Mercy Global Concern - 2003
WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM 1325 PEACEWOMEN
E-NEWS: 31st Edition, September 26, 2003
Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and
Security was passed on October 31st, 2000.
For the text of the resolution please visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/un/sc/1325.html
For past issues of the newsletter, visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/news/1325News/1325ENewsindex.html
This edition of the 1325 PeaceWomen E-News Features:
1. Initiatives to Address Women's Active Participation in Post-Conflict
Reconstruction in Iraq: Update 2. 1325 News 3. Feature Reports:
From International Women's Peace Service and Human Rights Watch
4. Feature Statement: Sweden Highlights Gender Equality and UNSC
Resolution 1325 at the General Assemblys General Debate 5. Feature
Resource: Feminists Under Fire: Exchanges Across War Zones 6.
Calendar Events
If you would like to fill out the 1325 PeaceWomen E-News evaluation
form in either English or French, please write to 1325news@peacewomen.org and
we will send you the questionnaire by email.
1. INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS WOMEN'S ACTIVE PARTICIPATION
IN POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION IN IRAQ: UPDATE
Since the last newsletter, a number of items have
been added to the list, including:
-A public hearing on Iraqi Women being organized by the European
Parliamentary Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities;
-Recent remarks by UNIFEM on women activists in the current climate
of insecurity; -A recent visit by Minister Nisrin Barwari, the
only woman appointed to the new Iraqi cabinet, to Washington,
D.C.
For the updated list, visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/Initiativeslist.html
To ensure that this list remains up-to-date and accurate, PeaceWomen
welcomes your input. To provide input, contact sarahshteir@peacewomen.org
2. 1325 NEWS
Top UNIFEM Official Warns Women in Iraq are Intimidated
September 24, 2003 (UN Wire) Fearful for their safety and unnerved
by last weekend's attack on a high-ranking female official, Iraqi
women activists are retreating from the public sphere and choosing
to keep their work low-profile, U.N. Development Fund for Women
Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer said yesterday. For the full
story, visit: http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20030924/449_8754.asp
Ugandan Women Join the Peace Wagon, as Rebels Wreak
Havoc
September 24, 2003 - (IPS) Rosemary Nyeko is a bitter woman.
She remembers how rebels ruined her life when they burned her
house in northern Uganda last year. For the full story, visit: http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20297
Nepal/Bhutan: Refugee Women Face Abuses: UNHCR,
Governments Must Take Action at ExCom
September 24, 2003 (HRW) Bhutanese refugee women in Nepal encounter
gender-based violence and systematic discrimination in access
to aid, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
For the full story, visit: http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/09/nepal-bhutan092403.htm For
the full report, visit: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/nepal0903/
Acehnese Refugees Forced into Sex Slavery
September 23, 2003 (The Jakarta Post) At least 1,000 female
Acehnese refugees, who fled to neighboring North Sumatra because
of war in their homeland, have been forced to become sex workers
but the police are doing nothing about it, activists say. For
the full story, visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Sept03/sexslavery.html
UNHCR Updates Guidelines To Fight Violence Against
Women
September 22, 2003 (UN Wire) The U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees on Friday released revised guidelines for fighting sexual
and gender-based violence against refugee women and children,
focusing on issues such as the trafficking of women and girls,
domestic violence, female genital mutilation and sexual harassment.
For the full story, visit: http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20030922/449_8632.asp
Catholic Women's League Fiji Takes Peace Vigil Initiative
to the Yasawas
September 17, 2003 (femLINKpacific) From Thursday (18 September
2003) there will be a flurry of activity at the Lautoka Wharf
as representative of parishes from across Fiji, come together
for the annual general meeting of the Catholic Women's League
Fiji which this year will be staged at Nasomolevu, Vuaki, Yasawa,
the home village of the 'League's spiritual adviser, Archbishop
Petero Mataca. For the full story, visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Sept03/Yasawas.html
Sex Workers Get Vocational Training
September 15, 2003 (IRIN) Sex Workers in the Central African
Republic completed on Saturday a five-day training session on
starting and managing alternative revenue-generating activities,
in an effort to help curb HIV/AIDS infection. For the full story,
visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/200309150633.html
Are the Wrong People Trying to Solve the Middle
East Crisis?
September 15, 2003 (The Guardian) Shortly before 10am, UK time,
last Saturday, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister,
resigned. In his four months in the job, Abbas had signed the
roadmap document, the latest initiative in the attempt to bring
peace to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. But
in the past month, like all of its predecessors, the plan had
begun to fray and disintegrate in the face of violence, chaos
and bitter recrimination. Abbas's despairing departure suggested
that yet another Middle East "peace process" was about
to trundle into the buffers. For the full story, visit:
http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Sept03/wrong.html
"Honor Killings" In Pakistan Reach 631
This Year, Group Says
September 15, 2003 (UN Wire) A human rights organization in
Pakistan said today that at least 631 women and girls in the
country have died in "honor killings" by male relatives
since the beginning of the year, Associated Press reports. For
the full story, visit: http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20030915/449_8405.asp
Turkish, Armenian Women Weave New Borders
September 12, 2003 (WeNews) A group of Turkish and Armenian
women are trying to ease the strained political relationship
between their two countries. Their efforts began two years ago
and are now increasing in scope. For the full story, visit:
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=1523
For More News please see: http://www.peacewomen.org/news/newsindex.html
3. FEATURE REPORTS
Palestinian Women Mobilizing and Trapped Bhutanese
Refugee Women
International Women's Peace Service and Human Rights Watch both
recently released new reports, excerpts of which are included
below:
Palestinian Women Mobilizing to Resist Apartheid Wall
International Women's Peace Service (IWPS), House Report No.
43 September 14, 2003
A powerful force is organizing resistance to the construction
of the Apartheid Wall Palestinian women! Palestinian women have
always been active in resisting the Occupation. Now they are
organizing to resist the construction of the Apartheid Wall.
Palestinian Women Demonstrate Against the Wall in Tulkarem
On Sept. 6, Palestinian women in Tulkarem organized a demonstration
of more than 200 Palestinian, Israeli, and international women
to protest against the Apartheid Wall and the Occupation.
The demonstration was organized by the newly formed Women's
Wall Defense Committee in Tulkarem, together with Israeli women
peace activists and international activists from International
Women's Peace Service (IWPS), the International Solidarity Movement
(ISM), and a delegation of U.S. peace activists from Code Pink.
IWPS and the Code Pink delegation traveled together to Tulkarem,
stopping on the way to visit the villages of A-Ras and Jbarra,
which have many families in common, now separated by the Wall.
We met about 200 Palestinian women in Tulkarem and marched together
to the Apartheid Wall at the village of Irtah. The Apartheid
Wall along the border between Tulkarem and Israel is a monstrous-looking
gray concrete wall with sinister round watchtowers like Darth
Vader's mask. If the wall is completed as planned, the entire
city of Tulkarem (41,000 inhabitants) will be completely imprisoned
inside the Wall.
When we reached the gate, we could see about 250 Israeli activists
(both Jewish and Palestinian Israelis), waiting at the checkpoint
about 50 meters ahead of us. As we approached the gate, the soldiers
got out of their jeeps and came towards the demonstrators. One
soldier threw several tear gas canisters into the crowd on the
Palestinian side of the gate. The demonstration did not retreat.
Women continued protesting at the gate, chanting and waving hand-made
signs and banners. Finally, the women convinced the soldiers
to let 20 Israeli women through the gate to join with the Palestinian
demonstration for a few minutes.
When the Israeli women came through to the Palestinian side
of the gate, the Palestinian women welcomed them like long-lost
friends, with hugs, kisses, and tears, and absorbed them into
the crowd. An Israeli woman made a speech in Arabic and sang
a song, then the Palestinian women sang the Palestinian national
anthem. The Palestinian women invited the Israeli women to come
to their houses for a visit, but the soldiers were already ordering
the Israeli women to go back to the other side of the checkpoint
For the full analysis, visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Sept03/wall.html
Please see accompanying photos at http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/iwpsreports.htm
For more information about International Women's Peace Service
in Hares, email iwps@palnet.com
To receive IWPS reports email iwps-pal-reports-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
Trapped by Inequality: Bhutanese Refugee Women in Nepal
Human Rights Watch September 24, 2003
Summary
Sometimes I was beaten so badly I bled. My husband took a second
wife. I didn't agreeâ. He said, if you don't allow me to
take a second wife, then the ration card is in my name, and I'll
take everything. I have asked my husband for the health card
and ration card and they don't give it to meâ. I have not
gotten approval to get a separate ration card.
âInterview with Geeta M. (not her real name),
Bhutanese refugee camps, Nepal, March 26, 2003
Bhutanese women who are living as refugees in Nepal, many for
more than a decade, confront not only the hardship of life in
refugee camps, but also the injustice of gender-based violence
and discrimination. Refugee women and girls have reported rape,
sexual assault, polygamy, trafficking, domestic violence, and
child marriage in the camps. Women suffering domestic violence
are unable to obtain safety or their full share of humanitarian
aid because of discriminatory refugee registration procedures
and inadequate protection measures. The registration system also
prevents married refugee women from applying for repatriation
or rations independently and prohibits them from registering
children not fathered by a refugee.
More than one hundred thousand Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees
live in seven refugee camps jointly administered by Nepal and
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) in southeastern Nepal. The refugees fled or were forcibly
evicted from their homes in Bhutan in the early 1990s, when the
Bhutanese government introduced highly discriminatory citizenship
policies targeting the ethnic Nepalese population. For twelve
years, the government of Bhutan has asserted that the refugees
are not Bhutanese nationals or are voluntary migrants who relinquished
their citizenship when they left Bhutan. The governments of Bhutan
and Nepal finally initiated a process for verifying and categorizing
refugees in 2001. This process has drawn international criticism
for lacking transparency, excluding UNHCR, and failing to assess
refugees' claims to Bhutanese citizenship fairly.
In the camps, UNHCR and the government of Nepal have failed
to protect refugee women's rights adequately. A key source of
this failure is the continued use of a registration and ration
distribution system based on household cards listed under the
name of the male household head. Human Rights Watch interviewed
Bhutanese refugee women who had suffered domestic violence and
who, despite having separated from their husbands, were not able
to obtain their own ration cards. Most instead made ad hoc arrangements
with the refugee camp management to collect their food rations
separately, thus relying on the mercy of the management rather
than a system fair to women. These women encountered problems
accessing rations meant to be shared within one household such
as stoves, blankets, and soap. They were unable to obtain separate
housing, leaving them to find refuge with other family members
in already overcrowded huts or to create makeshift arrangements
with partitions.
Following investigations of sexual exploitation and abuse by
aid workers in refugee camps in West Africa, several cases of
sexual exploitation involving refugee aid workers surfaced in
Nepal in October 2002. A subsequent investigation led to findings
indicating negligence by UNHCR and the government of Nepal in
preventing and responding to widespread and long-standing gender-based
violence in the camps. Victims encountered inadequate support
services and a male-dominated refugee camp leadership that often
ignored gender-based violence or meted out harmful settlements.
For the full report, visit: http:://www.peacewomen.org/resources/Nepal/HRWNepal2003.pdf
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/resindex.html
4. FEATURE STATEMENT
Sweden Highlights Gender Equality and UN Security Council Resolution
1325 on women, peace and security at the General Assembly's General
Debate
Statement by H.E. Jan O. Karlsson, Acting Minister for Foreign
Affairs and Minister for Development Cooperation, Migration and
Asylum Policy of Sweden September 25, 2003, UN Headquarters,
New York
The General Assembly begins each session with a General Debate
during which representatives of UN member states, often heads
of state and government, express their opinions on the most pressing
international issues.
This year's General Debate began on September 23rd and will
conclude on October 3rd.
On September 25, the representative of Sweden, H.E. Jan O. Karlsson,
in his statement to the General Assembly, highlighted, among
other things, the absence of women in decision-making bodies
within the UN system and around the world, and the importance
of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
Below are excerpts of his statement:
Mr. President,
In the early morning hours of September 11, 2003, our Foreign
Minister Anna Lindh died, murdered in a senseless crime.
One of Sweden's most prominent and respected leaders is gone.
We have lost a part of our future.
She spoke for the oppressed, for the victims of human rights
violations. She worked for international peace and justice, and
for multilateral co-operation.
The voice of Anna Lindh has been silenced. But her burning conviction
echoes with us.
....Mr. President,
In 2001 Anna Lindh's 11 years old son David accompanied her
to the UN. Upon entering the General Assembly he asked: "Mom,
where are all the women?"
He saw what many of us seem blind to. There are too few women
here, as in many decision-making bodies around the world.
Gender equality is about making use of all our human resources.
Women are strong, but are made vulnerable through legal, economic
and social discrimination.
Women are made victims, of violence in war, of abuse at home,
of trafficking, of sexual exploitation. For these women, gender
equality is a question of life and death.
Women's equal rights to education, to a professional career,
to participate in politics, are not a threat to men. The absence
of these rights is a threat to the progress of mankind.
Mr. President,
Peace operations require joint efforts to be successful. The
co-operation between the UN and regional organizations, such
as the recent experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
the EU-led police mission in the Western Balkans and the military
operation in Macedonia, are examples of this. We will continue
developing the co-operation between the UN and the EU and welcome
the Political Declaration on crisis management.
Many painful lessons can be drawn from the violent conflicts
in West Africa. Sweden welcomes the large and broadly based UN
peacekeeping mission in Liberia. The international community
must support the UN and ECOWAS in finding sustainable solutions
for the entire region. The European Union is trying to strengthen
such a partnership through the work of Hans Dahlgren, its Special
Representative to the Mano River Union countries.
Women are crucial to peace and reconciliation. I welcome that
gender perspectives are now incorporated into mandates and activities
of all peacekeeping missions. The number of women in peace operations,
at all levels, must increase. The implementation of Security
Council resolution 1325, and a strengthening of the UN capacity
in this field, is vital...
For his full statement, visit: http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/58/statements/swedeng030925.htm
To read other countries' statements, and for the provisional
list of speakers, visit: http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/58/debate.htm
For background information on the General Assembly, visit: http://www.un.org/ga/58/ga_background.html
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/resindex.html
5. FEATURE RESOURCE
Feminists Under Fire: Exchanges Across War Zones
Co-edited by Wenona Giles, Malathi de Alwis, Edith Klein, Neluka
Silva with Maja Korac, Djurdja Knezevic, Zarana Papic (advisory
editors) The Women in Conflict Zones Network between the lines
September 2003
Feminists Under Fire is about women living and working in conflict
zones. Focusing on the civil wars in Sri Lanka and the former
Yugoslavia, diverse authors face the problems of nationalism,
ethnic conflict, and militarized violence. They explore commonalities
and differences between the two regions, and consequences for
women, their societies, and feminist politics.
Women are neither simply victimized nor empowered by war; their
experiences are more complicated. While they suffer from war-related
violence and upheaval, some women living in traditional societies
find that war releases them from constricting hierarchies. Others
find it reinforces conventional gender roles. This ambivalence
needs to be examined and understood.
In addition to such concerns the collection addresses issues
of domestic violence, rape, intermarriage, victimization, feminist
organizing and anti-war activism, women's self-help organization,
and political resistance.
Editors:
Wenona Giles is Associate Professor and Chair, School of Social
Sciences- Atkinson, York University, Toronto. Malathi de Alwis
is Senior Research Fellow, International Centre for Ethnic Studies,
Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Visiting Associate Professor, New School
for Social Research, New York. Edith Klein is Resident Fellow,
Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Toronto.
Neluka Silva is Professor and Head, Department of English, University
of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
To order this book, and for information about a book launch
in Toronto, Canada, visit: http://www.btlbooks.com/New_Titles/feminists_uf.htm
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/resindex.html
6. CALENDAR EVENTS
Conflict, Peace and Security: What have we learned
and where are we going? A symposium organized by the Canadian
Committee on Women, Peace and Security
October 22, 2003, Ottawa, Canada Deadline for proposals: October
10, 2003 The Canadian Committee on Women, Peace and Security
has organized this symposium in cooperation with the Gender and
Peacebuilding Working Group of the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating
Committee (CPCC), the International Development and Research
Centre and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade. This year's symposium will include: an examination of
Security Council Resolution 1325 as an advocacy tool; a panel
discussion on lessons learned from Afghanistan's reconstruction
efforts; and concurrent break out sessions on various topics
to exchange ideas, share expertise and experience, and table
recommendations for "where are we going". In addition,
the organizers are currently looking for proposals for the afternoon
discussion groups.
Registration forms and agenda are posted on the CPCC website
at http://www.peacebuild.ca Go
to the WHAT'S NEW page and follow the links.
For more information, contact: Suzanne Taylor-Forbes, Coordinator
of the Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group of the CPCC at
Tel: 613-241-4846, Fax: 613-241-4846 or suzanne@peacebuild.ca
International Day Against the Apartheid Wall: Women
Mobilize
November 9, 2003, Israel-Palestine The olive harvest, which
begins in early October in the Salfeet area, is one of the most
important times of year for Palestinian families This year's
harvest is fraught with new danger, because of the Wall. In areas
where the Wall is completed or being constructed, families do
not know if they will be able to go to their land or not. The
Salfeet communities are united and determined to exercise their
rights to pick their olives, and international activists are
also mobilizing to support them. The Salfeet Women's Committee
Against the Wall calls on women all over the world to join them
in the struggle against the Wall. Those who can are invited to
come participate in the olive harvest campaign. November 9, the
anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, has been declared
by Palestinian organizations the International Day Against the
Apartheid Wall. We call for creative women's actions against
the Wall on that day in solidarity with the Palestinian women's
movement to end apartheid. For more information, email: iwpsvolunteers@yahoo.co.uk
Global Exchange Trip to Cuba: Women's Voices: International
Conference "Women in the 21st Century"
November 20-30, 2003, Cuba Global Exchange has organized this
trip to Cuba to meet women, hear about their daily lives, and
discuss the issues confronting Cuban women such as health, education,
violence, discrimination, sovereignty, peace, and the Cuban Revolution.
The trip will include visits to family medical practices, women's
clinics, and daycare centers while meeting with community and
religious leaders, intellectuals, educators, students, writers,
artists, doctors, and midwives. Please note this trip is only
for women. This trip includes admission to the 5th International
Conference "Women in the 21st Century" which will take
place from November 24 to 28, 2003, at the University of Havana.
The conference is sponsored by the Federation of Cuban Women.
For more information, contact ceanna@globalexchange.org
For the complete calendar items as well as more calendar events,
please visit:http://www.peacewomen.org/frame/calendar/calendar.html
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PeaceWomen Team
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