery...

November 2008, Kando village

Written by Lenka Klicperová

"I am currently attending my first year of high school and I enjoy school very much. I am happy, that I can go to school. It is thanks to Clotilde, who had taken care of me. I have been by her already for few years. I come from Ikinga, a village, where the head office of Hutus is. Firstly I got to Mai Mai militia, they were running away from the village, when the Hutus occupied it and took me with them. I was preparing colors for their tattoos and various potions for higher energy and against vulnerability.

Islamabad, 3.9. 2008

Silvie Burjanková

Wounding and subsequent burial of women is a rightful act. That is, what was claimed by Israr Ullah Zehrí. The reason for such a cruel punishment was a disobedience of women, who decided to choose a husband by themselves. Human Rights Watch Organization informed, that women were still breathing, when they were squandering mold and stones on their bodies.

Article by Lenka Klicperová for Lidé a Země magazine.

Photos http://www.lideazeme.cz/clanek/obrezane

4.9. 2008, Nigeria

Silvie Burjanková

People living with HIV virus are still more often getting married predominantly in northern Nigeria. Local Authorities support such decisions very much and some couples even force to get married. Main aim is reducing spread of the illness in the region. International experts, studying the virus for many years, are strictly against such marriages and do not agree with the officials.

Port-au-Prince, 23. ledna 2010

Do Port-au-Prince přijíždím 23. ledna. Hlavní město i nadále připomíná děsivou noční můru. Záchranné práce oficiálně dávno skončily, přesto ještě občas náhoda dá někomu přežít.

More women, than men will rule in Rwandan parliament, as the preliminary election results show. Women have taken 44 out of 80 seats. Local post-genocide constitution ensures a 30% quota for female MPs, however current results broke the record. It is the second parliamentary elections since the genocide of 1994 when some 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered by Hutu militias in just 100 days.

27.10. 2008, Somalia

Silvie Burjanková

A woman in Somalia has been stoned to death after an Islamic Sharia law court found her guilty of adultery. The woman was buried up to her neck and then she was dying under the fire of stones in front of a large crowd in Kismayo. It was the first such execution in the southern port city since Islamist insurgents violently took control over the city in August. A local Islamist leader Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow said that he repeatedly asked the woman to review her confession, but she stressed she wanted to be punished according to Sharia law and deserved such punishment.

Kabul, 15. 4. 2009

Silvie Burjanková

Three hundred Afghan women protested in front of Shia mosque against a new law, which imposes them to be open to sexual intercourse to their husbands at least every fourth day. Women demonstrated on Wednesday in the Afghan capital Kabul. The human rights organizations called the new law a legalizing of rape in marriage. British newspaper The Guardian informed about the loud protests.

Uganda 11.12. 2009

Silvie Burjanková

Ugandan officials passed a law prohibiting female circumcision. Those, who break the law, will face up to ten year imprisonment. However they can also be convicted to death penalty, if the victim dies during the operation.