Section Report 2002

The main activities carried out during the last year have been the following:

United Nations –Food and Agriculture Organisation

Continuing the permanent activity of observation at the FAO, from September 2001 to today, our members attended regularly the Ad Hoc Group of NGOs meetings and paid a big attention to the inside work of the Committees on Agriculture, the Food Security and World Food Summit + 5 Committees, etc.)  Patrizia Sterpetti is going to leave her charge of permanent observer at FAO within this year.  She will be replaced by our friend Ursula Stelzer.

European Social Forum

WILPF Italy attended the G8 Genoa Social Forum. We have been very active in the SF network at national level taking part especially in the Migrant Forum and the FAO-WTO Forum.

The Migrant Forum network has opposed strongly to the new repressive law approved by the right hand government imposing a special card for immigrant peoples through fingerprints. 

In the field of our engagement in defence of the rights of the immigrants we lent special attention to two cases:

·         as in Rome a bidonville where peoples from Morocco lived was destroyed by an arson which deprived them of their lodgings, we  in collaboration with other associations and the Rome University   activated a negotiation with the City of Rome in order to define a project of new buildings for the foreign citizens. 

·         in Florence we supported the protests against the overthrow of a refugees camp where peoples from the former Yugoslavia lived. 

We actively are taking part in the prep-com of the SFE that will be held in Florence next November. 

Women’s World March

We continue to take part in the Italian Committee of the Women’s World March and we followed regularly its activity in Rome and in other Italian towns. 

Human Rights and Peace

From much time WILPF Italy is paying a big attention to the vicende of Sahrawi People whose rights are violated by Morocco .  We are keeping in touch with the representatives of RASD in Italy .  In December our friend Paola Cecchi took part to a journey in the Sahrawi Refugees Camps in Algeria . 

We also participate in all the local initiatives supporting the Palestinian people’s rights and peace in Middle East , the Kurdistan people’s rights and in general of the peoples’ violated rights. 

Civil rights

Together with the other Women associations in Italy , WILPF has strongly opposed to the Law on Fertilization approved by the Government, that is denying the women’s self-determination by attributing legal status to the foetus and nullifying de facto the law on the voluntary interruption of the pregnancy. 

Finally, WILPF Italy is a part of the Consortium of Associations that has created the International House of Women in the ancient building of the Buon Pastore Convent in the heart of Rome , restored with the contribution of the Municipality. 

Address: Casa Internazionale delle Donne, via della Lungara 19, 00165 Roma

Email: cciddonne(at)tiscalinet.it

www.casainternazionaledelledonne.org

WILPF Italy shares one of the rooms of the building and is supporting the project “Archivia” that has been promoted by the International House’s Library by supplying with relevant materials about WILPF’s activities in the world.