The first session today was a short panel discussion, followed by a passionate airing of views on religion and culture as forces that impede women’s realization of their human rights. Women from Pakistan, Egypt, Somalia, India, and Nigeria shared their views on the influence they have in their countries:
- The most feminist laws of the age were introduced by the Quran in the 7th Century. What’s happened?
- Russia, China, Iran and some northern African countries object to international pressure on women’s issues and yet they are the very countries that have terrible records on women’s human rights.
- Women from Egypt and Pakistan agree that they have seen women’s rights severely restricted during the course of their lifetimes.
- Sharia Law is being used as an excuse to suppress women.
- The violation of women’s rights isn’t about religion, it’s about power.
- Big business is part of the framework of repression; male dominated and benefitting from cheap and forced labor.
One Million Signatures for the Repeal of Discriminatory Laws, also known as Change for Equality, is a campaign by women in Iran to collect one million signatures in support of changing discriminatory laws against women in their country.
www.we-change.org/english/spip.php?article19
The following points were made during the Climate Session:
- More than a two degree increase in global temperature will cause irreparable damage and negatively impact future generations.
- Climate change is already exacerbating inequalities and devastating small island nations.
- Women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men during natural disasters.
- The private sector (particularly large international corporations) has an inordinate influence on global harm reduction strategies and climate change agreements. It is also the biggest contributor to greenhouse gasses. For example, the Green Climate Fund is under the jurisdiction of the World Bank but has a number of corporate representatives on the board.
- 50% of homes in India still use firewood as fuel for cooking and heating. This practice kills 3.5 million people per year and is the leading cause of death in India.
- Women only own 1% of the world’s arable land.
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change https://unfccc.int/ is an international space for the discussion of climate change. Global efforts to address this phenomenon began in 1977 with the Kyoto Protocol, which the US did not sign, and little progress has been made since then.
For more information go to the Asia Pacific Forum – Climate Justice Program website http://apwld.org/our-work/women-and-climate-justice/
Women and Trade: Why the trans-pacific partnership is a feminist issue
The United States, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Peru are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). These trade negotiations have been closed and completely opaque. Although there have been no official details, some information has leaked out and it appears that governments are seeding incredible amounts of domestic policy to big business. There are 600 corporate advisors on the US team alone.
Historically, state owned enterprises have been at the core of development. This will be undermined by the TPPA, which apparently puts into place new regulations that states and state owned enterprises cannot discriminate against corporate interests.
Sounds concerning, but as a foot note – the information was not well referenced with reliable sources and the presenters did not actually tie their presentation to women’s issues at all. Seemed like they had their own agenda….
Erica Higbie