The theme of the 59th UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) “Review of Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action”(www.unwomen.org/csww59) attracted to New York, this year, the largest number of NGOs, 1,100, ever seen at this annual international conference, bringing with them 8,600 women from across the world.
In the last two weeks some 440 NGO Parallel Events have taken place, although, alas, well outside the UN building, thus distanced from the official ministerial delegations who speak a different language and do not hear the real voices of the most vulnerable women and girls at the grass-roots; those bringing up emerging issues as well as existing ones that have not been addressed by governments.
In the NGO meetings and workshops the realities of the lives of women and girls have been described, graphically, poignantly and often horrifically, especially in the context of sexual violence, trafficking, forced prostitution, early child marriage and harmful traditional practices. From these discussions, the NGO representatives made many innovative recommendations for action by Member States and UN entities. But who is listening? What weight do these proposals carry? Across 1st Avenue, it is as if another planet, Ministers and official delegations speak another language.
As the session closes, I wonder whether any progress has been made in our long and difficult journey to ensure gender equality and the empowerment of women. Maybe we have not gone backward, but have simply stood still, when we needed so urgently to accelerate change given the vast numbers of women and girls who continue to suffer discrimination and abuse as well as new types of violence and torture especially sexual violence in the context of conflict and extremism; now harshly exemplified by the barbarism inflicted every day on women and girls in Syria and Iraq by IS (Islamic State).
May 2015 - Women’s Work Counts - Feminist Arguments for Human Rights at Work
The feminist and human rights approaches discussed in this paper advocate a radical rethinking of work that begins with women’s experience of work in their lives. The paper calls upon the need for identification of assumptions and values that are not respectful or sensitive to women’s experience and needs of work, the examination of gender biases and inequalities that are present in institutions, structures, and actors that are critical to the operationalisation and achievement of rights, the dismantling of the apparatus that supports the gender unequal/discriminatory operationalisation of the rights including policies, institutions, systems and structures and practices that propagate these inequality. It brings to the fore critical issues that need to be addressed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in order for the achievement of substantive equality and realisation of women’s right to work and their right to just and favourable conditions of work.
Written by: Radhika Desai
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Извор: WUNRN – 02.06.2015
Resolution 2222 (2015) Adopted by the Security Council at its 7450th meeting, on 27 May 2015 The Security Council Bearing in mind its primary responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security, and underlining the importance of taking measures aimed at conflict prevention and resolution,
Reaffirming its resolutions 1265 (1999), 1296 (2000), 1674 (2006) and 1894 (2009) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and its resolutio n 1738 (2006) on the protection of journalists, media professionals and associated personnel in armed conflicts as well as other relevant resolutions and presidential statements,
Reaffirming its commitment to the Purposes of the Charter of the United Nations as set out in Article 1 (1-4) of the Charter, and to the Principles of the Charter as set out in Article 2 (1-7) of the Charter, including its commitment to the principles of the political independence, sovereign equality and territorial integrity of all States, and respect for the sovereignty of all States,
Recalling the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, in particular the Third Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 on the treatment of prisoners of war, and the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977, in particular article 79 of the Additional Protocol I regarding the protection of journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict,
Bride Mutlu and groom Ihsan Baran pose for a photograph in front of the New Mosque at Eminonu Square in Istanbul, Sept. 11, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Murad Sezer)
Turkey’s Constitutional Court announced May 29 that civil marriage is no longer a legal requirement for religiously married citizens, a decision that will have serious social implications. Many critics, especially women, fret that the ruling will pave the way for more violations of women's and children’s rights.
The court based its decision on a case from 2014, when a criminal court in the Turkish province of Erzurum appealed a case to the Constitutional Court involving a religiously married couple without a civil marriage and the imam who carried out the ceremony.
Prior to this latest decision, Paragraph 5 of Article 230 of the Turkish Criminal Code dictated a sentence of two to six months in prison for individuals who lived together after a religious wedding without a civil marriage. In the same article, Paragraph 6 also gave two to six months' imprisonment to an individual (typically an imam) who carried out a religious wedding ceremony without verifying a civil marriage with official documents.
Abby Howell chose to have a biopsy when a mammogram showed some calcification two years ago. Instead of being definitive, the biopsy found atypia — abnormal duct cells that are not cancerous but which some doctors recommend having removed. CreditKyle Johnson for The New York Times
By Denise Grady
Breast biopsies are good at telling the difference between healthy tissue and cancer, but less reliable for identifying more subtle abnormalities, a new study finds.
Because of the uncertainty, women whose results fall into the gray zone between normal and malignant — with diagnoses like “atypia” or “ductal carcinoma in situ” — should seek second opinions on their biopsies, researchers say. Misinterpretation can lead women to have surgery and other treatments they do not need, or to miss out on treatments they do need.
The new findings, reported Tuesday in JAMA, challenge the common belief that a biopsy is the gold standard and will resolve any questions that might arise from an unclear mammogram or ultrasound.
