Why has #WhereIsPengShuai reignited online?

On Wednesday, February 9 at 19:30 GMT:

Peng Shuai
Last year #WhereIsPengShuai went viral after the safety and whereabouts of the tennis star came under question. She had accused former vice premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault in a since deleted Weibo post.

On Sunday Peng Shuai spoke to French sports outlet L’Équipe in the Beijing Olympic Village and announced her retirement. She thanked international athletes and Women’s Tennis Association players for their support but said she had not expected an outcry, while calling concerns over her well-being a “huge misunderstanding.”

We’ll take a look at the recent developments in Peng Shuai’s story, and examine the state of the #MeToo movement in China.

Tonga
For more than two years, the isolation of several Pacific islands nations helped keep coronavirus mostly at bay. But Tonga is now trying to stop the spread of COVID-19 after aid was delivered in the wake of a volcanic eruption and tsunami in January.

Last week the first two cases of COVID-19 were discovered in Tonga after the country’s Ministry of Health tested 50 frontline workers who had been working at the port with shipments of freshwater and medical supplies. Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni imposed a lockdown in response. Schools are now shut, mass gatherings are forbidden, and travel among the country’s 169 islands is banned.

We’ll revisit Tonga nearly a month after the volcanic eruption and see how people are coping with the arrival of COVID-19 on their shores.

Sierra Leone
The recent death of nine-year-old Wyuyata Konneh – who endured life-changing injuries in a rape attack when she was just five years old – has highlighted the lasting impact of widespread sexual violence on women and girls in Sierra Leone.

In 2019 the rape and murder of a 3-month old girl horrified people across the country and spurred President Julius Maada Bio to declare sexual violence a national emergency. He vowed that sex with minors would be punishable by life in prison, while a Sexual Offences Model Court was also set up to expedite prosecutions.

More than 8,500 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were recorded in Sierra Leone in 2018. Seventy percent of survivors of sexual assault were under the age of 15.

In this segment we’ll re-examine the lasting impact of Sierra Leone’s rape crisis and speak with the journalist who shared her story with the world.

In this episode of The Stream, we are joined by:
Yaqiu Wang, @Yaqiu
Senior China Researcher, Human Rights Watch

Katie Greenwood, @KatiegIFRC
Head of Pacific Delegation, International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC)

Vickie Remoe, @VickieRemoe
Producer, The Vickie Remoe Show