Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 16 Days & DOHA!

URGENT NEED FOR SOROPTIMISTS TO SIGN THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS!

We have received a request from the United Nations to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are hoping to have a billion signatures including YOURS. Please cascade widely. Here is the link:

http://www.everyhumanhasrights.org/

INFORMATION KIT FOR OBSERVING 2008 Human Rights Day ( DECEMBER 10)
Dear Colleagues and partners,
Please find attached this year's information kit for 2008 Human Rights Day to be observed on 10 December. Feel free to use its contents as you wish for your events and activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) You can adapt them to your audiences and translate them into your local language. The kit includes five information notes:
- A summary of events that took place around the world throughout 2008 to mark the 60th anniversary;
- Information on the "Stories on Human Rights" films;
- Background information on the Human Rights Prize; - Useful tools and contacts;
- Human Rights Education and the UDHR, in the context of the International Year of Human Rights Learning. The English version of the Information Kit is already posted on the UDHR 60 section of our website: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/60UDHRIntroduction.aspx Other languages versions (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) will be posted soon.

A number of public information documents, including the special logo, more than 360 translations of the UDHR, photographs and background information as well as a list of ideas for activities, are at your disposal on our webpage to help you commemorate this anniversary. All documents are downloadable and printable for your convenience. They may be helpful in any event you may be preparing. Visit this page frequently for updates.

16 Days of Activism
Joining the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign, members of the International Coalition on Women Human Rights Defenders honor 16 women human rights defenders who have endured all risks and dangers to pursue their activism.

Who are the 16 women human rights defenders? Full story via this link:
http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/kit08/exhibit/intro.html
To learn more about Every Human Has Rights campaign activity in 2008 so far and what's happening now at http://www.everyhumanhasright.org/


Posting from Patti
Patti Dolan- SI monitor for Doha

Dear Soroptimists- How lucky that we have Soroptimists who are interested in our new Programme Blog. We have asked Patti Dolan, a SI member and past Region Governor from Western Canada SI/A to be our Doha Monitor. Here is her article:

I received a notice for the Doha Global Civil Society Forum to be held in Doha, Qatar, on November 29th to December 2nd, 2008. The Doha Declaration (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dohaexplained_e.htm ) was developed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote sustainable development in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

The agreement further states the goals are to achieve gender equality, promote micro credit, to remove gender biases in labor and financial markets; as well as ownership of assets and property rights.

The Doha Declaration had caught my interest for a number of reasons. It reminded me of a quote from Thornton Wilder “Money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow”

A number of years ago I was involved in a letter writing campaign to influence my country’s federal government to uphold their commitments to the Doha Declaration.
The first campaign was to encourage pharmaceutical companies to provide HIV/AIDs drugs in a generic form to developing countries. The costs of antiviral drugs are thousands of dollars annually compared to the generic version which costs approximately $1 per day.

The second campaign was to remind the Canadian government of their commitment to provide 0.7 per cent of the country’s Gross National Income (GNI) to developing countries. The internationally agreed development goals are to provide 0.7 per cent of their national GNI with a specific target of .15 to .20 by 2010.

With the present global financial crisis it is imperative that we remain diligent on monitoring the outcome of the Doha Declaration. As a member you can follow the progress of this meeting by visiting http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/doha/ and subscribe to the newsletter.

How does this impact you as a member of Soroptimist International? A number of our 2007 – 2011 Programme Focus Objectives are identical to those of the Doha Declaration.
What can you do as a member of Soroptimist International? Contact YOUR government representative and ask how YOUR country is supporting the Doha Declaration. Advocate for the women we support globally. Be the “Global Voice for women."