Expert Group Meeting: Envisioning Women’s Rights in the Post-2015 Context
The 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 2015 conducted a global review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and considered opportunities for strengthening gender equality and the empowerment of women in the post-2015 development agenda.
Intergovernmental processes are well under way to inform and design the future post-2015 development agenda. The 59th session of the CSW will provide an important opportunity to reflect on progress made towards gender equality in the last twenty years, to identify the multiple challenges that have held back progress as well as to consider effective strategies for advancing women’s rights in the post-2015 context.
In order to take stock on current research and assist the Commission in its deliberations, UN Women convened an expert group meeting (EGM) on “Envisioning women’s rights in the post-2015 context” from 3 to 5 November 2014 in New York.
On 10 December 2014, the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice launched the Gender Report Card on the International Criminal Court 2014, Anniversary Edition, during the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) 13th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) in New York. The Gender Report Card is one of the monitoring and advocacy strategies utilised by the Women’s Initiatives to track and analyse progress, challenges and advances in the field of international criminal law with a focus on gender justice in particular.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice’s Gender Report Card, providing the most comprehensive gender analysis of the ICC currently available.
Read the introduction by Gabrielle McIntyre, Chair of the Board, and the speech by Brigid Inder, Executive Director, presented at the Launch of the Gender Report Card 2014.
This Study’s principal goal has been to explore through informal collaborative networks and women’s local communities, how women have access and use ICTs for health, with a particular attention to women living in conflicts, refugee camps and natural disasters. It aims at giving a voice to local communities and silent populations living in difficult contexts. The study does not pretend to be scientific although the data collection and analysis follows the rigorous scientific, technical and ethical requirements of the foresight methodology described on Millennia2015 website and in WeHealth guidelines.
These Key Findings are the result of a two-year data collection process conducted by the WeHealth International Working Group, a network of 534 members in 62 countries. The data analysis applied an original qualitative approach that employed the overall themes of Women, Health, and ICTs to generate action plans to close the gender and digital gaps, for women’s health and empowerment, and to promote connectivity in their communities.
Closing the gender & digital gaps to improve women’s health
Извор: WUNRN – 30.12.2014
Overcoming the Health Workforce Gap
By Remco van de Pas and Linda Mans
The chapter of Global Health Watch 4 on the global health workforce crisis tells us that the global deficit of health workers was estimated to be 4.2 million health workers in 2006. Due to population growth in Low-and Middle income countries and given the limited pace of development of the health workforce, at current levels, a global deficit of 12.9 skilled health professionals is projected for the year 2035. Under this assumption, 107 countries would be affected by this gap. The two regions where the absolute deficit would be the highest are South-East Asia (5.0 million) and Africa (4.3 million).
The current Ebola outbreak in Western-Africa is a telling reminder that weak health systems capacity, including the global deficit of the workforce, is an transnational challenge that requires a global response and approach which transcends national boundaries. For instance, Liberia had just 57 doctors and 978 nurses and midwives in 2008, while Sierra Leone had 136 doctors and 1017 nurses, far below WHO recommended staffing levels. This workforce deficit is one of the factors that contributed to the delayed containment of the Ebola outbreak and promoted transmission of the virus to urban areas – where it is much more difficult to control. Ironically, but not unexpectedly, a considerable proportion of the doctors and nurses that are nationals of the countries where the outbreak takes place, actually works in richer countries to earn an income with which they can sustain a family. It is estimated that 40% of Liberian doctors are currently working in the U.S alone.
October 2014 -Equality is one of the five values on which the European Union (EU) is founded; yet women here face inequalities in many respects. Extreme poverty, exclusion and discrimination burden Roma women even further. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) researched the situation of Roma women in 11 EU Member States.
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It found that while the ethnic gap between Roma and non-Roma yawns wide in key areas of life – education, employment, health and experiences of discrimination – the situation for Roma women is worse. In educational attainment, for example, 23 % of the Roma women surveyed say they cannot read or write and 19 % never went to school.
The EU’s growth strategy for the coming decade – Europe 2020 – aims to create a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. The Roma have been identified as a group at particular risk, one which needs to be targeted if inclusive growth and social cohesion are to be achieved. To reach these ambitious goals, it is imperative to empower, enhance the social inclusion and expand the opportunities of Roma women.
Improving Roma women’s educational attainment, enhancing their access and employment prospects, ensuring access to health facilities and tackling discrimination are a key test of the EU’s ability to create a more inclusive environment for all extremely marginalised groups. To support these efforts, FRA will continue its work testing novel community-level approaches and generating evidence of the changes taking place on the ground.
Direct Link to Full 56-Page 2014 Report
Извор:WUNRN - 10.01.2015
