NEWS & ARTICLES
 
WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISM
Muslim Women Unite Against Sexual Violence 
Nablus Support for Women-Owned Businesses
Women in Food & Agriculture - Mapping of Leaders & Organizations

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Physical Assault of Human Rights Defenders in Yemen
'High Court: Gender Segregation Legal on Israeli Buses - But Only with Passenger Consent'

GENDER & POLITICS
Women's Affairs Committee Praises Laws on Women's Issues in Kuwait
Vote in South on United or Divided Country - Women for Peace
Women Dream of Independence in South Sudan
'A Tangled Web: The Politics of Gender in Turkey'
 'To see Muslim Discourse in Politics as a Vicious Anachronism is to See Very Little'

UN WOMEN
UN Women Agency Begins Its Work
Advocacy on Widows Issues with UN Women

BOOKS & REPORTS
GENDER RIGHTS
Unrest in Tunisia - Women on the Frontlines
Protecting Refugees -Gender
Role of Migrant Care Workers in Ageing Societies
Life Difficult for Returning Displaced Female Heads of Households

RESOURCES
Jinsiyati Campaign Newsletter
CEDAW Committee GR 28 - Core Obligations of States Parties
Women's Stories & Conviction for Peace + Videos

NEWS & ARTICLES
 
WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISM
Muslim Women Unite Against Sexual Violence 
A major grassroots campaign recently called international attention to the underreported issues of sexual harassment and assault against women in Muslim states.
Scores of women's organisations from Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia joined forces last week for a sensational campaign led by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR).
For more information: http://www.awid.org/eng/Women-s-Rights-in-the-News/Women-s-Rights-in-the...

Nablus Support for Women-Owned Businesses
Across the West Bank the sound of construction work seems incessant. The grind of diggers and the steady thud of pile drivers reverberate around cities like Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Nablus. The construction boom has been hailed by mainstream commentators like Bloomberg and Reuters, by the Palestinian Authority, and by the Israeli government as the sign of a resurgent West Bank economy. For more information please follow the link below
http://thewip.net/contributors/2011/01/nablus_womens_corner_offers_pa.ht...

Women in Food & Agriculture - Mapping of Leaders & Organizations
WOCAN is currently working on an exciting mapping project with OXFAM International to gather information on women leaders and women's organizations in food and agriculture, as well as global and regional strategic advocacy processes. Please help us by providing information on leaders and organizations working in food and agriculture in your country/region that you feel should be included, with a brief description of their work, if you know it and emails of contact persons. More information can be found at http://www.wocan.org/content/view/mapping-of-women-leaders-and-organizat...

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Physical Assault of Human Rights Defenders in Yemen
On 14 December 2010, human rights defenders Ms Tawakkol Karman, Ms Bushra Alsorabi and Mr Ali Hussain al-Dailami were physically assaulted during a peaceful protest in Sana'a, Yemen.
Tawakkol Karman and Bushra Alsorabi are Chairperson and Executive Director respectively of Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC), an organization which campaigns for freedom of the press and other human rights in Yemen. For more information please follow the link
http://www.wluml.org/node/6897

'High Court: Gender Segregation Legal on Israeli Buses - But Only with Passenger Consent'
The High Court of Justice ruled that public bus companies could continue the practice of gender segregation on dozens of lines serving the ultra-Orthodox sector, as long as there is no coercion or violence involved.
"A public transportation operator, like any other person, does not have the right to order, request or tell women where they may sit simply because they are women," Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein wrote in his ruling. "They must sit wherever they like." For more information please follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6880

GENDER & POLITICS
Women's Affairs Committee Praises Laws on Women's Issues in Kuwait
Chair of Women's Affairs Committee Sheikha Latifa Al-Fahad Al-Salem Al-Sabah hailed the government and National Assembly on their keenness and care to women issues, including the recently passed laws that granted women more rights. The Kuwait Women's Affairs Committee is a Division of the Council of Ministers. She termed the laws as "enhancement" to women's status and productivity in society. For more information please follow the link below http://www.gulfinthemedia.com/index.php?id=548685&news_type=Top&lang=en

Vote in South on United or Divided Country - Women for Peace
During Sudan’s civil war, more than two million people were killed, four million more were displaced by the conflict and two million women were raped. To put a stop to the violence, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005, ending the 22-year-long civil war between North and South Sudan. The agreement is the impetus for the coming referendum; it states that following a six-year period, southern Sudanese can vote on whether to remain a part of a united Sudan or to secede. For more information
http://www.wunrn.com/news/2011/01_11/01_03/010311_sudan.htm

Women Dream of Independence in South Sudan
John Garang, the revered late leader of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, once said that women are the "the poorest of the poor and the marginalized of the marginalized". As the reality of an independent South Sudan approaches, the region's women have vowed they will not remain second class citizens. For more information please follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6895

'A Tangled Web: The Politics of Gender in Turkey'
On 18 July 2010, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held a consultation meeting with women’s non-governmental organisations in the context of the ‘Democratic Initiative and National Unity and Brotherhood Project’, also dubbed ‘the Kurdish Initiative’ in the popular press.  This initiative aims to resolve the conflict that has plagued the South-east of the country, pitting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against the Turkish military. For more information please follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6879

 'To see Muslim Discourse in Politics as a Vicious Anachronism is to See Very Little'
Last month in Kuala Lumpur I met the Malaysian politician Nurul Izzah Anwar. Just 30 years old, and formidably well-educated, Nurul Izzah is an MP as well as the mother of two children. Thrown into the political fray by the persecution of her father – Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's former deputy Prime Minister – Nurul Izzah has risen rapidly within the opposition People's Justice party. […] Towards the end of our conversation, she said: "You haven't asked me the big question." Puzzled, I asked: "About what?" Laughing, she replied: "Many western journalists only want to know why I wear a headscarf." For more information please follow the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6878

UN WOMEN
UN Women Agency Begins Its Work
The United Nations made history  as UN Women, the UN agency dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, has officially begun its work. This ambitious new organization consolidates and scales up UN actions to achieve gender equality, offering the promise of accelerated progress in realizing the rights of women worldwide.
Formally known as the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women emerged from agreement by UN Member States — backed by strong advocacy from the global women’s movement — that more must be done so women can claim equal rights and opportunities. http://www.unwomen.org/2011/01/un-women-begins-its-work/

Advocacy on Widows Issues with UN Women
Letter from Widows for Peace to Michele Bachelet: ‘Widows for Peace’ is the founder of the international advocacy coalition of widows' organizations in conflict-affected countries, with primary focus on South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. We advocate for the human rights of widows, with emphasis on peace and security, inheritance and land rights, and eradication of the intergenerational transmission of poverty, child marriage, harmful and degrading traditional mourning practices, social exclusion, and HIV/AIDS. WPD also is a founding member of GAPS-UK (Gender Action for Peace and Security), SANWED (South Asian Network for Widows Empowered through Development), and Global Action on Widowhood. http://www.widowsforpeace.org/;

BOOKS & REPORTS

GENDER RIGHTS
Unrest in Tunisia - Women on the Frontlines
To see the full album of pictures about women in Tunisia  and Tunisians in France, Photos Show Multinational Response, please follow the link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12185055 \

Protecting Refugees -Gender
Multiple Gender Components, including section on Women and Children, and on Violence, Internally Displaced Persons, and Statelessness.
Direct Link: http://book.coe.int/ftp/3582.pdf

Role of Migrant Care Workers in Ageing Societies
The ageing of the population presents serious challenges to developed Western nations, particularly those managing the retirement and care of a growing number of older persons. The ageing population will generate an increasing demand for caregivers, a demand made challenging because of the declining availability of native-born caregivers compounded by various factors including declining family care of older people, increasing life expectancy of infirm elderly and the increasing demand for social caregivers, often in home settings. For the full report please click on http://www.wunrn.com/news/2011/01_11/01_10/011011_role.htm

Life Difficult for Returning Displaced Female Heads of Households
Food, lack of work and health care remain the major obstacles to recovery among displaced Iraqi female heads of households who have returned home, says IOM.
In its latest survey on displacement in Iraq with a special focus on female-headed households, IOM assessed 1,355 displaced families headed by a woman which have returned to their former homes.
Although these families have valid public distribution cards giving them access to food rations, 74 per cent of them are struggling to provide adequate nutrition to family members. The problem is further compounded when rations arrive late or incomplete. The women are forced to spend what meager funds they have on buying food. For more information, please follow the link below http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/media/press-briefing-notes/pbnAF/cache/of...

RESOURCES
Jinsiyati Campaign Newsletter
The campaign “My Nationality is the Right for me and My Family” has launched its newsletter focusing on the Nationality issue in Lebanon.
CRTD.A is leading the campaign for Women to be able to have Full Citizenship rights. Full versions of the newsletter in Arabic and English:  http://lkdg.org/webfm_send/40
http://lkdg.org/webfm_send/41

CEDAW Committee GR 28 - Core Obligations of States Parties
The CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Committee makes recommendations on any issue affecting women to which it believes the States parties should devote more attention. To read the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women,  General Recommendations  “General Recommendation No. 28” of the Forty-Seventh Session, 2010. Please refer to the link of the OHCHR. For more information please follow the link http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/comments.htm

Women's Stories & Conviction for Peace + Videos
Spotlighting the lives of 30 Palestinian and 30 Israeli women from every walk of life, Sixty Years, Sixty Voices illuminates each woman’s deepest feelings, visions, and hopes for peace along with practical approaches they use every day to make peace a reality in their lives. The result is a mosaic of 60 different lifetimes of struggle, spirit, and sheer leaps of faith in one of the most war-torn regions of the world. MULTIPLE VIDEOS - http://www.60voices.org/watch-the-videos/