Category Archives: Society

Senior Islamic cleric issues fatwa against child marriage

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Deputy grand imam of al-Azhar calls for marriage based on mutual consent with minimum age set at 18

One of the world’s most prestigious centres of Islamic learning has issued a fatwa against child marriage, saying marriage should be based on the consent of both parties and “particularly the young woman”.

The deputy grand imam of al-Azhar, considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority of Islamic jurisprudence, hammered out the document with his team and young activists at the first African summit on child marriage and female genital mutilation, which took place in Senegal this week.

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Catastrophic failure of the war on drugs | Letter

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This vast unethical trade is co-created by politicians, including President Duque of Colombia, who back a policy of global prohibition, writes Danny Kushlick

In time-honoured fashion we see the tired trope of cocaine users’ responsibility for violence in Colombia (Colombian president says middle-class cocaine users are hypocrites, 18 June). It is 10 years since the UK and Colombian governments launched their “Shared Responsibility” campaign to highlight links between users and the criminal trade. It was dropped because it was ineffective in reducing demand. This most recent call will have little or no effect on demand, but does serve politicians’ need to distract citizens from the catastrophic failure of the so-called “war on drugs”.

Anyone who buys illegal drugs does contribute to the criminal market. However, this vast unethical trade is co-created by politicians, including President Duque of Colombia, who back a policy of global prohibition. Duque’s predecessor, President Santos, said he would consider legalising cocaine in 2011, and is now a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which collectively supports the legal regulation of drug markets. Unless and until policymakers begin to seriously engage with the issue of who controls the international drug trade, we cannot make progress in reducing opportunities for organised crime and improving international development and security.
Danny Kushlick
Head of external affairs, Transform

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‘He never hit her in front of me again’ – Donna Ferrato’s domestic abuse photos

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As two exhibitions of the photojournalist’s work open in Madrid on her 70th birthday, Ferrato recalls some of the most powerful images in Holy – a retrospective spanning nearly 40 years

For nearly four decades, the photojournalist Donna Ferrato has documented the effects of domestic violence on abused women and their families. Her book and series Living with the Enemy is one of the most important works on the subject.

She launched a campaign in 2014 called I Am Unbeatable, which features women who have left their abusers.

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UK accused of profiteering on Syrians’ child citizenship fees

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Research shows government could make more than £5m by charging vulnerable children

The UK government could profit by more than £5m by charging children who have fled war-torn Syria to apply for British citizenship, according to research.

The revelation, based on the Home Office’s own data, has sparked accusations that the government is profiteering from vulnerable children and making a windfall profit by driving vulnerable families into debt.

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‘This is everyone’s problem’: protests fail to save Taipei veterans’ village

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Fewer than 30 of 879 villages built to house nationalist KMT soldiers and their families remain in Taiwan. After a lengthy battle, Daguan is to be demolished this week

At 22, Cynthia Tang was one-third the average age of the other people crowded into the abandoned Taipei storefront that served as the office of the Daguan Anti-Eviction Movement.

Looking fervently through the frames of her large round glasses, Tang, a student at the prestigious National Taiwan University, addressed the small crowd. “Two of our student activists have been arrested,” she said. “Now the government is suing them. This is not only their problem – this is everyone’s problem.”

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Survey shows crisis of confidence in vaccines in parts of Europe

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Just half of people in eastern Europe think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide

A global survey of attitudes towards science has revealed the scale of the crisis of confidence in vaccines in Europe, showing that only 59% of people in western Europe and 50% in the east think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide.

Around the globe, 84% of people acknowledge that vaccines are effective and 92% say their child has received a vaccine. But in spite of good healthcare and education systems, in parts of Europe there is low trust in vaccines. France has the highest levels of distrust, at 33%.

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Universal credit is failing military veterans, study finds

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Veterans with complex needs report overwhelmingly negative experiences of benefits system

Ex-service personnel with physical and mental health issues have described how they felt ignored and let down by their country after falling foul of a social security system that failed to offer adequate support when they fell on hard times.

Research has found that many armed forces veterans with complex needs report overwhelmingly negative experiences of universal credit, fit-for-work tests used to gauge eligibility for disability benefits, and benefit sanctions.

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Yemen’s Houthi rebels accused of diverting food aid from hungry

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Head of UN’s World Food Programme threatens suspension of food aid if safe delivery not assured

The head of the United Nations food agency has accused Yemen’s Houthi rebels of diverting food from the country’s hungriest people and threatened to suspend food aid.

David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said the agency had found “serious evidence” that food supplies had been diverted in the capital, Sana’a and other Houthi-controlled areas in the country, which is in the midst of a four-year civil war. He called on the Houthis to implement agreements that would allow the UN agency to operate independently.

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‘I’ll never have another child’: the mothers failed by Mexico’s hospitals

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In one of Mexico’s poorest states, women from minority backgrounds are increasingly at risk of abusive treatment during pregnancy and childbirth

Nancy Martínez was 17 when she went into labour. Though her age meant she was considered a high-risk pregnancy, she was left alone for several hours without monitoring or pain medication.

Nurses told Martínez to be quiet and put up with the pain, while doctors mocked her mother, Nancy Ceron Diaz, denying her information about her daughter’s condition.

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Hancock pledges hospital food overhaul after listeria deaths

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Factory production of sandwiches linked to five cases is halted as health secretary demands action

Health secretary Matt Hancock has ordered a “root and branch” review of NHS food after two more patient deaths were linked last week to a listeria outbreak. The new deaths bring the number of suspected fatalities to five and doctors have warned that further cases could occur.

Hancock said he was “incredibly concerned” after it emerged the patients were suspected of dying as a result of eating pre-packaged sandwiches and salads linked by the same supplier, The Good Food Chain.

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Germans thirsty for alcohol-free beer as brewers boost taste

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Rise in bars stocking 0% beers to meet demand of drinkers who wish to ditch the hangover

During last year’s sweltering summer in Europe, workers of the Störtebeker beer brewery stood at the doors of the bottle depot eagerly awaiting the empty returns so they could be washed and refilled as quickly as possible. A bottle shortage swept the country due to the rate at which beer was being consumed to quench the overheated nation’s thirst.

But it wasn’t the demand for their classic range of beers that surprised the brewery bosses most, rather the rate at which its alcohol-free varieties were being drunk.

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The Tokyo neighbourhood where people come to disappear

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For hundreds of years people have come to Sanya in search of labouring jobs, shelter and a sense of belonging – but the area is changing fast, and its residents are struggling to adapt

At first sight, Sanya looks much like any other Tokyo suburb: well-appointed homes, supermarkets and fast-food restaurants. In the distance, soaring above the rooftops and mesh of overhead power lines is the unmistakable shape of the Tokyo Skytree.

But its proximity to the ultra-modern landmark is deceptive. Older men in well-worn tracksuits, baseball caps and plastic slippers clutch cans of early-afternoon chu-hi alcopops, and dozens of no-frills hostels advertise rooms with easily the lowest rates in the city – clues to Sanya’s status as a Tokyo neighbourhood like no other, but one that is struggling to adapt to irresistible change.

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New York ends religious exemption to vaccine mandate for schoolchildren

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State lawmakers vote to repeal exemption amid country’s worst measles outbreak in decades

New York eliminated the religious exemption to vaccine requirements for schoolchildren Thursday, as the country’s worst measles outbreak in decades prompts states to reconsider giving parents ways to opt out of immunization rules.

The Democratic-led state senate and assembly voted Thursday to repeal the exemption, which allows parents to cite religious beliefs to forego getting their child the vaccines required for school enrollment.

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Earliest known signs of cannabis smoking unearthed in China

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Incense burners found at 2,500-year-old cemetery suggest intentional use of to get high

Scorched wooden incense burners unearthed at an ancient burial ground in the mountains of western China contain the oldest clear evidence of cannabis smoking yet found, archaeologists say.

Residues of high potency cannabis found in the burners, and on charred pebbles placed inside them, suggest that funeral rites at the 2,500-year-old Jirzankal cemetery in the Pamir mountains may have been rather hazy affairs.

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Oxfam’s ‘hypocrisy’ is not unique: the aid system is built on a power imbalance

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Money and power are the cornerstones of exploitation, and rich donors have both. No wonder saints have become sinners

Just over a year since the allegations of sexual abuse in Haiti were revealed, Oxfam have been through the equivalent of a reality TV colonoscopy: the organisation has been turned inside out and upside down to reveal what lurks beneath.

An independent investigation on sexual misconduct found abuse far beyond Haiti. The independent commission’s conclusion, after visiting 20% of countries where Oxfam works, was that the issues were endemic.

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Oxfam failed to report child abuse claims in Haiti, inquiry finds

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Damning Charity Commission report warns incidents in country were not isolated events

There were “serious problems with the culture, morale and behaviour” of Oxfam staff in Haiti according to a damning report which has found that the charity failed to disclose allegations of child abuse.

The Charity Commission report surveyed 7,000 pieces of evidence related to allegations that Oxfam had covered up its investigation into staff paying for sex while working on the response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

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Tokyo 2020: U-turn as hotels agree to wheelchair rooms for Paralympics

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Promise by Japan that rooms will stay accessible as Paralympics legacy follows Guardian revelation that hotels wanted payment for conversions

The Japanese government has promised that all hotel rooms that are converted to make them accessible for wheelchair visitors to the 2020 Paralympics will now remain accessible as a legacy of the Games.

The pledge comes after the Guardian revealed in April that British Paralympic officials were stunned when hotels near their training camp in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, demanded they pay to make rooms accessible – and then pay again to convert them back afterwards.

One senior figure said the problem had been a “huge headache” for more than 18 months until the authorities in Yokohama, part of the Greater Tokyo metro area, finally agreed to help. What made the issue harder to solve is that it was beyond the remit of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee or government. Rather, it was down to individual hotels – many of which did not see the social or economic benefits of providing more accessible rooms.

However, the Japanese government insists the issue is now “obsolete”. Jun Mitarai, part of the cabinet secretariat that co-ordinates Olympics planning, said: “After the refurbishments, the hotel rooms will not go back to the original state. That is an agreement between the Yokohama city and the hotels. The rooms will be left as a legacy.”

Mitarai said the government was also addressing concerns from the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) about the lack of accessible rooms in Tokyo by introducing new legislation to ensure all new hotels cater more for people with disabilities, with at least 1% of rooms accessible if the building has more than 50 rooms.

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Female nurse who played crucial role in IVF ignored on plaque

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Despite a senior colleague’s protests, Jean Purdy’s name was not included on memorial

The name of a female nurse and embryologist who played a crucial role in developing the world’s first test-tube baby was excluded from a plaque honouring the pioneers of IVF despite objections from her colleagues, newly released letters reveal.

Jean Purdy was one of three scientists whose groundbreaking work led to the birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in 1978. Yet her central role was largely forgotten in the rush to praise her colleagues, Prof Sir Robert Edwards and the surgeon Patrick Steptoe.

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