Sunday, May 24, 2009

WE MARK THE PASSING OF HELVI SIPILA, WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST


May 19, 2009
by Anne Walker

Helvi Sipila died on Friday 15 May 2009 in Helsinki, Finland, at the age of 94. Known as Minister Helvi Sipila in Finland, for women worldwide, Helvi's death marks the passing of a great star in the firmament of women's human rights and one who will be long-remembered for all that she achieved in her remarkable lifetime.

Born Helvi Maukola in 1915 Helvi Sipila seemed destined for prominence from the very beginning. The midwife at the hospital where Helvi was born told her mother, "Your child will be a leader. When she begins to cry, all the other babies cry and when she stops, they do too." (Helvi Sipila, Woman at the Top of the World, edited by Irma Kuntuu, Keuruu, Finland (1979).

Helvi quickly fulfilled the midwife's prophecy by becoming at age 27 only the 38th woman in Finland to be a lawyer. She then embarked on a distinguished career, also finding time to marry and have four children. She ran her own lawyers' firm 1943-1972. Between 1954 and 1956, Helvi was Chairwoman of the National Federation of Women Lawyers. She subsequently became President of the International Federation of Women Lawyers. In addition to her work with women lawyers groups, Helvi was a founder of the Finnish refugee council, President of Zonta International 1968-1970, President of the National Council of Women of Finland (NCWF) 1967-1972, Vice-President of International Council of Women 1970-1972, a member of the International Committee of World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), the Finland YWCA and several other NGOs.

In the 1960s, Helvi began to use her skills and talents on an international level. She was Finland's delegate to the UN Commission on the Status of Women 1960-1968 and again in 1971. She served as vice-chair 1963-66 and in 1967 she became chair of the commission. She was also the UN's Special Ambassador for Family Planning and the Status of Women. Helvi was a member of the Finnish delegation to the UN General Assembly 1966-67. In 1972, she achieved her highest post when she was appointed an Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, the first woman to hold this post. In 1975 she was appointed Secretary-General of both the UN International Women's Year (IWY) and the IWY World Conference in Mexico City. This was the first of four Women's World Conferences to be held by the United Nations, the next three in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995).

It was at the IWY World Conference in Mexico City 1975 that the UN Voluntary Fund for the Advancement of Women was born, later to be known as the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Helvi continued to work as a consultant for the UN until 1981 in order to promote UNIFEM and to put into effect the World Action Plan adopted at the 1975 World Conference. For IWY 1975 and the Decade for Women (1976-1985) that followed, the UN had commissioned a symbol that would represent the three goals of IWY and the Decade -Equality, Development and Peace. This symbol, affectionately known worldwide as the 'women's bird symbol', also became the symbol for UNIFEM and Helvi saw that it was legally copyrighted so that any use of it for commercial purposes would raise funds for UNIFEM. Helvi founded the Finnish UNIFEM National Committee in 1981, the first in the world, which grew to become the largest of all UNIFEM National Committees worldwide with over 60 branches within Finland.

In 1982, Helvi contested for the office of the President of Finland and made history as the first woman to stand for office. She did not win, but she paved the way for others who followed in her footsteps, including the first woman president of Finland, Tarja Halonen.

On March 2, 2006 at the 50th Session of Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the first Helvi Sipila Seminar was held entitled: 'Power in her hands,' to discuss women in leadership. The seminar was started in honor of Helvi's work and her contribution to the CSW and other international and national women's organizations. At this initial seminar, Carolyn Hannan, Director of the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, said: "Helvi Sipila is a legend in the women's movement and the epitome of women's leadership. She remains a model and inspiration for many women at the UN today''. The Helvi Sipila seminars continue to be a featured part of the CSW.

The International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC), an organization born out of the IWY World Conference in Mexico City has followed the pioneering path of Helvi Sipila for three decades. We concur with the words of Carolyn Hannan, spoken at the first Helvi Sipila Seminar to honor her work. We extend our deepest sympathy to Helvi's family and friends and wish to express our heartfelt gratitude for a life well spent in the service of women worldwide.

IWTC Women's GlobalNet is a production of:
International Women's Tribune Centre
777 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel: (1-212) 687-8633
Fax: (1-212) 661-2704
Email: iwtc@iwtc.org
Web: http://www.iwtc.org/

Tribunals decide not to annul marriage of eight-year-old girl


UNICEF Press release

UNICEF is deeply concerned by reports that Saudi Arabian tribunals have decided not to annul the marriage of an eight-year-old girl. Irrespective of circumstances or the legal framework, the marriage of a child is a violation of that child’s rights.

The right to free and full consent to marriage is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Consent cannot be free and full when either party to a marriage is too young to make an informed decision.

UNICEF joins many in voicing concern that child marriage contravenes accepted international standards of human rights. It can also have a long term detrimental effect on the child’s emotional, physical and psychological welfare.

Fellowships for Threatened Academics: Professors, Researchers and Lecturers


Application Deadline: 15 June 2009

The Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) provides fellowships for established scholars whose lives and work are threatened in their home countries. These fellowships permit professors, researchers and other senior academics to find temporary refuge at universities and colleges anywhere in the world, enabling them to pursue their academic work and to continue to share their knowledge with students, colleagues, and the community at large.

When conditions improve, these scholars will return home to help rebuild universities and societies ravaged by fear, conflict and repression. During the fellowship, conditions in a scholar's home country may improve, permitting safe return; if safe return is not possible, the scholar may use the fellowship period to identify a longer-term opportunity.

Read our outreach message in Arabic, Farsi, French and Spanish; review eligibility criteria; and download the application form: http://www.scholarrescuefund.org/pages/for-scholars.php

Partner with SRF and host a scholar: http://www.scholarrescuefund.org/pages/for-hosts.php

General information: http://www.scholarrescuefund.org/

Contact Us at: SRF@iie.org


Kind regards,

Sophie Dalsimer
Scholar Rescue Fund
Institute of International Education
Web: www.scholarrescuefund.org

CRC 51st session: Committee on the Rights of the Child to hold fifty-first session in Geneva from 25 May to 12 June 2009


UNITED NATIONS Press release
BACKGROUND RELEASE
Committee on the Rights of the Child
22 May 2009

Situation of Children's Rights in France, Sweden, Mauritania, Slovenia, Bangladesh, Niger, Romania and Oman to be Reviewed

The Committee on the Rights of the Child will meet at the Palais Wilson in Geneva from 25 May to 12 June to review the promotion and protection of children's rights under the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in France, Sweden, Mauritania, Bangladesh, Niger and Romania. The Committee will also review efforts made by Slovenia and Oman with regard to their implementation of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention, on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

The Committee was formed in 1991 to monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which gives a comprehensive collection of children's rights the force of international law. The countries scheduled to come before the Committee at this session are among the 193 to have ratified or acceded to the Convention. The treaty is the most widely accepted international human rights instrument. Only Somalia and the United States have not ratified it. States parties to the Convention are expected to send representatives to the Committee to present periodic reports on national efforts to give effect to children's rights.

At the Committee's fifty-first session, Mauritania and Niger will present their second reports, France, Bangladesh and Romania will present their combined third and fourth periodic reports and Sweden will present its fourth periodic report on measures taken to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child nationally. Delegations from the Slovenia and Oman will also be presenting their initial reports under the Convention's two Optional Protocols.

At its opening meeting, the Committee will swear in the following six newly elected Committee members, who will serve until 28 February 2013: Hadeel Al-Asmar (Syria); Peter Guran (Slovakia); Sanphasit Koompraphant (Thailand); Marta Mauras Perez (Chile); Kamla Devi Varmah (Mauritius) and Susana Villarán de la Puente (Peru). Three Committee members were also re-elected by States parties at the last elections, held on 18 December 2008: Yanghee Lee (Republic of Korea); Awich Pollar (Uganda) and Jean Zermatten (Switzerland). Also at the first meeting, the Committee will elect a new Bureau, including a Chairperson, four Vice Chairpersons and a Rapporteur, from among its Members, following which it will adopt its agenda and review its organization of work.

During the session, in addition to consideration of country reports, the Committee will continue its discussion of ways and areas in which existing cooperation with various relevant bodies could be further strengthened to enhance the promotion and protection of the rights of the child. It will also pursue its discussion concerning the organization of its future work, as well as discuss its treaty-specific reporting guidelines. The Committee will also pursue the elaboration of a general comment further clarifying the concept of child participation as contained in the Convention. Other matters relating to the work of the Committee will be discussed as may be necessary.

The States parties presenting reports during this session have previously come before the Committee. The Committee considered the second periodic report of France on 2 June 2004, and concluding observations on it can be found in document CRC/C/15/Add.240; the Committee examined the third report of Sweden on 11 January 2005, and concluding observations on it are contained in document CRC/C/15/Add.248; on 25 September 2001, the Committee reviewed Mauritania's initial report, and the concluding observations on it can be found in document CRC/C/15/Add.159; the Committee took up the second periodic report of Slovenia on 26 January 2004, and made public concluding observations on it in document CRC/C/15/Add.230; the initial report of Bangladesh underwent a Committee review on 26 and 27 May 1997, and concluding observations on it are contained in document CRC/C/15/Add.74; the initial report of Niger was examined by the Committee on 24 May 2002, and concluding observations on it can be found in document CRC/C/15/Add.179; the Committee considered Romania's second periodic report on 20 January 2003, and made public its concluding observations on it in document CRC/C/15/Add.199; and the Committee reviewed the second periodic report of Oman on 13 September 2006, and concluding observations on are contained in document CRC/C/OMN/CO/2.

Convention on the Rights of the Child

The General Assembly adopted the Convention unanimously on 20 November 1989, 30 years after the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child. The Convention renders States parties legally accountable for their actions towards children. Work on drafting the Convention began in 1979 – the International Year of the Child – at the Commission on Human Rights.

The Convention was opened for signature on 26 January 1990. That day, 61 countries signed it, a record first-day response. It entered into force just seven months later, on 2 September 1990.

Ratifying the Convention entails reviewing national legislation to make sure it is in line with the provisions of the treaty. The Convention stipulates, among other things, that every child has the right to life, and that States shall ensure the maximum child survival and development; that every child has the right to a name and nationality from birth; and that when courts, welfare institutions or administrative authorities deal with children, the child's best interests shall be a primary consideration. The Convention also recognizes the right of children to be heard.

Furthermore, States shall ensure that each child enjoys full rights without discrimination or distinction of any kind, and shall ensure that children not be separated from their parents, unless by competent authorities for their well-being. In addition, States shall facilitate reunification of families by permitting travel into, or out of, their territories; and States shall protect children from physical or mental harm and neglect, including sexual abuse or exploitation.

Also according to the Convention, children with disabilities shall have the right to education, special treatment and care; primary education shall be free and compulsory and discipline in school should respect the child's dignity; capital punishment or life imprisonment shall not be imposed for crimes committed before the age of 18; no child under 15 should take any part in hostilities and children exposed to armed conflict shall receive special protection; and children of minority and indigenous populations shall freely enjoy their own cultures, religions and languages.

In May 2000, the General Assembly adopted the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Optional Protocols entered into force in 2002. Currently, 126 countries have ratified the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict; and 130 States have ratified the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

Although the Convention requires States parties to prohibit the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography extends the measures that States Parties must undertake to protect children from these violations of their human rights. The Optional Protocol not only defines the sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution, but also provides a non-exhaustive list of acts and activities which shall be criminalized by States parties. This criminalization also includes attempts, complicity, or participation in such acts or activities. The Optional Protocol sets forth the bases for States Parties to assert jurisdiction over actionable practices relating to the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography (including extra-territorial legislation) and to make provisions about extradition of alleged offenders. Based on the principle of the best interests of the child, the Optional Protocol also sets forth provisions for protecting and assisting child victims during all stages of the criminal justice process. In addition, preventive measures against the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as redress, rehabilitation and recovery of child victims are foreseen in the Optional Protocol. For the implementation of all these provisions, the Optional Protocol asks for a close collaboration among States parties.

Currently, there are 131 parties to the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography: Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Andorra; Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Armenia; Australia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Belarus; Belgium; Belize; Benin; Bolivia; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Botswana; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Bulgaria; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cambodia; Canada; Cape Verde; Chad; Chile; China; Colombia; Comoros; Costa Rica; Croatia; Cuba; Cyprus; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Denmark; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Estonia; France; Gabon; Georgia; Greece; Guatemala; Holy See; Honduras; Iceland; India; Iran; Iraq; Israel; Italy; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Latvia; Lebanon; Lesotho; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Lithuania; Madagascar; Maldives; Mali; Mauritania; Mexico; Monaco; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Nepal; Netherlands; Nicaragua; Niger; Norway; Oman; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Republic of Korea; Republic of Moldova; Romania; Rwanda; Senegal; Serbia; Sierra Leone; Slovakia; Slovenia; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Sudan; Sweden; Switzerland; Syria; Tajikistan; Thailand; The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Uganda; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Tanzania; United States; Uruguay; Uzbekistan; Vanuatu; Venezuela; Viet Nam; and Yemen.

Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict complements article 38 of the Convention, as well as international humanitarian law, establishes that no person under the age of 18 shall be subject to compulsory recruitment into regular armed forces, and imposes an obligation on States to raise the minimum age for voluntary recruitment to at least 16 years. Upon ratification of or accession to the Optional Protocol, States parties must deposit a binding declaration stating their minimum age for voluntary recruiting and the safeguards in place to ensure that that recruitment is voluntary. States Parties to the Protocol shall also ensure that members of their armed forces under 18 years of age do not take a direct part in hostilities. In addition, armed groups distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under 18. States parties are required to take all feasible measures to prevent the recruitment and use of children by such groups, including the criminalization of such practices.

To date, 128 States have ratified the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict: Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Andorra; Angola; Argentina; Armenia; Australia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Belarus; Belgium; Belize; Benin; Bolivia; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Botswana; Brazil; Bulgaria; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cambodia; Canada; Cape Verde; Chad; Chile; China; Colombia; Costa Rica; Croatia; Cuba; Czech Republic; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Denmark; Dominica; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Eritrea; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Guatemala; Holy See; Honduras; Iceland; India; Iraq; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Latvia; Lesotho; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Madagascar; Maldives; Mali; Malta; Mauritius; Mexico; Monaco; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Nepal; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Norway; Oman; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Republic of Korea; Republic of Moldova; Romania; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Senegal; Serbia; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Sweden; Switzerland; Syria; Tajikistan; Thailand; The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Uganda; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Tanzania; United States; Uruguay; Uzbekistan; Vanuatu; Venezuela; Viet Nam; and Yemen.

Committee Membership

The Committee is made up of 18 Experts of high moral standing and recognized competence in the field of children's rights. The following members, nominated by the States parties to serve in their personal capacity, have been elected or re-elected to the Committee: Agnes Akosua Aidoo (Ghana); Hadeel Al-Asmar (Syrian Arab Republic); Luigi Citarella (Italy); Kamel Filali (Algeria); Peter Guran (Slovakia); Maria Herczog (Hungary); Moushira Khattab (Egypt); Sanphasit Koompraphant (Thailand); Hatem Kotrane (Tunisia); Lothar Friedrich Krappmann (Germany); Yanghee Lee (Republic of Korea); Marta Mauras Perez (Chile); Rosa María Ortiz (Paraguay); Awich Pollar (Uganda); Dainius Puras (Lithuania); Kamla Devi Varmah (Mauritius); Susana Villarán de la Puente (Peru); and Jean Zermatten (Switzerland). Currently, Ms. Lee is the Chairperson of the Committee; Ms. Aidoo, Mr. Filali, Ms. Ortiz, and Mr. Zermatten are Vice-Chairpersons; and Mr. Krappmann is the Rapporteur.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Misery meets Greece's migrants - 22 May 09

just one day before refugees start protesting in the city center. the protests started after a policeman tore a copy of Koran that a refugee kept.

Friday, May 1, 2009

women are still dying

stoning to death
(warning: very violent)