WUNRN
An Active Agenda for Women's Advocates in
2011
Issue: 121 - January 10, 2011
This 121 edition of PeaceWomen
ENews features women, peace and security news, events and resources from
peacewomen.org.
The last PeaceWomen ENews focused
on the subject of sexual violence against women in honor of the 16 Day Campaign
and the new Security Council Resolution (1960) on sexual violence in
conflict (click here for full version).
Michelle Reyf, PeaceWomen Team
In 2011, Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) plans to continue its
tradition of carrying forward a pro-peace and women’s rights agenda. Will 2011
be a year that the United Nations (and its member states) acknowledges women as
equal participants in global activism for full disarmament, sustainable peace,
development and human rights?
In his closing remarks on 2010, Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon elaborated plans for the UN to tackle some of the globe’s biggest
challenges – including climate change, poverty, and disarmament. But a widely circulated criticism of the Secretary
General’s op-ed asked: where are the women? In setting the 2011 UN agenda, the
Secretary-General failed to promote either the gender equality of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (while listing the other 7) or the
political success of the creation of UN Women (despite pushing for its
establishment and finding a strong leader in Michelle Bachelet). Nor did he
recall the significant developments related to women in conflict and
post-conflict situations, such as participation, sexual violence in conflict
(also absent was mention of the horrors of the mass rapes in the Democratic
Republic of Congo), or the 10th anniversary of Security Council Resolution
1325.
A Huffington Post article weighed in on the
debate, asking whether UN women could reverse the United Nations'
absent-minded approach to gender equality. WILPF would like to acknowledge
the new UN Women agency as it begins it work identifying women’s peace and
security priorities and incorporating them into the UN’s global agenda while
emphasizing that mainstreaming gender throughout the United Nations system
will require partnerships between all relevant stakeholders in civil society,
national politics, and at the UN. An example of the failure to consult women
and civil society organizations on the ground in conflict/post-conflict countries
is highlighted in the recent letter campaign by the Global Network of Women
Peacebuilders and dozens of others, calling out the Member States of the Security Council
for not including women in the decision-making processes surrounding the recent
sexual violence resolution -- UNSCR 1960.
In order to
implement a real vision of comprehensive and inclusive local and global gender
activism, WILPF members and supporters must continue to serve as a conduit
between the grassroots level and national policy makers to bring women’s issues
and human security to transnational agendas. Organizations like WILPF must
remind the Secretary-General that we cannot expect change if 50% of the global
citizenry is excluded from the processes that set agendas and policies.
To support increased
and effective advocacy on women, peace and security in 2011, PeaceWomen will
continue to advance our monitoring and promotion of full implementation of United
Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR1325) and the related resolutions
(SCR1820, 1888, 1889 & 1960). As our readers know, PeaceWomen monitors the
UN system and the UN Security Council, manages the translation initiative, and
focuses on UN level advocacy among other projects. WILPF translates what is
happening at the UN and works with sections and its membership around the world
to promote the capacities, visibility, and participation of local and national
women’s initiatives.
In the upcoming months,
WILPF aims for the Human Security Program to empower Women Peace and Security
activists to ask how Member States can reorient their defense spending to
pursue justice, deliver human dignity, and enable the realization of peace and
development agendas. Furthermore, we aim to underline the links between the
fulfillment of human rights and socio-economic security as part and parcel of
an agenda that calls for the full implementation of SCR 1325, and women’s full
participation in particular.
While women did not
make it to the center of the United Nations' new year agenda, WILPF and
PeaceWomen will continue to promote building peace with gender equality and
human rights. We invite advocates and believers to support PeaceWomen and join WILPF in these efforts.
Michelle
Reyf is a recent graduate of Dartmouth College, where she studied International
Relations and Anthropology. She has been part of the PeaceWomen team of WILPF
since August 2010.
·
(IPS)
INTERNATIONAL: Women's Coalition Denounces Exclusion by
Security Council In October 2001, the
United Nations Security Council endorsed a resolution recognising that women's
participation is essential to sustain efforts for peace in the world. But did
the international body ever ask world's women leaders to take part in the
decision-making process?
·
(
ISRAEL/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Clinton
Encouraging Leftist Pressure by Women U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested Wednesday that
unspecified women could be a major force in bringing about a peace treaty
between
·
(
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan Women Train as Police to Take on the
Taliban In Block 08, an anonymous
sand coloured building in Helmand's Police HQ, seven veiled figures play out
each afternoon their very own drama of the No 1 Afghan Ladies Police Academy.
·
(Open Democracy)
SUDAN: Women's Citizenship: Implications of the Southern
Sudan Referendum How will the outcome of
the
·
(Radio
DRC: UN Urges DR Congo to Probe Mass Rape Allegations
A United Nations envoy this weekend urged
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) authorities to immediately
investigate reports of dozens of rapes occurring on new year's day in the
country's troubled eastern
·
(WHO)
INTERNATIONAL: Violence Against Women: an Urgent Public
Health Priority Addressing violence
against women is central to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal
(MDG) 3 on women's empowerment and gender equality, as well as MDGs 4, 5 and
6.2 It is also a peace and security issue. In spite of this recognition,
investment in prevention and in services for survivors remains woefully
inadequate.
·
(New Vision)
UGANDA: Women Have the Power to Decide the Destiny of
Uganda FIVE years go by so fast. In 2006, our
leaders made many promises as they convinced us to give them our vote; some
were fulfilled while others were not. It is now payback time and power is back
in the hands of the ordinary woman and man.
·
(eKurd)
KURDISTAN: Minimization of Weapons Curtails Killing of
Women in Kurdistan, Activist Says An
Iraqi Kurdish woman activist has said on Wednesday that the minimization of
weapons among citizens have curtailed the killing of women in northern Iraq's
Kurdistan Region, demanding the Kurdish government KRG to “take serious
measures to minimize the phenomena of carrying of weapons by men in the Region.
·
(
INDONESIA: Gender Equality: What Should the Govt's
Strategy Be in 2011? There were
so many tasks left unfinished by the government in 2010 related to gender
equality. The gaps are seen not only in the increasing cases of domestic
violence, but also in the commodification of working women (Read: female
migrant workers).
·
(NGO News
ZIMBABWE: Election Talk Strikers Fear in Zimbabwean Women
While Zimbabwe 's Robert Mugabe and his Zanu
PF party continue to sound warnings of the first general election in the
Southern African nation since the botched attempt of two years ago, ordinary
people, especially women in the rural areas, are wishing that this could pass.
·
(AFP)
IRAQ: Female MPs Slam Under-Representation in Iraq
Female
MPs, both religious and secular, have slammed the under-representation of women
in Iraqi institutions, especially government, sparking public soul-searching by
male parliamentarians.
·
January 13-15, 2011
2nd European Conference on Politics and Gender
·
January 18, 2011
Policy Forum 2011: Women in Mediation Hunt Alternatives Fund
·
January 25, 2011
''Hidden Battles'' Screens in New York City
·
February 17, 2011
Implementing SC Res 1325 on Women and Peace and Security
- Strengthening the CSW 55 Agenda Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP), International Peace Bureau (IPB), PeaceWomen Project (PW), United Methodist Women (UMW)
·
February 24 - January 24, 2011
Celebrating the Launch of UN Women
·
March 3-5, 2011
2nd Biennial War Crimes Conference: Justice? – Whose
Justice?
·
March 16-18, 2011
CALL FOR PAPERS: Feminist Security Studies at ISA 2011
·
July 6-8, 2011
LOVA's 2nd International Conference: Ethnographies of
Gender and Conflict
·
September 23-25, 2011
The Role of Women in Promoting Peace and Development in
the Horn of Africa
·
2010 Round-up: Importance of Protecting Civilians during
Armed Conflict Grows as Security Council Remains Active in Tackling
Conflict-Related Crises Worldwide Department
of Public Information, January 07, 2011 | Download PDF
·
Aftershocks: Women Speak out Against Sexual Violence in
Haiti's Camps Amnesty International,
January 6, 2011 | Download PDF
·
Inter-American Human Rights Commission Recommendations
for Haitian Government to Address Wave of Sexual Violence in Displacement Camps
Inter-American Human Rights Commission,
January 04, 2011 | Download PDF
·
Reconstructing Gender Identity for Child Combatants in
Post-Conflict African Societies Laura
Woodbury, January 03, 2011 | Download PDF
·
The UN Secretary-General's Database on Violence against
Women Secretary General,
January 01, 2011 | Download PDF
·
Special Report: The Role of Women in Global Security
The
·
Promoting Women's Participation: How Women Are Building
Peace January 2011
·
Working Paper on Civil Society Participation in
Peacemaking and Peacebuilding CSAG,
January 2011 | Download PDF
·
UNIFEM (part of UNWomen) East and Southeast Asia
Subregional Office, July – December 2010 Highlights UNIFEM,
December 2010 | Download PDF
·
ANALYSIS: Global Feminism(s)? Online
Dialogues & Blogs
·
ANALYSIS: In Afghanistan, a Woman's Place is at the Peace
Table Online Dialogues & Blogs
·
PROGRAM: UNOCI Runs Awareness-raising Session for Women
in Nagnenefoun on Preserving Peaceful Post-Election Environment Training
& Workshops
·
BLOG: Incomplete Resolution: The Problems of Excluding
Women from Peace Processes Online Dialogues &
Blogs
·
CAMPAIGN: Breakthrough! Anti-Rape Campaign Enters the
National Conversation in South Africa Campaigns
·
VIDEO: Liberia: Combating Violence Against Women
Multi-Media
·
BOOK EXCERPTS: People's War...Women's War? Other
·
BLOG/PETITION: Women in Conflict - Our Government's
Rhetoric or Resolution? Campaigns, Online
Dialogues & Blogs Gender Action for Peace
and Security
·
CONFERENCE FOLLOW UP: 1325+10 Peace Fair's Cyber Dialogue
In-Country Statements Conferences &
Meetings
·
INTERVIEW: Being at the Table: Interview with Carolyn
McAskie Other
·
INTERVIEW: Unleashing the Power of Women: Interview with
Leymah Gbowee Other
Security Council
Monitor
January 13, 2011
Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict
On December 16th-17th, the Security Council
held an open debate on "Sexual Violence in Conflict." As part of our Security
Council Monitor initiative, PeaceWomen has extracted and organized the women,
peace and security content of the most recent debate. The statements are
available online, organized by Theme and by Country/Region.
43
speakers addressed the Council on this important occasion, including Margot
Wallström, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual
Violence in Conflict (SRSG). Noting that sexual violence during armed conflict is
often pervasive and used as a weapon of war, the Council began the debate with
the unanimous adoption of a new resolution, Resolution 1960 (2010). This new
resolution creates institutional tools to combat impunity and outlines specific
steps needed for both the prevention of and protection from sexual violence in
conflict.
Open Debate on Sexual
Violence in Conflict
Translation Update
January 12, 2011
Call for Translation of SCR 1820
Sub Title: PeaceWomen Speak
Local Campaign
Take action! The need to make women, peace and security
resolutions accessible and relevant to women on the ground is more urgent than
ever.
Join our "Speak Local Campaign" today.
PeaceWomen needs your help to translate SCR 1820 into your language(s) to
promote local ownership and women's participation in conflict prevention,
protection and peace-building. Your work will be acknowledged on our site and
will help raise awareness.
For more information, please click here, or email translations@peacewomen.org.
PeaceWomen Translation
Initiative
NGOWG Update
January 12, 2011
NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and
Security
Sub Title: Monthly Action
Points (MAP) for the Security Council: January 2010
For January, in
which
13 January 2011
WILPF's International Congress
Week-long conference
in
WILPF's
Annual Seminar
To advance the WILPF
in disarmament and the prevention of conflict, WILPF organizes an annual
seminar linking the topics of women and disarmament. This year, WILPF
is planning a seminar on “Women, Disarmament, Arms Control and
Non-proliferation”. The seminar will take place in the beginning of March
2011 in
In Peace,
Maria Butler (PeaceWomen Project
Director), Michelle Reyf (Issue
121 Sub-Editor) and the
PeaceWomen Team
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
United Nations Office
777 UN Plaza,
Tel: 1.212.682.1265
Fax: 1.212.286.8211
Web: www.peacewomen.org
The Security
Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, 31
October 2000. For the
background and the text of the resolutions, visit our website. Click here to subscribe to 1325 PeaceWomen E-News and to
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