May/June 2005 – In This Issue:
Claiming Their Space: Sudanese Women at the Oslo International Donors' Conference on Sudan
by Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, Regional Programme Director, UNIFEM East and Horn of Africa
The recent International Donors' Conference on Sudan held in Oslo, Norway, in April 2005, was a watershed for Sudanese women's leadership. On the eve of the Donors' Conference, 50 women from the north, south and east of Sudan participated in a Gender Symposium to establish a common agenda and assert their role in their country's post-conflict reconstruction and peace efforts. Their recommendations, offering concrete proposals and benchmarks for promoting gender equality in all aspects of peace-building, were presented to the main conference, urging donors to reflect strong gender-responsive principles in the allocation of resources for Sudan's reconstruction and recovery process.
Partnerships at Work
The symposium was organized by the Government of Norway in partnership with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). This partnership is an excellent example of how a strategic multi-partner response by members of the international community can help facilitate the important link between gender concerns and policy discourse, while creating a much-needed space for local leadership to inform and shape decision-making processes.
The Sudanese women's presence at the symposium was the result of many years of their mobilizing for peace, of seeking inclusion and recognition for their participation in the peace process, of lobbying and networking within a complex web of partnerships and networks at the national, regional and international level.
The diversity and richness of this complex web was evident in the groups that attended the meeting — women from Darfur, Khartoum, eastern Sudan and the south, most of them meeting each other for the first time, came together to forge a common position on the future of their country, while also speaking specifically to issues of concern in their own communities. Government officials responsible for gender issues joined hands with their sisters from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to provide leadership in the lobbying process, while Sudanese women parliamentarians engaged in dialogue with academics and civil society representatives to develop a more coherent "Sudanese women's voice."
Regional solidarity was also a major factor in sustaining the dynamism and momentum of the partnerships and networks. African regional institutions such as IGAD were present, committing to taking the women's recommendations to high-level forums. South Africa's first lady, Mrs Zanele Mbeki, a long-time supporter of women's leadership in Africa, attended the symposium to show her solidarity alongside Kenya's Constitutional Commissioner and former member of parliament, Phoebe Asiyo, who is also UNIFEM's Goodwill Ambassador for Africa.
 The diversity of views, richness of experience, and desire to speak with one voice was framed in a statement — the Sudanese Women's Priorities and Recommendations — which was submitted to the official Donors' Conference. The statement was received by Ali Osman Taha, vice-president of the Government of Sudan, and John Garang, Chair of the SPLM, who jointly addressed the women during the symposium and promised to emphasise the recommendations at the highest levels to ensure that women would be full participants in the peace-building process in Sudan.
This commitment is critical — in the fragile peace that follows the landmark signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the SPLM in January 2005, women have been marginalized in terms of their participation in the peace negotiations. Few women are aware of the content of the agreement and its protocols, and yet these will frame reconstruction, development and reintegration processes for the next six years. Women have to be an integral part of any solutions and decisions being made now, and not included only as afterthoughts or incidentals once processes are already in motion.
Recommendations
At the symposium, Sudanese women requested that at least 80 per cent of contributions go towards reducing stark gender inequalities in law, policy and practice, and directly benefit women and girls from disadvantaged communities and rural areas to increase their capacities and access to resources. Specific areas requiring immediate attention were access to basic health and social services, support for pro-poor economic policies to improve women's livelihoods and ensure food security, removing gender discrimination in education and training, and urgently confronting rampant gender-based violence.
Women's participation in governance institutions was emphasized in the comprehensive peace agreement. A 30-per-cent minimum of female appointments has been achieved in the Constitutional Commission. It will be interesting to see if this quota will also be put in place for other new institutions such as the Oil Commission, and the Oversight Committee of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund.
The Sudanese women also called for the African Union (AU), the Government of Sudan and other parties to immediately comply with international standards that recognize and require women's full participation in the AU-led Abuja peace talks for Darfur. The reality of the situation of women in Darfur, survivors of widespread and unchecked violence, is one of serious crisis, demanding immediate attention and action to end impunity.
African women from around the region also present at the symposium and Donors' Conference offered their immediate support for their Sudanese sisters by pledging to lead a high-level delegation of African women leaders to Darfur in order to engage with the women, the leadership and local officials, so that women from Darfur could claim their rightful space at the negotiating table in Abuja. They also pledged to support a consultative meeting for the women of Darfur to hear their most urgent concerns and needs. This meeting will be supported by the AU Directorate for Gender and UNIFEM. The African women's pledge was formally received by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Chair of the AU, Alpha Oumer Konare, during the AU Pledging Conference for the AU Mission for Sudan on 26 May 2005.
Related Documents
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General Assembly High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS
Progress "Significant but Insufficient," Meeting Told
At the recent 2 June 2005 high-level General Assembly meeting on HIV/AIDS, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan shared his hope with a gathering of senior officials at UN Headquarters that the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS would have heralded a response that matched the epidemic's scale, yet progress had been "significant but insufficient."
Citing achievements in the core areas of political leadership, funding, the intensity and reach of prevention programmes, and the availability of drug therapies, he said, however, that last year saw more new infections and more AIDS-related deaths than ever before. With the epidemic expanding at an accelerating rate and on every continent, treatment and prevention efforts were "nowhere near enough." For example, only 12 per cent of the people in need of antiretroviral therapies in low- and middle-income countries were receiving them.
He called for increased resources, better planning, better and more vocal leadership, and real investment in the empowerment of women and girls. Women now accounted for about half of all people living with HIV worldwide, but they were also the most courageous and creative champions in that fight. How the international community fared in the fight was crucial; only by meeting the challenge could it succeed in its efforts to build a humane, healthy and equitable world.
Roundtable on Human Rights and Gender
In addition to the GA meeting, UNIFEM, UNDP, UNHCR and the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS co-organized a Roundtable on Human Rights and Gender with the participation of more than 24 member States and 5 civil society organizations. The roundtable was chaired by the Minister of Health for the Bahamas, Dr Marcus C. Bethel.
Participants stressed that human rights violations and inequality between men and women continued to increase the transmission of HIV/AIDS and undermine access to prevention and treatment. The growing feminization of the epidemic had made it ever more necessary to establish programmes to attack the vulnerability of women and girls. Among the recommendations was the need to strengthen measures to combat discrimination against people with AIDS, to draw up special programmes for women and girls, and to enhance efforts to eliminate violence against women and educate men and boys.
Side Event on Stigma and Discrimination
WHO, ILO, UNICEF and WFP jointly convened a side event on the progress and difficulties in reducing stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
Sheila Tlou, Minister of Health of Botswana, described different root causes of stigma, such as attitudes based on the moral implications of HIV/AIDS, and fear of its contagious nature. She noted that some progress has been made in Botswana, with more than 32 national facilities now offering antiretroviral (ARV) services to more than 44,000 people. An important area to focus on was the development of legislation that specifically addresses HIV/AIDS.
An activist from Thailand, a former injecting drug user, spoke personally about the stigma he experienced. Estimates in Thailand indicate that 50 per cent of injecting drug users are HIV-positive. A great deal of stigma continues to surround drug use, with public attitudes generally questioning services being provided to drug users. An important focus area he noted was young people, particularly since limited information was provided in schools on sex or drug use.
Djankou Ndjonkou, director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) office in New York, said the ILO regards discrimination in the workplace as a severe violation of human rights, and yet it is an area that is very difficult to enforce. Discrimination occurred typically in the form of denial of employment to HIV-positive applicants, transferring employees based on HIV status, pre-employment testing, and denial of promotions. The fear of discrimination and rejection prevents employees from taking part in free testing, counselling, treatment, and support because it may lead to loss of employment and stigma. The ILO takes a human rights approach to HIV/AIDS discrimination, believing that it must be addressed in three ways: through a legal and policy framework; through prevention efforts such as education, training and promotion (including gender-sensitive training); and through social protection.
Discussing the challenge of confronting attitudes towards HIV/AIDS that fuel discrimination, a representative from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) suggested that while respecting cultural norms was important, it was also necessary to challenge culture at times, to provoke new thought and encourage change. She referred to the IFRC's "The Truth About AIDS" resource kits as a tool that had been used successfully in several countries. The kits are available on the IFRC's website.
Gender and HIV/AIDS Electronic Library
To promote understanding, knowledge sharing, and action on HIV/AIDS as a gender equality and human rights issue, UNIFEM, with support from UNAIDS, has developed a Gender and HIV/AIDS Electronic Library to provide up-to-date information on the gender dimensions of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The Electronic Library, contained in a CD-ROM format, is based on UNIFEM's Gender and HIV/AIDS Web Portal and compiles resources produced by a variety of organizations working on HIV/AIDS, including cutting-edge research and studies, training resources and tools, and multi-media advocacy materials. All information can be easily searched and retrieved using a variety of criteria. The library is a useful resource for academics, policymakers, practitioners, journalists, students and others interested in the gender dimensions of the epidemic. Resources are complemented by a unique feature called the "e-Course Builder" that allows users to create and edit a tailored electronic course.
To obtain a copy of the Gender and HIV/AIDS Electronic Library, please contact UNIFEM by e-mail at unifem@genderandaids.org. The Gender and HIV/AIDS Electronic Library will be updated in future versions. In the meantime, regularly updated information and resources can be found at the UNIFEM Gender and HIV/AIDS Web Portal.
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Preparations for the World Summit 2005
The United Nations will hold a World Summit on 14-16 September 2005 in New York (also referred to as the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly). The summit will address progress on development, security and human rights, including a review of the implementation of the Millennium Declaration adopted in 2000, and UN reform.
Useful Resources
- Key reports submitted over the last 12 months:
- The President of the General Assembly (GA) has submitted to GA member States a Draft Outcome Document for the World Summit. Negotiations among member States on the text are ongoing. Throughout the months of June and July, the President of the GA will collect and harmonize member States' views on the draft outcome document, including input from regional and other summits, such as those of the G8, European Union and African Union. Civil society organizations are also preparing comments and suggested amendments to the text.
- Preparations for the World Summit — Timeline prepared by the Office of the President of the General Assembly.
- World Summit 2005 Timelines — Tables indicating key events leading up to the summit prepared by the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS):
- "The Millennium Development Goals: A Latin America and Caribbean Perspective" — This report prepared by ECLAC presents an overview of advances and reversals to date, with a focus on regional cooperation to meet challenges. The report was launched in Santiago, Chile, on 10 June 2005. For more information contact ECLAC information services, dpisantiago@cepal.org
Civil Society Organizations following the lead-up to the World Summit 2005
Civil Society Opinion Pieces and Position Papers
- Proposed Language Amendments on the Draft Declaration for the UN High-Level Event, 14-16 September 2005, prepared by the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL), Development Alternatives With Women for a New Era (DAWN), NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, and Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) (1 June 2005). Available in MS Word and PDF.
- Critical Comments on the "Freedom From Want" Section of the UN Secretary-General's Report for the Millennium+5 Summit, prepared by Development Alternatives With Women For A New Era (DAWN).
- Statements on the "Report of the Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change": Communique‚ from the UBUNTU Forum in the context of the 2005 World Social Forum of Porto Alegre.
- Response to the S-G's Report, In Larger Freedom: Integrating Gender Equality into National-level Priorities for September Summit, April 2005, prepared by NGO Working Group on Women Peace and Security (NGOWG).
- UN Reform, prepared by Choike International
- Comments on the Secretary-General Report "In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All" and issues of the UN Millennium+5 Summit, prepared by MADRE.
- Talking Points on the Millennium Summit Review and Women's Human Rights, 26 April 2005, prepared by Centre for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL).
- Comments and Preliminary Recommendations on Secretary-General's Report, 28 April 2005, prepared by Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO).
- The Advance Social Watch Report 2005 titled "Unkept Promises. What the numbers say about poverty and gender" is now available online. The report will be launched during the Informal Interactive Hearings of the UN General Assembly with non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector, which will take place in New York on 23–24 June 2005.
- NGLS sent out a call to NGOs for comments and observations on "In Larger Freedom." A number of important submissions were received and will feed into an overview report prepared by NGLS for the General Assembly Hearings With Civil Society set for 23-24 June 2005. NGOs' comments can be found at http://www.un-ngls.org/sg-report-NGOs-comment.htm.
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UNIFEM Around the World
Involving Military and Police Forces in Ending Violence Against Women
From 7 May to 1 June 2005, UNIFEM and the UN High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCHR) conducted an extensive multimedia campaign in four provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in an effort to raise awareness about sexual violence committed against women and children. The campaign, with its theme "Break the Silence, Awake Your Conscience and Say No to Violence," was targeted at military and police personnel in an attempt to reach out to men as partners in combating violence.
 More than 300 soldiers and policemen from Mbandaka, Bukavu, Kisangani and Kivu participated. To stimulate dialogue, the campaign used short plays by theatre groups in various local languages to highlight the main issues. These were followed by information exchange sessions to discuss the causes of sexual violence and ways to stop it from happening. The factors fuelling violence put forward included drug and alcohol abuse, poor living standards of military and police personnel, impunity, and the general precariousness of the social situation in the country. The men also suggested possible solutions to curb the spread of violence — from reinforcing the role of the family, forming "moral" police units or creating surveillance committees within police and army units that focus on sexual violence crimes, establishing mixed patrols, enforcing stricter criteria for recruitment and stricter penalties for drug and alcohol abuse, to involving the police and army in national efforts to promote and defend human rights.
A key conclusion that emerged from the information exchange sessions was the "power of conscience," and how using this positively could be one of the best strategies to combat violence. (Extracted from article in Uhuru newspaper, 9 June 2005.) For more information on the campaign, please contact Miranda Tabifor, miranda.tabifor@undp.org
Eye Reveal
The issue of gender-based violence through the eyes of young people was the subject of a photography exhibition in New Delhi, India, in April 2005. The exhibition, called "Eye Reveal," was the culmination of a six-month UNIFEM initiative to involve young adolescents and adults in understanding the impact of violence in their societies and being active partners in combating it. Recent statistics from the Indian National Crime Records Bureau estimate that a woman is raped every 12 minutes; a woman faces violent behaviour from her husband and in-laws every 11 minutes; and a woman is murdered every 77 minutes.
Chandni Joshi, UNIFEM's regional programme director, described how the young participants of the project interacted intensively with NGOs and community groups working on violence and its connection to trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and masculinity issues. "The young people met with men and women from diverse walks of life, and with women and children affected by violence in an attempt to understand the impact of violence on their minds and lives. The exhibition and stories reflect the perspective that they developed in the course of the intensive six-month experience."
Eminent artist Probir Gupta conceptualized and curated the exhibition, which consisted mainly of stirring black and white photographs and related stories. The wife of the Prime Minister of India, Mrs Gursharan Kaur, opened the exhibition, which was also attended by Mrs Nane Annan, wife of the UN Secretary-General. Download the exhibition catalogue (4.05MB). For more information, contact Gita Gupta, gita.gupta@undp.org
South Asia Regional Ministerial Conference Adopts Two-Year Action Plan
The Government of Pakistan and UNIFEM's South Asia Regional Office co-hosted the 5th South Asia Regional Ministerial Conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, on 3-5 May 2005. Participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka gathered for a 3-day meeting on the region's progress in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). Conference deliberations ended in the Islamabad Declaration: Review and Future Actions, where governments and civil society pledged to direct their efforts over a 2-year timeframe to moving BPFA implementation forward in five priority areas: health, education, violence against women, political and economic empowerment of women, and disaster preparedness and management. Delegates also agreed to focus on strengthening institutional mechanisms for gender equity and equality, including ensuring sufficient resource allocations and authority for national women's machineries and integrating women's human rights concerns into the policies and programmes of mainstream institutions. For more information, please contact Gitanjali Singh, gitanjali.singh@undp.org
Gender to Be Included in Venezuelan National Budget
The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has announced his commitment to including gender equality principles in the national budget for fiscal year 2006. Since 1998, UNIFEM has been working on adding a gender perspective to the implementation and institutionalization of budget processes, providing technical assistance to governments, parliaments and civil society organizations. In Latin America, programmes were initiated in the Andean Region in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, and expanded subsequently to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and now Venezuela.
Gender-based budgets are public budgets that can be local, sectoral or national. They consider both women's and men's specific needs in their design, elaboration, implementation and evaluation. The chief aim of applying gender equality principles to budgets is to ensure that government policies and programmes equally benefit men, women, boys and girls, and that a person's rights, responsibilities and opportunities do not depend on his or her sex. Budgets imbued with gender equality principles do not require increases in public spending, but rather a rearrangement and more efficient allocation of it. Such budgets value in a differentiated way the participation in and contributions to the production of goods and services by both men and women — remunerated or not — in order to better mobilize and distribute resources. Read the news release (in Spanish).
National Women's Forum Held in Kyrgyzstan to Tackle Crisis
More than 100 organizations working on gender and development issues met in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in April 2005 to discuss the impact of the country's political instability. The forum was organized in the immediate aftermath of the March "Tulip Revolution," when thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand the resignation of the president and his government.
With a date for the presidential elections set for July 2005, discussions are in progress throughout the country on the future nature and form of the government and national institutions. Women's rights activists initiated the forum to develop a joint platform for action to deal with the political instability as well as advocate for a strengthening of the country's gender policy. Recommendations coming out of the meeting included among others the introduction of special interim measures on women's political participation, a revision of the current system of quotas at all decision-making levels, specific legislation amendments, and ensuring a gender perspective in all laws and regulations. For more information, please contact Yelena Kudryavtseva, yelena.kudryavtseva@undp.org
First Independent Women's Radio Station in Iraq
With support from UNIFEM, Opportunities for Kids International (OKI), an NGO based in Baghdad, Iraq, launched Radio Al Mahaba, Voice of Women, the first-ever independent women's radio station in Iraq. Broadcasting on 96FM, the station features stories on women's human rights by local volunteers and women journalists and is an effective tool not only to reach out to women all over the country to raise awareness, but also to encourage greater female participation in the electoral processes underway. To listen to an MP3 clip from Voice of Women, visit OKI.
Gender and MDGs Contest Sparks Debate in Peru
A gender and MDGs research scholarship contest for university students that was carried out in Peru recently received 192 applications from around the country for only 10 available scholarships. One student chose to continue her involvement by organizing an online forum to keep debating the topic. The forum is one of the activities of UNIFEM's project on Gender and the Millennium Development Goals in Peru. Join the discussion forum (in Spanish).
Removing Gender Inequalities Key to Improving Development Effectiveness
UNIFEM, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) held a regional conference in May in New Delhi to discuss the South Asian experience in promoting development effectiveness by integrating gender concerns and removing gender inequalities. The conference tackled a wide range of issues, advocating for using a rights-based framework to address the implementation of development policies and programmes designed to reduce gender inequalities and poverty in South Asian countries. "Gender needs to be embedded in policies and programmes," said Shri Montel Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairperson of India's Planning Commission, acknowledging that an institutional gender balance was seriously lacking.
On the subject of responsibility in the development arena, Noeleen Heyzer, UNIFEM's executive director, stressed the need to accelerate change. "The costs of gender inequality are far too high to ignore. By not addressing it, we are re-generating poverty," she said. She also emphasized going beyond the micro-credit framework to focus on the macro-economic framework in order to adequately tackle issues for the poorest women. Read the press release. For more information, contact Lora Prabhu (lora.prabhu@undp.org) or Vandna Khurana (vandna.khurana@undp.org).
HIV/AIDS and Gender Workshop in Cuba
UNIFEM, UNDP, the Cuban Health Ministry and other partners organized a workshop in April 2005 on gender and HIV/AIDS for members of the health sector. UNIFEM facilitators, using a training guide on gender, HIV/AIDS and human rights to stimulate discussion on the impact of the epidemic on women and girls, demonstrated with several examples that HIV/AIDS has increased in countries where national policies were not focused on addressing gender inequalities. According to Dr Rosaida Ochoa of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Centre, Cuba has one of lowest levels of people infected with the disease. She credits government action to combat the epidemic that takes gender issues into account as a key reason for this achievement.
 Jordan 's Minister of ICT Visits e-Village
In April 2005, Ms Nadia Al Saeed, Jordan's Minister of Information and Communications Technology, visited the site of an e-village project being implemented in the villages of Lib and Mleih near Madaba. The project is a UNIFEM and Government of Jordan initiative that aims to transform Jordanian villages into gender-sensitive, economically empowered communities where ICT is extensively used to achieve a better quality of life. The Government of Jordan is interested in using the e-village as a model to be replicated in other villages and cities throughout the country, leading eventually to an "e-Jordan."
During her visit, Minister Al Saeed awarded prizes for a JADIR contest. JADIR, or "digital collections," was first introduced as a training session for villagers, and grew into a competition for those who completed the full course of computer skills. The JADIR contest has helped to raise awareness on the use of ICTs and develop the ability of local young people to enhance their creativity and skills. For more information, please contact Yazan Majaj, yazan@unifem.org.jo
Romany Women Claim Their Rights
Romany women in south-east Europe face numerous challenges — poverty rates are extremely high within their communities, compounded with both gender and ethnic discrimination. But strong believers in self-help, they are organizing to build their leadership capacity to address these obstacles. UNIFEM is providing support to the Roma Women's Initiative of OSI, based in Skopje, fYR of Macedonia, and the European Roma Rights Centre based in Budapest, Hungary, to develop a rights-based self-help programme. The programme is strengthening the leadership capacity of women to advocate for the elimination of gaps in their government's implementation of CEDAW in relation to Romany women.
With the fYR of Macedonia due to report to the CEDAW committee in January 2006, UNIFEM is providing technical support to a group of Romany women to research and prepare a shadow report on a few high-priority issues. The group has attended training sessions on conducting field research, analyzing findings, using CEDAW as an advocacy tool, and learning from the experience of NGOs, such as Macedonian NGO ESE, which has spent 15 months developing a wide-ranging shadow report. For more information, contact Kathryn Alborough, kathryn.alborough@undp.org
UNIFEM's Gender Advocacy in Afghanistan Newsletter
The Gender Advocacy in Afghanistan newsletter is a monthly compendium of factual information, statistics, and references around four different gender issues relevant to Afghanistan. The information is targeted at journalists, government and civil society groups to aid and facilitate gender-based advocacy and campaigning. In the interest of involving men as key partners in the fight for gender equality, at least one of the four issues covered each month will address women's human rights issues from a male perspective.
The first newsletter addressed trafficking in women and children, and forced marriage seen in the context of Afghan society, and from the perspective of men. The second newsletter highlighted the issue of drug addiction in the country and how this is affecting women, as well as customary laws and their intersection with Islam and constitutional law. The third issue focused on violence against women and discrimination against the disabled.
The three issues are available in English and Dari on the UNIFEM Afghanistan Country Programme website. For more information on the newsletters and to subscribe, please e-mail Sarah Kamal, sarah.kamal@undp.org
UNIFEM Executive Director's Seminar, June 2005
Professor Bina Agarwal from the University of Delhi, India, spoke about women's property status in India as a factor in marital violence. Her paper, with co-author Pradeep Panda of the Population Council, India — "Marital Violence, Human Development and Women's Property Status in India" — examines women's property status as a hitherto unexplored dimension in research on marital violence. Based on a household survey in Kerala, the authors assess the prevalence and correlates of both physical and psychological violence — both long-term and current. Women owning immovable property (land or a house) are found to face a significantly lower risk of marital violence than propertyless women, a finding that has implications for development policy. (Published in World Development, Vol 33, No. 5, 2005.) Read the paper.
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Other News
North-South Civil Society Conference on Refugee Warehousing
This conference, to be held on 25-26 September 2005, will gather advocates from refugee hosting and donor countries to share experiences and collaborate on strategies to win the basic rights of refugees as provided for in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and other human rights instruments. See the full announcement and call for presentations in English and French.
1325 Peacewomen Enews, Issue #60
The latest issue of this newsletter focuses on preparations for the Millennium+5 Summit. Read the issue.
Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on the Advancement of Women
The NAM Ministerial meeting was held on 9-10 May 2005 in Putrajaya, Malaysia, to discuss issues faced by women in the era of globalization. Read the Putrajaya Declaration and Programme of Action on the Advancement of Women in Member Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Gender Equality in New GTZ Projects
Germany 's biggest development aid agency, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), has taken several measures to ensure that gender equality is properly addressed in each of its projects. These measures include awareness campaigns and education projects, such as training Nicaraguan police officers on how to deal with female victims of violence. In Malawi, GTZ offers training in prevention of gender-based violence. (Excerpt from Eurostep weekly newsletter No 402.)
One-year Anniversary of Fiji's femTALK 89.2FM
Congratulations! femTALK 89.2FM, Fiji's mobile women's community radio initiative turned one in May this year. The project is operated by femLINKpacific, an NGO that runs media initiatives for women across the Fiji Islands, with a main focus on women and peace building, and women in shared decision making. Read more about this project.
CaucAsia Bulletin
CaucAsia is an international coalition of journalists writing on gender issues. Their bulletin is produced on a completely volunteer basis out of Tbilisi, Georgia. Read their fourth issue (in English), which focuses on Beijing+10 and its outcomes. For more information contact Galina Petriashvili (editor) at galapet@ip.osgf.ge
AWOMI Spearheads African Women's Involvement in the G-CAP
The recently inaugurated African Women's Millennium Initiative on Poverty and Human Rights (AWOMI), held its first meeting, titled "African Women Speak on Impoverishment: A Call to Action for Gender Justice and Equality," in Kenya on 9-11 May 2005.
More than 250 women and a number of men lending support to the cause of gender and social justice participated. The meeting was an opportunity to strengthen African women's participation in policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation of development benchmarks. In this respect participants compared gender equality indicators in the MDGs in line with what was agreed in the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995, the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 and the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
In view of the numerous activist initiatives to counter globalization, transnational accumulation, imbalanced power relations, inequalities and impoverishment, AWOMI reinforced alliances among African women social justice networks, youth, women from grassroots communities, human rights activists, and the media to join the call to end poverty. They called on African social actors to familiarize themselves with the Global Call Against Poverty (G-CAP) process and provide gender equality and human rights content to its messages. (By Salma Maoulidi, Sahiba Sisters Foundation, Tanzania.) More information is available from the International Gender and Trade Network.
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