December 2005 – In This Issue:
16 Days Campaign 2005
UNIFEM observed the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence with a wide range of activities organized around the world by its regional and country offices, partner organizations and national committees. From public forums, seminars, and workshops to exhibitions, theatre performances and media campaigns, not a day went by from 25 November to 10 December without a reminder that violence against women is a human rights violation that must be stopped, and that everyone can play a part in doing so.
In Thailand, a public forum invited comments on the country's pending domestic violence bill, with ideas from the forum sent to national newspapers to stimulate further debate on the issue. In Cambodia, the White Ribbon campaign, a part of the 16 Days of Activism that specifically targets involving men as partners against violence, was launched by the Cambodian Men's Network, who went door-to-door to raise awareness and encourage public participation. A conference for government officials and civil society representatives on the problem of child marriages took place in Afghanistan, while in Abkhazia, the 16 Days was observed for the first time through a public awareness campaign that included seminars for students and round table sessions for the media and local authorities.
A memorial was held in Nigeria, to remember all women who had lost their lives to violence and to recognize the courage of survivors. Attendees wore coloured t-shirts — beige for domestic violence, blue for incest and child abuse, red for rape and white for murdered victims — to signify the impact of particular forms of abuse on their lives. "No Safe Haven," a Project Alert compilation of media reports of violent attacks on women between December 2004 and November 2005, was launched at the event along with symbolic lighting of candles, reciting of poems and sharing of testimonies from survivors and families of victims of violence.
Across Latin America and the Caribbean, a regional public campaign, which included UN agencies and international bodies, such as the Pan-American Health Organization, ISIS International, and the Centre for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL), called to action hundreds of organizations and thousands of activists to advocate against gender-based violence.
UNIFEM's national committees in various countries spearheaded publicity campaigns, working with local media to place articles in daily newspapers, run radio and TV spots and advocating with national authorities on effectively implementing existing policies and legislation on ending gender-based violence. In New Zealand, 50,000 white ribbons were distributed at breakfasts, street events and free concerts to symbolize speaking out against abuse of women and children, while in Iceland, activities organized by UNIFEM's national committee and 25 other civil society organizations included putting "band-aids" on all lower court houses in the country to call attention to inefficiencies within the justice system in dealing with cases of gender-based violence.
At an event at UNIFEM headquarters in New York, grantees from UNIFEM's Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence against Women told of their experiences working to combat violence in their communities. (Read remarks by Ms Emilienne de Leon and Dr Sidiga Washi.) The occasion also saw the announcement of new Trust Fund grantees — 24 groups working in 30 countries received grants to further their work on ensuring that national policies and laws to end violence against women were being implemented, and to specifically address the deadly intersection of violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS. (See press releases: Twenty-Four Groups Receive Grants to End Violence against Women, and UNIFEM, UNAIDS and Johnson & Johnson Announce New Grants Addressing Links between Violence against Women and Spread of HIV and AIDS.)
See also:
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UNIFEM Responds to the Tsunami Disaster
One Year Later — A Report Card
“When recovery and reconstruction programmes respond to the realities and needs of women and support their leadership and organizing, many local and effective solutions can be scaled up and women’s voices and networks empowered to build the policies and institutions necessary for a more just and sustainable future.”
—
Noeleen Heyzer, UNIFEM executive director
One year after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster struck countries in South and Southeast Asia, and Eastern Africa, many affected communities have slowly begun to put the pieces of their lives together. Read about UNIFEM's work in the Aceh, Sri Lanka and Somalia over the last year.
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Owning Development
Promoting Gender Equality in the New Aid Modalities and Partnerships
A conference held in Brussels 7–9 November 2005 by UNIFEM and the European Commission (EC) discussed how to accelerate progress on gender equality and development cooperation, within the context of a changing aid architecture that is increasingly driven by partnership between donor and recipient countries, and ownership of the development process by the recipients of aid.
The meeting, which brought together government representatives, women's rights advocates, donors and UN partners, was designed as a follow-up to 2005's landmark events, including the 10-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, the adoption of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, and the 2005 World Summit. It provided an important, and timely, space for women from developing countries to engage in the "partnership for development" debate with the EC and other donors and highlighted possible entry points to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the new aid agenda and national development planning.
Discussions focused on 5 interrelated themes — National ownership, gender equality and national development planning; Participation and negotiation; Partnerships; Accountability and mutual accountability; Knowledge and communication. Read the news release.
A full report on the conference proceedings will be available in early 2006 on UNIFEM's website. For related documents and links, including the conference concept note, conference programme, and presentations, please see the conference web page.
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UNIFEM Around the World
World Summit on the Information Society, Tunis, November 2005
The second meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in Tunis, Tunisia, 16–18 November 2005. The WSIS is a United Nations conference led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), with the aim of developing a global framework to deal with challenges posed by the development of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). Its first meeting took place in Geneva in December 2003, where a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action were endorsed. Besides discussing practical implementation of the WSIS process, the Tunis meeting also dealt with the issues of internet governance and financing mechanisms to bridge the digital divide.
UNIFEM has been supporting the WSIS gender caucus to ensure that women's concerns around ICTs are adequately reflected and accounted for in implementation planning. Lobbying and advocacy by the caucus resulted in the inclusion of gender in the meeting's two outcome documents. Although many felt that the outcomes were below expectations due to lack of support for gender issues by some government delegates, others felt that what ended up being included still provides some opportunities for advancing gender concerns during the actual implementation phase — such as the need to develop gender-disaggregated indicators to measure the digital divide, for example.
UNIFEM's Arab States regional office, which has been conducting gender and ICT programmes in the region for several years, launched a short documentary on an "e-Village" project currently underway in Jordan, as a case study on implementing gender and ICT projects in the field.
For more information on the gender caucus, contact Grace Okonji, grace.okonji [at] undp.org. For more information on gender and ICT programmes in the Arab States, contact Mera Eftaiha, mera [at] unifem.org.jo
Kenyan Referendum on Constitution
Kenyans rejected the country's draft constitution at the national referendum on 21 November 2005. Among the contentious issues were the expansion of the executive powers of the president, the decentralization of government and the legislature, and several concerns around women's rights.
Although many women acknowledged that the draft constitution was an improved document with respect to women's human rights in general as compared to the current constitution, the draft was also seen to contain too many ambiguities and contradictions that could easily undermine the same rights that the constitution sought to protect. One main concern was an affirmative action clause, which stated a one-third principle, but did not go further to provide the formula for its implementation. The introduction of religious courts (Hindu, Christian and Khadhi) with jurisdiction over personal law was seen as potentially undermining the protection of women's rights, since it is often in the area of family and personal law that women face discrimination. Reproductive rights and spousal inheritance also provoked much controversy, the former because the draft constitution, while prohibiting abortion, included a proviso that this could be allowed by legislation, and the latter because the draft left out provisions on spousal inheritance that had featured prominently in the public's recommendations during numerous public consultations.
For the last five years, UNIFEM has been supporting the efforts of Kenyan women to participate in the political and constitutional processes of the country and ensure that women's rights as guaranteed in CEDAW and the Africa Protocol to Women's Rights are constitutionally protected. In the lead up to the referendum, UNIFEM partnered with the National Commission on Gender and Development to organize a public forum for women from all over Kenya to debate the merits and demerits of the draft constitution (see Kenyan Women Scrutinize Proposed Constitution for Women's Rights). For more information, contact Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda nyaradzai.gumbonzvanda [at] undp.org
Launch of Caribbean Coalition on Women and AIDS
A Caribbean Regional Coalition of Women and AIDS (RCWA) was launched in November 2005 in Trinidad and Tobago, by the Caribbean Regional Network of Persons Living with HIV (CRN+) and the UNAIDS Inter Country Team for Trinidad and Tobago. The regional coalition is a component of the larger Global Coalition of Women and AIDS, a UNAIDS initiative created in February 2004 to focus specifically on the impact of HIV and AIDS on women and girls.
The regional coalition was established as a response to the alarming increase in HIV infections across the Caribbean. HIV/AIDS is now considered the leading cause of death among young Caribbean men and women aged 15–45 years, with young women in the 15–24 age group particularly at risk. Recent data show that in the 15–45 age group, the number of AIDS cases among males is two times greater than that of women. However, between the ages of 15 and 24, the incidence of AIDS among females has been estimated between three to six times higher than that of males in the same age group. The rate at which HIV/AIDS infection of females has been rising is also dramatically illustrated by the fact that, while in 1985 the male to female ratio of AIDS case was 4 males to 1 female, in 2002 it was 2 to 1 (Caribbean Epidemiological Centre, CAREC, 2004).
The regional coalition will use regional and national advocacy to highlight the effects of HIV/AIDS on women and girls, focusing especially on improving prevention for women and girls, addressing social and legal inequities that compound the impact of the disease on women, and supporting the overall regional AIDS response. For more information, contact Monique Springer, monique.springer [at] undp.org
Monitoring Peace and Conflict in the Solomon Islands
UNIFEM and its government and NGO partners is implementing a gender-sensitive conflict early warning system in the Solomon Islands, to aid in preventing armed conflict. The project is highlighting men's and women's perspectives in relation to conflict prevention programming. A set of gender-sensitive conflict early warning indicators has been developed, and a system has been piloted for the collection, analysis and dissemination of early warning data, using surveys, a media scan and community focus groups.
UNIFEM has found that involving both women and men in data collection and analysis processes, using gender-sensitive early warning indicators, and producing sex-disaggregated early warning data contributes significantly to better in-depth analysis of gender issues in conflict prevention, and ensures that response options take account of both women's and men's needs. The early warning system also supports women's and men's roles in peacebuilding, both through training and empowering project participants at the grassroots and national levels.
The first Solomon Islands gendered early warning report was released in August 2005, and has been strongly supported by government, NGOs and other donors as a diagnostic and strategic tool to prevent further conflict. Results from the second gendered early warning report, to be released in December 2005, indicate that economic inequality, lack of women's political participation, crime, corruption and gender-based violence are among the main high-risk issues for the Solomon Islands. The reports are available at WomenWarPeace.org. For more information, contact Annalise Moser, annalise.moser [at] undp.org.sb
Including Gender Approaches in Ecuador's Fiscal Policy
Ecuador's National Women's Machinery (CONAMU), UNIFEM, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the National Secretariat of the Millennium Development Objectives (SODEM) have signed an agreement to cooperate on promoting the inclusion of a gender equity approach into the debate, design and implementation of fiscal and budgetary policies in Ecuador. Read the complete article in Spanish.
Three Women Included in New National AIDS Commission in Puntland, Somalia
A national AIDS Commission (NAC) was launched in October 2005 in the region of Puntland, Somalia. Headed by the Vice President of Puntland, it represents a significant step by the government to address the growing challenge of HIV/AIDS in the region. The nine-member commission includes ministers of information, health, women and family affairs, education, youth and sport, religious affairs, labour, as well as a civil society representative and a person who is living with HIV/AIDS (PWLHA). read more »
Promoting Gender Equality in Poverty Reduction Strategies
Regional consultations involving countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States region were conducted in October in Kyrgyzstan to discuss how to promote gender equality within countries' Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) that included the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a conceptual framework. The consultations included participants from 10 countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.
The consultations looked at the effectiveness of government and civil society efforts in implementing gender equality commitments, particularly through national socio-economic programmes like PRS, with a view to ensuring that national efforts and global commitments to promote gender equality were aligned. In this context, participants especially discussed the use of the MDG process as an effective way to integrate gender issues into PRS and other socio-economic programmes. The consultations were held as a timely response to current shifts in the global development aid architecture, which is placing an emphasis on national ownership of development agendas, and greater harmonization between international and national development priorities. Read the Summary Report. For more information, please contact Damira Sartbaeva, damira.sartbaeva [at] undp.org
5th Anniversary of 1325 in Georgia: A Step Forward
"Women have been far advanced and more effective than men in reconstructing trust and building peace, and yet the potential of women in peacebuilding and conflict resolution processes is underused," said Mr Giorgi Khaindrava, the State Minister of Georgia on Conflict Resolution Issues, in his welcome address at the "Unity of Women for Peace" Network Conference in Tbilisi, in November 2005. The conference was held as an observance of the fifth anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (commemorated at the end of October every year since 2000).
The meeting was held under the auspices of UNIFEM's regional project in the Southern Caucasus focused on women's participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Women's NGOs played a prominent role at the conference — recommendations by the Regional Coalition "Women for Peace," a UNIFEM partner, were discussed, while the work of a Georgian-wide network, created in 2002 to advance gender equality and promote the peaceful resolution of conflict, was highlighted. This led to the Minister making a commitment to creating a place within his institution for a representative of the network, to better coordinate women's peace initiatives with larger national actions on conflict resolution and peacebuilding. For more information, contact Yelena Kudryavtseva, yelena.kudryavtseva [at] undp.org
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Other News
Online Gender Courses Offered by ILO
The International Training Centre of the ILO will offer in 2006 a range of training activities on gender equality. The first courses to be launched are online programmes on "Gender, Poverty and Employment" and "Mainstreaming Gender Equality in the World of Work," both starting on 23 January 2006. For more information and to register, visit the ILO website. Applications must be received by 9 January 2006 at the latest, and selected candidates will be contacted by 16 January 2006.
Community Radio Opens New Avenues to Promote Women and Peacebuilding
To mark the 5th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women peace and security, the International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC) presented the first in a series of local language radio productions on UNSCR 1325 at the AWID International Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, on 27–30 October 2005, and at the AMARC Asia-Pacific Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 24–27 November 2005.
The radio productions included broadcast-ready materials in English and Filipino, which depicted the impact of armed conflict in Southern Philippines and different parts of Asia and the Pacific on women. Popular formats were used, such as radio drama, feature, radio plug and public service announcement. Following this first initiative, IWTC is planning for radio productions in Nepali, Tetum, Portuguese and Indonesian, and in early 2006 an African series is planned in English, French and Luganda languages. For more information, contact IWTC, iwtc [at] iwtc.org
Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) Announces Open Call for Submissions
The 5th Annual Female Eye Film Festival will take place 1–4 June 2006. It will showcase feature, short, documentary, experimental and animated films all directed by women! The Script Development Program welcomes screenplays by male writers with the provision that their story features a female protagonist. For more information and deadlines for submissions, visit the FeFF website or e-mail info [at] femaleeyefilmfestival.com
Whose Development Is It Anyway? A Gender Perspective on the EU's Position in the WTO Negotiations
European women's network, WIDE, issued a statement in November 2005 putting forward some concerns around the European Union's position in the WTO negotiations as it impacts on gender equality. Read the statement. For more information, visit the WIDE website.
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