15 June 2007

WILPF Monthly Update

Dear Section Presidents, IEC Members, International Affairs Representatives and Committee Convenors,

Greetings from the Geneva office! We hope that this mailing finds you well and that many of you will be attending the 29th WILPF International Congress in Bolivia.  Today is the last day to register for the Congress, so if you have not sent in your form yet, please do so now.

This mailing contains an update on the work that WILPF has been doing internationally.   Early next week we will be sending an update on Congress to all registered participants.

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. Please remember that you can find this, and past monthly mailings archived on the WILPF international website at: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/updates/up_index.htm

With best wishes,

Susi Snyder

This mailing contains the following information:

1. Suggested Vaccinations for Bolivia travelers
2. Saying “see you later” to Jennifer Nordstrom
3. Introduction to the Geneva Team
4. Update on the Human Rights Council, 5th Session
5. Update on Cluster Munitions and the Conference on Disarmament
6. Update related to Communications Committee, Organizational Development Committee and IPU
7. Update on Economic Justice Issues

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1. Suggested Vaccinations for Bolivia travelers

The World Health Organization in 2007 recommends the following vaccinations for those traveling to Bolivia.

Yellow fever
Country requirement
A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required from travelers coming from areas with risk of yellow fever transmission.
Recommendation
Yellow fever vaccine recommended for incoming travelers visiting risk areas such as the province of Beni, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, and the subtropical part of La Paz province. This does not include the cities of La Paz or Sucre.  Anyone traveling outside urban centres in yellow fever endemic areas should for their own protection be recommended to have the vaccine, irrespective of national requirements, which vary enormously and sometimes illogically, and are motivated mostly by prevention of importation. If it is legally required, you’d better have or you may not be able to enter. Bolivia doesn’t require it if you’re not coming from an endemic area (basically Amazonian Latina up to Panama, and equatorial Africa), and if you’re basically sitting in a major urban centre with minimal exposure to mosquitoes you probably don’t really need it (the same sneaky aggressive Aedes aegypti mosquito which lives in and around human habitation which transmits dengue can also transmit yellow fever, but urban/periurban yellow fever occurs mostly in Africa), unless you’re traveling elsewhere to places which require it. Be aware that the certificate of YF immunization is only valid from 10 days after you receive the vaccine, and valid for 10 years. The vaccine is extremely effective and though generally very safe there is a very small risk of severe adverse events (only a couple in a million), mainly in older folk (esp 70s).

Malaria
Risk
Malaria risk—predominantly due to P. vivax (95%)—exists throughout the year in the whole country below 2 500 m. Falciparum malaria occurs in Santa Cruz and in the northern departments of Beni and Pando, especially in the localities of Guayaramerín and Riberalta. P. falciparum resistant to chloroquine and sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine reported.
Prevention
Recommended prevention in risk areas: II; in Beni, Pando and Santa Cruz, IV.

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2. Saying “see you later”, a note from Jennifer Nordstrom

After two years with the Reaching Critical Will project, I will be leaving at the end of June. I am sure the Reaching Critical Will project will benefit from the leadership of another brilliant woman who will steer the work after my departure. This is important work, and there is no paucity of passionate people ready to take it on.

Working with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom has been such an important part of my life and my learning process, and for this I am grateful. The disarmament community has been a blessing to me, and a source of great growth. I plan to take these gifts with me as I travel on. I would like to thank all of RCW's friends and advisors, and I will see you when I return, in whatever manifestation that may be.

We will all miss Jennifer's energy and enthusiasm, her diplomatic and writing skills and especially her friendship as she takes the next steps on her journey. Jennifer, we will see you later.

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3. Introduction to the Geneva Team

Line Favre who already did a 3-month internship with us last summer has come back to work in Geneva in April and will stay until the end of August focusing on NGO Management. Her responsibilities include monitoring and linking the Communications and Organizational Development Committees with the International office. Line is French and she is finishing her master's degree that focuses on humanitarian issues and graduated with a degree in linguistics. She has volunteered both in Senegal and Guatemala. You can reach her at line@wilpf.ch.

Julia Federico started mid-January and will stay with us throughout 2007 focusing on Human Rights. Julia is a recent graduate of Women's Studies and Spanish from Temple University in the United States. She studied in Philadelphia, where she volunteered and interned at WILPF's US section national office during the summers of 2005 and 2006. Julia's studies focused on feminist resistance to patriarchal culture, including topics from women's sexuality to women challenging corporate power and government-sanctioned human rights abuses. Her range of experiences with activism include involvement with the Inside Out prison exchange program, Ladyfest Philly, Global AIDS Action Project, and ESL tutoring within the Latin American community. You can reach her at julia@wilpf.ch.

Camilla Riesenfeld started mid-April and will stay with us until the summer. She’s focusing on Fundraising and Economic Justice. Camilla is from Sweden and has a BA from the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. She is finishing her master’s thesis on Reconciliation in Post-conflict Countries based on a field study in Guatemala. Camilla has a minor in Latin American studies and has also done volunteer work at a women’s Cooperative in Honduras as well as at a returned refugee community in Guatemala. You can reach her at camilla@wilpf.ch.

We are very fortunate to be able to rely on such a dedicated and talented team and we are happy to let these great young women introduce their work directly to you below.

Marie & Susi

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4. Update on the Human Rights Council, 5th Session

The Human Rights Council met from June 11-18, and reviewed topics including racism as a political tool, toxic waste, the right to food, adequate housing, and the independence of judges and lawyers.  WILPF was active in this Council session in the following ways: a written statement on the nuclear weapons and toxic waste, and human rights situation in Haiti.  WILPF will co-sponsor an event, examining the Iraqi Tribunals from a human rights perspective, featuring the Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers. Aside from the Council, in May, WILPF submitted a paper to OHCHR for consideration with the mandate of “the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation.” Thanks to all who have dedicated time and energy towards these efforts! These developments will be posted shortly on the human rights section of the WILPF website.

Currently, changes are being made on the human rights webpage to make it more accessible and useful for human rights organizing.  HRC reports will be categorized thematically and posted alongside organizing tools.  Along this note, in response to the abundant resources that came from recent requests, we ask you to submit organizing tools, articles, and other resources on the following issues (racism, Middle East conflicts, women’s human rights protection, right to development, indigenous peoples, and corporate power) to Julia@wilpf.ch.  Please share these tools with us, as they could connect and support WILPF human rights work worldwide.

-- Julia Federico
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5. Update on Cluster Munitions and the Conference on Disarmament

ON LIMA AND CLUSTERS:
From 23-25 May 2007, over 250 participants from some 70 countries, 10 international organizations, and over 30 non-governmental organizations gathered in Lima, Peru to continue efforts to produce a legally binding instrument prohibiting the use of cluster munitions which pose unacceptable harm to civilians.
The Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions is the continuation of the process initiated in Oslo, from 23-25 February 2007, where 46 states signed a declaration pledging to negotiate a treaty on cluster munitions by 2008.
The Conference undoubtedly demonstrated the growing political will and momentum to work toward the negotiation of a treaty that will address and prevent the humanitarian suffering caused by the use of these indiscriminate and disproportionate weapons.
Katherine Harrison, WILPF disarmament intern in Geneva, represented WILPF at the Lima Conference and wrote a report on the events. You can read her report here (http://www.wilpf.int.ch/disarmament/ClusterMunitions/LIMA/limaindex.html  )

The campaign to ban cluster munitions is an extremely important opportunity for WILPF to engage in a disarmament process that has significant political support and momentum. WILPF can play a critical role in this process. We call on all of our sections to put pressure on their governments to participate in the Oslo Process, consider enacting national legislation banning cluster munitions, and attend the next meeting of the process in Vienna, from 5-7th December 2007. We call on our sections to raise awareness on this issue in civil society and wherever possible, in the media.

Please contact Katherine (katherine@wilpf.ch, +41 22 919 7080) with any questions or comments. With your help, WILPF can take action against cluster munitions and convey the message to all States that these inhumane weapons can no longer be tolerated and that civilian human life can no longer be measured on a theoretical scale.  

THE CD:

The Reaching Critical Will project of WILPF continues to monitor the Conference on Disarmament. Hopes that the Conference would adopt a program of work and thus end a decade of deadlock are waning as the second session of the Conference is drawing to a close. This year’s Presidents, the P6, have worked tirelessly to craft a proposal that would enable Member States to agree on a program of work. Despite the fact that the proposal, document L.1, represents a well-balanced and carefully constructed compromise, delegations continue to raise procedural and substantive concerns. The current CD President, Ambassador Bonnier of Sweden, has provided participants with a Complementary Presidential Statement to clarify the proposal. The amended L.1 document is now under consideration and is the last and final opportunity that the Conference will have to end the stalemate and begin the work it was created to do.  An action alert including tools to raise this issue in the media and with your foreign ministries is now available on the Reaching Critical Will website at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches07/reports.html#l1alert

- Katherine Harrison
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6. Update related to Communications Committee, Organizational Development Committee and IPU

Update from Line Favre about her work at the International office

About the Communication Committee
For several weeks, the Communication Committee has been working on one of our most important communication tools: WILPF’s International website. Indeed, the website needs to be restructured and modernized in order to better comply with our communication goals.
To further this, we met with professionals to talk about the changes we would like to make on our site: make it more dynamic, allow each section to manage/deal with their own webpage on the site, etc… We think we are in a good way of working regarding the website.
Also, as you all know and saw in the last section mailing, WILPF International printed a new brochure to be used as support for awareness and fundraising among the general public. Thereby, the Communication Committee decided to work on a membership leaflet which should be more useful to the national sections which are always looking for new members.

About the Organizational Development Committee
In April 2006, we sent to each section a questionnaire regarding membership. As only the UK section returned it and as we are still convinced that this kind of information can be useful for the Committee, you will find again the questionnaire below and we would be really grateful if you could fill it in and return it to the International secretariat.

Questionnaire about how you define membership in your section:

1. What are the requirements to become a member of your section?
2. What is your membership fee?
3. What are the duties and the rights of a member?
4. What does the section do for the members?
5. What does the member do for the section?
6. How does the section deal with membership renewals?
7. How does the section increase membership?
8. How high is membership development in the section’s priorities?
9. Additional information that you think is relevant?

Also, as part of the membership matter, Sheila Triggs, President of WILPF UK, wrote an article about reviving long-standing sections, which was published in the European Sections on-line newsletter at the end of 2006. A summary of this article can be found here http://www.wilpf.int.ch/section%20mailing/reviving_UK_section.html and we hope that you will feel inspired by it.

About IPU
We are about to make a complete update of the IPU subscribers. In that way, we will send to each section the list of IPU subscribers we have in our database and ask you to check it and make the appropriate changes.
We take this opportunity to remind the sections which have not already paid for the IPU 2007 subscriptions that they are invited to do so.

--Line Favre

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7. Update on Economic Justice Issues

The Global Economic Justice working group has been working on a statement on Regional Trade Agreements (RTA) that shortly will be available on the website under Economic Justice. So far 400 RTA’s are scheduled to be implemented by 2010. Among these, Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and partial scope agreements make up to over 90%, leaving customs unions less then 10%.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has adopted a theme for the 2008 UNCTAD XII Conference in Ghana, Accra: “Addressing the Opportunities and Challenges of Globalization for Development”.
The conference will focus on the dilemmas and negative impacts on globalization and the measures needed to address the consequences for development.
During an NGO Briefing on the preparations for the conference they welcomed contributions from civil society. In September the first preparation hearing to the conference will take place with a possibility for NGO’s to make contributions on the mentioned theme.

Since there is a need for a stronger gender presence and mainstreaming in the work of UNCTAD it would be great if WILPF can make a contribution so please submit any information you may have on the relevant issues to camilla@wilpf.ch .  Thank you!

-- Camilla Riesenfeld