Newsletters 2005
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Newsletters - 2005
The Editing Committee of the IAW newsletter wishes you a fine and productive 2006! Good health, peace and wisdom to you all!
On this last day of December we are sending you a newsletter with a variety of information. Most of it in English, some in French. There is also some urgent action that could be taken. If you do, we like to hear from you.
Our warmest thanks goes to all of you who been sending us articles and interesting news during 2005. And please: be so kind to keep up that good work in 2006! With best wishes, the Editing Committee of the IAW Newsletter.
This time you will find contributions from three IAW Convenors: Heide Schütz on Peace and Security and Gudrun Haupter on Health; also Bettina Corke, IAW’s representative at FAO, on Agriculture and Food. These items were discussed intensely at the excellent seminar and open plenary sessions in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
Compliments to the organising talents of dynamic Regional IAW Vice-President Clementine Ouédraogogo who is Coordinator of Promo-Femmes, IAW Associate in Burkina Faso, and Dr. Susanne Riveles, an expert in development from the US. The IAW Board meeting was also very successful - all detailed in IWNews.
One thing we must mention here is that Hilary Paddon, who has been the very dedicated Editor of the French section of IWNews for 25 years, is going conclude her editing work. We thank her warmly for all she has done for IAW. At the same time, we welcome her successor, Cécile Ouaédraogo from Burkina Faso.
The Alliance is already preparing for the Commission on the Status of Women in 2006. The program contains two subjects which have been on the IAW agenda for the whole of its hundred years.
With June Zeitlin we are looking back to the World Summit on MDGs. The international women’s movement has done their uppermost to get more language on gender equality and women’s rights in the document, but unexpected political moves can change a lot.
An in-depth study on Violence against Women will start this month - we invite our members to join it on-line! Figures on Trafficking show how urgent this subject is.
We also go to the Arab countries to look at two courses, one in politics for women and one for young people in education, on how to prevent getting HIV/AIDS.
At the end of the newsletter you will find, as usual, URLs of interesting events and conferences.
The Millennium Development Goals have almost been drowned by a tsunami of criticisms, amendments and complaints and a lack of courage and commitment on the part of many of the delegates. We knew about the harsh words from the United States via its newly appointed ambassador to the UN with his vehement anti-UN stance but we expected more from the leaders of many other countries and from NGOs.
It was hoped that by having all those world leaders present there would be some really strong voices, brave enough to undertake strong action on all the MDGs and perhaps inspire others. Instead there was a lot of posturing on the world stage with many using the current criticisms of the UN and the Secretary-General to back up their lack of support.
It seems that women's movements throughout the world and civil society are our main hope for keeping the MDGs afloat.
This Special Newsletter brings you an overview of the U.N. Summit - before, during and after.
We start this newsletter with the excellent article of Jeffrey D. Sachs, “Alive Today, Desperate Tomorrow”. September will be a busy month for the UN. The proceedings of the Summit on 14-16 September 2005 and those of the General Assembly can easily be followed on the Internet. You will find the URLs at the end of this newsletter.
The UN Institutions, like WHO and UNDP and UNESCO and UNIFEM and CEDAW and many others are doing good work. What would we do without them? Kay Fraleigh writes about CEDAW, and the UN people of WHO are asking for stronger health systems, to fight child and maternal mortality to reach the Millennium Development Goals.
This newsletter starts and ends with poverty, that so many good people in this world are trying to reduce - with the UN and the Millennium Development Goals, with national good governance and on a personal basis.
The role of women is a crucial one in the fight against poverty. On one hand women belong, with their children, to the poorest of the poor. On the other hand, women themselves have still to be empowered to fight against the conditions causing poverty - the lack of food, water and good health systems; discrimination, violence, conflict situations and unjust laws.
Nevertheless, there are good practices - like in Burkina Faso, where the International Alliance will have the opportunity to hold its Board Meeting later this year.
The main three items in this newsletter are: news about the UN, a lot of reports to read for the Millennium Development Goals and the latest news about IAW. A list with books, projects, funds etc. are as usual at the end of the newsletter.
Heartfelt congratulations to IAW Affiliate, the Kuwaiti Union for Women‘s Associations, and to all Kuwaiti women who, after years of perseverance, will be able to vote and stand for office in 2007. The IAW Health Commission is attending the 58th World Health Assembly: we wish them all the best.
There is more to tell about IAW because we have some very active members. For the month of June we are preparing 'special Flashes' about ‘special issues’.
Health and in particular ‘reproductive health’ is the main theme of this April newsletter, caused by the concern of women about the worldwide spread of HIV/AIDs. IAW has a very active Health Commission, which is insisting everywhere on good access to information on sexual and reproductive health for women (and men!).
Lots of URLs of websites in this newsletter including, where possible, the names of the IAW women behind the seven IAW Commissions: 1. CEDAW and Political Rights; 2. Health; 3. Violence, Prostitution and Trafficking; 4. Environment; 5. Peace and Security; 6. Education; 7. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
March is a month with lots of news from CSW, the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York. More news of CSW will follow in April after the IAW members, who are attending CSW, have returned home.
In this newsletter a small compilation of news on women in the Gulf and Arab countries. Women who are still fighting for but also gradually getting support for voting rights.
From Rwanda: we are so proud of the women in politics there, who are bravely building up their country after a period of one of the worst massacres ever. Also news of a campaign for Control of Arms by three brave NGOs - IANSA, Amnesty and OXFAM - which will start a day before International Women‘s Day on March 8th. Also news of two IAW Affiliates - the League of Women‘s Rights of Greece and ADDEM in the Dominican Republic.
As usual you will find a list of events, conferences, interesting URLs etc. at the end.
The tsunami and the help that is needed in the coming years is still uppermost in our mind, so we start this newsletter with a word from IAW president Rosy Weiss and requests of donations we received from affiliates and members.
Prominent in the news this week were the elections in Iraq. On TV we could see the proud gestures of Iraqi women who were going to vote. We heard that there could possible be 1/3 of women in Iraqi government. That would be wonderful and then they can go straight for a good and fair constitution!
A good number of IAW members will be at CSW. We wish them lots of strength and wisdom, because negotiating the 12 chapters of Beijing+10 will not be easy.
Just have a look at a selection of the news around the world, including the list of upcoming events on the website of UNESCAP eNews Bulletin, February 2005, at the end of this newsletter.
In our newsletter we stay first with one of the greatest disasters ever, the tsunami, which caused such an uninmagined loss of lives in so many countries. Our thoughts are with all who have lost family and friends. Although it cannot replace the loss and sorrow, the worldwide offers of help have been overwhelming. There is a letter from our IAW sister Mano in Sri Lanka, there is a plea from Thoraya Obaid of UNPFA to watch out for women and girls, who will be hit extra hard, and there is the Conference on Disaster Reduction at the end of January in Japan.
You will find in this newsletter also
news of
Beijing+10 at CSW, of CEDAW and of violence against women in different
forms and situations. The usual selection of events and conferences are
at the end of the newsletter.
