Human Rights of Women
Source: GlobalVoices
The attacks that have recently struck the Western world have dominated the front pages of the media. Attacks on less wealthy countries do not often receive the same level of media coverage, as though a life lost in the Sahel or Iraq will inspire less compassion than a life lost elsewhere.
However, fear and loss are felt just as strongly within countries living under the threat of extremists. This is what it’s like for people living in the centre and north of Mali.
Fatoumata Harber has been part of the Global Voices community since 2014. She lives in Timbuktu in the north of Mali, a city that was under militant jihadist occupation for many long months until it was liberated in January 2013. Global Voices interviewed her to give a better understanding of the conditions in which her people are living and the challenges they face in order to survive under the constant threat of conflict. Her unlimited positive energy is contagious as she tells her story of Mali.
Global Voices (GV): Fatoumata Harber, tell us a little about yourself.
Fatoumata Harber (FH): My name is Fatoumata Harber, I’m a professional psychologist, I teach educational psychology in a bilingual teacher training institute in Timbuktu, northern Mali. I’m also a human rights activist and a blogger based in Timbuktu. My pseudonym is Faty.
GV: Describe your daily life like as a female activist in Timbuktu.
FH: The daily life of a female human rights activist in an area plagued by insecurity is no mean feat. It was this situation that motivated me to campaign for human rights.
The work that I do is all about drawing attention to and publicly speaking out against the acts of violence undertaken by armed groups against the local people. There is no road worth speaking of to connect the north of Mali to the rest of the country. It’s as though we are trapped in a vacuum with these thieves, these armed gangs, posing as supporters of independence and defenders of the people. If ever they are in need of anything, they simply steal from the remote villages. This information doesn’t even make it into the national media, let alone the international press.
We social media users are able to spread awareness of these crimes very quickly, however, people rarely come to our aid, if ever.
Because of the things I’ve been doing, and the verbal battles I’ve been having with their representatives on social media, I know that some armed groups follow me, but I don’t feel in any more danger than anyone else living in Timbuktu. I know the work I do is important. We’ve got to make people aware of the reality: that the majority of people living in northern Mali are not in any way connected to these armed groups, they are not advocates of independence, but that’s no reason not to publicly criticise the state for its failure to provide basic facilities to the north Malian. Sometimes the threats come from the inside.
GV: Can you tell us about how women are contributing to the region’s development?
FH: To get women involved in the development of my region, I created the Women’s Centre, a structure funded by the American company Flag International LLT, which most importantly offers a leadership training programme to women from various female groups that we have brought together, building a network of more than 200 members.
We can also help by providing the funds necessary to allow women to resume their normal income-generating activities. This is how 10 female bakers have been able to buy new ovens and other materials to enable them to continue making the type of bread that is traditional in Timbuktu. The centre also has an internet room for use – and this was quite an achievement — which allows women and young people to access information freely. From the time we started in January 2015 to today, we’ve trained about a hundred women and 15 young people. Unfortunately, due to the recent troubles we have just lost our sponsor.
GV: You were involved in the PAT-Mali and the #Mali100Mega programmes. Where are they now?
FH: PAT-Mali [PAT stands for Support Programme for the Transition from Mali, a programme co-founded by the Malian administration and the US Aid agency to support the transition to democracy and long-term development] is a USAID programme that had an immeasurable impact, in my opinion, on the region of Timbuktu across all the different projects happening in the city. Unfortunately, the project was closed at the start of 2016.
The #Mali100Mega initiative was inspired by this simple fact: the broadband provision in Mali was at the mercy of its two internet service providers. So, activists working in Mali’s ICT sector got together to work on the initiative, which called for price changes and an increase to the pathetic broadband speed that we had in Mali. So we took it to the AMRTP — the postal and telecommunications regulation agency of Mali – and we presented a document comparing the prices charged by the companies to the line ministry at the National Assembly. This was followed by a media campaign, via Twitter and Facebook in particular, but also on TV and some national and international radio stations. We’ll continue to have a visible presence on social media networks for as long it takes to bring about change. Information and communications technology is not a luxury, we Malians have the right to use it, both for our own well-being and our future development.
GV: In a region where the people have so many problems just to get internet access, how do you manage to maintain such a strong internet presence?
FH: How do I maintain a presence while access to services such as electricity and internet are always such a problem? I get around it simply by clever use of technology: I always have two functioning smartphones so I’ve got a backup in case one stops working due to power cuts or loss of network coverage. I rely mainly on my mobile connection because even when it’s not so good I can at least manage to send emails to other members of the blogging community of Mali, who then repost items from my blog on my behalf.
I recharge all my devices – mobiles, computers, batteries – using a solar panel. I must say a big thank you to the Network of Active Citizens of Mali (RECAM), who support me financially so that I am never without internet in spite of the high contract costs in Mali. A 2G mobile package costs 13,500 FCFA [23 euros/month] and the 2G service doesn’t last very long when you’re permanently connected.
GV: Any last words for the young people?
FH: Any words for the young Africans? Africa needs young people who are committed to winning the battle of change!