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2009

Women MPs want Kosovo's election law changed
May 26, 2009 - (SE Times) Women MPs have requested an amendment to the law on elections, saying they do not have fair representation. At a meeting Monday (May 25th), a bloc of female lawmakers called for changes to the current system, which is based on closed lists. Under that system, they said, voters usually support the leader of a party, and all parties are currently led by men.

Participation of Women in 2009 Macedonian Local Elections
March 19, 2009 - (Regional Women’s Lobby for Peace, Security and Justice in SEE) Macedonia is at a crossroads in its political history. Local and presidential elections, which are to be held March 22, 2009, are a chance for the citizens of Macedonia to show their support for a sustainable peace and Euro-Atlantic integration. Macedonians have a chance to choose the political option that supports an inclusive democracy and gender equality and to vote for the lists that support women candidates who will fight for strengthening democracy, stability and gender equality in Macedonia and the whole region.

Participation of Women in 2009 Montenegrin Parliamentary Elections
March 8, 2009 - (Regional Women’s Lobby for Peace, Security and Justice in SEE) The parliamentary elections that are to be held on March 29, 2009 are an opportunity for the citizens of Montenegro to show their support for Euro-Atlantic integration and gender equality. Unfortuantely, the lists presented by the Montenegrin political parties have the lowest average of women candidates in the last three election cycles (In 2006 the average was 24%, now in 2009 it is only 14%). The citizens of Montenegro have the chance to vote for the political option that supports inclusive democracy and gender equality and to choose lists and women candidates who will fight for strengthening democracy, stabilist and gender equality in Montenegro and the region.

HRW Urges Azerbaijan to Drop Libel Case Against Rights Activist Leyla Yunus
January 21, 2009 - (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the Azerbaijani government to immediately withdraw its libel case against rights activist Leyla Yunus. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has accused Yunus of "insulting" the ministry and causing "moral damage" to the reputation of the police after giving an interview in which she questioned the conduct of a kidnapping trial in which a defendant had alleged police involvement.

2008

Anger in Kosovo as UN "Muzzles" Civil Society Leader at Democracy Conference
December 12, 2008 – (Advocacy Project): The largest women's network in Kosovo has suspended cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), after the agency prevented the group's leader from publicly criticizing a controversial UN plan to grant Serbia control of Serb enclaves in Kosovo.

Montenegrin fathers urged to be role models against violence in new UN campaign
December 5, 2008 - (UN News Center) The United Nations refugee agency and its aid partners in Montenegro have enlisted popular local sports coaches to take part in a new public awareness campaign aimed at fathers that is part of broader worldwide efforts to stem sexual and physical violence against women.

Bosnia: Unemployment Dashes Hopes of Bosniak Return
October 10, 2008 - (IWPR) The few who have gone back say scarcity of work, not inter-ethnic tension, is why others won’t join them. High in the hills above the small eastern Bosnian town of Foca stand the houses – dilapidated and empty – abandoned by Bosniaks driven out by Bosnian Serbs during the bloody war of the early 1990s.

Georgia: Georgia's displaced, Young and old face personal struggles
September 30, 2008 – (RelifWeb) Tbilisi, Georgia - Shock, dismay, fear and concern surfaced when conflict struck Georgia on 7 August. For many watching from afar, the complexities of the political crisis – and what it would mean in the global context –were unclear. For Georgians living in major conflict zones, the Tskhinvali and Gori regions of Shida Kartli, there was little time to think. The immediate imperative was to save themselves and their families. Under the threat of bombings and bloodshed, individuals were forced to leave their homes and belongings without knowing where their next meal would come from, or when and how they'd be able to change into clean clothes, take a shower or brush their teeth.

Croatia: CroatiaN Wives Contend With War's After Shocks
September 14, 2008 – (WOMENSENEWS) Croatia's war ended in 1995 but soldiers who returned home with post-traumatic stress never received adequate assistance. One group of veterans' wives took it upon themselves to help form 11 centers to help families cope.

Bosnia: Voices of Victims Heard at Belgrade Conference
September 12, 2008 – (IWPR) Organisers hope event will encourage creation of regional commission to establish truth about war crimes in region. Bosnian war crimes victims told a Belgrade conference this month about their suffering as part of a plan to raise public awareness about atrocities committed during the 1990s Balkans conflicts.

Yugoslavia: Rights & Democracy joins effort to see Karadzic charged with sexual crimes
September 3, 2008 – (Rights & Democracy) The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Serge Brammertz, is expected to file shortly an amended indictment, last revised in 2000, in the case of the former leader and commander of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic.

Georgia: Women struggle for peace in Georgia
August 18, 2008 – (kvinna till kvinna) While Georgian President Sakhashvili and Russian leaders Putin and Medvedev accuse each other of genocide and abuses, active efforts are being made for peace in South Caucasus. Women's organisations throughout the region are collaborating over the borders to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict in South Caucasus.

Georgia: UNICEF immediate needs - Response to the needs of children and women affected by the conflict in and around South Ossetia
August 15, 2008 – (Relief Web) On August 7, an armed conflict erupted in South Ossetia, Georgia, affecting large numbers of people in and around the region. The military actions have caused damage and destruction in the South Ossetia, especially in the capital Tskhinvali, and caused large population displacements in and around South Ossetia on both sides of the Russian and Georgian border.

Georgia: WILPF’S Statement on the situation in Georgia
August 15, 2008 – (WILPF) The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) deplores the violent conflict in Georgia, and welcomes the ceasefire agreement negotiated by the European Union. In all negotiations we urge that parties respect United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Cyprus: Uludag Unearths the Missing Stories of Cyprus
August 1, 2008 - (Womensenews) After withstanding years of silence, Cypriot families--both Greek and Turkish--are beginning to learn about the relatives they lost to political violence and to reclaim their remains. Sevgul Uludag has spurred that process of national healing.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Fighter for the oppressed
July 29, 2008 – (Manly Daily) Forestville academic Eileen Pittaway savoured the moment last week when she heard war criminal Radovan Karadzic had been arrested and would finally be brought to trial. Her emotions could never have matched those of the Bosnian people who suffered in the bloody campaign the Bosnian Serb leader waged between 1992 and 1995. But she had the satisfaction of knowing her efforts had helped to ensure Karadzic will now face justice for the full range of his crimes against humanity including his use of rape as an instrument of state terror.

bosnia: War Sex Slave Story: 'Every Day We Were Raped'
July 22, 2008 - (CNN) The outbreak of war seemed like a joke to Jasmina, then just 19 years old. She dreamed of being an economist and says she played with her toddler son and baby daughter as if they were toys. But in April 1992, the Serb soldiers took over her city of Bijeljina, in northeast Bosnia near the border with Serbia, and began to kill, torture and terrorize the Muslims there in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Serbia: One in Five MPs are Women
June 9, 2008 – (OneWorld) The Center of Modern Skills (CMS) warns the public that the new Skupstina (Serbian Parliament) again doesn’t provide for adequate representation of women. In spite of campaign claims by political parties that they will promote gender equality, very few have actually taken any concrete action towards that goal.

SERBIA: SERBIAN GOVERNMENT BANS PEACE MARCH COMMEMORATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY AMIDST KOSOVO BACKLASH
March 10, 2008 – (OneWorld) In a sign of the growing pressure on Serbian civil society in the wake of Kosovo's declaration of independence, the Serbian government has cancelled a peace march by Women in Black Network from Serbia, a partner of The Advocacy Project.

SERBIA: Serbia faces low intensity war again
February 25, 2008 - (Women in Black) The presidential campaign of the former / actual president Boris Tadic was focused on the integration of Serbia into the EU; however, the issue of Kosovo as "an inseparable part of the territory" of Serbia was equally played upon.

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