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 As
stated in the Beijing Platform for Action: "All human rights -
civil, cultural, economic, political and social, including the right to
development - are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated."
From the adoption in 1979 of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW
and the Optional
Protocol in 1999, to the Beijing
Platform for Action (1995) and the Beijing
+5 Declaration (2000) there has been an increasing acknowledgement
of the need to focus on the rights of women and girls.
The
advancement of women and the attainment of equality are matters of human
rights. They are the only way to build a sustainable, just and fully developed
society. Empowerment of women and equality between women and men are prerequisites
for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and environmental
security among all peoples.
The impact of globalization
emphasizes the need to balance the rights of the individual, the rights
of governments and the rights of society. In many parts of the world today,
basic human rights are at best de jure rather than de facto,
or are only applied to some of the population.
Globalization
poses a threat to women's rights when it causes the feminization of poverty,
decreases the rights to land and space, and limits civil and political
rights. We must advocate for
- protection of the
girl child
- the right to an
acceptable standard of living for all people
- equal access to
education for women and girls
- equal pay and equal
rights for women workers
- freedom of speech
and the globalization of the media
- the rights of
refugees, who are most often women and children
- the rights of
indigenous people
- the rights of
the ageing
- the rights of
the disabled
We must
denounce violations of women's rights in our countries, such as:
- violence against
women in the home, the community, and in times of war
- trafficking in
women and girls for prostitution
- cultural practices
leading to the spread of HIV/AIDS
-
denial of women's land and inheritance rights
IFUW national federations
and associations can:
- collect and use
new technologies to disseminate information about women's rights, including
international conventions and charters
- network with other
organizations to promote women's rights
- train women to
exercise their rights
- monitor the emerging
roles of the International Criminal
Court
- develop and present
educational forums about CEDAW
- identify and use
various listserves on the Internet that provide human rights information,
including the IFUW Advocacy Network (www.ifuw.org/networks/subscribe-advocacy.htm),
the United Nations Development Fund for Women - UNIFEM (www.undp.org/unifem/currents)
or the United Nations International Research and Training Institute
for the Advancement of Women - INSTRAW (www.un-instraw.org/)
- plan activities
to take advantage of noted "international
days", such as International Women's Day - March 8th, International
Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women - November 25th, 16 Days of
Activism Against Gender Violence - November 25th-December 10th, International
Human Rights Day - December 10th, Take Back the Night - date varies,
Women's History Month - date varies
- consider whether
there may be gaps in the IFUW
Resolutions and prepare one to be proposed to the next IFUW
Triennial Conference.
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International Federation of University Women
10 rue du Lac, CH-1207 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: (41.22) 731 23 80 Fax: (41.22) 738 04 40
E-mail: info@ifuw.org |
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