Background Many women and women’s organisations participated in CSW 57 – as official delegates ‘inside’ the UN and as members of NGOs in side events and (sometimes) observers at the official discussion and debate on ‘Ending Violence against Women &…
Tag: Women’s History Month
CSW 57 – UN Women on Draft Agreed Conclusions
By adopting this document, governments have made clear that discrimination and violence against women and girls has no place in the 21st century. They have reaffirmed their commitment and responsibility to undertake concrete action to end violence against women and girls and promote and protect women?s human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Arab Women’s Caucus, UN Commission on the Status of Women – CSW 57
We, as non-governmental organizations, struggle on a daily basis to provide sexual and reproductive health services, reform laws that discriminate or violate human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, provide comprehensive sexuality education, combat violence against women and girls, including marital rape and sexual abuse, reach out to and protect groups who have been marginalized and minoritised on the basis of their ethnicity, religious sect/and or sexual orientation and gender identity, and break the cultural and societal taboos associated with sexuality.
CSW 57 African Women’s Caucus Statement
Women’s Human Rights are non-negotiable and in this regard, we reaffirm the commitments made by UN Member states in the Beijing Platform for Action; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the United Nations General Assembly Resolution to Ban Female Genital Mutilation; United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and its supporting resolutions; and those reflected in African regional instruments such as the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.
Abigail Chew – The Wartime Letters
The distance could be frustrating … With no sure way to deliver letters rapidly, if indeed they ever reached their destination at all, weeks could pass before news arrived home. In a half-scolding, half-teasing way, Abigail expressed her frustrations at visiting the post office, only to find there were no letters waiting for her: “What must I think of your uncommon silence – neglect, I will not think it – you have never before given me cause to complain so justly- 3 weeks on Tuesday since you left & only one short letter of etiquette – surely I have not become less dear to you since your return from the Harbour – no my dear husband, I think too well of myself, to suppose your affection will cool easily- I must still think there is a detention of the mails & hope tomorrow will be more propitious.” The hoped for letters came a few days later …
Virginia Hall – Spy as Hero
… refusing to give up her dreams, and despite a number of obstacles, Virginia Hall persevered, eventually putting herself in a place to change history. She wanted more than anything to serve her country by stopping the German war machine as it made its way through Europe. Her applications to be in the Foreign Service were turned down over and over. Consistently rejected because of her disability and her gender, Virginia was not a woman who took no for an answer. A “no” for Virginia really meant “look for another way.”
The Smith Sisters of Sierra Leone – West African Nurses Extraordinaire
… the Smith sisters descended from a famous Mandingo/Bambara re-captive woman, the feisty, flamboyant, wealthy, illiterate merchant Betsy Carew, rescued from a westbound slave ship and set free in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Her husband, Thomas Carew, the Smith’s great grandfather, was a Maroon whose ancestors were exiled to Nova Scotia from Jamaica, then shipped to Sierra Leone. The marriage caused much controversy in the emerging bourgeoisie settler community which was made up of African-American Nova Scotians (that had fought on the British side during the American war of independence) and Maroon Nova Scotians who did not take kindly to illiterate re-captives (liberated slaves) marrying into their community.
CSW 57 – Indigenous Women Unite Against Violence Against Women!
In some regions Indigenous cultural practices still take place, such as female genital mutilation, and forced early marriages, where girls are denied formal education. As Kenyan representative Agnes Leina said, “We are not saying we should get rid of our culture, we love it, but who wants to be illiterate?” The Indigenous women of CSW are calling for support for the positive aspects of their traditional cultures and to leave behind the aspects that are detrimental to the rights of Indigenous women.
CSW 57 – Women Call for Nation States’ Commitment
We strongly demand all governments and the international community to reject any attempt to invoke traditional values or morals to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law, nor to limit their scope. Customs, tradition or religious considerations must not be tolerated to justify discrimination and violence against women and girls whether committed by State authorities or by non-state actors.