UNSCR 1325 Beyond 2020: Walk the Talk from the Bottom to the Top
Source: AU
the Gender Peace and Security program and the Peace and Security Council Secretariat, in collaboration with the Training for Peace (TfP) Africa Program as well as the Economic Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) Gender and Peace and Security Clusters, are launching a campaign on the 20th anniversary of the UNSCR 1325, to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the Women Peace and Security Agenda on the continent, the challenges faced and way forward in addressing those challenges. The campaign, titled “UNSCR 1325 beyond 2020: walk the talk from the bottom to the top is proposed to have three main components, namely:
– to identify useful lessons in the efforts of the African Union and its Member States in the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality to build on the strides made;
– to acknowledge and document the role and contributions of civil society organizations, in particular, those working on women’s issues, in the implementation of the WPS agenda; and
– call for further enhancement of the efforts at the promotion and protection of women’s rights through more gender-responsive decision-making that is guided by gender-sensitive reporting.
Find out more here.
Rural women lead solutions and solidarity in the wake of COVID-19
Source: UN Women
They are farmers, workers, entrepreneurs, teachers, and they are key to building resilient, peaceful and sustainable societies. They live in rural settings, but their contributions nurture entire nations. And as COVID-19 ravaged our lives and economies, rural women have been leading, often hidden from the limelight, in sustaining and recovering their communities.
Their work has increased – whether paid or unpaid – but they face added risks of insufficient infrastructure and services. How do you stay safe from COVID-19 when water and safe sanitation is in short supply, and when access to health is already precarious? In many countries, although rural women grow most of our food, land rights is still a distant dream. As COVID-19 pushes thousands of unemployed migrant workers to return to rural communities, the pressure on land and resources and the gender gaps in agriculture and food security will grow even more.
Take a look at just five ways that rural women are feeling the impacts of COVID-19 and leading the response in their communities here.
Indigenous women in Colombia-Ecuador border are leading community efforts to end violence against women
Source: UN Women
“My indigenous community is hardworking, and a place where women have taken leadership roles in the fight to recover ancestral land,” says Luz Angélica Tarapuez, from the municipality of Cumbal, in the department of Nariño, on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border.
She is among 94 indigenous women and farm workers who have attended the training school, ‘Soy Rosita, soy mujer, soy campesina, soy indígena’ [I am Rosita, I am a woman, I am a farmer, I am indigenous]. Since 2019, the training programme has been teaching indigenous women how to strengthen their leadership roles in their community and prevent gender-based violence.
As COVID-19 confinement measures started in Colombia, the country saw a rise in cases of violence against women, including those reported through hotline numbers. There was a 107 per cent increase in calls for help this year, between 25 March and 30 July, in comparison to the same period in 2019. Eighty-nine per cent of those calls were rerouted to hotlines dedicated to serve victims and survivors of violence against women.
Read more here.
