IPA Educational Material on

Sr Marie Claude Naddaf at White House

Historical Overview: Commission on the Status of

Women (CSW) http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/

In 56 sessions since 1946 CSW consistently

promoteswomen’s advancement:Recognizing women’s rights e.g. votingDocumenting reality of women’s lives in the

worldShaping global policy on gender

equality/empowermentof women e.g. equality of pay, consent to marry

Ensuring UN work incorporates gender perspective.

Plays critical role getting governments, UN entities, NGOs,

other international/regional organizations together to

promote women’s rights & advance gender equality.

Some milestones in UN Processes

1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

1976-1985 UN Decade for Women: Equality, Development & Peace

1994 Special Rapporteur on violence against women appointed

1994 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1996-2006 Consolidating advancement of women

& girls1999 November 25 designated as International

Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

2008 “UNite to end violence against women” campaign

2010 UN Women created, merged Division for Advancement of Women (DAW); International Research & Training Institute for Advancement of Women (INSTRAW); Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI); UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

Link to UN Resolution on the new entity UN Women:

UN Women

UN Women http://www.unwomen.org/

UN Entity for Gender Equality and empowermentof women/girls. It advances the UN goals on gender equality and empowerment of women & girls. It was created as part of UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact.Main roles of UN Women are:1. Support inter-governmental bodies, CSW, in

formulating policies, global standards and norms.2. Help Member States implement standards,

providing technical & financial support where requested, and forge partnerships with civil society.

3. Hold UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

Lakshmi Puri, Acting head of

UN Women

The 57th Session of CSW (2013) http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/57sess.htm

was two weeks of great energy and passion from 2,888 registered individuals, 550 organizations and 131 countries and 340 side events outside the main UN meetings.

Michelle BacheletExecutive Director UN

WomenDuring CSW57

Ms Marjon Kamara - Chair of BureauMr Ban Ki Moon - SG of UN

During CSW57 many countries worked very hard to achieve workable, acceptable outcomes despite differences of language, culture and values.

Exposing violence against women

In late 1980s, early 1990s, CSW and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW) and the then Human Rights Commission

brought the issue of violence against women (considered private)

to forefront of the international agenda.

Violence

VIOLENCE

Who

What

When

Where

HowThanks to Sr Winifred Doherty for reflections on violence

When you

hear What do you think of?

Let take a world tour …

What does violence look like…

it's murder for dowry

Being thrashed everyday by her

husband and in-laws

A daughter is beaten in full view of

the street and thrown on the road in her petticoat?

Being battered

Husband swears to kill his wife and her

son.

economic

in the home, on the streets, in

schools, the workplace, in farm

fields, refugee camps, during

conflicts and crises.

Physical

Sexual

Psychologica

l

Emotional

Imprisoned

Thanks to Sr. Winifred Doherty for reflections on violence

Violence against Women/GirlsFacts and Figures

http://saynotoviolence.org/issue/facts-and-figures

• Sexual Harassment

• Between 40 and 50% of women in European Union countries experience unwanted sexual advancements, physical contact or other forms of sexual harassment at their workplace.

• In United States, 83% girls aged 12-16 experience some form of sexual harassment in public schools.

• Femicide ─ murder of women because they are women

• In Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa, US 40-70% female murders were done by partners, according to WHO.

• In South Africa, a woman is killed every 6 hours by an intimate partner.

• In Guatemala, two women are murdered, on average, each day.

• In India 22 women are killed each day in dowry related murders.

7 of 10 women experience violence in their lifetime.

Worldwide, up to 50 percent of sexual assaults are

committed against girls under 16.Approximately 100 to 140 million girls & women

worldwide experience female genital mutilation, with over 3 million African girls annually at risk.

More Facts and Figures

More Facts and FiguresViolence against women & girls is not confined to a specific culture, region or country, or particular groups of women/girls in society.

The roots of violence against women/girls lie in persistent discrimination against them.

Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and

domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria, according to World Bank data.

Over 60 million girls worldwide are child brides, married before the age of 18. Violence and abuse characterize married life for many of these girls.

Challenges and Contributions

During CSW57, Global NGOs discussed violence against women & girls including social, political, economical, cultural, spiritual & psychological. Seehttp://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/57sess.htm

Many stories were shared; listening to victims’ stories stirred a deep sense of solidarity. See IPA website for links to a number of stories and resources on CSW57 in March and April 2013 Archives:http://internationalpresentationassociation.org/

Zero Tolerance of Violence against GirlsPresented by:Swarnalakshmi, Muthu Selva Ganesh & Gladys, Neighbourhood Parliaments of Children, India Lucy van Kessel, International Presentation Association, Australia Julia Lee, Girls Learn International, United States Edwin M John, Neighbourhood Parliaments of Children, India Moderated by Ms Gaynel Curry, Gender and Women’s Rights Advisor, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

IPA Side Event at CSW57

Contributions from Presentation people

enabled the children to share

their story

Swarna

Muthu

Zero Tolerance of Violence against GirlsGladys PBVM, Muthu & Swarna spoke about neighbourhood children parliaments and how they work to eliminate violence against girls, e.g. protesting against a girl child arranged marriage; asking police to protect girls walking home against bullying by boys. Fr Edwin explained how the parliaments work.Lucy PBVM addressed sharing of responsibilitties between women & men, Julia read a statement from girls’ groups to CSW57 and Ms Curry linked all talks with human rights.

Modeling Partnership

In the side event IPA modeled partnership by including governments, UN agencies, NGOs, students and friends with international, intercultural, interfaith and intergenerational connections.

It was inspiring to see the good work done by the UN in partnership with others and to hear the courageous women and girls from many countries speaking against violence.

Outcomes of CSW57

CSW57 Agreed Conclusionshttp://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/CN.6/2013/L.5&Lang=E

reaffirms many prior international commitments, e.g. CEDAW - Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, CRC - Convention on the Rights of the Child, and UN Security Council Resolution, etc. It calls for ratification and implementation of existing commitments.

It has a number of recommendations to further the advancement of women and girls.

Salient points: CSW57 Agreed ConclusionsThis agreement is one more step towards

realizing the rights and dignity of women and girls.

By adopting this document, governments have made clear that discrimination and violence against women and girls has no place in the 21st century.

The Agreed Conclusions adopted by CSW57 condemns the pervasive violence against women and girls in the strongest terms.

The document calls for increased attention and accelerated action for prevention and response.

Salient points (Cont’d)

An important focus is on prevention, including through education and awareness-raising, and addressing gender inequalities in the political, economic and social spheres.

Governments have reaffirmed their commitment and responsibility to undertake concrete action to end violence against women and girls and promote and protect women’s human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The document highlights the importance of putting in place multi-sectoral services for survivors of violence, including for health, psychological support and counseling, social support in the short and long term.

Salient points (Cont’d)

The document draws attention to the need for services to protect the right to sexual and reproductive health.

It emphasizes the need to improve the evidence base and availability of data to inform an effective response.

Punishment of perpetrators is also highlighted as a critical measure to end impunity.

IPA Commitments

To intentionally name and claim the work of Presentation people wherever they minister as essentially the work of IPA.

Explore ways of “widening the tent” to further the IPA mission and identify specific elements which could be enhanced by strategic partnerships with people with similar values.

Form international working groups to assist in bringing information/experience from those engaged in grassroots ministry to IPA personnel at the UN.

Call to ActionIn relation to our IPA Commitments,

the following could be our call to action:

Debriefing : Some UN countries hold debriefings on CSW57. Could we enquire about and participate in it?

Could we make it a point to study the Agreed Conclusions of CSW57 and monitor the implementation by our governments?

http://saynotoviolence.org/Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence is a global call for action.

Say NO records what individuals, organizations, governments are doing to end violence against women. Every action counts.

Your voice matters.

Tell your government to make ending violence against women a top priority. More than 5 million people have signed on to Say NO. Add your name to this powerful call to take one action now and stay informed.

Call to Action

Join in Campaign

Call to ActionBe informed of the role of:

Special Rappoteur on Violence against Women, Rashida

Manjoo http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/SRWomenIndex.aspxSpecial Rappoteur on Trafficking, Mrs Joy Ezeilo

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Trafficking/Pages/contact.aspxSpecial Representative of the Secretary General

on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais http

://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/contact

See Individual Complaints mechanisms to raise issues related to women and girls. Use these opportunities to speak and act with women and girls to advance gender equality

Know about UN Human Rights Treaties:

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women and peacehttp://peacewomen.org/themes_theme.php?id=15&subtheme=true

Call to Action

Call to ActionThe CSW in 2014 will focus on the theme:

“ Challenges and achievements in the implementation

of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls”

An informative preparatory panel discussion on the theme is available in UN Webcast in this link: Archived Webcast

The theme relates to current national and international discussions

‘the Post 2015 Global Development Agenda’

Presentation People’s participation in local and national consultations is of great importance

in promoting gender equality.

‘…Energized by thisevolving consciousness we engage in expansive partnerships that move

us to personal and systemic

transformation’

(IPA Direction Statement 2012)