Events in 2008
9th July, 2008, Kathmandu, Nepal:
| Kathmandu — Hon’ble Pampha Bhusal, Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare, signed onto UNIFEM's Say NO to Violence against Women campaign at a ceremony on 9 July 2008 in Kathmandu, Nepal, during an interactive panel co-organized by UNIFEM and Saathi to share and disseminate the findings of the UN Secretary-General's Report on Violence against Women. |
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Minister Bhusal said in her remarks that she would provide her full support to legislation that promotes women's rights, including the Bill on Domestic Violence.
Special guest Ms. Nain Kala Thapa, Chairperson, National Women's Commission (NWC), said that it is important to redefine the status of the NWC as an autonomous body to ensure that women's rights issues are regarded as human rights issues.
Dr. Arzu Deuba Rana, Member of the Constituent Assembly, chaired the session and expressed her satisfaction that violence against women is being recognized in Nepal as a violation of human rights.
Present at the interactive panel were participants from the Government of Nepal, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, women's and human rights networks, and the media.
For more information, please contact Ms. Sangeeta Thapa, sangeeta.thapa[at]unifem.org, +977 1 425-5110.
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Ms. Bandana Rana, President, Saathi; Hon’ble Arzu Rana Deuba, Member, Constituent Assembly; Ms. Nain Kala Thapa, Chairperson, National Women’s Commission; Hon’ble Pampha Bhusal, Minister, Ministry of Women Children and Social Welfare; and Ms Sangeeta Thapa, UNIFEM Programme Coordinator, UNIFEM Programme Office Nepal, signing on “Say No to Violence”.
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Ms. Bandana Rana, Presidnet, Saathi; Hon’ble Arzu Rana Deuba, Member, Constituent Assembly; Ms, Nain Kala Thapa, Chairperson, National Women’s Commission; Hon’ble Pampha Bhusal, Minister, Ministry of Women Children and Social Welfare; and Ms Sangeeta Thapa, UNIFEM Programme Coordinator, UNIFEM Programme Office Nepal hold the cards with signature for the UNIFEM’s Global Campaign on “Say No to Violence”
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25th June, 2008, New Delhi: Round Table on Building Partnership with Men to Promote Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: |
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The introductory panel comprised of Ms. Renuka Chowdhury, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Women and Child Development, Dr. (Mrs.) Kiran Chadha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ms. Sushma Kapoor, Deputy Regional Programme Director, UNIFEM South Asia and Mr. Rahul Roy from Aakar.
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The conference was introduced as a platform, which could enable an exchange of experiences of different professionals, working towards partnering with men on gender issues.
14 legislators of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, including the Speaker and the Chairperson of the Legislative Committee for the Welfare of Women and Children, endorsed UNIFEM’s Say NO to Violence against Women Campaign, at an interaction led by the UN in India.
6th – 9th April, 2008, Siliguri: Meeting on Trafficking, HIV, Labour and Migration: “Bringing the Centre to the People” and Building Positive Partnerships
The Meeting on Trafficking, HIV, Labour and Migration: “Bringing the Centre to the People” and Building Positive Partnerships was organized by ERTHNET and the Media Coalition, with UNIFEM support, in Siliguri, North Bengal. The meeting sought to initiate the process of bringing about social transformation, by bringing the centre to the people and making linkages between the issues of trafficking, HIV, labour and migration in relation to the socio-economic realities of the region.
EHRTHNET (EASTERN HIMALAYA REGIONAL NETWORK AGAINST GENDER BASED VIOLENCE, TRAFFICKING & HIV/AIDS) is a Network of Networks, the formation of which was facilitated by UNIFEM. It comprises the National Media Coalition, Networks of national Civil Society Organizations, Legal Professionals' Network, the Corporate Sector and the Positive People's Network. It emerged through a common vision shared by development, media, legal and corporate professionals to work with the most marginalized communities and rights holders living in the far- flung hills and villages of those parts of India that have remained in the fringes of development.
Delegates from diverse walks of life, working on a range of issues attended the meeting. These included representatives from tea management, trade unions and NGOs. EHRTHNET was represented by members from ATSEC (India), ATSEC (Bihar), ATSEC (Jharkhand Chapter), ATSEC (Uttranchal), CBATN (Cross Border Ant-trafficking Network), Churches of North India (CNI), DJPN+, GOLD Eastern Himalayan Region, Impulse NGO Network, NCAT, NEDAN Foundation, NNLRJ (National Network of Lawyers for Rights and Justice), Rahi Foundation, Vikalpdhara, and Shakti Vahini. Government officials, advocates, representatives of trade unions and management of tea gardens, positive peoples’ representatives, activists, professionals and representatives of several NGOs participated.
Members of Parliament, Dr. Arun Sharma from Assam, Mr. Nakul Das Rai from Sikkim and Mr. Dawa Narbula from Darjeeling and Ms. Manju Hembrun, Member National Commission for Women, were present.
Dr. Ambumani Ramadoss, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare was the guest of honour. The Honourable Minister congratulated the National Media Coalition for bringing the centre to the people and for forming a bridge through the state government. All issues are linked, he said, and the Ministries of Home, Defence, Panchayati Raj, Labour and Commerce are all involved. He said that he would share his concerns and take the concerns voiced at the meeting back to the Centre. The Honourable Minister also visited the District Hospital in Darjeeling.
The meeting enabled diverse stakeholders to look at the cross-cutting issues of marginalization & vulnerabilities across labour/migration/trafficking/health & HIV/AIDS, tracing their inter-linkages, particularly in relation to the tea gardens. It provided a platform for local people and policy makers to inform each other and interact, as well as facilitated linkages and networking. Issues of poverty, unemployment, migration, use of drugs, hunger, health, particularly HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB, gender based violence, trafficking for commercial sex work, domestic work and labour and child trafficking, were brought up and discussed. Lack of reliable data, weak implementation of existing laws, formulation of, or changing of current relevant laws, a lack of alternate livelihood options/ lack of training in other trades and lack of education, were some of the issues that were spotlighted for attention. Successful practices were shared.
The Meeting was viewed as the beginning of a process of building up and not as one off event. There was consensus that all stakeholders needed to work together and that these efforts needed to be coordinated. All the participants adopted the Accountability Charter, which calls for:
- Engaging with the Government and local governance structures to advance gender equality, human rights and social protection
- Combating human trafficking and forced migration – both across borders as well as internally
- Reducing gender-based violence
- Creating awareness towards reduction of HIV incidences
- Ensuring care and support to survivors of violence
- Ensuring care and support to Persons living with HIV and AIDS
- Creating livelihood options at local levels and exploring market linkages
- Facilitating safety nets against hunger, starvation and malnutrition, and displacements
- Facilitating ground level voices at policy levels by supporting parparliamentary discussions and decisions around issues of gender, human rights and equality
The Charter complements and supplements existing laws. It is a voluntary charter and draws on a range of existing codes, norms, standards and guidelines.
17th – 19th January, 2008, New Delhi: The Sixth South Asia Regional Ministerial Conference: Commemorating Beijing was co-hosted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India and UNIFEM South Asia Office. The meeting was inaugurated by the Hon’ble President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil. Ms. Renuka Choudhury, Honourable Minister, Ministry of Women and Child Development (Independent Charge), Government of India, delivered the Welcome Address followed by remarks by H.E. Mr. Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji, SAARC Secretary General, and Ms. Chandni Joshi, Regional Programme Director, UNIFEM South Asia. Hon Dr. Arfa Sayeda Zehra, Chairperson, National Commission on the Status of Women, Government of Pakistan, gave the vote of thanks. (Remarks listed below). The SAARC Secretary General launched the SAARC Gender Database at the inaugural session of the Conference.
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The meeting focused on appraising the progress made by SAARC countries on the Beijing Platform for Action and the
five areas - violence against women, economic and political empowerment of women, disaster preparedness and management, and health and education - which had been identified as areas of priority at the last Regional Ministerial Conference at Islamabad in 2005.Achievements were noted, gaps, challenges and opportunities were identified, and an action plan for a more effective implementation of the Beijing PFA, was formulated by governments and civil society to address key priorities of the region. These are laid out in the declaration, entitled, the India Forward Moving Strategies for Gender Equality 2008.
As is the practice of these conferences, regional sharing and learning was facilitated on CEDAW, gender responsive budgeting, the SAARC Gender Database, and the engendering of planning processes.
Prof. Savitri Goonesekere presented a Paper on Gender Equality and Gender Justice with Ms. Indira Jaising as the discussant. A session was devoted to networks, which have emerged out of UNIFEM’s initiatives, to share their experiences. Thus, the Positive Women’s Network, Home Net South Asia/Pakistan, Interfaith Leaders Network, MenEngage, Migrant Women Workers Network and the National Coalition of Media Persons, were there to present a first hand account of their respective networks.
