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Organisers of the Miss New Zealand pageant are refusing to bow to local and international pressure, and maintain that they will attend the Miss World event, to be held in Nigeria.
Their formal position on sharia law in the west African nation’s Muslim-dominated north? Says 17 year-old Miss New Zealand Rachel Huljich, “Don’t ask me, I’m just a girl.”
The introduction of a sharia-based penal code in northern Nigeria has criminalised sex out of wedlock, with courts able to order that transgressors be stoned to death. In practice, the system is biased against women.
Though it is not clear who’d want to visit a country run—even in part—by dangerous, sexually-frustrated lunatics in the first place, many Miss World participants have boycotted the event.
France, Belgium, Cote d’Ivoire, Norway and Kenya have already pulled out, while The Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Togo, Bulgaria and Poland are considering following suit. The European Union has publicly called for a boycott, as has New Zealand’s Prime Minster Helen Clark.
The Daily Grind asked Miss Switzerland Nadine Vinzens, who is reportedly also considering a boycott, what was wrong with sharia law as implemented in northern Nigeria. “We cannot condone a society that fails to sexualise women,” said one spokeswoman.
