The post Reproductive Rights in the so-called Western World appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

The article was written by Avi Mor, director of the Hotline, and by Malka Genachowski, director of WIZO’s Janet Burros Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Domestic Violence, in which the Hot Line operates. It showcases how WIZO is on the cutting edge of innovation in the battle against domestic violence, continually initiating new programs and services that bring a holistic and systematic approach to this complex problem, in treatment, prevention, education, advocacy and legislation.

We urge you to read this excellent article and share it widely.

Warm regards,

Anita Friedman                    Ora Korazim
Chairperson                          Chairperson
World WIZO                          WIZO Israel

Read the article from Newsweek

The post WIZO’s pioneering work in preventing domestic violence  appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

 Statement by Center for Reproductive rights, Geneva, endorsed  by a large number of civil society organisations.

We are deeply concerned by relentless attempts to roll back sexual and reproductive rights in Poland. On 15 and 16 April Poland’s Parliament will again debate two draft bills that would severely limit access to safe abortion care and would criminalize the provision of sexuality education. If enacted into law these bills would place women’s and adolescents’ health and well-being at risk and violate Poland’s international human rights obligations.

We call on Members of Poland’s Parliament to reject these regressive legislative proposals. Under international human rights law measures that undermine or restrict existing rights are not permitted and violate the obligations of states to ensure ever greater protection of human rights.

The first draft bill known as “Stop Abortion” seeks to further limit the already highly restricted access to abortion in Poland. Poland has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is only permitted to safeguard the life or health of women, in situations of severe or fatal foetal impairment or where the pregnancy results from rape or another criminal act. Even in those situations in which abortion is legal, multiple barriers combine to severely limit access to care in practice. As a result, most women in Poland who need abortion care travel to other jurisdictions to access safe and legal care or obtain abortion medication from medical professionals in other countries. Limitations on travel and transport imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic now compound the negative impacts of Poland’s highly restrictive law and will increase the threats to women’s health and well-being.

The second draft bill known as “Stop Pedophilia” seeks to introduce criminal penalties for providing any form of sexuality education and evidenced-based information on sexual and reproductive health and rights to adolescents. Poland already does not provide comprehensive sexuality education as required by international human rights and the bill will expose adolescents to risks to their health and make them vulnerable to exploitation.

In recent years there have been repeated attacks on reproductive rights in Poland and multiple attempts have been made to introduce total or near total bans on abortion. The government has in the past backed down from rolling back reproductive rights in the face of massive public protests, such as the Black Protests in 2016. However, in the context of restrictions on movement imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic such public protests against these bills cannot take place. We express our solidarity with Polish civil society during this difficult time.

Prohibiting access to safe, legal abortion care and criminalizing the provision of sexuality education violate a number of human rights enshrined in international law, including the rights to life, health, non-discrimination and equality, privacy, information, education, and freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Numerous international human rights mechanisms have repeatedly called on Poland to reform its abortion law to ensure access to safe and legal abortion and to remove all barriers to abortion care. They have also called on Poland to provide mandatory, age-appropriate, evidence-based and scientifically accurate comprehensive sexuality education across the education system.

Abortion Rights Campaign, Ireland

Abortion Support Network

AIDOS, Associazione italiana donne per lo sviluppo, Italy

AIED – Associazione Italiana per l’Educazione Demografica, Italy

Alliance for Choice, Northern Ireland

Amnesty International

an.schläge

Asia Safe Abortion Partnership

ASPEKT, Slovakia

Associação para o Planeamento da Família, Portugal

Association Défense de la Démocratie en Pologne

Association for Human Rights and Civic Participation PaRiter, Croatia

Association HERA XXI, Georgia

Association of Accredited Clinics for the IVE in Spain (ACAI)

Association of Women of Southern Europe (AFEM)

ASTRA Network

Balance Promoción para el Desarrollo y Juventud AC, Mexico

Catholics for Choice

Center for Civic Initiatives “Intelligence of Sumy Region”, Ukraine

Center for Reproductive Rights

Center for Research on Environment, Health and Population Activities (CREHPA), Nepal

CESI – Center for Education, Counselling and Research, Croatia

Charitable Fund All-Ukrainian League Legalife

Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment, Ireland

Community Center New Generation, Ukraine

Concord Research Center for Integration of International Law in Israel

Corps écrits, Belgium

Creación Positiva, Spain

Democracy Development Center, Ukraine

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

Doctors for Choice Malta

Doctors for Choice UK

Dziewuchy Berlin, Germany

ECPI-Euroregional Center for Public Initiatives, Romania

European Alternatives

European Women Lawyers Association

Fédération des Centres de Planning Familial des Femmes Prévoyantes Socialistes, Belgium

Feminism UA, Ukraine

Feminist Association Unioni, Finland

Feminist Fightback

Femmes et Santé asbl., Belgium

Femmes Prévoyantes Socialistes, Belgium

Finnish League for Human Rights

FOKUS – Forum for Women and Development, Norway

Fondo de Aborto para la Justicia Social MARIA, Mexico

Freedom of Choice/ Možnosť voľby, Slovakia

Fundació Aroa, Spain

Furia vzw, Belgium

GenPol – Gender & Policy Insights

GPES, Ukraine

HERA – Health Education and Research Association from North Macedonia

Hivpoint, Finland

Human Rights Center ZMINA, Ukraine

ILGA-Europe

International Alliance of Women

International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion

International Commission of Jurists

International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network

International Women’s Health Coalition

Ipas Development Foundation, India

Kazakstan Association on Sexual and Reproductive Health (KMPA)

Kharkiv, Centre of the Gender Culture, Ukraine

Kherson oblast center «Successful Woman», Ukraine

Kherson regional center “Successful women,” Ukraine

KULU – Women and Development, Denmark

La Voix des Femmes, Belgium

Le Planning Familial, France

Lleisiau Merched Cymru / Women’s Voice Wales

Marie Stopes International

National Council of Women of Ukraine

National platform for reproductive justice, Croatia

National Women’s Council of Ireland

NGO “FeminismUA”, Ukraine

PATENT Association, Hungary

Pro-choice, rete italiana contraccezione e aborto, Italy

Profamilia, Colombia

Resistanta, Ukraine

Rutgers, Netherlands

safe2choose

Santé Sexuelle Suisse, Switzerland

Sensoa, Belgium

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Platform (SRHRP), Turkey

Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition

SMARTA, Ukraine

Societatea de Planificare a Familiei din Moldova (SPFM)/Family Planning Association of Moldova

Society for Education on Contraception and Sexuality, Romania

Society Without Violence NGO, Armenia

The European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health (ESC)

The International Federation for Professionals in Abortion and Contraception (FIAPAC)

The National Council of Women of Finland

The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU)

Ukrainian Association for Research in Women’s History

UN Women Finland

Union Women Center, Georgia

University Women of Europe

Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights

Voice for Choice – L-għażla tagħha (Malta)

Vrouwenraad, Belgium

WIDE+ (Women In Development Europe+)

Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways, Turkey

Women on Waves, Netherlands

Women on Web, Netherlands

Women´s Link Worldwide, Spain

Women’s Information Consultative Center, Ukraine

Women’s Resource Center, Armenia

Women’s Rights Foundation, Malta

Women’s rights protection league “Harmony of equals”, Ukraine

Zaporizhzhia charitable foundation “Unity” for the Future,” Ukraine

Zhiva-Ya, Ukraine

The post Parliament Must Reject Polish Regressive Proposals on Sexual and Reproductive Rights – endorsed by IAW appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

This is good news for anyone advocating for reproductive health and rights, like our good friend Gudrun Haupter

Gudrun Haupter, convener of the IAW Health commission comments:

My short assessment of the prospects of better access to abortion care in all countries according to international human rights standards is at best mixed.

Refusal by healthcare professionals on grounds of “conscientious objection” is wide-spread. The AGENDA EUROPE supporters led by ultraconservative forces in and beyond European countries are working on the roll-back of reproductive health legislation and its implementation. Their list of prohibition includes women’s and adolescents’ access to contraceptive options such as emergency contraception, one of the keys to lowering abortions rates.

After a period of relative openness following the ICPD politics of treating family planning as a taboo in development policies at national and international levels, is once again widely the norm.

Another alarm signal is the expected life-time nomination of one more conservative judge to the US Federal Constitutional Court. Brett Kavanaugh is said to be the first choice of conservative Evangelical Christians. The reason: they hope that he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade in order to uphold the dignity of all human life – the well-known position of all pro-life missionaries. These are known to spread their message all over the globe, partly with dubious methods.

Finally, I wish to mention that the implementation of women-friendly abortion laws still meets with many challenges, particularly – but not only – in rural areas. At the IAW board meeting in Lusaka some 20 years ago IAW-member Zambia Alliance of Women was complimented on the country’s liberal abortion legislation. We were told that women seeking an abortion faced disgracing conditions such as procedure performed on the bare floor, without even a blanket, no empathy of the medical personnel.

https://www.facebook.com/safeabortionzambia/posts/is-abortion-legal-in-zambiayes-safe-abortion-is-legal-in-almost-all-circumstance/1564225963794970/

Gudrun Haupter, 20 September 2018

Convener of Commission on Health

The post Barriers to Abortion appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

Like each year hundreds of official state-representatives from around the world and some delegates from Non-State-Actors , including IAW, flocked together for this important assembly. This time Mr. Alain Berset, president of Switzerland, congratulated WHO for its 70th birthday in his opening address and pleaded for an intense global engagement for health for all. “Universal Health Coverage” UHC is a highly ambitious goal of the WHO 13^th programme of work from 2019-2023:

“Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages” means

1 billion more people benefit from UHC,

1 billion more people are better protected from health-emergencies

1 billion more people are enjoying better health and well-being.

“Leaving no one behind” by targeting the UCH was often mentioned by the state delegates, but representatives of low income-countries explained their difficulties about implementation due to their lack of finances.

Healthcare being global cannot stop at national boundaries. Therefore many official speakers criticized a recent WHO decision which denied to Taiwan its former status as an observer at WHO.

The opening session of WHA was also overshadowed by the recent outbreak of the ebola disease in DR Congo. Many states voiced their concern but also expressed their gratitude that this time WHO was very prompt providing its professional help and necessary resources.

Unlike last year when I could join Seema Uplekar and Soon-Young Yoon this time I was the only representative of IAW. Thanks to an intensive mail-exchange with Gudrun Haupter and Seema we were in contact with each other at all times. At short notice I could get to know Mary Balikungeri, an IAW member from Rwanda, being in Geneva for the moment. Together we attended a conference about diabetes and obesity. We both want to stay in touch with each other. One morning I happened to see Esther Suter, an IAW Board Member. She was heading for a meeting at the UN.

After some unsuccessful and frustrating attempts to either attend meetings in fully crowded rooms or to follow rather meaningless panel-discussions I realized that I just had to try to make the most of the situation. So unexpectedly I attended a highly interesting meeting about WHO aligning its own health-goals with the UN agenda 2030.

This means more than ever an intersectional approach to global problems combining several of the 17 SDGs. The directors of three UN agencies (World Organization of Meteorology,

UN Environment and WHO) were talking about “Health, environment and climate change”.

As a specific topic they chose air-pollution. “Breathing a healthy air” became an overall slogan at WHA71. Both optimistic and pessimistic views on the future climate situation were voiced.

Dr. Tedros then brought in a typical medical way of looking at problems. His point was saying that we must give up the idea of repairing damages done by climate-impacts. Rather we should in advance invest in prevention. With good climate conditions we are also preventing diseases, mainly the ones caused by air-pollution. We must protect the vulnerable people. Especially women in development countries cooking in smoky kitchens are very much endangered by the effects of air-pollution. In the following general discussion I pointed out that improving this bad situation should be a priority issue.

WHO is organising  a global conference on air pollution and health at UN headquarters in Geneva 30 October- 1 November 2018.

How can we best promote the goals of IAW the advocacy for women’s health rights at WHA? As mentioned before the new IAW project “Water and pads for school-girls” fits in perfectly into our collaboration plan with WHO. In fact, it soon turned out to be also a door-opener at WHA!

Often I was sitting in the cafeteria or staying in line for entering a conference-room and got in touch with people. Soon a conversation about health – human rights – women’s rights would start. Then I could elegantly hand out the paper with our IAW statement related to the water and pads project.

The answers were all excited and positive. These people said great thanks to IAW taking up such an important but often neglected issue. Spontaneously some of them would offer their help. We exchanged mail-addresses. The ones who had their laptops with them searched right away for the IAW website in the internet. I was really surprised about this unexpected interest.

Because also speakers of other NSA’s like me from IAW had to wait for a long time until it was their turn for their official appearance we had chances to exchange our ideas. Like me most of them wanted to deliver a statement on “WHO Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents Health (2016-2030)”.

In the meantime the representatives from many nations officially expressed their agreement with WHO until the delegate of USA had the floor. This woman strictly vetoed everything connected with family planning most explicitly abortion. We NSAs were shocked.
The conference was continued the following day. This time the Holy Seat (Vatican) strongly opposed the WHO strategy on family planning and ended by exclaiming one should never have a data-base on abortions, a crime!

Finally together with some other NSAs, I could deliver our IAW-statement.

Of course I pleaded for a better menstrual health management for school-girls and generally the full sexual and reproductive women’s rights.

Looking back at WHA 71 I think that besides presenting our IAW statement in public and on the WHO-website, the great point was the chance of networking with so many people who like IAW are engaged in defending women’s health rights.

Read the statement:     WHA71_2018_IAW_NSA_Statement_A_12.3_A. .

The post #HealthForAll   Universal Health Coverage appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

This event went on for 4 hours. It saw 10 different high schools coming together including Harare Junior Parliamentarians. On the lineup was a debate on gender equality followed by a drama on gender based inequality at the workplace. Poetry, songs and dance. The floor was then opened to allow student participation on gender equality issues. Harare Junior Mayor Elton Phiri gave his speech on the launch of the Million Pad Campaign that was launched to aid in the plight of girls both in the rural and urban areas of Zimbabwe who are not able to afford sanitary wear during their monthly circle.

“The whole aim of reaching the targeted million pads was for sustainability purposes“, Elton emphasized. He also added that they had already reached the target and this was due to the massive support he had received from local businessmen, businesswomen and Pastor. It was amazing to see that most of the donations came from men and in a society that portrays a woman as unclean during her cycle, and where talking about it in public has been a taboo.

But here it was men at forefront talking about it and making contributions to help out in all and every way possible. My call to action goes out to all women in the words of Hillary Clinton ‘there’s never been a more important woman than the one who stands up, not just for herself but for everyone else.

The post Million Pad Campaign appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

We believe the elimination of violence can only be realized with the understanding that aggression against one woman is abuse against all women.  The individual cannot be separated from the community and therefore national epidemics of violence have a global impact. Whether actors are enablers, bystanders or bullies, each act of violence against women has active perpetrators and conspirators who must be held accountable for attempting to diminish the personhood of the divine feminine.

For this significant Canadian National Day of Remembrance and Action to eliminate Violence Against Women the CFUW is intentionally making connections to SDG #4, #5, #16 and #17 (However, connections to any other SDG may be implied).

This is the sixth feature in the series of nine Theme Days (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, World Day to end Human Trafficking, International Literacy Day, International Day of the Girl Child, National Day of Remembrance of Violence Against Women – Canada, International Women’s Day, Earth Day, and 50/50 Day).  This initiative provides a critical opportunity to discuss the interconnectedness of the SDGs to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls. We also aspire to highlight the intersectionality of women’s issues and the need to engage all stakeholders in the conversation.

The 2030 Agenda is for all, and achieving its goals requires action at all levels. In the spirit of the 2030 Agenda, contributors from diverse backgrounds have offered a perspective that we hope you can connect to and extend the conversation beyond your circle.

Cheryl Hayles, VP International Relations, Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), Regional VP North America, International Alliance of Women (IAW)

———————————————————————————————————————

It Has Been Twenty-Eight Years and What Has Changed?

Violence against women takes many forms: physical, mental, verbal, and sexual.  In 1989, 14 young women were murdered, an event now referred to as “The Montreal Massacre”.  At the time, the public expressed shock and outrage; something had to be done to prevent this type of thing from happening again.  But, what has really changed since then?  Not much apart from the fact that we now have a national day of remembrance.  During the 28 years since that event how many Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing? In most cases, authorities did not take the situation seriously.  How many victims of sexual assault have not come forward because they fear being victimized again by the system and even by court officials themselves? This kind of behaviour on the part of males, even ones in positions of great responsibility, has become normalized as their bragging of their actions has been dismissed as “just boy talk”.

While we do have that day of remembrance, nothing will change until men form a bigger part of the discussion and they are made to see how their actions have affected their women victims.

Valerie Hume, Member of the International Relations Committee, (CFUW) 

——————————————————————————————— 

We Remember December 6, 1989

Geneviève Bergeron, 21

Hélène Colgan, 23

Nathalie Croteau, 23

Barbara Daigneault, 22

Anne-Marie Edward, 21

Maud Haviernick, 29

Barbara Klueznick, 31

Maryse Laganière, 25

Maryse Leclair, 23

Anne-Marie Lemay, 22

Sonia Pelletier, 23

Michèle Richard, 21

Anne St-Arneault, 23

Annie Turcotte, 21

The post Canadian National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women December 6 appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

Data presented by WHO at the G7 Rome International Forum 9 April 2017
“Starting from girls. Women Forum on inequality and sustainable growth” corroborate that young women bear the brunt and have an unacceptably high risk of losing their lives early.
On the issue of HIV we remark: Victims are both male and female adolescents but data on new HIV infections from 2015 suggest women aged 15–24 years are at particularly high risk of becoming infected.

If young women are to become potential envoys of change we believe basic education for all adolescents about their human rights is a must, with a focus on information about sexuality and family planning.

Women of all ages can’t wait any longer. More national and international action is needed to implement the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights SRHR.

We appeal to all governments including those preferring traditional family patterns to provide free access to counselling on family planning, to replenish the stocks of free contraceptives and to support the infrastructure for the same at community level. Our request for all women who are in childbearing age includes emergency contraception, where safe legal pregnancy termination is not available or legally banned, leading to risky unsafe abortion.

IAW will disseminate information on the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health 2016 – 2030 to our wider membership. We stand ready to monitor progress with other like-minded partners.

The statement may be downloaded here:

WHA statement IAW_2017

See statements by other NGOs

The post The Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health 2016 – 2030”. appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

In 2007 for instance, Cameroon hosted a total population of refugees and asylum seekers of approximately 97,400. Of these, 49,300 were from the Central African Republic (many driven west by war), 41,600 from Chad, and 2,900 from Nigeria. Kidnappings of Cameroonian citizens by Central African bandits have increased since 2005.

Between 2014-2016, Cameroon had an estimated 44,000 refugees from Nigeria. Internal Cameroonian refugees also began to leave areas bordering Nigeria to escape Boko Haram violence, especially following the December 

The refugee population fleeing from Boko Haram are scattered in very inaccessible localities in the north of Cameroon, and many who refuse to be registered and stay in camps are still at the mercy of the Boko Haram sect.

Amongst the refugee population, women and children represent about 75% and are still the most vulnerable. That’s why there are too many actors from diverse sectors that are carrying out activities that aim to improve lives in the refugee’s camps, especially for women and children. They can have food and shelter even though they are still facing malnutrition because the food stock always runs low, and the need to train women refugees to be self-reliant with sustainable livelihoods in the refugees camps; for instance by training them in small trade and helping them start small  income generating activities; that’s what our organization CEFAP- Ladies Circle, amongst others is trying to do on the field. Working with women in the refugee camp especially in the Far North is a delicate operation because we have to brave the most dangerous region in Cameroon (due to attacks by the terrorist group-the Boko Haram) to provide life-saving assistance to those vulnerable women and their children. We don’t only go to the refugee’s camp to provide food. We empower women there economically. We keep on advocating for gender equality, fighting to end violence against women and promoting women’s empowerment. Sharing skills, giving smiles, touching /changing lives are some our daily and passionate work, especially with a focus on the most vulnerable, underprivileged and poor. Now, the situation has improved in the camp as far as human’s rights are concerned. You will for instance hardly have complaints of rights that are violated; women are no more beaten and sexually harassed. Women refugees  in the camp can now afford basic needs for themselves through their small income generating  activities. They live in peace; cases of violence and child marriage have reduced. There is still a lot to do to ensure women’s empowerment, advance justice and human rights in the refugee camps in Cameroon. We thank all our supporters that keep on helping us to change/sustain lives, empower women in refugee camps and improve the social and economic status of women in Cameroon. We can list here the Collisson Trust Charitable, International Women’s Alliance, Women’s International Networking and the others.

By Anne Pelagie YOTCHOU TENDONG
IAW member in Cameroon

The post Gender, peace and security in Cameroon : women refugees appeared first on International Alliance of Women.