British Government not backing UK Women for CEDAW Vacancies and UN Super-Agency for Women

British Government not backing UK Women for CEDAW Vacancies and the new UN Super-Agency For Women

Further to the response by Michael Foster to written Questions in the Commons from the MP Jo Swinson (see below at ‘Questions tabled and answered in the House of Commons’ ), the eminent human rights and equal opportunities Queen’s Counsel Lord Lester plans to table the following Questions in the Upper House:

Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their reasons for having decided not to promote a UK candidate for membership of the UN Agency for Women or the UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ascertain whether there are qualified UK candidates for membership of the UN Agency for Women or the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Some background on Lord Lester below (also see http://www.blackstonechambers.com/people/barristers/lord_lester_of_herne.html )

Questions tabled and answered in the House of Commons

Question by Jo Swinson MP (East Dunbartonshire, Liberal Democrat)
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2009, Official Report,column 27W, on the United Nations: females, if his Department will prepare a list of UK women nationals to be considered for nomination to senior positions on (a) the Committee on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and (b)the United Nations Agency for Women.

Response from Michael Foster MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for International Development; Worcester, Labour)
The UK Government are committed to promoting a good quality field of candidates for the heads and senior leadership of all institutional institutions. In all cases we will promote open, transparent and merit-based processes. In some cases we may wish to promote a UK candidate where they are best qualified for the post. We have no plans to promote a UK candidate for either of these two appointments.

CEDAW

CEDAW is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It is described as an international Bill of Rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. It was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly. In CEDAW’s 30 years of existence British Governments have never nominated anyone for the influential CEDAW Committee. Several vacancies occur in 2010.

More information by UN DAW at www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.htm

The new United Nations ‘Super-Agency’ For Women

In 2010 four existing United Nations agencies and offices - UNIFEM, INSTRAW, OSAGI, DAW - will be amalgamated to create a new single entity within the Organization to promote the rights and well-being of women worldwide and to work towards gender equality. The Head of this ‘Super-Agency For Women’ will have Under Secretary-General standing and an annual budget mooted at around US$1 billion. S/he will be appointed in the Spring 2010 and will seek nominations for senior posts from UN Member States including the UK. This Agency should become the most powerful entity in the world for the more rapid advance of the rights, opportunities and well-being of the Earth’s 3.5 billion women.

Further info: ‘Finally, a UN agency for women.’ Guardian article by Dod’s UK Political Journalist of The Year 2009 Lesley Abdela:
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/27/un-super-agency-women

UN News Centre release: www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32066&Cr=women&Cr1=

Biography of Lord Lester QC

Lord Lester QC is recognised by Chambers UK 2009 as a leading silk in administrative and public law and human rights practice areas and has been described as “one of the most knowledgeable and authoritative figures in the field of human rights”.

The Legal 500 2008 describes Lord Lester QC as "one of the leading civil liberties and human rights lawyers in Britain" and ranks him as a leading silk in the following areas: Administrative and public law, employment law and civil liberties/human rights law.

Lord Lester QC was named in The Times Law 100 2009 listing the most influential lawyers in Britain. Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, a “leading public and constitutional lawyer, is still changing the law and pushing the boundaries of reform”.

Co-founder and former Chairman, The Runnymede Trust
Governor, British Institute of Human Rights
The Judges Award For a lifetime of achievement in the service of human rights, Liberty/JUSTICE Human Rights Awards (2007)

• Special Adviser to Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights for Northern Ireland, 1975-77
• UK legal expert on EEC Commission’s Network Committee on Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination, 1983-93
• Chairman, Institute for Public Policy Research’s Judiciary Working Group on “A British Bill of Rights”, 1990
• Liberty Human Rights Lawyer of the Year Award (1997)
• Hansard Society Commission on “Women at the Top” (Report, 1990)
• Editor-in-Chief, Butterworths’ Human Rights Cases
• Editorial Board, International Journal of Discrimination and the Law
• Chair, National Committee for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1998
• Member, Advisory Committee, Centre for Public Law, University of Cambridge, 1999-
• Member, Executive Board, Open Society Institute Justice Initiative, 2000-
• Independent Adviser to the Justice Secretary on certain aspects of constitutional reform, 2007-2008

Michael Foster MP Labour, Worcester

· Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for International Development (since 6 Oct 2008)
· Entered Parliament on 1 May 1997 General election
· Majority: 3,144 votes. this majority puts him 524th out of 643 MPs.

[The blogpost above has been posted with due credit to Acronym Institute of Disarmament Diplomacy for sharing this with us]

Women Challenge Security

Written by Talyn Rahman

As part of an annual seminar hosted by Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, this year’s topic was based on our current campaign regarding women versus militarism and nuclear weapons. Speakers included Rebecca Johnson (Acronym Institute), Diane Perrons (LSE Gender Institute), Tamsin Osmond (Climate Rush) and Nicola Pratt (University of Warwick) discussing insecurities and how they impact women. The seminar was then followed by workshops with a close look at WILPF’s core campaigns: and Voice of African Women, Human Security not Military Security,Strengthening Women’s Rights.

To start, Diane Perrons introduced the affect economic insecurity has on women. At least 73% of world’s workers are affected by economic insecurity, be it the interference of climate change, the global economic crisis, food security or physical security. The financial crisis has been spread by highly paid men, and now we are seeing gender biased cuts in government expenditures. The percentage of women working in health and education sector is high, and it is these sectors that are suffering the most from budget cuts. Public sectors are in difficulty due to cutbacks as there are now shortages of staff in hospitals further burdening women to take on more responsibility for less pay.

Nicola Pratt stated that $40-70 billion is being spent towards Trident renewal, money which could have gone towards expanding and improving public services which are led and supported by women. However, a society that fought for 20 years is a society that has become militarised, and as a member of the UN Security Council member, the UK’s military position is about power, placing public services at the bottom of the list. This situation is common for many countries, both developed and developing. In civilian war-torn countries like Afghanistan, women and girls are forced to pull out of work and schools for their own protection, which results in loss of earnings and education. Of course, war and financial crisis affect men too as shown by the increasing unemployment figures but men are overrepresented in regular employment in the labour market which explains why the number of female unemployment is barely mentioned. While the expansion of wealth to women have timidly gone up, income share of labour and workers earnings have fallen, leading to a rise in inequality.

Environment insecurity is also a challenge especially to women living in developing countries. Women engage in subsistent agriculture with 60-80% who grow their own food and collect fire and water. However, Tamsin Omond stressed that climate change should be viewed as a “one Earth way” that affects everyone in spite of gender and race. Just by living in western world, we expel too much carbon, even if one tries to live holistically. Over-consumption is one of the biggest problems in the West indulging in luxuries, as well as the rate of over-population across the world. 50 million unwanted pregnancies occur due to lack of contraceptives, education and the force of war. Educating children and women is key to reducing over-population, giving them the tools to take control, however educating soldiers too may help reduce the rate of rape and violence in war-torn countries, earning respect and common solidarity.

As Rebecca Johnson stated, military-industrial complexes drive human insecurity. Global military expenditure stands at over $1.46 trillion in arrival expenditure. Since the Cold War, the UK has been involved in the Korean War, Vietnam conflict, war in Afghanistan, Persian Gulf War, Iraq War and many others. The UK is ranked 4 on military sending in 2008 with a world share of 4.5%. The UK also has the largest arms producing companies which include Boeing as the number one arms investor with BAE Systems and Cockhead Martin leading second and third. Judging by these statistics, we need to start working on our nuclear policy in the West before moving into other regions to gain solidarity for disarmament and unjustified spending. Sixth of the people do not have enough food to eat as it is a lack of priority. Race and violence against women is a function of war. War itself is a destruction of the environment, and arms production and trade fuel conflict encourages patriarchy.

Female insecurity in economy, environment and militarism is a circle that has common links. Nuclear weapons cannot be abolished without demilitarising, therefore as a first step, we must try to reach a ‘Global Zero’ level and promote alternative policies that support victims of war, conflict and oppression. Challenging religious, political fundamentalism and racism is also a step towards challenging patriarchy and securing security for women all over the world.

Y-WILPF Committee

After discussions with members in Spring, the Y-WILPF UK Committee was newly formed in October 2009 and is the first young committee of its kind in WILPF. Led by the new Y-WILPF Coordinator, Talyn Rahman, the committee was chosen using Facebook and personal contacts. Within weeks, the committee has already become extremely active engaging themselves in organising a public fundraising to celebrate WILPF's 95th birthday in April 2010, as well as participating in events and demonstrations.

The committee is made of eight young women currently between the ages of 20-30, who are mentored by experienced WILPF members in the UK. Each of these women have received training about WILPF at the Connect Day we hold annually and have been educated on WILPF's long history. The number of participants in Y-WILPF will soon increase once logistics of events have been fully developed. Each Y-WILPF Officer will be in charge of managing their own team in 2010 to support the work of WILPF UK and make the organisation grow.

MEET THE TEAM

Talyn Rahman: Project Coordinator

Talyn Rahman has been a WILPF member for nearly 2 years and is currently in charge of running activities to empower young women into political campaigning. As a student of Japanese and Management from the SOAS University, Talyn has spent the entire year networking in high-level political events. Networking has led her to meet Ban Ki Moon, Kofi Anan, Nick Clegg, Milla Jovovich, Paulo Coelho just to name a few. To further her profession in politics, Talyn is scheduled to start her Master’s programme in Diplomacy in January 2010, and will be volunteering at the House of Commons with a female MP.

Judith Solomons: Communications Officer

Jude Solomons joined WILPF in July 2009 after being impressed by WILPF'S values and vision. Relatively new to volunteering in the non-for-profit sector, she works as a Company Secretary by day and tries to fit in yoga lessons by night. She graduated from Cambridge with a degree in Social and Political Sciences, and wants to use her knowledge as well as the expertise gained in the private sector to create a better world for all. She is very excited to be part of the important campaigns at the heart of WILPF. Her current role is YWILPF Communications Officer.

Cordula Bieri: Events Coordinator

Hi! I am Cordula, I am Swiss and I am studying Sociology in Zurich. Sometimes I am fed up with studying. I want to take part in changing our society and not just study it. In August I came to London for an internship at Campaign against Arms Trade. It is very inspiring to see how many people work for making this world a better place. I also joined the London Feminist Network to learn as much as possible about feminism. WILPF gives me the great opportunity to campaign for peace and women’s rights at the same time.

Yang Ning: Finance and Fundraising Officer

I am a student of BSc Mathematics with Management and Finance at King’s College London, who has always had great interest in Business and Finance. Having attended the Youth Global Humanitarian Forum on behalf of SUCHEN (Sustainable Chinese Enterprise) in June 2006, I was more aware of the importance of environmental sustainability and believe that Climate Change issues should be added to political agenda.

My aspiration for the role of Fundraising/Finance Officer primarily is to gain experience in fund raising and budget management to facilitate Y-WILPF to achieve its goals and objectives.

Genevieve Grant: Marketing Officer

At this present moment, I work for the Newham Council as a Customer Services Assistant, which is a full-time job. I am also studying part-time for a BSC in Youth and Social Policy at Birkbeck University. I hope to work with the young people in the future. As a hobby, I play football in an all girls team every Sunday which is based in Loughton. With my job and studies, I have a busy life but I hope that I can achieve my goals working for WILPF as the Marketing Officer, and look forward to seeing my ideas come to life.

Atinuke Akintan: International Representative

Atinuke is a new recruit to WILPF, leading as the Y-WILPF International Representative. She is currently finishing her Masters at Westminster University studying Diplomatic Studies, looking into foreign views of Nigeria.
As part of Junior Chamber International (JCI), Atinuke is an active individual, attending youth conferences all over the world giving her great scope to cultural and social issues.

Sarah Loewenbein: Campaigns Officer

Sarah Loewenbein has been involved in feminist activism for the past three years through the London Feminist Network and Reclaim the Night. Through involvement with Y-WILPF she hopes to contribute to and learn more about WILPF’s global campaigns. She is currently studying for a BA in philosophy.

Hina Qureshi: Membership Officer

Hina has been a WILPF member for nearly two months, interested in global issues related to women. She has recently graduated from Birkbeck University and recently started her Masters in Diplomacy and International Studies at SOAS. Since then, Hina has been very keen to involve herself with WILPF and has supported the engagement of starting student group at London universities.

The world of media

Written by Cordula Bieri

On Monday, 26 October, Talyn and I participated in a media-training organised by Media Trust. The training was part of the Learning Revolution, which enabled people throughout the UK to participate in all kind of courses for free. This was really a great initiative as these courses are often very expensive. Especially for smaller organisations they are hardly affordable.

So we went to Peckham Library with the best intentions to learn a lot about how we can use media more successfully. In the morning we had a workshop on how to use different social media. As there are so many different ways in communicating over the internet we actually didn’t come much further than the pros and cons of the various social media. But after lunch Kate Fox held a speech about how she used social media in a local campaign. This was very useful as it showed how to set priorities and how to develop a social media strategy with little money and time.

In the afternoon I went to a workshop, where I learned how to get the attention of journalists with a press release. I guess we have to start thinking much more like journalists. Issues we get very excited about can be very boring for a broader audience. So it is very important to ask “what’s new?” and “what’s the story?”.

I just realised that I haven’t put the things I have learned at the training into practice yet. This blog is much too late. Blogs should be written on the day itself if possible, but I guess I am still learning…

Feminism in London 2009

Written by Cordula Bieri

On the 17th of October women from all over the UK, from various backgrounds and of all ages came together at the Feminism in London Conference 2009 to celebrate feminism and womanhood. It was a wonderful day with inspiring speeches and empowering workshops. I am writing about some of my impressions of the day.

The opening speeches were held by Susie Orbach and Beatrix Campell. Both held very powerful speeches.

Susie Orbach talked about how women’s bodies are under ongoing pressure to be beautiful. The pictures we see every day on the billboards, in the magazines and on TV influence the image we have of ourselves. But the pictures we see every day are so thoroughly airbrushed that these bodies have no connection to reality. But still women aspire to have those bodies. In the US it is getting normal that girls from the age of 16 are getting breast implants. Women and even girls are trying to change every part of their bodies. Inspired by pornography they even choose to do surgeries like labiaplasty. (If someone is interested to read more about this issue, I can recommend Susie Orbach’s book “Bodies” or Sheila Jeffreys “Beauty and Misogyny”.)

After this inspiring start there was a wide range of workshops to choose from. There was self-defence training, a panel on racism, an anti-porn slideshow and even a workshop for pro-feminist men. I went to the anti-porn workshop, which was really interesting, but also extremely shocking. As a lot of women (me included) don’t watch porn, we’ve been showed some pictures to realise how women are presented in porn. It was really disgusting. Most porn didn’t seem to be about sex at all, but just about naked brutal violence against women and girls.

The workshop showed how porn is trickling in every part of our life. How fashion is adapting to porn and even the appearance of Disney’s female characters changed over the years to look more “sexy”.

During the lunch break I visited some of the many stalls. Many different women organisations were present. Some were campaigning against objectification, others against violence against women and there was also WILPF along other women’s peace groups. It was great to see how many women fight day by day to improve women’s rights and lives around the world.

In the afternoon I went to a panel on “what’s wrong with prostitution”. There Denise Marshall, a campaigner from Eaves and Rebecca Motts and Anna Travers two survivors of prostitution who talked about their experiences. This was one of the most moving talks I have ever been to. Women in the audience were crying while listening to these strong women’s speeches. You just had to listen to them talking about their life out there as prostitutes without any protection to know how totally wrong prostitution is. When the last speaker finished her speech, all the women in the audience rose from their seats to give them a standing applause. That was a very touching moment.

There were many more interesting workshops and speeches. In the evening they was a fabulous fundraiser event with the funniest comedians and the most magical magicians I have ever seen. But I can’t go on forever, so if you would like to know more about the conference visit their website http://www.fil.btik.com/home.ikml and make sure that you don’t miss next year’s conference. It’s going to be even bigger than and as great as this year’s.

Y-WILPF Recruitment

Written by Talyn Rahman

Since being elected as the new coordinator in April 2009, Y-WILPF UK has taken a major turn with its capacity building programme within the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. As Y-WILPF’s aim is to empower new and young members in WILPF, the new partnership with Changemakers has enabled Y-WILPF to have access to young women in clubs, schools and colleges across East London. Changemaker’s Development Manager, Marie Lyse Numuhoza and I are working together in bringing young women into Y-WILPF so that they can engage in WILPF activities, fundraise and expand WILPF as an organisation.

To enable new members to be as active as possible, Y-WILPF endeavours to host a Talent Show in April 2010 as part of WILPF’s annual birthday celebration. The Talent Show will be a ticketed event to showcase the work of women through forms of art, drama, dance and other entertainment avenues. In order to organise this mammoth event, Y-WILPF will be recruiting committee members within the network with specific duties. The idea of forming a committee will not only allow new members to learn about WILPF, but will encourage young women to contribute to the growth of WILPF and gain valuable experience from an international organisation.

The Talent Show is not the only event we will be working on. Y-WILPF will be engaged with UK WILPF’s three core campaigns and collaborate in outside events such as the Blockade of Aldermaston in February 2010. It is essential that Y-WILPF members participate in as many events as possible so that they can learn about global issues, network with professionals, and encourage like-minded women to join WILPF.

By recruiting young women through the Y-WILPF committee, we hope that new and young members can share fresh ideas with our current executive members with the aims of making WILPF a stronger and more united organisation.

The position of Marketing Officer and Membership Officer is still available. If you are interested, please get in touch with me as soon as possible.

Announcement: UK WILPF joins European GEAR Coalition

Reported by Fiza Fatima Asar

WILPF has recently joined the network of NGOs campaigning for stronger Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR). Worldwide, women and girls are less likely to go to school, receive adequate health care, own property or participate in decision-making structures. The United Nations has a key role in working for women’s rights at global level and although it has several policies protecting the causes of women, they merely exist on paper and not in action. Furthermore, the UN bodies dealing with gender equality are under-resourced and fragmented.

The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign calls for the creation of a strong new women's entity at the UN. It aims on achieving this by demanding:

1. Universal field presence of women’s entity.
2. A female Under-Secretary General to ensure the necessary representation and decision-making at higher levels of women.
3. Substantial resources vital for the women’s entity to deliver its tasks – starting with $1 billion USD and rising over time.
4. Accountability by way of including civil society, particularly NGOs, in its governance and programming
5. Mandate to promote and hold the UN system accountable for gender mainstreaming throughout the UN and particularly in the UN Country Teams.

The UN General Assembly will make a decision on the structure of the new gender equality entity in September 2009. We must act now to influence governments to ensure that the new entity can really make a difference to women’s lives around the world! For further information or to join the campaign, please visit the website: http://www.un-gear.eu/takeaction.shtml