Egypt - Award & Call for Gender Advocacy & Rights

Suzanne Mubarak Honored by Global Summit for Women: ECWR's Recommendations for Leadership

At last week’s Global Summit for Women (GSW), Suzanne Mubarak was presented the Global Women’s Leadership Award for her “consistent and persistent efforts to support the advancement of women in Egypt.” The theme of the GSW was “redefining leadership,” a theme equally appropriate to the First Lady’s leadership as President of the National Council of Women (NCW). We urge Suzanne Mubarak to redefine her own leadership by committing to undertake real, meaningful work to advance the status of women in Egypt. Specifically, we reiterate our calls for reform first publicized after the September 2005 presidential elections and ask Mrs. Mubarak to advocate for these reforms in her capacity as President of the NCW:

· Urge the President to implement the reform he already announced to establish a minimum number of seats for women in local councils by creating practical mechanisms for its application, and by requiring that at least 1 woman represent each governorate in Egypt. These women must also play a leading role in the election campaign.

· Ensure women’s right to vote free of coercion by the NDP or other parties or interest groups thereby empowering them to truly participate politically.

· Change the law on political rights and elections to establish a quota system that will enable the parties to better support women’s participation.

· Give support to the political parties to include women as 30% of their total list of nominated candidates. Parties with a high percentage of women nominated as candidates should be rewarded.

By advocating for these reforms, Suzanne Mubarak will begin to merit the prize she has been awarded.

Released: 3 Female Activists Arrested May 7, 2006 for Peacefully Demonstrating in Support of Judges for an Independent Judiciary

Read about ECWR's actions in support of their release on our website: www.ecwregypt.org

Recommendations of Conference on FGM and Early Marriage in East Africa

For eliminating FGM challenges in the field:

·         Raise awareness on the dangers of FGM at the community level among men and women

·         Train education, media, governmental and other professionals to disseminate knowledge

·         Introduce economic alternatives for circumcisers

·         Use real stories from girls highlighting success

·         Involve youth in spreading awareness and organize competitions for children

·         Use ICT, websites, books, etc. that address these practices as social rather than religious

Legal mechanisms:

·         Work for a law incriminating FGM

·         Train lawyers, judges and police officers

·         Organize parallel campaigns to address religious and cultural norms

·         Strengthen the role of civil society organizations in pursuing and reporting FGM practitioners

·         Launch an international campaign stop FGM

·         Take action on international agreements and lobby non-member states to ratify them

Religious discourse and how to influence it:

·         Organize and distribute a statement signed by religious leaders and public figures

·         Promote partnership between official and religious institutions and civil society

·         Inform religious leaders about FGM’s medical risks and convince them to "do no harm"

·         Use advocacy mechanisms, especially the media

·         Strengthen dialog between religious leaders, MPs and official institutions

·         Encourage scientists to write more about FGM

·         Distribute materials in mosques and churches

Full text at www.ecwregypt.org

ECWR Activities Update

Women in Democratic Transition: ECWR held a training for women journalists about the importance of women's political participation and the role of the media in promoting it. We also coordinated a meeting with other women's NGOs to develop a joint strategy to support the release of the 3 women activists imprisoned for peacefully demonstrating in support of the judges on trial for advocating for an independent judiciary.

Capacity Building for NGOs: At the request of the International Republican Institute (IRI), ECWR conducted an intensive capacity building training for the Rafadin Women's Coalition, a group of Iraqi activists, on strategic planning and other key skills needed to help the women rebuild and strengthen Iraqi civil society.

Stop Sexual Harassment: Working with MADEV (Media Arts for Development), ECWR developed a plan for the future of or sexual harassment campaign that will utilize visual media in schools and on television, in addition to many other campaign materials aimed at starting a public dialogue about sexual harassment. We are currently searching for a partner.

East Africa Four Literacies Partnership: ECWR took the lead along with Womankind Worldwide in organizing an international conference on the religious and legal perspectives on FGM and early marriage in East Africa. The conference brought together experts and activists from all over East Africa.

FGM Regional Media Task Force: ECWR and partners from 8 African countries met in Nairobi to learn techniques to more effective reach out to the media and encourage journalists to take an active role in campaigns for FGM/C abandonment. More information can be found at www.stopfgmc.org.

Join Egyptians: Support a Free Press & Civil Society in Egypt!

ECWR's many hours spent supporting the 3 female activists who were arrested last month were rewarded in the end with their release. Their arrests galvanized activists here in Egypt – 24 female lawyers came to ECWR to volunteer to work on their cases, women's organizations joined together and the broader movement in support of all the arrested activists rallied behind them. However, we cannot stand alone. As we see more and more arrests of activists and journalists (even as some are released), we need the support of the international community in pressuring the Egyptian government to stop arresting its citizens for expressing their constitutional rights to free speech, freedom of opinion and peaceful assembly and to move forward with democratic reforms.

The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights

135 Misr-Helwan El Zeraay
2nd Floor, Suite 3
Hadayak El Maadi, Cairo
Egypt

Tel: (20) 2 527.1397

Fax: (20) 2 528.2175
E-mail: ecwr@link.net
www.ecwregypt.org
www.fourliteracies.org
www.awfarab.org