WIDE+ proposes measures to improve situation of women refugees in Europe and Turkey
As a feminist network WIDE + is very concerned about the vulnerable situation of women refugees in Europe and in Turkey. WIDE+ has therefore asked United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and UN Women to check how gender sensitive measures are implemented.
WIDE+ calls for secured access to places of safety and privacy, including gender-segregated sleeping and sanitation facilities in camps as well as staff with gender sensitive training. It is necessary that women with experience of violence, torture and threats will be proactively given access to professional GBV counselling and assistance. Women’s health should be a priority as well, especially the situation of pregnant women should receive more attention. And it is of utmost importance that women’s rights to lodge an asylum claim independently of their spouse and family, and to have a legal status independent of that of their spouse and family, are duly and proactively enforced.
Read here the concerns WIDE+ has: WIDEletter_UNCHR_April_2016
Read here the reply from UN Women: http://wp.me/p2KSLS-m0
CAWN and WIDE+ call on European Parliamentarians to pressure El Salvador to end ban on Abortion
The Central America Women’s Network (CAWN) and Women in Development Europe (WIDE+) have asked European Parliamentarians to pressure El Salvador to have an open debate in its Legislative Assembly to change the legislation that bans abortion under all circumstances. MEP Members of the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly will come together on 16-18 May in Lisbon, Spain and meet Latin American parliamentarians. Human rights groups in El Salvador agree that a debate on the inadequacies of the abortion law in the Legislative Assembly is key for the advance of women’s reproductive rights in the country and the rest of the region.
CSW 2016 Stepped It Up for Gender Equality and a Planet 50-50 by 2030. What now?
Janice G Foerde
The milestone sixtieth session of the UN Commission of the Status of Women (CSW) took place from 14-24 March 2016 at UN Headquarters in New York City. It was the largest CSW ever. This articles reviews the outcomes, reports on the controversial issues on the table and asks whether the final conclusions will help step it up for gender equality.
WIDE+ supports TTIP campaign aiming to protect European regulations on chemicals and pesticides
WIDE+ supports a current campaign that calls for chemicals to be excluded from regulatory cooperation within the TTIP (EU-US trade) negotiations. The campaign also calls for no provisions enabling multinationals to sideline the EU courts and sue European states in the agreement, the so-called Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) or Investment Court System. There are indications that negotiations to harmonise European and American standards will lead to a lowering of European standards that set out to protect consumers from health risks associated with the use of chemicals and pesticides. This is one area in which the TTIP could directly impact negatively on women’s bodies.
WIDE+ member GADIP Conference “ Beijing+20” report available
The network Gender and Development in Practice, GADIP organized last November at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden a conference reviewing Beijing+20. The theme was “How do we continue the work?”, reviewing the twelve prioritized areas in the Beijing Platform for Action by inviting NGOs and researchers.
Read the report: Report_Beijing_final version april 2016
The first Financing for Development review Forum fails to deliver meaningful outcomes for Women’s Human Rights
The inaugural ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow-up was held from 18 to 20 April 2016, but it did not bring results. The outcome document provides four articles that basically affirms the current process and agenda. As one CSO report described it, it “ended up being as good as a blank sheet of paper”. Civil Society addressed many concerns during the meeting, including the lack of structural changes in the global economic governance and development architecture to deliver women’s and girls human rights.
New Resources
EP study on feminist NGOs in the EU
Article: Why the Panama Papers are a Feminist issue
ITUC report: Investing in the Care Economy – Gender Analysis of Employment Stimulus in 7 OECD Countries
Article: IMF and World Bank gender projects do not match the rhetoric
EP Study on the Gender Dimension of Trafficking in Human Beings
Oxfam Paper: why gender and economic inequality must be tackled together
BRIDGE briefing: Gender, Age and Migration
ODI paper: Adaptive development and Feminist action
Gender & Development Issue on the Sustainable Development Goals
Study: the Unequal Economics of Women’s Work
AWID Toolkit “Where is the Money for Women’s Rights?” (WITM Toolkit)
EU Gender Action Plan II: opportunities for civil society participation to kick-start implementation