The EWL has drafted an E.U. alternative report that sets forth the E.U.'s actions, legislation, and programs used to implement the Beijing Platform for Action since 1995. The report reviews the progress made by E.U. institutions in addressing the twelve areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action. Since Beijing, significant progress has been made at the legislative level. The report finds that the position of women in decision making has improved, and that the action of women’s NGOs has led to an increased awareness of violence against women. The report also found developments that have slowed the progress of gender equality. The last decade has seen widespread reduction of funding for public services, and these cuts have a disproportionate effect upon women. The report also found that the EU has yet to implement its commitment to achieve coherence between economic and social policy goals—which has led to a greater feminization of poverty in Europe among other negative impacts.

With the enlargement of the E.U. to include Central and Eastern European countries, many women in those countries expected greater gender equality and new opportunities. However, the economic changes during the transition to E.U. accession held negative consequences for women. Their place in the labor market has become more insecure, there are less public services to support the care of children and dependants, and trafficking in women has also increased.

The report sees the most significant progress in the E.U. as the Amsterdam Treaty of 1999, which mandates the elimination of gender inequality, and calls for the promotion of equality in all activities. This development was also accompanied by the creation and implementation of various institutional mechanisms aimed at achieving gender equality. According to the report, there are several areas of concern that have yet to be addressed fully due to a lack of implementation of legislative framework. Other areas of concern are lacking a competent legal framework completely—such as violence against women. Recently, however, the EU Council decided to create a European Gender Institute, which will provide expertise and increase opportunities for an exchange of knowledge and ideas, as well as provide recommendations on EU policy and gender mainstreaming.

Compiled from: “EWL on Beijing +10,” NEWW Polska, 12 January, 2005.

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61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights: Amnesty International Calls On Members to Demonstrate Unequivocal Commitment to Human Rights
17 January 2005

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI Index: IOR 41/004/2005                                           17 January 2005

61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights: Amnesty International calls on Members to demonstrate unequivocal commitment to human rights

Amnesty International takes the opportunity of today’s election of the officers of the Bureau of the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) to urge governments to take careful account of the findings of the High Level Panel on Threats and Challenges about the Commission as they prepare for the upcoming session. Members of the Commission must act now to re-establish the credibility and professionalism of the Commission. Amnesty International calls upon Members of the Commission to end their use of double standards in dealing with human rights violations, to demonstrate a real commitment to human rights, and to enhance the human rights expertise of their delegations to the Commission.

Amnesty International urges the Members of the Commission represented on the Bureau, as well as the other Members of the Commission, to demonstrate unequivocal commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights by taking substantive measures both at the international and national levels.

Amnesty International calls upon the Members of the Commission to take the following measures at the international level:

- Ensure that protection and promotion of human rights in individual countries from all regions is a central function of the Commission;

- Establish objective and transparent criteria and procedures for the examination by the Commission of the human rights situation in individual countries. Such criteria and procedures should draw on the expertise of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and her Office and take into account the recommendations by the Special Procedures and the human rights treaty monitoring bodies as well as any country’s failure to cooperate with the human rights mechanisms of the UN;

- Create an effective system of monitoring and evaluating governments’ implementation of the determinations and recommendations of the Commission and its Special Procedures in order to increase governments’ accountability for their respect for human rights ;

- Support adequate funding from the UN regular budget for the human rights program in order that the resolutions and decisions of the Commission can be implemented fully, and that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights can adequately support the activities of the Special Procedures and the treaty monitoring bodies.

At the national level, each State’s measures should include:

- Extension of a standing invitation to the Special Procedures of the Commission and prompt implementation of their requests for visits; Full and prompt implementation of recommendations made by the Special Procedures;

- Full and timely response to urgent appeals and general letters of allegation from the Special Procedures;

- Ratification of the UN human rights treaties and the withdrawal of reservations;

- Full and effective national implementation of the human rights treaties to which the State is party, including through the development of a national action plan for implementation;

- Timely submission of periodic reports to the treaty monitoring bodies and full and prompt implementation of their recommendations;

- Prompt implementation of requests for interim measures made by the treaty monitoring bodies in connection with individual communications. Amnesty International encourages governments to inform the Commission about their initiatives to promote and protect human rights at the national level in their statements delivered during the Commission’s High-Level Segment.

View all documents on UN at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac46babdnZJbe1UKub
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Call for Papers: NEWR Final Conference
14 January 2005

On 30 June and 1 July 2005 at the Barber Institute, University of Birmingham, UK, the Network for European Women’s Rights Conference will take place. The speakers at the conference will be: Mary Robinson, Yakin Ertürk, Hanna Beate Schoepp-Schilling, Malgorzata Fuszara and Veronique De Keyser.

The NEWR Final Conference proposes to all participants a chance to present their views and their research on a succession of many issues encompassing the five areas of trafficking, reproductive rights, political participation, social entitlements and crosscutting themes. The NEWR workshops have made apparent that further research needs to be done on numerous issues in each of the above listed areas. The issues are listed below and will be reviewed at different panels during the two days.

You are encouraged to submit paper proposals for any of the below listed panels. They are to be approximately 250 words long and should be emailed to Audrey Guichon at a.guichon@bham.ac.uk before February 15th, 2005. Please do not forget to give a title and the name of the panel you would like to participate in.

Trafficking
-The police, NGOs, and ‘victims’
-Root causes and long-term prevention of trafficking
-Approaches to trafficking and alternative policy models

Women’s Reproductive Rights
-Defining reproductive rights
-Access to contraception and abortion in Europe
-Women’s autonomy and changing concepts of motherhood in the context of new reproductive technologies
-Dilemma’s surrounding teenage pregnancy.

Women’s Political Participation
-Normative debates on gender equality
-Political parties, gender equality and strategies for change
-Images of women in education and the media

Women’s Social Entitlements
-Changing models of social entitlements across Europe
-Balance between work, family and personal life
-Towards a European model of Social Security?
-Violence Against Women

For further information, please visit: http://www.NEWR.bham.ac.uk
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Violence Against Women Increases in Wake of Tsunami
14 January 2005

In the wake of the devastating tsunami that has claimed the lives of over 150,000 people, new threats to the safety of women in the region are emerging. There have been numerous reports of rape and violence against women and children, and due to a lack of personal hygiene products and maternal care, women also face an increased risk of health problems. There are several groups working hard to raise funds and public awareness of the threats to the safety and well-being of women. Women’s rights groups working together in Sri Lanka issued a written appeal calling for public attention to serious issues concerning women’s safety which have yet to be addressed by relief efforts. The groups expressed appreciation for the outpouring of international aid efforts, but are urging for those efforts to address violence against women and the needs of vulnerable communities. Some of the most egregious reports of violence include incidents of rape, gang rape, molestation, and other physical abuse of women and girls during unsupervised rescue operations and while they are residing in temporary shelters.

Compiled from: “As Tsunami Recedes, Women’s Risks Appear,” Corrie Pikul, Women’s eNews, 7 Jan. 2005.
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Online Discussion for Young Women and Men
14 January 2005

WomenWatch invites young women and men to participate in a series of online discussions leading up to the review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly, entitled Women 2000: Gender equality, development and peace for the 21st century, which will take place in New York from 28 February to 11 March 2005.

The online discussions will take place from 17 January to 6 February 2005 and will include the following weekly themes:

Week 1 (17-23 January): Share your views on gender equality and stereotypical attitudes and behavior.

Week 2 (24-30 January): Contribute your ideas on gender equality and peace, education and employment, health and HIV/AIDS, the environment, and other areas that concern young women and men.

Week 3 (31 January-6 February): Share your vision for gender equality in the future and your beliefs on the role of government and civil society, including young women and men, to promote gender equality.

To register for the online discussions, please click here to visit the WomenWatch website.

Compiled from: Invitation to Participate in Online Discussion "Vision of Young Women and Men for Gender Equality" (17 January - 6 February), Assiya Akanay, women-east-west Digest, Vol 9, Issue 10, 14 January 2005.
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INSTRAW Welcomes Commentary on Women’s Experiences
11 January 2005

From 28 February to 11 March 2005, the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations will take the opportunity to consider and review the Beijing Platform for Action at its 49th session. However, no world conference or special session of the General Assembly will convene, inhibiting the women’s movement and the international community from convening this year.

Therefore, INSTRAW would like to assemble brief commentaries on women’s experiences at one or more of the following conferences: Mexico 1975, Nairobi 1980, Copenhagen 1985, Beijing 1995, and the Beijing 5+ special session, 2000.

In addition, INSTRAW would like to receive insight on how these conferences affected the participant’s life or women’s/gender issues in the participant’s community. Such accounts may be anecdotal, may focus on the relevance of the conferences to the women’s rights agenda, or consist of critical reviews of the implementation of conference goals and will be featured on the Beijing Review Section of the INSTRAW website.

These commentaries may be submitted in English, French, or Spanish and should not exceed 1,000 words. The submission deadline is 15 February 2005. Commentaries may be sent to INSTRAW at instraw@un-instraw.org. 

Compiled from:  Gathering Women's Experiences, World News, News, The Network of East-West Women-POLSKA/NEWW, www.neww.org, January 2005.
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Human Rights Imperative for Mental Health Reforms
6 January 2005

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI Index: IOR 40/001/2005
11 January 2005

Human rights imperative for mental health reforms

The only way to ensure respect for human rights in mental health systems and in-patient facilities is through effective enforcement of international human rights standards, principally through rights-based national legislation, Amnesty International said on the eve of the World Health Organization's (WHO) European Ministerial Conference on Mental Health in Helsinki, Finland, on 12-15 January 2005.

In Europe, one fifth of children and adolescents experience developmental, emotional or behavioural problems, and one in eight have a mental disorder. Many of these disorders are recurrent or chronic. Mental disorders affect one person in four in their lifetime, and can be found in 10 per cent of the adult population. It has been estimated that mental disorders and problems will increase by 50 per cent by the year 2020. Yet, according to the WHO Regional Office for Europe: "All countries [in the region] have to work with limited resources. Too often, prejudice and stigma hamper the development of mental health policies, and are reflected in poor services, low status for care providers and a lack of human rights for mentally ill people."

Protecting the rights of people with, or at risk of, mental health problems or intellectual disabilities (hereafter referred to as people with mental disabilities), particularly those placed in mental health in-patient facilities, is at the core of recommendations which Amnesty International has addressed to a number of European states. Concerns about the treatment of people with mental disabilities, in Romania and Bulgaria in particular, have been the subject of Amnesty International reports.

"Mental health services must take into account that patients have rights too - it is essential that people with mental illness have a right to inform and participate in all decision-making and policy formulation that affect them," Amnesty International said.

International human rights standards protecting the dignity and human rights of people with mental disorders should be incorporated into mental health laws and practice of all European states. All states should also ensure their allocation of resources to mental health services is sufficient to allow human rights standards to be met. Amnesty International urges all states, to review and reform their mental health systems and laws to ensure compliance with international human rights norms and best professional practice. Mental health service users should play a part in that process.

At the Helsinki Conference, the 52 countries in the WHO European Region are expected to agree a Mental Health Declaration and Action Plan for Europe. Amnesty International considers that these commitments must be underpinned by human rights in international treaties that provide: important protections to people with mental health disabilities, including the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; protection against discrimination; protection against torture, inhuman, or degrading treatment; protection against arbitrary detention.

Amnesty International urges Member States of the WHO European Region to engage meaningfully in follow-up actions arising from the Helsinki Conference, to ensure national laws and mental health services respect and promote the basic rights of all people with mental health problems, especially those placed in mental health facilities, and that they are provided with treatment and care that is in line with international human rights standards and best professional practice.

"Even if the Helsinki Declaration and Action Plan adequately reflect human rights standards, its implementation will require concerted and well coordinated action by all relevant ministries and other authorities. It is essential that detailed programmes of action follow from governments which also promote human rights, with clear timeframes and dedicated resources," Amnesty International said.

The organization urges the institutions of the European Union (EU) to support a human-rights-based approach to the Declaration and Action Plan, and its implementation.

"The EU has already adopted a wide number of instruments such as the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Charter on Social Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It cannot ignore the appalling situation of mental health patients in its deliberations on the proposed accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU."

Amnesty International urges that the inextricable links between respect for international human rights standards and national mental health systems be reflected in the Action Plan.

"Failure of government policies to respect the wider human rights of communities - to physical health, non-discrimination, housing, education or respect for one's culture for example - can have a profound impact on the mental health of individuals."

Background

WHO, the EU and the Council of Europe, and a number of member states of WHO European Region, are organizing a Ministerial Conference entitled "Mental health: Facing the challenges, building solutions" to be held in Helsinki, Finland from 12 to 15 January 2005, attended by invited representatives of all 52 Member States in the WHO/European Region and of selected organizations. The topics of human rights and the stigma attached to mental ill health and care services will be a central theme of the Conference.

Within the mental health systems of some states in the European region, particularly grave and systematic abuses of human rights have been documented by Amnesty International.

For further information see:

Romania: Memorandum to the government concerning inpatient psychiatric treatment http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx2be1UKub/

Romania: Patients at the Poiana Mare psychiatric hospital AI Index: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx3be1UKub/

Harry Potter joins the fight to end Czech "cage bed" use http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx4be1UKub/

Rough Justice: The law and human rights in the Russian Federation http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx5be1UKub/

Mental Illness, The Neglected Quarter, AI Ireland, February 2004; Bulgaria: Far from the eyes of society http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx6be1UKub/
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UN Warns Of Child Trafficking After Tsunami Disaster
6 January 2005

Reprinted verbatim with permission from Radio Free Europe.

5 January 2005 -- United Nations officials say they are concerned that children who were orphaned or separated from their parents by the Asian tsunami disaster could be kidnapped by human traffickers and sold into forced labor or sexual slavery.

UN officials said they had received unconfirmed reports that human-trafficking gangs may be seeking to exploit the disaster by grabbing youngsters, particularly in the devastated Indonesian province of Aceh.

Indonesia has ordered police to be on the lookout for trafficking and has posted special guards in refugee camps and temporarily banned children from Aceh from leaving the country.

Children are estimated to account for up to one-third of the estimated 150,000 people killed in the tsunami disaster, and aid workers say surviving children are now at risk from outbreaks of diarrhoea and other ailments.

(AP/Reuters)

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org.
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New UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking Appointed
6 January 2005

The U.N. recently appointed Ms. Sigma Huda to the post of Special Rapporteur on Trafficking. Ms. Huda, President of the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association and current Board Member of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Asia Pacific, will replace the post’s initial appointee, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia. Ms. Sirleaf resigned from the position shortly after her appointment.

During the three-year appointment, Ms. Huda will report to the Commission on Human Rights on the state of international trafficking and the measures needed to protect the rights of trafficking victims and to curb the practice in the future.

Compiled from: Special Rapporteur on Trafficking Appointed, Trafficking News Monthly, Anti-Slavery International, www.antislavery.com, November 2004; CATW-AP Board Member is the New UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Women, What’s New, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia-Pacific (CATW-AP), www.catw-ap.org, 12 October 2004.
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Equality Between Women and Men Extended to the Access and Supply to Goods and Services
2 January 2005

Press Release

The Council unanimously adopted a Directive implementing equal treatment between women and men aimed at extending the principle of equal treatment beyond the area of employment and professional life to other areas of everyday life (14438/04).

Today's decision follows the political agreement reached at the Council on 4 October (1).

Equality between women and men is a fundamental principle of the European Union, as laid down in Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty. Discrimination based on sex can act as a barrier to the full and successful integration of men and women into economic and social life. Sex discrimination not only takes place in the context of the workplace, where there is already Community legislation to combat discrimination, but also occurs in many other areas.

Under this Directive, the prohibition of discrimination will therefore apply to the persons providing goods and services available to the public(2) and offered outside the area of private and family life. The content of media or advertising and public or private education are sectors excluded from the scope of the Directive.

The Directive will apply to both direct and indirect discrimination, including sexual harassment. Less favourable treatment of women for reasons of pregnancy or maternity will be considered as direct discrimination and therefore forbidden.

Differences in treatment may be accepted only if they are justified by a legitimate aim, such as the protection of victims of sex-related violence, reasons of privacy and decency, the promotion of gender equality, the freedom of association, or the organisation of single-sex sporting activities. Limitations should nevertheless be appropriate and necessary in accordance with the criteria defined by the Court of Justice of the European Communities.

Its scope includes insurance and related financial activities, as long as they are private, voluntary and separate from the employment relationship. In this context, equal treatment is the guiding principle to be applied, and thus the use of sex as an actuarial factor should not result in differences in individual's premiums and benefits. To avoid a sudden readjustment of the market, the implementation of this rule will apply only to new contracts concluded after the date of transposition of this Directive.

Nevertheless, Member States, in which the unisex rule is not yet applied, may permit proportionate differences in individuals' premiums and benefits where the use of sex is a determining factor in the assessment of risk. Any different treatment has to be based on relevant and accurate actuarial and statistical data that has to be made public and regularly updated. The use of these exceptions will be subject to review by both the Commission and the Member States.

In any event, costs related to pregnancy and maternity should not result in differences in premiums and benefits. Given the structure of the insurance market in certain Member States, a two-year transitional period is provided for in this connection.

To provide a more effective level of protection of persons subject to discrimination based on sex, associations, organisations and other legal entities will be empowered to engage in legal proceedings. When discrimination can be presumed from facts established before a court, it will be for the respondent to prove that there was no breach of the principle of equal treatment (reversal of the burden of proof).

The Directive, adopted on the basis of Article 13 of the Treaty, lays down minimum requirements, the Member States having the possibility to apply more favourable provisions. The Member States should provide for penalties in cases of breaches of the obligations under the Directive.

(1) See press release 12400/04.
(2) Goods and services should be understood as defined by the Treaty.

Published in: Council of the European Union, Press Release 15856/04 (Presse 350), 13 December 2004 (PDF, 3 pages).
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European Women Face Salary and Employment Gaps
4 February 2005

A European Commission report has found that European women face a fifteen percent pay gap and a sixteen percent employment rate gap to that of men, despite outnumbering men in higher education. The E.U. Social Affairs Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, will announce plans for addressing gender inequality in the E.U. Social Agenda for 2006-2010. Expected among the new initiatives is a European Gender Institute, which will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of E.U. laws on gender equality.

Compiled from: “Women in Europe get higher education—but lower pay,” euobserver.com, 4 February, 2005.

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The Fight for Gender Equality Continues Ten Years after Beijing Platform for Action
7 February 2005

Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Špidla, today expressed his thanks to the Luxembourg Presidency for organising the Beijing+10 Conference with the support of the Commission.

The Conference reviews the implementation of the goals stated at the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995. The Beijing Platform set out 12 areas for improvement. They are:

• Women and poverty
• Education and training of women
• Women and health
• Violence against women
• Women and armed conflict
• Women and the economy
• Women in power and decision -making
• Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women
• Human rights of women
• Women and the media
• Women and the environment
• The plight of young girls

Women's situation has improved in education, where they now outnumber men in upper secondary education and graduate in greater numbers than men in the EU, their employment rate has increased faster than men's and their higher qualifications led to more women than men entering high level and managerial posts during the 1990s in most EU Member States.

Improvements were achieved through three main factors: an ongoing legislation as established in the Treaty, a political will as stated in the Lisbon, Stockholm and Barcelona objectives and through a continuous and constructive dialogue with civil society, social partners and NGOs.

But much remains to be done. Worldwide, women still represent around 70% of those in poverty. In the EU there is still a 16% gap between men's employment rate and women’s.

And the average gender pay gap in the EU has dropped only by 1% since 2001 to 15%. Women have difficulty to re-enter into the labour market after maternity leave. The possibilities of parental leave for fathers need to become more flexible.

'Men and women need to share professional and private responsibilities. This will be essential if the EU wants to create a modern society that is also competitive globally,' Mr Špidla said.

The EU conference and ministerial meeting will contribute to the Beijing Platform for Action 10th anniversary international meeting at the United Nations, New York in March. The event will be attended by politicians and NGOs from all over the world to assess progress made and call for increased efforts needed towards the global goal of gender equality.

Published in: Commissioner Špidla emphasises that the fight for gender equality must go on, Press Release, European Union Commission, Brussels, 3 February 2005.

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Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women Claims Women’s Rights in Russia Need Improvement
7 February 2005

Based on meetings with representatives from the Federal Government and civil society, as well as through testimonies taken from victims of human rights violations, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women Yakin Ertürk has concluded that the Russian Federation had a number of improvements to make with regard to its human rights record.

While Ms. Ertürk commended the Government for ratifying the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, she also pointed to the persistent problems of violence against women in the home, discrimination against women, and in particular, those women in Chechnya who have been subjected to "disappearance," extrajudicial execution, torture, and ill-treatment allegedly by members of the Russian security.

In response to her observations, the Special Rapporteur issued a list of recommendations to the Russian Federation Government, including:

-Prioritize women's rights in judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, policies and programmes;
-Amend legislation in conformity with international standards and enact legislation specifically criminalizing domestic violence and provide shelters for those in need; -Launch gender awareness campaigns and provide training to law enforcement officers and security forces;
-Provide political and financial support to civil society initiatives promoting human rights;
-Ensure that all laws, policies and practices to counter terrorism fully meet fundamental principles of international law and international human rights standards;
-Investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for violations of human rights and provide compensation to victims or their families;
-Ensure safe and voluntary return of IDPs;
-Establish a protection programme for human rights defenders, witnesses and victims who are at risk of harm.

Please click here to read the U.N. Press Release documenting these recommendations.

Compiled from: Women's Rights in Russia: UN Official Sees Need for Improvement, www.penelopes.org, February 2005

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Trafficking of Women in Europe and Organized Crime
10 February 2005

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, trafficking in women has become an increasing problem across Europe. Due to an ever-higher demand for women within sex industries, criminal networks have organized to recruit, buy, sell and enslave women from places such as the Ukraine and other former Soviet states. These women are then used in brothels, massage parlors, bars on stretches of streets as prostitutes, a modern form of enslavement.

Trafficking in women has become an extremely lucrative market for those criminal networks that facilitate the trade. Local communities from which the trafficked women come, have not fared as well. Organized crime networks have grown to such an extent that they now pose treats to the wellbeing of citizens of such communities and to the legal economic, social and political institutions therein.

The legalization of prostitution is sometimes offered up as a possible remedy to the problem of trafficking. However, certain evidence points to the possibility that legalization would simply exacerbate the phenomenon. Instead, legal remedies that address the demand side as well as supply side, such as those found within national legislation in Sweden and at the UN level provide more viable solutions.

Compiled from: "Shadow Market of Trafficking in Women," News from Europe, The Network of East-West Women, Polska/NEWW, www.neww.org, 7 February 2005.

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Increasing Protection for Victims of Human Trafficking
14 February 2005

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International are calling on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to strengthen the draft European Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings. They are urging PACE to require states to provide comprehensive protection and support and assistance measures that will allow victims to begin the recovery process. Specifically, Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International want the December 2004 draft European Convention strengthened so that states are required to guarantee a wide range of services for victims, including necessary medical treatment, shelters, counseling, and physical protection for all victims and members of their families as necessary; access to education and employment; permission to remain in the country during a reflection period of at least three months; prohibition against detention or prosecution of trafficked persons for illegal entry or residence in the country or for activities that are a direct consequence of being a trafficked person; and the establishment of an effective monitoring of the implementation of the Convention, among other recommendations. More than 170 other NGOs from 30 countries have joined Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International in urging the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to strengthen the draft European Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings. For more information, visit www.amnesty.org.

Compiled from: The Network of East—West Women—Polska/NEWW, “Better protection of Trafficked Persons, 11 February, 2005

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Women are at Specific Risk of Poverty
7 February 2005

An article by Maria Ross, Manager of the Association of Autonomous Austrian Women’s Refugees, examines how women are still at risk for poverty based on gender. She examines how the social inequality of men and women has impacted women and how this trend is in danger of increasing.

Her discussion focuses on how women earn less than men and tend to gain income from informal forms of employment, e.g. short-term employment, temporary work, contracts for services out of the home, etc. Factors such as single motherhood, migration, age, disability, and homelessness also aggravate women's susceptibility to poverty.

Domestic violence is another factor that increases the risk of female poverty. Poverty can cause violence and addictions, which can restrict a woman's decision making ability and explain why women often stay with their abusive partners. Violence and poverty are interrelated.

A major prerequisite for women to escape violence and violent relationships is financial safeguarding and independence.

Compiled from: "Women at Risk of Poverty," Maria Ross, The Network of East-West Women-Polska/NEWW, 14 February 2005 (source cited:  www.wave-network.org).

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Council of Europe: Protect victims of people trafficking
21 February 2005

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International AI
Index: IOR 30/003/2005 21 February 2005

Council of Europe: Protect victims of people trafficking

JOINT PRESS RELEASE
Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International are calling on European countries to focus new anti-trafficking measures on protecting victims - not just national borders.

The call comes as a drafting group of representatives of the 46 Council of Europe member states (known as the CAHTEH) are due to begin their last meeting in Strasbourg on 22 February to finalise the draft European Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings.

“The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has already set out a blueprint for a convention that will focus on protecting the rights of trafficked people. Council of Europe member states must set a high standard when it comes to protecting trafficked peoples' rights - rather than settling for the lowest common denominator standards,” said Mary Cunneen, Director of Anti-Slavery International, which has been working to eradicate slavery for over 160 years.

"It is of vital importance that the 25 European Union (EU) member states - which form the majority of the Council of Europe states - support the higher standards embodied in the PACE recommendations. This will require that most of the states agree to include provisions in the Council of Europe treaty which are more protective of the rights of trafficked persons than those set out in their national law or EU legislation. Many existing laws focus more on criminalization and border control; they link assistance and protection to a trafficked person's willingness to participate in law enforcement efforts against the traffickers. The focus should be on respect and protection of trafficked persons human rights", said Jill Heine, Legal Adviser for Amnesty International.

"A stronger treaty would be an indispensable tool in the fight against this serious human rights violation, whose incidence has increased dramatically within Europe over the past 10 years," said the representatives of Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International, who will be attending the CAHTEH meeting in Strasbourg.

In particular, Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International call on CAHTEH to ensure that the European Convention against Trafficking requires that:

- trafficked persons are given access to necessary medical assistance;

- a minimum recovery and reflection period of at least 3 months is offered to all trafficked persons, and that the person's presence in the country is regularized and recognized during this time;

- minimum 6 months-renewable and permanent residence permits are issued to trafficked persons on the basis of the needs and risks of their personal situation and/or to ensure their presence during proceedings (against the traffickers and/or for compensation), and family reunification is available;

- trafficked persons are not detained, charged, or prosecuted for illegal entry or residence and activities which are a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons.

In addition provisions for monitoring implementation of this treaty by states should be strengthened. There should be one single independent expert body (called “GRETA”) which monitors the implementation of the Convention by EU and non-EU member states alike, and is mandated to consider collective complaints from non-governmental organizations alleging the non-fulfilment of a state’s obligations under the Convention.

These recommendations draw from existing international standards, echo those of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its Opinion adopted in January 2005, and reflect the recommendations expressed by 179 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working for or on behalf of trafficked persons.

Background

The European Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings is being drafted by the Ad Hoc Committee on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CAHTEH). At its January 2005 plenary session, PACE adopted an Opinion on the December 2004 draft European Convention against Trafficking prepared by the CAHTEH (see link: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadcPgabepz4be1UKub/ ).

The CAHTEH will forward the draft Convention to the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers at the end of their meeting. It is expected that the Committee of Ministers will then review, debate and adopt the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in March 2005. The Convention will then be opened for signature at the Council of Europe's Third Summit of Heads of State and Government on 16/17 May 2005.

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International presented their latest comments on the draft Convention in a document entitled : Council of Europe: Recommendations to strengthen the December 2004 Draft European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (AI Index: IOR 61/001/2005 http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadcPgabepz5be1UKub/ ).

To arrange an interview or for further information contact: Amnesty International's Press Officer Lydia Aroyo on +44 (0) 20 7413 5599, +44 (0) 7771 796350, e-mail laroyo@amnesty.org or Legal Adviser Jill Heine on +44 (0) 7932 086 178 or Anti-Slavery International's Press Officer Beth Herzfeld on +44 (0) 20 7501 8934, email b.herzfeld@antislavery.org

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Beijing +10: No rollback on rights
25 February 2005

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI Index: ACT 77/006/2005 24 February 2005

Beijing +10: No rollback on rights

On the eve of the 49th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Amnesty International is calling on all governments attending the session to uphold and protect women’s human rights.

As part of its Stop Violence Against Women (SVAW) campaign, Amnesty International’s research has shown that women’s human rights continue to be grossly violated despite government commitments to promote and protect them. Today Amnesty International is launching a report, No turning back -- full implementation of women's human rights, in which the organization draws attention to violations of women's human rights in a number of countries and urges governments to take immediate steps to end such abuse and bring the perpetrators to justice.

"Governments must be held to account and resist any attempts to go back on earlier commitments," said Hilary Fisher, Director of the Stop Violence Against Women Campaign.

The CSW session, which begins on 28 February, will review and appraise governments' progress toward implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PfA), adopted at the Fourth United Nations (UN) World Conference on Women in September 1995 in Beijing, China. The review will focus on assessing the implementation at the national level of these documents as well as of the outcome document from the five-year review by the Special Session of the General Assembly in 2000.

Together with other NGOs based at the UN in New York, Amnesty International is calling on governments to universally reaffirm all three of these human rights documents, to re-commit to full and prompt implementation at the national level, and to emphasize the integral connection between respecting women’s human rights and realizing the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals. This powerful call from civil society to governments in the form of a global sign-on letter is available at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaddLoabev0Pbe1UKub/

In partnership with other NGOs, Amnesty International will host a number of events on the fringes of the CSW session, including an activist workshop on due diligence, a panel on discriminatory legislation, and a third event with partner organisations Oxfam and International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) around the launch in Johannesburg of the SVAW & Control Arms Campaign report "The Impact of Guns on Women’s Lives" , which shows that women are paying an increasingly heavy price for the unregulated billion-dollar trade in small arms.

For a full copy of the report No turning back -- full implementation of women's human rights please go to: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaddLoabev0Qbe1UKub/

Background

In June 2000, the UN General Assembly convened in Special Session to review the progress achieved and remaining obstacles to implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Beijing Platform for Action. Amnesty International and other NGOs were dismayed at the rollback of progress made on women’s human rights, including in other international forums, such as the World Conference on Human Rights, by the Special Session. Some states challenged the basic premise that women’s rights are human rights, questioned the responsibility of states to protect the human rights of women, and succeeded in removing references to human rights treaties from the outcome document for the session.

For further information please contact: Saria Rees-Roberts on + 44 7778 472 173

Stop Violence Against Women campaign website at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaddLoabev0Rbe1UKub/

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Calling on Governments to Reaffirm Beijing Platform for Action
25 February 2005

In order to call on governments to fully reaffirm the Beijing Platform for Action, letters in English, Czech, Bulgarian and Slovak are being sent. If you would like to sign the letter, send an e-mail to ngocsw49@yahoo.com with the name of your organization and country. Because most of the negotiations regarding the political declaration will occur before the Beijing +10 meeting, it is important that work be done on a national scale prior to the meeting. At the commencement of the Beijing+10 meeting, if the political declaration is still under negotiation, this letter (and its signatures) will be used in the media and for other purposes in New York. Hence, the more organizations that sign-on to the letter—the greater the impact and message the letter will hold. The letter, titled, “A Sign-on Letter Calling on Governments to Universally Reaffirm and Implement the Beijing Platform for Action,” and the number of signatures collected will be available at www.peacewomen.org.

Compiled from: "Urgent Action--Letters from CEE," The Network of East—West Women—Polska/NEWW; www.un.org/womenwatch/

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Millennium Development Goals Processes
25 February 2005

The Executive Director of AWID, Joanna Kerr, explains the key processes associated with the Millennium Development Goals. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were created in 2000 during a meeting of world leaders, and in September of 2005, leaders will once again meet at the Millennium Summit in New York. The Summit has a three part agenda: 1) reviewing achievements made towards the Millenniumm Declaration 2) discussing terrorism and security issues and 3) discussing UN reform. Kerr explains that the third Millennium Development is the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and sees the indicator for this goal as the eradication of gender disparity in primary and secondary educational institutions. This frustrates many women’s organizations because issues such as violence against women, reproductive and sexual rights, and women’s labour rights are not reflected in goal 3. Despite this, several UN agencies utilize the MDGs and Millennium Summit to advance gender equality—and the Department for Economic and Social Affairs at the UN is working to expand the scope of targets and indicators for goal 3. There are also groups working outside of the UN system—such as the Millennium Project—which has several task forces researching how to successfully achieve the eight Millennium Goals as well as gender equality. Kerr sees the top feminist priorities for 2005 as: making sure that the Beijing +10 meeting feeds into the Millennium Summit, and that issues of violence against women and reproductive rights, among many other issues, are considered by governments.

Compiled from: "Demystifying the MDG's Processes," The Network of East—West Women—Polska/NEWW

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Revised UN Reporting Schedule for 2005 Now Available
25 February 2005

A revised U.N. reporting schedule for 2005 is now available. Among other countries, the following nations have reports due this year:

• Albania (CRC)
• Mongolia (CRC)
• Bosnia-Herzegovina (CRC)
• Russian Federation (CRC)
• Turkey (CEDAW)
• Croatia (CEDAW)
• Former Yugoslav (CEDAW)
• Azerbaijan (CERD)
• Georgia (CERD)
• Lithuania (CERD)
• Turkmenistan (CERD)
• Uzbekistan (ICCPR)
• Slovenia (ICCPR)
• Tajikistan (ICCPR)
• Serbia and Montenegro (ICESCR)
• Uzbekistan (ICESCR)
• Slovenia (ICESCR)
• Albania (CAT)
• Hungary (CAT)
• Bosnia-Herzegovina (CAT)

Reporting Schedule   (PDF, 3 pages)

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Council of Europe: Don't Compromise on the Rights of Trafficked Persons JOINT STATEMENT -- Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International
7 March 2005

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI Index: IOR 30/004/2005

3 March 2005

Council of Europe: Don't Compromise on the rights of trafficked persons JOINT STATEMENT -- Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International call on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to strengthen the provisions of the draft Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings related to the assistance and protection of trafficked persons. The Committee of Ministers will review this draft Convention, with a view to its adoption, in March 2005.

The organizations note that the current draft European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings builds upon existing international standards of protection for trafficked persons in some respects -- in particular by expanding the definition of trafficking set out in the Palermo Protocol to expressly include internal (in-state) trafficking and trafficking not necessarily involving organized criminal groups; and, by establishing an independent mechanism (GRETA) to monitor the implementation of this Convention.

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International consider, however, that a number of provisions must be amended if the treaty is to meet the stated aim of establishing a comprehensive framework for the protection of the rights of trafficked persons.

In particular, Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International urge the Committee of Ministers to ensure that, in its final form, the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings requires that:

o all trafficked persons are given access to necessary medical assistance, including psychological care and treatment, (not just emergency medical assistance) (Article 12(1) (b));

o the protection and assistance measures are extended to the families of trafficked persons, when necessary (Article 12);

o when there are reasonable grounds to believe a person has been trafficked, they are afforded a recovery and reflection period - of at least three months and sufficient for the person concerned to begin to recover, escape the influence of their traffickers and make informed decisions about their future (Article 13 (1));

o renewable residence permits, of at least 6 months in length, are issued to trafficked persons when, following a risk assessment, the competent authorities consider that their stay is necessary owing to their personal situation or for the purpose of their participation in proceedings (including criminal proceedings against their traffickers, or proceedings for compensation) (Article 14 (1));

o provisions are made for family reunification when a trafficked person is issued residence permits (Article 14);

o trafficked persons are not detained, charged or prosecuted for illegal entry or residence and unlawful activities, unless it is shown that the unlawful activities were not a consequence of their situation as a victim (Article 26);

o persons have the right to have the decisions of the competent authorities taken under Articles 10-16 reviewed by an independent, impartial body established by law (Article 10);

o one single, independent expert body (GRETA) monitors the implementation of the Convention by EU and non-EU member states alike (Articles 36-38).

In addition, the organizations consider that the treaty should empower the GRETA to receive information from any source, including the European Union and members of civil society, and should permit each Party to declare that they recognize the competence of the GRETA to consider collective complaints about a Party's failure to implement provisions of the Convention.

These recommendations (which are also included in our publication, Council of Europe: Recommendations to Strengthen the December 2004 Draft of the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, AI Index: IOR 61/001/2005, available electronically at: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engior610012005) are consistent with those proposed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January 2005 and the recommendations of non-governmental organizations who work directly with and on behalf of trafficked persons. However, these recommendations were rejected last week by the EU member states, which now comprise the majority of the 46 Council of Europe states, and by the European Commission on their behalf. Thus they are not included in the current draft of the Convention.

Instead, many of the key provisions concerning the protection and assistance of trafficked persons contained in the draft Convention submitted to the Committee of Ministers, fail to significantly enhance the assistance and protection currently available under some national or European Union legislation. They result from the lowest-common denominator positions agreeable to the European Union member states.

Amnesty International and Anti Slavery deeply regret that in the context of the negotiations within the Council of Europe's Ad Hoc Committee on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, the protection of the rights of trafficked persons, who are some of the most vulnerable persons in Europe, appeared to be secondary to political and institutional positioning.

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International call on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the institutions of the European Union to cooperate to ensure the realization of the stated aim of the Council of Europe in drafting this Convention -- to adopt a treaty which addresses the urgent need to enhance the protection of the human rights of trafficked persons.

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Calling for A Victim-Centered Approach to Human Trafficking
7 March 2005

Helga Konrad, the OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, is calling for the adoption of a more victim-centered approach to fighting trafficking. Ms. Konrad is also urging OSCE countries to allow victims an extended stay within the country into which they were trafficked. In support of her position, she notes that around 50% of victims who are immediately expelled are “re-cycled” by traffickers and become re-victimized. Among the fifty-five OSCE States, Italy is currently the only country offering victims an extended stay and work opportunities. Italy has reported a tenfold increase in the number of court cases brought against traffickers within the first year of implementation of the new victim-centered legislation. Ms. Konrad urges states to change from the traditional law-enforcement approach to a victim-centered approach in order to effectively fight human trafficking.

Compiled from: Special Representative calls on OSCE States to issue residence permits, OSCE Online, 28 February 2005.

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Empowerment of Women the Most Effective Development Tool, Secretary-General Tells Commission on Status of Women
7 March 2005

Calls on International Community to Promote Gender Equality and Invest in Women

Following are the remarks by Secretary-General Kofi Annan at today’s opening of the forty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women marking Beijing +10:

Thank you very much, Madame President,

I am delighted to be with you as you open this milestone session of the Commission on the Status of Women -- a session at which you mark the 10-year review of the Beijing Conference and Platform for Action.

Ten years ago, women gathered in Beijing and took a giant step forward.

As a result, the world recognized explicitly that gender equality is critical to the development and peace of every nation.

Ten years on, women are not only more aware of their rights: they are more able to exercise them.

Over this decade, we have seen tangible progress on many fronts. Life expectancy and fertility rates have improved. More girls are enrolled in primary education. More women are earning an income than ever before.

We have also seen new challenges emerge. Consider the trafficking of women and children -- an odious but increasingly common practice. Or the terrifying growth of HIV/AIDS among women -- especially young women.

Yet, as we look back on the past decade, one thing stands out above all else: we have learnt that the challenges facing women are not problems without solutions. We have learnt what works and what doesn’t work.

If we are to change the historical legacy that puts women at a disadvantage in most societies, we must implement what we have learnt on a larger scale. We must take specific, targeted action on a number of fronts. The report of the Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality outlines seven strategic priorities for doing just that.

They represent seven specific investments and policies that can be applied readily over the coming decade, on a scale large enough to make a real difference.

First, strengthen girls’ access to secondary, as well as primary education. Education holds the key to unlocking most of the obstacles facing girls and women -- from being forced into early marriage, to vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Second, guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights. How can we achieve real equality when half a million women die of pregnancy-related causes every year -- causes that are entirely preventable?

Third, invest in infrastructure to reduce women’s and girls’ time burdens. What are the prospects for girls and women who are forced to spend half of every day gathering water, fuel and other necessities for their families?

Fourth, guarantee women’s and girls’ property and inheritance rights. How can women climb out of poverty without access to land and housing? And without that security, how can they protect themselves against the impact of HIV/AIDS?

The same goes for the fifth priority -- eliminating gender inequality in employment. And a good job is also a woman’s best protection against falling prey to trafficking.

Sixth, increase women’s share of seats in national parliaments and local government. Equality of opportunity in policy-making is not only a human right; it is a prerequisite for good governance.

And seventh, redouble efforts to combat violence against girls and women. That means leadership in showing, by example, that when it comes to violence against women and girls, there are no grounds for tolerance and no tolerable excuses.

Friends,

As you recommit yourselves to the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, I hope you will consider these seven priorities as guideposts that can help shape national programmes.

Above all, I would urge the entire international community to remember that promoting gender equality is not only women’s responsibility -- it is the responsibility of all of us.

Sixty years have passed since the founders of the United Nations inscribed, on the first page of our Charter, the equal rights of men and women.

Since then, study after study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.

No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, or to reduce infant and maternal mortality.

No other policy is as sure to improve nutrition and promote health -- including the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

No other policy is as powerful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation.

And I would also venture that no policy is more important in preventing conflict, or in achieving reconciliation after a conflict has ended.

But whatever the very real benefits of investing in women, the most important fact remains: women themselves have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and from fear.

When the world’s leaders gather here in September to review progress in implementing the Millennium Declaration, I hope they will be able to take urgent action accordingly.

And I hope that all of you will keep up the good fight, and steer them in the right direction.

I thank every one of you for your commitment, and I wish you a most productive session.

Thank you very much.

Published in: EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN THE MOST EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT TOOL, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN, U.N. Press Release SG/SM/9738/WOM/1489, 28 February 2005.

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The First Week of the Commission on the Status of Women 49TH Session / Beijing+10: Defending Beijing, Confronting Conservative Agendas at the UN
8 March 2005

The first week of the 49th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) / Beijing + 10 came to an end last Friday. After a week of strong mobilization by progressive women and feminist organizations from all regions, and after continuous attempts by the US government, the Vatican and their conservative supporters (mostly groups from the US), the CSW session adopted a Political Declaration that reaffirms the Beijing consensus.

The US government used various tactics to put pressure on developing countries to gather support for an amendment they introduced to the draft text of the Political Declaration that was prepared by the CSW Bureau. The US amendment literally said ''while reaffirming that they do not create any new international human rights, and that they do not include the right to abortion''.

The US government stated that they were ready to withdraw their amendment from the very beginning of the session, but did not do so till the very end of the week, creating a lot of uneasiness and confusion and trying meanwhile to raise support for their position. At the end of the session, the CSW adopted the Political Declaration by consensus, and a very few countries (the US, Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua) introduced ''explanations of position'' as addendums to the report of this meeting. In these, they state their interpretation of the reaffirmation of Beijing as not producing new international human rights and as not recognizing the right to abortion.

The mobilization in support of the Beijing consensus done by progressive feminist and women's organizations and other like-minded organizations was effective in ensuring that the attempt by the US government, the Vatican and other conservative forces to question and re-open the Beijing consensus did not succeeded. It is very clear that in this session of the CSW, as in other international arenas, the US government continues with its policies to undermine the international human rights and multilateral systems, and to break international consensus on key issues.

Besides the Political Declaration, this session of the CSW is going to adopt several resolutions that have been tabled by different countries. The US attempt to undermine international human rights and defend their conservative agenda was reflected also in two draft resolutions they introduced: one on trafficking on women and another one on the economic advancement of women. Other draft resolutions tabled were: on Palestinian women (usually tabled every year at the CSW by the Group of 77), on Gender Mainstreaming (also tabled by the G-77), one on the Institute for Study, Training and Research on Women, INSTRAW (tabled by the Group of 77), HIV/AIDS (tabled by the South African Developing Countries, SADC), one on Afghan Women (tabled by the UK), one of a Special Rapporteur on Laws that Discriminate against Women (tabled by Rwanda) and one on Indigenous Peoples (tabled by Bolivia).

Although negotiations started on the texts of the resolutions on trafficking and on economic advancement of women, most of the negotiations for the resolutions will take place this second week of the CSW. Progressive feminist and women's organizations and like-minded groups have organized to prepare language and work to ensure that any document adopted at this CSW moves forward the women's rights agenda, and prevents any backlash by the conservative groups and like-minded governments in the UN.

The reaffirmation of the Beijing Consensus might seem a very minor achievement, but within the current political context in the UN, the reaffirmation is a key statement that the Beijing Consensus is alive and kicking, and that it is an important document that recognizes and advances women's human rights, including our right to freely exercise our sexuality. As progressive women's and feminist movements, we were able once again to hold the line.

Cited from: Resource Net discussion list, The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), 8 March 2005.

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On the occasion of International Women's Day, 8 March, OMCT would like to expresses its concern over the worldwide prevalence of violence against women. In spite of some encouraging signs of progress to address violence against women through legislative measures and policies, in every society in the world, women and girls continue to suffer from gender-based forms of violence perpetrated with impunity at the hand of the State, the family and the community.

As the world's largest network of NGOs fighting against torture, summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, OMCT notes that gender has a significant impact on the form that torture takes, its circumstances, consequences, and the access to justice and redress. The prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment of women is a peremptory norm of international law (jus cogens) and cannot be suspended under any circumstance, including armed conflict -

whether international or internal - or in situations of public emergency, or for other reasons relating to national security.

However, inasmuch as international definitions of torture have been narrowly interpreted, women have been denied equal protection against torture under both international and national law resulting in widespread impunity for its perpetrators.

Torture and ill-treatment of women often has a sexual nature. In 2004, OMCT issued several urgent appeals denouncing rape or other forms of sexual violence against women and girls in Bangladesh, Colombia, Greece, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Sudan. In not one of these cases have the perpetrators been punished. In most of the cases, the perpetrator has not even been arrested and in several of the cases no investigation was opened at all. OMCT also notes that many victims of sexual torture are reluctant to report out of fear and shame. In certain societies victims of sexual violence are threatened with expulsion from their home or community, are at risk of being killed or subjected to further violence at the hands of members of their family or community, or are forced into marriage. In other countries, women victims of rape may run the risk of being charged and punished with adultery or fornication.

This happened, for example, in Sudan to 22-year old Razaz Abekar who was sentenced to 100 lashes of the whip on charges of adultery on 13 March 2004. However, the man who was charged with having had sex with Ms. Razaz was acquitted by the same court on the basis of insufficient evidence against him. This case was brought based on claims that Ms. Razaz gave birth to a child three years ago outside of marriage. A policeman brought the case to the attention of the Attorney General on 13 March 2004. On the same day, the Attorney General interrogated Ms. Razaz and she reported that she was raped by the man in question and that he had promised to marry her. On the same day, Ms. Razaz was convicted by the court and sentenced to 100 lashes of the whip, which was carried out immediately, with no possibility of legal assistance or appeal.

OMCT observes that punishments such as flogging and stoning, particularly by religious and ad hoc courts, which are indisputably in violation of international standards that prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishments, are disproportionately applied to women, largely as a result of laws that criminalise adultery and sexual relations outside of marriage. In addition, evidentiary requirements which provide that pregnancy constitutes irrefutable "evidence" of adultery, or that give less weight to the testimony of women, reinforce the gender discrimination in the administration of justice.

While women are victims of gender-specific forms of violence at the hands of state officials, much violence against women takes place in the private and community sphere such as domestic violence, marital rape, trafficking, rape, violence against women in the name of honour, and female genital mutilation.

In 2004, OMCT issued 7 urgent

appeals concerning crimes against women committed in the name of honour, particularly in Pakistan. But also in other parts of the world, perpetrators of crimes against women committed in the name of honour, often go unpunished, receive reduced sentences or are exempted from prosecution on the justification of "honour". Deeply rooted social and cultural prejudices underlie the "honour" defence, which is accepted as an exonerating or mitigating circumstance.

OMCT would like to conclude by stating that all forms of violence against women are human rights violations and therefore have to be addressed with a human rights-based approach, which imposes on States an obligation under international law to exercise due diligence in the prevention and investigation of the violence and in the prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators as well as in the access to remedies and redress for the victim.

For more information about OMCT's Violence Against Women Programme, please contact Carin Benninger-Budel at ocbb@omct.org
or Alexandra Kossin at ak@omct.org.

Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT) World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT)
8 rue du Vieux-Billard
Case postale 21
CH-1211 Geneve 8
Suisse/Switzerland
Tel. : 0041 22 809 49 39
Fax : 0041 22 809 49 29
E-mail : omct@omct.org
http://www.omct.org

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Ten years ago 189 governments adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BFPA), a comprehensive plan that highlighted 12 critical areas that directly impact women’s empowerment: poverty, education, health, violence against women, armed conflict, the economy, political participation, human rights, media, the environment, the girl-child, and institution-building. The BFPA demanded specifically that governments take steps to see that women have equal access quality health care and sexual and reproductive health services, provide the means for all girls to receive primary education, afford women equal property rights to men in society, and ensure women’s equal participation in civil and political life. The plan also required international institutions to incorporate women’s rights into their internal structural agendas.

For the past week and a half, women’s rights advocates and government representatives from around the world have come together at the United Nations headquarters in New York City to assess the progress made on the BFPA since its initial inception. In the context of the 49th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the high-level has focused on the implementation of the BFPA and the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the 21st century." Focus will also lie on the current challenges and forward looking strategies for the advancement and empowerment of women and girls.

To facilitate discussion and promote the flow of ideas at the review session, the United Nations Secretariat will generate a Secretary-General’s report, documenting the progress made on the BFPA. The report stems from a variety of sources including: Feedback from Member States of the United Nation; national action plans; reports submitted by States parties under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers; and Millennium Development Goal Reports.

Women’s organizations have approached the review session with a mixed sense of optimism and reservation with regard to the achievements made under the BFPA. For example, a number of governments have passed laws regarding women’s property rights and domestic violence and have taken measures to promote gender equality in the work place. Nonetheless, discriminatory laws remain in place in many countries.

According to Hilary Anderson, spokesperson for U.N. International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) most of the changes have occurred because of grassroots action and not action by the government at all: “There has been less massive change at the national level in terms of traditional gender roles, the promotion and protection of women’s human rights, or the visibility of women and gender issues in national decision-making processes.”

In addition governments’ habit of dragging their feet on women’s rights legislation, violence against women continues to grow nationally and internationally. Armed conflict, religious fundamentalism and globalization have served to exacerbate women’s exposure to HIV/AIDS, trafficking and poverty.

To adequately address these growing concerns women’s organizations have stressed the need to link the BPFA and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs comprise of eight goals, set by governments in 2002, which seek to eliminate global poverty by 2015. In approaching the review session, women’s organizations have also reinforced the importance of coordination and cooperation between women’s NGOs. For example, INSTRAW and UNIFEM have made open statements about their intention of working together to promote both the Beijing action plan and the MDGs.

During the review session women’s organizations are holding a number of side events. Descriptions of some of these events as well as articles on developments at the review session are attached below. Women’s organizations hope that such collaboration in the context of the Beijing 10+ review session will prompt governments to develop fresh strategies and policies toward continued implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Events Affiliated with Beijing 10+:

Schedule of NGO Side Events

Developments at Beijing 10+:

UN: Women’s Conference Sees Progress on Rights Overshadowed by Violence, Robert McMahon, Radio Free Europe, www.rferl.org, 1 March 2005.

The First Week of the Commission on the Status of Women 49TH Session / Beijing+10: Defending Beijing, Confronting Conservative Agendas at the UN, Resource Net discussion list, The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), 8 March 2005.

Women Reaffirm U.N. Equality Blueprint, Associated Press, New York Times, 5 March 2005.

Compiled from:

U.N. Takes Measure of Women’s Equality, Bojana Stoparic, www.womensenews.org, 27 February 2005.

Forty-Ninth Session on the Status of Women- 28 February to 11 March 2005, Womenwatch, www.un.org/womenwatch, March 2005.

WIDE Statement to the 49th Session of CSW, New York, 28 February to 11 March 2005, WIDE-News No.2/2005, www.WIDE-Network.org, February 2005.

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Proposed U.S. Anti-Abortion Amendment to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action Dropped
9 March 2005

As the 10-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action got underway last week, women’s organizations noticed a change in the atmosphere surrounding the event. This may have been due to the multitudes of emails and flyers received by delegates from conservative groups urging the support of a U.S.-based amendment to the Declaration, which stated that the Declaration included no new rights and did not include the right to abortion.

But the U.S. delegation to the conference backed down after 130 country delegations to the review session and more than 170 women’s organizations and human rights groups voiced fierce opposition to the amendment.

According to Ms. Magazine, even though the proposed amendment was dropped, Ellen Sauerbrey, U.S. Ambassador to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) stated, “The United States is pleased that countries agree with us that the Platform for Action does not create any new rights.” Ms. Charlotte Bunch, executive director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership attributed this statement to U.S. denial: “They are declaring victory and going home, as in Vietnam…the reality is that they hear loud and clear the voices of 6,000 women here saying ‘No,’ echoing millions of other women worldwide.”

Compiled from:

U.S. Withdraws Destructive Amendment to UN Declaration Reaffirming UN Platform for Action for Women, Joanne Omang, Ms. Magazine Online, www.msmagazine.com, 4 March 2005.

US Amendment to Global Women’s Rights Agreement, Feminist Daily News Wire, Feminist Majority Foundation, www.feminist.org, 4 March 2005.

U.S. Engages in Tug-of-War at Beijing Plus 10, Allison Stevens, Womensenews, www.womensenews.org, 7 March 2005.

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Commission Consults Stakeholders on the Future of EU Development Policy
10 March 2005

The European Commission is seeking views from a wide range of stakeholders on the most important issues that should inform the revision of the current European Community development policy. A new policy proposal will be made in the first half of 2005, aimed at providing a vision for long term reflection and positioning of the Union in the international development debate, as well as a framework to guide the implementation of EU development assistance. The Commission is therefore launching an internet consultation in order to reach the widest possible range of development partners. The consultation will run until 2 March 2005 with results to be published by April 2005.

The question of development is more pressing today than ever before. It is an issue which affects us all and therefore demands that we pull together, citizens and governments alike” said Louis Michel, Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid.

The EU response to the challenges of poverty and development has to be strong and proportionate to its weight as a global partner and a global player. The enlarged EU of 25 Member States represents 13 percent of UN membership, accounts for almost 30 percent of the world economy and is the biggest trading entity in the world. The EU is also the world largest provider of Official Development Assistance, with 55 percent of total ODA provided by OECD members.

Addressing the challenges – not being overwhelmed by them – is the reason why a process of assessment and revision of the development declaration has started within the Commission, with a view to adopting the policy framework for development cooperation in the course of the next months. Obviously it is not a matter of reinventing the wheel: a lot of the current policy has been recognised in very positive terms. But new challenges have emerged both in developing countries and on the international scene, therefore a fresh look and an open debate are needed. The Commission will engage in a broad consultation on a number of issues, with the European Parliament, the European Council, other European institutions, the partner countries and the different segments of the civil society.

How to participate in the public consultation?

The questionnaire is available via the following link:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/theme/consultation/index_en.htm

An issues paper on EU development policy provides a reference to guide the debate and the consultation. It is available via the following link:

English version:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/theme/consultation/doc/Issues_Paper_EN.pdf

French version

http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/theme/consultation/doc/Issues_Paper_FR.pdf

Published in: Commission consults stakeholders on the future of EU development policy, European Commission, Press Release IP/05/91, 25 January 2005.

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It's an alarmingly familiar story, particularly in places where cultural traditions are strict toward women. A young woman starts dating a boy and her parents disapprove. Or she refuses an arranged marriage. Or perhaps she asks for a divorce. Relatives accuse her of bringing shame on the family. Honor must be restored, and the woman is murdered. They're called "honor killings," and they happen all over the world -- from Brazil and Bangladesh to Egypt, Pakistan, and Uganda. Europe, too, is increasingly grappling with the problem.

Prague, 8 March 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Hatun Surucu grew up in Germany, but when she was 15, she was sent back to her native Turkey to marry a cousin.

Two years later, she returned to Germany, divorced her husband, and began dating other men.

Last month, Surucu was waiting for a bus in Berlin when she was shot in the head. The three main suspects are her brothers. "The public was shocked," Rahel Volz of Terre des Femmes, a German women's rights group. "But it was not the first time there was a case like this. But the most shocking was the reaction of some schoolboys who told their teachers that they agreed with the brothers who [allegedly] killed Surucu."

Surucu was the fifth Turkish woman to be murdered in Berlin in recent months with the alleged involvement of family members.

The killings have stirred debate about the integration of immigrants into German society. And they've prompted anger, too.

Hundreds of people marched through the city on 5 March to condemn the killings.

Critics say authorities have largely ignored the problem for fear of being perceived as culturally insensitive to Germany's immigrants.

They want more protection for women at risk. And they say tolerance of cultural difference should have its limits.

"The people began to understand that this is not just a problem of one person," Volz said. "It's a more general problem of the migrant community."

Sweden is facing a similar problem.

The catalyst there was the killing three years ago of Fadime Sahindal. The Kurdish teenager was shot by her father, apparently because she was having a relationship with a Swedish man.

Arezo Mohamadi works for a Stockholm group set up in memory of Sahindal. "Before Fadime's case, people knew there was a problem but no one knew it was so serious and it can take lives," Mohamadi said. "After Fadime's case, people knew that this problem is here. This girl could be my classmate, my workmate. It had a big effect, it raised awareness and the bigger effect is that it woke up the authorities too, so they had to do something and react and take the question seriously."

That response included more money for secure housing for girls at risk.

In December, the government hosted what was billed as the biggest-ever international conference on honor-related violence.

Britain, too, is taking action, also after a string of high-profile honor killings.

Police in London set up a special taskforce to combat the violence.

And they are now re-examining some 100 deaths and disappearances they suspect could be honor killings.

Most of the cases are of women from Britain's Asian communities.

Worldwide, the UN estimates there are some 5,000 such killings every year -- usually among cultures whose traditions are very strict toward women, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, or parts of the Middle East. But women's groups are quick to stress that the problem also exists in places like Ecuador, India, and Uganda.

All the recent outcry is designed to combat such killings in Europe. But it carries a risk too -- of reinforcing prejudices against immigrants, and against Islam.

Thuraya Sobohrang is deputy minister for Women's Affairs in Afghanistan. She was one of the speakers at the December conference in Sweden. "This problem is not -- it's a misunderstanding [about] Islam," Sobohrang said. "[Nowhere] in the Koran, [or in the sayings of the prophet] Mohammed [does it] say you can kill your daughter when she doesn't want a marriage with a 70- or 50-year-old man. It all belongs to our society."

In other words -- it's not religion that's the problem. Honor violence might be rooted in tribal traditions or rigid cultural norms -- whether in Afghanistan, or Berlin's Turkish community.

Published in: Kathleen Moore, World: Europe Grapples with Honor Killings of Women, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 8 March 2005.

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org.

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One Agenda for the Millennium Summit Released
17 March 2005

TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN GOVERNMENT DELEGATIONS TO THE 49TH CSW SESSION, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, SECURITY COUNCIL, UNDP, WORLD BANK, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS, COUNTRY MISSIONS, UNIFEM, DAW

ONE AGENDA FOR THE MILLENNIUM SUMMIT

NGOs CALL FOR RESPECT FOR WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS, DEVELOPMENT, COLLECTIVE SECURITY AND ANTI-RACISM AS ONE AGENDA OF THE MILLENNIUM SUMMIT

STATEMENT AT THE 49TH SESSION OF CSW
March 11, 2005

We, members of national, regional and global civil society organizations, networks and campaigns applaud the unequivocal and unanimous support by all the governments to the full reaffirmation of the Beijing Platform for action at the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

We call upon governments while reaffirming the Beijing Platform and preparing for the Millennium Summit in September 2005, to prevent the fragmentation of and to reaffirm the holistic nature of the Human Development Agenda. Specifically, we note that the realization of the Millennium Declaration and of the Millennium Development Goals depends upon the empowerment of all women, the attainment of gender equality and the acknowledgement of women’s human rights. This requires full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, the CEDAW, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and all other recognized international human rights instruments.

Sustainable development, peace, collective security, respect for human rights, and a world free from poverty, violence, racial and all other forms of discrimination – are integral parts of ONE AGENDA. None of these can be fulfilled in isolation. None of these can be fulfilled unless sufficient resources are made available, not just pledged. None of these can be fulfilled without the full respect for women’s human rights and also a genuine participation of civil society.

We call upon your political will to ensure that the consensus reached at the 49th CSW session will be carried on to the Millennium Summit and that the outcome of the Summit will reaffirm and respect the indivisibility of human rights, the welcomed and enabled participation of the civil society and that the ONE AGENDA approach will prevail as you define the future of the United Nations and of the World.

Make the Millennium Summit REAL.

The ONE AGENDA Statement was endorsed by the NGO Linkage Caucus, by global, regional and national networks and organizations and by the regional caucuses:

Central and Eastern European and Commonwealth of Independent States Caucus
Asia-Pacific Women’s Watch Caucus
South Asia Women’s Watch Caucus
Latin American Women’s Caucus

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Human Trafficking - A Problem Europe Can't Ignore
18 March 2005

Human trafficking has become the third most lucrative crime in the world, according to the United Nations.  In a recent article by Nikola Brabenec in Radio Prague, the Solicitor General for the UK - Harriet Harman - speaks out about the situation of the roughly 300,000 people trafficked anuually in the European Union:

"They are told, come for a good job in Milan, or Amsterdam or Madrid.  Then it turns out it is not a job at a bar or a hairdresser, instead they are forced to have sex with many, many different men and the traffickers are paid."

In addition to calling human trafficking a "form of modern slavery," Harman also points out that the international nature of trafficking as well as corruption on all levels makes the problem particularly insidious and difficult to investigate.  Thus, Harman believes that states can no longer ignore the problem and should actively cooperate and share information in investigations.

Please read the entire article here,
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/64471

Compiled from "Human Trafficking - a problem Europe can't ignore", Nikola Brabenec, Radio Prague, www.radio.cz, 17 March 2005

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Conference on the Status of Women Produces Resolution on Reducing the Demand for Trafficking of Women and Girls
21 March 2005

By the close of the 10-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, governments agreed to a resolution aimed at reducing the demand for human trafficking. Early in the conference, the United States introduced a resolution that took a hard-line approach to combating human trafficking. The initial resolution sought to punish everyone involved in the global problem, including “exploiters and sex buyers who create the demand for prostitution that leads to sex trafficking” and the victims themselves.

In response to the U.S.-led resolution, numerous governments offered amendments that described trafficking as a phenomenon which encapsulates more than prostitution-related activities but also the illegal exchange of slave-type laborers, domestic servants, babies and human organs. Amendments to the U.S. resolution also sought to explain why global trafficking occurs: Poor economic conditions, official corruption, insufficient labor laws, as well as discrimination against women all work to promote environments in which trafficking thrives.

Despite their initial disagreements, governments finally reached consensus on a resolution, which includes strong enough human rights language to condemn all forms of exploitation that flows from trafficking.

According to a U.N. Press Release, the final resolution calls on governments to adopt or strengthen laws to deter both the supply and demand-side of trafficking. The resolution also asks governments to criminalize traffickers as well as take steps to protect the victims of this crime. In addition, the resolution demands that governments cooperate on regional and international levels to reduce trafficking, raise public awareness of the problem through state-wide educational campaigns and encourage the private sector, and in particular the tourism industry and Internet providers, to conduct its business with the aim to prevent trafficking. Finally, the resolution demands that governments provide training on commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking to armed forces, peacekeepers, military and civilians stationed in other countries.

To view an unofficial copy of the final resolution click here.

Compiled from:

Women's Rights Conference Reaches Fragile Consensus on Trafficking, Joanne Omang, Ms. Magazine Online, 14 March 2005

Commission on the Status of Women Adopts 10 Wide-Ranging Resolutions, U.N. Press Release, WOM/1504, 11 March 2005.

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Council of Europe: Last Chance to Advance the Rights of Trafficked People
28 March 2005

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI Index: IOR 30/006/2005 22 March 2005

Council of Europe: Last chance to advance the rights of trafficked people

Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, La Strada International and International Federation Terre des Hommes call for strengthening of draft treaty

The four non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are concerned that many of the key provisions on the draft European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings fail to significantly enhance the assistance and protection of trafficked persons.

The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers will review the draft European Convention against Trafficking, with a view to its adoption, on 23 March 2005. The NGOs are calling on the Committee of Ministers to take this opportunity to strengthen some provisions of the draft.

The organizations note that the current draft Convention builds upon existing international standards of protection for trafficked persons. In particular, it expands the definition of trafficking set out in the Palermo Protocol to expressly include internal (in-state) trafficking and trafficking not necessarily involving organized criminal groups. The full title of this treaty is the Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

But a number of provisions must be amended if the treaty is to meet the stated aim of establishing a comprehensive framework for the protection of the rights of trafficked persons. These include:

· trafficked persons are not detained, charged, or prosecuted for illegal entry or residence and activities which are a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons.

· all trafficked persons to be given access to necessary medical assistance;

· a sufficient recovery and reflection period, of at least three months, for all trafficked persons, and that the person's presence in the country is regularized and recognized during this time;

· minimum six months-renewable and permanent residence permits are issued to trafficked persons on the basis of the needs and risks of their personal situation or to ensure their presence during proceedings (against the traffickers and/or for compensation);

· provisions for family reunification when a trafficked person is issued residence permits.

The organizations further call on the Committee of Ministers to ensure that the treaty establishes a single independent expert body (Group of experts on action against trafficking in human beings, known as GRETA) to monitor implementation of the Convention by EU and non-EU member states alike. This body should also be mandated to consider collective complaints from non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

These recommendations are consistent with those proposed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January 2005 and the recommendations of NGOs that work on behalf of trafficked persons. These recommendations have not been included in the current draft of the Convention due to the opposition by the EU member states, and by the European Commission on their behalf.

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Domestic Violence Case Examined Under Optional Protocol to CEDAW
4 April 2005

On 26 January 2005, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women assessed a claim brought by a Hungarian woman and victim of domestic violence. The claim alleged that Hungary violated the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women due to its failure to provide the woman with effective protection from her former common law husband.

In her claim, the Hungarian woman described a pattern of severe domestic violence to which her former husband subjected her. Armed with a firearm and habitually drunk, the former husband caused the hospitalization of the woman on a number of occasions, succeeded in breaking into the apartment where the woman and her children reside, and persistently threatened to rape and kill the woman and her children, one of whom is severely brain damaged.

The woman has been unable to escape such violence. Although shelters exist in Hungary, they do not accommodate disabled children so the woman felt she could not seek shelter therein. The woman has reported such abuse to the state on numerous occasions and has brought numerous criminal charges of domestic violence against her husband through the Hungarian judicial system. Such complaints have failed to persuade the State to take adequate steps to protect the woman. After exhausting all local remedies, the woman turned to the Committee for help.

After consideration of her claim, the Committee agreed with the woman that Hungary had failed to live up to its positive obligations to provide the woman with the requisite protection under the CEDAW. To remedy the situation, it recommended that the Hungarian Government take immediate and effective measures to secure the protection of the woman and her children by providing her with appropriate child support and legal aid as well as reparations for physical and mental harm she suffered. It also recommended that the Government take the necessary steps to protect Hungarian women in general against domestic violence. For example, it suggested that the Government enact legislation, provide training on the requirements of CEDAW for all judges, lawyers, and law enforcement officials, ensure prompt investigations of allegations of domestic violence and most importantly, provide women with access to the judicial system, as well as rehabilitation services.

It remains to be seen whether the Hungarian Government will actually act on the recommendations.

Please click here to read the Committee’s views on the case.

Compiled from: Views of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women under article 7, paragraph 3, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Communication No.: 2/2003, Ms. A.T. v. Hungary, 26 January 2005.

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Positive Outcome at Beijing +10
6 April 2005

From 4 to 11 March 2005, government officials and women’s rights advocates from across the globe came together in New York City to attend the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The focus of this gathering was the 10-year review of the groundbreaking women’s rights initiative, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing Platform), which had been signed into force 10 years prior in Beijing, China.

The ten-year review got off to a rough start when the U.S. delegation led by Ellen Sauerbrey insisted that no new rights be incorporated into the text of the Beijing Platform. However, by the end of the session, delegates and advocates were able to bridge their differences on the matter and come to a consensus on a number of issues. Importantly, participants adopted a declaration that reaffirmed the commitments made ten years ago in Beijing and called on governments to take further action to promote gender equality and the advancement of women.

The newly drafted declaration welcomed governments' continued support of the Beijing Platform and stressed that the global community still faced enormous challenges with regards to women’s human rights. In light of these ongoing challenges, the declaration urges governments to continue to make efforts to implement the recommendations found in the Beijing Platform and encouraged the integration of a gender perspective in the high plenary review session of the Millennium Declaration. The declaration also recognized the combined importance of the Beijing Platform and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Finally, the declaration called on members of civil society, non-governmental organizations, as well as citizen women and men of to do their part to ensure the implementation of the Beijing Platform.

Kyung-wha Kang, Chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women praised the declaration, calling it an “unqualified and unconditional reaffirmation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and a pledge of further action for full and accelerated implementation of Beijing.”

In addition to the declaration that reaffirmed the principles of the Beijing Platform, the CSW adopted ten diverse resolutions. Six formal resolutions addressed:

• gender mainstreaming in national policies and programs;
• the possible appointment of a special rapporteur on discrimination against women;
• trafficking;
• integrating a gender perspective in post-disaster relief, particularly in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster;
• indigenous women; and women’s economic advancement.

The CSW also adopted four traditional texts on:

• women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS;
• the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW);
• the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan; and
• the assistance to Palestinian women.

Such resolutions are expected to aid in the implementation of the Beijing Platform and effect change in those communities most affected by these areas of concern.

Compiled from:

Declaration Adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women at its Forty-Ninth Session as Orally Amended, E/CN.6/2005/L.1, Commission on the Status of Women, Forty-Ninth Session, 3 March 2005.

Commission on the Status of Women Adopts 10 Wide Ranging Resolutions, But Fails to Conclude Current Session, Press Release, WOM/1504, Commission on the Status of Women, Forty-Ninth Session, 11 March 2005.

Governments Pledge to Accelerate Efforts to Achieve Equality for Women and Fulfill Beijing Commitments, as UN Concludes, Press Release, Published by the UN Department of Public Information, March 2005.

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The Commission on Human Rights Issues Draft Resolution on the Integration of the Human Rights of Women and the Gender Perspective

15 April 2005, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights issued a draft Resolution on the Integration of the Human Rights of Women and the Gender Perspective. 

The Resolution "reaffirms that discrimination on the basis of sex is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and other international human rights instruments." 

The Resolution "reaffirms that States have an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls and to provide protection to the victims, and that failure to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms." It urges Governments that have not yet ratified CEDAW or the Optional Protocol to do so, and Governments who have ratified with reservations to withdraw them.

The Resolution specifically acknowledges the connection between violence against women and HIV/AIDS and emphasizes the need for Governments to comprehensively address the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

To read the draft Resolution in full click here

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Medical Volunteers Heal the Physical Scars of Domestic Violence
10 May 2005

"One time I was fired from my factory job because the boss told me I was too hard for people to look at. So one day I was watching one of those plastic surgery shows and I went to my domestic-violence counselor to find out if anything could be done for me and my whole life changed because of the Face to Face program. Those doctors, they are angels." 
                                                                     -Delean Burkett

In 1994, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery formed a partnership to provide free facial reconstructive surgery to victims of domestic violence. By 2002, volunteer surgeons through Face to Face: Domestic Violence Project had performed reconstructive surgery on over 1250 women. There are currently over 400 surgeons in forty-four states participating in Face o Face. Face to Face is affiliated with Face to Face International, a humanitarian program providing free facial reconstructive surgery to correct deformities due to birth defects and trauma.

Cosmetic surgery-based makeover television shows have contributed to a recent increase in demand for cosmetic surgery. The television exposure has also led to more survivors of domestic violence seeking information about reconstructive surgery. The facial reconstructive surgeries needed to correct severe damage from domestic violence are very complicated surgeries and are prohibitively expensive for many survivors. As cosmetic surgery becomes more profitable, more and more surgeons are looking for ways to give back to the community.

"Young doctors are getting more involved in Face to Face," Dr. William Silver, an initiator of the Face to Face program, "We have gotten so lucky in the past few years with the increase in acceptance of cosmetic surgery and its time to give back. This program is the golden opportunity to feel good about your self. "

In 1999, modeled after the Face to Face model, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry joined the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in creating the “Give Back a Smile” program. Give Back a Smile’s mission is to raise awareness of domestic violence, provide the dental profession the opportunity to give back to the community, and to give survivors hope for a better tomorrow. Through this program more than 850 dentists, lab technicians, and other dental professionals have volunteered their time and expertise. 248 victims of domestic abuse have received reconstructive dental surgery and 177 more are currently being treated throughout the United States through Give Back a Smile.

In order for survivors to participate in either the Face to Face program or Give Back a Smile the survivor must access the program through a domestic violence shelter or advocate. The Survivor must have left the abusive relationship and/or engaged in meaningful counseling to address the emotional scars of the abuse. Face to Face and Give Back a Smile work with domestic violence service providers to offer counseling and support to help victims break out of the cycle of abuse, enhance their self-esteem and begin to rebuild their lives.

"These women need to heal the emotional scars," said Rita Smith, executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. "When they're ready, we help them heal the physical scars. Most of these women look years older due to the abuse. Some of these women have lived 20 years in a violent home and it's done so much to the way they look and feel about themselves."

Compiled From: "About Face: Program Gives Domestic Violence Victims a Fresh Outlook" Donley, Kelli, Forensic Nurse; "Abuse Survivors Given Free Plastic Surgery" Kobrin, Sandy, Womensenews 10 May 2005.

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Council of Europe Holds Summit for Unification of Human Rights Standards
17 May 2005

One aim of the Council of Europe's Warsaw Summit was to create a unified and more efficient system of human rights protection.  Delegates expressed concern that having multiple human rights organizations addressing similar issues creates overlap and inefficiency.

In addition, a unified system of rights was called for in Europe. The President of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly, René van der Linden, highlighted the importance of all 800 million citizens enjoying the same rights and freedoms.

The External Commissioner of the EU, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, reminded those at the summit of the European Union's plans to acceed to the Convention on Human Rights. "Accession negotiations (to the convention) can only begin once the EU constitution has entered into force..." she stated.

Citizens of any of the member countries are able to bring a claim to the European Court of Human Rights charging a violation of rights set forth in adopted agreements. As pointed out by Mr. Linden, however, the court is backlogged and the Convention on Human Rights may be in danger of "collapsing." 

The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 and is Europe's oldest human rights and pro-democracy organization.

Compiled from: "European Summit calls for human rights reform," Lucia Kobosova, EUobserver, 17 May 2005.

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Development Company Places Women at the Heart of New Projects
12 May 2005

Germany’s biggest development aid company, GTZ, has taken approaches to ensure that women are at the heart of new development projects. The company has undertaken more than 80 percent of projects for the German government and has a goal of using the Milllenium Development Goals (MDGs) as a framework in each development project they undertake. GTZ has experience working with issues of gender-based violence in Nicaragua and Malawi.

Because gender equality cuts across several of the MDGs, several programs not directed specifically at women’s issues have had a positive impact on women’s rights. In particular, GTZ states that two-thirds of female participants in a microfinance project in India said micro credit improved their self-confidence, their status in the family, and their ability to deal with social problems. Additionally, ninety-percent of borrowers were from women’s groups.

Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) said that within development goals gender equality is an essential aspect and that “the issue is no longer the normative, nor the legal or policy. The issue now is one of implementation and accountability,” and added that effective strategies had to be moved forward with added resources through personnel, infrastructure, and finance increases.

For more information on GTZ please click here.

Compiled from: Deselaers, Peter "Development: Women Placed at Heart of New Projects" www.allafrica.com 12 May 2005 

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European NGOs Collaborate to Combat Trafficking
20 May 2005

The European Women’s Lobby has, in conjunction with the Coalition against Trafficking in Women, started to implement its project “Promoting preventative measures to combat trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation.”

Focusing on the gaps in anti-trafficking programs and policies that fail to focus on gender equality and demand for and links to prostitution, the project will support women’s NGOs and groups working on these issues in twelve countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo/Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia, and Serbian-Montenegro. A consultative seminar will be organized in Brussels on April 22-24 to draft the national action plans with the partners of all countries involved.

Compiled from: Combat Trafficking. Network of East-West Women-Polska/NEWW. 20 May, 2005.

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UN Commission on Human Rights adopts Resolution on the Rights of Victims of Violations of Human Rights Law and Humanitarian Law

The UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution that incorporates a report titled "Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparations for Victims of Gross Violations of Human Rights law and Serious Violations of Humanitarian Law." The resolution passed with a vote of forty to zero, with thirteen abstentions.

The report first lays out the treaties that establish International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law and emphasizes that the purpose of the report is not to establish new international law, but to provide methods and models that member states can use to incorporate the existing international law into a national framework. The report goes on to remind countries that their national laws should already reflect current international norms of international law. It then lays out the obligations of each member state, including taking measures to prevent violations, investigating past violations and providing victims with access to justice. The report defines "victim" and specifically outlines how victims should be treated and how a claim should be processed. Finally, it provides detailed lists of possible remedies and possible reparations, including rehabilitation, restitution, satisfaction and compensation. It recommends that member states provide the public and particularly victims with information about these laws and about the procedure for instituting a claim as well as the availability of various support services for victims.

In adopting the resolution, the Commission recommends that countries take account of the principles and guidelines and disseminate the information contained in the report to the executive branch, including police officers and military and security forces.

Compiled from: "Human Rights Resolution 2005/35: Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparations for Victims of Gross Violations of Human Rights law and Serious Violations of Humanitarian Law." UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (C)19 April 2005.

28 June 2005

More than 50,000 participated in the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, held in 1995. Many are now calling for a Fifth World Conference as it would be the "first since the internet made worldwide communication easy." It is expected that use of the worldwide web would bring together more participants than ever before and would result in the "most effective gathering of women ever held." After the Beijing + 5 review in 2000, organizations around the world have been discussing the possibility of another conference. Several NGOs agreed that such a conference should take place before 2010, but after 2005. There is currently a petition circulating to gather additional support for holding the Fifth Conference.

Cited from:  "Petition - Fifth World Women's Conference," NEWW-Polska, 27 June 2005.
"Fifth World Conference and Women and the 2005 CSW Review of the Beijing platform for Action - Discussions by NGOs at the 47th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women," International Alliance of Women, April 2003.

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27 June 2005

Organizations are addressing the problem of trafficking at its root by providing microcredit options to those who are at risk of being trafficked, based on their economic and family situation as well as their age. The majority of trafficking victims are women and identified causes of trafficking include poverty and a lack of available jobs. 

Microcredit is becoming an increasingly tenable option for reducing poverty. Traditional loans from commercial banks are often out of reach for the poor. Without access to credit, many are unable to raise themselves out of poverty and look for other unsafe ways to provide for themselves and for their families. Microcredit, however, provides an alternative by extending credit for the establishment or growth of small-businesses to individuals. The individuals typically apply in groups and all agree to act as co-guarantors for the loan, therby providing each other with the motivation to follow through with their goals. Microcredit loans are often given in small amounts, but they have proven very helpful in empowering women in various parts of the world. In fact, based on past success with microcredit, the United Nations has declared 2005 the International Year of Microcredit, hoping to foster sustainable development and also acheive gender equality.

For victims of trafficking and those who are at risk of being trafficked, microcredit assistance may not only be a key to economic security, it also keeps them safe by providing an alternative to the danger of becoming  a sex worker. The ALMINA project, conducted by the Transnational AIDs/STD Prevention Amongst Migrant Populations in Europe Project (TAMPEP) has recognized the potential benefit and offers microcredit training for those at risk of trafficking. The NGO also offers other services, including health and legal services, to those who have become victim to trafficking within Europe and teams up with NGOs in the countries of origin to educate at-risk women on the dangers of trafficking.

Compiled from: Ewa Sobczynska and the Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe Project, The Advocacy Project, (accessed 27 June 2005).
Vega, Maria, "Microcredit a 'Practical' Way to Fight Poverty," International Year of Microcredit 2005, 21 January 2005.

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20 June 2005

By Patrick Moore

The draft of the final declaration of the EU summit held in Brussels on 16-17 June made no specific mention of the accession plans of Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, or Turkey. People in the western Balkan countries are likely to regard this omission of more advanced candidates as a sign that their own EU aspirations are now on hold, if not altogether dead.

One of the casualties of the recent French and Dutch votes against the proposed EU constitution appears to be the enlargement process, although few leaders were willing to say so in public at the summit. Unnamed diplomats from Luxembourg, which currently holds the EU chair, told reporters that the references to the four countries were omitted because enlargement was not a topic at that gathering, adding that the EU's policy on enlargement has not changed. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said that Brussels will honor its agreements with the applicants. Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg pointed out that Bulgaria and Romania can count on accession because "the treaties have been signed [and] will be respected in full."

He also argued, however, that EU member states need time to "think about the rhythm and extent of enlargement. There is no conclusion on this point for the moment." French President Jacques Chirac also suggested that the EU might not be able to cope with additional members for a while (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 June 2005, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 3 June 2005).

The draft communique also said that the future of the western Balkan states lies with the EU but did not give any of them a timetable for further integration, adding that each country will be judged on its own merits. The text encouraged Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to improve on their existing efforts toward European integration and stressed the importance of cooperating with the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. The declaration ruled out any return of Kosova to the pre-1999 situation and added that the EU will accept no political solutions there imposed unilaterally or by force.

Unnamed diplomats said, however, that the membership prospects for all the Balkan countries could already be severely damaged as a result of the recent rejection of the proposed EU constitution by French and Dutch voters and the ongoing EU constitutional and budget crises. The summit did not include the customary meeting with heads of the candidate countries. Although the prime ministers of Turkey and Croatia were initially invited to meet EU leaders on 17 June, the meeting was called off in a move many observers in Zagreb regarded as ominous.

In the days leading up to the summit, there were already hints of what was in the offing. At the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on 13 June, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner suggested that it might be time for the citizens of the EU to "breathe" before proceeding with a new round of enlargement.

Rehn said at the same meeting that his "message to the peoples and governments of the western Balkans is that the stabilization and association process is on its rails, it is moving on." He added that "the door to the European Union is still open to those countries that meet the criteria of accession or association, depending on which stage they are in this process."

He nonetheless made it clear that Brussels is in no hurry to admit Croatia. Rehn said that the "Commission is committed to the new membership of Croatia. We have noted some progress as regards cooperation with the Hague[-based war crimes] tribunal. But it is clear that Croatia needs more time to achieve cooperation with the Hague tribunal." He suggested, however, that Croatia could start admission talks with the EU "on the day" that war crimes indictee and fugitive former General Ante Gotovina goes to The Hague.

Rehn sent an urgent signal to all applicants on 8 June, when he told "Spiegel-Online" that countries that want to draw closer to the EU should try to meet their prerequisites as soon as possible in view of the "enlargement fatigue" affecting much of the Western European public.

At least one leader of a major EU member state indicated before the summit that he remains committed to enlargement, stressing that its benefits far outweigh its costs. During a joint news briefing with Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in Berlin on 8 June that unspecified "populists" are seeking to destroy the EU by attempting to prevent the western Balkan countries from joining that body. Asked if the EU can afford to fund further enlargement in that region, Schroeder replied, "Instability is much more expensive." He added that "you would be amazed if I told you how much the current situation in the Balkans with European soldiers costs." He argued that "Macedonia's example without any doubt...shows that the region's stability is linked to its European perspectives." He also warned that eliminating these "perspectives" would fuel instability in the region. At the same time, the chancellor refrained from naming concrete dates for the EU accession of the countries in the western Balkans.

The results of the Brussels summit indicated that Schroeder's pro-enlargement views are in the minority. Regional leaders were not slow in reacting to the unpleasant news but generally sought to put on a brave face. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in Brussels on 16 June that members of the European People's Party, which is a coalition of conservative parties active in European affairs, have given "full support" to Croatia's bid for EU membership. He added that negotiations could start now and last two to three years, during which time all outstanding problems between Zagreb and Brussels could be resolved.

Elsewhere in the Belgian capital, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that the EU should not close it doors to the Balkan countries, adding that he will soon submit a "strategic plan" for Serbia and Montenegro to join the EU in 2012.

In Zagreb, Croatian President Stipe Mesic warned that negative signals from Brussels will "strengthen Euroskeptic and nationalist forces" in Croatia and the region.

It now remains to be seen what the impact of Brussels' cold shower will be in the Balkans. In a region where strength and the ability to translate wishes into action command respect, the EU's internal confusion and apparent repudiation by French and Dutch voters will be widely regarded as evidence of weakness, which invites contempt in most Balkan cultures. The EU will still be welcomed in the region as a source of funding, but its political admonitions are likely to fall on increasingly deaf ears.

By blocking the enlargement process, moreover, the EU has deprived itself of its most important "carrot" in influencing the region, namely the prospect of European integration, as Schroeder suggested. Carla Del Ponte, who is the Hague-based war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, said in Washington on 14 June that Brussels' insistence that cooperation with the tribunal will help determine whether former Yugoslav republics will progress in the EU admission process was the main leverage used on those states to get them to cooperate with The Hague. She noted that the EU's decision on 15 March to postpone admission talks with Croatia was an effective wake-up call for the Zagreb authorities. But she might have added that, conversely, the absence of a clear prospect of admission is likely to weaken Brussels' ability to influence Croatia or any other country in the region (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 March and 20 April 2005, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 24 September 2004).

This does not necessarily mean that the EU will give up or even scale down its ambitions in the region. Rehn told the EU foreign ministers on 13 June that he finds it "desirable that also in the light of the forthcoming standards and status process of Kosovo that we could be able to start negotiations for a stabilization and association agreement with Serbia and Montenegro this autumn, so that these negotiations would be conducted in parallel with the status process of Kosovo."

For his part, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana said that "when we talk about standards [in Kosovo], we are talking, in a different manner, about the rights of minorities. Therefore, all of those issues are going to be under a microscope of the European Union, to see how they develop." Solana stressed that the EU wants a "fundamental" role in determining Kosova's future.

But the EU is not the only show in town. Denmark's Soren Jessen-Petersen, who heads the UN civilian administration in Kosova (UNMIK), told the Berlin-based daily "Die Welt" of 9 June that the EU's internal crisis is affecting the countries of the western Balkans. He stressed that Belgrade needs a clear "EU perspective" if the region is to become truly stable, adding that a similar perspective is crucial if Kosova is to implement the international community's standards. He nonetheless added that the recent U.S. efforts aimed at resolving the status issue in Kosova are welcome because "no problem" in the western Balkans can be solved without the full involvement of the United States. The Danish diplomat said that he wishes that Brussels were as involved in Kosova as much as Washington is (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8, 9, and 14 June 2005).

Furthermore, the EU is hardly the only European actor in the Balkans. Germany, Austria, and Italy have strong ties to the region and continue to be influential as individual states. Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia are qualified to play special roles in the Balkans because they themselves are successful postcommunist states. Matthias Rueb, who formerly covered the Balkans for the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and is now that daily's Washington correspondent, noted in the 16 June issue of that paper that the EU's "identity crisis is likely to lead to a renaissance of...the national states in Europe."

Some people do not regard that as a bad thing at all. A central thesis of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's 2002 book "Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World" (New York: HarperCollins Publishers) is precisely that nation-states are and will remain the most serious factors in international politics. Referring to the Balkans, she noted (page 18) that "the European Union can never pursue sensible policies towards the countries of the Balkans for a very simple reason. The EU, or more precisely the class which rules it, cannot accept the validity of nationhood -- for that would be to make nonsense of the European idea itself. So rather than try to encourage nation-states to develop and advance, the EU will always try to suppress or undermine them. This bodes ill everywhere. But particularly in the Balkans, it risks creating more intense and destructive -- because vilified and frustrated -- national passions" (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 25 March 2005). (Patrick Moore)

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org.

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14 June 2005

On 3 May 2005, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted three treaties, including the Convention on action against trafficking in human beings (PDF, 17 pages). The purpose of this Convention is to counter and prevent trafficking in persons that takes place nationally and internationally. The Convention does not require a link to organized crime and incorporates victim protection, as well as a monitoring mechanism to ensure states parties' compliance.

The Convention was opened for signature at the Warsaw Summit on 16-17 May 2005. Countries that have signed onto the Convention include: Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and Sweden.

The purpose of the Convention is to prevent and counter trafficking in persons, while ensuring gender equality, protect and assist victims of trafficking, and promote international cooperation on combating trafficking in persons. In addition, the Convention addresses monitoring mechanisms, investigations and prosecutions, and substantive criminal law.

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7 June 2005

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), in conjunction with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), has created a Gender and HIV/AIDS Electronic Library based on the Gender and HIV/AIDS Web Portal.

The new library, available in CD-ROM format, contains research, training, and advocacy materials. Topic areas include:

• Gender Mainstreaming and HIV/AIDS
• Gender, Sexuality and Power Relations
• Gender, Human Rights and HIV/AIDS
• Prevention, Treatment and Care
• Legislation and Policy
• Adolescents and Youth
• Gender, HIVAIDS, and Conflict
• Stigma and Discrimination
• Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS
• The Care Economy and Women's Unpaid Work
• HIV/AIDS in the Workplace
• Men and MasculinitiesPeople Living with HIV/AIDS

The library also contains materials in French and Spanish and features an "e-Course Builder" that allows users to create customized electronic courses and reports.

For a copy of the library, send a request to unifem@genderandaids.org

Information and resources are available on the UNIFEM Gender and HIV/AIDS web portal.

Compiled from: UNIFEM, “Gender and HIV/AIDS Electronic Library,” UNIFEM Currents Newsletter, 7 June 2005, http://www.unifem.org/resources/item_detail.php?ProductID=39.

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6 June 2005

The Donors Working Group on Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting (FGM/C) consists of public and private international agencies that advocate for the abolisment of FGM/C. It includes such organizations as the World Bank and the World Health Organization as well as the United Nations Childrens Fund. The Working Group met at the European Parliament for two days to discuss ways to coordinate action and increase support for the cause. The Working Group also developed a plan of action that targets certain countries in which more coordination of efforts is needed to eradicate FGM.

"Experts say that besides being a human rights violation, FGM represents one of the most harmful practices against girls and women’s health and dignity, and inflicts a lifetime of irreparable harm." Current estimates suggest that there are between 120 and 130 million women who have been subjected to this practice. While the European Commission has indicated its support for the Working Group and its efforts, the Working Group is now asking for stronger support, including support through monetary contributions. One member of the European Parliament is calling for the ratification of the Maputo Protocol, a human rights document that "requires signatories to "condemn and prohibit" all forms of FGM." So far, only a fraction of the countries that indicated support for the protocol have ratified it. The protocol currently has ten of the fifteen signatories required to enter into effect.

Compiled from:  Bianchi, Stefania "EU Urged to Act over Female Circumcision." Other News. 3 June 2005.

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6 June 2005

Part 1 in Lund, Sweden, 10 October - 4 November 2005
Part 2 in Kiev, Ukraine, 15-19 May 2006

The Regional Programme on Human Rights of Women is for the first time in 2005 arranged in two separate phases. During the first phase of the programme, held in Lund, Sweden, participants will be requested to formulate, in writing, an individual plan of action identifying challenges in implementing international human rights standards in their home countries with a focus on a particular issue or area relevant to their respective institution or organisation.

Phase two of the programme will take place in Kiev, Ukraine and will follow up on the plans of action formulated during phase one. Phase two is organised in cooperation with the Institute of International Relations (IIR), at the Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University.

The following countries are invited to apply for the programme:

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo), Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan

Important information about the application process, please read before applying:

• Applications from other states than those mentioned above, will NOT be considered
• There is a special application form that must be used when applying. You can download it from this site. (Only your CV will NOT be regarded as an application.)
• Information brochures and application forms have been sent to Swedish Embassies/ Consulates in the invited countries
• Application forms can be sent to the Raoul Wallenberg Institute either by fax, email or regular mail
• Last date for sending in applications: July 29 2005

Click here for the Informational Brochure. (PDF 4 Pages)

Click here for the Application.  (PDF 4 Pages)

Compiled from:  Regional Programme on Human Rights of Women 2005.  Raoul Wallenberg Institute.  6 June 2005.

6 June 2005

Faced with a world in which daily threats to human security range from police brutality and domestic violence against women to armed conflict, a thorough analysis and integration of gender in security sector reform initiatives and processes will strengthen efforts to ensure the right to security for women, men, girls and boys as well as create a just, democratic and effective security sector.

The new web section available on INSTRAW's website includes a wide range of up-to-date information for researchers, activists, policy-makers, and practitioners such as:

Background and analytical framework
Glossary
Fact Sheet
Annotated Bibliography
Organisations
International Agreements
Events... and more!

For more information or to join the Gender and Security Sector Reform Network, please contact Kristin Valasek at kvalasek@un-instraw.org or visit:

http://www.un-instraw.org/en/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=954&Itemid=209

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1 June 2005

In Presidential Statement, Council Recognizes Shared Responsibility
Of Secretary-General, All Member States to Prevent Abuse, Enforce UN Standards

While confirming that the conduct and discipline of troops was primarily the responsibility of troop-contributing countries, the Security Council recognized this afternoon the shared responsibility of the Secretary-General and allMember States to take every measure within their purview to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse by all categories of peacekeeping personnel, and to enforce United Nations standards of conduct in that regard.

In a statement read out by Council President Ellen Margrethe Løj (Denmark) -– following its first-ever public meeting devoted exclusively to sexual exploitation and abuse -- the Council condemned, in the strongest terms, all acts of sexual abuse and exploitation committed by peacekeepers and reiterated the importance of ensuring that they were properly investigated and appropriately punished.  The Council was deeply concerned that the distinguished and honourable record of accomplishment in United Nations peacekeeping was being tarnished by the acts of a few individuals and underlined that the provision of an environment in which sexual exploitation and abuse were not tolerated was primarily the responsibility of managers and commanders.

The Council would consider includingrelevant provisions for preventing, monitoring, investigating and reporting misconduct cases in its resolutions establishing new mandates or renewing existing mandates.  In that regard, it called upon the Secretary-General to include, in his regular reporting of peacekeeping missions, a summary of the preventative measures taken to implement a zero-tolerance policy and of the outcome of actions taken against personnel found culpable for sexual exploitation and abuse.

Briefing the Council earlier, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein (Jordan) the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, compared a peacekeeper who exploited the vulnerabilities of a wounded population, already victimized by war, to a physician who violated the patient entrusted to their care or the lifeguard who drowned the very people in need of rescue.  Actions of that sort punctured violently the hope embodied by the very presence of the person who was there to help those in need.

However rare they may be, such repugnant abuses struck at the very credibility of both the peacekeeping operation in question and the United Nations as a whole, he said.  Sexual exploitation and abuse would not be eliminated from United Nations peacekeeping so long as some among the general United Nations membership and the Secretariat would have it believed that the furore regarding sexual exploitation and abuse was an over-exaggeration, a media-inspired public-relations issue, and nothing more -- one that would surely soon lapse into the past.

Also briefing the Council, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said his Department treated the issue as a matter of the highest priority.  Since 1 December 2004, investigations had been completed into allegations involving 152 peacekeeping personnel (32 civilians, 3 civilian police and 117 military) and five United Nations staff members had so far been summarily dismissed.  Nine more were undergoing the disciplinary process, and four had been cleared.  Two uniformed police unit members and 77 military personnel had been repatriated or rotated home on disciplinary grounds, including six military commanders.

Regarding the enforcement on standards of conduct, he said that missions in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kosovo and Timor-Leste had established lists of premises and areas frequented by prostitutes, which were now out of bounds to all personnel.  There was a network of focal points on sexual exploitation and abuse in all missions to facilitate receipt of allegations, as well as telephone hotlines in Sierra Leone and Liberia.  At Headquarters, the Department had established a task force to develop guidance and tools for peacekeeping operations to address sexual exploitation and abuse effectively.

The meeting began at 3:50 p.m. and ended at 4:20 p.m.

Presidential Statement

The full text of presidential statement S/PRST/2005/21 reads as follows:

“The Security Council recognises the vital role that UN peacekeeping operations have played for decades in bringing peace and stability to countries emerging from war.  The Council further recognises that, with few exceptions, the women and men who serve in UN peacekeeping operations do so with the utmost professionalism, dedication and who, in some cases, make the ultimate sacrifice.

“The Security Council is deeply concerned with the allegations of sexual misconduct by UN peacekeeping personnel.  The distinguished and honourable record of accomplishment in UN peacekeeping is being tarnished by the acts of a few individuals.

“The Security Council condemns, in the strongest terms, all acts of sexual abuse and exploitation committed by UN peacekeeping personnel.  The Council reiterates that sexual exploitation and abuse are unacceptable and have a detrimental effect on the fulfilment of mission mandates.

“The Security Council, while confirming that the conduct and discipline of troops is primarily the responsibility of Troop-Contributing Countries, recognises the shared responsibility of the Secretary-General and all Member States to take every measure within their purview to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse by all categories of personnel in UN peacekeeping missions, to enforce UN standards of conduct in this regard.  The Security Council reiterates the importance of ensuring that sexual exploitation and abuse are properly investigated and appropriately punished.

“The Security Council underlines that the provision of an environment in which sexual exploitation and abuse are not tolerated is primarily the responsibility of managers and commanders.

“The Security Council welcomes the comprehensive report on sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations Peacekeeping Personnel (A/59/710), prepared by the Secretary-General’s Adviser on this issue, H.R.H. Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Permanent Representative of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United Nations.  The Council also welcomes the report of the resumed session of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping (A/59/19/Add.1).

“The Security Council urges the Secretary-General and Troop-Contributing Countries to ensure that the recommendations of the Special Committee, which fall within their respective responsibilities, are implemented without delay.

“The Security Council will consider including relevant provisions for prevention, monitoring, investigation and reporting of misconduct cases in its resolutions establishing new mandates or renewing existing mandates.  In this regard, the Security Council calls on the Secretary-General to include, in his regular reporting of peacekeeping missions, a summary of the preventative measures taken to implement a zero-tolerance policy and of the outcome of actions taken against personnel found culpable for sexual exploitation and abuse.”

Briefing by Secretary-General’s Special Adviser

PRINCE ZEID RA’AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN (Jordan), Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, noted that for the first time in history the Council was holding a public meeting devoted exclusively to that subject.  Over the past several months, and in reaction to first reports from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some Council members had felt the need for an immediate and open discussion, but after some reflection, they had deferred to the General Assembly, so that a broad strategy for dealing with sexual exploitation and abuse could be put in place; a strategy based on consultations between all the major troop- and equipment-contributing countries, the Secretary-General, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office of Legal Affairs.  The contributions of all those separate components, together with the opinions offered by colleagues in the field had enabled the investigating team to respond promptly to the Secretary-General’s request for a report, which had been entitled, “A comprehensive strategy towards the elimination of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations”.

When the team had begun to take a close look at sexual exploitation and abuse, he said, it had become obvious that sexual exploitation, predominantly prostitution, in at least some United Nations operations appeared widespread.  The scale of sexual abuse –- when the exploitation became criminal -– had been somewhat more difficult to gauge.  It was inferred, however, that given the apparently prevalent nature of the exploitation, both by civilian, as well as military personnel, the levels of abuse had probably been more serious than previously thought.  Some of the possible reasons for that were enumerated in the report.  In reviewing all the information gathered for the report, the team had begun to grasp the complexity of the attendant legal questions; so much so that it had become concerned at how certain United Nations civilian personnel could enjoy, by virtue of a specific set of circumstances unforeseen at the creation of the United Nations, complete impunity, even when committing such frightful offences as murder.

He said that for a peacekeeper to exploit the vulnerabilities of a wounded population, already the victim of all that was tragic and cruel in war, was really no different from a physician who would violate the patient entrusted to their care or the lifeguard who drowned the very people in need of rescue.  Actions of that sort punctured violently the hope embodied by the very presence of the person who was there to help those in need.  However rare they may be, abuses by peacekeepers were, therefore, not only repugnant, but struck at the very credibility of both the operation in question and the United Nations as a whole.

Member States had refrained from opening the subject up to public discourse over the last 60 years because pride, mixed with a deep sense of embarrassment, had often produced in them only outright denials, he said.  And yet, almost all countries that had participated in United Nations peacekeeping operations had, at one stage or another, had some reason to feel deeply ashamed over the activities of some of their peacekeepers.  If all were therefore guilty, should it not then be easier for each MemberState to visit the transgressions of its own personnel openly, with some measure of honesty and humility?  Surely that was owed to the victims of abuse.  And naturally, if one was to propose such a change, to the manner by which to confront the problem, then one was obligated to set a good example.

He said that having served as a United Nations peacekeeper, he had worked in the field and seen his military and police compatriots perform extraordinary feats of courage and kindness with an unswerving sense of dedication to the Organization.  But on occasion, the Jordanian Government had had to confront some appalling cases of criminal conduct by few of its own peacekeepers, including a brutal rape of a local woman by a Jordanian in what had then been East Timor, and more recently in Kosovo, when a Jordanian civilian police officer had murdered a fellow officer.

Only days ago, he recalled, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) had adopted a significant number of recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) for posts submitted by the Secretariat relating to sexual exploitation and abuse in follow-up to the adoption by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations of the first set of recommendations contained in the comprehensive report.  That was all very encouraging, and the Secretary-General was expected to announce soon the appointment of a group of experts required by the Special Committee to, among other things, advise on the best way to proceed in ensuring that the original intent of the Charter could be achieved, namely that United Nations staff and experts on mission would never be effectively exempt from the consequences of criminal acts committed at their duty station, nor unjustifiably penalized in accordance with due process.

In the meantime, he said, despite the progress made, it would be prudent to expect that further allegations would emerge over the next year and beyond, due to the Secretariat’s strengthening of the system by which complaints could be lodged in United Nations operations.  It could also be expected that DPKO and the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) would continue to coordinate smoothly on developing a standing procedure for how investigations were to be launched and, in due course, the relationship between the OIOS and the troop-contributing countries would also need further refinement.  Similarly, it was hoped that the Special Committee would next year take up those recommendations and ideas found in the comprehensive report which it had not addressed in its April session.  In that context, he proposed the holding of in-mission courts martial for the worst offences.

He said in conclusion that sexual exploitation and abuse would only be eliminated from United Nations peacekeeping operations if most, if not all, the recommendations were put in place over the next two years.  However, that would not be possible so long as there were colleagues, both in the general membership, as well as in the Secretariat, who would have it believed that the furore regarding sexual exploitation and abuse was an over-exaggeration, a media-inspired public-relations issue, and nothing more -- one that would surely soon lapse into the past.  Sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations was a most serious and tragic issue, especially for the victims, many of whom were young women living in the most difficult conditions.  And it carried with it the most serious consequences for the future of peacekeeping if Member States proved themselves incapable of solving the problem.

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, JEAN-MARIE GUÉHENNO, said that sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeeping personnel represented an abhorrent problem -- a violation of the duty of care owed by peacekeepers to the local population that they had come to serve.  Sexual exploitation and abuse threatened to tarnish the very name of the United Nations and undermine its ability to implement the Council’s mandates.  Eliminating such misconduct was, therefore, integral to the success of peacekeeping.

Stopping sexual exploitation and abuse would not happen overnight, but he took courage from the shared sense of urgency and determination of the Secretariat and MemberStates to address it, he continued.  He welcomed the importance given by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations to the issue this year.  Prepared on the Committee’s request, the report by the Secretary-General’s Adviser on the matter provided a candid account of the problem, as well as a clear framework for effective action by both the Secretariat and MemberStates.  The report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations on sexual exploitation and abuse, once approved by the General Assembly, would provide his Department with a clear and comprehensive strategy for moving forward.

His Department treated the issue as a matter of the highest priority, he said.  Significant progress had been made in investigating allegations and putting in place wide-ranging measures to prevent such misconduct.  Since 1 December 2004, investigations had been completed into allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving 152 peacekeeping personnel (32 civilians, 3 civilian police and 117 military).  So far, five UN staff members had been summarily dismissed, nine more were undergoing the disciplinary process, and four had been cleared.  Concerning uniformed personnel, two members of police units and 77 military personnel had been repatriated or rotated home on disciplinary grounds, including six military commanders.

Over the past year, field missions had put in place a wide array of measures to prevent misconduct and enforce United Nations standards of conduct.  For instance, on the prevention side, missions in Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Liberia provided induction training on United Nations standards of conduct relating to sexual exploitation and abuse.  His Department intended to make such training mandatory for all peacekeeping personnel on arrival in a mission.  Late last year, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations had issued a policy on human trafficking, which was now accompanied by a resource manual on the issue, which included a training module and practical guidance for peacekeeping operations on how best to prevent human trafficking.  Early this year, awareness-raising posters on sexual exploitation and abuse and brochures on human trafficking had been distributed to all missions and were now displayed in offices in capitals and in the field, as well as in military barracks.

Regarding enforcement on standards of conduct, he said that missions in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, the Congo, Ethiopia, Kosovo and Timor-Leste had established lists of premises and areas frequented by prostitutes, which were now out of bounds to all personnel.  There was a network of focal points on sexual exploitation and abuse in all missions to facilitate receipt of allegations, as well as telephone hotlines in Sierra Leone and Liberia.  The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) had put in place a number of mission-specific measures to minimize misconduct, such as a requirement that contingent members wear their uniforms at all times.  The Mission was also strengthening managerial accountability by requiring regional heads of office to come up with concrete workplans on how they would prevent sexual exploitation and abuse.

At Headquarters, the DPKO had established a task force aimed at developing guidance and tools for peacekeeping operations to address sexual exploitation and abuse effectively, he continued.  For instance, the Department was developing a database, in coordination with the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), to track and monitor allegations and investigations, as well as follow-up action.  Among other measures, he mentioned the development of internal communications messages to remind peacekeeping personnel of their duty of care; and efforts to elaborate common policies and guidance on such issues as victim’s assistance.  Together with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the DPKO was co-chairing an inter-agency task force aimed at creating an organizational culture throughout the United Nations system that would prevent sexual exploitation and abuse.  His Department was cooperating closely with the OIOS, which was in charge of investigating allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions.

The problem of sexual exploitation and abuse was likely to look worse before it looked better, he said.  As the Organization improved its complaints mechanisms in the field and as people started to trust that action would be taken against those who violated United Nations standards of conduct, the number of allegations would probably increase, not decrease.

Various measures undertaken over the past year at Headquarters and in the field had shown the enormity of the task ahead, he added.  Deep, systemic change was needed.  He would do his utmost to implement such recommendations with due haste, as would managers and commanders in peacekeeping operations.  He commended the resolve the Council was showing through the presidential statement under consideration today.  He also welcomed the reference in that document to the need for specific provisions to be included in missions’ mandates to address misconduct by peacekeeping personnel.  Indeed, DPKO hoped to establish a dedicated capacity to address conduct issues in the form of personnel conduct units at Headquarters and in the field.  Those units would be an essential tool for preventing misconduct, monitoring compliance with United Nations standards and ensuring swift follow-up on disciplinary cases.  In an organization that aimed towards professional standards, that was no longer a luxury, but a must.

Sexual exploitation and abuse did not occur in a vacuum, he said in conclusion.  Those acts took place where there was a general breakdown in good conduct and discipline.  The DPKO was ready to address the problem in a comprehensive manner.  However, it could not solve the problem alone.  It was necessary to create a culture and environment in peacekeeping operations that did not permit sexual exploitation and abuse.  That required joint action by the Department and MemberStates.

Published in: Security Council Condemns 'in the Strongest Terms' all Acts of Sexual Abuse, Exploitation by UN Peacekeeping Personnel, Press Release SC/8400, United Nations, 31 May 2005.

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1 June 2005

The European Commission has designated 2007 as 'European Year of Equal Opportunities for All' as part of a concerted effort to promote equality and non-discrimination in the EU. The European Year is the centrepiece of a framework strategy designed to ensure that discrimination is effectively tackled, diversity is celebrated and equal opportunities for all are promoted. The strategy is set out in a Communication adopted by the European Commission today.

European Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Commissioner, Vladimír Špidla, said: "Europe must work towards real equality in practice. The European Year of Equal Opportunities for All and the framework strategy will provide a new drive towards ensuring the full application of EU anti-discrimination legislation, which has encountered too many obstacles and delays. Fundamental rights, non-discrimination and equal opportunities will remain key priorities for the European Commission."

The four core themes of the European Year proposed by the Commission are:

- Rights – raising awareness of the right to equality and non-discrimination

- Representation – stimulating a debate on ways to increase the participation of under-represented groups in society

- Recognition – celebrating and accommodating diversity

- Respect and tolerance – promoting a more cohesive society

The Year's proposed budget of €13.6 million will cover preparatory actions in 2006 as well as the various activities taking place during the European Year itself in 2007.

The framework strategy on non-discrimination and equal opportunities for all, which accompanies the draft Decision to set up the European Year, aims to ensure that EC anti-discrimination legislation^[1] is fully implemented and enforced. The European Court of Justice has already condemned four Member States (Austria, Finland, Germany and Luxembourg) for not adequately transposing EU anti-discrimination legislation. The strategy also looks at what more the EU can do to tackle discrimination and promote equality, beyond legal protection of people's rights to equal treatment.

In addition to the European Year, new initiatives announced by the Communication include:

• A feasibility study to look at possible new measures to complement existing EC anti-discrimination legislation
• The creation of a high-level advisory group to look at the social and labour market integration of minorities, including the Roma

Gender issues will be taken on board in the context of the European Year and the non-discrimination strategy. This will complement the EU's specific efforts on gender equality and sex discrimination, including the proposed Gender Institute and the Communication on gender equality planned for 2006.

The framework strategy and the European Year follow on from a wide public consultation conducted in 2004 on the basis of the Commission's Green Paper Equality and non-discrimination for all in an enlarged EU.

Published in: 2007 to be "European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, Press Release, European Commission, 1 June 2005.

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1 June 2005

Contributed by: Biljana Brankovic, National VAW Monitor

In Serbia, a new Family Law, which introduces protective measures for victims of domestic violence, will come into force on 1 July 2005. The national parliament adopted the Family Law on 17 February 2005 and 157 parliamentarians voted for the law, while 67 voted against it. The new law prescribes, inter alia, a removal of a perpetrator from a house or apartment, regardless of ownership right, and restraining orders. This should provide protection under Civil Law, and not only by the Penal Code of Serbia as before, while the Penal Code will still cover the criminal responsibility under Article 118a.

The new Family Law also introduces a number of novelties related to children's rights, in accordance with international standards and treaties. Adoption of the new legislation gained excessive media coverage. Hence, the general public received a "message" that family violence could no longer be treated as a private issue. Interestingly, some women's NGOs working in smaller cities in Serbia informed us that many victims put a great hope in this new law. Some even asked for a copy of the text, stating, "I know that it is not yet in force, but when it comes in effect, I want to be ready!"

 New_Family_Law_in_Serbia.doc   Full Text of the New Family Law - in Serbian [89 pages in word]

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8 July 2005

On July 5, 2005, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Romania launched a new anti-trafficking project targeting countries in South Eastern Europe.  The project provides advanced law enforcement training for border officials and facilitates greater communication and cross-border coordination between participating countries. Through these measures the project hopes to identify a greater number of trafficking victims, protect and offer treatment services to victims, improve investigation techniques and convict traffickers.

In 2003, UNDP Romania distributed a “Comprehensive Anti-Trafficking Training Strategy for Law Enforcement,” for anti-trafficking investigators that has been officially endorsed as a regional training standard by 13 countries in South Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, FYR of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia & Montenegro).

This year, UNDP Romania introduced its follow-up project “Strengthening Law Enforcement Capacities for Fighting Human Trafficking in South-Eastern Europe.” UNDP Romania, working with the International center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), created the project in response to requests from the thirteen countries for more support in developing national training plans in accordance with the 2003 anti-trafficking strategies. This project intends to update existing manuals, conduct regional seminars, strengthen law enforcement, and implement training strategies that are specifically tailored to the local needs of each country.

On June 11-17, the UNDP held its first regional seminar in Stadtschlaining, Austria. Trainers, police officers, prosecutors, and NGOs from participating countries were invited to attend. At the seminar, participants received advanced training delivery techniques and the opportunity to share experiences and comment on the progress of their national training plans.

Compiled from: “Human Anti-trafficking: the battle continues.” UNDP(Romania), 5 July 2005; (Press Release, PDF)

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6 July 2005

The Vienna Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGO) is organizing a Forum for NGOs of Central and Eastern Europe "to establish or improve relations with [the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime] and [the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe]." It is intended as a forum in which the NGOs can meet with Vienna-based NGOs as well as UNOCD and OSCE to develop measures to combat crime, "especially trafficking in human beings, corruption and urban crime." A panel of NGOs in Vienna will select the NGOs that will be invited to participate. CONGO is asking Central and Eastern European NGOs that are interested in the Forum to indicate their interest to CONGO by emailing congovie@ngocongo.org.

Compiled from: "Regional Crime Prevention Forum," Network of East-West Women - Polska, 4 July 2005.

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21 July 2005

United Nations, New York — The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) called on the international community today to recognize women's efforts to prevent and resolve conflict in their communities, and to strengthen support for women's inclusion as full and equal participants in formal peace processes.

UNIFEM's regional programme director for East and Horn of Africa, Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, speaking at a press conference, said that although women often play a leadership role in their communities during and after conflict, they were too often left out of formal peace negotiations and agreements. "Women's roles are often undervalued or ignored, despite the fact that it is their right to participate on equal terms with men in all governance and decision-making processes. Formal peace negotiations that leave out half the population have limited hope of popular support."

"There is certainly an increased international awareness of the gender dimensions of conflict, spurred in part by the adoption of Security Council resolution 1325, and in part by the efforts of governments, UN bodies and civil society to implement the resolution," said Joanne Sandler, deputy director of UNIFEM. "But awareness is not enough. As we approach the five-year anniversary of 1325 in October, what's needed is stronger support for women's participation in all efforts to promote and maintain peace and security," she added.

While a few women have been able to participate in different capacities over the past decade, it is still rare for women to be involved alongside men in every stage of the peace process, including the implementation of peace agreements. Where women have gained access to negotiations, they have made valuable contributions.

In Somalia, during the Djibouti peace talks in 2000, only clans — five of them — were recognized as legitimate participants at the peace table. Women, excluded from the five clans, mobilized to form a "sixth clan," which was eventually accepted as an equal participant in the high-level peace talks. Their presence at the negotiations led to the Federal Charter requiring that a minimum of 12 per cent of National Assembly seats go to women.

"We had to think out of the box," said Asha Hagi Amin, newly appointed MP and founder of NGO Save Somali Women and Children, describing how women organized across clan borders to form what became not only a "multi-clan," but a clan that for the first time represented women from all over the country. "As women we had no role in the traditional clan structure, so we had no right to represent our own clans and therefore were shut out of the peace process. Since we were not treated as full members of our individual clans, we refused to rally behind them, and chose instead to form our own — to represent the voice of women, and more importantly the voice of peace. During the Djibouti peace talks, only men were allowed inside the big tent where the negotiations were being held. So we stood outside demanding to participate until they had to let us in. I had the honour of representing the sixth clan, and for the first time I sat together next to the men as a full and equal participant."

As current negotiations in Somalia's peace process continue, women are playing a crucial role, working among different clans and militias to advocate for peace and non-violence so that Mogadishu remains a safe place for the talks to continue.

Women's networks, with their extensive local, and increasingly, regional reach, are key allies in building and sustaining vital public support for ongoing peace processes. Advocacy efforts by women's civil society groups can be instrumental to initiating formal peace negotiations, maintaining public support for their continuation until a peace accord is signed, and then assisting in its implementation.

Over the last five years, UNIFEM has been supporting and documenting the critical role that women play in promoting peace-building and conflict prevention worldwide. UNIFEM has provided assistance to women as they conduct advocacy, awareness-raising and peace education, support efforts to dispose of small arms, secure justice and psychosocial assistance for survivors of gender-based violence, and develop gender-based early warning indicators at the grassroots level — all with the explicit goal of preventing the emergence or recurrence of violent conflict. The Fund has also supported national and regional women's networks to build a "culture of peace" in areas where there are no active or formal peace processes, such as the Southern Caucasus.

In that region, women's organizations in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan have mobilized to create a Regional Coalition — "Women for Peace" — in order to back women's efforts to build a "culture of peace" in their communities in the absence of a formal peace process. Sevil Asadova, representative of the Coalition, described the growing role of civil society in the region in creating an "enabling environment for peace." "An increasing number of NGOs, including several women's groups, recognized the need to work with their counterparts in the conflict zones. They took a brave step against public opinion and started reaching out to each other from opposite sides of the conflicts," she said. "Our regional coalition brings women together, across conflict and ethnic lines, to work on everyone's mutual issue — women's human rights. This has united us, and is helping us to build confidence and mutual trus t with others. It is this people-to-people diplomacy that is laying the foundations for sustainable peace in our countries and our region," she added.

UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations, providing financial support and technical assistance to innovative programmes promoting women's human rights, their economic and political empowerment, and gender equality in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit www.unifem.org. UNIFEM, 304 East 45th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10017. Tel: +1 212-906-6400. Fax: +1 212-906-6705.

Contact: Leigh Pasqual, Media Specialist, +1 212-906-5463

Published in: "UNIFEM Calls for Stronger International Support for Women's Participation in Peace Processes," Press Release, UNIFEM, 18 July 2005.

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30 August 2005

AWID interviews Barbara Limanowska about her research on human trafficking in South Eastern Europe (SEE), which has found that anti-trafficking strategies need to focus on prevention through empowerment if they are to be successful.

New research on human trafficking finds that "prevention activities are still very limited and those that exist are neither co-ordinated nor properly evaluated."

Barbara Limanowska, who is a consultant for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia Herzegovina, argues in her latest report that it is time for all involved in anti-trafficking measures to seriously examine the practices implemented and to focus on addressing the root causes of trafficking in an empowering way. Barbara's research findings are elucidated in a comprehensive report entitled: "Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe: Focus on Prevention". The report analyses current trends and highlights the challenges facing anti-trafficking strategies in SEE, concluding with the recommendation that success depends on the adoption of prevention as the new approach to trafficking.

AWID: The latest SEE Report highlights prevention as a core approach, including research on the demand side of trafficking. In your opinion, why do you think there has been a shortfall in demand-focused anti-trafficking strategies to date? How can we move forward on this important issue?

BL: The meaning of the research on the demand side of trafficking depends very much on the approach to trafficking as such. There is a group of professionals, researchers and activists, who tend to equal trafficking to prostitution. They understand demand for trafficking simply as the demand for prostitution and therefore focus their research and action exclusively on the clients of prostitutes. However, the definition of trafficking is broader and describes trafficking as recruitment, or transfer of persons (including men and children), by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation means here not only the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation but also forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs[1].

Therefore also research on demand for services/labour of trafficked persons should be seen in a broader context of labour exploitation and should mean all kind of research on demand for cheap unprotected labour, especially labour of migrant workers in the countries of destination. I do understand that some researchers might be more interested in researching the "exiting" issue of clients of prostitutes, than the complicated and politically sensitive problem of the profit gained by the destination countries in general and citizens of those countries, for example farmers or construction companies employing illegal migrants - victims of trafficking, in particular.

However, I do not understand the obsession of some governments with the subject of prostitution (especially Sweden and the US), combined with their reluctance to look at other forms of the trafficking related demand. It seems that moralistic debates are more convenient, and cheaper, for the governments than serious political discussion about the problem of international trafficking in the context of migration and migrant labour.

AWID: You differentiate between "repressive" and "empowering" anti-trafficking activities in the report. What are the main differences between them, and do you think that both strategies should run parallel, or should there be a greater focus on empowering strategies?

BL: In the report I am stating that the term "repressive strategies" relates to activities which focus on the suppression of negative (or perceived as negative) phenomena related to trafficking, such as illegal migration, labour migration, illegal and forced labour, prostitution, child labour or organized crime. Such strategies are designed to stop illegal or undesirable activities and are mainly enacted by law enforcement agencies that implement restrictive state polices and punish those who are found guilty of crimes related to trafficking. They are fully legitimate and necessary for the purpose of protecting state security but, in the same time such actions often run counter to the protection of victims of trafficking. Moreover, the actions against the state (illegal border crossing, smuggling, etc.) are often understood and presented as crimes so closely related to trafficking that these repressive strategies become referred to as anti-trafficking strategies, which are supposed to benefit the victims.

"Empowering strategies", on the other hand, focus on enabling people, especially potential victims of trafficking, to protect themselves from trafficking by addressing the root causes of the crime. Such strategies might include measures to overcome poverty, addressing discrimination and marginalization in the process of seeking employment and/or labour migration, as well as measures to allow people to make informed decisions and choices that might help them to overcome problems and prevent trafficking. Activities may include supporting and empowering high risk groups, providing educational activities for vulnerable young people to develop necessary life skills, adjusting education to the needs of the labour market, protecting the rights of migrant workers (including the distribution of information about safe/legal migration and supporting control over the process of migration by migrants), formalizing informal sectors in the countries of destination, addressing the issue of demand and providing information about labour laws in the countries of destination, and, protecting, supporting and empowering victims of trafficking, including social inclusion and strengthening the protective environment for child victims of trafficking.

For a number of years, it has been more common for State agencies and some international organizations to use repressive strategies, rarely incorporating empowering strategies into their actions. Therefore, the strategies used were, in the first place, of a legislative and prosecutorial nature, while long-term prevention and protection of the rights of the victims were seen as second, or distant, priorities. Empowering strategies have tended to be used by human rights organizations and values-based NGOs, as well as a limited number of State agencies. Organizations that are using empowerment strategies to prevent trafficking have been advocating for governments to adopt a human rights approach and to actively engage in meaningful dialogue with civil society actors. They have been stressing the need for inter-Ministerial and inter-agency cooperation and have been trying to ensure presence of a human rights perspective in the law enforcement approach, as well as the inclusion of preventive measures into the anti-trafficking strategies.

The experience of the NGOs showed that strategies focusing only on repressive measures are not victim-centered and often resulted in further victimization of trafficked persons. In order for anti-trafficking strategies to be effective and to protect the victims, there has to be a general understanding and acceptance of the empowerment approach to preventing trafficking that is firmly based on human rights principals.

AWID: Human trafficking has attracted a large number of donor agencies. What are some of the problems you have noted regarding the work of donor organizations in the region, and what should be their priority?

BL: There are several issues that have to be raised in relation to the role of the donor agencies. First of all, anti-trafficking activities are supported regardless their effectiveness and the costs of the programs. Trafficking is the only issue that I know about, that donors are willing to finance without expecting any concrete results. Anti trafficking programs are not properly monitored and evaluated, nobody is checking if the programs are really necessary, if they fit into a broader country or regional strategy and are not duplications of already existing projects.

After many years of anti-trafficking work in the SEE region, there is still no knowledge about the best approaches and the effectiveness of the used methods. In some situations it seems that trafficking is used as an excuse to shift attention and use funds of development or social change organizations to support anti-migration activities in the countries of origin. It happens quite often that the resources that should go to civil society are going to the law enforcement agencies to build their capacity (data based of migrants, technical capacity, etc.) under the banner of anti-trafficking programs.

Another problem is the lack of involvement of local NGOs in anti-trafficking work. Anti-trafficking programs are usually planned for a short time and do not have any capacity building component included. Funds are donated to the big international organizations, which subcontract local NGOs to implement concrete projects. Such policy very often leads to a negative selection of local NGOs - there are less NGOs focused on protection of the rights of the victims involved in anti-trafficking work now that a couple of years ago. Those who still work are less interested in human rights principles and women's rights, more in good cooperation with international and governmental agencies. NGOs, due to the attitude of the international organizations, see anti-trafficking work more as an income generation activity than an implementation of the human rights based mission.

AWID: Stronger political commitment from SEE governments hasn't necessarily translated into more effective anti-trafficking strategies. What are the main challenges and how can they be overcome?

BL: While the institutional response to trafficking in SEE is well developed, the work of the institutions involved is not very effective and not well coordinated. The main problem is the lack of clarity of the roles of existing structures and the unclear division of responsibilities of institutions taking part in anti-trafficking work. Another serious problem is lack of flexibility of established structures that are not able to react to the changes in trafficking trends and the needs of the changing anti-trafficking response. Lack of information about current trends in trafficking among the anti-trafficking institutions, lack of a proper identification system adjusted to the new trends in trafficking, and lack of a referral system for local victims of trafficking are the biggest problems of the existing system.

At the same time it seems that the responsible institutions are not fully aware of those problems. They seem not to be concerned about the lack of reliable information about current trafficking trends and the lack of knowledge about the changing scope of trafficking in the region. The structures are static and viewed as "once and for good" established institutions rather than flexible instruments that should be monitored, evaluated and adjusted as the situation in trafficking changes. There is no self-regulatory mechanism included in the anti-trafficking system that could help in the process of adjustment and re-structuring, when necessary. For example, while almost all institutions engaged in anti-trafficking work acknowledge that the system of assistance to trafficked persons does not meet their needs and that many victims refuse assistance because of that, there are no plans to change this situation. The victims' perspective is not included in the anti-trafficking response. Regardless of the low effectiveness of this method, the prosecutor's perspective, with the focus on the role of the victims as witnesses and offering them deals depending on their usefulness for prosecution, is predominant in the assistance programs.

There is a need to change the approach to combating trafficking in the SEE region, to recognize the new situation and develop a comprehensive human rights-based system for counter-trafficking activities (including prevention, protection and prosecution) relying on government-owned, flexible structures, acknowledge the changing modalities of trafficking and the fact that that current assessments are based on limited information and that there is need to improve information gathering, research and dissemination systems, and, acknowledge the need to set up standards and procedures for anti-trafficking work, including the monitoring and evaluation of implemented programs and accountability of the institutions involved.

AWID: An important undercurrent emerging from your research is the strong link between poverty, gender equality, development and trafficking. How do you think we can facilitate better cooperation between institutions so as to properly address the structural causes of human trafficking?

BL: In general, trafficking is still perceived and treated as an isolated social and criminal phenomenon that can be addressed separately from other problems. Although we know about the root causes of trafficking - poverty, unemployment, discrimination, violence in the family, and demand in the countries of destination - and understand that socio-economic factors are strongly linked to vulnerability to trafficking, this knowledge has not yet been translated into policies and strategies.

The issue of trafficking remains largely ignored in the Poverty Reduction Strategies developed in the region. Plans of Action on gender equality, child rights, social support or HIV/AIDS rarely mention trafficking and do not integrate actions against trafficking into their programs. In addition, international organizations tasked to deal with economic development and poverty reduction, such as the World Bank and UNDP, while addressing employment, discrimination and the prevention of violence, do not perceive vulnerability to trafficking as a special issue and have not included anti-trafficking prevention into their development programs in any systematic way.

"Mainstreaming" of trafficking into the development and gender agenda has not yet begun. Although there has already been some discussion about the social and economic situation of high risk groups and the need to address the root causes of trafficking, including the consequences of economic transition, privatization, structural adjustment programs and the planned changes in social welfare systems, there seems to be a lack of understanding and interest on the part of the development agencies to include the issue of trafficking into their programs. While a gender impact assessment is a mandatory component of all World Bank programs, it does not touch on trafficking and has not brought about any adjustments to the poverty reductions strategies or World Bank programs in the region.

A theoretical framework for addressing root causes of trafficking developed by human rights organizations does exist. There are also some prevention programs in the region focused on addressing the root causes of trafficking, such as empowerment, re-schooling, employment and job skills development programs for vulnerable groups in countries of origin. There is need for a broader debate on trafficking within the context of poverty reduction strategies, sustainable development, policies on prevention of different forms of discrimination, social policy models and, last but not least, migration policies. Structural reforms must take into account the trend to relegate women from the public sphere, including the economy, and the high levels of unemployment among young people. They should be accompanied by social policy measures to support vulnerable groups.

There is also a need to develop new types of income generating activities for high-risk groups that could form alternatives to migration. Prevention of trafficking is not predominant enough in the plans of action against trafficking and is not coordinated with other action plans that affect the same groups - child protection, gender, HIV/AIDS prevention, etc. Not enough attention is paid either to the relationship between various related social issues, such as education and child rights, gender discrimination and inequality in the labour market.

There is generally a lack of close co-operation and co-ordination between different institutions and different governmental action plans, to the detriment of trafficking prevention work. There is also no connection made between trafficking, labour markets and forced labour. The enforcement of minimum labour standards in the countries of destination would reduce the economic incentive to employ irregular migrants and to exploit trafficked persons, while a reduction of unemployment among the high risk groups in the countries of origin would reduce irregular migration and, thus, trafficking. Labour market-oriented anti-trafficking strategies do not target trafficking directly but remove the economic incentive and could be very effective as a long-term prevention strategy. It must be stressed that without a stronger emphasis on prevention and the involvement in anti-trafficking work of institutions that are able to address the root causes of trafficking, a successful attack on trafficking is not possible.

Notes:

*Download a copy of the full report from: www.seerights.org

*Barbara Limanowska works as a consultant on the issue of trafficking in human beings for various international agencies. In the framework of the SEE RIGHTs project, which was a joint initiative of OHCHR, UNICEF and OSCE-ODIHR she has written three reports about trafficking in human beings in the Balkan region: Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe. Current situation and responses to trafficking in human beings in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova and Romania (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2002), Trafficking in Human beings in South Eastern Europe. 2003 Update on situation and responses to trafficking in human (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2003) and Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe, 2004 ? Focus on Prevention (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2005). Currently she works as a consultant on anti-trafficking for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia Herzegovina.

*Research for this report was carried out in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYR Macedonia), Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and the UN Administered Province of Kosovo between January 2004 and March 2004. See: http://www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/conventions.html. The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, p.2.

Published in: Jones, Rochelle, "Prevention as the New Approach to Human Trafficking," AWID, Resource Net Friday File Issue 240, 19 August 2005.

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30 August 2005

UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, has proclaimed 23 August as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The date commemorates a revolt in 1791 by slaves in what is now Haiti -- an event considered a decisive victory of slaves against their oppressors. But despite laws in all of the world's countries against slavery, the United Nations says the practice continues in illegal underground forms.

Nadeem has spent most of his life hunched over a carpet loom in Lahore, Pakistan, trying to pay off a loan given to his parents years ago.

His hands are scarred and callused from the repetition of tying thousands of knots every day. His eyesight is weakened from 14-hour work shifts in a dark room. Poor ventilation has left his lungs filled with wool fibers and dust.

"I'm 12 years old and I've been working since I was 4," Nadeem says. "To start with, I had [about $12 worth of Pakistani] rupees as a bonded debt to pay off. Now it has risen to [about $300], without my family getting any more money. The owner [of the carpet loom] increases our debt by [about $50] for each mistake."

Nadeem is one of thousands of children who work as bonded laborers in Pakistan's carpet industry. As in most countries, bonded child labor is illegal in Pakistan. But enforcement of that law is sporadic. Human rights activists complain that corrupt local police often accept bribes from business owners who use bonded child laborers in exchange for turning a blind eye to the practice. American filmmaker Robin Romano has documented similar stories from child laborers around the world during his five years of work as the co-producer of a documentary film called "Stolen Childhoods."

In one interview granted to the filmmaker on condition of anonymity, the owner of a carpet factory in Pakistan spoke frankly about how bonded children are disciplined and traded within the industry.

"It's common for us business owners to exchange children," the man said. "Children are more obedient and work harder that way. We tie the child up for three or four hours to teach it not to run away. But those children who are very disobedient -- of course such children have to be chained up and beaten."

Romano is convinced that bonded debts are a hidden way for children from poor families to be bought and sold as slaves.

His film asserts that there are today more than 240 million child laborers beneath the age of 14 in the world -- and that most work under conditions of slavery.

"One of the forms of modern slavery that exists in Afghanistan and in Pakistan is a form that they call bonded labor [or debt bondage]," Romano told RFE/RL. "People who have less than nothing are forced to take loans on their children to survive. That child is then locked into a never-ending cycle of slavery. The loan invariably is never repaid. The middle man and the slave owners keep finding ways to keep the child bonded."

Slavery By Any Other Name...

U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat-Iowa) is a leading author of American legislation aimed at fighting international child labor. Like Romano, he says abusive child-labor practices today are a kind of modern slavery.

"Child labor is the last form of slavery in the world. I mean, what's a slave?" Harkin said. "A slave is someone that has no voice, no vote, no control over his own property. No control over his own livelihood. That's what these child laborers are. I think there's a recognition in the world community that this is just unacceptable practice -- that it really is akin to slavery. And a country that would practice slavery openly -- of course, it would be kicked out of the community of nations. Well, we have to make this same thing apply to child labor."

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, has made child labor a top concern. UNICEF spokesman Marc Vergara says UN officials usually are cautious about using the word "slavery." But he says bonded child labor is recognized as a form of slavery because the children usually become the victims of exploitation, abuse, and even sexual assault.

"The word 'slavery' has a strong stigma attached to it," Vergara said. "That's why we are careful when we use it. But there is no question [about] bonded labor. And we know [there are] millions of children who work under very difficult and horrific circumstances. And some of them are included in what we call virtual slavery."

Not Just Children

Human rights activists argue that modern-day slavery is not limited to extreme forms of child labor. They say it is a practice that also affects adults -- those who are forced by poverty to take low-paying jobs that leave them trapped in slave-like conditions.

Forced labor affects those people who are illegally recruited by individuals, criminal groups, and even governments or political parties. They are then made to work against their will, usually under threat of violence or other penalties.

Human trafficking is the transport or trade of people from one country to another -- often for the purpose of selling them against their will into the sex trade or forcing them into other degrading work.

"Slavery by descent" is a term used to describe those born into an economic class or from an ethnic group that is viewed by others as exploitable.

Some activists also argue that forced marriage is a form of slavery because women and young girls often are "sold" for a dowry and forced against their will into a life of servitude and physical abuse. The UN, however, classifies forced marriage as a "harmful traditional practice" that often leads to violations of human rights.

Doctor Fahima Saadat provides medical care for Afghan children and their parents at the Khurasan refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. She says she has treated many poor Afghan workers who have been physically or sexually abused by employers who keep them in conditions of virtual slavery.

Saadat relates the story of a 20-year-old Afghan woman named Najeya. With her father debilitated by a kidney operation and her mother too old to work, Najeya took a job as a cleaner at the home of a wealthy man in Peshawar.

Najeya came to Saadat with complaints of pain and learned from medical tests that she was pregnant. She then broke down and confessed she was being sexually abused by her employer on a regular basis. She threatened to commit suicide to prevent her family and others from discovering her pregnancy -- saying she preferred death to shame.

Yet, Saddat says that after secretly receiving an abortion, Najeya returned to the same job -- saying she had no choice. "The one thing I can think of that is the cause of these stories is extreme poverty," Saddat said. "The desperation from living as a refugee in a foreign country. Although they are victims of sexual attacks, they still go back to the same job after treatment because they are obliged to do so."

Poverty Breeds Slavery

The London-based nongovernmental organization Anti-Slavery International says, despite its many variations, all forms of modern slavery share several common characteristics. 

One is that slaves are usually forced to work through mental or physical threats, and are either owned or controlled by a so-called "employer."

Modern-day slaves also are dehumanized and treated as a commodity. They are sometimes even bought or sold as property, much like the 19th-century "chattel slaves" who were traded on the open market and used to breed future generations of slaves.

Anti-Slavery International says slaves are also often physically constrained or have restrictions placed on their freedom of movement.

Robin Romano concludes that modern slavery will continue to exist as long as there are economically desperate people and a lack of political will by authorities to enforce existing laws.

"A slave is a slave," Romano said. "And to call it either 'chattel slavery' or 'bonded slavery' or any other type of slavery -- it still means slavery. And that is where people are coerced against their will to do work that is inhumane, is undignified and is absolutely killing." (Ron Synovitz).

Cited from: Slavery Survives, Despite Universal Abolition, Ron Synovitz, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 30 August 2005.

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

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30 August 2005

A UNMIK spokesman in Mitrovica said on 28 August that two members of the UN police and four foreigners have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in human trafficking, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. The spokesman declined to provide any information about the nationality or identity of those arrested. He added that details about the charges will be made public once the investigation is completed. PM

Published in: "Two International Police Arrested in Kosova on Human Trafficking Charges," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 29 August 2005.

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

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25 August 2005

In December 2000, the European Union proclaimed the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It has since become part of the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe. The Charter will take effect if and when the treaty is fully ratified.

In an attempt to raise awareness about the important document, Justice, a legal and human rights organization based in London, has created an informational website about the EU Charter. The site (www.eucharter.org/) includes the text of each article in the Charter as well as "detailed commentary, relevant case-law, articles and links."

Cited in: "EU Charter of Fundatmental Rights," Justice, 2004.

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Prague, 23 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Maria is a 30-year-old mother from Ukraine who left behind her husband and two young children to take what she was told would be a job in Italy as a cleaner.

The recruiters who originally promised her a high-paying salary were men who posed as representatives of a legitimate employment agency. Maria says they gained her trust because they looked professional and persuasive.

"The process I went through to get there was normal. Everything looked fine. There were two other girls with me. They were from the same region, but I didn't know them. I was going [to Italy] to work as a housekeeper. In Ukraine, they told me already that I would work either as a housekeeper or work in a bar washing dishes," Maria said.

Maria says her nightmare began after she and the other women arrived in Italy and were met by several suspicious men. They were human traffickers in the illegal global sex industry.

"We went there and arrived in one city. They took us to a building on the outskirts of the city and they told us to clean off, to relax from the travel. Later, they confronted us with the fact that we would be providing sex services. It is a shock for a human being. Escape from there was impossible. The windows were barred and there was the constant presence of a guard," Maria said.

One man in the building told Maria he had "bought" her for several hundred dollars. He said she owed him money for the cost of the airplane ticket and would have to work for him until the debt was repaid.

For the next nine months, Maria was forced against her will to work as a prostitute. Sometimes she was forced to have sex with 10 different men within a single day. She was beaten brutally whenever she refused. And if a customer complained about her performance, the brothel owner added a fine to her debt -- prolonging her sentence as a sex slave.

It was only when the brothel was raided by Italian police that Maria was freed from captivity. Authorities in Italy charged her with prostitution and deported her back to Ukraine.

Maria's story is a common one in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics. Trafficking from the region for sexual exploitation has become so common since the early 1990s that it is considered by experts as a distinct wave in the global sex trade.

The U.S. State Department estimates that 800,000 people are trafficked against their will across international borders every year and that millions more are trafficked internally.

John Miller directs the U.S. State Department's Office for Monitoring and Combating Trafficking in Persons.

"Information on slavery is very inexact. But we believe that the majority of slave victims -- in the neighborhood of 80 percent -- are the female gender, and that around 50 percent are children. We believe that the largest category of slavery is sex slavery. This is not to minimize other large categories -- domestic servitude slavery, forced labor in farms and factory slavery, child soldier slavery," Miller said.

Organized criminal groups have created intricate transport routes to move women to different countries. Most of these routes -- whether over land, sea, or air -- originally were established by weapon and drug smuggling syndicates.

The so-called "Eastern Route" through Poland and into Germany is a key overland corridor for smuggling women into the European Union from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and the Baltics. The cities of Prague, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt also are common destinations. Large numbers of these women also reportedly end up in Italy, Greece, Belgium, Austria, and France.

The so-called "Balkan route" is another notorious path for sex-trade traffickers. It moves through Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo.

A third major trafficking route passes through southern Bulgaria into Greece. Eastern European women, especially Ukrainians, also end up in Turkey after traveling overland through Georgia and Bulgaria, or after crossing the Black Sea on boats from the Ukrainian port of Odessa.

Meanwhile, the former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia have emerged in recent years as new recruitment zones -- with women being moved through Central Europe to the EU or to the Middle East and China.

Israel, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Thailand, China, and Japan also are considered key destinations for criminal groups that smuggle women for sexual exploitation.

Miller, who is responsible for the State Department's annual report on trafficking in persons, says Canada and the United States also are becoming significant destinations.

"Human trafficking is synonymous with slavery. Human trafficking relies on coercion and exploitation. It thrives on converting hope to fear. It's maintained through violence. The trade in people is a major source of revenue -- in the billions [of dollars per year] -- for organized crime, along with the drug trade and the arms trade. Let there be no misunderstanding. Modern slavery plagues every country in the world -- including the United States," Miller said.

Canadian-based journalist Viktor Malarek is the author of "Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade." His book documents how criminal groups have increasingly preyed upon the hopes of young women like Maria since the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union.

Malarek says that in places like Israel and Turkey, the name Natasha has become synonymous with prostitutes or victims of the sex trade from all the former communist countries of Eastern Europe -- whether they are from Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine or Russia. And regardless of their nationalities, brothel owners and their customers usually refer to these women as "Russians."

Malarek says not all of those caught up in the international sex trade are innocent and naive women who have been led astray. He says police and government officials stress that some women willingly enter the sex trade. But he says the vast majority of Eastern European women lured into the trade are not aware of the nature of sex slavery or the conditions they will work in.

Malarek concludes that virtually every city, town and village in Eastern and Central Europe has seen some of its girls and women disappear -- becoming expendable pawns in the sex business.

It has been several years now since Maria returned to her home in Ukraine. She still has not told her family about her ordeal in Italy. She says she is unsure if she ever will be able to tell her husband the truth.
"It was not worth it. What is important in life is family -- my children and my husband -- in spite of everything. At the beginning, the desire for material wealth was at the front of my mind and family came in second place. But after what happened, my priorities have been reversed," Maria said.

Maria now offers advice to other young women who are being recruited for jobs abroad as a cleaners, nannies, bartenders, waitresses or models. She says before traveling, women should think long and hard about where they are going, why they have received the job offer, and what they expect to happen to them once they leave home.

(RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.)

Copyright © 2005 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036.  www.rferl.org

Published in: Synovitz, Ron, "World: Sex Traffickers Prey On Eastern Europeans," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 23 August 2005.

4 August 2005

Latest Move in Reforms to Tackle Sexual Exploitation, Abuse

NEW YORK, 3 August (DPKO) -- The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations has instructed eight of the United Nations’ peacekeeping operations to establish immediately Conduct and Discipline Units.

Each office will be staffed by senior-level experts on personnel conduct issues and will replace mission focal points on sexual exploitation and abuse, who were installed following reports of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations over the past year and a half.  The Conduct and Discipline Units place dedicated, senior and skilled personnel in several peacekeeping mission headquarters.  They will be guided by a Conduct and Discipline Unit now being staffed in the Department of Peacekeeping Operation’s New York Headquarters.

The Conduct and Discipline Units will address issues such as preventing misconduct, handling complaints and data management and ensuring compliance with United Nations standards of conduct.  United Nations rules forbid staff from contact with prostitutes, forbid sexual relations with anyone under 18, and “strongly discourage” relations with beneficiaries.  (In UN peacekeeping, that means all members of the host population.)  Individual peacekeeping missions also have their own codes of conduct with more stringent requirements, including such measures as curfews, lists of off-limits establishments, a rule that troops wear military uniforms off-duty, and telephone hotlines to report abuse.

The new Conduct and Discipline Units will not conduct investigations, which will be handled by the United Nations’ Office for Internal Oversight Services and other offices.

The new units are part of the ongoing reforms sparked by reports of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations, which the United Nations has been pursuing vigorously with investigations, disciplinary measures, training and policy changes since early 2004.

The United Nations has completed investigations against some 186 peacekeeping personnel in its field missions since January 2004.  Seven civilian personnel have been dismissed; two police officers repatriated and 78 military personnel -- including six commanders -- repatriated on disciplinary grounds.

Several troop-contributing countries have confirmed disciplinary and criminal prosecution against repatriated United Nations peacekeeping personnel.

The Conduct and Discipline Units are among the recommended actions proposed by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Advisor on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by United Nations Peacekeeping Personnel.

The United Nations Security Council in May condemned acts of sexual exploitation by United Nations peacekeeping troops and expressed support for Prince Zeid’s strategies for combating the problem.

In June, the General Assembly approved a wide-ranging package of these recommendations.  In addition to the Conduct and Discipline Units, other measures now in the process of implementation include a policy on victims assistance, intensified mandatory training of peacekeepers, measures to strengthen leadership accountability, improvements in living conditions and welfare for peacekeeping personnel and amendments to legal agreements with troop-contributing countries and contracts with all peacekeeping personnel to include prohibitions on sexual exploitation and abuse.

In approving a $3.2 billion peacekeeping budget for 2005-2006, the General Assembly emphasized the need to develop a comprehensive, well-defined and coherent policy to prevent and address sexual exploitation and abuse in all United Nations activities.  It also stated that the implementation of zero tolerance towards acts of sexual exploitation and abuse should be clearly defined as a core management function.

The General Assembly is due to take up the issue again during its 60^th session, this fall.

For more information, contact Nick Birnback, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, tel.:  +1 917 367 5044, e-mail:  birnback@un.org; or Susan Manuel, Department of Public Information, tel.:  +1 212 963 1262, e-mail:  manuels@un.org.

"UN Establishes Peacekeeping Conduct and Discipline Units," United Nations, Press Release PKO/120, 3 August 2005.

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1 August 2005

The UN Interagency Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women is calling for proposals from organizations in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. "[A]pplications related to implementation of existing laws,policies and plans of action to address violence against women at global, regional, national or local levels" are being accepted. The Trust Fund has released a document that details the criteria for consideration and the procedures and guidelines to be followed.

Cited from: UN Trust Fund for Violence Against Women - Call for Proposals, Women-East-West Digest, Vol. 15, Issue 15, 28 July 2005.

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The European Training Foundation invites young people (between the age of 18 to 29 years) in the ETF Partner Countries* to participate in a competition by writing an article on their vision for “Women in education and employment in 2010”.

The authors of the four best articles selected by a jury appointed by the ETF will be invited to the awards ceremony as part of the event “Women in Education and employment” organised by the ETF in Turin, Italy, to mark the International Women’s Day in March 2006. Among the four winners one will be selected as beneficiary of a four month traineeship at the ETF headquarters.

The final date for submission of articles is 31 October 2005. For more information, please visit http://www.etf.eu.int/

*The ETF partner countries and territories are: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Moldova, Morocco, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo), Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Cited from: Essay Competition: "Women in Education and Employment 2010," European Training Foundation, last visited 2 September 2005.

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Based on a 2003 request by the General Assembly, the UN Secretary General will conduct a detailed study on violence against women. The UN Division for the Advancement of Women has taken responsibility for carrying out the study. The report will be released in September 2006 and aims to provide information about the causes, consequences and costs of violence against women. Those working on the study expect that the process as well as the report will raise awareness about all types of violence against women around the world, inspire impetus for change and provide best practices for effective prevention and elimination of violence against women. In the meantime, there are scheduled activities, including workshops, discussions and consultations that will highlight the study.

Compiled from: "UN Secretary General's Study on Violence Against Women: Schedule of Activities," UN Division for the Advancement of Women, 15 August, 2005.

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October Is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October has been designated Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  Since 1987, October has been a month for advocates to raise public awareness and connect with each other in the struggle to end violence agaisnt women and their children. Activities geared at raising awareness about domestic violence are organized throughout the month by advocates, community groups, schools, business, and other organizations. 

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence has developed a list of possible activities for groups to sponsor in their communities including:

• Purple Ribbons : Provide purple ribbons to members of your community to wear throughout the month. 
• Table Signs: Create small signs that can be placed on tables at restaurants in your community, providing information about domestic violence including community resources for survivors. 
• Library Displays: Contact libraries and public meeting areas in your community and provide them with materials to create an informative display raising awareness of domestic violence.
• Church Campaign: Contact local religious institutions and ask them to include information about domestic violence in their services.
• Clothesline Project Display: The Clothesline Project involves having survivors of domestic violence decorate a tee-shirt depicting their story with violence. The shirts are then collected and displayed in a public place.

Compiled from: "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, (last accessed 26 October 2005).

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UNIFEM Self-Help Kit for Victims of Violence
Saarthak, a mental health NGO, has developed a self-help kit for victims of violence. The kit is available in both English and Hindi.  The kit is accessible for those who cannot read as it contains six cassettes "which describe a journey to explore suggestions for surviving the pain of violence, empower users with information to help normalize the impact of violence, and de-stigmatize the process of seeking help."

The first cassette guides users in recognizing various forms of violence and their effects. The second cassette focuses on ending self-blame and helping the user break way from the violence. The third cassette offers the user a method to begin to take control of her own life. The fourth cassette is on learning to challenge negative thoughts and cope with negative feelings. The fifth cassette concentrates on future planing, healthy relationships, and being self-sufficient. The sixth cassette focuses on the ability to enjoy and celebrate life as well as help others.

For further information please contact Meenakshi Ahluwalia, meenakshi.ahluwalia@undp.org

Compiled from: "UNIFEM Self-Help Kit for Victims of Violence" Currents UNIFEM's Electronic Newsletter, September 2005.

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Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation: Who is Responsible? A European Women's Lobby Seminar
The European Women's Lobby will be conducting a seminar titled  Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation: Who is Responsible? on 14 October 2005 in London, England. The purpose of the seminar is to spur conversation on addressing the  driving forces behind the "demand side " of prostitution and trafficking.  The conversation will address individual responsibility of the men who use the services of trafficked women and on the governmental responsibility of addressing demand through legislation.  Sigma Huda, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking, is scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers at the seminar. 

The seminar will be held at the Thistle Hotel, Barbican – Room: Clerkenwell Suite, 120 Central Street, London EC1V 8DS.

For information and registration: ewl@womenlobby.org

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Online Discussion on Violence Against Women
The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) is hosting a three-week long on-line discussion on violence against women. The discussion will be held from 26 September 2005 to 14 October 2005. The discussion is being held at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw. The discussion is  a forum for people working on issues related to violence against women to inform the indepth study undertaken by the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution A/RES/58/185. The Secretary-General has been called on to address the forms and manifestations of violence against women.

Participants may contribute in English, Spanish or French. Participation in the discussion requires pre-registration. Registration is available at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/discussion.html

Compiled from:
"Galvanizing Action to Combat Violence Against Women," UN Division for the Advancement of Women, September 2005 (last accessed 26 October 2005)

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High Commissioner and Independent Expert Urge Stronger Efforts to Fight Violence Against Women in the Private Sphere
UNITED NATIONS

Press Release

HIGH COMMISSIONER AND INDEPENDENT EXPERT URGE STRONGER EFFORTS TO FIGHT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN PRIVATE SPHERE

24 November 2005

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence on 25 November, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, and the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk, call on Governments, the wider United Nations system and civil society to strengthen efforts to address violence against women in the private sphere.

Most violence against women is committed in realms which are less visible and open to State intervention. In every country of the world, men beat, mutilate, rape and murder their wives, daughters and other female relatives. In some countries, legislation explicitly legitimizes this violence. In many countries, there is no legislation specifically criminalizing violence against women perpetrated in the private sphere. Where there is legislation and policies to eradicate domestic violence, these are often not implemented, access to services (including social, medical, and legal services) is limited and the perpetrators are not held accountable and enjoy impunity. We urge States to challenge societal values that support discrimination against women and legitimize violence against them; adopt specific legislation addressing domestic violence and end impunity for crimes committed against women.

International law obliges States to prevent, investigate and punish all acts of violence against women, whether they are committed by private or State actors. Failure to meet this obligation is a violation of women's human rights. Police, members of the judiciary and the broader criminal justice system must ensure that gender justice becomes a reality. Women must have the broadest access to affordable social, health and legal services. In addressing the root causes of violence against women all forms of discrimination and unequal power hierarchies must be eliminated. Women's economic and political empowerment must be supported and gender roles which relegate women to an inferior status and make them vulnerable to violence must be continually challenged.

We recognize the efforts of Governments to take a strong stand in this context. We welcome the decisions of courts and tribunals that reflect progressive interpretations of international law. For example, gender-based persecution is increasing being recognized as grounds for asylum and more and more courts are recognizing marital rape as a crime. But this is not enough. There is a clear need for greater political will to prioritize violence against women as a fundamental human rights violation, which can be eliminated with appropriate dedication and resources.

We can celebrate the fact that the efforts of the past decade have brought awareness that violence is not a fate and have given hope to women in all corners of the world that it can be stopped. We must respond to that hope.

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Experts Agree to New Areas for “Aid Architecture” to Promote Gender Equality and Women’s Rights
Last week, at a three-day conference held by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the European Commission, some 130 gender equality experts identified new areas in need of “aid architecture” to promote gender equality and women’s rights. The conference recognized that women’s voices and concerns must be central to the processes of development assistance to achieve national ownership and accountability.

In an effort to remove gender inequalities and reduce poverty, the conference identified 5 necessary steps towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These five steps included: political forum, greater political leverage of gender equality groups, a secure knowledge base, accountability at the national and regional levels, and the simplification of key issues in promoting gender equality in human development.

At the conference, entitled “Owning Development: Promoting Gender Equality in New Modalities and Partnerships,” UNIFEM Executive Director Noleen Heyzer told delegates, “The new development architecture now taking shape represents a historic opportunity to invest in strategies that actually work. We need to recognize this and commit the resources needed to apply them broadly, especially in the world’s poorest countries.”

Lieve Fransen, head of the human and social development unit in the European Commission agreed with general consensus that action needs to be taken at the ground level, saying “there are things that we can do now. We don't need more research, we have money to do it now.”

Compiled from: Bianchi, Stefania, “Women Agree New Areas for Action,” Inter Press Service News Agency , (2005).

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Draft Version of VAWA Promises Increased Funding for Transitional and Permanent Housing for Women and Families Fleeing Domestic Violence
The 2005 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), currently awaiting approval by a Joint Committee of the House and Senate, promises $2.7 billion over the next five years. The current draft of VAWA increases attention and funding for victim outreach, assistance and prevention efforts. For the first time, VAWA authorizes $10 million to assist communities in creating permanent housing options for victims of domestic violence. Many battered women report that if they had not been able to find transitional housing they would have returned to their abusers. While the average length of stay is 60 days in an emergency homeless shelter, it usually takes between 6-10 months for a homeless family to secure housing. VAWA will also increase funding for transitional housing, health care services and securing employment leave for women who must miss work while moving or trying to make court appearances.

Compiled from: “Housing Buys Time for Women Fleeing Violence,” Women’s eNews (16 October 2005);
“Violence Against Women Act 2005 Title VI – Housing,” National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women;
“New Violence Bill to Give Programs More Funds,” Women’s eNews (29 July 2005).

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AWID Forum Ends with Closing Remarks Answering “How Does Change Happen?”
The Association for Women’s Rights and Development (AWID) International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development took place in Bangkok, Thailand from October 27 through October 30, 2005.  The Forum centered around the question “How does change happen?”  During the closing remarks for the conference, six women proposed elements of the answer.

The answers addressed several areas in which work is needed in order to accomplish change.  One of the panelists emphasized the analysis of the effect of economic policies on women.  A second mentioned the need to view HIV/AIDS as a global problem, rather than an African problem.  Others stressed areas such as sex and sexuality, the environment and food security, using the U.N. effectively, and demanding fair trade practices and economic policies.

The conference ended with optimism.  The closing report on the conference states, “[C]hange happens by unleashing the possibility and power that we all have to create a collective and embodied justice.”

Compiled from: "Final Plenary: How Does Change Happen? A Wrap-Up," Kathambi Kinoti, AWID , 30 October 2005.

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Fifth Anniversary of Landmark Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security
Since its adoption in October of 2000, Security Council Resolution 1325 has served as a catalyst for women around the world to mobilize their efforts to achieve equal participation. Women at the grassroots level in many conflict-ridden countries have used this resolution as an advocacy tool to lobby for their inclusion in peacebuilding and reconstruction processes in their countries, including in elections and constitution-making bodies.

At the recent World Summit held in September 2005, world leaders reiterated the importance of women's role in peacebuilding and the prevention and resolution of conflict, reaffirming their commitments to full implementation of resolution 1325. They also explicitly condemned "all violations of the human rights of women and girls in situations of armed conflict and the use of sexual exploitation, violence and abuse," and committed to "elaborating and implementing strategies to report on, prevent and punish gender-based violence."

While previous reviews of the level of implementation have revealed progress achieved in a number of areas, these reviews have also clearly shown that much stronger and coordinated efforts are needed to reach full implementation.  The United Nations Security Council recently condemned the continuing sexual abuse and violence against women during war. The Security Council also urged that more women should get the opportunity to participate in peace negotiations and peace-building activities (News24.com). 

With the aim of strengthening the commitment and accountability of the United Nations to gender equality, the UN issued a comprehensive plan October 18, 2005, for reinforcing and integrating women's issues into the world body's peacekeeping and post-conflict operations.  The new report, prepared by the Inter-Agency Task Force, tackles the broad application of gender equality as well as the protection of women through all phases of peacekeeping, humanitarian and post-conflict operations. The plan drew on contributions from 37 different UN agencies and provides a blueprint for action to deliver concrete changes in how they conduct their activities in coming years. 

Over the last five years, October has become a month of celebration and commemoration of women's efforts to build peace and resolve conflict, with hundreds of organizations (UNIFEM activities) around the world holding events and activities.

Also during October, a conference, chaired by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNIFEM, was held in New York, which brought together more than 40 experts in sexual violence prevention and treatment.  The meeting served as the launch for an agreed set of guidelines  for a coordinated approach to sexual violence prevention and care in emergency settings.

Compiled from:

Security Council Resolution 1325 Turns 5, Unifem Currents, UNIFEM, October 2005;
UN: Women victims of sex abuse, News24.com, October 28, 2005;
Facts and Figures: On Women, Peace and Security, UN Women Watch, October 2005.

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United Nations 2005 World Summit Document Directly Addresses Gender Equality

For the first time in a UN agreement at the level of Heads of State, the 2005 World Summit Outcome document included particularly detailed language on gender equality.  The specific language "we reaffirm that gender equality and the promotion and protection of the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all are essential to advance development and peace and security" is of special significance for women's rights advocates.

World leaders reiterated the importance of women's role in peacebuilding and the prevention and resolution of conflict, reaffirming their commitments to full implementation of resolution 1325. They also explicitly condemned "all violations of the human rights of women and girls in situations of armed conflict and the use of sexual exploitation, violence and abuse," and committed to "elaborating and implementing strategies to report on, prevent and punish gender-based violence."

 Compiled from: Beijing and Beyond, Women's Alert: a Gender Monitoring Group of the 2005 World Summit, October 12, 2005; Security Council Resolution 1325 Turns 5, UNIFEM, October 2005.

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U.S. Senate Takes Action on the UN Trafficking in Persons protocol
The Senate gave its advice and consent to ratify the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. The trafficking in persons (TIP) protocol supplements the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, and is an important component of the worldwide effort to combat modern-day slavery. It seeks to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and promote anti-trafficking cooperation among nations. According to Ambassador John R. Miller, the protocol will now be returned for President Bush's signature. Then, it must be counter-signed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and deposited at the UN.

Ending trafficking in persons is a U.S. priority. In addition to issuing the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which has helped generate tremendous government action globally, the U.S. has given nearly $300 million to anti-trafficking programs abroad in the past four years. It has also spent millions more on anti-trafficking efforts domestically, including stepping up prosecutions of traffickers and increasing assistance to victims of this crime. And it has strongly supported actions to increase attention to TIP in international organizations. The goal is abolition so that all people may enjoy freedom, health, and safety.

Compiled from: Ambassador John R. Miller letter, U.S. State Department, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, October 7, 2005.

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