At a time when Turkey has withdrawn from the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Girls,  and Poland has announced that it intends to do the same, the European Women’s Lobby publishes a report marking the 10^th anniversary of the convention. The conclusion of the report is clear: The Istanbul Convention saves women’s lives.

Towards a Europe free of male violence against women and girls looks into the state of play of the implementation and impact of the Istanbul Convention within the context of an alarming surge of male violence against women and girls due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The report was developed with expert analysis from the EWL Observatory on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)

IAW is a member of EWL and is represented in the Observatory.

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Open letter to …

Call to end the Illegal and Immoral War on Women in Afrin by Turkey! 

London, 20 March 2021

Dear … ( Turkish Embassies, NATO, Council of Europe, National Parliaments, etc……..)

We are writing to you because Afrin Canton is still under occupation and the international community has done far too little to end this unacceptable situation. Under the illegal Turkish occupation, crimes against humanity and war crimes continue to be committed on a daily basis. In particular, we are very concerned about the situation of women living in Afrin.

We demand an end to all forms of violence against women in the Afrin Canton of Northern Syria and for international pressure on Turkey to withdraw its forces. We demand justice for the many victims of the crimes of Turkish-backed militias and the return of the thousands of internally displaced persons who have had to flee Afrin as a result of the Turkish invasion.

In January 2018, Turkey and allied Syrian militias began an assault on Afrin Canton, part of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). This illegal act of aggression was first and foremost intended to change the demographics of the region, which had historically been majority-Kurdish with smaller Yezidi and Alevi communities. Over the course of the brutal invasion and occupation, which continues to this day, more than two-thirds of Afrin’s original population has been displaced.

In addition to an act of ethnic cleansing, the invasion and occupation of Afrin has also been a targeted attack on women. The women of Afrin had created and implemented some of the most advanced laws, institutions, and policies in the world in order to fight all forms of violence and discrimination against women, and had ensured that women were represented and empowered at all levels of political and military decision-making.

Occupying forces have not only destroyed these advances, but continue to terrorize the women who made them possible.

Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) groups have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity targeting women, including rape and forced marriage. More than 200 women and girls whose identities are known have reportedly been abducted by armed groups since 2018. Sexual violence and torture are common in SNA detention sites. It is likely that these crimes are even more prevalent than is known, due to social stigma around reporting and the inability due to the risk under the occupation regime to expose cases and make them public.

The occupation has also actively increased social and political discrimination against women and girls, and has led to an increase in harmful practices outlawed by the AANES. Women and girls in Afrin feel unsafe leaving their homes unless they adhere to conservative religious dress codes and are accompanied by a male relative. Rates of child marriage have increased due to pressure from armed groups on the families of unmarried girls. Official religious authorities affiliated with the Turkish-backed SNA and Syrian Interim Government (SIG) have ruled that killings of women by male relatives are sometimes permissible.

The AANES was the only political authority in Syria to ban polygamy, forced marriage, and child marriage, and to consider so-called “honor killings” as equivalent to any other murder cases. These protections were strongly implemented in Afrin, along with legislation guaranteeing equality in inheritance, marriage, divorce and other personal status matters. The Canton adopted landmark Women’s Laws in 2014 in order to specifically address existing inequalities in Syrian law; the SIG classified these progressive laws as equally bad, i.e. “terrorist,” in their impact as the laws introduced by ISIS.

In terms of political discrimination, women now make up less than 10% of members of the Turkish-backed local government. Some Turkish-backed councils have no female members at all.

No women currently serve in leadership positions on any local councils in Afrin.

Under the AANES, women were required to make up 40% of any elected body by law, and leadership positions were shared equally between men and women through a co-chair system. Parallel women’s councils and assemblies existed alongside mixed-gender bodies, and had the ability to overrule them on legislative matters concerning women’s rights.

According to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria, the pattern of discrimination and violence inflicted on women by occupying forces in Afrin has created a “pervasive climate of fear which [has] in effect confined them to their homes.” Many women and their families have even fled Afrin specifically because of threats of sexual and gender-based violence, suggesting that these crimes are playing a role in mass displacement and forced demographic change.

This illegal and immoral war on women cannot go on any longer. Thus, as feminist organizations, human rights organization, and concerned individuals, we demand:

• an impartial international investigation into all forms of violence and discrimination targeting women in Afrin;
• that all perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence in Afrin, and individuals with command responsibility for perpetrators of these crimes, be brought to justice;
• international pressure on Turkey and the SNA to withdraw from Afrin and allow all displaced persons to return home as part of any political settlement in Syria;
• increased support for IDPs displaced from Afrin and now living in other parts of Syria.

Supporting organisations

Congress of Women‘s Organizations from Rojava – Kongra Star;

Kurdish Women‘s Movement in Europe (TJKE);

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID);

International Alliance of Women (IAW);

Women in Kurdistan National Congress (KNK Jin);

Terre des Femmes e.V.;

Kurdish Women‘s Office for Peace – CENÎ;

Umbrella organization of the Yezidi women’s councils (SMJE);

Deutscher Frauenring; Internationale

Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit (IFFF); FiLiA UK

You can support our demands by writing to info@kongra-star.org

The post End War on Women in Afrin by Turkey! appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

During #CSW52 (2008), in the light of the global financial crisis, stakeholders at the United Nations listened more eagerly than ever before to feminist economic claims. The Agreed Conclusions of 2008 is a great document of AGREED LANGUAGE “on financing gender equality and the empowerment of women”, to be reaffirmed in the first paragraphs and mainstreamed throughout the language in the Agreed Conclusions of the current CSW65.

It is time to price each measure and commitment!

During the Covid-19 crisis 2020 it seemed for a while as if the global politics, media and all stakeholders had realized that the existing gender inequalities and forms of violence against women and girls are part of a systemic crisis putting the survival of our life at risk.

Women, as care givers at home and in the care sectors with systemic pay and pension gaps, became visible in their importance. A lot of lip service was given in all regions that recovery plans and the rebuilding of finances and policies cannot go back to the old risky normal of Gender Inequalities. Recovery plans were announced, promising robust investments in Equality for Women, in securing better care and health sectors and many more nice things.

Feminist economic analysis proved that unfortunately nothing was realized when recovery plans were finally tabled.  They needed to be adjusted, improved so as to make them work for Gender Equality.

It is estimated that the women’s gender pay and pension gap will have widened during the pandemic, that many women’s enterprises will have less access to recovery plans investments or credits. Many women’s SMEs and many women’s jobs might disappear from the economical and social landscape. Many women and girls might be affected by increasing gender based violence and be forced to struggle with the consequences of the lack of opportunities to unfold their talents and capabilities to gain equal participation. A deficit for the world.

The O Draft of CSW65 shows very little of this consensus that we need as a landmark investment for Gender Equality, not only for women, but for the well being and future of the whole world.

The document expresses concern on roll back, on too limited progress (PARA 7) and that “the effects of the pandemic are compounding existing obstacles to women’s participation and decision-making in public life”.  And yes, women journalists, politicians, candidates and voters, in administration, women human rights defenders, activists are more than ever under threat (PARA 8). Human Rights Mechanisms, national and international, need to be more efficiently financed and mandated. There is an urgent need for effective funding of the implementation of binding national and international legal norms and of all kinds of measures (PARA 9) to seriously end violence against women and all discrimination to progress and instead accelerate de facto Gender Equality.

This has a price. Not only national and international budgets and funds need to be bold: – all financial instruments must be gender sensible. Financial institutions and trade policies must be engendered. No more time for delay and experiments. It is pay-day.

Ending violence against women can no longer be reduced only to infrastructure and a focus on measures for survivors AFTER grave human rights violations. It needs efficient financed and monitored prevention. There must be an end of impunity for perpetrators.  Killing Women is FEMICIDE – by private non-state-actors or as war crimes by state and non-state actors. The world must invest to end this. Early and lifelong education, awareness raising, legal training, training and binding cooperation of all investigative forces and the judiciary must be funded and focus on gender stereotypes and changes of social norms.

The crucial work of NGOs and CSOs must be secured and financed. Rehabilitation of survivors must become much better and financial compensation a norm. All Ministries of Interior should design a bold feminist engagement, funding and commitment.

The #CSW65 must design a strategy for this decade – instead of issue hopping, deal with investment in change to end Violence against Women and for Gender Equality for a decade. It should improve its evaluation work and focus on steering towards an acceleration of positive impacts.

The post #CSW65’S TO COME UP WITH A STRONG COMMITMENT FOR ROBUST FINANCIAL INVESTMENT FOR GENDER EQUALITY appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

On the third day of 38th IAW Congress, the results of the Board elections were announced. 15 members from 15 countries and 4 continents were elected; many are joining the IAW Board for the first time. Joanna Manganara highlighted that this was a particular strength because “new faces always means new ideas.” The new board will be presented on the IAW website.

In her welcome speech, IAW’s incoming president, Cheryl Hayles, warmly thanked all IAW members for organizing and participating in the first digital Congress under these special circumstances. Looking back at 116 years of IAW herstory, she said, she was proud of the organization’s achievements and excited to follow a care-centred approach in the future.

IAW members emphasized the need to connect questions of women’s rights and gender equality with international efforts to promote peace and finances. Heide Schütz (Frauennetzwerk für Frieden, Germany) referred to IAW’s Resolution 2 adopted today on “Funding Healthcare not Warfare” and encouraged IAW members to visit SIPRI’s Yearbook 2020 to look up their governments’ military expenditure: https://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2020. “We need vaccines not marines, we need hospitals not tanks!” The promotion of a feminist foreign policy was also brought up as a path to move forward. All four new resolutions are on the IAW website https://womenalliance.org.

Joanna Mangarana, outgoing IAW President, called for a strengthening of IAW’s spirit of community and cooperation. As part of her legacy her VIDEO/ VLOG-project of IAW’s appraisal of the 4th UN World Conference on Women in BEJING was presented at the end of the 38th IAW Congress. With great enthusiasm IAW looks ahead to Beijing+25+1 and the achievement of Gender Equality and Peace in the near future of the global Generation Equality._________________________                                                                ______________________

Joanna Manganara, President                                                                Olunfumi Oluyede, Secretary General

IAW on Twitter: #IAWCongress2020, #CaringEconomy, #PuttingPeopleOverProfits, #Feminist

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During Nov. 25 the 2nd day of IAW’s first-ever virtual IAW triennial Congress the IAW commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Some joined the Congress dressed in its color, ORANGE. Members in their countries and municipalities are now starting activities during the 16-Days-of-activism-campaign under the harsh challenges of the Covid-19 crisis. The IAW membership has great concern: they stated a current backlash against the currently achieved status of women’s human rights. As global and regional studies show, there is an immense increase of all forms of violence against women and girls, including trafficking in women and girls. Women as caregivers and activists on the ground are at risk.

Nevertheless, our IAW women still organize on the ground for improved hygiene, access to sanitizer, basic health standards, for education and all the various needs in their communities. Women do not rest: they are agents of the change we all long for. Our members serve as volunteers in campaigns against the violation of women’s rights in their societies. Women withstand attacks,  worki for a Caring Economy and empower others towards this goal.

The IAW project WATER & PADS FOR SCHOOLGIRLS is only one of the many best practice example of activities of our IAW membership.

Participants of the 38th IAW Congress underlined that every day is a Day Against Violence against Women and Girls. Instead, the many forms of violations of their human rights are a global crisis on its own: its unchanged reality is a global a scandal. Women, it was said, are not bold enough in their approaches to encounter the threats. Women are still missing effective legislation, measures in education and public action against toxic concepts and practices of traditional manhood.

Instead of reducing violence against women systematically, too many states tolerate it. New forms have emerged as hate crimes in cyberspace. It was the consensus that globally more effective legislation and financial investment is needed to punish perpetrators and to end this violence against 50 percent of the world’s population. Violence against women is a pandemic which harms all of us, our families, our communities, municipalities and states.

IAW members recommend more awareness of the binding ISTANBUL CONVENTION as a strong tool of international law: the ratification is not limited to any region.

It has a treaty body – GREVIO – and its regular review processes recognizes alternative reports by women’s organizations and experts. The Istanbul Convention is requesting a systematic, effective, and unified approach of legal and protective measures for women from its State parties.

The ISTANBUL CONVENTION aims for the reduction of all forms of violence against women and next to the UN CONVENTION FOR THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (CEDAW) an effective tool of international law: often misunderstood it want our families, communities and states to prosper because the day women are free from all forms of violence they will be able to contribute more effectivly to the well-being, wealth and prosperity of their societies.

Members recommended requesting the International Community, institutions and all states to come up with bold investments to end violence against women and for peace. It was said,  States must enforce life-long human rights education and finally stop Climate Change.

Men everywhere are invited to fight on the side of women for human rights: feminist men are the model of a great future of our planet because they are an integral part of our envisioned Caring Economy and Societies, globally. Men and women are not born for war and destruction; women and men are equal in rights and responsibilities, born for peace and care in harmony with human rights and the planet’s ecological balance and diversity.

While the second day of the Congress proved in passionate discussions that the IAW membership is united in cyberspace and fully able to continue its work under its extended Action Programme, the 67 participants – associates, affiliates and individual members – awaited the results of the first ever digital election of the Officers of the Board of the IAW.

When the election result was announced, the Congress gave digital “standing ovations” to the newly elected IAW-President Cheryl Hayles who has blazed paths for a new IAW approach to fundraising in her Project 21.1. The Treasurer Antonia Lavine and the Secretary General Olufunmi Oluyede had been re-elected into their second term.

The election result of the fifteen new Board members from twelve countries will be announced today, Nov 26. 2020.

Joanna Manganara
President

Olufunmi Oluyede
Secretary General

IAW on Twitter: #IAWCongress2020 #CaringEconomy #PuttingPeopleOverProfits #Feminist

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Today IAW’s first-ever virtual Triennial Congress in its 116 years of history started with 67 participants from around the globe.

In her opening speech on the theme of the Conference, Joanna Manganara, IAW President, reiterated the urgent need for systematic change to Caring Economy by Putting People over Profits. According to her, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, it has become obvious that patriarchy (and other failed concepts of neoliberal economy) with attendant exploitation and devastation, is not compatible with Equality, Human Rights and Peace. There is no legitimacy for war, hunger, devastation against people and the planet for the profit of only a few. These are crimes which risk all our health, humanity and the planet. For the recovery, 50 percent of global military expenditures should be reallocated to global health expenditures.

The next endeavor is to end war. In this wise, IAW fully supports and recalls the United Nations Secretary General’s call for a Global Cease Fire. It is not acceptable that members of the UN Security Council disregard the core task of peacekeeping and the will of millions of peace builders to end war. Women are ready to build a force for 50 percent participation in all peace negotiations and processes. There cannot be a track 2 or track 3 anymore.

According to Lyda Verstegen, Honorary President, IAW, “The ILO Convention 189 Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers …needs be ratified by all UN member states. This would improve -mainly female -domestic workers’ labour rights and working conditions globally, especially in consideration of the overlap with human trafficking.” Protection against all forms of gender-based violence, as provided by the binding Istanbul Convention, should be given top priority.

To ensure women’s human rights to reproductive health, contraception should be affordable and accessible everywhere to both women and men. In this regard, IAW expresses its solidarity with Polish women and all LGBTIQ globally.

Joanna Manganara
President

Olufunmi Oluyede
Secretary General

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-The world we are living in is a world in turmoil. Years of austerity and neo-liberal market liberalization policies have had as a result the current backlash for women’s rights and gender equality.

– The rise of authoritarian and nationalistic governments, as well as right wing populist, xenophobic and anti-feminist forces pose a severe threat to liberal democracy and gender equality. Austerity policies download a lot of costs on women and the economy.

– We have to face a lot of challenges in the external environment: Fundamentalism, increased number of refugees and displaced persons, climate change, structural inequality, the erosion of democratic institutions.

COVID-19 and its impact on women

– We are today 25 years after the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted in Beijing which took place when a new world order of cooperation was emerging after the end of the Cold War and a lot of optimism was prevailing.

-The anniversary of Beijing coincides with a new world order which has been imposed to us by the Pandemic of COVID-19 and which makes us feel as if our world has come upside down.

– Because of their weaker position within the labor market, the economic impacts of the pandemic are harder on women than men.

– Covid-19 has exacerbated inequalities. Women’s frontline roles as health workers, in service industry and in the care economy have become more visible as they constitute the backbone of the COVID-19 response of society.

– The gaps in care provisions exposed by this crisis demonstrate the urgency of moving towards a socioeconomic model that recognizes women’s invaluable contributions to society and places care at the center.

– We know from past experiences, when crises hit, violence against women and girls gets worse. From Argentina to the UK and Tunisia providers of hotlines, shelters and online resources have reported an increase in demand between 25% and 500%.

What can we do

– We need new concepts to bring into the heart of the understanding of the economy. Feminist economists, recommend a caring economy with care work at its center to accelerate the wealth and resilience of all human beings in all societies. Care economy is one such concept. Reproductive economy is another one.

– Care simply put is the act of caring for others and for oneself. Care work is central to the process of social reproduction that enables the continued existence of individuals, families and society itself. Care represents a key to the continuation of the social order.

– The unequal distribution of caring responsibilities is linked to discriminatory social institutions and stereotypes and norms on gender roles.

– The fact that care work is not equally shared between women and men has a direct negative impact on women’s ability to participate in all aspects of social, economic and political life including on line. Only 20% of professionals in AI are women. Women are not welcome in online public space.

– Care is not about dependency, but about autonomy, embedded in a human-rights based approach. The right to be cared for and care for others requires addressing the needs and the rights of all at different stages of our lives. An example is the call of IAW for a co-design approach with civil society organizations of robotics in long term care.

Characteristics of feminist economics:

– Feminist economists analyze the interrelationship between gender and the economy. Feminist economists see power relations driving social and economic dynamics. They analyze capitalism and patriarchy as interrelated forms of dominance. Power relations articulate themselves in the form of low payment, gender pay gap or in the double burden of women. Feminist economists argue that the described patterns depend on social role models of women that are socially negotiated rather than a result of market forces as classical economists believe.

– Feminist economists criticize the neoclassical concept of the homo-economicus and they argue that individuals cannot be considered detached from the social context which significantly influences their identity.

– The IAW Board should ask our members to lobby their governments, in order to take into account, the following:

Policy Recommendations concerning our economy

1. Reshaping our economy by taking a feminist approach

– Take full account of the contribution that women are already making to the economy. / Strive for the well-being of women and men, girls and boys at all levels /ensure decent work conditions for all workers across all care sectors/. /Take a care centered approach investing in public services of quality and accessible as well as universal social protection and comprehensive public infrastructure/. Embrace feminist values like solidarity, equality, non-discrimination with particular attention to intersectionality / Value unpaid work, accountability and transparency / Offer a holistic approach linking economies to well-being and consider everybody’s activities as contributing to the economy.

– A gender mainstreaming and human rights approach needs to be incorporated in all financial policies and institutions.

– In conclusion, according to feminist economics, the economy should be redefined, on the basis of how society is or might be organized to meet people’s needs and wants and thus to reproduce itself.

2. Gender inequality in unpaid care work is the missing link in the analysis of related to gender gaps in labour outcomes:
3. a. Unpaid care work and female labour force participation. The amount of time devoted to unpaid care work is negatively correlated with female labour force participation.
4. Unpaid care work and equality of employment. The unequal amount of time spent by women on unpaid care work increases the probability that they will be engaged in part time or in vulnerable employment.
5. Unpaid care work and gender wage gaps.

In countries where women spend a large amount of time on unpaid care work and there is a large gender gap in time spent, the gender gap in hourly wage is also higher.

3. The role of social norms in explaining gender inequalities.
4. Where social institutions discriminate highly against women, women’s role in society is restricted to reproductive and domestic functions, with women performing more unpaid care work than men.
5. When discrimination in social institutions is lower, the distribution of caring responsibilities between gender is more equal, a fact which encourages gender roles to evolve allowing for the share of unpaid care work to be redistributed between the genders.

The post IAW DECLARATION 2020 – Caring economy: Putting People and the Planet before Profits appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

The Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe proposes a series of exchanges on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. These exchanges show the sector’s extraordinary adaptation and resilience from which stems the strength of the proposals formulated and carried out by the organisations and their leaders.

The cycle of conversations is initiated by a short video entitled “INGOs under lockdown get involved and prepare for the future”. the Conference on INGOs invited some INGO members to discuss the impact of the pandemic on their activities, the adaptations made as well the actions and steps which need to be undertaken in order to #BuildBackBetter, to repair the damages but above all to not repeat the mistakes made in the past and build a better future for all, at the European level, by placing it in the global perspective of North-South relations.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/ingo/covid-videos

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IAW Members in different parts of the world have contributed to this IAW Newsletter: COVID19. We have reports from the USA; Canada, India, Norway, Africa etc.

Read the Newsletter

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