The following article was written by Dama, our Chapter Ambassador for Women’s March Bamenda, and gives detailed insight into the current situation in Cameroon, the history of the region and the necessity for immediate action and intervention on humanitarian grounds to address the volatility of the current crisis.

Since 2011, the clampdown on freedom of expression in Bahrain has intensified. The letter asks Clooney to use her position of leadership to urge the UK government to abide by its stated commitment to protect journalists and promote free media and to press its ally, Bahrain, to respect freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Last week Saudi Arabia announced sweeping reforms to the oppressive Male Guardianship system. Through the reforms, women will finally be able to obtain passports and travel abroad without permission from a male guardian. The reforms also indicate that there will be increased protection against discrimination for Saudi women.

More than 1,000 demonstrators were arrested in Moscow during a protest on Saturday in which Russia’s national guard used clubs and tear gas against protestors. Demonstrations were triggered by the exclusion of some opposition candidates from the ballot for Moscow city council. Several of these opposition candidates were detained prior to the protest.

In November of 2018 an Indonesian teacher Baiq Nuril Maknun was jailed after recording an exchange with the headteacher who sexually harassed her.

Over the past three months, Women’s March Global has worked closely with our Global Community to highlight experiences of gender-based violence. We are excited to share with you our second-quarter report! This includes our Global Community survey results and future initiatives we are working on.

Women’s March Global launched the My Human Right to Bodily Autonomy Campaign in response to the global rollback of women’s human rights, of which we have seen a surge in the last year alone. Most recently the curtailment of reproductive rights in countries like Argentina, and the U.S. is a prime example of the systemic barriers of oppression that we face globally.

On Wednesday, 26 June, Women’s March Global attended the 41st session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, for the release of the report by Agnès Callamard — U.N. Special Rapporteur — on the extrajudicial killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Additionally, WMG together with 40 global NGOs delivered a joint statement calling on U.N. Member States to stand up for human rights in Saudi Arabia and immediately and unconditionally release all detained human rights defenders.

Today at the United Nations (UN), the Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard presented her findings into the extrajudicial killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. At the same time, Women’s March Global has joined 40 civil society organisations to publish a letter sent to 48 ministries of Foreign Affairs from all regional groups at the UN, urging them to address the human rights violations in the country and urge the Saudi government to immediately and unconditionally release all those arbitrarily detained, abolish the male guardianship system, and establish an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The organisations emphasise that:

The origin story of the Women’s March is well worn. Women and allies, outraged by the election of Donald Trump as United States President, took to the streets to protest his exclusionary, racist positions and in particular their intersection with his demonstrated misogyny, disdain for, and cruelty toward women. The Women’s March begun on that day has remained, in the United States, an organisation helmed by 4 individuals that reacts to and works to right political injustices within the United States.