Kansainvälisen liittomme helmikuun jäsenkirjeen aiheena ovat mm. Crisis Response- ja Human Rights-ohjelmiemme koulutukset Syyriassa sekä YK:n naisten asemaa käsittelevä toimikunnan tuleva 60. istunto. Saat lisää tietoa tilaamalla jatkossa jäsenkirjeen tästä suoraan itsellesi.
WILPF Research on Weapons in Syria
Ahead of the Syria Peace Talks that began this Monday, WILPF’s disarmament programme published some of its preliminary research tracking weapons being used by government and opposition forces in Syria back to their manufacturers. By doing so, WILPF seeks to highlight the companies contributing to the conflict.
Crisis Response and Human Rights Programmes Hold a Training on the UPR for Syria
The Crisis Response and the Human Rights Programmes, with the support of Kvinna till Kvinna, organised a training on drafting a shadow report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Syria from the 7 until the 9 of January 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. The objective of the training was to gather Syrian female activists from different civil society organisations in the aim of drafting a comprehensive shadow report that sheds the light on how the conflict in Syria inflicts a distinct impact upon women. The professional backgrounds of the participants include, but are not limited to: legal expertise, research on women’s issues, gender-based violence, humanitarian assistance, advocacy work, field activism, and civil society training.
Crisis Response Supporting Syrian Grassroots Organisations Taking Part in the Donors’ Conference in London
The Crisis Response team at WILPF will be supporting Syrian grassroots organisations coming to the donors’ conference in London on February 4, 2016. The summit will gather more than 70 international leaders in the aim of meeting the United Nations’ demand for $7.73 billion to help in Syria in addition to $1.23 billion for assistance to neighbouring countries affected by the crisis.
The 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 60)
We are counting down! The 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 60) is right around the corner: 14 to 24 March 2016 at UN Headquarters in New York. This year, the priority theme is ’Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development’ and the review theme is ’The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls’.
WILPF’s delegation will hail from around the world and join together to demand action.
Arms Trade Treaty Extraordinary Meeting
On 29 February 2016, Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) states parties will meet in Geneva to adopt administrative arrangements for the ATT Secretariat, budgets for the Secretariat and Second Conference of States Parties (CSP2), and a Secretariat structure. The decisions made here will set states up for CSP2, to be held later in 2016.
RCW will provide reporting and documentation from this meeting, so stay tuned! In the meantime, check out the agenda for the meeting.
WILPF’s Participation in Upcoming CEDAW Review of Sweden
The Swedish Government will be reviewed by the UN CEDAW Committee (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) on 18 February regarding its record on the implementation of the CEDAW Convention.
WILPF International Secretariat with a Member from WILPF Sweden, will actively engage with CEDAW experts to pass on the message to the Swedish Government that it must address and be held accountable for its impacts on women’s rights, not only nationally, but also abroad. Afterwards, WILPF Sweden and WILPF International Secretariat will publish a report underlining Sweden’s extra-territorial obligations to respect women’s rights under the CEDAW Convention.
In this report, we raise concerns and recommendations on three main topics:
• the consequences of Swedish arms exports on women’s rights and in particular on gender-based violence,
• violations of women’s rights committed by Swedish companies (in particular in the textile industry in Bangladesh),
• the implementation of Sweden’s commitments to the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
Upcoming: Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Nuclear Disarmament
The second open-ended working group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament is set to meet in Geneva throughout 2016. This group will address concrete effective legal measures, legal provisions, and norms that will need to be concluded to attain and maintain a world without nuclear weapons. This is a great opportunity for states to focus on elements necessary for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. The first meetings will take place in mid-February and will cover a range of topics related to legal provisions and risk reduction. A second round of meetings will be held the first two weeks of May. International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons will be holding a campaigners meeting on the margins, so stayed tuned for details! Reaching Critical Will intends to provide coverage of all OEWG meetings, including reporting and analysis, documentation, and civil society coordination.
Upcoming: Security Council Workshop
On 16-17 February, PeaceWomen will co-sponsor a Security Council Workshop on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Children in Armed Conflict (CAAC) in Berlin, Germany, to educate new Security Council members on the WPS and CAAC agendas, tools, and good practice for engagement.
This invitation-only Chatham House rules discussion will provide space building capacity and coordination around accountability and effective implementation. As part of the workshop, we will share our monitoring and advocacy tools and highlight the need for an integrated approach that strengthens conflict prevention through disarmament and women’s human rights.