for Peace and Freedom
Peace Disarmament Economic Justice Environment Racial Justice UN Human Rights Contact
| Women's International League
for Peace and Freedom |
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Peace Disarmament Economic Justice Environment Racial Justice UN Human Rights Contact |
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19 April 2006 Greetings from Geneva! Enclosed in this section mailing you will find the following information: As always, we welcome feedback and input to these monthly mailings. If you have something to contribute, please send it to susi.snyder@wilpf.ch no later than the 12th of each month. Also, you can find this, and past section mailings archived on the WILPF international website at: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/updates/sectionmailings.html With Best Wishes, Susi Snyder International Executive Committee Meeting 2006 Update We would like to sincerely thank the UK section of WILPF for their willingness to host our 2006 IEC meeting. The IEC meeting will begin on the afternoon of Friday, 8 September, and will conclude on the morning of 12 September. Details on registration, costs, agenda, and more will be sent soon. We will stay at Avery Hill, and more information about that location is below. Avery Hill- part of the University of Greenwich This campus (you can find more information here: http://www.gre.ac.uk/courses/about/cam_avery.html ) is located about twenty-five minutes from central London. The campus is an additional walk from the train station of 15-20 minutes, though there are lots of spaces for cars to park. There are approximately four trains per hour into London. At Avery Hill there are up to 100 rooms we can reserve for our use, neatly contrived into little suites, where 5-6 rooms converge on a small kitchen area. The price includes a large (Sheila described it as 'massive') meeting room (with enough space for us to set up stalls or tables and have them locked up each nite), breakout rooms, continental breakfast, two course lunch and dinner, and two tea/coffee breaks every day. They are used to dealing with lots of dietary needs, so vegetarian meals would not be a problem and are figured in.
Letter from the Communications Committee Let’s communicate! Communication is at the heart of WILPF’s work. We will not function or develop unless we communicate effectively with each other and with the wider world. As an international organisation having sections in many countries, with different languages, cultures and economic circumstances, we have particular problems keeping in touch and working together in our different ways but with our common goals. How can we overcome these? The officers and staff have this constantly in mind and the International Communications Committee aims to provide the practical ideas and the expertise that will help them to carry out their work for WILPF. The committee aims also to help the sections and individual members to overcome the geographical isolation and the unequal access to information experienced by some of our women and share more readily the good practice, inspiring work and successes of members in all sections. The committee has made a number of proposals: Translation Different language is one of the biggest obstacles WILPF has to good communication. As English is our working language those for whom it is the mother tongue have an unfair advantage and too readily forget the barriers created by this. WILPF is beginning to address this problem. We now have a basic simultaneous translation system for use at international meetings. But it is of limited use without a team of translators to operate it. We are hoping that International Peace Update will feature a summary of each article in Spanish, French and German. It would be good to extend this facility to all key documents issued by WILPF International. Translating material on the Peace Women website is a huge step forward. But professional translators are very expensive and beyond WILPF’s means. If this work is to expand we need to find volunteers within WILPF with the necessary language skills who will take their share of this area of work. WILPF websites These are a vital communications tool. The new initiative by Y-WILPF to set up a homepage is a really welcome development and we hope all members will visit it at http://www.youngwilpf.org/ But at the moment the maintenance of the WILPF International website is left to our overworked Secretary General. There must surely be a WILPF member somewhere with the know-how and time to take over this very important task. Using the media WILPF needs to be better known at local, national and international level and this means knowing how to use the modern media to our advantage. Some sections are better at this than others and this expertise needs to be shared, although the situation is different in every country. Some years ago a useful booklet was produced on using the media but it is not readily available now and in any case needs updating. The US Section has recently produced a media kit which is geared to the situation in the US and gives background information rather than tips on getting successful publicity. For more information contact Cynthia Minster on cjminster(at)gmail.com How can Sections help each other? Electronic communication is a big problem for some of our sections – uncertain electricity supply, intermittent telephone connections and lack of funds are a major cause of breakdown in communications between sections and between sections and the Geneva office. One way to help this is for a section which has the capacity to raise funds to provide practical help to those who have electronic problems. For instance the UK section was able recently, at their request, to send funds to the Sri Lanka section for them to purchase a basic but up-to-date computer – not a huge undertaking for the UK but potentially this could make a big difference to the work in Sri Lanka. Other ways to help each other are to exchange newsletters and publications, where there is a common language, to enable the cross-referencing of ideas and the sharing of information. Can you help? WILPF needs:
Is there anyone in your section who could help? Please spread the word and encourage them to contact Susi or the Communications Committee. Every offer is important, no matter how small. And finally, we need more members of WILPF’s International Communications Committee. The work of this committee is vital. At the moment it includes WILPF members from the Australian, Danish, Lebanese. Swedish, UK and US sections. We communicate by e-mail, meeting face-to-face only at IEC and Congress and are also seeking other ways to communicate to enable the committee to grow. We are all busy people in our professions, in our section and other voluntary work and in our personal lives. So what we can manage to do is limited. If there are people in your section who you think have the sort of skills we need, please invite them to join, or let us know about them. And if you’ve any other bright ideas for improving WILPF’s communications, please communicate them to us! Rosalie Huzzard Convenor, WILPF International Communications Committee rosalie.huzzard@btinternet.com From WILPF Member, and Philippine WILPF Co-Founder Liza Largoza-Maza, an appeal for support. Dear friends, Greetings of peace and freedom! I write this letter so you may know the political persecution that my political party, the Gabriela Women’s Party, and I are subjected to right now under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I write to you to appeal as well for your solidarity and support for our struggle for genuine freedom and democracy in our country. The Gabriela Women’s Party is the only women’s political party in the Philippines duly elected in the 2004 national and party list elections. I represent the Gabriela Women’s Party in the Philippine House of Representatives. Through this representation, the Gabriela Women’s Party consistently and steadfastly carried out our mandate to raise women’s concerns in Congress. I am one of the principal authors of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Children Act (RA 9208), co-author of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act (RA 9262), and sponsor of the Juvenile Justice bill that promotes restorative justice for children in conflict with the law. I also co-authored the measure to increase the minimum wage of workers and allowances of government employees and other pro-women legislations advancing specific concerns of women as enshrined in the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). My community projects, on the other hand address the needs and interest of women, children, youth and students. Our advocacy for women and children’s concerns extends to our opposition to government measures that bring further impoverishment and heightened repression to the marginalized sectors. Thus, the Gabriela Women’s Party stood strongly against the Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT), a lopsided national budget, and price increases of basic commodities. We opposed the policies of “no permit no rally”, warrantless arrests of political opposition, and the calibrated pre-emptive response as these curtail the rights to peaceful assembly and free expression. Our women’s party resisted the imposition of Executive Order 464 that virtually gagged Congress as heads of government agencies are not allowed by President Arroyo to attend Congressional investigations without her consent. Most importantly we dared question the legitimacy of President Arroyo who was subjected to impeachment complaint because she apparently cheated, lied and stole her way to the presidency. On February 24, 2006, President Arroyo issued Presidential Proclamation 1017, which placed the entire country under a state of national emergency. Following such proclamation, a crackdown on progressive organizations and media and curtailment of civil rights ensued. People’s demonstrations were violently dispersed. Because we challenged the policies and legitimacy of President Arroyo, we are now being subjected to political persecution by the Arroyo administration. The imminent threat to our freedom and security, forced me and my colleagues from other progressive partylists, Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casino and Joel Virador of Bayan Muna and Rep. Rafael Mariano of Anak Pawis Party, to seek the protective custody of the House of Representatives. The House unanimously adopted Resolution 1169 granting us protective custody and recognizing our rights to due process and against warrantless arrests and inquests. Meanwhile, Rep. Crispin Beltran, 73 years old, of Anak Pawis Party List was illegally arrested by the police and is now in detention. Other leaders of peoples’ organizations are also being pursued. Charges of rebellion were leveled against us. Even as PP 1017 was lifted, our movements remain restrained because of threats to our rights and lives. Despite this, we continue to assert our right to perform our functions as duly elected representatives of the marginalized sectors. On March 6, with the support of some members of the House and the Senate, I attended the Bicameral Conference on Juvenile Justice amid threats of imminent arrest without warrant. My action earned the ire of the police. The Philippine National Police (PNP) in clear disregard of the House’s protective custody filed a motion on March 7 at the Department of Justice (DOJ) demanding that our custody be transferred from the House of Representatives to the PNP to which our lawyers filed an opposition. In another attempt to harass us, DOJ changed the schedule and venue of our preliminary investigation from March 13 at 2p.m. to 10:00 a.m. on the same day that the investigation was to be held. We were informed of the changes ten minutes before the start of the investigation. The harassment against me and my colleagues as well as crackdown and summary execution of leaders and members of progressive organizations continues. President Arroyo is now moving to have a gallery of the so-called enemies of the state posted everywhere. This is a clear violation of the presumption of innocence and due process guaranteed under our Constitution. The President, the PNP and the Secretary of Justice have already prejudged us without even waiting for the outcome of the preliminary investigation. This is just the beginning of our ordeal. More difficulties will come our way. What gives me strength and inspiration at the moment is the knowledge that increasingly more and more women stand up with me against these grave violations of our civil, political, and human rights. Already on March 8, International Women’s Day, about 15,000 women marched on the business streets of Ayala, Makati, demanding an end to repression, tyranny, harassment and political persecution of Rep. Liza Largoza Maza and the Gabriela Women’s Party. Women from other countries are protesting against these blatant violations of civil and political rights as well. It is my fervent hope that you will be a part of the campaign to firmly oppose the ongoing political persecution against us. I appeal for your support and solidarity to uphold our women’s rights to political participation and governance as well as protest against violations of civil and democratic rights of our people. Let us join hands in working for genuine freedom, democracy and just peace in the Philippines and the world. My sincerest thanks for your solidarity and support. Reminder & Request: Chernobyl Activity Reports Historically, WILPF has been very active on the issue of Nuclear Energy. In 1986 at our 23rd International Congress at Zeist, Netherlands, we adopted the following resolution: Environment and Nuclear Energy Following accidents at nuclear power stations, WILPF is aware that the production of nuclear power, whether for civil or military use, is a global concern, and that the human race has neither sufficient knowledge about nuclear energy nor sufficient wisdom to use it responsibly. The lasting effects of atomic bombings and tests are destructive of the environment and of human life and peace of mind, while the production, use and disposal problems related to nuclear energy threaten life and future generations and cannot be eliminated by legislation and safety measures. The production of nuclear energy is related to arms manufacture since the plutonium required for nuclear weapons is a by-product of the industrial cycle. The Twenty-Third International Congress of WILPF, meeting at Zeist, the Netherlands, 23-29 July 1986, A. Calls upon all WILPF sections to press their governments
B. Further calls upon all governments and the international community
C. Calls on the United Nations and all governments
Twenty years later, we are still working to oppose nuclear power, to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and to bring global attention to the dangers of nuclear energy. A number of WILPF sections are holding events from this 20th anniversary (a listing is available here: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/events/2006Chernobyl.htm ) The office in Geneva would really like to make the materials and information that you have put together for your events (in whatever language you have it) available for other sections and members around the world. We would also like to feature highlights and reports from these events, and share them with the global networks organising to stop nuclear energy. We look forward to receiving your information. 1) Seven Parties Alliance has declared to observe a four day long nation-wide General Strike from April 6 to 9,006.On April 03, CPN(Maoist) declared a cessation of their armed actions in KTM valley during the general strike, until their next decision. King Gyanendra's government has been imposing restrictions upon the peaceful activities of people. They have restricted the incoming of common people into the Kathmandu valley without getting pass from the concerning Chief District Officer, imposed curfews on all roads leading to capital city Kathmandu during night (21 to 04 hrs) and on April 4 they declared the area within the ring-road of Kathmandu,a prohibited zone where no agitation is allowed. They are tightening the situation. A great confrontation seems ahead. (April 4,006). 2)First two days of 4 day long (April 6-9)General Strike & protests were successful despite the strong repressive measures of the govt. From the first day, in addition to the previous measures,they have been imposing curfew orders even within Kathmandu from 21 to 04 hrs daily. Seven Parties Alliance had planned a large peaceful rally in KTM for April 08, but right now at 07hrs, the home-ministry clamped down curfew orders from 10 to 21 hrs. Besides such measures, govt has been using police as well as army to foil the gs and to suppress the protesters. They arrested more than 400 agitators in the first day and more than 200 in the second day. They used lathi-charge, tear-gas cells, blank-fires,arrests to suppress the masses in Kathmandu as well as in other parts of the country. Maoists are escalating their armed actions against the govt positions in different parts of the country despite of their declaration (April 03)of stopping all armed actions in KTM until their next decision. They attacked on Malangawa,the district headquarters of Sarlahi district of Janakpur Zone in the evening of April 05 and on Butwal of Rupandehi district and Taulihawa, the headquarters of Kapilvastu district in the evening of April 07 and inflicted heavy losses on the govt side. Govt has been maligning the gs as a joint venture of Maoist and together with this, it is trying to use these armed attacks as good pretexts to suppress the movement violently. Despites of all these developments,seven party alliance is determined to push the movement ahead until the goal set in the joint declaration of May 08,005 is achieved. The goal is to end the feudal monarchical autocracy and establish democracy with people's sovereignty and progressive changes of the society. Women of Nepal are actively participating in the ongoing democratic movement. We have a coalition of women having affiliation with different political parties. It is mobilising Nepalese women in the movement. Members of Nepal Section WILPF are also in the movement. Presently,the masses of Ktm,Lalitpur and Bhaktapur are daring to defy the curfew orders. They are gathering into different points of the cities and confronting the security forces. Let's see what will go onwards ! See you in next mails. Sincerely Yours, Report from the WILPF delegation to the World Social Forum Foro Social Mundial Porque Otro mundo es posible… Reporte: Foro Social Mundial: Un encuentro para la Resistencia. I. Presentation Se realizó en Caracas, el pasado mes de enero el IV Foro Social Mundial, una convocatoria más, en que la diversidad de miles de personas y pueblos, se hizo presente para expresar con una fuerza profunda su desacuerdo con el actual sistema político y económico que se maneja actualmente en el mundo. El Foro se ha ido constituyendo como el espacio alternativo del mundo mas importante del actual momento historico de los movimentos sociales que luchan por la plena vigencia de los derechos humanos. Para esta versión el VI Foro Social Mundial desarrollaron los siguientes ejes de análisis y reflexión. 1. Poder, política y luchas por la emancipación social: 2. Estrategias imperiales y resistencias de los pueblos: 3. Recursos y derechos para la vida. Alternativas al módelo civilizatorio depredador: 4. Diversidades, identidades y cosmovisiones en movimiento: 5. Trabajo, explotación y reproducción de la vida: 6. Comunicación, culturas y educación: dinámicas y alternativas democratizadoras: II. Resultados de la participacion de Limpal Colombia 1. Participación en el panel sobre la Resolución 1325 a partir de los logros y dificultades de su implementacion en Colombia. Esta participacion tambien nos permitió intercambiar ideas con otras mujeres del mundo acerca de formas creativas de implementacion y seguimiento. 2. Limpal Colombia realizó contactos con diferentes organizaciones y personas para fortalecer su trabajo politico en Colombia y realizo una importante labor de diffusion de la resolución sobre Colombia aprobada en el ultimo IEC. 3. LIMPAL Colombia promovió la Conferencia Internacional de Paz- Cuba 2006 en diferentes espacios y tuvo la oportunidad de intercambiar ideas con la coordinadora Gitti Baldauf sobre este compromiso de Limpal Internacional. 4. La participacion de Limpal Colombia ha sido evaluada como sobresaliente dado que todos los objetivos propuestos fuéron cumplidos aportando a la participación exitosa de toda la delegacion de WILPF Internacional presente. III. Conclusiones Generales Nuevamente, temas problema, como el saquéo estratégico a los recursos naturales, especialmente petróleo y gas, la destrucción acelerada y continua del planeta donde su aire, sus mares, sus ríos, están siendo envenenados ante los crecientes niveles de contaminación de la industria pesada y el tránsito vehicular que repercuten en la capa de ozono, causando transtornos climatológicos que cada vez son más fuertes y frecuentes, la destrucción paulatina y soterrada de bosques nativos y la incapacidad de sostener la vida que de ellos depende, las políticas desacertadas y orientadas a la concentración de poder y riqueza en particular de las corporaciones transnacionales globalizadas y los intereses egoistas del sistema financiero internacional, la implementación perversa del modelo económico neoliberal, ocasionando destrucción, donde diariamente son eliminados miles de seres humanos por haber sido sometidos a la pobreza y enfermedades normalmente curables, las hambrunas que siguen presentándose, el desempleo y el empleo precario, las desigualdades y la polarización económica y social que son cada día mas graves, fueron algunos de los temas que generaron acalorados debates entre los participantes. A lo anterior se sumaron discusiones conceptuales y políticas de otros temas como neoliberalismo terrorista, neoliberalismo patriarcal, terrorismo de estado, imperialismo, globalización como apartheid, democracia, socialismo, entre muchos otros, a la luz del actual contexto internacional que se vive. Resistir y continuar el diálogo y el encuentro, en este y otros espacios semejantes, para seguir construyendo un modelo alternativo, es el reto para quienes consideramos que otro mundo es posible. Y otro mundo es posible si empezamos cambiando nuestro pensamiento individualista, sexista y consumidor. Una de las características de la agenda es el análisis de vías alternas para enfrentar el proceso neoliberal, en un momento en que como nunca antes en los últimos años se perfila en América del Sur un frente que se aparta del eje económico predominante. En su esencia el movimiento de los foros sociales mundiales, representa no solo una reacción a los foros económicos de las potencias dominantes, sino también expresión de la posibilidad de globalizar la sociedad por los de abajo. El foro demuestra que hay una sociedad global que hay que atender. No la globalización económica que lleva la economía. Estamos hablando de algo social. Nosotros somos una parte de la globalización Frente al avance en la implementación de las políticas neoliberales en todo el mundo, existe una tendencia cada vez más marcada que el “Estado mínimo” se ocupe exclusivamente de garantizar la justicia, seguridad y defensa ciudadana. Los acelerados procesos de privatización y mercantilización de los servicios sociales en la región, en un contexto de agudización de la pobreza y profunda desigualdad social impacta en la vulneración y violación sistemática de los derechos de las mujeres principalmente. Las crecientes desigualdades de género en materia económica, social y cultural, arraigada en la historia, la tradición, la cultura, exigen seguir profundizando en la búsqueda de nuevas estrategias de exigibilidad y justiciabilidad de los DESC en el marco del sistema democrático para garantizar el acceso y goce pleno de estos derechos Al cierre de las actividades podemos decir que encontramos resultados positivos, hemos estrechado vínculos y relaciones con otras instituciones de la sociedad civil, involucrándonos en los procesos intergubernamentales en los que nos hemos propuesto incidir. Nos permitimos reafirmar que la exigibilidad, justiciabilidad y vigencia de los derchos de las mujeres exige el cumplimiento de leyes, decretos y declaraciones internacionales y el establecimiento de mecanismos para la eliminación de todos los obstáculos para su efectivo goce, para ello es necesario potenciar las acciones de capacitación, monitoreo, lobby y advocacy, que apunten a incidir en el plano local, nacional, regional e internacional. Consideramos que este proceso exige la revisión del modelo de desarrollo de cara a un modelo económico humano y sustentable que priorice el irrestricto respeto, protección y goce de los derechos humanos con enfoque de género como sustento ético y político primordial. Cordialmente,
Fun with Fundraising- this month- UN Democracy Fund Funding Opportunity for Democracy Related Activities The UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) will accept proposals from April 15, 2006 to May 15, 2006 for one or two-year long projects that bring about measurable and tangible improvements in democracy and human rights. Grants range from $50,000 to $500,000. Proposals must integrate gender issues and clearly demonstrate the greater participation of women as one of the project’s fundamental objectives. Projects that incorporate partnerships with UN agencies stand a greater chance of being accepted. The application form is simple, but must be submitted via the internet. If your access to the internet is limited seek out a UN agency as they are partners in this initiative. Projects that are approved for funding will be notified by August 1, 2006, when you will have to submit a more detailed project description. Submission guidelines: Once the application is successfully submitted online, the system will generate an electronic receipt, which must be saved for future reference. The UNDEF Secretariat will contact the applicant directly if more information is required. Strong preference will be given to proposals for countries and regions where the difficulties of democracy are more critical and pervasive. Projects that take place in a single country will be given preference but must be accompanied by an endorsement from the United Nations Resident Coordinator. Proposals for more regional or global projects will also be considered (only 20% of the funding available for these initiatives). Read more at: www.un.org/democracyfund Access the online application and funding guidelines at: http://www.undemocracyfund.org/submit.html The following activities are eligible for funding - Strengthening democratic dialogue and support for constitutional processes (interaction between the people and the state, fostering national dialogue on democracy, reconciliation between diverse groups, democratic oversight of the military, and constitutional development); Civil society empowerment (enabling stronger engagement in democratic processes-referenda, voting and engagement of civil society with the State); Civic education, voter registration and strengthening of political parties (activities must be neutral but can support CSO and party capacity to develop broad-based and people-responsive platforms that enhance popular engagement in democratic processes); Citizen’s access to information (improved quality and dissemination of information on government decisions and spending patterns, legal reform to strengthen the right to information); Human rights and fundamental freedoms (human rights education and access to justice by marginalized groups); Accountability, transparency and integrity (reform of accountability systems, strengthening public agencies in charge of expenditure and income oversight, parliamentary scrutiny of executive branch of government, support to watchdog groups, and the media, increasing transparency in public and private financial management).
Request: How do you define membership in your section?
marie |
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