IGUALDAD YA EQUALITY NOW EQUALITY EQUALITY NOW THE POWER OF THE INDIVIDUAL ANNUAL REPORT 2002 TENTH ANNIVERSARY EQUALITY NOW was founded in 1992 to work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world. Working with national human rights organizations and individual activists, Equality Now documents violence and discrimination against women and adds an international action overlay to support their efforts to advance equality rights and defend individual women who are suffering abuse. Through its Women’s Action Network, Equality Now distributes information about these human rights violations to concerned groups and individuals around the world, along with recommended actions for publicizing and protesting them. The Women’s Action Network is committed to voicing a worldwide call for justice and equality for women. Issues of urgent concern to Equality Now include rape, domestic violence, reproductive rights, trafficking of women, female genital mutilation, and equal access to economic opportunity and political participation. EGALITE MAINTENANT a été fondée en 1992 afin de travailler pour la protection et la promotion des droits humains de la femme dans le monde entier. Travaillant avec des associations nationales pour les droits humains et avec des activistes individuels, Egalité Maintenant documente la violence et la discrimination contre les femmes, en ajoutant un élément d'action internationale pour soutenir les efforts de ces associations et activistes pour avancer les droits de la femme, et pour défendre des femmes individuelles maltraitées. Au moyen du Réseau Action Femmes, Egalité Maintenant transmet des renseignements sur ces violations des droits humains aux groupes et aux individus intéressés partout dans le monde, avec des actions recommandées pour faire connaître au public ces violations, et pour protester contre elles. Le Réseau Action Femmes représente une force internationale d'activisme, capable d'une réponse rapide et concertée aux situations de crise et engagée à faire appel mondial pour la justice et l'égalité pour la femme. Les problèmes urgents auxquels s'intéresse Egalité Maintenant comprennent: le viol, la violence familiale, les droits de reproduction, la traite des femmes, la mutilation génitale féminine, l'égalité des chances économiques, et l'accès égal à la participation politique. IGUALDAD YA fue fundada en 1992 con el propósito de trabajar a favor de la protección y promoción de los derechos humanos de las mujeres en todo el mundo. Trabajando junto a organizaciones nacionales de derechos humanos y con activistas individuales, Igualdad Ya documenta casos de violencia y discriminación contra las mujeres y agrega un componente de acción internacional para apoyar sus esfuerzos para avanzar los derechos de igualdad y defender casos individuales de mujeres que sufren abusos. A través de su Red de Acción Mujeres, Igualdad Ya disemina información acerca de estas violaciones de derechos humanos entre grupos e individuos interesados en todo el mundo, junto con recomendaciones de acciones para publicitar y protestar estos casos. La Red de Acción Mujeres es un ejemplo de activismo internacional capaz de dar una respuesta rápida y concertada a situaciones de crisis. La Red se compromete a dar voz a un llamado mundial a la justicia y la igualdad para las mujeres. Los temas de preocupación urgentes para Igualdad Ya incluyen la violación sexual, la violencia doméstica, los derechos reproductivos, el tráfico de mujeres, la mutilación genital femenina y el acceso igualitario a las oportunidades económicas y la participación política. COVER PHOTOS Center: Fauziya Kassindja in INS detention, 1995. Clockwise from top left: International Women’s Day March, Kathmandu, Nepal, 8 March 1997; International Women’s Day March in Uganda, 8 March 2000; Fauziya Kassindja with her triplets, 2001; Gloria Steinem at Equality Now’s 10th Anniversary Event, 8 April 2002; Sapana Pradhan-Malla, Meaza Ashenafi and Zainab Al-Harbi at Equality Now’s press conference at the United Nations, Beijing+5 Special Session of the General Assembly, June 2000; Women in Kuwait demanding to be registered as voters, 2000; Edna and Beatrice Kandie during the FGM Fund Media Tour, December 2002; Jessica Neuwirth, President of Equality Now. 10TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR SOMMAIRE L’année 2002 a marqué le dixième an- niversaire d’Egalité Maintenant. Beau- coup de progrès ont été accomplis, mais REVIEW OF 2002 il nous faut encore faire davantage pour que cessent les violations des droits de In 2002 Equality Now marked its tenth anniversary—an opportunity to look back la femme. Pour cet anniversaire, Egal- ité Maintenant a choisi comme thème on the progress that we have made, and to look forward to the challenges that lie « le pouvoir de l’individu » pour rap- peler que chacun peut à sa mesure ahead. Much has been done over the past ten years by Equality Now and many changer le monde autour d’elle et de other organizations to highlight the ongoing scourge lui. Egalité Maintenant tient à rendre hommage à l’une de ces personnes, of violence and discrimination against women. But Starlin Arush, qui avait débuté un pro- jet de démobilisation en Somalie en we need to do more than highlight these human plein cœur d’une violente guerre civile. Starlin offrait nourriture, abri et forma- rights violations—we have to stop them. Violence tion à de jeunes garçons somaliens, en against women is intertwined with sex discrimina- échange de leurs armes. Le 24 octobre, Starlin Arush a été tuée à Nairobi. Elle tion. Until women enjoy equal rights under the law, avait 45 ans. Egalité Maintenant dédie son dixième anniversaire à la mémoire equal access to education and economic oppor- de Starlin et salue toutes celles et tous tunity, and equal participation in political power, we ceux qui, comme elle, œuvrent pour la paix et la défense des droits humains will not enjoy effective protection from the violence dans le monde, que ce soit dans leurs pays, dans leurs communautés ou dans that destroys the lives of women. This violence leurs foyers. sometimes takes different forms in different parts of RESUMEN the world, but it is fundamentally universal. En el año 2002, Igualdad Ya celebró su The theme of Equality Now’s tenth anniversary décimo aniversario. Hubo muchos logros, pero debemos hacer aún más has been The Power of the Individual. Any one para poner fin a las violaciones de los derechos humanos de las mujeres. La Starlin Arush person in any one place can change the world temática del décimo aniversario de 1957–2002 around her, or change the world around him. This Igualdad Ya fue El Poder del Individuo, poniendo de relieve el potencial de year Equality Now pays tribute to one such individual, Starlin Arush, who lost her cada persona de cambiar el mundo alrededor suyo. Este año, Igualdad Ya life in 2002. Starlin Arush was a visionary, a woman who single-handedly turned rinde tributo a tal individuo, Starlin war into peace, and fear into hope in her home country of Somalia. Somalia has Arush, quien inició un proyecto de desmovilización en medio de una vio- been without a government since 1991. A whole generation of young Somali boys lenta guerra civil en Somalia. Ella brindaba a los niños de Somalia comi- have grown up in a gun culture where education is knowing a Kalashnikov from a da, alojamiento y educación a cambio de sus armas. El 24 de octubre, Starlin Bazooka, and employment is signing up to serve in the armed militia of one or Arush fue muerta en Nairobi, a los 45 another warlord. Amidst this violent chaos, Starlin Arush began a demobilization años. Igualdad Ya dedica su décimo aniversario a su memoria, y rinde hom- project, to give these boys another way of life. In exchange for their guns, to be enaje a todas aquellas mujeres y hom- bres quienes, como Starlin, traen paz y surrendered on entry, the young men were given food, shelter and education. They derechos humanos al mundo alrededor were free at any time to take back their guns and leave. None did. Over time, suyo—en sus países, en sus comu- nidades y en sus propias casas. Starlin Arush collected a stockpile of weapons, which made her a powerful force in the political landscape of Somalia. But she was devastated when The Economist, profiling her work, dubbed her a “warlady.” Anything but a player in the war, Starlin Arush was a missionary for peace who knew that disarmament and a viable alternative were the key to ending war altogether. On 24 October 2002, Starlin Arush was shot and killed in Nairobi at the age of 45. Equality Now dedicates its tenth anniversary to the memory of Starlin Arush and the power of her vision. This is a vision that women share—in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Israel and Palestine—in all places great and small where violence is a way of life. Equality Now honors all those women and men who, like Starlin Arush, are bringing peace and human rights to the world around them—in their countries, in their communities and in their own homes. 1 AFGHANISTAN PEACE, SECURITY AND THE ROLE OF AFGHAN WOMEN In April 2002, Equality Now issued a Women’s Action Update on Afghanistan, calling on the UN Security Council to authorize the immediate expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and on President Bush to reverse the United States government’s opposition to the expansion, noting the special responsibility of the US government in the reconstruction of the country. The Women’s Action Update also called on the US President to ensure that the funding commitments made by the United States and other donor countries were honored and delivered without delay, and reminded him of the request of delegates from the Afghan Women’s Summit for Democracy that all international aid be used as leverage to ensure the rights of women in Afghanistan.