WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY INTERNATIONAL NEWS ARCHIVE : 2003

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UNDP, EGYPTIAN COALITION FIGHT GENITAL MUTILATION
January 31, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Development Program announced this week that along with Egypt's National Council for Childhood and Motherhood it is leading an effort to end the practice of female genital mutilation in the North African country, where surveys have found that 97 percent of women have been subjected to the traditional procedure.

WOMEN PUT FAITH TO WORK FOR PEACE: FROM AROUND THE WORLD, 250 GATHER FOR A PRAYER BREAKFAST IN THE DISTRICT
January 30, 2003 – (Washington Post) Sara Smith gave a "feather blessing" and called upon her Native American ancestors. Rabbi Laura Geller recited from the Jewish mourning prayer. Sana Afandi chanted the opening verse of Islam's holy book. And Mae Chee Sansanee, a Buddhist nun, led a group meditation. Those religious figures and a dozen more were among 250 women who gathered yesterday in the ballroom of a District hotel for that most venerable of Washington traditions: the power breakfast.

USING THEATRE TO ADDRESS GENDER ISSUES IN EAST AFRICA
January 30, 2003 – (Pambazuka) People's Popular Theatre (PPT) is a community-based group that uses theatre to raise awareness about discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, or disability. The organisation conducts research on traditional cultural art forms and practices, exploring how they affect gender relations and then working to correct gender imbalances in society through performance art. In addressing these issues, PPT uses African artisitic modes to strengthen cultural identity. PPT focuses most of its activities in Kenya.

KENYAN GOVERNMENT TO ESTABLISH GENDER COMMISSION
January 30, 2003 – (AllAfrica.com) The Government will establish a National Gender Commission to over see gender issues in the country, minister for gender, sports, culture and social services Najib Balala says.

UNESCO, SAO PAULO STATE TEAM UP ON YOUTH CULTURE, VIOLENCE
January 29, 2003 - (UN Wire) UNESCO and the secretary of culture of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo signed an agreement yesterday to join forces in promoting social inclusion, fighting against violence and seeking to prevent the marginalization of young people.

SEXUAL ABUSE IN ZAMBIA FUELS GIRLS’ AIDS EPIDEMIC
January 28, 2003 – (Human Rights Watch) Sexual abuse of girls in Zambia fuels the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the strikingly higher HIV prevalence among girls than boys, Human Rights Watch said today. Concerted national and international efforts to protect the rights of girls and young women are key to curbing the AIDS epidemic’s destructive course.
To read the HRW report Suffering in Silence: The Links between Human Rights Abuses and HIV Transmission to Girls in Zambia, visit: http://hrw.org/reports/2003/zambia/
For a related story on UN Wire, visit: http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/util/display_stories.asp?objid=31689

WOMEN'S COMMITTEE URGES CURBING OF UNFAIR LAWS IN THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO
January 28, 2003 – (IRIN) The UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has asked the Republic of Congo (ROC) to eradicate traditional practices and customary laws that subject women to unfair treatment.

56 FEMALE CANDIDATES UP FOR ELECTION IN ISRAEL
January 28, 2003 – (WEnews) Women candidates for the Israeli Knesset are often drowned out in the never-ending debate over how to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians. They are expected, however, to pick up few seats in today's election.

U.N. ELECTION RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT WOMEN'S HEALTH
January 27, 2003 – (WEnews) An unusual election involving secret ballots will elect the new director-general of the World Health Organization. Activists worry about who will replace the outgoing woman-friendly director and what the impact on women's health will be.

ENGAGING MEN TO HELP FIGHT VIOLENCE AGAINST REFUGEE WOMEN
January 27, 2003 – (UNHCR) Since she fled her war-torn homeland more than 10 years ago, Somali refugee Zahara Mohamed Ali has learned a brutal lesson: "When you are a refugee, you become subject to all kinds of violence. You can always be mistreated."

HIGH LEVELS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN RURAL AREAS OF UGANDA
January 27, 2003 (IRIN) - A study has shown that about one in three women living in rural areas of Uganda experiences verbal or physical threats from their partners. Fifty percent of them receive injuries as a result.

SPECIAL CLASSES GET GIRLS UP TO SPEED IN SCHOOL IN AFGHANISTAN
January 27, 2003 -(UN Wire) After missing five years of schooling under the Taliban regime, then returning to classrooms to find themselves placed alongside younger boys, Afghan girls are pouring by the thousands into an accelerated learning program designed to help them catch up to their male counterparts, a UNICEF spokesman said yesterday.

A MOTHER'S BITTER CHOICE: TELLING KIDNAPPERS NO
January 25, 2003 – (New York Times) Angelina Atyam has faced an awful trauma, and an awful choice. Her fourth child, Charlotte, was one of 139 girls snatched in the early morning of Oct. 10, 1996, from St. Mary's College, a Catholic boarding school in the northern Ugandan town of Aboke.

BOOMING SEX TRADE IN SERBIA OVERWHELMS POLICE
January 25, 2003 – (IWPR’S Balkan Crisis Report) Campaign against the vice industry seems certain to fail for as long as many women view escort work as a way out of the poverty trap.

UNHCR FOLLOWS UP ON SEX ABUSE CASES IN NEPAL
January 24, 2003 – (UN Wire) A team from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees set out for Nepal's Jhapa refugee camps yesterday to investigate conditions there after findings last year that aid workers sexually abused camp residents.

KASHMIRIS LOOK TO A WOMAN FOR RESOLUTION OF STRIFE
January 24, 2003 – (WEnews) In the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, politician Mehbooba Mufti is seen as a healing force for a traumatized populace. Women survivors, she says, can only rebuild their lives if their rights are re-established.

U.N. CALLS FOR GREATER PEACE ROLE FOR WOMEN
January 23, 2003 – (UN Wire) U.N. Development Fund for Women Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers yesterday called for a greater role for women in resolving armed conflicts and rebuilding war-torn countries.

PEACEKEEPER JAILED FOR PORN FILMS
January 23, 2003 - (The Scotsman) An Irish soldier serving as a United Nations peacekeeper in Eritrea has been caught making pornographic videos of local women and is now serving a jail sentence in Ireland, it was revealed last night.

DEMOCRACY, WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND SHARIA LAW IN NIGERIA
January 23, 2003 – (Pambazuka Editorial) The emergence of a more democratic polity in Nigeria demands a redefinition of the relationship between citizens and the state. While the essence of military or indeed any other dictatorship is the denial of fundamental rights in one
guise or another, the essence of democratic governance rests on the respect for, defence and advancement of human, civil, political, economic and cultural rights of all without distinction. At least, this is the way it ought to be.

GENDER, POWER AND IDENTITY IN AFRICAN CONTEXTS
January 23, 2003 – (AfricaPulse) The idea of identity is an interesting one to most Africans, largely because it has remained so vexed. The author claims that not only is there no all-
encompassing concept for identity in much of Africa, but that there is no substantive apparatus for the production of the kind of singularity which the term seemed to require. The implication of history for an Africans' sense of 'who we are' is complicated, and extends far beyond the scope of academic theorisations of identity.

PRIZE FOR WOMEN'S CREATIVITY IN RURAL LIFE IN AFRICA
January 23, 2003 – (PAMBAZUKA) The Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF) cordially invites you to submit nominations for the tenth annual 'Prize for Women's Creativity in Rural Life' Award, honoring creative and courageous women and women's organisations working to improve the quality of life in rural communities around the world.

WOMEN'S PERSPECTIVES ON THE ARUSHA PEACE INITIATIVE
January 23, 2003 – (East African Media Women’s Association) The involvement of women in the on-going Burundi peace talks is a reflection of their general position in society. The initial battle for women's inclusion by mainly the urban based, educated women, enabled them to enter the peace talks, albeit long after they had started. But even today women are primarily observers of the process. They can participate directly in the discussions but have no right to vote on any motion. Read about the experiences of African women at the East Africa Media Women's Website.

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE FIELD REVIEW FOR EAST/SOUTHERN AFRICAN
January 23, 2003 - Raising Voices and UN-Habitat are undertaking a field review of organisations and institutions working to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) in East and Southern Africa. The aim is to create networks and alliances between those working to prevent GBV through conferences and partnerships and to produce a publication that highlights successful approaches to preventing GBV in the region. All NGOs, government agencies, local authorities and other groups working on the prevention of gender-based violence are warmly invited to share experiences. Please contact Lori Michau for further information at lori.michau@raisingvoices.org or follow the link
http://www.raisingvoices.org/fieldreview to complete a simple questionnaire.

HOPES THAT NEW KENYAN GOVERNMENT WILL END DISCRIMINATION
January 23, 2003 – (UNHCHR) Experts on the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women have expressed optimism that the newly elected Government of Kenya would commit itself to countering the traditional forms of discrimination that persisted in that country, as the Committee considered Kenya's reports on compliance with
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEVELS HIGH IN RURAL UGANDA
January 23, 2003 – (EurekAlert) Male to female domestic violence levels in rural Uganda are high and associated with both alcohol consumption and the male partner's perceived risk of HIV, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study found that approximately one in three women living in rural Uganda reported being physically threatened or assaulted by their current partner.

STRONGER ROLES FOR WOMEN IN PEACE PROCESS AND REFUGEE CAMPS, URGES REPORT
January 22, 2003 - (UNHCR) – UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers today called on women to do more to influence "political priorities", urging them to speak out against political agendas that do not take into account what is important to them.

NORWAY A "HAVEN" OF GENDER EQUALITY, U.N. PANEL SAYS
January 21, 2003 – (UN Wire) Members of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women yesterday called Norway a "haven for gender equality" but expressed concern about a dearth of women in economic decision-making posts in the country, the United Nations said in a release.

CHIEF JUSTICE CALLS FOR END TO COEDUCATION IN AFGHANISTAN
January 21, 2003 – (UN Wire) Afghan Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari today called for the abolition of coeducation in his country, saying the practice "violates Islamic injunctions and social morality" and that "abolishing it will violate no one's rights."
http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/util/display_stories.asp?objid=31559

FALLING BACK TO TALIBAN WAYS WITH WOMEN: COMMENTARY
January 21, 2003 – (Human Rights Watch) In the city of Herat in western Afghanistan, the government of the warlord Ismail Khan recently applied new rules rolling back educational opportunities for women and girls. Men may no longer teach women or girls in private classes. Girls and boys are no longer allowed to be in school buildings at the same time. The effect of the ban will be to block many women and girls from attending private courses. There is a shortage of women teachers; almost all the teachers in private courses are men.

WOMEN MUST TAKE THEIR PLACE IN SUDANESE PEACE PROCESS: INTERVIEW
January 20, 2003 – (The East African -Nairobi) AWUT DENG, peace mobiliser for the Nairobi-based New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC), has made it her lifework to promote the rights of people in southern Sudan in general and women in particular. In the 20 years or so of her work, Deng has been instrumental in facilitating peace deals and conferences nationally and internationally, starting up women's organisations, and representing the interests of women and south Sudanese in such high-level negotiations as the Machakos Protocol, signed in July by the Sudan government and the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army. For her efforts, she last year received the InterAction Humanitarian Award, presented to her by US First Lady Laura Bush. CATHY MAJTENYI spoke to Deng about her work, Sudanese politics, and what it's like to be a woman in southern Sudan.

WAR HORRORS HAUNT AFGHAN WOMEN
January 17, 2003 – (IWPR’S Afghan Recovery Report) Thousands of women are suffering from mental illness brought about by their suffering over the last two decades of conflict.

WEDDING WOES FOR AFGHAN WIDOWS
January 17, 2003 – (IWPR’S Afghan Recovery Report) Bereaved provincial women are being forced to marry their late husbands' relative in defiance of both Muslim and civil law.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WIDESPREAD IN KENYA, SELDOM REPORTED
January 16, 2003 – (PAMBAZUKA) Although the Kenyan Constitution was amended in 1997 to guarantee equality between the sexes, in reality discrimination against women persisted in both the private and public spheres, says the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). Expressing its concern in an alternative report to Twenty-Eighth Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women entitled "Violence against Women in Kenya", OMCT said attempts to draft legislation ensuring equality for women had been thwarted, leaving women in Kenya with few laws specifically protecting their rights.

AFGHAN WOMEN JUDGES' GROUP RESUMES; HERAT RESTRICTS EDUCATION
January 16, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Fund for Women is funding the reestablishment earlier this month of the Association of Women Judges of Afghanistan, a group defunct since the start of the Afghan civil war in 1992, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH DETAILS SEXUAL ATROCITIES IN SIERRA LEONE’S CIVIL WAR
January 16, 2003 – (UN Wire) Extreme sexual brutality against women and girls marked Sierra Leone's decade-long civil conflict, according to a Human Rights Watch report released today, but the violence has garnered little international attention and to date there has been no accountability for the thousands of sexual crimes committed mostly by rebel forces. To read this report online, visit: http://hrw.org/reports/2003/sierraleone/

MEN'S VOICES JOIN WOMEN'S IN CALLING FOR PEACE
January 15, 2003 – (WEnews opinion piece) Peace-loving men need to join the women who comprise the majority of the U.S. anti-war movement. While men have an obligation to start a conversation about war, it is high time they had one about peace.

U.N. SAYS CONGO REBELS GUILTY OF CANNIBALISM, RAPE, TORTURE
January 15, 2003 – (UN Wire)The United Nations today confirmed reports that rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have used forced cannibalism, torture, systematic rape and kidnapping as weapons against civilians in the country's northeastern jungles.

UNHCR TRAINS, EQUIPS REFUGEE WOMEN IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
January 15, 2003 – (UN Wire) Fifty refugee women began two-year vocational training courses in the Central African Republic Monday as part of a new $80,000 initiative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

SECURITY COUNCIL URGED TO PRESSURE PARTIES USING CHILD SOLDIERS
January 15, 2003 – (UN Wire) High-ranking U.N. officials told the Security Council yesterday that "naming and shaming" parties that use child soldiers is an important tool for the council to maintain pressure to end the practice.

RURAL WOMEN TO BENEFIT FROM 14 NEW CENTERS IN AFGHANISTAN
January 15, 2003 - (IRIN) Thousands of Afghan women are set to benefit from 14 women's centres set up by the Ministry of Women's Affairs with help from the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and funded by USAID.

WOMEN AS SOCIETY'S PEACE BUILDERS
January 15, 2003 – (This Day-Lagos) Recently, a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation organised series of public enlightment campaigns to sensitise women on their political rights as well as position them for peace building in the society.

MAGAZINE CITES ADVANCES BY US ANTI-ABORTION GROUPS
January 14, 2003 – (UN Wire) U.S. anti-abortion groups made major strides during the first two years of George W. Bush's presidency, influencing policy in various global forums and prevailing over the objections of abortion rights groups, National Journal reports this week.

WOMEN CONNECT! THE POWER OF COMMUNICATIONS TO IMPROVE WOMEN'S LIVES
January 14, 2003 – (Africa Pulse) This document reports on the findings of a three-year program designed to strengthen the ability of women's NGOs in Africa to communicate more
effectively. The initiative assisted these groups in using traditional media (posters and brochures), mass media (newspapers, radio, magazines and television) and ICT (e-mail and the Internet) to communicate and advocate for causes they deemed important. This refers to women's sexual and reproductive health, inheritance rights for women and the reduction of all forms of violence.

CEDAW COMMITTEE OPENS 28TH SESSION TODAY IN NEW YORK
January 13, 2003 - (UN Wire) The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today opens its 28th session at U.N. headquarters in New York.

IN AFGHANISTAN, DESPERATE WOMEN SEEK SOLACE IN DRUGS
January 10, 2003 - (IWPR'S AFGHAN RECOVERY REPORT, No. 43) Long-suffering women turn to opium in order to deal with the harsh realities of Afghan life.

HONOUR KILLINGS AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ARE DEPRESSINGLY COMMON STILL IN PAKISTAN
January 9, 2003 (IRIN) - Jamila Khan, (not her real name) was confident when she described her narrow escape from an honour killing in Pakistan's Punjab Province. "Women were always hated in my household. My mother hated having girls," the 25-year-old told IRIN in the Pakistani, capital, Islamabad.

UN, OTHERS TO DISCUSS GENITAL MUTILATION NEXT MONTH IN ETHIOPIA
January 8, 2003 – (UN Wire) The African Union, the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa and other U.N. agencies will be represented at an international conference on female genital mutilation next month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

WOMEN AND THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN QATAR
January 7, 2003 - (Politics- Qatar) It was officially announced in Qatar yesterday that one woman has nominated herself for the second municipal elections which are presumed to be held in Qatar in March, against 6 women who nominated themselves for the elections in 1999 and not one of them was elected. News reports said that the chairman of the media committee for the municipal council elections Col. Rashid Shahin al-Atiq explained that 93 Qatari men nominated themselves in all elections circles including just one woman to compete for renewing the council 's 29 seats. He added the nomination will be officially announced on the 27th of this January.

WOMEN TO WOMEN LETTER NOW ONLINE
January 6, 2003- (WILPF) Just a quick update to let you know that the Women to Women letter is now online, both on the WILPF website to be printed (http://www.wilpf.org), and in e-petition format so it is even easier to sign!! (http://www.PetitionOnline.com/WILPFw2w/petition.html)

EXPERTS EXAMINE CHILD TRAFFICKING IN BANGLADESH
January 6, 2003 – (UN Wire) International experts are meeting today in Dhaka to seek ways to stop the trafficking and exploitation of Bangladeshi children. On Friday, experts told journalists that Thailand and India are the main regional importers of trafficked children.

BAHRAINI WOMEN DEMAND UNIFIED CIVIL STATUS LAW
January 6, 2003 - (ArabNews.com) Scores of Bahraini women yesterday organized a silent sit in, in the courtyard of the ministry of justice in Manama demanding a unified civil status law. The sit-in lasted for one hour and was attended by 70 women who raised banners saying "we demand a unified civil status law" and "No to mediation at the Sharia court."

UNICEF ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMME LAUNCHED IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
January 3, 2003 (IRIN) - UNICEF and the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) have signed a US $3.5-million-dollar agreement for programmes aimed at reducing poverty among women and children, according to a senior UNICEF official.

WOMEN IN DRIVING SEAT
January 3, 2003 – (IWPR'S AFGHAN RECOVERY REPORT) Kabul women say driving lessons are helping to give them a new lease of life.

HALF-HEARTED STEPS ON LAND AND CONSENT AGE
January 2, 2003 - (The Monitor-Kampala) Among women activists, this year has been about taking issues affecting women a step further. There were several issues that they took up - land co-ownership, equal opportunities, and age of consent were some of them. They achieved some success on a few of them, but they also registered some failures. Carolyne Nakazibwe evaluates the gender scene of 2002.

AFRICAN AND ASIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS SEEK EQUALITY FOR WOMEN
January 2, 2003 - (UNDP) Parliamentarians from more than 20 African and Asian countries meeting recently in Bangkok, Thailand, called for stepped up efforts to adopt legislation and policies for equality between women and men, one of the Millennium Development Goals. Participants in the second Africa-Asia parliamentarian forum on the role of legislatures in human security and gender also advocated national budgets that support equity for women and agreed to set up knowledge networks among parliamentarians and to strengthen expertise on gender issues among lawmakers.

'ENSURING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS WOULD HELP OVERCOME POVERTY'
January 1, 2003 - (This Day-Lagos) Promoting reproductive health and rights is indispensable for economic growth and poverty reduction, according to a new report by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Developing countries that invested in education and health, including family planning, have achieved smaller families and slower population growth, and as a result, higher productivity, more savings and more productive investment.

REBELS CONTINUE TO ABDUCT CHILDREN INTO RANKS IN UGANDA
February 28, 2003 – (UN Wire) Lord's Resistance Army rebels this week continued their campaign of abducting children to serve as sex slaves and child soldiers, with several attacks on schools in northern Uganda, according to press reports.

U.S. ANNOUNCES NEW STRATEGY TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING
February 28, 2003 - (UN Wire) The U.S. Agency for International Development plans to combat human trafficking for sexual or economic exploitation by seeking to reduce women's and children's vulnerability to trafficking and by promoting legal and institutional reforms in countries involved, AID Administrator Andrew Natsios said yesterday.

FOUR TOP WOMEN REPORTERS TO DISCUSS WAR AND CONFLICT
February 28, 2003 – (ILO-Press Release) The International Labour Organization (ILO) will mark International Women's Day on 7 March this year with a discussion by four award-winning women journalists on war and conflict, and the special challenges it poses to them and other women.

WOMEN, WAR AND RECONCILIATION IN ANGOLA
February 27, 2003 (IRIN) - "I came here to the quartering area to try and find my husband, the father of my children," Celita Vasco says. "But when I arrived here I heard that my husband had died in the war. My children have no father."

MEN MUST JOIN WOMEN TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
February 26, 2003 – (WEnews-Commentary) Men must get involved in the fight against violence against women, this author argues. He should know. A former National Football Leaguer, Don McPherson has spent years speaking out for non-violence.

SUPPORT FOR GIRLS' EDUCATION IN GUINEA-BISSAU
February 26, 2003 – (IRIN) UNICEF has agreed to provide Guinea-Bissau with assistance worth US $23 million under a new five-year support and cooperation programme that will continue until 2007. The programme will cover child protection, nutritional health, primary education and functional literacy, and a social communication policy, the programme's coordinator, Karim Alkadiri, told IRIN… Its targets include getting more children in school, especially girls, and teaching them about peace.

MANY WOMEN SUFFER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN SOUTH PACIFIC, STUDIES FIND
February 25, 2003 – (UN Wire) Domestic violence marks the lives of the majority of women in the South Pacific, according to reports presented at a workshop last week in Suva, Fiji, sponsored by the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the 16-nation Pacific Forum and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

CONFERENCE EXAMINES GRASSROOTS EFFORTS TO HALT HUMAN TRAFFICKING CRIME
February 24, 2003 – (UN Wire) Human trafficking, in particular the trafficking of women and children into sexual slavery, is the focus of a conference that began here yesterday evening and runs through Wednesday.

SOUTH AFRICA BEGINS GETTING TOUGH ON RAPE
February 24, 2003 – (WEnews) South African prosecutors are adopting a hard-line stance against rape, instituting special courts to address the crime and studying the reasons behind the astounding breadth of the problem.

US DRIVE TO TACKLE SEX TRAFFICKING
February 24, 2003 – (BBC) Delegates from 120 nations are gathering in Washington to tackle the growing problem of sex trafficking…The conference brings together for the first time local activists and justice department officials, parish priests and former victims, to discuss effective strategies to combat sex trafficking.

SPECIAL REPORT: WOMEN CONFRONT WAR, BUILD PEACE
February 23, 2003 – (WEnews) Women's Enews profiles three women in conflict zones who confront terror by working for peaceful resolutions and reports on the extraordinary price non-combatant women pay for war.

UN LAUNCHES FIRST COMPREHENSIVE WEB SITE ON GENDER AND HIV/AIDS
February 21, 2003 – (UN News Service) Furthering efforts to place gender equality at the core of the fight against HIV/AIDS, the United Nations today launched its first comprehensive web portal that promotes understanding, knowledge sharing, and action on the epidemic as a gender and human rights issue.

WOMEN'S COMMISSION RESPONDS TO UN OFFICIAL'S REMARKS
February 21, 2003 – (Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children-press release) The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children in New York has sent a letter to Olara Otunnu, the SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict, in response to his praise of the Sierra Leone DDR, describing it as a model for African nations present at the recent ECOWAS meeting. The letter details the gaps in the DDR and recommends that countries affected by conflict should look to the DDR program in Sierra Leone as an imperfect model for the demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers and should incorporate the lessons learned from the DDR process in Sierra Leone into all future demobilization policies and programs affecting children and youth. The letter was copied to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, senior UN officials and fifteen ECOWAS presidents.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302210592.html

UNICEF OFFICIAL CITES "LARGEST SLAVE TRADE IN HISTORY"
February 20, 2003 – (UN Wore) More than 30 million women and children throughout Asia and the Pacific have been trafficked over the past 30 years, said a top UNICEF official today, calling the trade the "largest slave trade in history."

UNICEF STRESSES PROTECTION OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AS KEY TO FUTURE OF SOMALIA
February 20, 2003 – (UN Wire) UNICEF said yesterday at a meeting of donors in Nairobi that the key to Somalia's future lay in the survival and protection of women and children and noted with optimism that peace talks aimed at ending more than a decade of anarchy were moving forward.

FOCUS ON THE "BURDEN" OF MANHOOD IN SOUTH AFRICA
February 19, 2003 – (IRIN) It is hard to be a boy in South Africa these days. A recent survey of 30 schools in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province found that, across all races, male students and teachers experience uncertainty about their role and status and a sense of displacement due to the loss of their privileged space in society. The study examined how masculinity is constructed and maintained in schools to better understand how deeply-held notions of masculinity lead to high-risk behaviour for HIV infection among men and women.

WORKSHOP TO PROMOTE GIRLS' EDUCATION IN ETHIOPIA
February 18, 2003 – (UNICEF press release) The Ministry of Education (MOE) and UNICEF began a workshop this week to develop innovative strategies and an action plan to promote girls' education in five regions that have wide gender gaps and low girls' school enrolment rates.

WINNIE WANTS TO BE IRAQI HUMAN SHIELD
February 18, 2003 – (South African Press Association) African National Congress MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela wants to travel to Iraq as a human shield, and wants other South African women to join her.

NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE VISITS BURMA
February 18, 2003 – (Nonviolence International Southeast Asia) Ms. Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, which she received with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, visited Burma this week, carrying personal messages of support from fellow Nobel Peace laureates Rigobera Menchu Tum, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Oscar Arias, Joseph Rotblat, Norman Borlaug, Betty Williams, Mairead McGuire, to Burma's country-bound Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It was the first visit to Ms. Suu Kyi by another Nobel Peace Laureate since she received the award while under house arrest in 1991.

WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS IN POST-CONFLICT AFGHANISTAN: AN INTERVIEW WITH ARIANE BRUNET, RIGHTS & DEMOCRACY
February 2003 (WHRnet) Ariane Brunet relates that even after the ousting of the Taliban by the United States, Afghan women still find themselves caught up in familiar forms of discrimination. She states that women's achievements at the international level--mostly in the form of recognition of women's role in peace and conflict resolution-- still have "zero impact" on the ground. Brunet also describes Rights and Democracy's plan of support for the women of Afghanistan.

WAR AND ARMED CONFLICTS
February 18, 2003 – (WHRnet) Niamh Reilly gives an updated overview of the impact of war and armed conflict on women and girls and discusses the international human rights mechanisms that address this problem. Latest facts and figures, and links to various information resources on the Internet are included in this article.

SEX SLAVE RACKET CLAMPDOWN IN MACEDONIA
February 18, 2003 – (IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT) Police raid nets top players in human traffic trade.

A WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE ON WAR AND CONFLICT
February 18, 2003 – (WHRnet) Sunila Abeyesekera (Inform-Sri Lanka) discusses in detail the ill effects of war, conflict and fundamentalisms on women. Abeyesekera reiterates the importance of a women's human rights perspective in avoiding and resolving war and conflicts, as she charts out the skills and understanding that women have gained through their struggle against systemic oppression and discrimination and in dealing with violence in their daily lives.

7 WOMEN TO SERVE ON THE ICC!
February 2003 - (Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice) After 33 rounds of balloting, 18 judges have finally been elected to the International Criminal Court! The panel of judges includes 7 women, an unprecedented and historic development.

WOMEN TO WOMEN PEACE LETTER UPDATE
February 14, 2003 (WILPF US) On January 23 WILPF-US launched our Women to Women Peace Letter Project. In less than one month women from hundreds of cities across 47 different states in the US have signed the letter. As of Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14th we have more than 1700 signatures received on-line, by mail, and at anti-war demonstrations, with hundreds more "on the way" from various groups around the country. We also have signatures from around the world including: Tanzania, Norway, Germany, Ecuador, Australia, Denmark, Ireland, China, Belgium, Canada, Romania, Mexico, Switzerland, Italy, Brazil, Poland, Sweden, Peru, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Included among the signers are Frances (Sissy) Farenthold, Suzanne Pharr, Barbara Kingsolver, Elise Boulding, and Katherine Patterson. We also received signatures from 3 women in prison for civil disobedience in Minnesota and 12 women inside a Federal Prison Camp in Greenville IL! Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) has endorsed this initiative and is circulating a companion Congressional Letter to the Women's Caucus of the House of Representatives.
The letter is currently online at: http://www.wilpf.org. It is also available in Spanish, Portugese, German, Arabic, Italian, and Dari (Persian) upon request. Email jengeiger@wilpf.org or call (215) 563-7110....and it will be on the website in many languages soon!!

AT LEAST 30 WOMEN ARRESTED IN PEACE PROTEST OUTSIDE U.N. OFFICE IN ZIMBABWE
February 14, 2003 – (UN Wire) At least 30 women and two journalists were arrested today at a Valentine's Day peace protest outside U.N. offices in Harare, Zimbabwe, staged by the group Women of Zimbabwe Arise, which had been declared illegal under the country's new security laws. They planned to deliver a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan as a symbol of love and peace.

U.N. GENEVA HEAD LAUNCHES CONFERENCE ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING
February 14, 2003 – (UN Wire) International organizations that are sometimes "reluctant to acknowledge" that their employees are involved in human trafficking "must not shy away from confronting" the problem, U.N. Geneva chief Sergei Ordzhonikidze said yesterday at the opening of a human trafficking meeting in Geneva. Among subjects to be discussed at the "tripartite plus process" meeting, the 10th of its kind, are codes of conduct for staff of such international organizations.

V-DAY LOOKS BEYOND THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES
February 14, 2003 – (WEnews) Today is V-Day--V as in Victory, Valentine and Vagina--the global movement that Eve Ensler launched to combat violence against women and girls.

SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT PRIORITISES CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN, CHILDREN
February 14, 2003 – (BuaNews-Pretoria) President Thabo Mbeki says crimes against women and children will continue to receive priority attention, including the establishment of sexual offences courts.

INTERNATIONAL HONOUR FOR SOUTH AFRICAN JUDGE WELCOMED
February 14, 2003 - (The Natal Witness) The Law Society of SA has welcomed the appointment of Judge Navanathem Pillay to the International Criminal Court. "Her involvement will no doubt boost the court's commitment to upholding women's rights worldwide. This is evidenced by Judge Pillay's work on the Rwanda Tribunal's bench, which proves that the presence of female judges can contribute significantly to effective prosecution of sexual violence against women," said the society.

GENDER AND AIDS IN AFRICA
February 14, 2003 – (UNAIDS) This document (PDF)- produced by UNAIDS - provides an overview of the impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic by gender and considers prevention and care issues, especially as they relate to women.

REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL CONDUCTING ASSESSMENT MISSION IN ITURI
February 13, 2003 – (IRIN) Refugees International (RI) is conducting a humanitarian assessment mission in the Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the NGO announced on Thursday. The mission is focusing on assessing the overall situation of the displaced, with particular attention to the needs of vulnerable women and children.

NAMIBIAN PRESIDENT NUJOMA CONDEMNS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN
February 12, 2003 – (The Namibian –Windhoek) As armed Police officers kept Namibians concerned about violence against women and children away from Parliament yesterday, President Sam Nujoma was speaking about the issue inside the National Assembly.

ELEANOR'S LIFE INSPIRES YEARNING FOR WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP
February 12, 2003 – (WEnews) As we observe President's Day and Lincoln's birthday this month, one writer reflects on the lack of female political leadership and the role of the quintessential leader, Eleanor Roosevelt.

LAUNCH OF NATIONAL DATA COLLECTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN CONGO
February 12, 2003 (IRIN) - In an effort to better understand and improve the status and quality of life of women in the Republic of Congo, the government has begun the compilation of data on violence against women country-wide.

WOMEN HELPING WOMEN IN BOSNIA
February 11, 2003 – (ReliefWeb) On the 11th day of every month, Hajra Catic, from Srebrenica, joins peaceful demonstrations organized by Mothers from Srebrenica and Zepa in Tuzla and Sarajevo, demanding the truth about family members who disappeared during the Bosnian Serb campaign against their two native towns.

INCREASED PUBLIC AWARENESS OF FGM IN KENYA
February 11, 2003 – (IRIN) For many years, efforts by human rights groups fighting female circumcision, also referred to as female genital mutilation (FGM), were frustrated by cultural taboos and lack of political commitment. Now, however, those efforts are paying off and have resulted in increased levels of public awareness.

POLICE ARREST ALLEGED HUMAN TRAFFICKER IN MACEDONIA
February 11, 2003 – (UN Wire) Macedonian police yesterday announced the arrest of alleged sex slave trafficker Boijku "Leku" Dilaver during a Friday evening raid on one of his clubs near the Albanian border.

SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY WOMEN JUDGES DISCUSS GENDER BIAS IN JUDICIAL SYSTEM
February 10, 2003 – (The Herald –Harare) Southern African Development Community (SADC) women judges recently met in Harare in order to discuss their role in the judiciary and problems of gender bias in the justice delivery system in the region.

WOMEN IN BRAZIL TAKE A STAND AGAINST GUNS
February 2003 – (Amnesty International-The Wire) In the last 10 years, 300,000 people have been killed in Brazil, largely as a result of urban violence and the proliferation of guns in the country. While 24 men are killed for every one woman, every death leaves a grieving mother, wife, sister, girlfriend or friend. Now the women of Brazil are uniting to try to put an end to the terrifying escalation of violence and gun crime.

31 PALESTINIAN WOMEN SLAIN IN HONOR KILLINGS IN 2002, POLICE REPORT
February 10, 2003 – (UN Wire) At least 31 Palestinian women were murdered in so-called honor killings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last year, according to statistics released by Palestinian police last week.

U.N. OFFICIAL WANTS ACTION AGAINST PERSONNEL INVOLVED WITH SEX TRADE IN BOSNIA
February 10, 2003 – (UN Wire) The United Nations' top human rights official in Bosnia, Madeleine Rees, is calling for an end to immunity for U.N. officials involved in the sex trade in Bosnia. Rees said that those involved in sex crimes in Bosnia must be brought to justice in their home countries.

TO SAVE AFRICA, WE MUST SAVE AFRICA'S WOMEN
February 10, 2003 – (The Chronicle Newspaper -Lilongwe) An opinion piece by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan: A combination of famine and AIDS is threatening the backbone of Africa - the women who keep African societies going and whose work makes up the economic foundation of rural communities.

WOMEN JUDGES DOMINATE WORLD'S NEW WAR CRIMES COURT
February 9, 2003 – (The Observer) Justice came of age in spectacular fashion in New York last week when women bagged six of the top seven judicial seats on the new International Criminal Court.

EVERYBODY HAS A MOTHER
February 9, 2003 – (New York Times Magazine) Aicha el-Wafi, mother of the accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, has just finished a creme caramel and is on her way out of a restaurant in Narbonne, France, when a waiter stops her. ''I saw your son the other day on television,'' he says. ''He was very good -- very interesting.'' He's not referring to Zacarias, who is being held in isolation in Virginia, charged with conspiracy in the Sept. 11 attacks. The waiter is talking about her other son, Abd-Samad Moussaoui, author of ''Zacarias, My Brother: The Making of a Terrorist,'' an account of his younger brother's life until 1995, when Zacarias was 27, after which the two fell permanently out of touch. Neither Abd-Samad nor the boys' mother knew what had become of Zacarias until Sept. 12, 2001, when the television news started flashing a mug shot of the man thought to be the ''20th hijacker.'' His head was shaved, and his face had gotten beefier, but the Moussaoui family knew it was Zacarias.

AUSTRALIANS BARE ALL IN ANTI-WAR PROTEST
February 8, 2003 – (BBC) More than 700 women have posed nude in Australia in a mass protest against their country's support for possible military action against Iraq. The naked demonstrators, aged 20 to 60, used their bodies to form the words "No war" on the side of a hill in Byron Bay, New South Wales.

A CHAMPION OF WOMEN, AND A DEFENDER OF GIRLS
February 8, 2003 – (New York Times, Saturday Profile) With her crisp greeting, Kim Kang Ja whisks a visitor through a narrow side office, where her four male assistants work, and into a comfortable chair in her own roomy private sanctum…As she tells her story, it sometimes seems as if Ms. Kim's career in South Korea's national police is woven of nothing but firsts. She was the first woman to head a police task force, the first female inspector, the first woman to serve as precinct captain or superintendent, and the first, in December 1999, to attain the rank of chief.

UN LAUNCHES CD ON WOMEN
February 7, 2003 – (The Daily News -Harare) The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women has launched a new CD-ROM, Women Go Global. The interactive, multimedia production provides a graphic account of the legitimisation process of the global feminist movement by the UN.

HUNDREDS OF GIRLS RUN AWAY TO EVADE FGM IN KENYA
February 7, 2003 - (IRIN) As the world marked the international day against female genital mutilation (FGM) on 6 February, hundreds of girls in Kenya's Rift Valley Province were running away from home to escape the practice, according to media and human rights sources.

RIGHTS GROUPS CONDEMN RAPE BY POLICE IN KENYA
February 6, 2003 (IRIN) - Kenyan women's rights groups have expressed outrage at recent incidents in which policemen have been accused of rape, and urged the authorities to take appropriate action to instil discipline within the force in order to stamp out such crimes.

KEEPING THE SECURITY COUNCIL DOOR AJAR
February 5, 2003 – (UN Wire Notebook by Barbara Crossette) Diego Arria, an innovative Venezuelan diplomat, hadn't occupied his country's newly acquired Security Council seat for very long in 1992 when he decided that something had to be done to penetrate the shroud of secrecy that surrounded almost everything the council did. In this article, Crossette discusses, in detail, the difficulties in organizing the Arria Formula held around the second anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 1325.

WOMEN PROTEST AGAINST FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
February 5, 2003 – (IRIN) Four wives of African presidents joined hundreds of women in Addis Ababa on Tuesday to call for zero tolerance to female genital mutilation.

WOMEN IN KINSHASA DEMONSTRATE AGAINST CANNIBALISM
February 5, 2003 – (IRIN) Traffic came to a halt along Boulevard du 30 juin, Kinshasa's main thoroughfare, on Tuesday as some 300 women held a prayer vigil in protest against acts of cannibalism reported recently in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

AFGHANISTAN: WOMEN CALL FOR EQUAL RIGHTS
February 5, 2003 - (Reuters) Three hundred women gathered this week at a conference in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, to call for an end to discrimination and violence against women and for the rights of women to be ensured in the country's new constitution. According to human rights groups, women continue to be harassed, abused and threatened throughout the
country even after the fall of the repressive Taliban regime more than a year ago.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: FIRST JUDGES, INCLUDING 6 WOMEN, ELECTED
February 4, 2003 - (UN Wire) The first seven judges to the International Criminal Court -- six women and one man -- were elected yesterday in the first round of voting by the ICC's Assembly of States Parties...The ICC's first judges are Maureen Harding Clark of Ireland, Fatoumata Diarra of Mali, Akua Kuenyehia of Ghana, Elizabeth Odio Benito of Costa Rica, Navanethem Pillay of South Africa, Song San-hyun of South Korea and Sylvia de Figueiredo Steiner of Brazil. Song was the only man to be elected on the first round.

SIX WOMEN ELECTED TO THE ICC
February 4, 2003 - (Women's Caucus for Gender Justice) This is a historic development for gender representation on an international tribunal and we congratulate those women who will assume a seat on the ICC. But it must not stop here. While the delegates met the minimum voting requirement for women in the first round of elections, we stress that the requirement is a minimum and not a maximum. We must not allow this requirement, which is intended to help ensure fair representation on the court, become a limit on women's participation at the highest levels of this tribunal. With 11 seats left to fill in the next rounds of voting, there is an opportunity to ensure parity in the ICC.

ACTIVISTS CALL ON WORLD LEADERS FOR ZERO TOLERANCE FOR FGM
February 4, 2003 – (UN Wire) African leaders and international organizations open a three-day conference today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to urge zero tolerance for female genital mutilation, which the World Health Organization says has been performed on up to 140 million women and girls.

CEDAW CONCLUDES THREE-WEEK REVIEW
February 3, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded its 28th session Friday, issuing recommendations to eight countries on their implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

NO TIME FOR DESPAIR: WOMEN TAKE ACTION WORLDWIDE
March 20003 – (Ms Magazine) Message from Robin Morgan, Ellie Smeal, and Gloria Steinem: As Ms. goes to press, there's no way of knowing if, by the time you read this, the United States will be at war-- an elective war launched against Iraq, where 50 percent of the population is under age 15. Yes, they are oppressed by a brutal dictator, but it's also clear--from polls showing that some 70 percent of Americans oppose Bush's unilateral action against Iraq 7-- that a majority of us don't trust the judgment of our leader. The article includes a list of Coalitions and Groups Advocating Nonviolence

UNICEF DEPLORES POOR STATE OF IVORIEN WOMEN
March 31, 2003 – (Public Agenda -Accra) The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Ghana has said the plight of women and children fleeing the conflict in Ivory Coast to Burkina Faso is a very difficult one.

U.N. WORKSHOP PRECEDES ENTRY INTO FORCE OF TREATY ON WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
March 31, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is holding a women's rights workshop tomorrow in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in advance of the entry into force Friday in the country of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. The workshop, which will focus on the treaty, is the first in a planned series of UNAMA rights workshops for women. Expected tomorrow are more than 30 participants, including local and national government representatives (UNAMA release/ReliefWeb, March 30).

A WOMAN'S WORK?
March 30, 2003 – (NYTimes Magazine) Margaret Talbot writes: In a way, it is no surprise that more women than men oppose the war with Iraq. The gender gap on issues of war and military spending has been obvious at least since pollsters first thought to measure such a thing.

SEXUAL ASSAULT PERVASIVE IN MILITARY, EXPERTS SAY
March 30, 2003 – (WEnews) Sexual assault remains a pervasive problem for women in the military, including those currently deployed overseas. Experts say the military's hierarchy is ill-equipped and unprepared to deal fairly with rape complaints.

RIGHTS GROUP SEES SURGE IN CHILD ABDUCTIONS IN UGANDA, SEEKS U.N. ENVOY
March 28, 2003 – (UN Wire) Human Rights Watch released a new report today indicating that about 5,000 children have since June been abducted by Lord's Resistance Army rebels in Uganda, compared with fewer than 100 abductions for all of 2001. The rights group said the Ugandan government also recruits children, some of whom are used as fighters against the rebels. Human Rights Watch called on the U.N. Human Rights Commission to ask U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to appoint a special envoy on child soldiers in Uganda.
To read the report, which includes a section on the experience of girls abducted into the rebel army, visit: http://hrw.org/reports/2003/uganda0303/

SOMALI WOMEN PEACE DELEGATES LOBBY FOR THEIR RIGHTS
March 28, 2003 - (IRIN) Somali women attending the ongoing peace conference in Nairobi, Kenya, have called for women's rights to be included in all stages of the peace process.

WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS WORLDWIDE URGE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO "UNITE FOR PEACE"
March 28, 2003 – (International Council for Peace and Justice) International women's organizations, including MADRE, Women of Color Resource Center, Center for Women's Global Leadership, and the International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic, today joined other women's organizations worldwide as they called on the member states of the United Nations General Assembly to enact an emergency application of UN Resolution 377 ("Uniting for Peace") to stop the US-led bombing of Iraq and protect Iraqi civilians.
To read the statement, click here.

A NEW WAR BRINGS NEW ROLE FOR WOMEN
March 28, 2003 (NY Times) One glance at the terrified eyes of Specialist Shoshana Johnson, the Army cook taken captive this week in Iraq, was more than enough for Laura Sargent, a senior airman here scheduled for deployment on Monday. As soon as "Dateline NBC" flashed the grainy images of Specialist Johnson, Airman Sargent popped in her brand-new DVD of "Toy Story."

BORDER HOSPITAL RECEIVES UNFPA SUPPLIES TO BETTER ASSIST PREGNANT REFUGEE WOMEN
March 26, 2003 – (UNFPA) The Al-Ruwaished Hospital, in western Jordan, yesterday received a fresh shipment of emergency medical equipment, supplies and medications that would further prepare it to treat people displaced as a result of the Iraqi conflict. The new supplies, delivered by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, are particularly intended to boost the hospital's ability to assist pregnant women and to save the lives of mothers and their babies.

THAILAND, NGOS AGREE ON CLOSER COOPERATION AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING
March 26, 2003 – (UN Wire) State agencies in Thailand and non-governmental organizations signed an agreement Monday to cooperate against the trafficking of women and children. The signing was witnessed by U.N. representatives.

U.N. PANEL FAILS TO ADOPT DRAFT-AGREED CONCLUSIONS ON VIOLENCE
March 26, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Commission on the Status of Women yesterday failed to adopt its draft-agreed conclusions on women's human rights and the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls as it concluded its 47th session.

NIGERIAN STONING TRIAL DELAY
March 25, 2003 – (BBC Nigeria) An appeal, due to begin in northern Nigeria for a Muslim woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning, has been postponed because the judges failed to turn up.

NEW REPORT ON TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
March 25, 2003 – (International Organization for Migration) The IOM office in Pretoria launched a new report on the nature of the trade in women and children in southern Africa. The report's findings, made public in Pretoria yesterday, are compiled from research ad interviews carried out between August 2002 and February 2003. The authors assembled interviews and statements from victims, sex workers, traffickers, police and government officials, NGOs, and the media. IOM researchers conducted 232 interviews, including 25 interviews with victims from 11 countries.

OMCT EXPRESSES CONCERN REGARDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
March 25, 2003 – (World Organization Against Torture) The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) expresses its concern regarding violence against women in Mali at the Seventy-Seventh Session of the UN Human Rights Committee.

For an IRIN news story on the same topic, click here

CONFLICT OVER VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
March 25, 2003 – (Women’s Feature Service) The 47th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York last week was 'suspended' because of sharp disagreements over a paragraph relating to women's human rights and violence against women. The agreed conclusions emerging from the CSW are meant to provide direction to policy and action at the national and international levels; but this move forward has been stalled for the moment. However, the final document (which will presumably be adopted sooner or later - with or without the apparently offending paragraph) does include a number of significant features.

JAPANESE COURT SPURNS SEX SLAVES
March 25, 2003 – (Associated Press) Japan's top court rejected on Tuesday an appeal from a group of South Korean women seeking compensation for having been forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers during the Second World War.

WOMEN FOR CONFLICT PREVENTION AND PEACE BUILDING IN THE SOUTHERN CAUCASUS: A UNIFEM INITIATIVE
March 24, 2003 – (UNIFEM Press Release) The Southern Caucasus Regional Coalition “Women for Peace” was established on March 23, 2003 with the purpose to promote women’s role in the conflict resolution, peace building and development agendas in the Southern Caucasus. The Coalition includes women leaders from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
To read the joint appeal issued by the Southern Caucasus Regional Coalition “Women for Peace”, click here.

UNFPA PREPARES FOR DISPLACEMENTS; UNIFEM CITES WOMEN'S NEEDS IN IRAQ
March 24, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Population Fund said Friday that it has positioned medical supplies and equipment at sites inside Iraq and in neighboring countries in a bid to protect the health of pregnant women displaced by the war.

AFRICAN UNION URGED TO BACK WOMEN'S RIGHTS
March 24, 2003 - (IRIN) The human rights group Amnesty International (AI) has called on the African Union (AU) to back plans to boost and protect the rights of women on the continent.
To read the AI press release, click here

'VAGINA MONOLOGUES' STAGED IN NAIROBI
March 24, 2003 – (The East African Standard –Nairobi) The controversial feminist play adapted from the outrageous and disarming narratives of the book, The Vagina Monologues, has opened in Nairobi.

ENCOURAGING WOMEN'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE NEPALI PEACE TALKS
March 23, 2003 – (The Institute for Human Rights Communication Nepal – Press Release) On March 23rd, a 'Roundtable Conference' was organised in Kathmandu to encourage the involvement of women in the peace talks. It aimed to help raise the problems of Nepal's women - who make up 51% of the population - at the decision making level, and to ensure that women's priorities and needs are not neglected during the peace talks.

1 IN 7 U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL IN IRAQ IS FEMALE
March 23, 2003 – (WEnews) The war with Iraq will be the largest deployment of women to a combat theater to date, marking more than a century of women's military service.

HOW WOMEN'S ROLES ARE CAMOUFLAGED
March 23, 2003 - (The Observer) A placard in Whitehall last Thursday read 'Blondes Against The Dumb War'. A neat twist of self-parody since, irrespective of the diverse opinions among women on the war - pro, anti, confused and constantly changing - at first sight this appears a man's war, dominated in all arenas by male voices, using hi-tech video war games and traditional macho imagery, a kind of war tools porn.

WOMEN SPEAK FOR PEACE ABOVE THE DIN OF WAR
March 22, 2003 – (The Toronto Star) Michele Landsberg writes: Six days ago, on the brink of plunging the world into war, George W. Bush emerged from his Azores summit meeting with Britain, Spain and Portugal and announced: "We have concluded that tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world."

HEAD OF UN WOMEN’S FUND URGES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY NOT TO FORGET THE NEEDS OF IRAQI WOMEN AS THEY FACE WAR
March 21, 2003 – (UNIFEM) “Today at UNIFEM our thoughts are with the women of Iraq who need the adequate protection and assistance that is the right of all civilian populations under international law. Security Council in Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security recognized that, “women account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict, including as refugees and as internally displaced persons.” The International Community must remember this as it organizes to deliver assistance and protection to the women of Iraq.

DEFINING AN AGENDA FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN AFRICA
March 21, 2003 – (Pambazuka editorial) Rotimi Sankore writes: A key index for measuring the march of civilisation in any society is its comprehensive recognition of, defence and promotion of women's economic, socio-cultural, civil, human and political rights. By this measurement, all human societies so far have failed to achieve full civilisation. The only difference is that some have failed more spectacularly than others, and some have been more successful at disguising their failure with sophisticated deception.

CRISIS GROUP CALLS FOR POLICIES TO ENSURE WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN
March 21, 2003- (UN Wire) The International Crisis Group has called for a coherent policy on gender issues in Afghanistan following last week's release of its report on the role of women under the new government, Integrated Regional Information Networks reported yesterday.

A VIOLENT PEACE FOR ANGOLA'S WOMEN?
March 20, 2003 – (OXFAM Angola Diary) ‘Many houses have many secrets – things that other people don’t know about. Particularly to do with the behaviour of men.’

RAPES LINKED TO GROUPS TIED TO RULING ZIMBABWE ZANU-PF PARTY
March 20, 2003 – (UN Wire) Human rights workers and church groups in Zimbabwe say youth militias and other groups linked to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party are using rape as a political weapon, the London Guardian reported Tuesday.

GENDER INEQUALITY SEEN AS ROOT OF POVERTY IN LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
March 2003 – (WE! - Isis International-Manila) Experts agree that to reduce poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, the problem of gender inequality should immediately be addressed.

ASYLUM FOR ABUSED WOMEN IN USA
March 19, 2003 – (New York Times) In 1995, Rodi Alvarado Pena came to the United States from Guatemala and asked for asylum. Her request was based on a controversial claim – that returning home would put her in danger from her husband, who had brutalized her for a decade. Mrs. Alvarado won asylum, but an appeals panel reversed the decision. Janet Reno, then attorney general, vacated the panel's decision in 2001 and issued rules that made refuge possible on a very limited basis for women in similar situations.

DROUGHT IN ETHIOPIA EXPOSING WOMEN TO ABUSE, SAYS UNICEF
March 19, 2003 (IRIN) - Fears are growing that women and girls could be subjected to sexual abuse after being forced from their homes because of the drought currently gripping Ethiopia, the UN said on Wednesday.

UNICEF HEAD URGES MAINTAINED FOCUS ON AFGHANISTAN’S WOMEN, GIRLS
March 19, 2003 – (UN Wire) Afghan women and girls have made significant strides in the last year, but they are still highly vulnerable and cannot afford to be forgotten, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said today.

CHILD LABOUR BANNED, WOMEN'S ACCESS TO JOBS EASED IN DR CONGO
March 19, 2003 - (AFP) Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has revised its labour laws, banning child labour and lifting a requirement on women to obtain their husband's permission before getting a job, the labour and social minister said Tuesday.

SEX SLAVE IN BOSNIA RECOUNTS HER ORDEAL
March 18, 2003 – (IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT) Thousands of young women are still being held as sex slaves across the country despite the authorities' efforts to stamp out the trade.

SAMARKAND KIDS ABANDONED
March 18, 2003 – (IWPR'S REPORTING CENTRAL ASIA) Impoverished Uzbek women are finding it so hard to get by that they are abandoning their children.

GULU WOMEN CRY FOR PEACE
March 18, 2003 – (New Vision -Kampala) On a dry and windy morning, the women marched forward in a long line stretching nearly half a kilometre from the office of the Gulu Resident District Commissioner to Kaunda Grounds.Some wore sandals. others were barefoot in gomesi, T-shirts and ebitengi. Trauma was visible on their faces. They told tales of massacre, rape, abduction and numerous atrocities against them by the rebels in the area.

AMERICAN WOMAN PEACE PROTESTOR KILLED IN GAZA
March 18, 2003 – (Christian Science Monitor) The death of an American peace protester in the Gaza Strip Sunday is raising questions about the Israeli army's use of force and highlighting the risks international activists take to slow the steady violence that characterizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For a related story in The Guardian, dated March 17th (“Israeli army bulldozer crushes US peace protester in Gaza Strip”), click here

UNESCO BOSS CAMPAIGNS FOR GENDER BALANCING
March 17, 2003 – (African Church Information Service) Gender equality is indispensable for the achievement of Millennium Development Goals, UNESCO Director-General, Koichiro Matsuura, has said.

WAVE OF GENDER VIOLENCE STILL HAUNTS COUNTRY
March 17, 2003 – (African Church Information Service) While Botswana prides itself as one of the most peaceful country in Africa and one with a vibrant economy, women continue to bear the brunt of exploitation by men. A wave of violence against women now exposes deep-rooted macho character of a Motswana man, and highlights significant disparities even in law, between men and women, reports AANA Correspondent, Rodrick Mukumbira.

LAUNCH OF THE WOMEN’S EMERGENCY NETWORK
Monday 17, 2003 - (Bat Shalom) This week, Bat Shalom is launching the Women’s Emergency Network in response to our growing concern regarding the local consequences of the potential war on Iraq. We are fearful of the possibility of serious war crimes being executed against the Palestinian population during the war. Thus, the women of Bat Shalom have decided to set up an emergency phone network for documenting women’s eye-witness accounts and disseminating information.

UNIFEM, TASK FORCE WORK TO INCREASE ACCESS FOR WOMEN TO TECHNOLOGY
March 17, 2003- (UN Wire) The U.N. Development Fund for Women and the U.N. Information and Technologies Task Force signed an agreement last week aimed at strengthening collaborative efforts to increase women's access to information and communication technologies.

CIVILIANS BEAR THE BRUNT OF CONFLICT IN DRC
March 17, 2003 - (AFP) Marie Dwagani, 24, whose foot was recently blown off when she stepped on a landmine in this Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town, sat groaning in what must be excruciating pain.

U.N. CSW PANEL SUSPENDS MEETING AMID DISCORD OVER RIGHTS MEASURE
March 17, 2003 – (UN Wire) A U.N. Commission on the Status of Women meeting that was to end Friday was instead suspended until further notice amid disagreement over language in a draft resolution on women's human rights and violence against women and girls.

A PEACE OF HER MIND
March 16, 2003 – (Sunday Herald-Nova Scotia) Murial Duckworth has been fighting for the cause of peace since the 1930s. She remains, at 94 and on the eve of yet another conflict, as passionate and uncompromising as ever.

UGANDAN, MOBINA JAFFER, SHINES IN CANADA
March 15, 2003 – (New Vision-Kampala) Mobina Jaffer is a Ugandan-born Asian lady working as a senator in British Columbia in Canada. She fled Uganda in 1975 during Idi Amin's regime. Patrick Luganda writes that she is an accomplished lawyer and special Canadian peace envoy to Sudan. She has also won several prestigious appointments in successive Canadian governments.

CSW AGREED AND NOT AGREED CONCLUSIONS!!
March 15, 2003 – (IWTC Women's GlobalNet) CSW delegates adopt Agreed Conclusions on Gender, Media and ICTs…but do not adopt Agreed Conclusions on women’s human rights and the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.

MOZAMBICAN WOMEN AGAINST WAR ON IRAQ
March 14, 2003 – (Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique) Mozambican women's organisations have denounced the imminent United States war against Iraq, and have demanded respect for international legal instruments.

WOMEN TUNE INTO PROGRESS
March 14, 2003 – (IWPR'S AFGHAN RECOVERY REPORT) A new radio station for women is seen by them as yet another breakthrough in their quest for greater rights.

UNFPA HEAD BEGINS THREE-DAY VISIT TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT IN GUATEMALA
March 14, 2003 – (UN Wire) U.N. Population Fund Executive Director Thoraya Obaid yesterday began a three-day visit to Guatemala, saying she aims to verify progress made in cooperation between her agency and government officials and to encourage them to continue to develop policies to improve conditions for women and the population.

U.N. PANEL APPROVES RESOLUTION ON WORLD BODY'S GENDER POLICIES
March 14, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Commission on the Status of Women yesterday approved a resolution that would have the Economic and Social Council ask the U.N. secretary general to report on remaining gaps in the U.N. system in gender equality policies and mainstreaming gender perspectives into all U.N. policies and programs.

UNICEF HOLDS FORUM ON SEXUAL ABUSE, EXPLOITATION IN ETHIOPIA
March 14, 2003 – (UN Wire) UNICEF opened a two-day conference yesterday aimed at stopping the sexual abuse of women and children in Ethiopia, where a humanitarian crisis has heightened their vulnerability to sexual exploitation.

ASHCROFT CONSTRAINS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN OFFICE
March 14, 2003 – (WEnews) Attorney General John Ashcroft is interpreting new anti-violence laws to mean that the head of the Justice Department’s efforts to protect women would not gain a significant measure of authority.

RIGHTS GROUPS ACCUSE U.N. OF LAX PROSECUTION OF 1994 RWANDA RAPES
March 13, 2003 – (UN Wire) A coalition of human rights groups on Tuesday accused the United Nations of making little effort to prosecute rapes alongside other crimes committed during Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
Rights and Democracy, the coordinating institution of the Coalition on Women's Human Rights in Conflict Situations issued a news release on March 10th. To read this news release click here.

UNICEF HOSTS PREVENTION OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION WORKSHOP
March 13, 2003 – (UNICEF-Press Release) UNICEF today is kicking off a two-day workshop to create awareness on how to stop sexual abuse of children and women in Ethiopia in a humanitarian crisis and prevent their increased risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS as a result of such exploitation.

STAYING ALIVE
March 13, 2003 – (The Guardian) Once there was a thriving Arab women's movement. Right now, survival is our political act

WOMEN AND MEN UNITE FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS
March 2003 – (AI-The Wire) International Women's Day (8 March) is celebrated by women's groups and their supporters all over the world. It marks the story of ordinary women as makers of history and is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. AI's campaigning focus for International Women's Day in 2003 is "Violence against Women in the Russian Federation".

UNITA'S OTHER HALF: THE FUTURE FOR THE WIVES AND WIDOWS EX-COMBATANTS
March 12, 2003 – (OXFAM Angola Diary) Angolans joke that ‘International Women’s Day’ means one day for Angolan women – and the other 364 for Angolan men. For women excluded from the benefits of mobilization, this may not be so far from the truth.

WIDOWS BANNED FROM BEING ELECTION CANDIDATES IN SWAZILAND
March 12, 2003 (IRIN) - Widows who have been bereaved within the past two years have been banned from running as candidates in this year's parliamentary election, enraging women's empowerment groups who are already bristling under cultural restrictions that regard Swazi women as legal minors.

REFUGEE WOMEN EMBRACE SELF-HELP ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
March 12 (UNHCR) – Kountaya camp exploded in song and dance last Saturday as Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugee women gathered at the camp in Guinea's Albadaria district to mark International Women's Day, which was observed all over the world on March 8.

KAMPALA AGREES TO APPOINTMENT OF U.N. ENVOY FOR CHILD SOLDIERS
March 12, 2003 – (UN Wire) Uganda has agreed to the appointment of a special envoy from the U.N. Human Rights Commission to address the issue of child soldiers in northern parts of the country, Austria's Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

U.N. COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN CONSIDERS TEXT ON AFGHANISTAN
March 12, 2003 – (UN Wire) Acting on behalf of the European Union, Greece yesterday introduced a U.N. Commission on the Status of Women draft under which the U.N. Economic and Social Council would call on Afghanistan's transitional government to enact reforms to counter discrimination against women and girls, including the repeal of legislation that entails sex discrimination.

"WAR STILL CAUSES WOMEN NEEDLESS SUFFERING"
March 12, 2003 – (Standard Times-Freetown) Women are caught up in armed conflicts with increasing regularity. They continue to suffer the consequences of war, even where this suffering could be avoided. On the occasion of International Women's Day, 8 March, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is highlighting the plight of women facing war.

U.K. PROGRAM TO ASSIST VICTIMS, CRACK DOWN ON TRAFFICKING TRADE
March 11, 2003 – (UN Wire) As part of efforts to crack down on a growing sex trade, the United Kingdom yesterday launched a program under which it will offer shelter and support to women and girls brought into the country as prostitutes in exchange for their cooperation with police seeking to prosecute traffickers.

ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN WOMEN TALK ABOUT PEACE
March 11, 2003 – (WEnews) Two prominent Middle Eastern peace activists--one Israeli, one Palestinian--believe that solutions would be found if women were invited to the Middle East peace talks.

MAASAI WOMEN TO SUE BRITISH ARMY FOR ALLEGED RAPE
March 11, 2003 - (IRIN) A group of Maasai women are to bring a civil case against the British army for alleged rapes, which took place close to army training grounds in Samburu, northern Kenya, over a 25-year period.

PERPETUATION OF WARLORDISM IN AFGHANISTAN DETRIMENTAL TO SECURITY FOR WOMEN
March 10, 2003 – (Rights and Democracy-Press Release) Once again gender apartheid is being instituted in grave violations of the human rights of girls and women in Afghanistan. This time, the attacks are coming from warlords. Like hooliganism, vandalism and barbarism, warlordism threatens the security and stability of post-Taliban Afghanistan.

WOMEN CALL FOR PEACE IN LIBERIA- THREATEN LEGAL ACTION
March 10, 2003 – (The News-Monrovia) Liberian women have called on the Government and the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to cease the hostilities in order for them to have a peace that would enable their children to go to school without any fear or intimidation to prepare themselves for the development of their country.

RWANDAN RAPE VICTIMS DENIED JUSTICE BY U.N. TRIBUNAL: PRESS CONFERENCE
March 10, 2003 – (Rights and Democracy-News Release) Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte of the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is denying rape victims justice. The record of the prosecutor shows no commitment to develop evidence and bring charges despite the overwhelming proof of sexual violence during the 1994 genocide, announced the Coalition on Women's Human Rights in Conflict Situations, following their annual meeting in Montreal.

UNIFEM, IOM AGREE ON INCREASED COLLABORATION AGAINST TRAFFICKING
March 10, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Development Fund for Women and the International Organization for Migration agreed last week to cooperate more against human trafficking, particularly of women and girls.

UNITA ''WIVES'' FEAR EXCLUSION FROM GOVERNMENT AID
March 10, 2003 - (IRIN) "Everyday I watch people leave Benfica. I am afraid that one day it will just be me and my sons left here. What will happen to us then?" asked Elisa Rebeca. "I was not a fighter but my husband was. I hope the government will remember me and my children."

VIOLENCE MARS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY DEMONSTRATIONS IN ZIMBABWE
March 10, 2003 – (UN Wire) Six women were reportedly injured and 19 arrested Saturday at an International Women's Day gathering in the western Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo.

GENDER BILL PROPOSED IN KENYA
March 9, 2003 – (The East African Standard-Nairobi) A national Gender Commission and Development Bill will soon be tabled in Parliament to co-ordinate and facilitate gender mainstreaming in national development

MARY DAY KENT
March 9, 2003 – (The Philadelphia Inquirer) In a perverse way, you'd think a climate of war might bring brighter days for groups such as the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

COALITION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (COVAW) HONOURS WOMAN
March 9, 2003 – (The East African Standard –Nairobi) Asunta Wagura was awarded the 2003 Woman of the Year Award by the Coalition on Violence Against Women (Covaw) at a colourful ceremony at a Nairobi hotel…Covaw chairperson, Ms Jacqueline Anne Mogeni, said the award was aimed at recognising innovative and courageous initiatives undertaken by women.

ART OF ANTI-WAR FEMINIST IS BRAVE AND TIMELY
March 8, 2003 – (The Toronto Star) The raped woman lies on the ground, spread legs jutting toward the viewer, her head tilted so far back her features are invisible, and her whole sad, violated body seeming to settle into the earth of the kitchen garden, as the innocent vegetables and vines lean benignly toward her…This stark etching by the German artist Kathe Kollwitz is possibly the first depiction in the long, lubricious history of art to show a wartime rape victim from an empathetic point of view. No luscious Sabine babes here, no giggling, bare-breasted Greek goddesses swooning obligingly into the arms of male aggressors.

A WOMAN ON TRIAL FOR RWANDA'S MASSACRE
March 7, 2003 – (Christian Science Monitor) With her hair pulled neatly back, her heavy glasses beside her on the table, she looks more like someone's dear greataunt than what she is alleged to be: a high-level organizer of Rwanda's 1994 genocide who authorized the rape and murder of countless men and women. Wearing a green flowery dress one day, a pressed cream-colored skirt and blouse set the next, the defendant listens stoically to the litany of accusations against her.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: WFP FOCUSES ON WOMEN & HIV/AIDS
March 7, 2003 – (WFP) "Women and HIV/AIDS" is WFP's theme for International Women's Day - marked by the United Nations World Food Programme with an awards ceremony for Agency staff and partners who have helped reduce the impact of the pandemic through food aid.

FOCUS ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY IN KENYA
March 7, 2003 (IRIN) - After Susan Wagatangu's parents died in central Kenya, her brothers inherited all the family land. Under Kikuyu custom, a woman loses the right to inherit her father's assets once she is married, the assumption being that she would be given land where she gets married.