Newsletters 2006
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Newsletters - 2006
Compliments to IAW president Rosy Weiss, who had immediately swung into action to find a new venue (PARIS!) after the proposed venue suddenly collapsed. Appreciation and thanks to the IAW members of AFEM and CILAF, in particular Monique Bouaziz, who made both the meetings such enjoyable ones!
One of the most charming points of the Agenda is always the Roll Call. Board members were asked to stand up, followed by IAW convenors and representatives. After that the countries were named (with those members present standing) of all IAW affiliates and associates. Another charming moment was the unveiling of the antique IAW banner ... followed by a minute of silence for our dear IAW friends, Irmgard Rimondini and Margaret Wieser, who had passed away this year.
A lot of good work has been done in 2006. Due to lack of space we can give you in this Special Edition only a short selection and record appreciation for all the reports presented.
Due to the abhorrence in the Dafur region, with rape of women and girls systematically used as a weapon of war, IAW president Rosy Weiss has sent urgent messages to the presidents of the UN Human Rights Council and the Security Council. You will find the text on the IAW website.
Violence against women and girls, health, education, water and sanitation, food and the environment, the UN, all these issues were brought forward and discussed by the IAW convenors and presidents of IAW Affiliates, during the Board meeting in Paris. A lot of good work has been done!
You will find the latest news on those issues in this newsletter, some of them enveloped in a political coat. There is one result we like to mention in particular. The board decided that IAW will join IANSA’s Women's Network in London and also the NGO Working Group on Resolution 1325.
We are at the moment preparing a special Board Meeting Flash, to close this rather turbulent year 2006! And as usual you will find news about events, grants and actions at the end of this newsletter.
Every day or so there is news from the UN General Assembly. We have collected some of the items as well as we could, but there is much more. You can look up all this information yourself. At the end of this newsletter you will find a list of human rights related websites of the UN.
There is news about two important studies on violence against children and against women, a renewal of the CEDAW Committee, microcredit and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, the Peace Building Fund, and a rather sad story of the Human Rights Council, that could not come to any decison in its second session and postponed it all to the November session.
Last but not least: IAW is setting her expectations on a new Action Programme for 2007!
The Annual General Assembly is for IAW and in particular for UN IAW representative Kay Fraleigh and her team the most important time of the year. We wish them wisdom, stamina and perseverance!
In this newsletter some key issues of the GA agenda, like Darfur and immigration. We ‘name’ some qualified women, to show that there are women in this world available to become Secretary General. That time will come!
Also in this newsletter some interesting reports, that are being discussed in the European Union.
You will find too a follow-up of two issues of the August newsletter: on the rape laws in Pakistan and on the so called Eve teasing in India.
Data of interesting conferences and reports are as usual at the end of this newsletter.
In a world full of news about violence and warlike conflicts, IAW is continuing to push women’s rights to the fore. There is still UN article 1325 stating that women should participate in negotiations for peace. There is still UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, giving compliments to the West African countries that are willing to work at peace. Was this influenced by our West African sisters, who started installing a “West African Centre on Gender and Conflict” in November 2005 in Burkina Faso?
Women’s rights are foremost in this newsletter. For example: in empowering women and young girls to protect themselves from getting AIDS; in defending women’s rights in political arenas, such as in Pakistan, where members of political parties are trying to put women’s rights into law.
And as usual, you will find news about conferences, websites, events etc. at the end of this newsletter.
The news about the situation in the Near East is slightly better, but ‘peace’ is still far away. It is with this in mind that we mail you our monthly newsletter.
Our IAW friends in Kuwait did not succeed in getting a woman elected in parliament, but there is a woman minister in the new cabinet.
Our IAW friends who took part in the UN conference against small arms did not reach their goal, which was an accepted document, but the problem is so tremendous that we all have to move forward anyway.
IAW has warned often of the dangers of obstetric fistula, the damage of internal organs in immature bodies of girls, who are too young to conceive. UNPFA is bringing it now into the open.
As usual you will find news about conferences, events, interesting websites etc. at the end of this newsletter. For a start we have two quotations, mailed to us by Dr. Jocelynne Scutt, Australia.
There is news of the Alliance: the date of the Board Meeting, a ICT project, conferences which will be attended by IAW members, a successful TV presentation, etc.
Two historic events at the UN this month: the inauguration of the Human Rights Council and of the Peacebuilding Commission. In September Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa will be the second female President ever who will chair the General Assembly of the UN.
“The face of AIDS is increasingly young and female”. Civil society groups, networks of women living with HIV, and United Nations agencies have to work together at global and national levels for improved AIDS programming for women and girls. As always, IAW emphasises the sexual and reproductive health and rights women need to fight this devastating epidemic. Also, the health of children and youth can be much improved by a better integration of health services and above all by “political will”.
Conferences, guides and some interesting websites are as always at the end of the newsletter.
The main issue of this newsletter is ‘education’ and in particular ‘the education of girls’. In a way it is a preparation for the main issue of CSW 2007: ‘The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child’.
At the UN the Human Rights Council will start its work in Geneva, the Peacebuilding Commission will develop its own rules and there will be a campaign to support the UN Food Programme for the hungry people in this world.
Malaria and child killers like measles and polio are still making victims, but there is progress. Miscellaneous issues and some events and conferences are, as always, at the end of this newsletter.
News from CSW, ECOSOC, CEDAW and the new Human Rights Council. You will find some very outspoken opinions about corruption, which is called: a cancer - a crime against the poor - a barrier to reach the MDGs.
There is news about HIV/AIDS and women’s health, the 4th World Water Forum and a great new website (an international legal search engine), which will certainly be of interest for women in politics.
Please read: “A literate woman makes a literate family”, because there are 39 million illiterate adults in Latin America and the Caribbean alone. A successful method for teaching reading and writing can be adapted to different languages and cultures.
Hélène Sackstein, convenor of the IAW Economic, Social and Cultural Commission, has delivered a written statement to the 62nd session Commission on Human Rights, and IAW member Soon-Young Yoon from the Health Commission submitted a report on Women and Tobacco.
We also direct your special attention to the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City in relation to the Millennium Development Goals. A good outcome of this international conference on water is so important, for women and children in particular.
“Political participation and
leadership of
women” is one of the subjects of the Commission on the Status
of
Women. This seems particularly timely in light of strong voter swings
to elect women as national leaders in countries that are quite diverse
in culture, politics and history. The current handful of women leaders
carry the hopes of millions of people and particularly women for a
better life, less corruption and a more peaceful world. They are also
role models for women in their own countries as well as in the
international arena. Surfing the net for political growth for women,
your
editors found some unexpected gains, but there still is an overall slow
progress for women in politics in general. As always, the attendance of
the IAW delegation at CSW is certainly very important! What is the
effect of quotas? A worldwide study, “Women, Quotas and
Politics”, gives an overview of various types of quotas and
it
throws light over the troublesome implementation process. Edited by
Drude Dahlerup, University of Stockholm.
