Monthly Archives: March 2010

UN Millennium Campaign and NGLS launch website “The MDGs at 10 and civil society.”

Only five years remain to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed upon by UN Member States in 2000. Despite some progress, collectively the world is falling short. As a consequence, improvements in the lives of the poorest are slow or absent and are now being further eroded by the onset of global crises. However, the MDGs are still achievable. UN Member States will therefore come together this September in New York during an ‘MDG summit’ to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the MDGs.
With an aim of keeping interested civil society stakeholders informed on the latest developments related to the summit process, including the planned Hearings with civil society and the private sector in June, the UN Millennium Campaign and the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) have launched a dedicated website: www.un-ngls.org/mdg2010
This website will report on all the latest developments related to the summit, give voice to perspectives from civil society and provide information on how to be engaged in the summit process.

Congratulations Sr Marie Claude Naddaf!

Remarks at the International Women of Courage Award on March 8th , 2010.     Extract from Secretary Clinton when she was making the award to Sr Marie Claude. 

SECRETARY CLINTON: Sister Marie Claude Naddaf is the Mother Superior of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd. She has been a beacon of hope for women and girls who have nowhere else to turn. She is a pioneer in working for social services for women in Syria. She is being honored for her steadfast dedication to ending the suffering of women and girls who are victims of domestic violence, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking. She launched Syria’s first shelter and emergency hotline for women. Thank you so much, Sister. (Applause.)
Click her to read the full account – there is also a video link. http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/03/138217.htm

Mr Ban Ki-moon’s address for International Women’s Day

Go to this link and you will find the address in the 6 languages of the United Nations.  http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd/2010/index.html#video    Here is a quotation from the address:   ” The Beijing Declaration remains as relevant today as when it was adopted. The third Millennium Development Goal – to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment – is central to all the rest. When women are denied the opportunity to better themselves and their societies, we all lose. On this International Women’s Day, let us look critically at the achievements of the past 15 years so we can build on what has worked, and correct what has not. Let us work with renewed determination for a future of equal rights, equal opportunities and progress for all.”  Read the whole text here http://www.un.org/en/events/women/iwd/2010/sg_message.shtml

Commission on the Status of Women 54th Session

During the 2 week session of the Commission on the Status of Women there were six panels.  You can access a video link to each panel, the issue paper and most of the presenters papers at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/ievents.html   Panel 1:   Linkages between implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the achievement of the MDGs   Panel 2:  Regional perspectives in progress achieved and remaining gaps and challenges in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action  Panel 3:   Commemorating 30 years of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women  Panel 4:    Women’s economic empowerment in the context of the global economic and financial crisis  Panel 5:    Unite to End Violence against Women  Panel 6:   The evolving status and role of national mechanisms for gender equality.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – last day of the Commission on the Status of women

“The status of the world’s women is not only a matter of morality and justice. It is also a political, economic, and social imperative. Put simply, the world cannot make lasting progress if women and girls in the 21st century are denied their rights and left behind”  Hillary Clinton”

Here is the link to the full text of Hillary Clinton address to women gathered at the UN on the last day of the Commission on the Status of Women.  The video can be see here too.     http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/03/138320.htm