INTERNATIONAL NEWS 
Women's Rights Worldwide
in several short articles
Girls in ICT Day
25 April 2013 – In a world where more than 95 per cent of jobs have a digital component, more girls need to get involved in science, technology, engineering and math, the head of the United Nations telecommunications agency urged today, marking “Girls in ICT Day.”
“We need to get more girls involved in information and communications technology,” Hamadoun Touré, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), told members of the European Parliament in Geneva in a speech about the need to address the growing imbalance in the technology sector.
The event was one of more than 1,300 organized in 100 countries this year to raise awareness about women’s contributions to the technology industry and to promote tech careers to a new generation of girls with an interest in science and math.
Among the events around the world, in the Dominican Republic, el Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL) gathered nearly 400 girls aged 12 to 17 to motivate them to enter into technological careers. A national government policy has been established to create universities and training centres for women in those fields.
In Cairo, Cisco offices invited girls to participate in a real-time connection with other girls in Jordan and Morocco to learn about the uses of communication technology and get them interested in working in these fields.
At the American University of Armenia, approximately 100 schools were connected remotely in a live forum in which school-aged girls can ask questions of senior women role models.
In Kampala, Uganda, girls visited with representatives from top managers in telecommunications companies and power companies who sought to encourage them to apply for such jobs, while high school girls in Nairobi, Kenya, heard from successful women about their paths to professional careers in technology.
Meanwhile, in Suriname, officials worked to introduce computer technology to girls with visual and hearing impairments.
Since 2010, the “Girls in ICT Day” is observed on the fourth Thursday of April every year to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women through the use of ICTs. It results from a resolution adopted at ITU’s Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2010.
Under the resolution, ITU pledged to incorporate a gender perspective in the implementation of all its programmes and plans, following which the Global Network of Women in ICT was established.
The network is designed to encourage girls and young women to choose technology careers by providing mentoring resources, high-profile role models and toolkits that help national authorities and organizations promote technology careers to women.
It is supported by ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), which, through its Gender Unit, is working on a range of strategies to use ICT to improve the livelihood of women worldwide.
UN Arms Trade Treaty supported by majority
2 April 2013 –
The resolution containing the text of the treaty, which regulates the international trade in conventional arms, received 154 votes in favour. Three Member States – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran and Syria – voted against the decision, while 23 countries abstained.
Today’s action follows the failure last Thursday of the Final UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to reach an agreement among all 193 Member States on a treaty text at the conclusion of its two-week session.
Unlike in the Conference, where all 193 Member States had to agree on the final text, the Assembly needed only a simple majority, or 97 votes, to pass the text. The treaty will enter into force 90 days after ratified by the 50th signatory.
YES
The treaty regulates all conventional arms within the following categories: battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small arms and light weapons.
NOT
According to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, the treaty will not do any of the following: interfere with domestic arms commerce or the right to bear arms in Member States; ban the export of any type of weapon; harm States' legitimate right to self-defence; or undermine national arms regulation standards already in place.
Human Rights Council - HRC
March 22 - The Russian/Egyptian Resoltution has been withdrawn, after an amendment was put in saying, that 'the family' was non-agreed language and could not be used. Even so, It is expected that there will be another try in the near future.
March 20 - The Alliance of Women has sent an Action Alert to all its 
members, asking them to write to the Foreign Office of their country, because an Egyptian/Russian Resolution was proposed at the HRC, with a text on 'The Protection of the Family'.
The expression 'the family' was not specified and not in accordance with agreed language.
It looks so innocent, but there are many kinds of 'family' combinations. Single mothers, widows with children, partners, etc. And who would be the head of the family? Would it be the husand, and who should have
custody of the childeren after divorce?
There was a lot of support for this resolution: countries like Russia, Egypt, Quatar, Maroc, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, the Holy See, 72 countries supported it! The Egyptian/Russian resolution was withdrawn after an amendment was put in, telling that only 'agreed language' could be used.
Even so, those 72 countries are well organised and can close their ranks. For example against issues like women's reproductive rights and health, and the use of the word 'gender'. They have done so in Rio+20, CSW and now in HRC.
We have to be alert - the 2015 Development Goals are
coming up! At the IAW Congress, in September in London, the 2015 Development Goals will be an important issue to discuss.
There are agreed conclusions!
March 15 - Right before 8 ‘o clock this evening New York time, the CSW57 adopted agreed conclusions!
Around 6 everyone was still awaiting what the next step would be. The delegations were still negotiating text in the room, and the information coming out was often contradictory. Suddenly a 6th draft of the text was distributed. The chair had prepared this text, including all the agreed paragraphs, amendments to those that were kept in and not yet agreed upon, and with some paragraphs removed altogether.
The chair decided to ask delegation by delegation whether they could endorse the text or not. We still did not know what would happen. But it was a smart move, as this meant that no-one could hide behind diplomatic moves, but really had to “show color”.
Many delegations then showed their support for the text, with short statements why. Holy See, Libya, Sudan, Iran and Nigeria expressed concerns and some reservations to the text. As it became clear that no countries would completely object, there was relief.
Note:
Thank you Joni and thank you members of WO=MEN for an excellent report on every day of the CSW negotiations!
Post 2015
March 6 - More than 300 participants attended a side event on Post 2015. Post 2015 will be the subject of the yearly IAW conference 2013 in London.
The process of the development of the post 2015 agenda is complicated and not yet completely clear. This makes it even more important for the women’s rights movement to organizes to be able to effectively impact the discussions. The panelist gave us some tips on how to influence the debate.
One of the suggestions was to make sure the women’s movement is in close touch with their own government. You have make sure your government takes the position that gender equality and human rights are core overarching themes of the post 2015 agenda
One form of established organizing is through the Post-2015 women’s coalition, a group of New York based NGO’s who have formed a network.
They have launched a website at http://www.post2015women.com/
The UN will relaunch their website http://www.worldwewant2015.org/ on the 7th of March and the 11 thematic consultations.
The panelists stressed that is very important in this debate that the women’s movement should not allow itself to get played against each other.
States may suggest in the negotiations that they cannot tackle all problems. So they may suggest to make e.g. violence against women a priority goal. But tell the women’s movement that means they cannot make sexual health and rights a priority.
Women’s rights organizations should not be willing to accept such bargaining with our concerns.
Written by Loeky Droesen
March 5 - The Istanbul Convention: 'Strengthening the response to ending Violence against Women' got warm support from UNWomen.
IAW members Anje Wiersinga and Betty Doornenbal have been strongly promoting this convention in the Council of Europe.
Turkey added also a crucial and bold paragraph fot the document:
{Implement mentorship, education and protection programs with boys to prevent and end cycles of violence by reducing harmful drinking and drug use; promoting healthy norms of masculinity and male sexuality; protecting boys themselves from violence; and challenging traditional gender norms.}
All Indian Women’s Conference
March 4 - IAW President Lyda Verstegen wrote: 
"The event of the All India Women’s Conference today was a big success.
Eleven speakers from all over the world talked about strategies and alliances to end violence.
I was invited to speak and told about our Dutch law that makes it possible that the perpetrator leaves the house and gets counselling, so that the woman and children don’t have to be uprooted by going to a shelter".
March 3 - IAW President Lyda Verstegen wrote:
"What I learned at Consultation Day, organised by the NGO/CSW Committee, was that stories are very important to bring about change. Here is an encouraging one for all of us who ask ourselves what the hell we are doing, working so hard for women’s rights.
There is a big bush fire, all the animals have fled. Only the little hummingbird flies to and fro with her beak full of water. The animals ask why she is doing that, it won’t put out the fire. She answers: “I am doing the best I can.”
Prevention and Elimination of all forms of Violence against
Women and Girls
Going to CSW
IAW is going to the Commission on the Status of Women, 4-15 March 2013, with statements and side events, to be part of the worldwide women's movement in banning violence against women and girls.
A look at the list of side events, with all the different aspects women are working on, shows how serious we all are in continuing to tackle this subject.
We do hope governments at CSW will listen especially after the 2012 failure, as well as that of 2005 where the theme was also violence against women.
The desired outcome for the CSW is, first and foremost, agreed conclusions BUT not at any price. The Beijing agreements must not be weakened.
We wish all IAW delegates a successful CSW without the frustrations and lack of decisions of 2012!
Preparing CSW
The list of the International Alliance of Women for CSW, March 4-15, consists of 20 participants, the maximum. From South Africa, India, Australia, France, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, USA and other countries. There will be more IAW members attending CSW, as members of other delegations.
It does IAW proud that so many members will attend!
IAW has submitted a written statement. It is primarily the work of Joanna Manganara (Greece) and Margunn Bjørnholt (Norway). They began the work during the International Meeting in Melbourne and Joanna finished it. On:
'The effect of the economic crisis on gender-based Violence'.
An oral statement by former IAW President Rosy Weis has also been accepted.
IAW has organised 3 side events at CSW:
1. “It takes a whole village to end violence against women and girls” and
2. “Gender based crime and the ICC”.The third side event is on:
3. "Istanbul Convention on Violence against Women".
More news on the special CSW page
IAW Congress 2013
IAW Secreta
ry General Lene Pind writes:
Dear members of IAW – organizations, board, and individual members,
I am very pleased to announce to you that on the invitation of All Pakistan Women’s Association–UK, IAW Congress 2013 will be held in London September 9 to 13 with a Pre- Congress Board Meeting on
September 8 and a Post - Congress Board Meeting on September 14.
IAW Vice President Bashan Rafique will be heading the planning process, and we are very pleased to accept her invitation and grateful that APWA-UK has taken on the responsibility.
Venue. The venue will be the historic building of the Great Hall of Lincoln’s Inn –
http://www.lincolnsinn.org.uk/index.php/history-of-the-inn/historic-buildings-ca/the-great-hall - known way back from the novels of Charles Dickens and situated in the heart of London, so who wouldn’t want to be there.
The theme of Congress will be Post 2015 Development Goals.
The business sessions and roundtables/ panels will be held within the first 4 days, and all day of the 13th will be reserved for visits to places of interest from a feminist point of view, for sightseeing, tours, shopping etc.
Congress will finish with a Gala dinner at the Marriott Hotel, Ma
yfair on September 13 in the evening.
Bashan (see picture) will try to negotiate reasonable prices for accommodation within walking distance of Lincoln’s Inn.
It is a very long time since IAW was in London last, and we will try to make the most of this opportunity.
Much more information will follow, of course, as preparations move forward, but reserve the dates and prepare for a visit
to London.
I herewith ask all of you to make this known to all members of your organizations and to all individual members.
IAW Secretary General Lene Pind
A selection of news, actualities, feminist actions
India gang rape: women march in Delhi
January 2013 - Thousands of women have taken part in a rally in the Indian capital, Delhi, to protest against the recent gang rape of a 23-year-old medical student. The victim died at the weekend from severe injuries she sustained during the 16 December attack in a bus.
The incident has caused a national outcry.
On Wednesday, thousands of women marched through the streets of Delhi, heading for Rajghat – the memorial of India’s independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Many held up placards calling for an end to sexual assaults on women, with ‘Respect women’.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was among the protesters who called for stringent anti-rape laws. According to official figures, a woman is raped in Delhi every 14 hours. “We are marching to create awareness among people that women should be respected. Because a woman is a mother, a woman is a sister, she is a wife and she is a daughter,” Juhi Khan, a member of the National Commission for Women said.
IAW's Affiliate, the All India Women's Conference, AIWC, an organisation with more than a million members, signed a petition and has sent a statement to several departments, demanding a strict and fast registration (a FIR) of sexual crimes and an immediate implementation of existing laws and measures.
Beyond 2015 and the UN consultations
December 2012 – Beyond 2015 is a global campaign aiming to influence the creation of a post 2015 development framework that succeeds the current UN Millennium Development Goals. It brings together 570 civil society organisations in 95 countries. On: http://www.beyond2015.org/
A host of consultations is underway, led by civil society, youth, local communities, regional bodies, national governments and the United Nations, for the World We Want Beyond 2015.
Beyond 2015 unites civil society to work towards a global, overarching, cross-thematic framework. If you like to get involved, please be so kind to look at the website mentioned above.
The women's movement did not have much influence in 2000 when the Millenium Development Goals where set up. Now, in 2015, it can be better when we let our voices heard when planning the Sustainable Development Goals.
IAW and the Kyoto Protocol
The International Alliance of Women, represented by Soon-Young Yoon, attending the UN FCCC meeting in Doha 26 November to 1 December reports that an historic landmark decision was made by governments on 2 December entitled: “Promoting gender balance by improving the participation of women in UNFCCC negotiations and in the representation of Parties in bodies established pursuant to the Convention or the Kyoto Protocol”.
This decision was the culmination of several years of hard work by the women’s organizations and
NGOs such as the Women’s Environment Development Organization and Global Gender Climate
Change Alliance along with Climate Justice and other groups to make sure that gender was a central concern of the negotiations—something that, prior to their actions, was missing.
It calls for all Parties to adopt a goal of gender balance in bodies established to the Convention and Kyoto Protocol, in order to improve women’s participation. Women and youth groups celebrated this decision at a march at the Conference Centre noting, “Gender balance—the world is on ALL of our hands”.
Gender Violence - Say No, Unite
UN Women launched COMMIT - a call for national commitments to prevent and address violence against women and girls. Ten governments have committed already. The Netherlands still did not!
EU - Commission releases viral ‘women on boards' video clip
[Brussels, 23 November 2012] The European Commission last week launched a viral video clip to accompany the announcement of draft EU legislation to promote parity on company boards across the EU. Commissioner Reding's proposal sets a target of 40% of women on boards by 2020 and calls on the Member States to put in place effective sanctions in cases of non-compliance. See also: http://www.womenlobby.org/spip.php?article4291
Gender Balance on Corporate Boards
Just 1 in 7 board members at Europe's top companies is a woman. Do we want to wait another 40 years to reach a fair gender balance?
To Quota or not to Quota ?
Adopting a resolution drafted by Liberal Dutch MEP Sophia in't Veld, the Parliament reiterated its call for new laws introducing quotas to boost female representation on corporate boards, should national measures fail to achieve any satisfying result.
“Quotas are a necessary evil, because voluntary measures have got us nowhere,” Sophia in't Veld. “It is now time to act.”
The vote was 361 votes in favour, 268 against with 70 abstentions. To boost the numbers of women in executive positions in EU companies, the resolution calls on the European Commission to table a legislative proposal to introduce quotas to step up corporate board quotas to 30% by 2015 and 40% by 2020.
Just 13.7% of board members at Europe's top firms are women, up from 11.8% in 2010. However, it would still take more than 40 years to rea
ch a significant gender balance (at least 40% of both sexes) at this rate.
Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain have started to address the situation by adopting legislation that introduces gender quotas for company boards. Denmark, Finland, Greece, Austria and Slovenia have adopted rules on gender balance for the boards of state-owned companies.
What will Reding do?
Will it be a Directive or just a Recommendation?
Last March, the EU Justice chief told companies they had one year to increase the number of women on their boards, if not she would push for legislation. To date her ‘Women on the Board Pledge for Europe’ was signed by only 24 companies.
Although Commission officials maintain an absolute secrecy on what she will propose. Brussels’ insiders question whether Reding will have the courage to present enforceable, binding rules.
UN WOMEN and CIVIL SOCIETY
UN Women meeting with Civil Society
organisations to discuss participation in
post 2015 Development Agenda
12 september 2012 10 AM to 2:30 PM - Reported by Madeleine Brecher, Communications Secretary & Membership Chair, NGO CSW/NY
This important meeting was convened by UN Women to address UN preparation for the post 2012 period and to discuss how to bring civil society into the process right from the start. Lack of civil society participation was considered a major flaw when drafting the MDGs.
Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, spoke of the need for creating entry points to the discussion for global, regional, national and grassroots women’s voices so that gender equality and women’s empowerment issues are given importance. 
Gender sensitive indicators must be included.
Click here for a Webcast with Lahksmi Puri.
Utilizing the Women’s Major Group prototype from Rio + 20 was an excellent format for amplifying women’s voices. We have learned many important lessons from the MDG process and the Rio+20 format.
Now we women must determine what we want to advocate for to transform the MDGs to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).
Finally, there must be a main SDG on women + the needs of women must be included in all the other social, economic, environmental and human rights goals! She reviewed collaboration areas and the need for partnerships to develop an action plan.
John Hendra, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, gave an overview of the Post 2015 Agenda UN processes: thematic consultations (how UN Women plans to engage in the 9 themes and on all fronts of the agenda), country-level consultations, High Level Panel and SDG process. The SG has already appointed several Post 2015 teams.
The UN Task Team recently completed THE FUTURE WE WANT FOR ALL report and it was submitted to the SG. (DESA and DPI are already inviting civil society to participate in an online global forum, “Building the Future We Want” from 12 to 24 September 2012 (http://bit.ly/ecosocWE).
John talked about the country consultations that will take place to gather information from government, business, experts and civil society. A timeline on the process was handed out and discussed.
Ultimately member states will make the final decisions but there is a fervent effort being made to include all parties in the information-gathering. They will use the web and social media to consult on thematic issues and there are plans to do civil society outreach and mobilization through onsite discussions.
The MDGs were designed by men and that cannot happen again!
The GEAR Campaign, Bani Dugel and Charlotte Bunch, moderated a discussion of good practices on various types of alliance-building and advocacy: successful strategies of CSO engagement with Member States and the UN. They stressed that women’s groups constitute a powerhouse to influence governments and if we are organized strategically, they cannot ignore us. We must do information sharing at the grassroots and the formation of regional NGO CSWs should greatly facilitate this process.
It is hoped that each regional NGO CSW will be in close contact with their own regional UN Women office.
CSOs must be willing to advocate before governments at the national and local levels. The proposed national consultations are excellent entry points for grassroots to go to state their issues. These 6 elements of coordination were stressed:
1. NGOs must coordinate themselves,
2. UN agencies must recognize the strategic substantive partnership we provide,
3. there must be ongoing and timely information sharing,
4. we must create spaces for civil society voices nationally and locally,
5. we need resources to make this happen,
6. we must demand access to the UN process.
WEDO talked about the Rio experience suggesting that using the women’s major group structure allowed for strong collaboration and provided a successful prototype for the future. Civil society and women were welcome to all meetings and received all the documents. It is true that the agenda covered too much and didn’t focus enough so choices must be made for Post 2015 re: universal themes vs. targeting.
The afternoon session included a discussion on the potential opportunities for CSO engagement: what are strategic entry points for women’s organizations and ways that CSOs can work with the thematic groups on the Post 2015 development agenda?
Lopa Banerjee, Chief, Civil Society Section of UN Women, moderated the session. What should our SDG gender goal be and then how do we mainstream gender into all the other goals? Technology will provide access to grassroots groups. There are structures in place to dialogue and these are already set up in some countries. There was an excellent discussion.
Charlotte Bunch from the GEAR Campaign made the closing remarks. This was a transparent, successful preliminary meeting. We all committed to ongoing monthly briefings on the 2015 process though many will be smaller sessions of various formats.
CSOs will work with governments and we will look to UN Women to keep us well-informed. One page information sheets are critical to keep the information process flowing. 
The participants were very excited about this excellent, informative meeting.
IAW - Purple, White and Green
'Purple ... stands for freedom and dignity, white stands for purity in private and public life ... green is the colour of hope and the emblem of spring.' Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, 1908
No gender balance in Egypt
August 2012 - When the revolution in Egypt last year toppled Mubarak’s government, Egyptian women believed that their joint fight with men would pave the way for gender equality in their country. Since then, however, the new President, Mr. Morsi, has failed to keep his promises. His new cabinet, announced beginning of August, is a striking example of Egypt’s laborious transition towards democracy.Despite promises for a gender-balanced cabinet, two women only were appointed to the new government: Insurance and Social Affairs Minister Nagwa Khalil and Scientific Research Minister Nadia Zakhary, both holdovers from the precedent military-appointed cabinet. After months of fighting alongside with men, Egyptian women, who make up more than half of the population, remain excluded from decision-making. President Morsi did not even consult with female politicians or intellectuals regarding the make-up of his cabinet.
Website: European Women's Lobby
Share your views on EU Citizenship for women!
Brussels, European Women's Lobby, 03 August 2012.Ahead of the upcoming European Year of Citizens 2013, the European Commission has launched a Public Consultation to give the chance to individuals to give their views on EU citizenship. The EWL, a member of the European Year of Citizens 2013 Alliance of civil society organisations, has already submitted its response to the Consultation emphasising that democratic citizenship cannot be understood without a gender equality perspective and that parity democracy is an indispensable component thereof. You also can share your views on citizenship!
Statement of CEDAW on the need for a gender perspective in the text of the Arms Trade Treaty
July 24 2012 -The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted a statement on the need for a gender perspective on the Arms Trade Treaty. This is a historic step forward in making the links between the arms trade and discrimination against women, and in bridging the gap between theareas of disarmament and small arms control, and women's rights.
IANSA Women have been highlighting these links for years, and most recently, in our 20 July side event on CEDAW and the ATT, co-hosted with the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the International Alliance of Women (IAW) and UN Women.
The Committee urges that language to prevent gender-based violence against women including rape and other forms of sexual violence through the control of arms and restrictions on international transfers are included in all threeparts of the ATT, namely the Preamble, the Goals and Objectives and the Criteria section.
The future we don't want
July 7, 2012 - While the leadership of the United Nations and governments are calling the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development a success and a historic achievement, to the people of the world, civil society and women, Rio+20 was a missed opportunity and a failure.IAW Member Natalia Kostus writes this in her 'Analysis of the Outcome of Rio+20'. An excellent article, that was mailed in a 'Talking Point' to
all IAW members. She writes as follows: This mismatch in assessment could not be more visible both at Rio and now in the weeks that follow. In truth, Rio+20 outcome “The Future We Want” is historic and successful in that it launched the process to establish the post 2015 development framework focused on sustainable development.
The criticism of the Rio+20 outcome is that it fails to meet the pressing environmental and social challenges that the world faces today and it fails to deliver immediate much needed action reflecting the real sense of urgency, scale, and ambition necessary for successful implementation and financing on sustainable development.
To this effect, NGOs at Rio did not endorse the outcome, and in one day, over 1,000 organizations and individuals signed the petition “The Future We Don’t Want” to remove the words “in full participation with the civil society” from the first paragraph.
RIO+20 - $513 billion in funding
22 June 2012 – At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), some $513 billion in funding has been committed by governments, the private sector, civil society and other groups to achieve a sustainable future.
“From the very beginning we have said that Rio+20 is about implementation and concrete action,” said Rio+20's Secretary-General, Sha Zukang, at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, today. “The commitments that we share with you today demonstrate that governments, the UN systems, and the nine major groups are committed and serious about implementation.”
A wide range of actions have also been pledged during Rio+20.
These include planting 100 million trees, empowering 5,000 women entrepreneurs in green economy businesses in Africa, and recycling 800,000 tons of polyvinyl chloride (commonly known as PVC) – one of the most widely used plastics – per year.
Some 40,000 people – including Heads of State and government, representatives from non-governmental organizations and the private sector – have been in Rio de Janeiro for the past three days, attending Rio+20, and seeking to help shape new policies to promote global prosperity, reduce poverty and advance social equity and environmental protection.
A key element on the Conference has been its outcome document, entitled “The Future We Want” and agreed on by Member States.
The outcome document calls for a wide range of actions, such as beginning the process to establish sustainable development goals; detailing how the green economy can be used as a tool to achieve sustainable development; strengthening the UN Environment Programme (UNEP); promoting corporate sustainability reporting measures; taking steps to go beyond gross domestic product to assess the well-being of a country; developing a strategy for sustainable development financing; and, adopting a framework for tackling sustainable consumption and production.
The document also focuses on improving gender equity; recognizing the importance of voluntary commitments on sustainable development; and stressing the need to engage civil society and incorporate science into policy; among other points.
The most important seven:
water - food - oceans - cities - jobs - energy - disasters
The Rio+20 Earth Summit
During June 20-22-2012, more than 130 presidents and prime ministers and thousands of other top leaders went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The gathering will mark the 20th anniversary of the first historic Rio Earth Summit where governments pledged to take actions to protect the planet while addressing poverty and equity. Yet a generation later, the pressures on the planet continue to grow as do human numbers and needs.
The UN Secretary General has warned that we are running out of time. We do not need any more ineffective treaties and abstract plans of action.
'Mother of sustainability' Gro Harlem Brundtland
The "mother of sustainability" as she is sometimes known, expressed alarm at many of the trends she had observed since she started in this field.
She said: "We are approaching the kinds of limits in many areas that lead to increased pressure on the environment and the prices of commodities.
"No doubt. Food security is in quite bad shape. When you look at rise in global population from 7 to 9 billion in the coming decades, the additional food that needs to be produced is enormous. We need about 45% more food by 2050 than we have today. So yes, it is already having an effect, which only adds to the necessity of changing this."
Like many scientific institutions, she believes the key to a solution would be the provision of contraception to the 215 million women in the world who want family planning, but this has lagged due to growing political sensitivities surrounding the issue.
"This issue has become a difficult issue to talk about. As soon as you say that the sum of the total population adds to the burden on our combined resources then some people don't like to hear that, although it is an obvious self-evident truth," she said.
Gender Equity Index 2012
All over the world women have little access to the economy and decision making, says watchdog organization
Measuring inequity - The Gender Equity Index (GEI) measures the gap between women and men in education, the economy and political empowerment.
Social Watch computes a value for the gender gap in each of the three areas in a scale from 0 (when for example no women is educated at all and all men are) to 100 (perfect equality).
The GEI, in 
turn, is the simple average of the three dimensions.
In Education, GEI looks at the gender gap in enrolment at all levels and in literacy.
Economic participation computes the gaps in income and employment.
Empowerment measures the gaps in highly qualified jobs, parliament and senior executive positions.
Click here for more information
GEI by region
| Region | Education | Empowerment | Economic Activity | GEI 2012 |
| Central Asia | 0,91 | 0,24 | 0,74 | 0,63 |
| East Asia and the Pacific | 0,95 | 0,42 | 0,70 | 0,69 |
| Europe | 0,98 | 0,48 | 0,73 | 0,73 |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 0,98 | 0,40 | 0,66 | 0,68 |
| Middle East and North Africa | 0,56 | 0,14 | 0,23 | 0,31 |
| North America | 1,00 | 0,48 | 0,71 | 0,73 |
| South Asia | 0,67 | 0,14 | 0,36 | 0,39 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 0,64 | 0,29 | 0,62 | 0,52 |
| GLOBAL AVERAGE | 0,82 | 0,28 | 0,57 | 0,56 |
The Netherlands
The Netherlands belongs to the top 15 countries. It has 79 points on the gender equity gap, together with Belgium, South Africa and Switzerland. Norway has 89 points, followed by Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Mongolia, Spain, Australia, Canada and Germany. The country at the bottom is Afghanistan, with 15 points.
There are other indices that measure the gender gap using different indicators and parameters, like the Gender Inequality Index or GII, for example, includes education, parliamentary representation, labor force participation and reproductive health indicators such as maternal mortality, adolescents’ fertility and contraceptive use.
Nine countries – Norway, Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Spain – are common in the list of top performers, while 6 – Saudi Arabia, India, Congo DR, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Yemen and Afghanistan – are common in the list of bottom performers.
The GEI 2012 makes also clear that the lack of equity cannot be justified by a lack of resources: the GEI mapping and that of each of its components show that, regardless of income levels, each country can reduce gender disparity through adequate policies.
New UN-backed guidelines aim to protect rights to land, fisheries and forests
11 May 2012 - UN Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO
The new Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security was adopted by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) – the leading global platform for discussions on food security issues – in Rome earlier on Friday.
Land-grabbing
Among the issues dealt with in the guidelines is the so-called ‘land-grabbing' phenomenon, according to a news release issued by FAO. It recommends that safeguards be put in place to protect tenure rights of local people from risks that could arise from large-scale land acquisitions, and also to protect human rights, livelihoods, food security and the environment.
The guidelines also address a wide range of other issues such as recognition and protection of legitimate tenure rights, even under informal systems; best practices for registration and transfer of tenure rights; making sure that tenure administrative systems are accessible and affordable; managing expropriations and restitution of land to people who were forcibly evicted in the past; and the rights of indigenous communities.
Comment: here is a possibility for protected area's for mini-agricultural plots, where women and their families can live and work.
See also the news of 13 March 2012 – Ninety-six countries, along with non-governmental, private, and civil society organizations, have reached a consensus on a set of global guidelines on responsible access to and ownership of land, fisheries and forests during talks convened by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ) in Rome.
International Campaign to Stop Rape
and Gender Violence in Conflict
May 6th -13th, 2012 - Press Statement by members of the UN Secretary General’s Network of Men Leaders for immediate release to celebrate launch of Nobel Women’s Initiative. Join the campaign !
As members of the United Nations Secretary General’s Network of Men Leaders we pledge our support to the Nobel Women’s Initiative International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict.
We congratulate the Nobel Women Peace Laureates on their leadership on this issue and join with them and the hundreds of organisations across the world who have joined it to celebrate the launch of the campaign during the week of May 6th-May 13th.
The Nobel Women’s Initiative International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict is the first ever global collaboration between Nobel Peace Laureates, international advocacy organizations, and groups working at the regional and community levels in conflict areas. 
The Campaign is led by the women Peace Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchu Tam, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman and an Advisory Committee comprised of 25 organizations.
These groups have worked tirelessly on the frontlines to defend women’s rights, amplify voices of rape survivors, and stop rape. They include organizations working at the international, regional, and community levels.
Pictures: Karman, Maguire, Williams
Travelling in the footsteps of suffragettes one hundred years later
Gender Equality in political decision-making positions, CEDAW,
Beijing, and Quotas, 1912-2012 
April 2012 - A group of enthusiastic Dutch travellers (ten women, one man) will be going this month to Java, Indonesia, travelling in the footsteps of two well known suffragettes, Carrie Chapman Catt (the first President of the Alliance) and Dr Aletta Jacobs who founded the Netherlands society.
During their suffrage tour they promoted education for women and women's voting rights, giving lectures from South Africa to China. 
The political situation during their journey was not always easy. For example, education and suffrage issues were entangled with the race question in South Africa and in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
Gender equality and political leadership
Women's participation in national parliaments during a hundred years is increasing, but still has to grow in order to reach a real gender balance, M/F 50/50. What are the international figures for women in politics in Indonesia compared with those in the Netherlands?
In 1997 Indonesia was no. 40 with 11% women; the Netherlands was no. 5 with 31% women. In 2011 Indonesia was no. 73 with 18% women, with 120 women out of 560, the Netherlands, the country of Aletta Jacobs, was no. 8 with 41%, with 61 women out of 150, and the USA, the country of Carrie Chapman Catt, was no. 78, with 17% women.
Click for the World classification here on Women in Parliament.
The motto of IAW was in 1912 and still is in 2012: “Equal Rights – Equal Responsibilities”
Men and women are born equally free and independent members of the human race, equally endowed with intelligence and ability, and equally entitled to the free exercise of their individual rights and liberty.
Picture: Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948 with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Women's rights are human rights.
Human rights are universal, indivisible and interrelated.
The traveling companions of 2012
Ineke Stam and IAW member Arina Angerman are travelling to Indonesia with the Aletta Jacobs + 100 Travel. They will meet women's organisations in Indonesia and talk about women's rights, and also on 30+ years of CEDAW and 15+ years of Beijing's Platform for Action. Click here for more ...
RIO+20 - UN Conference on Sustainable Development, 20-22 June 2012
The Holy See/Vatican is proposing to delete Gender Equality in paragraph 104 of the document of RIO+20, and to put in 'equality of women and men' instead.
They tried do that recently in the CSW56 discussion. If this should happen, all gender equality references in UN documents are up for deletion. We should bring this to t
he attention of all delegations , so that they do not agree to this.
Paragraph 104. We support the work of UN Women in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women in all aspects of life and bringing greater attention to the linkages between gender equality and the promotion of sustainable development.
See also paragraph 5a of CEDAW, which explains clearly the importance of keeping 'gender equality' in.
IAW is sending a delegation of three members to RIO+20, chaired by Natalia Kostus from IAW New York (see picture).
ECOSOC meeting in July 2012
Lyda Verstegen and Joanna Manganara both wrote a statement for the ECOSOC meeting in July 2012
Women and Poverty
One way to promote productive capacity, employment and decent work to eradicate poverty in the context of inclusive, sustainable and equitable economic growth at all levels for achieving the MDG's is by investing in women and girls. 
It is generally accepted that the majority of poor people across the world are women. Poor women are particularly disadvantaged even in relation to poor men in their own societies because of inequalities in power between the two sexes which help create and perpetuate women's poverty.
Poverty means ill health and premature death, social exclusion, lack of access to basic services, having no say to basic decisions that affect them, vulnerability to violence. Poor people have no choices with what they can do with their lives. But on top of all that women have to contend with systematic discrimination against them.
Discrimination against women causes vast poverty and perpetuates it.
See also the IAW Talking Point on the IAW website
Say NO to safeguarding “traditional values” over women’s human rights
On behalf of IAW President Lyda Verstegen signed the declaration saying "no' to traditional values at the expense of women's rights.
STATEMENT OF FEMINIST AND WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS
ON THE VERY LIMITED AND CONCERNING RESULTS OF THE
56TH SESSION OF THE UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
International Women's Day at the EU
Every year at March 8 the European Parliament celebrates International Women's Day with an event, which brings together European and national MPs from parliamentary committees for equal opportunities. In 2012 this event will focus on the theme "Equal pay for work of equal value".
President Martin Schulz will open the debate. European and national parliamentarians will have the opportunity to share their experiences and best practices on the effectiveness of current measures, to reduce the gender pay gap and elaborate on potential further initiatives to tackle its causes.
Commission on the Status of Women
For news of the International Alliance of Women on CSW56 in New York, click here. IAW Seceretary Lene Pind (see picture) is reporting on the first two IAW side events. Both went very well.
The Netherlands at CSW
The Dutch minister, Marja van Bijsterveld, has said in her statement that the Netherlands will be firmly supporting the expression 'gender' in the CSW document, like in the Beijing Platform for Action.
The Netherlands have been organising during CSW 56 in New York a side event with Argentina, Norway, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Title:
'Prejudice-based violence towards Lesbian & Bisexual women and Transgender persons - Good practices of governmental policies'.
Pakistan - Women's Commission
gets autonomic status
On 2 February 2012, the Pakistan Senate unanimously approved the “National Commission on the Status of Women Bill 2012″ to protect women’s rights against every kind of discrimination. The new bill replaces the National Commission on the Status of Women Ordinance from 2000 and strengthens the Commission by giving it financial and administrative autonomy through an independent Secretariat.
The newly adopted bill also changes the status of the Commission’s Chairperson who will now have the seniority of a State Minister, making recommendations directly to the national cabinet.
Women’s groups have lobbied for the strengthening of the Commission for years, and the bill underwent many revisions in the National Assembly, before amendments were 
introduced.
No lengthy bureaucratic procedures and red-tape!
While previous governments had consolidated temporary Commissions into one permanent body in 2000, the main drawback was that the Secretariat of the Commission was placed in the Ministry of Women’s Development, leading to lengthy bureaucratic procedures and red-tape.
Picture: the UK All Pakistan Women's Association at The Lord Speakers Apartment in the House of Lords, on the 5th of July 2010
Check on updates for the Commission on the Status of Women
on the page of Vrouwenbelangen or at UN Women
India deadliest place in the world for girl child
Newly released United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ( UN-DESA ) data for 150 countries over 40 years shows that India and China are the only two countries in the world where female infant mortality is higher than male infant mortality in the 2000s. In China, there are 76 male infant deaths for every 100 female infant deaths compared with 122 male infant deaths for every 100 female infant deaths in the developing world as a whole.
The released data has found that India has a better infant mortality sex ratio than China, with 97 male infant deaths for every 100 female, but this is still not in tune with the global trend, or with its neighbours Sri Lanka (125) or Pakistan (120).
When it comes to the child mortality sex ratio, however, India is far and away the world's worst. In the 2000s, there were 56 male child deaths for every 100 female, compared with 111 in the developing world. This ratio has got progressively worse since the 1970s in India, even as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Iraq improved.
The UN report is clear that high girl child mortality is explained by socio-cultural values.
Women in Leadership
January 2012 - Click here for the webcast of a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, on Women in Leadership.
With journalist Nicolas Kristof , Yingluck Shinawatra, prime minister of Thailand; Archbishop Tutu; Michelle Bachelet of UN Women; the CEO of Zain telecommunications in Bahrein and Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.
The smart thing to do
Remarks of Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women 
We know that when you invest in girls’ education, in primary and secondary education, we will see an important drop in early pregnancy and that will lead to a reduction in maternal mortality. This is important because many maternal deaths in developing countries take place when the girls are between 15 and 19 years old.
And the other thing is that higher levels of education reduce the incidence of early marriage, particularly early forced marriage, and this is important also to reduce HIV infection in girls and women.
The other thing is that we know that girls with primary education can experience increases in wages of 10 to 20 percent and one year of completed secondary school results in up to 25 percent higher wages.
We also know from the Food and Agriculture Organization that giving women farmers the same access to land, credit and other inputs would raise national agricultural yields by up to 4 percent and reduce hunger by 100 million to 150 million people.
Investing in girls and women is not only the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do.
Women in Leadership
from Egyptian Queen Ku-baba 3000 BCtill women Prime Ministers in 2012
January 2012 - This site - highly recommended - on: http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/ is dedicated to the women who have ruled since the beginning of times - or as long as the sources date back. We quote: 
There have always been female rulers. Egyptian Queens are believed to have governed from around 3000 BCE, and the first to be named by the sources without any doubt is Ku-baba, who ruled the Mesopotamian City-State of Ur round 2500 BCE.
First female ministers
However, it was not until during and just after the World War I that the first few women became members of the revolutionary governments in Ukraine, Russia, Hungary and Ireland.
Nina Bang, Danish Minister of Education 1924-26, was the first woman to be minister in democratically elected parliamentary government.
Nevertheless, development was slow and it was not until the end of the 20th century that female ministers stopped being unusual, though a number of countries don't have women in their governments at the moment.
See also: http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/First-female-ministers.htm
Overview of pages in English
International news in short articles
European Union
IAW in Switzerland - 2009
IAW in Melbourne 2012
A bit of History
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