THIS IS A TRANSFORMING TIME IN HISTORY AS THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA/GOALS ARE ADOPTED BY UN MEMBER STATES AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Some sessions can be followed online. The women’s movement, programs, and coalitions have worked exceedingly hard to make the Post-2015 Agenda gender inclusive in a substantive and sustainable way. Additionally important will be gender dimensions of Financing for Development.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/summit
http://sd.iisd.org/events/un-summit-for-adoption-of-post-2015-development-agenda/
United Nations
General Assembly - A/HRC/30/35
Thirtieth Session
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, including its Causes and Consequences, Urmila Bhoola
Summary
Following a brief overview of the activities carried out by the mandate, the Special Rapporteur in the present report provides a thematic study on enforcing the accountability of States and businesses for preventing, mitigating and redressing contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains.
To Access FULL 22-Page 2015 Report, go to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session30/Pages/ListReports.aspx
and scroll down to A/HRC/30/35. Then, click on UN language translation of choice.
Migrants Arriving in Salerno, Italy- May 2015
Migrant women are vulnerable to violence at all stages of their journey due to gendered inequalities and relations of domination. Current EU policies restricting migration exacerbate their vulnerability.
Jane Freedman - 28 August 2015
EU leaders have been quick to blame the current migrant “crisis” in the Mediterranean on smugglers/traffickers, and plans have been put in place to try and break up smuggling/trafficking networks that supposedly threaten migrants’ security. However, when we examine migrants’ experiences more closely it becomes apparent that the EU’s increasingly restrictive policies of migration control constitute one of their main sources of insecurity. These cut down on legal avenues for migration, thereby forcing migrants to increasingly employ smugglers and to attempt evermore circuitous routes to reach Europe. These insecurities can be particularly severe for women migrants, as gendered relations of power create different forms of violence and vulnerability for women. These gendered relations of power often play out in various forms of violence, the perpetrators of which include fellow migrants (in some cases members of a woman’s close family or travelling companions), traffickers/smugglers, or police and state agents. These multiple forms of violence are the result of gendered inequalities of power that may already exist, but which are magnified and reinforced through migration. Policies that attempt to restrict migration do little or nothing to control this violence, and in many instances directly contribute to or intensify it.
GIRLS’ SECURITY, RIGHTS, EMPOWERMENT THROUGH LAND RIGHTS
10 WAYS SECURE LAND RIGHTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Demonstrating the Power of a Small Piece of Land: The Girls Project
The Girls Project, a partnership between the government of West Bengal and Landesa, aims to position girls to realize land rights as women, improving their long-term economic and social prospects, and enabling them to reduce vulnerabilities – including child marriage, lack of education, and malnutrition – that they face in the immediate term as adolescents.
More than 40,000 girls are currently participating in the project, learning about their rights to own and inherit land, and receiving training in intensive gardening skills during regular meetings led by the girls themselves with support from government rural health workers.
Girls who participate in the program are more likely to stay in school, marry later, and have an asset in their name.
Tools for Feminist Economy Literacy
August 10, 2015 - Almost two years ago five women’s rights, gender and development organisations in five different countries started the Grundtvig-project “Economic Literacy across Europe: Exchange and Cooperation to Promote a Feminist Approach in Adult Education”. They are all WIDE+ members and involved other member associations and individuals into the project as experts to their meetings. The associations KULU in Denmark, Le Monde selon Les Femmes in Belgium, WIDE Austria, WIDE Switzerland and WIDE-E Spain concluded their common work with a publication that showcases the different tools used to educate people on economy from a feminist perspective.
Direct Link to Full 2015 Publication
http://www.wide-netzwerk.at/images/publikationen/2015/mf-economic%20literacyen.pdf
