NOVEMBER 25th 2011 SPECIAL BULLETIN INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN REGIONAL NEWS “MULTIPLYING OUR VOICES FOR THE RIGHT OF WOMEN TO A LIFE FREE OF VIOLENCE” XII LATIN-AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN FEMINIST CONGRESS, IN BOGOTA The Coordination Committee of the XII Latin question: What is your CONTRIBUTION to American and Caribbean Feminist Congress- write a story without violence against wom- organized a regional event in Bogota, togeth- en? Each country assumed and adapted this er with the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to initiative to collect the society’s voice. end violence against women campaign, the United Nations, and various public and private Lastly, on November 25th, a march took place sector, national and international entities to in the city of Bogota, ending at the Bolivar commemorate November 25th . Square, where a political act and a concert were held and the contributions collected to date from the region’s countries were deliv- 30 years of Feminism in Latin America and the ered. This event brought about wide citizen Caribbean: untying, uncovering, and restart- demonstration calling the State and the civil ing was the proposal for the Congress to look society to double their efforts in favor of a life back and take stock of the work done and free of violence against women. progress made in order to be able to identify the future of the feminist struggle and provide a space for reflection and debate. Especially significant were the debates and ac- tivities dealing with the fight against violence towards women, since it was in the I Femi- To see the spots nist Congress of the region held in Bogota in 1981, when those present proposed declaring http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjTIp_8ZXQg November 25th the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5W_lhJpPTM& From this premise, “Multiplying our voices for the right of women to a life free of vio- lence” was the slogan chosen to make the re- gional character and diversity of voices pres- ent at the meeting and the violence suffered by women visible. Communication materials, radio messages and television spots with this slogan were disseminated throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, contributions from the citizens of the region’s countries were also collected answering the 1 As every year, Latin American Genera, website man- aged by the UNDP LAC Gender Practice Area, prepared and shared a Special site on the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, bringing a very special coverage to the XII Fem- inist Congress, held in Bogota. Additionally, this Special offers information on the history of this commemoration Day, the special messages from the Secretary General of the United Nations and from the Executive Director of UN Women, a small glossary on violence against wom- en, a view of the laws of the region and their judicial approach, a compilation of series on violence against women, conversations with specialists and much more information. To see the spots : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjTIp_8ZXQg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5W_lhJpPTM& THE DIRECTOR OF UN WOMEN OUTLINES 16 STEPS TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN In her firstmessage on November 25th since UN Women started its activities, its Executive Director, Michelle Ba- chelet, outlined a detailed agenda of policies to eradica- te violence against women and girls. According to Dr. Bachelet, three pillars are critical in this common struggle: prevention, protection, and provi- sion of services. Additionally, she presented 16 steps to end violence against women, which included; legal actions and com- prehensive plans, strategies and services that ensure an end to impunity. The others focused the attention on women’s empowerment and autonomy, and the importance of raising awareness and conscious- ness on the population because all are responsible of the end violence against women. UN REGIONAL DIRECTORS FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN COMMITTED TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL’S CAMPAIGN To show their support for the SG campaign and importance of the work to end violence against women that the UN agencies carry out from their mandate, several Regional Directors have con- tributed to the SG campaign with a message for the November 25th. The videos from the Execu- tive Secretary of the ECLAC, Directors of the WHO, UNCHR, UNDP, UNHCHR, UNDP and WFP, can be found from the Youtube Channel of the UNETELAC. To watch the videos: www.youtube.com/unetelac 2 “FOR A GENDER-BASED JUSTICE”: XII CONFERENCE OF THE IBERO-AMERICAN MAGISTRATES OF THE HIGH COURTS OF JUSTICE IN QUITO On November 28th-30th, the this wide segment of the po- “XII Conference of the Ibe- pulation. The lack of women´s ro-American High Courts of knowledge of their rights in Justice´s Magistrates on Gen- order to exercise and demand der and Justice: communica- them, the shortage of free tion and access to justice for counseling services, especia- women” was held in Quito. Its lly in the marginal urban and main objective was to gene- rural zones, and the unequal rate, among those present, distribution of family and do- reflections on the impact of mestic responsibilities that in- the media on the access to fluence the access to justice, justice for women. This mee- are the main problems of wo- ting was organized by the men for the access to justice United Nations Latin-Ameri- highlighted by Mrs. Arias. can Institute for the Preven- tion of Crime and Treatment The Conference ended with of Offenders (ILANUD, for its a Declaration, where the sig- acronym in Spanish) and the natories commit to support Justice and Gender Founda- the Secretary-General’s cam- tion, with the collaboration of paign, and more concretely, the Ecuadorian, the Spanish support the implementation Cooperation, the Secretary- of its Strategy of Access to General’s campaign, UN Wo- Justice for Women (art. 20). men, and other UN agencies. Likewise, they asked the me- dia to collaborate to help In the opening speech, Mrs. breaking certain stereotypes Tania Arias, Spokeperson of the Transitory and promoting a cultural change in the popula- Judiciary Council of Ecuador, highlighted the tion (for example, using adequate terminology: need for political, constitutional, and judicial using femicide/feminicide instead of calling it conditions that allow the access to justice for murder or homicide). To watch the video that summarizes the Conference, consult the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZ__qhDHIY&feature=player_embedded CENTRAL AMERICAN MEETING OF ANCESTRAL AUTHO- RITIES AND INDIGENOUS WOMEN FOR A LIFE WITHOUT VIOLENCE The “Central American Meeting of Ancestral Authorities and Indigenous Women for a life without violence”, sponsored by UN Women, took place on November 28th-29th in Panama. The parti- cipants were 40 traditional indigenous authorities and organized indigenous women from Gua- temala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama; UN Women and the Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE; and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. 3 After a two-day work session, the traditional autho- rities and indigenous women leaders reached conclu- sions and made recommendations, as well as personal and collective commitments to end violence against wo- men recognizing the existence of other structural mani- festations such as discrimination and racism that cannot be ignored when talking about violence against women. Apart from domestic violence, indigenous women suffer structural violence and discrimination (regarding access to justice, health and basic social services, etc.); econo- mic violence as a result of the economic model crisis, which makes access to microcredits difficult and increases exploitation of labor and unem- ployment rates; state violence (higher crime rates, militarization and insecurity); ecologic vio- lence due to the loss of territories and natural resources; and spiritual violence caused by the loss of ancestral values and principles in the communities, to which they belong, as pointed out by Myrna Kay Cunningham, President of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. REGIONAL CONSULTATION OF CARIBBEAN PARLIAMEN- TARIANS: PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN On November 9th-10th, a Regional Consultation of Parliamentarians from the Caribbean was held in Jamaica, as a joint effort of UNFPA, UN Women, the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (IAPG), the Caribbean Network of Parliamentarians on Popula- tion and Development (CNPPD), and the CARICOM Secretariat. These sessions helped to raise awareness among the members of Parliament on the problem of violence against women and girls in the Caribbean, the significan- ce of the political level for its solution, and to identify best practices in prevention. The first session introduced the Parliamentarians tools, approaches, and experiences in the struggle to eradicate violence against women and girls in the region. Nadine Gasman, Senior Manager of the SG campaign in LAC ex- posed the objectives and outcomes of this campaign for the region. The second day was dedicated to highlighting the ways, in which the Parliament can help to mobilize political will to end gender-based violence. Finally, the male parliamentarians participating in this Consultation joined the Secretary-General’s campaign in a symbolic act and committed to fight in favor of its objectives, with greater aware- ness and political will to take action. For more information: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111113/news/news92.html 4 UNITE T-SHIRT DESIGN COMPETITION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE In August, the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to end violence against women campaign launched a T-shirt design competition for young men between the ages of 18 and 25 from all over the world. Half of the total of the designs presented for the contest were made by young men from Latin America and the Caribbean. A panel of each region (5 in total) selected the best 25 designs of each region.