Women's Human Rights News

 

Landmark Law Addresses Sexual Violence Against Native Women

On July 29, 2010 President Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act into law. This long-overdue piece of legislation provides landmark protection to Native American and Alaska Native women.  For more information on how the law will help tackle the problem of sexual violence by aiding prosecution and clearing up jurisdictional challenges, ensuring more services are available to Native American and Alaska Native women, and providing more resources for violence prevention, please read the following posting by Lynn Rosenthal, the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women.

New Report on Gender Based Violence in Haiti

The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (along with several partners including Madre) released a major report July 27, 2010, the first of its kind to focus exclusively on the crisis of rape and other violence against Haitian women and girls. The report describes the prevalence of rape in displacement camps, and the failure of the Haitian government, the United Nations, and other members of the international community to mount an effective response. The report also gives voice to the many grassroots women leaders who are fighting for their right to live free from violence.

The report is called "Our Bodies Are Still Trembling: Haitian Women's Fight Against Rape" and builds on some of the reporting and blogging done by Haiti expert Beverly Bell. To read more and download a copy of the report, please visit their website.

Campaign for U.S. ratification of the CEDAW Treaty on the Rights of Women

The CEDAW Task Force of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is leading a coalition effort (of 150 groups) to urge U.S. ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Treaty.

At present the U.S. is one of only seven countries worldwide that have failed to ratify this critical treaty on the rights of women.

The campaign undertakes to ensure that the U.S. joins the community of nations championing gender equality and focuses not only on the international impact U.S. ratification would help to achieve, but also on the many positive gains it would bring domestically on issues like violence against women and trafficking. To learn more please visit the campaign website CEDAW2010.

 

One in Nine Campaign Marches in Cape Town, South Africa

In conjunction with 800 participants from the AWID Forum on the Power of Movements, the One in Nine Campaign led a successful march through downtown Cape Town, South Africa (Nov. 15, 2008) in order to raise awareness of the high rates of sexual violence faced in South Africa, DRC and Zimbabwe. AWID stands for the Association for Women's Rights in Development, a global women's rights network. See an excellent video montage created by the Feminist Tech Exchange at the Forum.

 

 

 

Financial Sustainability for Women's Movements Worldwide

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) published their 2007 Second Fundher Report, Financial Sustainability for Women's Movements Worldwide, and it is available online for download. Building on the achievements/impact of their first Fundher Report, "Where is the Money for Women's Rights?," this Report probes deeper into fundamental questions related to resource mobilization and movement-building. How are women's organizations and movements growing worldwide? Why do we need strong women's movements and organizations? Where is the money for women's rights? How should we mobilize new resources to build stronger feminist movements in order to advance women's rights worldwide?

 

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The UN General Assembly adopted a landmark declaration outlining the rights of the world ’s estimated 370 million indigenous people and outlawing discrimination against them – a move that followed more than two decades of debate (Sept. 13, 2007). For more information please visit the UN News Center article and a link to the text of the Declaration.

The International Indigenous Women's Forum stated that "the adoption of the Declaration will allow Indigenous women and their families to infuse local human rights struggles with the power of international law and hold their governments accountable to international human rights standards."

 

Maze of Injustice

According to Amnesty International's report, "Maze of Injustice – The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the USA," Native American and Alaska Native women in the United States suffer disproportionately high levels of rape and sexual violence, yet the federal government has created substantial barriers to accessing justice. In fact, the federal government's jurisdictional maze and chronic under-funding of law enforcement and Indian Health Services mean justice denied for Native women. For more information about Amnesty International's campaign to stop violence against Native American and Alaska Native women, please visit their campaign website.

 

 

 

Where is the Money for Women's Rights?

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) released a report, "Where is the Money for Women's Rights? Assessing the resources and the role of donors in the promotion of women's rights and the support of women's rights organizations."

The report sums up the results of an action research project of AWID with Just Associates.

"There is an emerging global movement but it has a long way to go: people still tend to see 'women's rights' as peripheral to mainstream human rights, and funders of women's organizations are few and far between"

- Kavita Ramdas, Global Fund for Women, Alliance Magazine, Vol. 9, No. 3, Sept. 2004.

 

 

Shadow Report on Human Rights Violations in the U.S.

Under the main international human rights treaties that the U.S. has ratified, the government is obligated to report periodically to the UN's Human Rights Committee on its compliance with the treaties. The U.S. submitted a report on October 21, 2005 which was reviewed during the Human Rights Committee's July 2006 session. As part of the process, the UN allows NGOs to submit shadow reports to the Committee, to challenge the U.S. official report. In May, a coalition of 142 US-based non-profits and organizations and 32 individuals submitted a shadow report that is the most comprehensive review of human rights violations in the United States ever compiled. The shadow report in full (465 pages) can be found on the website of the U.S. Human Rights Network.

You can also download the section of the report on women's human rights, the "Report on Women's Human Rights in the United States Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in response to the Second and Third Periodic Reports of the United States of America), United Nations Human Rights Committee, Eighty-seventh Session, July 2006, Geneva."

"Small silos of activity don't make a social movement; they don't enable enough bodies, and more importantly, a broad-enough shared vision, to make claims for social justice that have to be heard by those with power."

- Barbara Klugman, Ford Foundation Program Officer

 

Conferences

AWID convened an International Meeting on "Money and Movements" November 9-11, 2006 in Queretaro, Mexico to discuss ongoing concerns that their report "Where is the Money for Women's Rights?" has brought up. See AWID's website for more information about the conference and AWID's ongoing work in this area.