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1325
PeaceWomen E-News
Issue
#66
30 August 2005
IRAQ CONSTITUTION ‘BIG DISAPPOINTMENT’ FOR WOMEN
The
Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace
and security, 31 October 2000. CLICK
HERE for the full text of the resolution.
To receive the 1325 PeaceWomen E-Newsletter, send an email to 1325news@peacewomen.org
with "subscribe" as the subject heading.
For past issues of the newsletter, CLICK
HERE.
THIS ISSUE OF 1325 PEACEWOMEN E-NEWS FEATURES:
1. Women, Peace and Security News
2. 1325 Translation Update:
Kyrgyz Translation Now Available!
3. Feature Initiatives: Contribute
To A Report On Women Preventing Violence, War, Genocide And Armed
Conflict & Wear the White Band on 10 September 2005
4. Feature Resource: Critical
Half Journal: Gender and Constitution Building: From Paper to Practice
5. Feature Statements:
WILPF US Section letter to Cindy Sheehan & WILPF International
Message in Remembrance of 60th Year of the U.S Atomic Bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
6. A Gender and Peacekeeping Update:
Accountability in UN Peacekeeping Operations: the New Model
Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU)
7. NGOWG Update:
World Leader’s Summit - the Peacebuilding Commission
8. Feature Profile:
New Japan Women’s Association (Shinfujin)
9. Women,
Peace and Security Calendar
The PeaceWomen is a project of the Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom. Please visit us at http://www.peacewomen.org.
1.
WOMEN,
PEACE AND SECURITY NEWS |
IRAQ
CONSTITUTION ‘BIG DISAPPOINTMENT’ FOR WOMEN
August 29, 2005 - (Feminist Daily News Wire) Iraq's draft constitution
was finalized on Sunday and will be sent to voters for a nationwide
referendum to be held in six weeks. The finalized draft includes
language of grave concern to women in Iraq – namely, that
Islam is to be considered “a basic source of law” and
that no law may contradict the “undisputed rules” of
Islam.
UNAMSIL'S
DSRSG UNDERSCORES UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL'S RESOLUTION 1325
August 24, 2005 – (UNAMSIL) The Deputy Special Representative
of the Secretary General (DSRSG) and UNDP Resident Representative
for Sierra Leone, Mr. Victor Angelo, has disclosed that there are
serious gender disparities in Sierra Leone which are capable of
frustrating any attempt at sustainable development if not adequately
addressed.
BILL
IN US CONGRESS: FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN
August 29, 2005 – (Boston Globe) During foreign wars and disasters,
women and children suffer egregious abuses. They are raped, killed,
or forced into servitude as soldiers, domestics, and sex slaves.
They desperately need more protection than the vital but limited
food-water-and-shelter response of international aid efforts. A
bill in Congress would enhance emergency aid, making the United
States a leader in cracking down on sexual violence and abuse as
well as in quickly rebuilding educational and economic activities.
UN
ESTABLISHES DISCIPLINARY UNITS TO ELIMINATE SEXUAL ABUSE BY PEACEKEEPERS
4 August 2005 – (UN News Center) Upgrading the drive to eliminate
sexual abuse by peacekeepers following reports over the past year
and a half of peacekeepers exploiting vulnerable women and girls
in their area of deployment, eight United Nations missions have
been ordered to immediately establish disciplinary units staffed
by senior-level experts on personnel conduct.
UNIFEM
REPORT: FUNDING SHORTFALLS RESULT IN INADEQUATE OBSERVANCE OF WOMEN’S
RIGHTS
August 8, 2005 – (UN News Service) While it is clear that
improving the situation of women is key to achieving all the other
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), funding shortfalls have led
to inadequate responses for such immediate priorities as ending
violence against women and the denial of their property rights,
senior United Nations officials say in a new report.
AFGHANISTAN:
PROTECT WOMEN CANDIDATES
August 17, 2005 – (HRW) As campaigning begins for the September
18 polls for parliament and provincial councils, the Afghan government
and international monitors must take special measures to protect
women from attacks and intimidation by the Taliban and regional
warlords, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.
US
ANTI-WAR GRANNIES FACE JUSTICE
July 23, 2005 – (BBC News) Elderly members of a US anti-war
group called the "raging grannies of Tucson" are due in
court following a protest at an Arizona military recruitment centre.
They have been accused of trespassing after entering the centre
earlier this month, saying they wanted to enlist
For
more country-specific women, peace and security news, CLICK
HERE
For
more international women, peace and security news, CLICK
HERE
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| 2.
1325 TRANSLATION
UPDATE |
Kyrgyz Translation Now Available
TOTAL NUMBER OF AVAILABLE TRANSLATIONS: 70
PeaceWomen recently received a Kyrgyz translation via Alexander
Smith, a friend of the PeaceWomen Project.
Kyrgyz is one of the official languages of Kyrgyzstan. It is spoken
by about 3 million people in Kyrgyzstan, China, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
The Kyrgyz translation was completed by Sadyrova Ainakan and Aida
Jolosheva.
The Kyrgyz translation is all available at: http://www.peacewomen.org/1325inTranslation/index.html.
Kyrgyz is among the languages identified as a priority for translation
by women, peace and security advocates. Other languages currently
on this priority list are:
• Achehnese (Acheh - Indonesia)
• Bari (Sudan)
• Dinka (Sudan)
• Embera (Colombia)
• Hmong (spoken in Laos, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, and Southern
China)
• Igbo (Nigeria)
• Khmer (Cambodia)
• Luganda (Uganda)
• Luo (Northern Uganda, Western Kenya)
• Malayalam (South Indian)
• Mongolian
• Nuer (Sudan)
• Oshiwambo (Namibia)
• Paez (Colombia)
• Pidgin (Papua New Guinea)
• Quechua (spoken in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Northern Chile,
Argentina, and Southern Colombia)
• Sangho (Central African Republic)
• Shilook (Sudan)
• Tagalong (major dialect of Philippines)
• Tajik
• Uzbek
• Wayu (Venezuela)
• Wayunaiki (Colombia)
• Xhosa (S. Africa)
• Zande (Sudan)
• Zulu (S. Africa)
If you know of existing translations of 1325 in
any of the above languages, to suggest potential translators for
any of these languages and to add languages to this list, please
contact milkah@peacewomen.org
View the 70 translations, at:
http://www.peacewomen.org/1325inTranslation/index.html
For information about the translators of the available 70 translations,
CLICK
HERE.
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Contribute to A Report On Women Preventing Violence, War, Genocide
And Armed Conflict
August 2005
The Global Action to Prevent War (GAPW) Coalition is a transnational
network of organizations and grassroots activists, active in over
53 countries. The coalition grounds the goal of conflict prevention
in specific integrated phases of conflict prevention, peacekeeping
and disarmament over a three to four-decade period, and has included
Resolution 1325 as a crucial element of preventing conflict since
it was adopted in 2000. For more information please visit www.globalactionpw.org
GAPW is currently collecting information for a report on what women
are doing around the world to prevent violence, war, genocide, and
armed conflict. GAPW is contacting grassroots activists around the
world to speak with them regarding women and gender-sensitive initiatives
to prevent war, genocide, and internal armed conflict- including what
strategies and best practices they have used and what the outcomes
have been thusfar.
The report is to be published for the fifth anniversary of Resolution
1325 this October 2005. Because of this, GAPW is working under tight
deadlines to collect information, and is trying to get in contact
with people as soon as possible.
The deadline for contributions is September 9, 2005.
To participate or refer a contact please e-mail or call Anjalina Sen
at anjalina@globalactionpw.org or Tel: 1.212.818.1861.
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Wear the
White Band on 10 September 2005: Ending Poverty and Achieving Human
Security
Global Call to Action against Poverty/Llamado Mundial a la Acción
contra la Pobreza/Action mondiale contre la pauvreté, September
2005
The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) asks women, men,
girls and boys to wear the White Band to show support and commitment
to the global call for the achievement of the Millenium Development
Goals (MDGs) and ending poverty. GCAP is an alliance of both the South
and the North comprising unions, religious groups and other civil
society actors. GCAP is the largest mobilization of civil society
in the world including more than 900 organizations and networks worldwide.
GCAP women’s right’s organizations and networks have consistently
advocated for the achievement of the MDGs in the context of the implementation
of governmental commitments found in CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for
Action, the Cairo Programme of Action and UNSC Resolution 1325 on
women, peace and security. Women’s rights organizations and
networks will continue to urge for the inclusion of women’s
rights and gender equality in the achievement of the MDGs and actions
taken to end poverty.
For more information visit:
GCAP: http://whiteband.org &
http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/Human_Security/humansecurityindex.html
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Critical
Half Journal: Gender and Constitution-Building: From Paper to Practice
Women For Women International, Bi-Annual Journal, Summer 2005
This journal focuses on gender and constitution building, and the
impact they have on each other. It examines issues such as how to
enshrine women’s rights in constitutions, what constitutes
equality and provides specific case studies in Afghanistan and Uganda.
For more information on the Critical Half Journal, please see: http://www.womenforwomen.org
For NGO and civil society reports, papers and statements, UN and
government reports, and books, journals and articles on women, peace
and security issues, please visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/resourcesindex.html
Letter delivered to Cindy
Sheehan
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom –
US Section
13 August, 2005
Dear Cindy Sheehan,
We, who are gathered in San Francisco, CA, for the 29th Triennial
Congress of the US Section of the Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom, declare our solidarity with you and the other
grieving Gold Star Families gathered with you at George Bush’s
“Texas White House” in Crawford.
Our hearts and thoughts are with you on your bold journey to seek
answers from Bush about the illegal and immoral war in Iraq which
killed your loved ones. The motto of this Congress is “Make
peace a reality,” and you are putting your bodies on the line
to try to do that. We support you in your demand that not one more
U.S. or Iraqi family suffer the grief you suffer for a loved one
killed in this senseless war based on lies.
Just as WILPF urges, “Listen to Women for a Change”,
we call on George Bush to “Listen to Cindy”, and stop
sacrificing our children for empire and corporate domination.
For 90 years WILPF women have worked to abolish war, and we send
you our love and admiration, Cindy, woman of courage, for your brave
step forward in that work. Thank you and all the other Gold Star
family members.
You are an inspiration to us.
Peace,
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
For more information contact wilpf@wilpf.org
or go to http://www.wilpf.org
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• • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • •
•
Message
in Remembrance of 60th Year of the U.S Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Extract from the WILPF International Statement to the 2005 World
Conference on Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs
Dear citizens of Japan, venerable Hibakusha, victims of nuclear
weapons testing and production, and all who are united in the commitment
to peace and the total elimination of nuclear weapons:
The members of Women’s International League for Peace and
Freedom (WILPF) around the world in nearly 40 countries and on every
continent send you our greetings of solidarity on the occasion of
the solemn remembrance of the first, and only, war time use of nuclear
weapons. We share with you the urgency of our goal to abolish nuclear
weapons from earth and space and to eradicate their threat forever.
In remembrance of the nuclear horror witnessed 60 years ago, and
to remind people of that shameful calamity and the years of suffering
in the aftermath, WILPF members throughout the world join with others
in their communities in public remembrance through silent vigils,
demonstrations, shadow drawings, music and art, media programs,
seminars, letters to the editors and many other ways of calling
everyone in the world to join together so that there will never
be another Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
In peace, on behalf of Women’s International League for Peace
and Freedom,
Regina Birchem
International President
International Secretariat, info@wilpf.ch
For the full statement visit:
http://www.wilpf.int.ch/statements/2005hiroshima.htm
For NGO and ciil society reports, papers and statements,
UN and government reports, and books, journals and articles on women,
peace and security issues, please visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/resourcesindex.html
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6. A
GENDER AND PEACEKEEPING UPDATE |
Accountability
in UN Peacekeeping Operations: the new model MOU
Kathleen Schneider, UN Observer.org
August 2005
Summary
In the wake of the most recent peacekeeper abuse scandal, there
has been progress toward accountability for sexual exploitation
and abuse committed in UN peacekeeping operations. The momentum
behind this issue must be sustained, but it is vulnerable to a slackening
of the political pressure that has been driving it. The next step
toward peacekeeper accountability depends on the development of
the new model memorandum of understanding [MOU] for troop-contributing
countries that will be considered by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping
Operations in early 2006. A model MOU that is drafted with the goal
of eliminating sexual exploitation and abuse can go far in addressing
the tangle of administrative and legal issues involved. It would
also give the UN the reliable leverage it now lacks vis-à-vis
recalcitrant troop-contributing countries regarding their responsibilities.
For the full article, visit:
http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/Peacekeeping/modelMOU.html
For PeaceWomen’s Gender and Peacekeeping Index, CLICK
HERE.
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World
Leader’s Summit : the Peacebuilding Commission
The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security has been closely
following the preparations for the World Leader's Summit which will
take place in New York on September 14-16, 2005. Among the many
proposals for consideration by the world leaders at the Summit is
the establishment of a UN Peacebuilding Commission to assist states
in transition from war to sustainable peace. Although the proposal
has been met with great enthusiasm by member states as well as civil
society, many details related to its composition as well as reporting
line are still under negotiations. The NGOWG strongly support the
establishment of the peacebuilding Commission and calls for the
inclusion of civil society, and particularly women's groups, in
its work. We also call for predicable financing for the Peacebuilding
Commission and the Peacebuilding Support Office.
For a more extensive comment on this issue please visit:
http://www.peacewomen.org/un/ngo/ngostatements/Peacebuildingcomm.html
For NGOWG’s action alerts and updates CLICK
HERE
For more information about the NGOWG, CLICK
HERE.
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New
Japan Women’s Association (Shinfujin)
The New Japan Women's Association (NJWA or Shinfujin) was founded
on October 19, 1962 at the call of 32 women including Hiratsuka
Raicho (pioneer of the Japanese women's movement,) Nogami Yaeko
(writer) and Iwasaki Chihiro (artist of pictures for children.)
Shinfujin activities are carried out in over 10,000 groups, which
are organized all over the country; in workplaces and communities,
including rural areas. Shinfujin has a head office that unites chapters
working in all the 47 prefectures and branches in 880 municipalities.
Under the five objectives, Shinfujin works to realize all kinds
of women's demands concerning such issues as women's rights, equality
with men, better working and living conditions, measures to support
child-care, education, environmental protection, peace and abolition
of nuclear weapons. The five objectives are:
- Protect the lives of women and children from the danger of nuclear
war
- Oppose the adverse revision of the Constitution and the resurgence
of militarism
- Work together for better living conditions, extended women's rights
and children's well-being
- Win genuine national independence, democracy and emancipation
of women
- Join hands with women in the world for building lasting peace
Shinfujin is opened to all women who agree with the above five objectives,
irrespective of their thought, creed or political background.
Shinfujin publishes a weekly paper "Shinfujin Shimbun"
with 300,000 readers, and a monthly magazine "Josei & Undo"
("Women & The Movement".)
Shinfujin is a member of the Japan Federation of Women's Organizations
(Fudanren) and the International Women's Year Liaison Group (comprising
46 major Japanese women's organizations.) In May 2003, Shinfujin
was granted Special Consultative Status by the U.N. Economic and
Social Council.
New Japan Women's Association
Address: Koishikawa MI Bldg. 5-10-20, Koishikawa-cho, Bunkyo-ku,Tokyo
112-0002, JAPAN
Telephone: +81-3-3814-9141, Fax: +81-3-3814-9441
E-mail : njwa@shinfujin.gr.jp
For more on the New Japan Women’s Association see their website
at: http://www.shinfujin.gr.jp/eng/index.html
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9.
WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY CALENDAR |
Building for the Future:
Women's Role in Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington
DC, 13 September, 2005,
The conference will provide an in-depth look at the positive roles
women have played in peace building and the impact of individual
women, women's organizations, and women's civil society networks
in aiding reconstruction. The first panel will focus on the activities
of women based in areas currently facing conflict, including Iraq
and Zimbabwe. The second panel will examine the role women have
played and continue to play in countries emerging from conflict,
including Afghanistan, Burundi, and Rwanda. Panelists will reflect
on women's activism in both formal and informal peace processes,
and will provide insight into the most effective ways in which women
are involved in reconstruction
activities.
This event is cosponsored by the Middle East Program and the Project
on Leadership and Building State Capacity (formerly the Conflict
Prevention Project).
For more information contact:
Conflict Prevention Project
Phone: 202-691-4187
Fax: 202-691-4184
conflictprevention@wwic.si.edu
www.wilsoncenter.org
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• • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • •
•
Reminder: 10th AWID International Forum:
How does change happen?
Association for Women’s Rights in Development, 27-30 October
2005, Bangkok, Thailand
Up to 2,000 women’s rights leaders and activists from around
the world will converge at The International Forum on Women’s
Rights and Development, which is both a conference and a call to
action. Delegates who participate fully in the Forum not only empower
themselves with new tools and resources, but they also, collectively,
re-politicize the gender and development community, strengthen alliances
between women, and engage in work and thinking that is truly transformative
rather than simply palliative.
For Forum updates CLICK
HERE
For the complete calendar, CLICK
HERE.
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