International Women’s Day called for massive mobilizations around the world | the Chronicle

Crowds marched across the world today for the International Women’s Day, despite the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus, and loudly denounced the growing number of femicides and the impunity that usually surrounds them, and a whole series of gender violence that affects all women.

Both in peaceful democracies and in countries mired in great conflict, women have taken to the streets, albeit in far fewer numbers than in the previous year, when the pandemic was still in its infancy.

In Latin America, thousands of women marched through downtown Mexico City, a protest that promises to be just the spearhead of one of the nation’s protests, one of the hardest hit by gender-based violence.

The march in the capital covered more than two kilometers and ended at Zócalo, the square in front of the seat of government, where yesterday feminist groups intervened on the security fence with white graffiti with the names of hundreds of victims of feminicide.

Previously, a letter signed by more than 2,500 women, writers, artists and feminist leaders denounced that 97% of feminicides committed in the country go unpunished.

In parallel, in Argentina, a feminist tide marched towards the National Congress of Buenos Aires, a convocation which was reproduced throughout the country.

In Chile, a peaceful march was quelled with tear gas canisters and fire engines and arrested several protesters in central Santiago, independent media outlet Piensa Prensa reported on Twitter.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, protests have escalated, despite the pandemic.

In Turkey, several hundred Muslim women from the Uyghur minority demonstrated near the fortified Chinese consulate in Istanbul, calling for the closure of mass detention camps in the Xinjiang region.

“Rape is a crime against humanity”, one reads on a poster, referring to a report by the British network of the BBC, which denounces the systematic rape and the forced sterilization of the women in these camps, which is denied. by China.

In Europe, meanwhile, three of the most influential women on the planet have warned the European Parliament of the effects of the pandemic on their rights.

The Vice President of the United States,
Kamala harris, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen have all but warned that the economic and political consequences of the pandemic are exacerbating the challenges women face.

In Greece, where the media abounds with stories related to sexual harassment, hundreds of women gathered in the central Syntagma square in Athens.

In Spain, where the feminist movement has gained great strength in recent years, thousands of people marched through the streets of major cities and a few in Madrid, where the protest was banned for fear of further infections.

In Warsaw, men and women protested against the almost total ban on abortions after a recent tightening of rules in Poland, the AFP news agency reported.

At the same time, more than 2,000 people in Ukraine called for greater protection for women and for the country to ratify the Istanbul Convention, the latest international treaty on the subject. In Africa, the demand has also been felt.

Hundreds of women marched in the Algerian capital, Algiers, to demand the repeal of the family code, adopted in 1984 and inspired in part by Islamic law (sharia) which, according to feminists, makes them “minors for life. “. The same in Asia.

In India, a country where stories of gang rape often rock society, many women have flocked to the outskirts of the capital to join with farmers who have been protesting for months against controversial government reforms.

Many did not have masks and were unaware of physical distancing, despite the fact that India has one of the highest infection and death rates in Asia and is the second most affected in the world, behind the United States.

In neighboring Myanmar, where the military carried out a coup last month, women were at the forefront of pro-democracy protests.

Marches were also held in deeply conservative Pakistan, as hundreds of people, mostly members of the Gabriela women’s group, protested in the Philippines against the killing of activists on Sunday.

Taking advantage of the date, the Committee for the Safety of Afghan Journalists warned that more than 300 female journalists had resigned or lost their jobs in the past six months, while the wave of killings, including some of female reporters, hit the press in the country is intensifying.

Finally, Unicef ​​took advantage of this International Women’s Day to warn that the effect of the coronavirus in certain countries could generate up to 10 million child marriages during this decade.