Sudanese Women Sign Declaration for ‘Strategic Feminist Coalition’
Source: Dabanga
Women members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N El Hilu) and the Sudanese Women’s Alliance signed a joint political declaration in the South Sudan capital Juba, on Wednesday. Building a strategic feminist coalition is needed to achieve peace and unity in the country, the two women’s groups said in a press statement after the signing. They will cooperate to safeguard the dignity of Sudanese women, guarantee their rights as stipulated in international covenants, and ensure equality and the empowerment of women to enable them “to really and effectively participate in public life”. The two parties stressed the central role of women in achieving a just and sustainable peace, that must be based on citizenship and equality, and a secular democratic system that guarantees rights for all without discrimination.
Read more here.
Global – Supporting Women’s Influence & Participation in Peace Processes, WPHF Unveils New Rapid Financing Mechanism
Source: The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund
The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) announced this week the launch of a new financing mechanism to accelerate women’s influence and participation in peace processes, ahead of the global commemoration of the 39th International Day of Peace on 21 September 2020.
The WPHF Rapid Response Window (RRW) on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes and the Implementation of Peace Agreements aims to address the funding gaps obstructing the efforts of women peacebuilders and women’s civil society organizations to effectively influence and participate in peace processes. Through the new funding mechanism, WPHF will mobilize and rapidly channel urgently-needed financing for strategic, short-term civil society-led initiatives to enhance women’s influence and meaningful participation in the various stages of peace processes in every region of the world.
Read more here.
Beijing+25: Accelerating Progress for Women and Girls
Source: Rockefeller Foundation & Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
In 1995, tens of thousands of women from 189 countries converged in Beijing for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women to insist that “women’s rights are human rights.” The resulting Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most comprehensive blueprint for women’s equality in history, paved the way for advances in education, health care, political representation, and legal reform. Twenty-five years later, alongside the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Beijing Platform remains a powerful inspiration for advancing women’s rights. While important gains have been made for women and girls, major gaps persist on multiple fronts.
The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and The Rockefeller Foundation offer a roadmap for the future with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the center. Relying on the wisdom and experience of distinguished women from every sector, and the fresh insights and aspirations of young women leaders, Beijing+25: Accelerating Progress for Women and Girls offers a comprehensive framework for advancing women’s rights in a post-pandemic world. Here we highlight the closing chapter, “The Way Forward”, comprising seven key pillars for building back better and addressing the persistent obstacles laid out in the full report.
Find the report here.
Global Partners Launch Comprehensive, Open Access Covid-19 Dashboard on Sex & Gender
Source: International Centre for Research on Women
In a landmark step to open gender data up to the world, three prominent international authorities on gender and health have today launched the world’s most comprehensive global public dashboard. The dashboard illustrates clearly how COVID-19 affects the health of men and women differently across the globe while dramatically increasing the number of countries monitored.
The dashboard is the first action of the Sex, Gender and COVID-19 Project – a partnership of Global Health 50/50 (GH5050) based in the UK, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) based in India and the U.S., and the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), based in Kenya. They have banded together to work with governments across the world to improve the understanding of a crucial area of health promotion and disease management. Combined with the data from the dashboard, the partnership aims to support governments and health bodies to generate the insights they need to make evidence-based decisions when designing COVID-19 responses.
Read more here.
Find the Dashboard here.
Media advisory: In a pandemic world, where does gender equality fit in?
Source: UN Women
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hold the world hostage, global leaders will gather at the largest annual intergovernmental meeting for the first time ever in a virtual session. The 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 75) will open on 15 September, and its General Debate will focus on how to respond to the pandemic and confront its challenges through multilateral action. The session is historic in that it will mark the 75th anniversary of the organization, through a summit meeting on 21 September.
With COVID-19 putting at risk the hard-won advances achieved on women’s rights in past decades, gender equality will be one of the top items on the agenda of decision makers. This General Assembly session also comes a quarter century after the adoption of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The agreement remains a visionary and comprehensive framework for the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The roadmap, which lays a foundation for transforming the lives of women and girls, was reaffirmed by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Read more here.
South Korea and Japan: Resolving the Comfort Women Issue
Source: The Diplomat
The comfort women issue has bedeviled relations between Japan and South Korea for around thirty years. South Korea insists that Japan has not truly apologized, not even in the 2015 Agreement on Comfort Women between Japan and Republic of Korea (the 2015 Agreement). For its part, Japan views the current problem as stemming from South Korea’s lack of interest in any effort toward a reconciliation. For instance, despite contributions provided by the Japanese government in accordance with the 2015 Agreement, South Korea has not relocated the comfort woman statue placed in front of the Japanese embassy, and it unilaterally liquidated the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation that was created to support former comfort women.
Read more here.
The Women, Peace and Security Update
Source: The Strategist
Find a concise list of new publications on WPS that the Strategist has put together here.
