An Interesting YouTube

Apr1

Sacred Space / A Garden of Dreams presents some reflections on Human Trafficking. To learn more go to this link Learn more about a new initiative SDG Alliance 8.7 – join forces globally to end child labour, forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking. This initiative is launched by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

You might be wondering what SDG and 8.7 mean. SDG is Sustainable Development Goal and 8 is reference to Goal 8 and 7 is a target within the goal. SGD Target 8.7 calls on all to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of all forms of child labour as an essential step to achieving decent work for all, full and productive employment and inclusive and sustained economic growth .See the document published on February 12th for more information.

There is a diagram showing the intersectionality of the sustainable development goals in relation to Goal 8 “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” and the target 8.7 above.

Trafficking in persons is mentioned three times in the outcome document of CSW60 Paragraph 12 recognizing that trafficking in persons disproportionately affects women and girls. Paragraph 15 Trafficking in persons is listed as violence against women and girls and in the operative paragraph m ensure that the rights and specific needs of women and girls affected and displaced by trafficking in persons, are addressed in national and international plans, strategies and responses…

The final session of CSW 60

Mar31

CSW 60 The Commission on the Status of Women was held in New York from March 14th to 24th, 2016. It was preceded by a one day event on Sunday March 13 the NGO CSW Consultation Day. If you wish to see the web cast of the adoption of the Agreed Conclusion of the 60th Session of the CSW Click Here

The negotiations were only concluded before midnight on March 24th You can access the document HERE If you listen to the statement of the various member states you will get hints as to the stumbling blocks. Saudi Arabia was the first to make a statement followed by the US, the EU, Egypt, Yemen, Mexico, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Canada, Iran, Colombia, Mauritania, and the Holy See.

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GSIJP Team at CSW 60 with Mission Partners from Taiwan and Emma. From right to left: Cecile Kern, Winifred Doherty, Yen-Chu Chen , Emma Mackey, Yu-Chia Chang, Cyan Chen and Clare Nolan

This team presented a parallel event entitled ‘Economic Empowerment Strategies Addressing Systemic Issues affecting Girls and Women’ from Taiwan, to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Bolivia. From the Agreed Conclusion paragraph 16 “The Commission…emphasizes that no country has fully achieved gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, that significant levels of inequality between women and men, girls and boys persist globally, and that many women and girls experience vulnerability and marginalization owing to, inter alia, multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination throughout the lifecycle.

The Agreed Conclusion “Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development” are captured here in a piece of art work submitted by Monique Tarabeth to NGOCSW Committee for the cover of the Handbook 2016. We were not selected for the cover but were a divider inside the book. Thanks Monique!

Handbook Cover Women's-empowerment-and-its-link-to-sustainable-development-copy Another Design

Apart form the cover the other art pieces were in black and white. Beautiful expressions of empowerment!

News from Australia- Linking with CSW60

Mar13

Minister for Women and the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson will tomorrow represent Victoria at the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women annual conference.

The conference will help inform the Andrews Labor Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Family Violence, which is due to report on 29 March.

Ms Richardson – alongside Member for Melton Don Nardella and Member for Macedon Mary-Anne Thomas – will join other political leaders from around the world to attend the CSW60 conference on women’s empowerment and global equality at the UN headquarters in New York. READ MORE

Good Shepherd in Australia/New Zealand made a submission to the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Women and the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson

“Family violence is a national emergency. I want to see what the rest of the world is doing to prevent violence and improve the status of women so I can bring back their ideas to help Victorian families.”

“The Andrews Labor Government is determined to fix the broken system of family violence and we know this will only be possible if we also address gender inequality and do more to empower women.”

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CSW 60 (Commission on the Status of Women)

Mar10

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CSW 60 commences on Monday March 14, 2016 at the United Nations Headquarters in NY. The theme of the Commission this year is ‘Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development.’ The review theme: ‘The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. This is a review of the implementation of the agreed conclusions from the fifty-seventh session of the Commission. All the official event of the Commission will be Webcast live or you can choose to check up later . This link will give you an overview and bring you to the various webcast

04f3be91-9d71-4a1d-8d9b-af60c21cae07 The Good Shepherd Statement to the Commission is on the website and listed among the official document of the session. You can access one of the 6 languages into which it is translated HERE. The statement addresses the issue of prostitution and squarely names prostitution as a forms of violence against girls and women. ‘A system of prostitution is “incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person” as stated in the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (1949).’ The continuance of the system of prostitution undermines both dignity of the person and equality. Prostitution is enabled by a patriarchal system in which it is embedded.

On my way back to NY yesterday I watched two movies Suffragette and I am Malala. Suffragette is the history of ordinary women seeking to get the vote in the latter part of 19th and into the 20th century. We all know the story of Malala and the right of girls to be educated. As I think of these women and girls and the abolitionists of today with regard to ending prostitution or the threats levied against women human rights defenders around the world I wonder if much has changed! This is poignantly seen in the murder of Berta Cáceres from Honduras for her environmental work.

Patriarchy, corporate power and finance are very much interlinked. The continuance of the system of prostitution which undermines both dignity and equality is propagated by commercial interests in sexual exploitation. In fact, under patriarchy, we currently witness systems of commercial exploitation of women and girls being reframed as simply part of the market economy — the commercial sex industry — as if sexual slavery, inequality and gender-based violence are in some way extrinsic to this experience. The promotion of the commercial sex industry serves to legitimize prostitution, which is violence against women and girls.

‘Gender-based discrimination and inequalities, patriarchal structures that promote male sexual domination, and culturally imposed feminine gender stereotypes all contribute to the sexual exploitation of women and girls. These discriminatory attitudes inherently demean women, permitting objectification and commercialization and infringing their rights and dignity. The feminization of poverty and global migration patterns also foster the continuance of the system of prostitution of women and girls, abandoned widows and their daughters being a particularly vulnerable group.’

‘From long experience accompanying women who have been in prostitution, our organizations knows that prostitution is a form of gender-based violence that inflicts severe damage and risks the physical and psychological health of women and girls. It is the exercise of power and control of male access to female bodies from female genital mutilation to child marriage; from domestic violence to reproductive rights. The exchange of money for such access does not eliminate the violence women face in prostitution or the sex trade. We know that prostitution is a lucrative business, mostly controlled by criminal groups, and it is tightly linked to trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation. The theoretical separation of the violence of trafficking and the inherent violence of prostitution serves only the criminals and profiteers; they are not separate phenomena. They are inextricably entwined with gender inequality and male dominance and the continued debasement of women.’

I have ended up quoting much of our statement to the Commission. Much of my advocacy work during the Commission will be focused on this issue. We are extremely happy to collaborate with the Sisters of Mercy in a side event on March 17th entitled -‘No Random Act: Human Trafficking and the Interplay between Systemic Oppression and the Individual Life Course CSW March 17th Parallel Event Addressing Human Trafficking- Sisters or Mercy, Good Sheperd Sisters and ACRATH The research for this work comes from Good Shepherd programs in the Philippines. Yolanda Sanchez, in Geneva was able to make a statement promoting ‘the life course perspective’ with the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Final Oral Statement for the 31st Session of the UN Human Rights Council

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