Civil Society: Taking Steps to Ensure Accountability

1. EDITORIAL
Sam Cook

The question is often asked: “What is being done to ensure accountability for the implementation of Resolutions 1325 and 1820?” There is no easy answer to this question. In this edition of the PeaceWomen E-News we highlight the efforts of women, peace and security advocates in the NGO sector who are working to ensure better accountability in very concrete ways. This edition's news section (Item 2) reveals the ongoing need to address the interests and needs of women in conflict. Sexual violence continues almost unabated and women are still struggling to have their voices heard in the halls of power. These stories also reveal that there are many areas of activity and progress and many “implementation” efforts being pursued. And it is the case that much progress has been made in the years since Resolution 1325 was adopted. But, trying to get an idea of the overall state of implementation, even within the UN system itself, is an almost impossible task. There is an impression of uncoordinated and ad hoc (albeit positive) action. A first step towards ensuring accountability is ensuring that information on implementation efforts is easily available; that these efforts are coordinated and strategic; and that their results are tracked. As we move through the final months of this session of the General Assembly, we hope to see significant progress made by governments towards finally establishing a new UN entity for women that would go some way towards improving this situation. Although establishing such an entity is an essential step, it does not go all the way to ensuring that governments and the UN itself meet their commitments to women – such as those expressed in Resolutions 1325 and 1820. The real question becomes, “what happens when these commitments are not met?” Of course women are negatively impacted. But for decision-makers and the bearers of the obligations in 1325 and 1820, the consequences of non-implementation are almost non-existent.

Civil Society plays a vital role in the drive to bring the consequences for non-implementation back to those in power. An important part of this is ensuring that women's voices and the issues women face are brought forward. For many years the mainstream media has almost entirely ignored news on women, peace and security issues. This has begun to change and the recently launched IPS Gender Wire - seen in our Feature Initiatives section (Item 5) - is a significant step forward. Another laudable initiative featured here is The Physicians for Human Rights Blog: Darfur Women Speak – that seeks to bring to the fore the voices of Darfuri women living in the Farchana Refugee Camp in eastern Chad.

Information on the issues faced by women is, however, only one of the ways in which civil society is working to ensure accountability. Our NGOWG Update (Item 7) highlights a recent panel presenting information on sexual violence in conflict and its perpetrators. This event included an useful discussion on how this information can be used in ways that move forward the implementation of Resolutions 1325 and 1820.

The GAPS Global Monitoring Checklist on Women Peace and Security in our Feature Resources section (Item 4) tackles the problem of implementation of 1325 head on. This resource – to which WILPF contributed – provides information on women, peace and security issues in country-specific situations as well as tools to drive implementation. It is hoped that women peace and security advocates use this tool to demand accountability by governments and member states. It is vital to let these actors know that civil-society is watching, keeping track and responding.

The need for civil society to play this watchdog role is nowhere more clear than in our Feature Letter (Item 3) from Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice and supported by 65 NGOS in the eastern DRC. This letter to the UN Secretary-General is a reminder of the need for peace talks and related agreements – especially those sponsored by the UN – to comply with Resolutions 1325 and 1820. Firstly, women must be included in peace processes. In addition, every part of these agreements – from amnesty provisions to the integration of former militia in national military and police forces – must take into account the interests and needs of women. It is not enough that there is agreement on this in the abstract or when making statements in UN meetings. Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice rightly criticizes the recent peace agreement between the government of the DRC and the CNDP for failing to live up to the commitments in those resolutions. It is in the context of actual agreements, when the experiences and interests of real women are at stake that these commitments matter. Rhetoric is just that if nobody bothers to think about and push for these things before signing a peace agreement that brings anything but peace for women.

It is hoped that at some point the UN and governments themselves will consistently and systematically ensure that peace processes, peace agreements and related processes and mechanisms comply with international law – including Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820. Civil society monitoring should not be treated as an easy substitute for formal systems of accountability – but for now its what we have and must be supported.

2. WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY NEWS

SOUTH SUDAN: WOMEN READY TO TAKE THEIR PLACE
June 24, 2009 - (IPS) When the women of South Sudan welcomed the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, they were cognizant of the fact that true democracy will be realised only when their human rights are realised.

SOUTH AFRICA: COUNTRY NEEDS MORE WOMEN ON THE BENCH - JUDGE O'REGAN
June 24, 2009 — (allAfrica) South Africa needs to break "old-boy" barriers and appoint more women on the bench, one of the country's respected legal minds and Constitutional Court Judge, Kate O'Regan said on Tuesday.

UN EXPERTS TACKLE ‘CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE' OVER SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN WARTIME
June 24, 2009 (UN News Centre) Women's rights activists, senior military figures and top United Nations officials met in New York this week to discuss what the world body's former humanitarian chief Jan Egeland described as “one of the biggest conspiracies of silence in history” – the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

WILL WOMEN BE AN AFTERTHOUGHT AT U.N. CRISIS MEET?
June 23, 2009 - (IPS) A groundbreaking U.N. General Assembly conference on the global economic crisis and its impact on development, set to begin Wednesday, may sideline women's numerous concerns, civil society groups say.

SUDAN: DEMINING NOT JUST A MAN'S JOB
June 23, 2009 - (IRIN) The whistle signalling the end of the morning shift had just sounded when six deminers emerged from the tall grass, took off their protective clothing and walked back to the rest camp for lunch.

KENYA: MT ELGON WOMEN STILL BEARING BRUNT OF MILITARY'S ATROCITIES
June 21, 2009 — (allAfrica) Men are a rare sight in Cheptais town of Mt Elgon District. They ran away to avoid being forcibly recruited into a militia group that had unleashed violence in the area after a dispute over land distribution at Chebyuk Settlement Scheme.

ZIMBABWE: OWN CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS, WOMEN TOLD
June 20, 2009 — (Afrol News) Acting President Joice Mujuru yesterday called on women in the country to own the constitution-making process and ensure unity of purpose across the political, economic, religious and race divide.

GLOBAL: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: MANDATE OF SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MUST BE STRENGTHENED
June 19, 2009 - (Pambazuka) The mandate of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (SRVAW) must be strengthened if the elimination of all forms of violence against women is to become a reality. This was a key recommendation from the parallel event ‘15 years of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women: gains, challenges and the way forward' held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland on June 5, 2009, in parallel to the 11thsession of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).

TEEN RAPE VICTIM FILES CASE AGAINST PERU IN U.N. COMMITTEE
June 18, 2009 - (Center for Reproductive Rights) Today, a 16-year-old Peruvian rape survivor who suffered devastating consequences after being denied an abortion filed a human rights petition against her government before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

FRESH HOSTILITIES PUTTING SOMALI WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT RISK, WARNS UNICEF
June 17, 2009 – (UN News Center) A new wave of aggression and hostilities against humanitarian operations in Somalia is putting at risk the lives of the strife-torn nation's children and women, the United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF ) warned today.

IRAN: WOMEN ON FRONT LINE OF STREET PROTESTS
June 17. 2009 - (The National) The iconography dominating global television coverage of Iran's biggest demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution is stunning: women are on the front line of the protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's allegedly fraudulent re-election. It is no surprise. They feel most robbed by his “stolen” victory.

VENEZUELA: GRASSROOTS EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN
June 15, 2009 - (IPS) In Venezuela "women have passionately embraced community activism, taking on a more committed and active role, and this is reflected in the increasing female participation in neighbourhood assemblies," Alba Rojas, spokeswoman for a community council in Tacagua, a township that spreads along the Caracas-La Guaira highway, told IPS.

MOROCCO ELECTIONS TO MARK ANOTHER STEP FOR WOMEN
June 12, 2009 - (AFP) She's young, at ease in Arabic, French or English, travels, loves scuba diving, campaigns in a T-shirt and jeans and is bent on winning a seat in Morocco's municipal elections on Friday. Kaoutar Benhamou, who turns 34 the same day, says she embodies modern Morocco. But she is also riding the kingdom's latest wave to promote the role of women in this conservative Muslim state. For the first time, the government has stipulated a 12 percent quota for women in Friday's municipal polls -- a major leap over the 0.58 percent, or 127 women, now holding local council seats across the country, according to interior ministry figures.

NIGERIA: FG PLANS SUMMIT FOR WOMEN
June 13, 2009 - (allAfrica) With two years away from Nigeria 's 2011 General Elections, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development has concluded plans to hold an all-inclusive National Women Political Summit for the country, which is expected to map out workable strategies that will ensure greater participation of women in the exercise.

MEXICO: INDIGENOUS RAPE VICTIMS FIGHT MILITARY IMPUNITY
June 10, 2009 - (AWID) The aberrations of Mexican justice were clearly visible in the cases of rape and torture allegedly committed by soldiers in 2002 against two indigenous women, Inés Fernández and Valentina Rosendo. But their experiences are not exceptional in rural areas of the southern state of Guerrero.

LEBANON'S CRAWL TO EQUALITY
June 10, 2009 - (Philadelphia Inquirer) It sees itself as one of the Middle East's most liberal countries, but Lebanon's lack of women politicians is conspicuous. While Lebanese women today enjoy senior positions in the private sector, political appointments have all but eluded them. Lebanese women were granted suffrage in 1953, yet to this day they face considerable obstacles to entering politics in a country where political dynasties and patriarchy rule.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN DEPENDS ON WHERE ONE LIVES
June 9, 2009 - (Huffington Post) In President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world from Cairo, he spoke out against the subjugation of women and conveyed his belief that "a woman who is denied an education is denied equality." The speech comes two months after the Karzai government was forced by international obloquy to rescind a controversial law that would have all but legalized rape within Shiia marriages.

LIBERIA: LAND JUST FOR SOME
June 9, 2009 — (allAfrica) After watching the murder of her husband and his three wives by Charles Taylor's rebels, Fatu Bonah and her seven children fled into the dense forest to hide. "The rebels burned down our home and when I returned my in-laws had taken the land," she says. "I went to the town chief, who tried to resolve it, but the family refused, saying they had already taken over the land."

TWO UN AGENCIES PARTNER TO MAKE WORLD'S CITIES SAFER FOR WOMEN
June 4, 2009 – (UN News) Two United Nations agencies have teamed up to combat violence against women and girls in the world's cities, including by proposing measures such as improved street lighting and female-only modes of transportation.

IRAQ: COMBATING FEMALE CIRCUMCISION
June 3, 2009 - (IWPR) I became an activist to stop female genital mutilation last year after reading a shocking survey from a secondary school in Rania, a town in Sulaimaniyah province. Every single one of the girls in the school reported that their genitals had been cut. Female genital mutilation is an epidemic in northern Iraq, particularly in remote and rural areas.

LIBERIA: WOMEN RECOMMEND PUNISHMENT FOR WARLORDS
June 3, 2009 - (allafrica) Women groupings under the Women NGO's Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL) have reached a broad consensus on the need to punish heads of the former warring factions and "warlords" in the Liberian civil conflict.

INDIA: IN GUJARAT, WOMEN CREATE CLASSROOMS FOR PEACE
June 2, 2009 - (Women's Feature Service) In 2002, Gujarat was the site of one of the worst communal riots in India's history, with tensions between majority and minority communities continuing to simmer long after the immediate violence. Complicity of the state in the violence and systematic hate campaigns against the minority community were so blatant that commentators often use the term 'pogrom' to describe the events of those stormy days. What made things even worse was the fact that many of those at the receiving end of the violence were from the poorest sections of society.

SUDAN: DARFURI WOMAN REFUGEES 'LIVE IN FEAR OF RAPE'
June 1, 2009 - (allAfrica) Darfuri women who have fled as refugees to Chad live in fear of being raped and as a result ostracized by their families, says a new study.

RAPE CRISIS IN EAST CONGO TIED TO MINING ACTIVITY
June 1, 2009 - (Women'seNews) Activists concerned by this year's escalation of sexual violence in eastern Congo are trying to turn up the heat on those benefitting--directly or indirectly--from illicit mineral extractions.

UGANDAN PHYSICIAN-LAWMAKER MOVES TO CRIMINALIZE FGM
May 31, 2009 - (Women'seNews) Earlier this month a member of Uganda's parliament introduced a bill to criminalize female genital mutilation, a traditional coming-of-age practice of cutting off all or part of a girl's clitoris. Though relatively rare in Uganda, the mutilation is still practiced by two ethnic communities in the eastern part of the country.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) : PEACE AGREEMENT SIGNED BETWEEN THE CNDP AND DRC GOVERNMENT — A BREACH OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS?
May 29, 2009 - (Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice) On 23 March 2009, the DRC Government and the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) militia, signed a Peace Agreement in Goma under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union. It is possible the process of the Peace Talks and the final Agreement are in breach of two UN Security Council Resolutions — Resolutions 1325 and 1820 respectively. In the peace process the UN appears to have failed to implement its own Security Council resolutions particularly as the Goma Peace Process was sponsored, and directly co-facilitated, by the United Nations.

INTERNATIONAL DAY SPOTLIGHTS NEED FOR MORE WOMEN IN UN PEACEKEEPING
May 29, 2009 – (UN News) The United Nations is marking the annual International Day of Peacekeepers by honouring the brave troops, police and civilians who serve in some of the most difficult places around the world, and by stressing the unique role played by women and the need to deploy more of them. This year's commemoration comes at a time when the services of UN peacekeepers are in greater demand than ever. Deployment is at a record high, with more than 113,000 peacekeepers serving in 18 operations on four continents.

FINALLY, A UN AGENCY FOR WOMEN
May 27, 2009 - (Guardian) This autumn the UN general assembly will vote yes or no to a new "super-agency for women"; $1bn is being discussed as the starter annual budget. Just like the House of Commons, the UN has finally been shamed into reforming itself. The UN sets global standards for human rights, but has no single agency with the resources and clout to work globally to improve the lives of women. As a result, the UN system has badly and unforgivably let down the world's 3 billion-plus women.

WOMEN MPS WANT KOSOVO'S ELECTION LAW CHANGED
May 26, 2009 - (SE Times) Women MPs have requested an amendment to the law on elections, saying they do not have fair representation. At a meeting Monday (May 25th), a bloc of female lawmakers called for changes to the current system, which is based on closed lists. Under that system, they said, voters usually support the leader of a party, and all parties are currently led by men.

KUWAITI ELECTIONS AND YEMENI WOMEN QUOTA SYSTEM
May 25, 2009 - (Yemen Times) The first time Kuwaiti women ventuered into parlimentarian elections as candidates, they won four seats hands down. Yemeni women have been participating in all sorts of elections as candidates and the number of successful candidates in next to none. Where did we go wrong? Just in 2005 did Kuwait women gain the right to vote and run for office.

SOUTH AFRICA: THE GRASS BENEATH THE FIGHTING ELEPHANTS
May 22, 2009 – (Pambazuka) There is an African saying that when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. In South Africa lately, the elephants have been the two biggest winners in the April elections-the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA). The grass is democracy and women's rights.

THE MILITARY HIDES UNDER THE SKIRTS OF WOMEN TO JUSTIFY WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
May 21, 2009 - (AlterNet) For eight years, many Americans have justified the war in Afghanistan as a moral battle to "protect" Afghan women. But Afghan women tell another story: more U.S. war will bear them more suffering. Three decades of foreign occupation -- with little sign of ending -- have led to the complete collapse of more than a century of progress in Afghanistan for women's rights, which reached their peak in the 1970s.

LITHUANIA ELECTS FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT
May 18, 2009 - (Feminist Daily News Wire) Dalia Grybauskaite was elected to be Lithuania's first woman president yesterday in an overwhelming victory. According to Agence France Presse, with 99.46 percent of votes counted, Grybauskaite held an overwhelming 69.05 percent of the vote.

WOMAN ELECTED IN KUWAIT SAYS GENDER IN POLITICS IS 'HISTORY'
May 17, 2009 - (CNN) As one of the first four female lawmakers ever elected to Kuwait's parliament, Aseel al-Awadhi knows she has a tough road ahead in the conservative Gulf state's male-dominated legislature. Rola Dashti is one of four women who won parliamentary seats in the recent elections in Kuwait.

ZIMBABWE: NGO DOCUMENTS WOMEN ABUSE
May 9, 2009 - Among the worst victims of politically-motivated violence are women. They have suffered largely in silence. But last week saw the first of several initiatives to roll back the darkness enveloping the violations. The Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) providing specialist assistance in research and advocacy in the field of human rights, democracy and governance, launched a video and released a report documenting political and human rights violations against women in Zimbabwe.

AFRICA: AKINA MAMA WA AFRIKA REGIONAL CONSULTATION
May 8, 2009 - (Pambazuka) A Regional Consultative Meeting convened by Akina Mama wa Afrika was held at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort, in Kampala, Uganda on 28th 29th April 2009 on the theme “The Power Of Women's Leadership And Movement Building: Gender Based Violence And Sexual And Reproductive Rights In Conflict And Post Conflict Africa'. The consultation drew together a cross section of actors in the area of conflict and post conflict in Africa. The consultative meeting reflected on national, regional and continentals strategies, challenges, lessons learnt, emerging trends and experiences.

AFGHAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATE SURAYA PAKZAD AMONG TIME'S 2009 TOP 100 PEOPLE
May 7, 2009 - (UNIFEM) TIME Magazine has recognized Afghan women's rights advocate Ms. Suraya Pakzad as one of its top 100 people in 2009. The international news magazine praised Ms. Pakzad, who founded the Voice of Women Organization (VWO) and works in close cooperation with UNIFEM Afghanistan, for her courageous and tireless work in providing Afghan women with shelter, counseling and job training, and raising awareness on gender-based violence in her country.

RWANDA: ACCOUNTABILITY, MISSING LINK IN GENDER EQUALITY
May 6, 2009 - (allAfrica) The missing link in the women's empowerment and gender equality drive has been accountability. For so long our governments and international bodies, have made high sounding proclamations on women's emancipation.

SOUTH AFRICA: MORE WOMEN MAKE UP NEW NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
May 6, 2009 - (BuaNews) Women's representation in the National Assembly has increased to 45 percent, putting South Africa third in the global women in Parliament rankings, behind Rwanda and Sweden."This put the country firmly on course to achieve the Southern African Development Community (SADC) target of 50 percent women in political decision-making by 2015," Gender Links spokesperson Kubi Rama told BuaNews.

WOMEN, PEACE & SECURITY: ACTUALISING UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1325 IN SIERRA LEONE
May 6, 2009 - (Awareness Times) In war, men more often than not suffer only one consequence-death. On the other hand, in addition to being killed, women are subjected to the most despicable and horrendous violations including but not limited to rape, abduction, gang rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and at times forced conscription. Their efforts resulted in the unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security" on 31st October 2000.

AFGHAN WOMEN SECURE PRESIDENTIAL PLEDGE TO AMEND 'MARITAL RAPE' LAW
May 5, 2009, Kabul, Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has bowed to pressure from the women's rights movement in Afghanistan and abroad, and promised to amend a controversial new law legalizing marital rape.

RUTH LECHTE, VETERAN ACTIVIST, ON CRISIS IN FIJI
May 1, 2009 - (World YWCA) In the wake of the UN Security Council calling for restoration of democracy and fair elections in Fiji, the World YWCA continues to stand in support and solidarity of the women of Fiji. With no judiciary, constitution or elections in sight, the World YWCA has asked four Fijian women leaders to reflect on the situation in their country and share their hopes and fears for the women of Fiji. Over the next few days, we will post one of the interviews on our website in an effort to highlight women's leadership in Fiji.

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3. FEATURE Letter

Open Letter to Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon on Peace Agreements and SC Resolution 1820

June 17, 2009

Dear Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
We write to you regarding the preparation of your report on Security Council Resolution 1820 addressing sexual violence against women in armed conflicts and ending impunity for these crimes.

The Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice works with women most affected by armed conflicts and advocates for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute gender based crimes where there is evidence of such crimes, in each situation under its investigation.

Since 2004 we have been actively engaged in the pursuit of justice, accountability for sexualized and other violence in each of the situations before the ICC, specifically Northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Darfur and the Central African Republic (CAR). In addition, for the past two years we have been closely involved in the peace talks and ongoing process regarding Northern Uganda and more recently we have become engaged in peace-related activities in eastern DRC.

At this time we wish to draw your attention and that of the Security Council, to the implementation challenges regarding Resolution 1820, in particular the absence of its application and that of Resolution 1325, within UN-sponsored peace talks and related agreements.

Specifically we refer you to the Peace Agreement between the Government of the DRC and le Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple militia (CNDP), signed 23 March 2009.

Supported by 65 NGOs from eastern DRC representing over 180 Congolese organisations.

4. FEATURE resources

Global Monitoring Checklist on Women, Peace and Security
Gender Action for Peace and Security UK (GAPS), 2009

The Global Monitoring Checklist monitors implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Northern Ireland, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The research lays out up-to-date information on women, peace and security issues in the five countries and identifies achievements, good practices, challenges and obstacles to the implementation of UNSCR 1325. It provides practical information and recommendations, which can be used to support national governments, the international community and civil society actors in their work around on peace and security.

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IPS Women in the News, The Gender Wire
Inter Press Service

IPS wants to redress a huge imbalance that exists today: only 22% of the voices you hear and read in the news today are women's. Elections, health, education, armed conflicts, corruption, laws, trade, climate change, the global financial and food crises, and natural disasters. IPS covers these frontline issues asking an often forgotten question: what does it mean for women and girls?

The website is part of a major global media and communication project of IPS running through 2009 - 2011 called “Communicating for Change: Getting Voice, Visibility and Impact for Gender Equality“. The project is financed by the Dutch MDG3 Fund set up by the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, Bert Koenders, to finance activities that advance Millennium Development Goal 3: Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

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5. FEATURE initiative

IANSA Disarm Domestic Violence
Campaign launch during the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence (15-21 June 2009)

Perhaps most shockingly, the greatest risk of gun violence to women around the world is not on the streets, or the battlefield, but in their own homes.

Women are three times more likely to die violently if there is a gun in the house. Usually the perpetrator is a spouse or partner, often with a prior record of domestic abuse. Gun violence can be part of the cycle of intimidation and aggression that many women experience from an intimate partner. For every woman killed or physically injured by firearms, many more are threatened. This is why IANSA has launched a campaign to demand policies which would keep women safe from gun violence.

Disarming Domestic Violence is the first international campaign to protect women from gun violence in the home. The main goal is to ensure that anyone with a history of domestic abuse is denied access to a firearm, or have their licenses revoked.

IANSA women from over 28 countries are already involved and collecting information about the scale of the problem in Argentina, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, DR Congo, El Salvador, Haiti, Liberia, Macedonia, Mali, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Of the 800 million small arms in the world today, more than 75% of them are in the hands of private individuals – most of them men. Given this, women are paying an increasingly heavy price for the dangerously unregulated multi-billion dollar trade in small arms.

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Physicians for Human Rights Blog: Darfur Women Speak

In November, 2008, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) sent a team of four experts to gather an in-depth picture of the lives and concerns of Darfuri women now living in the Farchana Refugee Camp in eastern Chad. Eighty-eight women sat with PHR's team of three physicians and a human rights researcher and spoke candidly and openly about their lives in Darfur, the horrific attacks that drove them from their villages, their harrowing flight to Chad, and the struggles of their daily lives in the camp.

The team found that many of these women had been sexually violated in Darfur, and many have been raped since arriving at the camp in Chad. They risk sexual assault on an everyday basis when they leave the camp to collect firewood. Shame and fear of further violence or rejection by their families lead most of these women to suffer these indignities in silence.

In the coming weeks and months, PHR will be posting photographs, findings, and narratives from its assessment and asking you to take action to prevent future violence against women and to support care for those who have already been harmed.

Some of the women PHR met with had first spoken bravely and boldly about their frustrations in the Farchana Manifesto, a one-page document in Arabic aimed at shedding light on the plight of women refugees and opening a dialogue with the world. The manifesto speaks of the challenges and fears faced by women refugees from Darfur, especially, in their words, the “deprivation of our liberties and absence of freedom of expression.”

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6. TRANSLATION UPDATE

Tajik Translation Now Available!

Total number of available 1325 translations: 99

Tajik is the modern variety of Persian spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Afghanistan by about 4.4 million people. Most speakers of Tajik live in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Tajik is the official language of Tajikistan.

The language has diverged from Persian as spoken in Afghanistan and Iran, as a result of political borders, geographical isolation, the standardization process, and the influence of Russian and neighboring Turkic languages.

If you know of existing translations of 1325 which are not among the 98 on the PeaceWomen website, or would like to volunteer as a translator, suggest potential translators or add languages to the list for priority translation, please contact info@peacewomen.org
7. ngowg update

Expert Panel : Sexual Violence in Conflict – focusing on the perpetrators
NGOWG & OSI International Women's Program, 8th June 2009

As the Secretary General's report on SCR 1820 on sexual violence in conflict is in the final stages of preparation, there has been a great deal of discussion in the international community regarding sexual violence as a security issue. As part of its advocacy on this critical issue, the NGO Working Group organized, along with the International Women's Program at the Open Society Institute, a panel at the Austrian Mission on 8th June, 2009 on the topic of “Sexual Violence in Conflict,” with a particular focus on perpetrators of sexual violence. The purpose of the expert panel was to present information that would allow participants to gain a deeper understanding of the patterns of sexual violence committed by armed groups, discuss how this violence is condemned or condoned, and explore the possibility that sexual violence is not inevitable in conflict. The panel was followed by a discussion on how such information can be gathered and used by the Security Council as it moves forward on the implementation of both SCR 1820 and SCR 1325. This also followed up on and investigated one of the key issues raised during the discussion on sexual violence data collection hosted at the Austrian mission on 13th January, 2009.

The first panelist was Dr. Elisabeth Woods, a Professor at Yale University. Dr. Woods provided background on her work which researches patterns and variance of sexual violence by armed groups. She outlined a framework currently being developed for the study of sexual violence as part of armed groups' repertoires of violence and seeking to understand when it is or not used as a tactic of war. Also presented were initial research findings that suggests sexual violence is not an “inevitable” aspect of war, but rather varies depending on multiple factors which, if identified could provide effective points of intervention within a conflict situation. It was highlighted within the presentation that where norms and strategies align at all levels, sexual violence should be either quite low or quite high, for example, if an armed group prohibits sexual violence, and punishes perpetrators, combatants are less likely to engage in it. In addition, armed groups that recruit from criminal populations or ones which lack strong military hierarchies are also more likely to engage in sexual violence.

The second panelist, Ms. Jocelyn Kelly, a researcher for the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative gave an overview of her current research on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly in regards to the Mai Mai insurgent group. Her recent project was focused on understanding the Mai Mai's command structures, communications channels and its use of sexual violence as a tactic. The next phase of her research will be on this same issue with other groups in Congo, including the FDLR and CNDP. One point that was made during her presentation was that due to the fact that the Mai Mai depends heavily on the civilian population for food, supplies and intelligence, the leadership of the organization tries to deter the perpetration of sexual violence. In spite of this, severe punishment for sexual violence is not always carried out, which contributes to a culture of impunity.

Questions were raised by the participants on the challenges of data collection from perpetrators in conflict situations, and the methodology that has proven most efficient in gathering accurate information on both victims and perpetrators of sexual violence. In addition, the difference in sexual violence between groups who used “forced” recruitment techniques versus those that paid their volunteers was also discussed, although no clear pattern was discerned in terms of incidence of sexual violence. Overall, the success of the panel highlights the growing recognition within the international community that the issue of sexual violence is a preventable and not inevitable part of war, as well as the fact that there is a concerted effort among relevant State and civil society actors to get timely and accurate information to the Security Council in order to allow them to address sexual violence if and when it occurs.

For more information regarding Dr. Wood's research, please refer to her February 2009 publication: “Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare?” found in Politics and Society (Issue 37, pp. 131- 161).

For more information regarding Ms. Kelly's research and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, please visit their website: http://hhi.harvard.edu/

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8. WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY CALENDAR

Making Governance Gender Responsive (MGGR) Training
July 23-30, 2009, Philippines
Asian Institute of Management Conference Center Manila (ACCM)

Making Governance Gender Responsive (MGGR) is a generic course that can be adapted and modified to suit the needs of the different countries. The goals of the training are: to enhance the participants understanding of gender and development and governance concepts, gain appreciation of gender-related governance issues and concerns, identify gender biases in governance, acquire skills in identifying and analyzing gender biases and concerns through case examples of strategies and practices to address gender biases, identify gender biases in the participants' sphere of influence (a change management approach) and formulate action plans, both institutional and individual.

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Core Skills for Working in Conflict
July 21-16, 2009, London, UK
International Alert

This is a highly practical, hands-on course designed to prepare anyone wanting to work in conflict prevention, crisis management or peacebuilding with the essential skills for working in a conflict situation. Each day of the course will focus on a particular set of skills and how to apply them in the peacebuilding context. The final day-long simulation exercise will test these skills. You will be assessed by an experienced observer who can advise you on next steps in your personal and professional development as a peace worker.

This training is designed for young graduates or professionals with a prior understanding of the challenges of conflict work, but with no prior field experience. If you have completed a relevant level 1 ‘Introductory' course, are thinking about a career change, or want to build up your skills before an assignment overseas, this course is for you.

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Call for Papers: Women In and Beyond the Global (WIBG)
Women in and Beyond the Global (WIBG) Journal

WIBG, an open-access, peer-reviewed, online feminist journal, publishes and supports work from around the globe that analyzes and works to change the status and conditions of women in global households, prisons, and cities. We publish interdisciplinary analyses, creative expressions (including film and music), reports from the field, interviews, and artworks that are committed to feminist praxis, understood as analysis and action focusing on the empowerment of women. Our aim is to break down barriers between academic and activist knowledge by fueling activist scholarship; encouraging collective reflection on feminist movement-building; and documenting and preserving these activities through digital media—a critical tool in the global struggles for women's equality and the promotion of democracy.

Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following kinds of topics/questions:
* Women in the global prison
* Domestic work
* Urbanization and women
* Popular education and women
* Feminization of poverty
* Feminist movement building
* Women and the global food crisis
* Survival economies and women
* Feminist analysis of global cities, prisons, and households
* How globalization changes lives, including sexual lives, of women
* Globalization's affective economies
* Reproductive labor(s)

WIBG accepts submissions on a rolling basis. We invite submissions by July 1, 2009, for our inaugural issue.

Send submissions to wibgjournal@gmail.com

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Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum 2009
July 6-9, 2009, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI)

The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) is pleased to invite you to its first conference, SVRI Forum 2009: Coordinated evidence-based responses to end sexual violence, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 6 - 9 July 2009. The conference is aimed at promoting research on sexual violence, highlighting innovation and encouraging sharing and networking in the area of sexual violence.

This global event will bring together over 200 participants working on sexual violence as researchers, gender activists, funders, policy makers, service providers, survivors and others.

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Developing Legal Skills and Knowledge for Successful Litigation in Cases of Violence against Women
July 11-12, 2009, London, England
International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS)

INTERIGHTS' Europe Programme covering Council of Europe countries within Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union is pleased to invite applications for the litigation training on “Developing Legal Skills and Knowledge for Successful Litigation in Cases of Violence against Women”. The two day training will be offered to 14 lawyers from Council of Europe states within Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the Caucasus.

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Making governance gender responsive
July 23-30, 2009, Asian Institute of Management Conference Center Manila (ACCM), Manila, Philippines
Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP)

Deadline: at least 2 weeks before training

(Also March 20-27, 2009 and November 20-27, 2009)

"Making Governance Gender Responsive (MGGR)" is a generic course that can be adapted and modified to suit the needs of the different countries in Asia-Pacific. The initial training module was developed by the Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP), with funding support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through its Asia-Pacific Gender Equality Network (UNDP-APGEN) and the Regional Governance Programme for Asia and the Pacific (UNDP-PARAGON).

Content-wise, the course starts with the conceptual definition of gender and governance. The training module will also have inputs on key aspects of governance (domains and exercise of authority) as well as the attributes of gender-responsive governance. The course also introduces the tools for identifying and analyzing the gender biases in governance.

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Human Rights Learning as Peace Education: Pursuing Democracy in a Time of Crisis
July 26 - August 2, 2009, Budapest, Hungary
International Institute on Peace Education

Application Deadline: April 1, 2009

Human rights learning, as facilitated by peace educators is critical, participatory and learner centered. It is intended to prepare learners to work toward the transformation of the existing order of violence and injustice into a world social system based upon the principle of universal human dignity. This principle of human dignity underlies all human rights concepts and norms and is at the core of human rights learning (HRL).

HRL emphasizes modes of critical thinking and self reflection that are necessary for internalizing the essential principles of human rights, enabling individuals and communities to become agents of change (PDHRE). HRL begins with “assuming the rights of learners to decide themselves what they will believe and develops means through which the learners can acquire information while forming their own opinions and determining their own course of action about the issues of concern to them…in the absence of authentic human rights learning people will not be able to achieve their full dignity.” (Reardon)

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2009/2010 Moremi Leadership Empowerment and Development (MILEAD) Fellows Program
July 26 to August 14, 2009, Accra, Ghana
Moremi Leadership Empowerment and Development (MILEAD)

Deadline for applications: April 30, 2009

The Moremi Initiative for Women's Leadership in Africa is pleased to announce its call for applications for the 2009/2010 Moremi Leadership Empowerment and Development (MILEAD) Fellows Program. The MILEAD Fellows Program is a one-year leadership development program designed to identify, develop and promote emerging young African Women leaders to attain and succeed in leadership in their community.

The one-year program targets dynamic young women interested in developing transformational leadership skills that help them tackle issues affecting women in their communities. Applications are welcome from young women living in Africa and the Diaspora.

MILEAD fellowship awards will be made to as many as 25 young women with exceptional qualities who have exhibited leadership potential in their community, organization, and/or profession. To be eligible for the one-year program, an applicant must be African, living on the continent or in the Diaspora; agree to participate in all required activities related to MILEAD including a three-week residential Summer Institute in August; and, commit to a community leadership service project and internship. Specific requirements of the program and related dates are outlined in the application.

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Pre-Session Working Group for 46th CEDAW Session
August 10 - 14, 2009, New York
Deadline for submission of NGO information: July 27, 2009

NGOs may attend the Pre-Session on August 10, 2009

The countries scheduled to report at the 46th CEDAW session are: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Central African Republic, Fiji, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, Seychelles, Turkey.

The Pre-Session Working Group for this session will meet to consider the reports and prepare a List of Issues and Question. NGOs can submit their alternative report or a list of critical issues and questions they want to CEDAW Committee to raise with their government.