Dear WILPF Members and Friends,

Preparations are intensifying for the 2010 International Board meeting. The secretariat is preparing documents for the Board to review and make decisions on.  Sections, working groups and committees are writing reports on their activities since the last board meeting and discussing their strategic priorities for the next period until the Congress (currently scheduled for July/August 2011).  All of this will culminate in a flurry of documents received by the secretariat no later than 10 October, which will then be distributed to all IB members as soon as possible thereafter.    In addition, invitations have been sent to notable speakers Arundhati Roy and Vandana Shiva to address our political seminar. 

Of course not all of the work of the international offices is internal, and WILPF continues to advocate for a world of peace and freedom through a number of international fora.  Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will project director has provided an analysis of the current draft UN Security Council Resolution expected to emerge from the 24 September summit on nuclear disarmament and non proliferation.  Sam Cook, PeaceWomen project director was able to cheer in success after more than three years of intensive work to establish a new women’s entity in the UN.  The Geneva team has offered statements to the Human Rights Council on such diverse issues as the failure to protect residents in the Iraqi Camp Ashraf, the human right to water, military spending and more. 

WILPF commemorated the International Day of Peace by issuing a statement on the day, and also by participating in a series of events taking place around the world.  Representing WILPF as Secretary General, I have spoken at four different events in the last several days, including the Geneva UN Office’s official commemoration of the day, as well as an Expert Roundtable, a local public event, and a disarmament seminar for youth leaders.   Currently we’re looking ahead to the Economic Commission for Europe’s consultation on the 15th Review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (2-3 November) and the Copenhagen Climate Summit (early December).

As always, WILPF’s work continues our work in many ways around the globe.  I look forward to hearing from each of our sections in advance of the board meeting, and working with you to continue building WILPF.

Warm greetings,

Susi Snyder

Included in this WILPF International update you will find:

1. UN General Assembly Opens- WILPF Resources on Disarmament, Women, Peace and Security
2. UN General Assembly agrees establish single new agency to deal with rights of women
3. Building WILPF in Mexico, Trip Report by Amparo Guerrero WILPF International Vice President
4. Keep Space for Peace Week
5. International Day Of Peace Activities, French Polynesia (en français)

As always, we welcome feedback and input to these mailings.  If you have something to contribute to the next mailing, please send it to susi.snyder@wilpf.ch with “For International Update” clearly marked in the subject line.
For the complete mailing as a web document, click here.
For the complete mailing as a printer friendly PDF, click here.
Past updates are archived on the website at: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/updates/,

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UN General Assembly Opens-
WILPF Resources on Disarmament, Women, Peace and Security

This morning the UN General Assembly began its general debate, with heads of state and foreign ministers delivering statements on their policies and priorities on a broad range of issues for the year ahead. Reaching Critical Will and PeaceWomen will be monitoring these statements and creating an index of all references made to issues of disarmament and gender, respectively.

As the debate continues, please keep an eye on RCW's Disarmament Index (searchable both by country and topic) and PeaceWomen's Gender Index.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the session morning; here are his remarks related to disarmament and gender:
“...let this be the year that nations united to free our world of nuclear weapons. For too long, this great cause has lain dormant. That is why, last October, I proposed a 5-point plan for putting disarmament back on the global agenda. And now the international climate is changing. The Russian Federation and the United States have pledged to cut their nuclear arsenals. This coming May, at the UN Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we have opportunity to push for real progress.
Tomorrow’s historic Security Council summit—chaired by the President of the United States, with us for the first time—offers a fresh start. With action now, we can get the ratifications to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force. Together, let us make this the year we agreed to banish the bomb.”
“In the Democratic Republic of Congo, I met an 18-year-old girl raped by soldiers. Her hope for a new life is the United Nations.”

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UN to establish single new agency to deal with rights of women

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32066&Cr=women&Cr1=

This was a major success for WILPF's PeaceWomen Project which has been working for more than three years with other organizations here in New York and elsewhere to push for this important dimension of UN system-wide reform -- hats off to PeaceWomen's Director Sam Cook for all her good work as part of the GEAR-NY [Gender Equality Architecture Reform-New York] Lobbying Group!

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Building WILPF in Mexico
Trip Report by Amparo Guerrero WILPF International Vice President

Amparo had three meetings with the core group of nine women and three men interested in forming a WILPF Mexico section. In these meetings, I presented the history of WILPF, showed the movie Train to Peace (about WILPF’s participation in the 4th International World Conference of Women in Beijing in 1995). I discussed UN Resolutions 1325 and 1820, reviewed the WILPF Constitution and by-laws, introduced WILPF’s current program and explained the process by which a core group forms a national WILPF section. 

The participants were extremely enthusiastic and interested in these presentations. The group is composed of professionals, university students, two husbands of members and a young feminist male student. 

We also developed a work plan for the group that included: doing outreach to obtain more members; studying the program and Constitution; exploring the issues they will work on as a section in the context of Mexico’s social and political reality; deciding on the type of legal entity that they want form and developing their own by-laws and constitution.

Members of this core group also participated in the meetings I had with the Puebla State government officials and NGOs.

The rest of this report can be found on the WILPF website.

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Keep Space for Peace Week
Each year, civil society celebrates the UN's World Space Week by holding events across the world marking Keep Space for Peace Week through days of protest against the militarization of outer space. Check out the official website for events near you, or post your event on the site. Download posters and advertisements and find speakers or entertainers for your events.
For more information on the militarization and weaponization of outer space, see Reaching Critical Will’s resources on preventing an arms race in outer space (PAROS). Also consider joining the PAROS Working Group, hosted jointly by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.

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Journée internationale de la Paix

Communiqué

Dans le cadre de la journée internationale de la Paix le 21 septembre 2009, la Section polynésienne de la Ligue internationale des Femmes pour la Paix et la Liberté (LIFPL) dénonce l’attitude irresponsable de certains élus politiques et de leur administration qui tuent la Paix sociale dans le Pays.

En effet, force est de constater que dans notre société polynésienne des élus politiques et des fonctionnaires sont persuadés que le peuple doit être à leur service, alors que de par leurs fonctions ce sont eux qui doivent être au service du Peuple.

-Abus de confiance, Détournements de fonds publics,Emplois fictifs,
-Licenciements inexistants, Harcèlement au travail,
-Carence de structures et de prise en charge pour les femmes battues, les hommes mal traitants, les enfants prostitués, les enfants en souffrance mentale, les personnes âgées abandonnées, les mineurs délinquants, les alcooliques et toxicomanes,
sont de véritables « virus » de la violence que laissent se propager dans la société polynésienne les élus politiques qui sont plus préoccupés par le maintien de leurs privilèges particuliers que par l’intérêt général du Pays. 

Pire lorsque le Président du Pays donne des ordres pour faire respecter l’Etat de droit (comme par exemple pour la réintégration des travailleurs victimes de licenciement inexistant), ces propres ministres lui désobéissent !

Oui, certains élus politiques et leur Administration sont coupables de dilapider les 160 milliards de francs CFP donnés annuellement au peuple Polynésien par la France.

Oui, la Liberté des Polynésiens n’est pas une réalité, car beaucoup de nos frères et sœurs sont terrorisés par le sort que leur réserve les néo-colonisateurs politiques et leurs fonctionnaires s’ils se rebellent. 

Oui, la Paix sociale en Polynésie est en danger, car la « bombe humaine » générée par la souffrance et la frustration des exclus et des opprimés sera plus destructrice pour l’avenir de nos enfants que les essais nucléaires.

La Ligue demande audience auprès du Président de l’Assemblée de la Polynésie et auprès du Président du Pays afin que ces derniers mettent en place en urgence la législation, les structures et les moyens de contrôle garantissant la protection de la Paix sociale et un avenir serein pour nos familles.

La Présidente de la Ligue La secrétaire générale de la Ligue

Roti MAKE Hinano BESSALEM