HUMAN RIGHTS: BEAUTY QUEENS´ CAT FIGHT IN PARLIAMENT

The European Parliament staged a tearful slanging match during October when three beauty queens held a press conference - aimed at making a joint-statement against the appalling situation of Amina Lawal. The Nigerian divorcee is waiting to hear if she has been granted an appeal or whether she will be prescribed punishment for adultery under Islamic law: to be buried up to her waist in the ground where rocks will then be thrown at her until she is dead. The press conference though descended into farce when it became clear that not all three of the beauty queens were prepared to commit themselves to boycotting the Miss World event, due to be hosted by NigeriaThe three beauty queens that couldn’t quite find it in their hearts to boycott the event, despite earlier publicity that suggested otherwise. Miss Italy Pamela Camassa and Miss Sweden Sofia Hedmark recently pledged to go to Nigeria when they wrestled with each other at a press conference in the European Parliament. On October 9th, Miss Belgium burst into tears after a public clash with two rival beauty queens over plans to boycott the event. Beauty queens from half a dozen countries had threatened to boycott the December pageant unless Nigeria’s government overturns the death sentence on Amina Lawal. The case, which has made international headlines, has even drawn harsh comments from Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian exile now living in the US and author of the highly-acclaimed book, Things Fall Apart. Speaking on the situation of Amina Lawal, Mr Achebe said: "This is unnecessary. Why should we [Nigerians] give the world this image of being a pre-historic, sacred state?".But things fell apart also at a Brussels news conference when Miss Belgium, Ann Van Elsen, took issue with Miss Sweden and Miss Italy for saying they were opposed to the boycott. "To organise a beauty pageant in a country where the rights of women are not respected should not happen this year or in the future," she said. The three beauty queens made the appearance in support of human rights group Hands Off Cain, which launched a report on the death penalty. The group opposes capital punishment but says it is against a boycott of the Miss World pageant because Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken out against the death penalty. Van Elsen, who was in tears at the end of the event, said she had no idea about the group’s position on the boycott. "I was wrongly informed by my organisation about the reasons why I was coming here," said Van Elsen. However, more recent events in Nigeria have trivialised the token efforts of the beauty queens as their publicity stunt was overshadowed on October 26th by news that Amina Lawal did not want a boycott of the event. Miss Van Elsen is now expected to go to Nigeria after all, although there remains a question mark over whether her Danish competitor will adhere the call.Amina is a divorcee, and although she is no longer married, the crime is still adultery. The youngest of 13 children, she is illiterate and has two children from a marriage which lasted 12 years. Yet soon after her divorce two years ago, she met a man in her village who promised to marry her and support her two children. In return for that promise, they began a relationship during which her third child, Wasila, was conceived. Amina claims that the man - "Yahaya" - let her down and refused to marry her. In the court case he denied the baby was his. The man, has still yet to be charged.