Friday, October 27, 2017
1. Louisiana activists and residents protest Bayou Bridge Pipeline
You can’t drink oil, though not everyone is convinced. The same company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline is now trying to finish another pipeline that would cut through the wetlands of Louisiana. In protest, indigenous, Black and Cajun activists have set up a “floating camp” with rafts along the Bayou Bridge Pipeline’s route. Those who rely on the wetlands for their livelihoods also reject the pipeline. One Louisiana crawfisherman writes that the “carelessness” of gas companies has been polluting the water, making it inhabitable for crawfish, and damaging his “way of life”.
As this pipeline undergoes an environmental assessment, the company is facing fines for damaging Ohio’s wetlands.
2. Local authorities and NGOs in Ghana team up to end child marriage
Books before babies? New initiatives to end child marriages in Ghana are underway as local authorities and civil society renewed their commitment to girls’ rights. In the southern region of Brong-Ahafo, more than half of girls get married before turning 18. Unplanned pregnancy is a leading cause of early marriage, according to ActionAid Ghana’s programs manager in that region, Melody Azinim.
This week ActionAid Ghana launched a new program to bring together girls and to support them to know and claim their rights.
3. Kyrgyzstan’s youngest female MP puts national spotlight on violence against women
Attitudes are hard to change. That’s why Aida Kasymalieva, the youngest female member of Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, isn’t waiting around for her male colleagues to start caring about domestic violence, child marriage and bride kidnappings. She wants more women to enter politics and push these issues to the forefront of the national agenda.
Though bride kidnapping and child marriages were outlawed in 2013 and 2016, respectively, both customs are still practiced in the country today. Kasymalieva, along with the other 22 female MPs, is pushing for more laws that not only protect women and girls but also promote their rights to healthcare and education.