European & International News

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European & International News
MEPs say achieving gender equality is a key element in eradicating poverty

Posted on 27 January 2011 |

[European Parliament, Brussels, 28 January 2011] On 27 January, members of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee adopted by overwhelming majority an own-initiative report aiming at reducing female poverty in the EU, as women face greater risk of poverty than men. To eradicate poverty, a gender specific perspective should be adopted in all common policies. In addition, Commission and Member States should take necessary measures to eliminate gender inequalities in employment as part (...) Read more
European & International News
New UN Women head presents 100-day Action Plan

Posted on 27 January 2011 |

[UN News Centre, New York, 24 January 2011] The head of the new United Nations agency promoting women’s rights and full participation in global affairs laid out a 100-day action plan today, embracing a full spectrum of issues from supporting national partners to promoting coherence within the UN system.
“Women’s strength, women’s industry, women’s wisdom are humankind’s greatest untapped resource,” the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile, told the first (...) Read more
European & International News
Bachelet statement to UN WOMEN Executive Board

Posted on 26 January 2011 |

[Brussels, 26 January 2011] During the first UN Women Executive Board meeting on Monday 24 January 2011, Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, unveiled her vision and 100-day action plan for the organization. Read an exerpt of her speech below.
Statement to the First Regular Session of the Executive Board, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
UN Women’s vision is one where men and women have equal opportunities and capacities (...) Read more
European & International News
Sexually abused children getting younger, says UK charity

Posted on 24 January 2011 |

LONDON, Jan. 17 (UPI) — The ages of sexually abused children are falling while the trafficking of British children for sexual exploitation is increasing, a British charity said.
The average age for victims of sexual child abuse has dropped from 15 to 13 in five years, The Guardian reported.
"Wherever we have looked for exploitation, we have found it. But the real tragedy is we believe this is just the tip of the iceberg," said Anne Marie Carrie, chief executive of Barnardo, the largest (...) Read more
European & International News
European Parliament FEMM Committee issues draft report on female poverty in the EU

Posted on 24 January 2011 |

[Brussels, 24 January 2011] The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights & Gender Equality (FEMM Committee) has released its draft report on ’The Face of Female Poverty in the EU’.
79 million Europeans live below the poverty line and 17% of all women in the EU’s 27 countries are classed as living in poverty. The Motion for a European Parliament Resolution on the face of female poverty in the EU, drafted by MEP Rovana Plumb (S&D, RO) and discussed during the 29 November FEMM (...) Read more
European & International News
Women in high places: The EU’s diplomatic (gender) balancing act

Posted on 19 January 2011 |

[Brussels, 19 January 2011] Women in International Security (WIIS) today issued a Press Release calling for more gender balance in the new European External Action Service, an issue the EWL has consistently raised with Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
WIIS Press Release
Baroness Ashton’s EEAS nominations this month must right the EU’s foreign service gender balance The European External Action Service was finally (...) Read more
European & International News
AIDS-Free World criticises U.N. chief for leaving women out of year-end summing up

Posted on 13 January 2011 |

By Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service
[UNITED NATIONS, Jan 5, 2011 (IPS)] When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote a year-end op-ed piece for an Australian newspaper last week, he talked about the future of a world body facing a new generation of threats: climate change, poverty, nuclear disarmament and human rights.
But, wittingly or unwittingly, he left out one of the biggest political success stories of the world body: the creation of a separate body, UN Women, to promote gender (...) Read more
European & International News
Women call on the Security Council to include United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 Mandates in all Resolutions related to Women and Peace and Security

Posted on 13 January 2011 |

[Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, 11 January 2010] An open letter to members of the Security Council calling for maintaining the mandates of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women and Peace and Security in all subsequent resolutions on women, especially those calling for the prevention of sexual abuse and rape, was issued yesterday by more than 65 organizations and women from around the world.
The concern that motivated the letter was due to the lack of (...) Read more
European & International News
New figures from Ireland show gendered and structural nature of sexual violence

Posted on 5 January 2011 |

According to statistics on sexual violence released by the Rape Crisis Network Ireland: 85.2% of all victims are female. 95.7% of perpetrators are male. The majority (60.7%) of sexual violence victims are children. 30.4% experience sexual violence as adults only and a further 8.9% suffer violence as both children and adults. For women, the risk of sexual violence does not decrease as much as for men with age. 84% of male victims experience sexual violence as children only. For females, (...) Read more
European & International News
Ireland: New law to target demand for prostitution

Posted on 4 January 2011 |

[Brussels, 04 January 2011] The EWL is delighted to learn that the Irish government is considering introducing legislation protecting women victims of the prostitutional system and targeting pimps and those who buy sex. Based on the highly successful Swedish model, such legislation works towards a society where equality between women and men is upheld as a fundamental right and value.
Under current Irish law, prostitutes can face criminal charges for soliciting sex, as can pimps, but a man (...) Read more