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IWTC Women's GlobalNet #264 Activities and Initiatives of Women Worldwide By Vicki J. Semler November 5, 2004 ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: ONLINE DISCUSSION 1. ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: ACHIEVEMENTS AND EMERGING CHALLENGES SINCE BEIJING. An Online Discussion at WomenWatch, 8 November - 3 December 2004 Women's human rights advocates and practitioners are invited to share their views, experiences and concerns about ending violence against women and girls. Starting 8 November, UNIFEM will moderate an online discussion to assess achievements and challenges since the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in 1995. As part of a series sponsored by the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality and hosted by WomenWatch, this discussion will feed into the forthcoming ten-year review and appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which will focus on implementation at the national level. To register and for more information visit the discussion website at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/forums/review/violence/ You may also subscribe to the discussion via e-mail by sending a message to reviewforum-register@un.org with "Violence Against Women" as the subject, providing the following information: Online discussion: Violence Against Women Name: [your full name] E-mail: [your e-mail address] Organization Name: [full name of your organization] Organization Type: [specify whether organization is an NGO, UN entity, government, academia or other] Country/region: [country/region you represent] Areas of interest: [Critical Areas of Concern of the Beijing Platform for Action, other issues] Sex: [woman/man] Please allow one working day to be registered to the discussion. Discussion moderator is <melissa.connor@undp.org>. For information on other discussions on the Platform's Critical Areas of Concern and other important issues, see http://www.un.org/womenwatch/forums/review/. 2. DECLINE OF WOMEN MPs IN NEW BOTSWANA PARLIAMENT: The Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network has issued a statement expressing disappointment at the decline in women MPs in the new Botswana parliament in its last election before 2005, the regional deadline for achieving at least one third women in decision-making. Members of the network, which comprises gender and media activists across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, urged President Festus Mogae to take every possible measure to rectify the situation, including through his prerogative to nominate four MPs. At the Gender and Media Summit in September 2004, concern was expressed that even if every woman candidate were to win her seat in the October election, women would only constitute 21 percent of the members of parliament. Women’s representation has subsequently dropped to 7 percent of elected parliamentarians in the October elections, and Botswana has now climbed down the regional ladder from sixth to twelfth position (ahead only of Mauritius). Botswana is also the only SADC country to have held elections this year that has experienced a decline in women’s representation, with both South Africa and Malawi registering increases (from 30 percent to 32.8 percent, and 8 percent to 17 percent respectively). For further information contact Colleen Lowe Morna at: clmorna@mweb.co.za or go to the gender and governance section of <www.genderlinks.org.za>. 3. SECOND WSIS AFRICA REGIONAL PREPARATORY CONFERENCE: Access, Africa's key to an inclusive Information Society, 2-4 February 2005. Accra International Conference Centre, Accra, Ghana (Pre-Conference workshops from 28 January to 1 February 2005) The Second African Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will be held from 2 to 4 February 2005 in Accra, Ghana. Getting gender issues and concerns onto the agenda of the second WSIS to be held in Tunis in 2005 is of great importance and a gender caucus is planned for this regional preparatory conference. The conference theme, Access - Africa's key to an inclusive Information Society, be preceded by pre-Conference workshops from 28 January to 1 February 2005. The Government of the Republic of Ghana is hosting this event under the high patronage of President John Kufour in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). For more information go to http://www.uneca.org/aisi/accra2005/ 4. BANGLADESHI WOMAN LAWYER NAMED UN RIGHTS EXPERT ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING The United Nations Human Rights Commission has appointed Sigma Huda of Bangladesh as its Special Rapporteur on trafficking of persons, especially women and children. Ms. Huda is the founder and current president of the Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association. She is also the Secretary-General of the Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights, as well as a founding member of various organizations fighting against trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls. The Special Rapporteur is mandated by the Geneva-based Commission to recommend ways to uphold and protect the rights of the victims of trafficking. For more details go to UN News Centre at <http://www.un.org/news> IWTC Women's GlobalNet is a production of:
International Women's Tribune Centre
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