By Sue England, UN Rep (IWC Munich)
At HRC41, there were two days focused on women's rights, June 27 and 28. You can view sessions of the HRC on UN Web TV. Here is a link to live feed and archived videos.
The session continued on June 28 with country statements being made and questions for the Special Rapporteurs (Special...
By Karen Castellon, UN Rep (AWC Berlin)
Oral update by the High Commissioner, Honorable Michelle Bachelet on the situation of human rights worldwide and on the activities of her office
Highlights:
ISIS aftermath
I highly recommend the movie, Capernaum, which I saw at the Edinburgh International Film Festival the night before the FAWCO conference last March. I watched the movie in the original language (Arabic and Ampharic) with English subtitles. It contains strong language, references to child abuse and drug misuse.
Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is a young boy living with his family...
World Refugee Day is June 20th
This content was originally published as a FAWCO-wide awareness raising campaign for World Refugee Day 2018 by the FAWCO Target Program for Education. The following is credited to Julie Lehr, Lauren Mescon and Tricia Saur.
Start Organizing Your Event
ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS
Juneteenth celebrations mark the abolition of slavery on June 19th in the United States. Many African-Americans celebrate this date instead of the Fourth of July. If your people do not have a history of slavery, perhaps you didn't know this. Now we know.
Julie Mowat (AWC The Hague), Human Rights Team Co-Chair
Looking for some training on being a Human Rights Defender? Wondering what this all means? Amensty International offers an on-line course, available free of charge (although for $49 you can get an official certificate of completion) that you can take in a 4 week period: Amnesty's Human Rights Defender course.
As you begin the course, you will very soon come across...
Ending Violence Against Women is a Committee of the Human Rights Team, addressing issues of domestic violence and sex trafficking, as well as other forms of violence against women. The Ending Violence Team was created in April 2008 to address issues of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual exploitation in order to increase awareness and empower those women and children affected. Over the years, the Team has put a spotlight on the issues to get people talking about them. We also promote tangible actions that we can all take to help eradicate these forms of violence. When you look at the facts you see that we still have a long way to go.
1 in 3 women has been sexually assaulted in her lifetime;
Rape continues to be used as a weapon during war and conflict;
Globalization and climate change are having the most profound impacts on women and children who are disproportionately displaced and left without options;
Gender-based violence is an affliction that millions of women and children suffer in silence and shame. Many become victimized by those who are supposed to love and protect them.
Please share these three one-page information sheets on issues of Domestic Violence, how you can help victims of Domestic Violence, and global issues of Violence Against Women with your club members.
For a worldwide listing of domestic violence agencies, see the Hot Peaches website.
You'll find a link to the Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center (AODVC) website on our homepage under Domestic Violence.
For more information or to get involved, contact the Committee Co-Chairs.
Co-Chair, Global Issues, Tonya Teichert at .
Tonya Teichert (AWC The Taunus)
Co-Chair, Global Issues
Co-Chair, Domestic Violence and AODVC Liaison, Karen Lewis at aodvc@fawco.org.
Karen Lewis (FAUSA)
Co-Chair, Domestic Violence and AODVC Liaison
Women Peace and Security is a committee within the Human Rights Team. Its goal is to raise awareness about violence against women in conflict zones and the role of women in the peace-keeping process.
The theme of women and conflict resonates with the very origins of FAWCO. According to The Red Book, FAWCO: A History 1931-2011:
Caroline Curtis Brown founded FAWCO on the belief that "enlightened women, working cooperatively throughout the world, could do much to help achieve permanent international peace; and that this was especially true of American women living abroad who had acquired special experience in living in foreign lands among foreign people and foreign customs. Their American clubs not only provided a home away from home, she felt, but also served to promote sympathetic awareness of the needs and problems in countries other than the United States." Our founder's words are perhaps even more relevant today than in her own time. In our globally connected world, wars have a real impact on the lives of all of us, even when they occur in a distant land. A peaceful world benefits everyone.