A NOTE TO IWRAW
FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES
October 2001
The
sky is grey and the wind is chilly here in Minneapolis, a
perfect match to our mood. Several weeks ago we decided to issue a letter
to our Women’s Watch
subscriber list, explaining the suspension of the newsletter
and describing current programs and developments.
The attack of September 11 stopped all of us in our
tracks. Though Minneapolis is 1000 miles from New York
and Washington, they are our cities too— with family, friends,
and colleagues directly affected, and as centers of government,
commerce, civil society, and of course the United Nations.
In
the ten days following the attacks we received telephone and
e-mail messages from all over the world. Horrified, worried, sympathetic. All of which we greatly appreciate. Here among our staff we are fortunate that
nobody directly related to us was harmed, but we receive daily
reports from friends and family on the stressful situation
in New York. We understand also that access to the UN is
affected by new security measures, with the potential of regressing
from the openness for which so many of us fought in the last
ten years.
Now
the questions are: how do we cope with our sense of loss, our
new-found sense of vulnerability, and our need to do something
about it all? The
e-mail traffic and newspaper columns produced by US progressives
cover a very wide range of opinion and analysis.
The American public in general seems to favor being
on a war footing against terrorism and to hate the idea of
harming innocent civilians, sentiments that cannot be mutually
satisfied by realities on the ground.
We hate the idea of dropping bombs on any place, let
alone one that is already so desolated as Afghanistan.
There is little space for negotiating with or putting
pressure on a government that has refused to be accountable
in any way to anybody for its miserable treatment of its own
citizens, and particularly for enslaving its women.
And there should be no space for tolerating a terrorist,
because no political or religious cause, no amount of perceived
cultural or political “arrogance,” can justify the murder
of civilians to make a point.
Here
at IWRAW, which has been advocating for human rights approaches
to political and economic problems since its establishment
in 1985, we reaffirm our belief in the human capacity to rise
to the occasion. We
continue to hold that the only way out of a seeming morass
of cruelty and accusation is to insist on the importance of
human dignity, the right of all persons to have their basic
needs met and their intellectual, spiritual, and physical
integrity respected.
What
that means in a practical, programmatic sense is that we continue
to encourage and assist individuals and groups to use every
avenue of peaceful advocacy to bring their case home. Whether appearing before a formal meeting
of a United Nations body, or pressing for an appointment with
a local government official, taking part in nonviolent demonstrations,
or quietly taking a position in a family conference, women
can change the way the world works—for themselves, their families,
and their communities—when they understand human rights and
hold their ground.
IWRAW UPDATE
Newsletter. We have received a number of inquiries about
the status of the Women’s
Watch newsletter. You did not fall off the mailing list; in the
last year the newsletter has been suspended as we reevaluated
staffing and spending priorities in light of rising printing
and mailing costs. We are aware that many more people have access
to the World Wide Web than did even a few years ago, but that
for many people, hard copy is still the only readily accessible
medium. Accordingly, we are considering reinstatement
of the newsletter with a very limited mailing and an immediate
posting to the IWRAW Web site.
We would appreciate reactions to this idea and suggestions
for guidelines for cutting the mailing list.
If you do not have access to the Web, please let us
know. Please do not
send subscription checks until further notice.
Gender and Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights.
For several years IWRAW has provided information to
the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for
use in its reviews, complementing and expanding upon continuing
work with the CEDAW Convention.
In the last year,
IWRAW initiated a more concentrated program on gender
and economic, social and cultural rights.
This initiative includes work on a draft General Comment
on Article 3 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, which provides for equal enjoyment by women and men
of the rights in the Covenant.
We also have begun to regularly notify and assist NGOs
in providing information to the Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights for each of its sessions and are producing
a short guide to reporting to that Committee.
In May 2002 the Committee will hold a day of general
discussion on the proposed General Comment, which upon adoption
will provide a framework for government efforts to implement
and NGOs to monitor the equality provision of the Covenant.
Colleagues in this initiative include the Women’s Economic
Equality Project, International Planned Parenthood Federation,
La Morada, IWRAW
Asia Pacific, members of the CEDAW Committee and the Committee
against Torture, and an independent consultant who served
as Deputy Director of the UN Division for the Advancement
of Women.
For information on sessions of the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, see the IWRAW Web site at www.igc.org/iwraw. For further information and assistance in working with this Committee,
please contact Kasia Polanska, Director of Research, at kpolanska@hhh.umn.edu.
CEDAW/Annual meeting/consultations. In January 2001, IWRAW convened a small planning
group to develop the program for the Initiative on Gender
and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
A public consultation on this topic was originally
planned for January 2002. In light of current events and the difficulties
of travel and planning, this consultation is postponed to
later in the year or January 2003, after the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopts its General Comment
on Equality (Article 3). We continue to work with the CEDAW Convention
and the Committee; IWRAW
staff and NGOs whose countries are under review by the CEDAW
Committee in January 2002 will be present in New York to participate
in the CEDAW session.
Countries to be
reviewed by CESCR, November 2001
Countries to be
reviewed by CEDAW, January 2002
(countries invited as of 2 October 2001)
Fiji;
Estonia; Trinidad and Tobago; Uruguay; Iceland; Sri Lanka;
Portugal; Russian Federation
Countries to be
reviewed by CESCR, May 2002
Czech Republic; Ireland; Trinidad and Tobago; United
Kingdom; UK Dependent Territories and UK Overseas Territories
CONTACT IWRAW AT: iwraw@hhh.umn.edu FAX:
612 624 0068 WEB: www.igc.org/iwraw
Marsha
A Freeman, Director
Valerie Zamberletti, Consultant
Kasia
Polanska, Director of Research
Linda McFarland, Secretary
The contents of this document are the responsibility
of the writers. The Humphrey Institute is hospitable to
a diversity of opinions and aspirations.
The Institute does not itself take positions on public policy
issues. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity
educator and employer.
FROM:
IWRAW
Humphrey Institute
of Public Affairs
University
of Minnesota
301 - 19th
Avenue South
Minneapolis,
MN 55455 USA
ADDRESS CORRECTION
REQUESTED
