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World Bank, IMF Charged With Short-Changing Women
Activists are pushing the World Bank and IMF to change the lens through which they view gender's role in development. Although women are the majority of the world's poor, activists say, the institutions overlook that when influencing economies. Source: Women's News (November 20, 2007)
The Challenges of Ratification: Highs and Lows of Gender Activism
On the second anniversary of the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa, Marren Akatsa-Bukachi reflects on the challenges faced in the past year. Source: Pambazuka (November 21, 2007)
Careers Give India’s Women New Independence
Cauvery Cariappa, who lives apart from her parents in Bangalore, said: “I get to live how I want. There’s nobody telling me I can’t.” Source: NYtimes (November 23, 2007)
Female Rights Workers Gain Thanks in Award Season
The fall human rights season--capped by the Nobel Peace Prize--left women receiving a fair share of the thanks-giving. Outside the ballrooms, the celebrity can give recipients a new measure of safety. Source: Women's News (November 22, 2007)
 Hundreds of thousands of women raped for being on the wrong side
Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is being used as an instrument of war in the ensuing Source: The Guardian (November 12, 2007)
Integration of Gender into Human Rights Council
Charlotte Bunch, executive director, Center for Women's Global Leadership
Presentation delivered at the UN Human Rights Council Source: Geneva - Interactive Panel (September 20, 2007)
 Women's Words
A Moroccan scholar-activist links language and power. Source: Ms. Magazine (August 2007)
 Women's contribution to equality in Latin America and the Caribbean
Women's contribution to equality in Latin America and the Caribbean brings to the fore two key issues in the structural pattern of inequality between women and men: first, political participation and gender parity in decision-making processes at all levels, and, second, women's contribution to the economy and social protection, especially in relation to unpaid work. Source: Choike (August 2007)
 Indigenous Women in the Vanguard
The world was stunned when it woke on New Year’s Day 1994 to news of an armed uprising in the mountains of Mexico. In an era of supposed global prosperity and stability, pundits were baffled revolutionary movements still existed. But by the time the masked Zapatista rebels left the jungle to make their international debut, the first revolution of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) had actually already occurred. Source: NACLA (10 August 2007)
 IRAQ: Continued violence causing gender role swap
Because men are under increased risk of being killed when outside their homes, women have begun taking on many traditionally male responsibilities. Source: IRIN (18 August 2007)
 ZIMBABWE: Daughters fetch high prices as brides
"Unless the economic meltdown is addressed, we will continue to see parents commodifying their daughters." Source: IRIN (17 August 2007)
Development Banks Lag on Sexual Health - Report
Despite strong verbal commitments to reproductive and sexual health, the so-called multilateral development banks (MDBs) that lend to poor nations have spent relatively little money on such projects and, in some cases, have followed policies on the ground that in fact impeded women's empowerment and improved public health, a new study charges. By Emad Mekay. Source: IPS (July 6, 2007)
When disasters strike...
“Disasters work like the magnifying glass of a society. They magnify what is good and what needs sincere help. Disasters do not affect everyone equally. Who you are and what you do determine your fate. The strong and the weak stand out. This is true for gender issues as much as for other issues.” By Mats Eriksson, Manjari Mehta and Kesang Renchen. Source: One World South Asia (July 5, 2007)
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Naomi Klein - Talking about war, free-market fundamentalism and a breed of politicos who thrive on disaster Source: Macleans (September 10 2007)
Human Rights Defender Mary Jane Real on Women's Engagement with UN Human Rights Council
Human rights defender Mary Jane Real on women's engagement with UN human rights council Source: Isis International (August 16 2007)
 Legislation Not Enough to Secure Women's Rights: an Interview with Aruna Rao
The women's movement over the last decade has revealed how legislative guarantees and policy reforms do not necessarily result in opening institutional spaces, and that participation does not necessarily translate into influence.
Source: IPS (July 18, 2007)
 Alice Walker Advocates for Women
Alice Walker is a novelist, poet and essayist whose work has been translated into more than two dozen languages. Her novel, The Color Purple, won a Pulitzer Prize and has been made into a movie and most recently a Broadway play. By Lauren Wilcox. Source: oneworld.net (April, 2007)
Lobbying for Women’s Rights at the UN?: An interview with Leyla Pervizat
Leyla Pervizat is a Turkish feminist researcher and activist who played a pivotal role in lobbying for the UN resolution on elimination of crimes against women and girls committed in the name of honour. By Soheila Vahdati. Source: meydaan.com (April, 2007)
 Unveiling the Iranian Queer Organization: An Interview with Arsham Parsi
Arsham Parsi, one of the founders and the secretary-general of the organization, describes the formation and activities of IRQO and the existing challenges surrounding sexuality issues in Iran. He also shares his own experiences fighting for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Iran. By Mahnaz Salami. Source: Gozaar (April, 2007)
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`New Rules' for Hillary and Barack
A big disappointment of this election for some is that Hillary does not seem like more of an agent for/of change than she does. She is instead caught remaking the old-Bill's old-boy political networks. By Zillah Eisenstein. Source: Ithaca College (December 2007)
Katrina's Gender Focus Offers Lesson for Recovery
After Hurricane Katrina, women's funds were quick to respond and help women lead recovery efforts in their communities. Two years later, Sara Gould and Cynthia Schmae say a focus on women provides lessons for disaster relief and aids social change. By Gould and Schmae. Source: WeNews (August 29, 2007)
Violence Against Women Not Included in Peace Index
For a report that aims to look beyond traditional military conquests as measures of peace, this one is woefully negligent of how most of the world population experiences violence: in the home. By Eesha Pandit. Source: RH Reality Check (July 30, 2007)
Putting power back into empowerment
The political claim advanced by women in India via the idea of "empowerment" has been appropriated by their adversaries and false friends. It needs to be rewon for a fresh vision grounded in the experiences of poor women. By Srilatha Batliwala. Source: Open Democracy (July 30, 2007)
Pathways of women's empowerment
The dominant thinking about women and development has become mired in a progressive-sounding orthodoxy that fails to engage with the realities of women’s experience and aspirations around the world. The journey beyond “development-lite” is also the search for a new democracy. By Andrea Cornwall. Source: Open Democracy (July 30, 2007)
Well-meaning interference
It's the season when the United States issues its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP). Having named sexual slavery as a particular evil to be eradicated, the United States grades other countries on how they are doing. Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer (July 1, 2007)
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Just say noBetton Woods Project, 2.7.2007
Member countries are increasingly rebuffing World Bank and IMF programmes, advice and even membership, with Latin American nations withdrawing from the Bank's investment arbitration mechanism.
Should We Dump the North-South Lens?The Drum Beat, 2.7.2007
In 1970 the United Nations (UN) adopted the overseas development assistance (ODA) target of 0.7% of Gross National Product (GNP).
G8: Much Talk, Too Few ResultsIPS, 8.6.2007
This year's summit of the G8 heads of government will likely be remembered as a "how not to" organise such an event, for the contrast between the expectations it raised and its negligible accomplishments, and for its enormous security costs.
Activists discuss direction, future of global anti-poverty campaign at UruguayOne World, 3.5.2007
Uruguayan Vice President Rodolfo Nin Novoa inaugurated a meeting of Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), a worldwide coalition of civil society organisations lobbying governments to eradicate poverty, with a call to the campaign to help bring down poverty and a promise to halve Uruguayan poverty levels by 2015.
Fair Trade Begins to Bear FruitIPS, 2.5.2007
The living and working conditions of thousands of small farmers in Guatemala have seen much improvement since they joined the "fair trade" system, which sets new rules for the game in an otherwise difficult global market.
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Women's Human Rights
in the News |
Ban Ki-moon pledges system-wide UN campaign to fight violence against womenUN News Centre, 25.11.2007
Denouncing violence against women as “one of the most heinous, systematic and prevalent human rights abuses in the world,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has vowed to lead a campaign against the scourge.
Bangladeshi writer moved to DelhiBBC News, 24.11.2007
Controversial Bangladeshi feminist writer Taslima Nasreen has been moved out of the western Indian city of Jaipur to a location in Delhi.
As order slides, Palestinian women face honor killingsThe Christian Science Monitor, 20.11.2007
Rights activists say such murders have increased as a result of the worsened security situation, and press for a new law.
UN rape debate a shameful spatThe Times, South Africa, 18.11.2007
When nations of the world face threats of international instability, especially war, they correctly look to the United Nations to broker peace. But the cosmetic debate about rape in the UN General Assembly a week ago does not inspire confidence.
Uganda sets up red-light districtBBC, 16.11.2007
Special zones to control the activities of commercial sex workers are being set up in Uganda's capital ahead of the Commonwealth leaders' meeting.
Legislative Bargain Frays Some in LGBT CommunityWeNews, 16.11.2007
Legislation to protect gay and lesbian Americans that passed the House last week fell short for transgender people and their advocates, who wanted "gender identity" protections that got cut from the original version.
Saudi gang-rape victim is jailedBBC, 15.11.2007
An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of lashes and added a jail sentence as punishment for a woman who was gang-raped.
Voice for democracy muffled in PakistanLos Angeles Times, 7.11.2007
Inside a gated two-story home in a fashionable section of this ancient city sits a woman the government appears to fear the most, biding her time, smoking one cigarette after another.
Mbeki admits he is still Aids dissident six years onThe Guardian, 6.11.2007
President Thabo Mbeki remains an "Aids dissident" who has told a biographer that he regrets bowing to pressure from his cabinet to "withdraw from the debate" over the disease ravaging South Africa.
Rwanda is Africa’s best on gender equityNew Times, 6.11.2007
Rwanda has been ranked Africa’s number one and the world’s second in recognition and respect of women rights.
Mozambique: Legal Framework for Rights of Prostitutes NeededallAfrica.com, 5.11.2007
Mozambique's Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs and Social Welfare, Joao Kandiyane, declared on Friday that it was urgent that each southern African country should establish a legal framework appropriate to its own reality, in order to respect the fundamental rights of prostitutes.
Indian Tribunal Pushes for Sexual-Violence InquiryWeNews, 5.11.2007
A citizens' report in India highlights the sexual violence suffered last March by villagers in Nandigram and calls for a special trial of local authorities. Despite media coverage of the report the government has not responded.
Thousands of Chileans to March Against FemicideWeNews, 4.11.2007
Safety advocates in Chile are planning nighttime marches across the country to protest the growing number of women killed by domestic violence; President Michelle Bachelet has proposed related legislation to be debated in coming weeks.
Pro-Choice Activists Rally as U.K. Mulls RollbacksWeNews, 2.11.2007
Colombian and Mexican activists last week told an international safe-abortion conference about strategies that helped them succeed in liberalizing abortion laws. They spoke in London, where abortion limits are under discussion.
Uganda: Does Rape Exist in Marriages?The Monitor, 2.11.2007
The existence of rape in marriages or its absence raises one of the hottest debates in Uganda today.
First lady takes command after big victoryTimes Online, 30.10.2007
Argentina’s first lady was preparing to form the country’s next government yesterday after storming to victory in the elections at the weekend.
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Say NO to Violence Against WomenUNIFEM
This year, please join UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman in support of UNIFEM's campaign to Say No to Violence against Women! Add your name to a worldwide movement to speak out against violence against women. This initiative will lead up to a campaign by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to put a halt to this shameful human rights violation.
Urgent: Act Now to Stop Bloodshed in BurmaAung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the legitimately elected government of Burma, has been transferred to Insein Prison, called by one former prisoner "the darkest hell-hole in Burma."
Press Iran to Release Iranian-American ScholarFeminist Majority Foundation, August 2007
Dear feminist activist,
I write you today with an urgent request: demand the immediate release of renowned Iranian-American scholar Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, who is imprisoned in Iran's notorious Evin prison, a location infamous for the torture and detention of political prisoners.
Rape of a minor girl/ Risk of impunityThe International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Nepal.
Support the Declaration & Protect Indigenous Peoples’ RightsCultural Survival, 7.6.2007
Your help is urgently needed to protect indigenous peoples’ rights worldwide.
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Human Rights Council - Universal Periodic Review mechanismInformation note for NGOs regarding the Universal Periodic Review mechanism
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence2007 Campaign Theme
Demanding Implementation, Challenging Obstacles: End Violence Against Women
What Convention?To find out at a glance what International Conventions, Treaties and Agreements your country has signed up to and/or ratified, as well as what obligations this places on your government, and any 'reservations' which they have declared.
Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of womenUN, Division for the Advancement of Women
Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women online discussion, which will be conducted in English, will run for four weeks from 18 June to 15 July 2007.
openSummitWomen talk to the G8.
The Human Rights Council and Women's RightsHuman Rights Watch
The newly-established United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is charged with overseeing and addressing the human rights situation around the world. Created in March 2006 the Council has 47 state members. It replaces the UN Commission on Human Rights which also was a state entity with more members and a slightly narrower mandate.
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"It just seems clear to me that as long as we are all here . . . the struggle is to share the planet, rather than divide it."
-- Alice Walker |
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