EWL News June 2010

EWL news

The EWL on 12-13 June held its annual General Assembly, hosted by the Spanish Ministry for Equality in Madrid. Elections were held for a new Board of Administration and EWL Executive. The full list of newly elected EWL representatives will soon be available on the EWL website. Photos of the EWL General Assembly, of the new Board and Executive as well as of the EWL Annual Conference which was held on 11 June, are available on Flickr.

The EWL has published a Position Paper on Women’s Health in the EU, available in English and French: Social and medical research indicates that sex and gender impact differently on women’s and men’s health, access to health and health care. Unequal access to resources coupled with other social factors produce inequitable health risks and access to health information, care, and services for women and men. In addition, biological differences imply that women have particular health concerns and needs, especially related to sexual and reproductive health. Despite this, women’s health needs and gender-related aspects are not fully and consistently integrated into health policies, research and practice at all levels. In June 2010, the EWL adopted a Position Paper on women’s health in the EU. This is document is the result of a consultation process of EWL members and presents recommendations for the full integration of women’s needs and situation in all aspects of health policies at national and European level. The EWL paper looks at the gender dimension of women’s health, and highlights women’s health risks and needs and the particular barriers and inequalities women face, taking into account the specific situation of different groups of women. The Position Paper argues for a dual approach of specific measures for women and gender mainstreaming in health policies and presents recommendations for the European Union and  its members states.

The EWL Centre on violence against women has released the first ‘EWL update on the CAHVIO process’, complementing the EWL Lobbying Kit on the future Council of Europe Convention on Violence against Women. The June 2010 ’EWL update’ comprises the EWL position on the second draft of the Convention, as well as information on content issues to be taken on board by EWL members and partners for their lobbying activities. For more information, please visit our webpage on EWL lobbying work regarding the Council of Europe Convention.

The EWL Centre on violence against women has unveiled the main activities foreseen for the EWL campaign ‘Together for a Europe free of prostitution’. Based on abolitionist principles, this strong EWL action against a serious violation of women’s and girls’ human rights calls on actors form all fields to join the campaign by getting involved in one or several activities. For more information, please visit the webpage in French and English.

On the occasion of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the EWL has delivered a statement ’Sport and prostitution: enough is enough!’ (’Sport et prostitution: trop c’est trop!’). The EWL is highly concerned by the attention given by the media in the weeks preceding the event to plans made by both public and private actors to entertain male supporters and athletes outside the stadiums by means of prostitution. In the statement and a letter addressed to the FIFA President, the EWL calls on international, European and national sporting organizations to develop codes of conduct respectful of women’s rights and gender equality. Please read the statement here.

The EWL in early June carried out a successful lobbying campaign to ensure the Council of the EU reached a political agreement to move forward on creating a European Protection Order for victims of violence. The Belgian Presidency will from July take over negotiations on the Spanish Presidency Proposal for the first EU level legislation on Violence against Women! Read the EWL Press Release and letter to EU Ministers ahead of their meeting, and the EWL letter published by European Voice in the aftermath of the meeting.

The EWL has recently published two articles:

·          ‘The Barroso II Commission and Women’s Rights’ appeared in the 14 June edition of the Parliament Magazine (p.46)

·          ‘The Spanish EU Presidency and Male Violence against Women’ will appear as an Editorial on AuFeminin.com

News from EWL members

 

The official launch of EWL Associate Member the European Network of Migrant Women (ENoMW), in cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee, took place in Brussels on 18 June 2010. More than 160 participants were present, including a number of high-level speakers. Representatives from the ENoMW, from a variety of European countries, were also present. See the Info Pack.

The Czech members of the EWL have produced a short, animated film ‘Love is all that matters. Or is it?’. The film was made in the context of a project "Diversity against Bullying". This project (coordinated by Poradna pro obcanstvi, obcanska a lidska prava and Gender Studies) aims to strengthen the position of individual members of the communities of sexual minorities, by promoting their rights to equal treatment and by strengthening a diverse, pluralistic and tolerant society. The film was used as an integral part of lectures/discussions held at various high schools; the lectures/discussions focused on dealing with homophobia and enabled missing discussion on a topic of sexual diversity.

The Czech Women’s Lobby has published an article entitled ‘A Few Reflections on the Legal Provisions on Rape in the Congo’. The text focuses on legal issues from the perspective of the rape survivor. It examines the way the law deals with interpersonal violence and its adequacy, and outlines potential changes that might lead to improving the current state of affairs. With this goal in mind, this text first discusses substantive and procedural criminal law and then briefly refers to the developments in international law. The main theoretical positions analyzing the wrongs caused by sexual violence are presented in the conclusion.

The French members of the EWL have produced a short animated film ‘Foot, sex and sun’ which aims at raising awareness on prostitution and trafficking of women and girls during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The clip is accompanied by a statement stating the CLEF strong abolitionist position and calling for prostitution to be recognized as a serious form of male violence against women.

A brief report of the Regards des Femmes seminar on ‘Les crises et les femmes fenêtres d'émancipation ou menaces de régression’ organised on 17 June in Lyon, as well as photographs of the event, are available here.

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom has produced a video clip considering the realities of military spending vs. investment in human rights and women’s rights: ‘Security – What is it?’

The Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies has published its 2009 Annual Report. The report is available electronically for download here. For a hard copy please contact info@medinstgenderstudies.org.

The Cyprus Women’s Lobby released a Press Release in the framework of the EWL Campaign at the Council of Europe ‘Towards a Strong Convention on all forms of Violence Against Women’. For more information on the actions of the Cyprus Women’s Lobby, please contact Susana Pavlou at cypruswomenlobby@cytanet.com.cy, susana@medinstgenderstudies.org.

 

The Centre for Women’s Studis in Zagreb, member of Women’s Network in Croatia, held the fourth seminar of the Feminisms in a Transnational Perspective series entitled Challenges of old/new economic inequalities was held from 24–28 May 2010 at IUC, Dubrovnik. The seminar was organized by Renata Jambrešić Kirin (Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb) and Rada Borić (Centre for Women’s Studies, Zagreb) in cooperation with the University of Udine, Italy (Natka Badurina) and the Centre for Gender and Culture Studies,  Lahore, Pakistan (Durre S. Ahmed). The seminar gathered 25 participants from three continents and fifteen various countries (from Brazil, Georgia, Iran, Australia to Italy, Albania, Sweden and Bosnia and Herzegovina). The starting point for the feminist approach was a critique of the rhetoric about the ‘temporary crisis’ of the global capitalist order.

 

 

Take Action!

 

A global campaign to challenge countries to end abuses and exploitation of migrants by protecting their human rights has been launched to mark the 20th anniversary year of the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families on 18 December 1990. This campaign calls on governments to act immediately to end the widespread human rights violations suffered daily by migrants around the world, by ratifying this core international human rights instrument. Sign the petition here!

 

If you want to get involved for a Europe free from prostitution, you can make the most of the two following proposals of action!

·          Write to your national sport organization (as the organization member of FIFA inter alia) to ask for a code of conduct respecting women’s rights and gender equality! You can find a model letter here, based on the letter that EWL sent to the FIFA President and related to EWL statement ‘Sport and prostitution: enough is enough!’

·          Join EWL campaign ‘Together for a Europe free from prostitution’ by sending your campaign and advocacy material related to any action based on the EWL abolitionist principles! Discover the other activities of the campaign and EWL principles here.

Make Women Count for Peace! Sign the UNIFEM petition to ask your government to support three steps to implement Security Council resolution 1325:

·          Prosecute those who command and/or commit sexual violence and exclude them from armies and police forces after conflict.

·          Ensure that women participate in peace negotiations and all post-conflict decision-making institutions.

·          Increase the number of women in troops, police forces and civilians within international peacekeeping efforts.

Submit your nominations for the European Institute for Gender Equality’s ‘Women of Europe’ database!  activity aims to highlight their achievements and success stories - as part of its efforts to disseminate information regarding positive examples of non-stereotypical roles and to publicize such success stories. To request further information and/or participate, please contact the following email address: womenofeurope@eige.europa.eu