Empowering women & girls through lifelong education
IFUW Board and Staff would like to wish all readers a peaceful 2010.
During the next three weeks the blog will take a break. In the meanwhile, we would like to give you the opportunity to suggest future blog topics. Please write to us and share the topics that are “close to your heart” .
We will be back with a new blog post on13 January 2010.
Click here to read and write comments.
After years of pressure, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted the long awaited resolution calling for a single, independent gender entity. The new reform will provide a system-wide coherence of the UN gender equality approach by consolidation of the existing gender-related bodies.
A detailed structure proposal will be finalized mid-December; once approved by the Secretary-General, Member States will consider it in a special session in February 2010. The new entity will be headed by an Under Secretary-General thus securing a high level of authority within the UN. The recruiting process will start as soon the UN General Assembly has allocated funding for the position. The appointment will hopefully be confirmed by March 2010.
The GEAR Campaign (Gender Equality Architecture Reform), a network of more than 310 civil society organizations of which IFUW is a member, played a key role in the campaign to achieve the above changes.
GEAR believes that the effectiveness of the new entity depends largely on the level of funding and is calling for an annual budget starting at $1 billion. Some parties would prefer a large percentage of this to come from voluntary donors. IFUW believes that most should come from the regular assessed contributions.
GEAR continues to push for a “systematic and meaningful participation of civil society, especially women’s organizations” in the work of the new entity. Civil society should be given “a voice” through access of meetings, participation in policy formulations, agenda setting, monitoring etc.
What commitment has your government made towards the implementation of the entity? IFUW urges its national federations and associations to contact their government to lobby for adequate funding for the entity’s works and for a strong civil society role in the process.
Click here to read and write comments.
According to some estimates, up to 70 per cent of women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. The United Nations General Assembly, which designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, has invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designed to raise public awareness of the problem.
UNIFEM has taken a leading role in advocating for the elimination of violence against women in form of a world-wide campaign, Say NO to Violence Against Women. The first phase of this campaign, of which IFUW was a launch partner, generated over 5 million signatures in a global call to make this issue a top priority worldwide. Heads of States and Ministers from 69 Governments and more than 600 Parliamentarians have added their names to Say NO since then.
The second phase of the UNIFEM campaign, Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women, is a global platform for advocacy and action. It aims to trigger and highlight actions by individuals, governments and civil society. Actions can range from adding your name to the Say NO petition, volunteering at local shelters or women’s organizations, advocating for legislation to reaching out to students at schools, spreading the message through blogs and tweets or donating funds that support local organizations on the ground. The initial goal is to reach 100,000 actions by March 2010. IFUW members are encouraged to add their actions taken on the Say NO website.
Every action is counted to showcase the global wave of engagement, urging governments to make ending violence against women and girls a top priority. People must engage at all levels, transform beliefs and attitudes, and ensure laws, programmes and services are implemented and well resourced.
What actions have you taken? Share your experience and inspire others.
© UNESCO (Afghanistan, Kandahar)
Recently the United Nations Security Council voiced deep concern about the continuing under-representation of women at all stages of peace processes. Nearly nine years have passed since Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security was adopted, but to date only 16 countries* have developed national action plans.
The Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon urged all Member States to adopt national action plans before the 10th anniversary of the resolution next year. Having national plans is not enough however. Implementation is key to achieving the goals of the resolution. Member states were also encouraged to address such female needs as greater physical security, better socio-economic conditions through education, income generating activities, access to health services and access to justice.
The Secretary General pointed out that “a growing body of evidence suggests that bringing women to the peace table improves the quality of agreements reached, and increases the chances of successful implementation”. Yet, UNIFEM reports that women average less than 10 per cent of the members of official negotiating teams at peace talks.”
What steps have been taken in your country towards implementing resolution 1325? What are the barriers to promoting women’s role as peace builders?
Click here to read and write comments.
* Austria, Belgium, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Liberia, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
2009 Security Council report: Women and peace and security by the Secretary-General
From the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
The Human Rights Council adopted, by a vote of 26 to 15 with 6 abstentions, Resolution 12/21: Promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms through a better understanding of traditional values of humankind. The resolution recognizes “that all cultures and civilizations in their traditions, customs, religions and beliefs share a common set of values that belong to humankind in its entirety, and that those values have made an important contribution to the development of human rights norms and standards.”
Conchita Poncini, IFUW representative to United Nations in Geneva, has pointed out that the words “traditional” and “values” are both relative terms. There is a danger that these can be used to excuse or exacerbate certain harmful practices that are considered “traditional”, such as male guardianship, female genital mutilation, early marriage, inheritance laws that exclude women, etc.
The resolution also reiterates that “while the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind, all States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, have the duty to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
The Human Rights Council will convene a workshop in 2010 for an exchange of views on how a better understanding of traditional values of humankind underpinning international human rights norms and standards can contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
To help IFUW to prepare its input, we would like to have a better understanding of what “traditional values” means in your country and whether there are any traditions that could be harmful to women.
Click here to read the whole 12/21 Resolutions.
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