Human Rights in the UAE

I'm having a hard time conciliating these two seemingly very far apart stories coming out of Dubai.

Great job for the woman trying to tackle the issue of pedophilia in her country. Please keep at it.
Here's the story.

Yet, this is the same country that accused a woman of having extra-marital sex and jailed for it, when in fact she was raped, and had to drop charges as part of a plea bargain. Really shameful and disgusting.
Here's that story.

BG

HIV as a death sentence, literally.

Everybody knows that a diagnosis with HIV is not the death sentence it used to be years ago, due to many improvements in anti-retroviral drugs and the emergence of new therapies.

However, some politicians in Uganda are trying to change that, literally.

Lawmakers in Uganda are trying to pass a new anti-homosexuality bill that would make it even more difficult for someone to be gay in that country. Mind you, homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, but the new bill will introduce even tougher penalties for being gay/engaging in homosexual acts.

The bill has a lot of disturbing penalties and clauses in it. The most disturbing however is the clause in the bill that allows the state to execute anyone who tests positive for HIV. Yes, you read that right. People who test positive for the virus that causes AIDS can be put to death.

Other oddities of the bill include a measure that will allow prosecution of gays that have engaged in homosexual acts outside of Uganda but can still be put on trial for it in Uganda itself. Sounds more like a lynching campaign to me.

I will spare you the annoying details, however the bill is rife with various basic-human-rights-insulting-clauses. Feel free to browse it at this link. Just a quick review of the table of contents is sufficient enough to give any human being a severe headache.

BG

Score one for the ladies! #2

It is indeed a good week for women in the Middle East!
Now, mind you lot's of work still needs to be done but there has been a few stories that are encouraging.

The first one comes out of Syria where Bashar Al Assad has decreed that men convicted of honor killings should get harsher sentences. Get this though, he increased their sentence from a 1 year to a whopping 2 year imprisonment! Still a ludicrous sentence for murder, but better than nothing I guess!
LINK

The second one comes out of Egypt where the government has finally done something about the rampant sexual harassment woman experience on a daily basis. This apparently had been a recurring problem in Egypt where woman just don't feel safe on the streets. A sexual perpetrator had been charged with 45 years in prison. A tough and very much needed sentence.
LINK

Both these stories are welcome developments coming out of the Middle East where women still lag considerably behind men when it comes to their rights and social equalities.

BG

Sexual attitudes shifting??? I think not!

I'm sure some of you have already seen the following video (Youtube Link) which has been making rounds around the internet. The movie is talking about shifting sexual attitudes in Lebanon and they show a varying amount of "material" that points in the direction of how the Lebanese are becoming more and more supportive of differing sexual opinions.

I personally do not think we are making HUGE progress on the issue. Just because two lesbians meet at a bar in Gemayze, during ladies night mind you, does not mean the Lebanese are open and comfortable with homosexuality.

By browsing the Wikipedia page on LGBT issues in Lebanon, I was surprised and shocked to find out that lesbians are not penalized the same way as gays, because their offense does not include "penetration" ????!!!! Talk about inequality reversed. Although it is not entirely unheard of in Lebanon to be arrested as a lesbian, but you have to be caught in the act.

I don't see major shifts in sexual attitudes in the story of a man who got beaten the shit out of just for looking or acting different.

If we are so OK with it, then why does the mere mention of any homosexual issue send the government on a frenzy public media campaign denying and denying and denying.

And if we are so OK with it, then shouldn't we recognize the great work of HELEM on our own land rather than let others recognize their great work in a different country, heck even a different continent!

And since the government is so cool with this, then why did they arrest and put on trial a man who refused to give away the names of people involved in maintaining a gay website, and also put on trial another man who publicized the government's decision to prosecute the first man!

Now, I admit and agree that there is some progress and the homosexuals and their supporters are allowed to sometimes vent or protest, not without the watchful eye of the state mind you, (notice the number of police in that video).

Now, I understand that things take time, and progress as well as change are not always easy, but do not try to convince this homo that allowing 50-100 people to gather in Ashrafiyeh is a sign of shifting sexual attitudes.

BG