نشرة رقم 10 / ناير / كانون الثاني

The year 2005 will provide important opportunities for promoting women's rights. Representatives of governments and activists from around the world will gather in New York for the 49th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women to review progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action ten years after its adoption. It is time to assess the victories we've won, to strengthen our solidarity within the women's movement, and to work together to develop effective strategies to achieve justice and equality. Among the critical areas of concern in the Beijing +10 review is protecting women from violence and ensuring full achievement of women's human rights.

Violence against women remains one of the primary obstacles to empowering women and achieving peace and security for all. In the last ten years, women’s rights activists in Muslim-majority countries have taken significant strides in initiating legislation that helps improve the status of women, protect women from violence, and punish perpetrators of violence. In 2004, WLP’s partner in Morocco, l’Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), led a coalition of women’s rights organizations that successfully amended the Moudawana (the Moroccan Family Law) supporting women’s equality and granting them new rights in marriage and divorce, among others. Last September in Turkey, after a three year-campaign to reform the Turkish Penal Code, thirty amendments were passed resulting in major steps towards advancing gender equality and safeguarding women’s sexual and bodily rights. And this month, President Pervez Musharraf signed a bill making honor killings a criminal act punishable by death in Pakistan. Policy-makers enlightened and influenced by women activists are bringing about changes that will lead to eradication of violence against women in all its forms.

WLP and our partners believe that the key to a successful effort to eliminate violence against women is women’s empowerment. In our partners meeting in the fall of 2004 in Beirut, the partners decided to focus on elimination of violence against women as one of our main areas of curriculum development and training. As part of the process initiated in Beirut, WLP will organize a one-day symposium, "Leading to Change: Eliminating Violence Against Women in Muslim Societies" on March 1st to coincide with the meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women. The Symposium will provide a forum for women activists to discuss the cultural, traditional, economic, political, and legal factors that impact violence in the context of women’s empowerment. They will share experiences and lessons learned from their advocacy efforts. Event details can be found below.

In this issue of eNews you will also find a report of the Maghreb Regional Institute for Women’s Leadership organized by WLP and our Moroccan partner, ADFM, December 11-14, 2004, and the announcement for our upcoming Africa Regional Institute organized in cooperation with our Nigerian partner, BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights, February 21-25, 2005.

We wish you the best in the new year,