Impact Newsletter

🇪🇸 The Spanish Council of Ministers has approved a decree providing financial assistance for sexual violence survivors who earn below the minimum wage, with a monthly allowance of 500 euros for six months, extendable for up to 18 months. The mechanism is similar to unemployment insurance. The survivor will have a period of five years to apply for the aid. 🧡 This decree implements article 41 of the 'Only Yes Means Yes' law, which recognises the right sexual violence survivors to receive temporary economic assistance when their income is below the minimum wage. 🤲 The aid will be provided equally to minors and women, including survivors of trafficking networks. Child victims will receive assistance when their family income is below three minimum wages. Do you want to be up-to-date on feminism worldwide? Read #TheWrap, your monthly round-up of news on women's and LGBTQIA+ rights around the world by the Impact newsletter 💚💜 https://lnkd.in/dzPFiqGj

🇺🇸 The US states of Arizona and Nevada will both hold a vote to endorse abortion as a constitutional right at the next US election in November after reproductive rights activists gathered the required number of signatures to propose the measures. The strategy is similar to that followed successfully by the states of California, Michigan and Vermont. 💚 In Arizona, the NGO Arizona for Abortion Access collected 823,000 signatures – more than double what is required for an issue to make it onto the ballot. The Arizona Abortion Access Act amendment proposes that the state cannot restrict access to abortion before foetal viability, or 24-26 weeks. On May 1, the Arizona Senate voted to repeal an 1864 abortion ban that the state's highest court had reinstated in early April. When the measure takes effect on August 1, a 15-week ban will become the prevailing law. 💜 As for Nevada, the petition to put abortion on the ballot in November was submitted by the NGO Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom. The initiative must be voted on again in 2026 in order to achieve constitutional status. In the state, abortion is legal for up to 25 weeks. #US #Elections #Arizona #Nevada #AbortionRights

🇫🇷 France’s republican front has triumphed once again, but the struggle is far from over. ❗Although it finished third, the far-right National Rally gained more than 50 seats in parliament and won the votes of more than 8 million people. The party will remain a significant force in Europe, where it has many far-right allies around the continent – allies that wish to ban abortion and gender transition, allies that target queer families. ✊ To avoid catastrophe in future, France will need to continue to counter extremism wherever it is found. The fight is not over yet, and with more women than ever voting for the far-right, we will need feminist answers in the years to come. 💟 Luckily, there are feminists around the world who have experience standing up to the forces of extremism, and they have much to teach us, wherever we are, and whether we can vote or not. We spoke with Debora Diniz and Marcia Tiburi (Brazil), Zsofi Borsi (Hungary), Verónica Gago (Argentina), and Teesta Setalvad (India) on how feminists are fighting the far-right. 🔗 Read Megan Clement's article: https://lnkd.in/dPBitrgm

🇸🇱 Sierra Leone's parliament has passed a law banning all forms of child marriage, providing for up to 15 years in prison for anyone who marries with a minor or facilitates a wedding involving one. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2024 also provides for the care of victims, including access to education and support services for girls affected by child marriage. ❕In Sierra Leone, 30% of girls and 4% of boys are married before turning 18, according to Human Rights Watch. Around 800,000 girls are currently married, half of whom were married before 15. 📉 Facing widespread poverty, many families decide to marry off their daughters to improve their financial situation. This leads to high rates of teenage pregnancy and girls dropping out of school, the NGO Girls not brides has warned. #SierraLeone #ChildMarriage

🇪🇸 Minors between 16 and 17 years old can have an abortion without parental or legal consent, Spain’s constitutional court ruled on June 18, upholding a reform of the abortion law that was passed last year. The amendment had been appealed by the far-right Vox party, under the argument that it violated the principles of freedom, plurality and legality, but the case was finally dismissed. 💚 Abortion has been available in Spain up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, with an extension up to 22 weeks in cases of risk to the patient’s life or non-viable pregnancies. Until now, minors needed their parents' consent, but the reform enshrines this right from 16 years old. 💟 The reform law also eliminates the three-day mandatory reflection period and the obligation to inform patients about alternatives to abortion. It establishes that all public health centres in Spain must offer abortions. #Spain #AbortionRights

🇦🇫 A ZanTimes investigation has revealed that an untold numbers of young women were detained in December and January for what the Taliban considered violations of their dress code or "bad hijab", and were subjected to serious sexual violence while in custody. 🔎 During its reporting from January to May, Zan Times also found that at least one died by suicide and another was found dead weeks after she was detained. ‼️ The investigation includes several testimonies, including that of Amina*, a 22-year-old medical student who spent three nights in a Taliban prison after being arrested in January. She was interrogated by an older man who asked her about her menstruation and assaulted her. Read the article ‘I begged them not to harass me’: Women accuse Taliban of sexual assault after arrest for ‘bad hijab’ 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eXykEgxs *Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees and writers.

🇫🇷 This morning, France woke up to a devastating new political reality. As expected, the far-right National Rally finished top in the first round of voting in the most consequential legislative elections in recent memory. ❗All is not lost – hundreds of constituencies are still in play, and what matters now is how many French people will vote against the National Rally in the second round of voting this Sunday. But it is clear that a huge portion of the French voting public have supported a party steeped in racism, homophobia and misogyny, and the question is why these extremists are being given a shot at governing at all. 👉 On women’s rights, their record is clear: in the both French and European parliaments, members of the National Rally have systematically voted against or abstained from voting on bills that would protect women and girls from harassment, address wage inequality and provide access to abortion. ❌ Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen want French voters to think they are a legitimate political alternative that deserves a shot at governing, but it is not true. 📣 The National Rally pretends they are a normal political party like any other, but we do not have to agree. The extreme right are at the gates of power, but we do not have to let them in. Read our editor Megan Clement's article on why we must unite against the far-right 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dkQnf4Px

🇺🇬 Namibia’s high court has overturned the “sodomy” and “unnatural offences'' laws which criminalised gay sex for decades. The overturned laws were inherited when the country gained independence from South Africa in 1990. 🌈 The judgement held that both colonial-era laws were discriminatory and violated the Namibian constitution, as a similar sexual conduct between a man and a woman was not criminalised. The case was brought to court by Namibian LGBTQIA+ activist Friedel Dausab. 📣 According to Amnesty, the ruling is a “victory for love, for equality and for human rights”, as well as a “step toward ending discrimination in equal access to health care and other social services and ensuring that all people in Namibia can choose their partners without fear”. #Namibia #SameSex #LGBTQIArights

🇺🇸 The US Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge on the Tennessee senate bill which prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow “a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex” or to treat “purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity”. ⚖️ During the next term, starting in October, the judges will hear arguments in the United States v. Skrmetti case to determine whether the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. 🌈 According to the 14th Amendment, “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. 👉 It will be the first time the Supreme Court decides on the constitutionality of state bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a landmark ruling that may have an impact on some other 25 states that have enacted similar measures. #USA #TransRights

💟 Women’s movements often play a central role in bringing warring parties to peace negotiations, and women are more sceptical than men of certain common post-conflict practices. 🌐 As war rages in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, it may feel premature to talk about peace. But the international community must ensure that women are included in any peace process. 📢 "Previous research shows that when women are involved in peace processes in influential, meaningful ways, this decreases the risk of a return to war and increases the legitimacy and quality of the peace agreement.” Read The Evidence by Josephine Lethbridge, sponsored by Sage 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dwBXd7gS