I have just returned from Finland where I attended the International Gender Equality Prize in Tampere, a city two hours north of Helsinki.
Finland is a country that has fought hard for the rights of women. It was the first European country to give women the vote, back in 1906, and in 1994 it led the world in making marital rape illegal.
The winner of the prize was Mahbouba Seraj, an elegant 75-year-old Afghan women’s rights activist and Nobel Prize nominee, who runs the last safe shelter for women in Afghanistan and an NGO called Afghan Women Skills Development Centre. Ms Mahbouba gave a stirring and humble speech, pointing out that with the wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza, Afghanistan has very much been forgotten.
The fickleness of world powers to focus on which war matters the most has been something I think about a lot.
Ukraine, which was front page news for nearly two years, may now lose American funding. It has also disappeared from the evening news. I recently visited Kyiv, where the mood is grim – two years of war erodes a country’s emotional psyche, not to mention the civilian fatalities destroying the fabric of society.
Gaza’s desperate humanitarian situation is at the forefront of the agenda – as it should be – but this reminds me very much of how quickly Afghanistan faded from the news after the Taliban gained control in 2021.
When the Taliban came back and the international journalists and aid agencies fled, Ms Mahbouba, unlike then president Ashraf Ghani, chose to stay. She had trained as a historian at Kabul University, and she remained not only out of loyalty for her country, but also to witness what was happening.
She also knew she could help make the country better. She had left Afghanistan before, in 1978, and she remembers the bitterness of being in exile, especially when she knew that her country needed her skills.
We should look to the women of Afghanistan as a lesson of what must not happen
Returning in 2003, she worked with women and children in a variety of initiatives. Her work is mainly with young women who are escaping violence or early marriages, and she shelters them and mothers them, giving them a chance at a new life. This means she must sometimes have to engage with the Taliban, including (surprisingly) a bureau of Human Rights in order to get things done.
Perhaps what is so painful for the women of Afghanistan is having achieved so much, only to see it disappear. The decades of freedom for Afghan women after the Taliban fell in November 2001 was exhilarating.
I remember being on the streets of Kabul in those heady days and meeting young women who were opening books and talking about university, travel and freedom. Later, there was an expanse of female entrepreneurs who set out to train and educate women who had been tethered for so long. The pain of seeing two decades of work towards gender equality vanishing has been searing for Ms Mahbouba.
“The lives of Afghan women have changed 180 degrees,” she said. “The women of Afghanistan went from existence – from being part of society, from working, from being part of every aspect of life as doctors, judges, nurses, engineers, women running offices – to nothing.”
The right to go to high school was taken away from them. Women are banned from going to parks, public bathing spaces and gyms. Gender equality virtually vanished, as did their freedom of movement, or as a report by UN Women put it, women in Afghanistan went from “everywhere to nowhere”.
The report stresses that over the past two years, the Taliban have issued 80 edicts, 54 of these directly target women and girls.
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“The rollbacks started as soon as they took power in August 2021, when they ordered women to stay at home because their foot soldiers were ‘not familiar with seeing women outside the house and were not trained to respect women’ … it was clear gender segregation and restricting women’s movement remained the cornerstone of their vision for society. The so-called ‘Taliban 2.0’ never eventuated.”
We are now two years into Taliban rule. Women have been stopped from pursuing education beyond the sixth grade. Their ability to work outside of health and education is all but prohibited.
The cumulative effect of the Taliban’s edicts and behaviours has largely been the imprisonment of women within the walls of their homes. But the question that should be asked is: what more can be taken away from them? The potential for them to vanish behind the walls of their homes – as they had in the pre-2001 Taliban rule – is very real.
We should not push Afghanistan to the back of the international agenda, because it is unjust, but also because the reversal of rights should serve as a powerful example.
One point that Ms Mahbouba has made is that if rights can be taken from Afghan women so easily, they can be taken from women anywhere – and that includes the US. “Roe versus Wade”, which is the US Supreme Court ruling for the right to have an abortion, is a striking example. The reversal of the legislation in June 2022 destroyed years of progress by American feminists.
It has meant that women could be forced to backstreet and illegal abortions. It has unfairly targeted women of colour and economically challenged because their resources at finding alternatives are limited.
The point is that it is easy to sit back and accept that we have hard-earned rights that won’t shift. But this is not the case. Gender rights were turned back to Ground Zero in Afghanistan – and it could happen anywhere.
Right-wing governments are on the rise throughout the world. There is a very real chance that Donald Trump will be re-elected in 2024, and if he is, many fundamental human rights will be at stake, perhaps including freedom of press and rule of law.
We should look to the women of Afghanistan as a lesson of what must not happen, and continue to support them, promote them, and try to bring them back into the world.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
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TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Abaya trends
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25
4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46
5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48
Women:
1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30
2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01
3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30
4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43
5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The biog
From: Ras Al Khaimah
Age: 50
Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years
Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'
Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
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