Soroptimists from Europe Attend a Leadership Summit

“The Courage to Lead: A Human Rights Summit for Women Leaders”

8-10 December 2009, Geneva, Switzerland

Suba Parthiban, Programme Officer, Soroptimist International of Europe

It was fascinating to be part of a conference where women leaders demonstrated the courage to lead. This Summit was organized by Vital Voices and the Eleanor Roosevelt project.

The Summit was divided into three areas:

· Community and Economic Development: Ensuring Access to Food, Shelter and Wages

· Education and Political Empowerment: Ensuring Access to Education and the Government

· Protection from Violence against Women and Human Trafficking

Every panel featured experts in the field, including UN Special Rapporteurs, lawyers, prosecutors, professors, and activists. The emphasis on education and empowerment was overwhelming as it was said that education allows women to dream and articulate as well as helps them to be strong citizens. Knowledge is power! The lack of political will on the part of the government was often considered the main obstacle to achieve full rights for women.

As you can imagine, this was an incredible opportunity for networking and making contacts. We were around 40 women from 27 different countries and many of them showed interest in Soroptimist work. 5 of them would like to become Soroptimists: Ukraine, Kenya, Nigeria, US, and Albania.

Now the most interesting part: Vital Voices, the US based organization that organized all of this has a major mentoring programme. They have a conference coming up in March in DC for their mentors and mentees. They were fascinated to hear that we are a network of professional women.

At the end of the conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the summit via satellite (first time in history they said). This was an interesting experience to have an interactive dialogue with her.

The content of the meeting was really rich and I was even more convinced that Soroptimists can give women and girls the courage to lead!!!

News From a NEW Soroptimist Rep in Geneva!

Can you imagine a UN headquarter, situated in green surroundings with sheep peacefully grazing in a park, trees in Indian summer colours - and the highest snowcapped European mountains greeting from far behind the lake? This is UN in Geneva, where I attended my first session as SI trainee representative. However not much time to dwell on watching the scenery - for two days we followed the session of ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) member states about the 15 year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the ECE. In the huge UN Parliament the official representatives sit alphabetically ordered, e.g. Russia sits next San Marino. However the Russian Representative was mostly absent….

Wilfrida Hendrickx, Elizabeth Williamson and I were very proud that SI President Hanne Jensbo has flown in from Denmark to follow this important session. We were sitting at the back rows together with lots of other NGOs.

Since the 4th World Conference in Beijing 1995, the progress of the Advancement of Women has been reviewed every 5 years. At this Regional meeting the 15-year main review next year in New York from 1 till 12 March 2010 was prepared. First I was quite puzzled to learn that the ECE region not only encompasses European countries but also US, Canada, and the countries of the former Soviet union.

“Although we have reviewed progress in achieving the goals set at five yearly intervals, there remain obstacles and new challenges”, said Carolyn Hannan, director of UN Division for the Advancement of Women.
“Unite to end violence against women” was an important campaign launched at the Commission on the Status of Women 2008, that has significantly strengthened the focus on this scourge. Today 186 countries have ratified the Convention on the elimination if All Forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW). – However “horrific forms of violence against women in situations of armed conflict continue”, said Hannan.
In the discussion on Gender-sensitive economic policies in the context of the economic and financial crisis it was argued that the fight against violence against women should include measures tackling trafficking and prostitution, phenomena which are also directly linked to economic hardship.
However “one size does not fit all” was mentioned in view of the 15 year review: Women tend to be dealt as a monolithic mass with essentially similar needs and demands with just passing mention of minority women.
At this conference the challenges most frequently mentioned by member states and NGOs included:
- the gap between legislation and implementation
- the gender Pay gap
- the situation of migrant women who suffer multiple forms of discrimination
- the role of men in advancing gender equality, including through better sharing of family responsibilities

“Enjoy equity and equality” is on the high priority list in the SI Programme Focus Goals and so is “ End human trafficking and all forms of violence against women” in our Programme Focus Objectives. So the outcome of the Beijing +15 conference in New York next March will be of high interest for Soroptimist International

Sina Stiffler, Switzerland

News From a NEW Soroptimist Rep in Geneva

SI Trainee Sina Stiffler- tells us about her experiences!

Can you imagine a UN headquarter, situated in green surroundings with sheep peacefully grazing in a park, trees in Indian summer colours - and the highest snowcapped European mountains greeting from far behind the lake? This is UN in Geneva, where I attended my first session as SI trainee representative. However not much time to dwell on watching the scenery - for two days we followed the session of ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) member states about the 15 year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the ECE. In the huge UN Parliament the official representatives sit alphabetically ordered, e.g. Russia sits next San Marino. However the Russian Representative was mostly absent….

Wilfrida Hendrickx, Elizabeth Williamson and I were very proud that SI President Hanne Jensbo has flown in from Denmark to follow this important session. We were sitting at the back rows together with lots of other NGOs.

Since the 4^th World Conference in Beijing 1995, the progress of the Advancement of Women has been reviewed every 5 years. At this Regional meeting the 15-year main review next year in New York from 1 till 12 March 2010 was prepared. First I was quite puzzled to learn that the ECE region not only encompasses European countries but also US, Canada, and the countries of the former Soviet union.

“Although we have reviewed progress in achieving the goals set at five yearly intervals, there remain obstacles and new challenges”, said Carolyn Hannan, director of UN Division for the Advancement of Women.

“Unite to end violence against women” was an important campaign launched at the Commission on the Status of Women 2008, that has significantly strengthened the focus on this scourge. Today 186 countries have ratified the Convention on the elimination if All Forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW). – However “horrific forms of violence against women in situations of armed conflict continue”, said Hannan.

In the discussion on Gender-sensitive economic policies in the context of the economic and financial crisis it was argued that the fight against violence against women should include measures tackling trafficking and prostitution, phenomena which are also directly linked to economic hardship.

However “one size does not fit all” was mentioned in view of the 15 year review: Women tend to be dealt as a monolithic mass with essentially similar needs and demands with just passing mention of minority women.

At this conference the challenges most frequently mentioned by member states and NGOs included:

- the gap between legislation and implementation

- the gender Pay gap

- the situation of migrant women who suffer multiple forms of discrimination

- the role of men in advancing gender equality, including through better sharing of family responsibilities

“Enjoy equity and equality” is on the high priority list in the SI Programme Focus Goals and so is “ End human trafficking and all forms of violence against women” in our Programme Focus Objectives. So the outcome of the Beijing +15 conference in New York next March will be of high interest for Soroptimist International

Sina Stiffler, Switzerland

Soroptimists Attend Food Agriculture Organization Conference in Rome

Summary From the UN meeting in Rome about Food Security- NOVEMBER 2009

The VIP’s were all at the UN Summit on Food Security in Rome: The Pope, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Muammar Gadafi, Mugabe and many other heads of state and government.

They came to present their views on the fact that over one billion human being presently do not have sufficient food to meet their daily basic nutritional needs.

They unanimously adopted a declaration “pledging renewed commitment to eradicate hunger at the earliest date.”

In his address to the summit Ban Ki-moon called the current food crisis “a wake-up call for tomorrow”, and he and many other speakers underlined that “ there can be no food security without climate security.”

The FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf stressed that “In some developed countries, two to four percent of the population are able to produce enough food to feed the entire nation, while in the developing countries 60-80 percent of the population are not able to meet food needs in their country.”

He added: “The planet can feed itself, provided that the decisions made are honoured and the required resources are effectively mobilised.”

500 NGO’s from developing countries were invited by the Italian State to share their views in an alternative forum and Union President Asha Abdulrahman from Kenyan was representing SI at this forum. She could confirm that the food situation in Kenya is critical, as the small farmers - mostly women – those years see their harvest drop dramatically because of draught and poverty.

We hope that the food security will have a high priority on the agenda for the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December and I repeat Ban Ki-moon’s words: “there can be no food security without climate security”.

For Soroptimist international we only can encourage our members to focus on the women’s situation – mainly women farmers in Africa. It cannot be repeated too often:

The women make up the majority of the world’s poor.

Let us give them a hand!

SI representatives to the Summit:

Else Larsen, Asha Abdulrahman and Hanne Jensbo

COP 15- Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

WOMEN ARE MAJOR AGENTS FOR PROGRESS IN CLIMATE CHANGE, DEVELOPMENT GOALS - BAN

Women, among the first victims of climate change and enduring social ills, must also be seen as principal agents for change both in curbing global warming and in attaining the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to improve the lot of humankind, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

“Think of the women who, as a result of desertification linked to climate change, will have to forage even farther and longer for wood and water,” he told the Women’s International Forum that brings together some of the world’s most pre-eminent women. “Think of the women small-holder farmers who could see their crop yields fall by half over the next decade because of increasingly erratic rainfall.

“Think of the women who depend directly on the environment for their livelihoods and for the well-being of their families and communities,” he said, stressing that in most parts of the world, more than half, sometimes 70 to 80 per cent, of the burden is borne by women. “People who have been the least responsible for causing climate change are suffering first and worst from its effects.

“But let us also remember: to see women only as victims is to miss the point. So let us also think of the women who are custodians of local knowledge about food rationing, water harvesting, and forest conservation. Let us recognize how their insights can point the way toward sustainable natural resources management and green prosperity for all.”

With just six days left until the opening of the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, Mr. Ban said he was looking to women to take up the call for a fair and effective agreement that will reduce emissions while helping vulnerable communities adapt.

“Science demands that we act. So does economic common sense,” he declared. “Some say tackling climate change is too expensive, especially at a time of global economic and financial upheaval. They are wrong. We will pay an unacceptable price if we do not act now.”

Turning to the MDGs, the targets adopted at a UN summit in 2000 that seek to slash extreme hunger and poverty, infant and maternal mortality, and lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015, Mr. Ban cited the stark challenges: 93 million children, mostly girls, not in school; a woman dying every minute during pregnancy and childbirth from preventable and treatable problems; millions of women without access to decent work and social security.

“On development, too, we need to think again: of the women who change their communities,” he said. “Consider Bangladesh, where the success of microfinance has transformed the lives of its people, mainly through the empowerment of its rural women.

“Consider also the women who are shaping the policies of their countries through their growing presence in parliament. Our efforts to reach the MDGs and our response to the global economic crisis must place women at the centre of decision-making.”

He pledged to appoint more women to senior posts, noting that since taking office three years ago nine new women under-secretaries-general (USG) have been appointed and he would soon name two more to the posts of Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and as head of the new gender equality entity.

“We have more women USGs than at any time in UN history – and many of them are the first women appointees to positions which have traditionally been held by men over the past six decades,” he said noting that the number of women in senior UN posts has increased by 40 per cent during his tenure. “I will continue to do everything I can to ensure the equality and empowerment of women and girls.”

* * *
Taken from 12/1/09 UN News

COP 15- Soroptimists Prepare To Participate

COP 15- Women are the Biggest Victims

In an article from a Danish Newspaper printed a week before COP 15:

“Hanne Jensbo will participate in the Summit Meeting on behalf of 90,000 Soroptimist International members and take part in the debate. She will focus on equality and emphasize that women must take part in the decision-making for a change of the climate. The women –especially those from developing countries - are the ones, who are the most vulnerable and suffer most in the climate changes, such as when it is draught and floods……”

She also will affirm “that NGO’s and Civil Society have to have an important role in the conference as their messages and actions are important in the debate”

Hanne was interviewed in Copenhagen last Saturday when she brought several sacks of warm clothes (coats, sweater, hats, gloves, boots etc) to offer to those participants in the COP 15, who are not prepared for the cold Danish winter.

The second hand clothes were all collected by Danish Soroptimists.

As mentioned earlier SI has three seats at the Summit Meetings in the Bella Centre with Ban Ki-moon and 122 the Heads of States.

SI will be present and lobby for Soroptimist views.

Danish Soroptimists have a stand in the Global Forum (alternative COP 15) and will show videos with clip from climate activities

Stay tuned to the SI Blog for up to date news!

I try to live up to my motto: Action Speaks louder than Words!

COP 15- Soroptimists are there!

Tuvalu sets the scene at COP 15 – Notes from SI International President Hanne Jensbo

15,000 Heads of States, delegates, press and NGO’s are in the Bella Center, where the negotiations are taking place. It is a really global platform, with all kinds of culture and personalities.

The small state of Tuvalu, consisting of 9 Islands East of Australia is fighting for their survival and made " drama" at the meeting in Copenhagen. I attended the meeting in the plenary session on Wednesday and heard how Tuvalu dominated the summit by putting some questions that most of the delegates wanted to avoid. Tuvalu proposes that the rise of global temperature must not exceed 1.5 degrees, otherwise, the proclaim, the islands will disappear in the Pacific Ocean! In contrast to this proposal the wealthier "rich" countries proposed a 2 degree limit in global temperature.

A lots of side events are taking place. It is my impression that the developing countries have sent very strong delegates to promote their views. Yesterday I heard the Climate negotiator from Bolivia, Angela Navarro,ask for support and understanding from the "rich" countries to show solidarity at the Climate Change conference and “ pay their debt back” to the poor countries.

In the “alternative” Forum for NGO’s in the center of Copenhagen the Danish stall had a lot of visitors, who are informed about SI climate activities and about Soroptimism.

I happened to meet a Soroptimist from the New York club, Natalia Kostus who represents the GGCA (Global Gender and Climate Action). Her organisation has worked actively for implementing the “Gender Perspectives” in the final Climate Declaration for more than two years and I gave them the fully support of Soroptimist International.

It will now be exciting to see, how the meetings will go on in the next week, where all the Heads of States will arrive.

Many activists have proclaimed their demonstrations so it will likely be a dramatic week, Hopefully a final declaration about the Climate Change will be agreed on to replace the Kyoto declaration, which runs out in 2012.

Copenhagen 11 December 2009.

Hanne Jensbo

International President.