Crisis in the Darfur

Sudan's Darfur region is in the grip of a critical humanitarian crisis. Since conflict broke out in February 2003, more than one million people have been displaced, and tens of thousands have been killed while fleeing their homes and villages.

        As communities are torn apart by the conflict, basic protections for women and girls have been seriously undermined. Women and girls are assaulted daily, with gender-based violence (GBV) used as a weapon of war to humiliate and debilitate civilians and their communities. Rape, abductions, sexual slavery and torture are being inflicted on women and girls in a large-scale and often systematic fashion, resulting in a climate of fear and insecurity, and threats to entire families' livelihoods. Tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are currently scattered in spontaneous settlements around the region — some near existing towns, others in more remote areas with little or no access to humanitarian assistance.

        As part of a UN effort to better address women's humanitarian and protection needs, UNIFEM participated in a mission led by UNDP in June to assess the scale of GBV occurring within villages, during flight to refugee camps, and within camps themselves. The delegation heard numerous testimonies indicating that violence against women was a prominent characteristic of the conflict, both rampant and ubiquitous, even in IDP camps.

        Maha Muna, UNIFEM's Peace and Security Programme Manager, a member of the delegation, described how, one after another, women came forward to talk about the abuse and rape that had occurred as they fled their fields and villages. Despite strong cultural taboos that would normally dissuade men from discussing sexual violence, male village chiefs or "sheikhs" also came forward, consistently beginning their testimonies by recounting how the "Janjaweed" attacked villages, burned huts and raped village women.

        "One IDP camp we visited had several women who had been there for six or seven months, some of whom were now six or seven months pregnant," Ms Muna recounted. "They were completely distressed when I asked them what would happen to their children when they were born. They said that they didn't know because such horror had never happened to them before. Experiences in Southern Sudan indicate that infanticide is often practiced — meaning that women who are raped, often then experience a second trauma of losing the child they carried to term. It is critical that the international community provide assistance and protection for these particularly vulnerable women and their children."

        The reaction to sexual assault and communities' coping mechanisms widely varied. In some communities, rape was regarded as an attack and involuntary, thus allowing victims to live with their brothers' families, but never marry. Other communities did not consider rape an injury, preventing women from getting much needed medical assistance. Female genital mutilation (FGM), still practiced in parts of the region, further contributes to the physical trauma of violence, including increased vulnerability of women and girls to obstetric complications, fistula and sexually transmitted infections.

        As the UN prepares its response to the Darfur crisis, UNIFEM has outlined recommendations for appropriate plans and resources that target women and recognize them both as beneficiaries and as active agents within their communities. "For instance, women must be recognized as heads of households and registered to receive aid," said Ms Muna. "Leah, an older, widowed woman I met in the Genina IDP camp, was looking after a young 6-year-old girl who had been separated from her family. Leah received okra for her meals from men in the camp. She was worried because, although the men had been able to find work in the town market and buy food, many had been beaten the night before and run out of the camp. Leah has no registration card, and had not received any humanitarian assistance. Unless she is considered a head of household and is registered eligible for humanitarian assistance and ration cards, she and the little girl may not survive. Women like Leah support the community, but often remain invisible and are among the most vulnerable IDPs."

        For more information on the impact of the conflict on Darfurian women and UNIFEM's and the UN's Response, visit the Women, War & Peace portal. See also, Africa Cannot Develop Unless Women Exercise Real Power Says Secretary-General in Message to Addis Ababa Session, 7 July 2004, in which the U.N. Secretary General condemns the use of GBV as a weapon of war.

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Women and AIDS Highlighted at XV International AIDS Conference

The International AIDS Conference (IAC), held every two years, is a much anticipated event for thousands of delegates working on HIV/AIDS issues. Started as a scientific and medical conference, in recent years it has paid attention increasingly to the social and human rights dimensions of the epidemic, providing a space for governments, community and science to dialogue and share knowledge on responses to the crisis.

        The XV IAC held in Bangkok in July 2004 drew more than 17,000 delegates with its theme "Access for All." Unlike previous years, this year gender issues seemed to feature more prominently on the conference agenda — a response possibly to the alarming increase in infections among women and girls worldwide and repeated calls from activists and the United Nations that immediate attention be given to this disturbing reality.

        Women now make up 48% of all adults living with HIV, up from 35% in 1985. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region most devastated by the disease, 57% of those living with HIV are women. Of particular concern are the dramatic increases in HIV infections among young women, who now make up more than 60% of 15-24-year-olds living with HIV/AIDS.

        UNIFEM participated actively in the IAC, launching a joint report with UNFPA and UNAIDS, Women and AIDS: Confronting the Crisis. The report discusses the impact of the epidemic on women and girls and recommends critical action that must be taken to stem the spread of HIV and to support effectively the millions already living with HIV. UNIFEM also organized several sessions, including an immensely successful Women's Leadership Forum, that brought together women from all sectors who are leading the fight against AIDS. The frank, informal dialogue and strategizing that came out of the Forum were reflected in the conference's final Leadership Statement, ensuring that gender concerns are an integral part of commitments to fight HIV/AIDS.

        To read more about the conference and UNIFEM's participation, visit the Gender and HIV/AIDS web portal.

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UNIFEM Around the World

Women, HIV/AIDS and Poverty
"It was not an easy feat for Mrs Nane Annan and all of us to negotiate our way in the Kiambu slums. ... We had to walk in single file as there was no road, now and again jumping over running dirty water flowing between the muddy huts." Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, UNIFEM's Regional Programme Director for East and Horn of Africa writes of her visit with Mrs Annan and other UN colleagues to an outreach project supported by the Kenya Network of Women Living with AIDS (KENWA). » Read the article. For more information, contact nyaradzai.gumbonzvanda@undp.org

LAC Gearing Up for Beijing +10
The IX Regional Conference on Women, organized by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, was held in June in Mexico City. The conference discussed the Beijing Platform for Action and regional Beijing +10 (B+10) review processes, in preparation for the global B+10 Review in New York in 2005. The Mexico Consensus, adopted at the meeting, affirms the Platform for Action and the Cairo Programme of Action, and will be presented to the global review in March 2005. The Consensus was approved by all countries present except the United States, Nicaragua and El Salvador, which presented reservations regarding women's sexual and reproductive health.
        UNIFEM hosted several events during the conference, including a panel to launch a series of publications in Spanish on gender, budgeting and economics, and a UN roundtable on the role of the MDGs in advancing the Beijing agenda. UNIFEM's team also participated in the Women's NGO Forum that preceded the conference, providing support to regional women's networks to brainstorm and define their position on B+10 and the MDGs.
        For more information on the ECLAC conference, visit their web site. For information on UNIFEM's publications on gender, budgeting and economics, contact amaia.perez@unifem.org.mx

South Asia B+10 NGO Meeting
The Beyond Beijing Committee (BBC) in Nepal, with UNIFEM support, organized a South Asia B+10 NGO meeting in June 2004 to evaluate and monitor the implementation of the Platform for Action in preparation for the Asia-Pacific NGO Forum and subsequently the global B+10 Review in March 2005. The meeting proved a valuable opportunity for South Asian women to prioritize key issues of concern and submit these for discussion at the Asia-Pacific Forum. For further information, please contact Gitanjali Singh, gitanjali.singh@undp.org

Asia-Pacific NGO Forum on B+10
Held in Bangkok in July 2004, the NGO forum brought together more than 700 women from NGOs across the region to discuss NGO responses and activities leading up to the global review in 2005. Numerous workshops were organized around each of the twelve critical areas of concern outlined in the Beijing Platform for Action, and included topics such as perspectives of the women's movement in Asian Muslim societies, and the impact of militarism and extremism on women's human rights and sustainable development. The Forum will be represented at the upcoming inter-governmental Economic and Social Commission of Asia-Pacific (ESCAP) meeting in September 2004. For further information, contact Amalin Sundaravej, amalin.sundaravej@unifem.un.or.th

Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA)
The ESCWA regional meeting to discuss preparations for B+10 took place in Lebanon in July 2004. Participants at the meeting identified women and conflict as a priority issue, urging for a "Call for Peace" to be a rallying point for Arab women in the review of B+10. For further information, please contact Shirin Shulri, shirin@unifem.org

Combating Femicide and Violence Against Women in Ciudad Juarez
UNIFEM UK National Committee President Juliet Colman wrote an article in the British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union's magazine, IPU Review, on the murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. » Read the article (p.6 in PDF file, 422KB). For more information on UNIFEM's work in Ciudad Juarez, contact Amaia Perez, amaia.perez@unifem.org.mx

Out of the Poverty Trap: Women Taking the Lead
At an ECOSOC ministerial breakfast hosted by UNIFEM in June 2004, participants discussed the importance of investing in women's empowerment and leadership to reduce poverty in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), particularly in post-conflict situations. Speakers explored a range of issues, including microcredit, micro versus macroeconomic engagement, and food security. What was stressed throughout was the need for women to realize their potential as change agents in poverty elimination, and the need for enabling environments that provide for better resource allocation and investment in building women's capacity and skills.
        HE Angeline Muganza, Rwandan Minister for Skills Development, Vocational Training, and Labour, and former Minister of Gender and Women's Development, spoke of Rwanda's experience after the genocide in 1994, and the leadership that Rwandan women have shown in lifting themselves out of poverty. She described how the unprecedented level of political participation by women in Rwanda, as evidenced now by 49% female representation in Rwanda's Parliament, did not occur overnight. After the genocide, Rwandan women began regrouping immediately, "even to just cry," and the new government moved from exclusive politics to a policy of inclusion and participation for everyone regardless of ethnicity, religion or gender. The newly established Ministry of Gender and Women's Development encouraged women's organizing, resulting in a critical mass of women supporting the drafting of a new and gender-sensitive Constitution.
        Muganza lauded the resilience and courage of Rwandan women in putting their lives and communities back together, and called for greater international commitment to supporting their efforts to escape poverty. "Rwandan women have played a role in getting themselves out of poverty — they started taking care of themselves and the children. They started microfinance businesses and started 'merry-go-rounds' (lending each other small amounts of money), but they are still poor," she said. She stressed education, skills development, and health care, especially for HIV-positive women, as areas where women's capacity needs to be strengthened so that they can be a productive force and move beyond poverty.

UNIFEM Film on Trafficking Wins Award for Best Film
A UNIFEM-produced film on trafficking in South Asia called "Ujale Ke Ore" (Beyond Darkness) won the Best Human Rights Film award at the UGC-CEC (University Grants Commission - Consortium for Educational Communication) Educational Video Competition in May 2004. "Ujale Ke Ore," directed by Kala Iyer of Genesis Media, was produced as a package of four films addressing different aspects of human trafficking under the UNIFEM Regional Anti-Trafficking Programme. For further information, please contact Nandita Baruah, nandita.baruah@undp.org

Governments Discuss Gender Budgeting
A public debate on gender budgets took place in Brazil's National Congress in June 2004. UNIFEM and several partners organized the debate to discuss strategies to institutionalize gender into the national budgetary processes. The President of the Budget Commission suggested forming a sub-commission to monitor expenditures and strengthen accountability from a gender perspective. For more information, contact Florence Raes, florence@undp.org.br
        "Women's groups have met me and urged me to consider gender budgeting. This means that the budget data should be presented in a manner that the gender sensitivities of budgetary allocations are clearly highlighted. ... An expert group has submitted a report. ... It has recommended appropriate systems for data collection and representation in the budget. ... Government will examine the recommendations, and I hope it will be possible for me to implement some of them in the Budget for 2005-06." —Mr P. Chidambaram, Union Finance Minister of India, in his Budget Speech on 8 July 2004.

Progress of Arab Women Report
UNIFEM's Progress of Arab Women 2004 report was officially launched by HM Queen Rania of Jordan in July 2004. The report looks at the situation of Arab women in the context of their political, economic and social security in a region faced with radical social transformations, demographic shifts, resource shortages, poverty and conflict. Offering a glimpse into the everyday world of Arab women, the report identifies progress made, but also critically highlights challenges and unfulfilled commitments that need urgent attention, such as Family Codes and state practices that limit women's citizenship rights and obstacles to women's political participation. For more information, please contact Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, haifa@unifem.org.jo

Bridging the Gender Digital Divide
UNIFEM and UNDP have launched a joint report on the gender dimensions of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS). The report highlights the need for increased action to address imbalances between women's and men's access to and participation in ICTs in the CEE/CIS region, and emphasizes the powerful potential of ICTs as a vehicle for advancing gender equality. Bridging the Gender Digital Divide is now available in English for download. A Russian translation is underway and will be available for download on the UNIFEM CIS and UNDP web sites (UNDP Regional Center in Bratislava and RBEC Virtual Gender Library).

Armenian Film Wins Another International Festival Award
"Sniper," a film by 8-year-old Hovnan Bagghdasaryan and 10-year-old Vardan Arshakuni from Armenia, has won the Grand Prix at the Kids for Kids International Film Festival in Athens. The one-minute film, produced with UNIFEM support as part of a "Youth and Peace" national contest for children from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, has also won awards in Finland and the United Kingdom. For more information, contact Irina Chumachenko, irina.chumachenko@undp.org

Calvert and UNIFEM Launch "The Calvert Women's Principles"
The Calvert Women's Principles is a new global code of corporate conduct that focuses exclusively on gender equality and women's rights. Launched by UNIFEM, and Calvert, America's largest family of socially responsible mutual funds, in June in New York, this corporate responsibility initiative provides firms with a set of goals they can aspire to and measure their progress against. It also offers investors a set of tools they can use to assess corporate performance on gender equality issues. The Principles cover such issues as wages and benefits; health, safety and violence; discrimination in the workplace; civic and community engagement; management and governance; hiring, promotion and professional development; business and supply chain practices; and monitoring and reporting.
        "The Calvert Women's Principles will provide a concrete set of indicators for tracking the progress of gender justice in the corporate community," said Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM. "Increasing corporate business accountability with regard to gender equality is high priority for UNIFEM because it is fundamental to women's survival, options and opportunities."
        Calvert announced that it intends to integrate the Principles into its own social and environmental research and screening of companies for its investment portfolios, and also intends to issue ratings of companies based in part upon their adherence to the Principles. Calvert also intends to engage corporations through dialogue and shareholder resolutions, asking them to endorse the Principles and to take concrete steps to implement them.

        For more information, visit the Calvert web site, or contact Joan Libby-Hawk, joan.libby-hawk@undp.org

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Other News

ECOSOC Reviews Gender Mainstreaming Within UN System
The UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) reviewed, in its annual meeting in July, UN system-wide efforts to include a gender perspective in all UN policies and programmes. Governments agreed that progress had been made with the adoption of gender equality strategies and the establishment of gender focal points within UN agencies, but also pointed to gaps that remained in several areas, such as health and education, where gender issues continued to be inadequately incorporated. Governments stressed that gender perspectives must cut across all UN activities and be integrated into strategies for poverty eradication, macroeconomic development, social protection, agriculture and rural development, and peace and security. » Read more

UNIFEM Accepting Trust Fund Applications
Applications for grants from UNIFEM's Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women are now being accepted. In 2004, the Trust Fund will provide funding for innovative and catalytic initiatives to prevent and respond to violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations. » Application guidelines

CEDAW Elections
At a meeting of States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) held at UN headquarters in New York on 5 August 2004, eleven new members were elected to the CEDAW Committee. They are: Ms Mary Shanthi Dairiam (Malaysia), Ms Magalys Arocha Dominguez (Cuba), Ms Françoise Gaspard (France), Ms Tiziana Maiolo (Italy), Ms Silvia Pimentel (Brazil), Ms Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling (Germany), Ms Heisoo Shin (Republic of Korea), Ms Glenda P. Simms (Jamaica), Ms Anamah Tan (Singapore), Ms Maria Regina Tavares da Silva (Portugal), and Ms Zou Xiaoqiao (China). The term of office of these newly elected members begins on 1 January 2005 and expires on 31 December 2008.

Human Rights Entitlements Must Be Upheld in Trade Negotiations
Paul Hunt, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, presented his report to the Secretary-General on his recent mission to the World Trade Organisation. The report provides a very clear analysis of the responsibilities to uphold human rights entitlements in trade negotiations. This document is available in English, French, Russian, Chinese and Spanish on the OHCHR web site.

INSTRAW Launches New Website
The United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) officially launched its new website on 22 July 2004. Visit www.un-instraw.org.

For the Health of Women, For the Health of the World: No More Violence
The 16 Days Campaign of Activism Against Gender Violence, now in its 14th year, is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute, sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the beginning and ending dates — November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day — to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights.
        The 2004 16 Days of Activism theme, "For the Health of Women, For the Health of the World: No More Violence," highlights the important intersection of violence against women and women's health, particularly in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. There is a growing body of research calling attention to the connection between violence against women and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Violence, and the fear of violence, hinder women's ability to prevent transmission of the virus and compromise their access to a range of services, including testing and treatment. Women also often experience further violence once they are or are perceived to be infected.
        For more information and to access the 2004 Take Action Kit, contact Sara Nordstrom, 16 Days Campaign Coordinator, Center for Women's Global Leadership, 160 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Tel: 1-732-932-8782. Fax: 1-732-932-1180. Web: www.cwgl.rutgers.edu. E-mail: cwgl@igc.org

Two Women Appointed to Senior UN Posts
Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced in August the appointment of two women to senior posts in the United Nations dealing with gender issues and humanitarian affairs. Rachel Mayanja, a Ugandan national and currently the Director of the Human Resources Management Division at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is slated to become Mr. Annan's Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. She succeeds Assistant-Secretary-General Angela King, who retired earlier this year. The new Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator will be Margareta Wahlstrom, who most recently served as the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), in charge of relief, reconstruction and development. Ms. Wahlstrom, from Sweden, succeeds Carolyn McAskie, who is now Mr. Annan's Special Representative for Burundi and chief of the UN Operation (ONUB) in the Central African nation. » Read more

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