Saturday, July 11th, 2009
In Afghanistan, too, marital immunity for rape is being hotly debated. In March, the President signed a law entitling men to sexual access to their wives’ bodies every four days – in effect, legalising marital rape. This was accompanied by other proposals marking Afghan women out as property of their husbands: for example, requiring them to obtain permission before leaving their homes. This was met by intense domestic protest, with hundreds of women taking to the streets of Kabul, and widespread international outcry.
This has had a welcome effect. Earlier this week, Afghan Justice Ministry officials announced they were backing down.
Like the Afghan demonstrators, we too must make our voices heard. The signatories on this petition have increased to more than 600, and now include – in addition to the notable figures we mentioned a few days ago – NMP Siew Kum Hong, TV presenter Anita Kapoor, playwright Ovidia Yu, legal academic Associate Professor Chan Wing Cheong, former NTU Associate Professor Alfred Choi, and radio emcee Joe Augustin.
Our numbers are growing, but if we work together to keep spreading the message, we can do even better. So keep up the good work of circulating this URL through blogs, email and social media. Sign up for our newsletter. And please keep coming back to the blog. In the coming weeks, we will announce many more exciting actions we can all take to help create a victory for justice in Singapore.
Tags: International, Marital Rape, Petition, Well-Known Supporters
3 - Comment
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
The Petition is the core of this campaign, but we seek to equip everyone with additional tools to take a stand against sexual violence within marriage. Don’t forget to sign up to our mailer (you can do so here) to receive regular updates on other actions you can take to end marital immunity for rape.
For now, thank you for spreading the word – we’ve seen many of you hard at work on emails, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, and it’s making a huge difference.
Besides online sharing, you can take offline action too. The Promote section of our website contains all kinds of tools to help you spread the word – including ready-made leaflets in poster and flyer sizes, and an Activist Toolkit containing suggestions and resources for creating change.
We’ve also updated the Promote section to include news articles on marital immunity for rape, correspondence with MPs and the civil service on the subject, and links to blogs who’ve been kind enough to share the No To Rape message – some of them have added really powerful thoughts of their own. Do check it out.
p.s. Don’t forget that the Petition comes in Bahasa Melayu and Chinese translations so you can share the word with those who aren’t as comfortable with English! We are working on a Tamil translation too and will let you know when that’s ready.
Tags: Actions, Resources
2 - Comment
Monday, July 6th, 2009
Thank you for the 360 signatures to date. Every single one of them is a step towards ending marital immunity for rape in Singapore. At the moment our signatories include notable figures like Ng Yi-Sheng, Adrianna Tan, Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Seelan Palay, as well as religious leaders such as Father Paul Staes from the Catholic Church and the Reverend Dr Yap Kim Hao. We hope to see even more in the coming days.
It’s hard for most people who have experienced rape to talk about it at all, but in the case of marital rape the betrayal of trust involved, and the position of interdependence or dependence between the spouses, can sometimes make it even harder. The failure of the law to recognise this as criminal violence may add a further layer of difficulty.
Knowing this, we are moved to see messages on our petition testifying to experiences of marital rape. To those who speak up about their own experiences of marital rape, and those who work with the victims of marital rape, thank you for your courage and generosity in sharing your stories. Your words make it even clearer that this is an issue which impacts upon real lives, which are hurt by real crimes – and that we need to make real change.
In the words of one signatory:
I am recently divorced from a violent marriage. I was unaware that sex would account to rape if the husband insists on sex but the wife does not consent. I hope this petition will educate and protect wives from being raped by their husbands.
Another says:
Marital rape is commonly carried out in cases of domestic violence. As a psychologist, many clients have told me of the horror of being raped by their husband
A third message reads:
I know at least 5 married women in Singapore who has been raped by their husbands before.This is completely despicable. I’ll be ashamed to be a Singaporean if nothing results from this petition. Really.
Tags: Marital Rape, Petition, Rape, Supporters, Well-Known Supporters
4 - Comment
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
Thank you to everyone who has signed this petition, Tweeted about it, posted it on Facebook, linked on your blog, or otherwise spread the word. With your kind help, this petition has got off to a good start since its launch, collecting more than 200 signatures in 3 days.
The good news is, we can do even better! If you have a blog or website, please write about our campaign, and link to us using the blog badges found in the Promote section of our site.
The more people we reach, the more effectively we can speak, together, against sexual violence of every kind. If your blog informs even one person about the petition, and she tells her sister, who tells her colleague, who tells two friends, that’s five more signatures on the petition – all because you took 20 seconds to post a blog badge! Every act makes a real difference. Please blog against marital immunity for rape today.
Tags: Actions
0 - Comment
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
We have received the following query, which may be of interest to many visitors to the site. So, with the kind permission of the author, we are reproducing it here:
Hello all. First and foremost, I would like to commend the team contributing to this cause for their effort, and dedication, to making a much-welcomed change.
I have a question though – I see that non-residents have been included in signing the petition – is/should this be allowed? Are non-residents allowed to interfere in a sovereign state’s affairs?
My perspective on this issue is that I fully support the move to ensure that Singaporeans and PRs sign the petition. However, i am not convinced that the petition would be persuasive if it contained the signatures of non-Singaporeans, especially since the petition concerns a change in domestic legislation. This is a worthy cause, and it would be unfortunate to see the petition being rejected on such grounds.
I look forward to hearing your views regarding this query.
Our response is as follows:
Thank you for your kind words and for your feedback. We understand your concerns and for those reasons we ask all signatories to specify whether they are Singapore citizens, Permanent Residents or Other. When the signatures are tallied, we will be able to give the total numbers who are Singapore citizens or Permanent Residents without including all those who have selected Other. At the same time, we appreciate and welcome statements of support from anyone.
If you have any other questions about the petition or the campaign please do not hesitate to contact us at NoToRape@gmail.com, or leave a comment on this blog.
Tags: Letters, Petition
0 - Comment
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Thank you for visiting NoToRape.com.
This campaign advocates one simple idea: sexual violence by any person, against any person, is criminal violence. Non-consensual intercourse should be treated as rape regardless of whether the perpetrator and victim are married to each other. If you agree, please sign our online petition to the Prime Minister and help to spread the word.
Although most of this site is in English, we have provided translations of the petition that you can share with those who are more comfortable with Singapore’s other main languages.
Together, we can demonstrate our support for the total abolition of marital immunity for rape. If every one of us can convince even one other person to sign the petition, collectively, we will have a powerful voice.
This site contains tools and resources to help you spread the word to others. Have a look at our FAQ if you would like to know more about the issues, and don’t forget to sign up to our mailer to keep in touch.
Let’s work together to address sexual violence in Singapore.
Tags: Updates
2 - Comment
