Subject: [fem-women2000 188] Daily News No 7 - 08/03/2000 - English
From: "takasaki.ayako" <ayako.takasaki@ntt.com>
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 13:47:41 +0900
Seq: 188

To: Multiple recipients of list <b5ngonews@lists.sn.apc.org>
Subject: [B5NGONEWS] Daily News No 7 - 08/03/2000 - English

Daily News No 7 - 08/03/2000 - English

Editorial

Happy Holiday, Ladies!

Doubtless, a chorus of news anchors around the world will send this
sentence sailing into living rooms tonight, March 8thSome, to appease
their conscience, will be reminding us that women everywhere, especially
in the so-called developing countries, suffer from discrimination.  But
will we hear that 80% of the poor and 67% of the illiterate people in
the world are women?  Will they remind us that the 8th of March is the
International day of all women, and that as such, it embodies the
continuing struggles of women as social actors: the fight against
violence, for equal access to health and education, for disarmament? As
becomes more customary, this celebration may well work against us if we
are not on our guard every year, every day.

WomenAction 2000

Appropriate ICTs

ICT's; a tool for empowerment

ICT's are an empowering tool and a means through which women's voices at
the grassroots can be heard at the international level. It is a matter
of women organizations with access to the ICT's to ensure that
grassroots issues are heard. However, given the tasks that women at the
grassroots are engaged in, they get little time to refer to the
information that is available to them in print. There is therefore need
to use traditional means of communication like drama to convey to the
majority of women the messages received through the internet. It is also
important to integrate traditional means of communication and ICT's as a
means of information dissemination and advocacy. Isis-WICCE uses this
strategy, and this has given confidence to women in using ICT's. Visit:
www.isis.or.ug

Juliet Were; WomenAction 2000

Interview

Women Against Racism

The most important political target is not only acknowledging racial
and ethnic inequalities but also creating concrete policies and programs
to simultaneously eliminate ethnic and gender discriminationaffirms
Epsy Campbell, Coordinator of the Network of Afro-Caribbean and
Afro-Latin AmericanWomen. This organization aims to guarantee that the
voices of black women in Latin America and the Caribbean may be heard in
the current CSW meeting and the World Conference Against Racism and
Xenophobia that will take place in South Africa in 2001.

Campbell insists that if we do not take measures at all levels to
confront racism as a dimension that influences gender analysis, any
progress we make in this field, will leave out the majority of women in
the world: those affected by structural and day-to-day racism.

It is vital that the Beijing+5 revision takes into account, once and
for all, that racism is an ill that affects the whole of humanity and
that because of this, it is urgent that governments assume the
commitment to develop concrete actions to eradicate it. We cannot look
at women's progress in isolation; gender, racial and ethnic equality and
social justice should go hand-in-hand. UN conferences should be looked
at as a process that contributes to a true global democracyshe
considers.

If we want the 21st century to be the women's century, as NGOs in Latin
America and the Caribbean have declared, we have to struggle against the
systematic exclusion of those women affected by racism which is not only
a product of a patriarchal and racist system but also a model whose main
aim is not people's welfare.

To discuss these issues, the Network of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin
American Women, together with the Latin American Information Agency
(ALAI) invite you to a meeting to exchange perspectives on March 8th at
12.00pm in UNIFEM.

Irene Leon, WomenAction 2000


Today, March 8 2000, is the official launch of the World March of Women
in the year 2000.  Simultaneous press conferences will be held on every
continent, and a live satellite broadcast will link today's press
conferences in Montreal, New York and Geneva.  The satellite feed will
be webcast live on the Canadian Francophone news affiliate, RDI.
Information: http://www.ffq.qc.ca/marche2000/
Live webcast: http://radio-canada.ca/rdi/

Cross Cutting

Why the World Conference on Women in 2005?

In 2005, women will need to produce a new program and strategies for
continuing the process onwards from the Beijing PFA for the new
millenium. Governments are asked to commit themselves to efforts in
implementing the BPFA fully through 2005 and to make time in 2005 for
the next review and appraisal of the whole process, beginning with the
Mexico Conference (1975), and to commit to organize the Fifth Conference
on Women in 2005.

March 9, 1.15-2.45pm, DH Autditorium Organizers: Women NGOs in the
European Preparatory Meeting 17-21 January 2000

Obstruction of NGO work process

The arrival of a large number of right-wing, pro-lifeNGO participants
(about 270) is obstructing the work of the NGO community. Their main
goals are to paralyze the work-process in the caucuses, take down names
of persons representing progressive views, and suggest language changes,
undermining the BPFA. The right-wing fundamentalists are so far focusing
on the youth caucus, but are also present in numerous other caucuses
such as health, girl child and violence. The large NGO community,
working to ensure that the Outcome document makes real provisions for
implementing the BPFA, has taken action to minimize their influence and
has called upon governments to stand firm in the negotiations to ensure
women's sexual and reproductive rights.

NGO Caucus

Globalization and civil society

Obviously, globalization has negative impact on women. Even if we do
look for something positive in this process, the only thing we could
find is High Telecommunication Technology. Prof. Pam Rajput, convenor,
Asia Pacific Women's Watch (APWW) is very clear: States have forgotten
their social responsibility For example, in India, 60% of women are
illiterate. We have to emphasize the social sector, such as access to
medicine, education, health Less access to education or health
correlates to an increase in poverty and disempowerment. We have no
illusions about the linkage between globalization and international
gangs, traffickers, corrupters, or to sex exploitation and violence. In
particular, we must be very attentive to young girls. We need a very big
program of consciousness of what is globalization explains Prof. Pam
Rajput. 展e have to find and create other power centers to highlight the
negative and positive impact of globalization Also, the gender
perspective is just at the beginning in all progressive movements.
Gender equality cannot be achieved in isolation Prof. Pam Rajput's
message is like a slogan: equality must be shared between people and
nations.

Joelle Palmieri, WomenAction2000

Toward Diversity and Democracy

The Latin American Declaration points out that women's rights included
in the Platform for Action cannot be guaranteed by a neo-liberal
economic model that stands on weak democractic structures.Additionally
there is 訴nsufficient political commitment to establish effective
mechanisms for consultation and participation [and there is an absence
of accountability], to society.
The ideal of equality proposed by the Latin American women is based on
the removal of all forms of discrimination and inequality based on race,
ethnicity, culture, age/generation, sexual orientation, social class,
religion, nationality, disabilities amongst others. They believe that
the building of plural societies requires the practice of diversity
aswell as the democratic right to information and freedom of expression.
This century will be the women's era only if it is also the era of
democracy in the political, social and economic levels and also in the
cultural and private levels.

Religions Can Support Women's Rights

In a panel discussion on March 7 entitled Religion: Women's Liberation,
Women's Bondagefour women from different religious contexts shared
their views and experience on the potential link between their church or
religion and the framework of women's human rights. A Buddhist nun from
Nepal expressed her interest in girl's education, empowering girls to
develop skills and participate in Buddhist society. Her view was shared
by an orthodox Jewish feminist.  An African activist requested more
consideration and support from the churches in Africa for victims of
women's human rights violations. An American Muslim emphasized the
diversity within political Islam, highlighting how reformist Islamic
states like Sudan encourage women's education and political
participation.

Armed Conflict

Although there is wider recognition of the different impacts of armed
conflict to women, there is still very little known about women's
contribution to war efforts, crimes committed against them during war,
their coping mechanisms in armed conflict and appropriate responses and
redress to women's needs in post conflict situations. There is therefore
need to continue documenting women's contributions during war and to
train them to document themselves as a tool for holding perpetrators
accountable for their actions. Women need to be involved in peace
processes at all levels as well as in decision making on issues
concerning post conflict reconstruction. Women worldwide are crying for
peace and their voices should be listened to and action taken now.

Resources

Global Knowledge II Kuala Lumpur. At the opening of the Women's Forum,
participants are warned that women are being locked out of the
knowledge-based society. Read further: www.womenaction.org

WomenAction 2000 is a global information, communication and media
network that enables NGOs to actively engage in the Beijing+5 review
process with the long term goal of women's empowerment, with a special
focus on women and media. M Bjork, Sonja Boezak, M Cabrera-Balleza, B
Finke, S Hackett, I Leon, S Masters, J Palmieri,  D Plou, L Pugh, L
Simerska, J Small, J Were


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