Internal Voices - The United Nations Interns' magazine & blog

Editorial 14th Edition

2011-08-14T16:30:00.000+02:00

It is my first day as an intern at the United Nations Regional Information Centre in Brussels. My supervisor, Fred, is giving me a tour of the office, introducing me to the multinational team and telling me about everything I would be expected to work on, including this magazine. “By the way, do you have any lunch plans?” he asks. “Monique Coleman, the United Nations Youth Champion is coming over for lunch.” I knew from that day that my internship would be a very interesting one. Many of you who read this magazine, have met Monique during her travels these past months, and I am sure you all would agree that she is a very inspiring woman. It is reassuring that young people have such a charismatic advocate. Because even though there are
some reassuring developments, such as the recognition youth have achieved in both the climate change discussions (article on p.30) and recent improvements of the rights of children in conflict (article on p.38), the fact remains that young people are often victims to problems created by earlier generations. The global youth deserves much more than that. We are the future, and we have the power to solve any problem, if we are given the right tools to do so. Acquiring tools for the future is something we do as interns at the United Nations, and I hope this magazine will inspire many young people to apply for internships within the UN system, or to do another internship (or three more like Clara on p.26), or to volunteer through the United Nations Volunteers (article on p.24) to learn more and contribute more to the UN.

It has been a pleasure to edit Internal Voices and I encourage all UN interns who find the time to get involved in the next edition. Enjoy the rest of the summer, and the 14th edition of Internal Voices!

Martin Karlsson
Editor, Internal Voices

Editorial 13th Edition

2011-08-08T09:56:00.002+02:00

Read or download the 13th edition here

As you may have noticed, this edition of Internal Voices not only has a new topic, but also a completely remodeled template, as well as a brand new website. All change for a fresh start. Every edition of Internal Voices has focused on a specific subject; one general topic, no matter where the author was based or which part of the UN they worked for In this way, our readers were well informed on the twelve topics we have covered in the twelve editions we have published. After editing and publishing the previous edition, I asked myself which topics the magazine had yet to discuss. It occurred to me that instead of having a common subject, we could give more liberty to the authors and allow them to decide what they would like to write about, as long as the issue remains within the UN mandate. The 13th edition of Internal Voices therefore focuses on the following topic: the UN in the field, allowing for a wider range of subjects and for the reader to learn what UN agencies are doing in the field. From UNICs in Australia and Brazil to peacekeeping operations in Western Sahara, from the work of the World Bank in Angola to the actions taken by UNICEF to help protect children around the world, the 13th edition offers a wide range of subjects with one aim only: to increase public knowledge of the United Nations and its work across continents. As an intern here at the United Nations Regional Information Center, I have had the amazing opportunity, among other tasks, tobe the editor of this magazine, written by interns worldwide, put together by interns here at UNRIC and distributed to interns and other staff members of the UN worldwide. As I will be leaving UNRIC soon, this will be my final edition and I wish to truly thank all the people who contributed to Internal Voices. Thank you to my wonderful editorial team for their work, help and support; thank you to Veronica, our IT intern, without whom this new template would not have been possible; thank you to all the authors without whom there would be no magazine; and thank you to all you readers, who make this adventure possible. I invite you all to comment on any of the articles of this edition or any previous ones on our website or on our Facebook page.

Robin de Wouters,
Editor

Read or download the 13th edition here

Editorial 12th Edition

2011-03-15T14:00:00.004+01:00

UN/MARTINE PERRET

Robin de Wouters - Editor, UNRIC Brussels

Women represent more or less half the world population… And yet, they have constantly been oppressed, discriminated, segregated, considered of less importance, even worse, tortured, lynched, killed, and forgotten. But the situation is gradually changing.

So the choice of topic was obvious. Women and men have, or should have without a doubt, exactly the same rights. It’s about time every single human being acknowledged it.

On the 8^th of March, the United Nations celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the International Women’s Day. On this occasion, UNRIC, the UN office behind this magazine and for which I work, in partnership with the recently created UN organization UN Women, launched an ad competition encouraging citizens across Europe to participate by sending an ad that says No to Violence Against Women (www.create4theun.eu). This competition will run until May 31^st.

After all, “To promote gender equality and empower women” is the third out of eight Millennium Development Goals.

For these reasons, the twelfth edition of Internal Voices is entirely devoted to women in general, their empowerment, their rights, and unfortunately, the violation of their rights throughout developed and developing countries.

The main topic was clearly defined, yet we embrace a wide range of subjects. The magazine spans from the situation of women in Angola to the use of social media in empowering them.

I strongly believe Internal Voices to be a magazine worth working for and thus worth reading. Before I had even set foot at UNRIC in January, I was told one of my tasks would be to edit a magazine written by and for interns of the United Nations around the world. The fact that there are already twelve editions proves that it is a success and widely read, therefore adding the thrill (and stress) of working for something that is already well in motion.

Still, everything clicked; all the steps taken, from identifying authors to the final layout, felt normal and logical. Obviously, I could not have done it all by myself, which is why I am very grateful for the work and help that was provided by the members of the editorial team, my fellow interns and, of course, the authors themselves, without whom there wouldn’t be a magazine.

I invite you to comment on any of the articles of this edition or any previous ones on our blog at

http://internal-voices.blogspot.com.

I sincerely hope you will have as much pleasure reading this magazine as I have had while editing it.

Gender Biases in Sudanese Education

2011-03-15T13:59:00.002+01:00

UN PhotoAlbert Gonzalez Farran

Kathryn Breitenborn, UNIC Washington DC

On January 9^th 2011 the people in South Sudan voted for a separation of the country. The referendum provoked a big debate: what will be the way forward for South Sudan? This was the theme in a recent debate where three panelists who had been in various parts of Sudan during the referendum were invited to talk about their experiences. During the discussion, the panelists noted that although voting rates were high both for women and men, no women were seen working at the polling centers where they were located. When engaged further on this issue, the consensus was that women throughout Sudan, especially in the South, were not receiving education and therefore do not hold federal positions.

NO EDUCATION. It is more likely for a woman in South Sudan to die during child birth than to finish primary school, according to UNGEI. This is partly due to the fact that educational facilities are missing, but still young girls are less likely to finish school than boys. According to a UNICEF article in 2005, approximately 500 females, in a population of 7 million, finished primary school. One reason is that poor families are likely to arrange the marriage of their daughters in exchange for a dowry which is collected on the day of the wedding. Once women are married it is unlikely that their husbands will allow them to attend school. It is often believed that women should stay at home and tend to the family with no other obligations. Instead of receiving education, it is likely that the married girls will become pregnant. One fifth of all adolescent girls had a child in 2005, according to UNICEF. It is also, by some, looked upon as inappropriate when girls receive education from male teachers.

NOT ONLY VIOLENCE. The UN is playing a great role regarding gender based violence, which will be increased with the development of UN Women. Hopefully the focus will expand from gender based violence, to gender based equality. The presence of the UN in South Sudan is of vital importance and will continue to be essential in improving the quality of life and security of the people. By looking closely at the statistics, it is obvious that Sudan’s women are in a different position than their male counterparts. The UNFPA country office in South Sudan reports that literacy rates in South Sudan are at a mere 24%. If women are examined alone the literacy rate is just 12%. If the women of Sudan are to have a stronger position in their country, these differences must be dealt with.

PROPERTY RIGHTS. For many women in African countries small-scale farming is the only means of survival. Still, women are not guaranteed land in the event of death or divorce. This represents a great risk in countries similar to Sudan where mortality rates are high. As mentioned in the State of the World report for 2011 by the Worldwatch Institute, helping women and families to produce more agricultural goods so that they are capable of selling some of their products is a good way to improve their living standards. This will make families able to invest in their own production. However, this should not and cannot be the only focus when considering farming in developing countries. A press for enhanced property rights for women is also needed. In addition, it is necessary to open new doors for women in other professions. Women in Senegal have been successfully accepted and integrated into the military, and there is hope that more women will be integrated in the future. How women can attain such a status in Sudan and other African countries remains a question to be answered. Certain cultural beliefs make changes more difficult, for example, comparing women to people who can not be the protector but who need to be protected.

START NOW. The illiteracy rate is so high for women that we need to start with the education of young girls. UNICEF works to promote the enrollment of girls in schools. They have also promoted the Girls Education Movement (GEM) in Sudan, which promotes education through mentors and peers, and reinforces the empowerment of women in Southern Sudan. This is an important step in helping creating a more stable, economically viable and gender equal society.

However, an understanding of the importance of education also requires educating males. Men need to understand the importance of educating women. They must be able to see what potential lies in creating a more diverse work force. Putting women in government positions and positions that require education will take time, but the time to start acting in now.

Did you know?

While, according to the Human Development Index, the two countries rank closely on overall human development (at 154 and 144 respectively):

Disparities in gender and education ranking: Senegal at 137 while Sudan at 162
Disparities in gender and labor ranking: Senegal at 108 and Sudan at 158
In Sudan only 21% of women hold seats in government, while Senegal has increasingly made great progress through its program to better integrate women in the summer of 2010

Dealing with Domestic Violence in Angola: Facts and reasons

2011-03-15T13:58:00.002+01:00

UN Photo/Martine Perret

Mauro Santos, UNRIC Brussels

The United Nations define violence against women as any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm, or the suffering of women, including threats, acts of coercion or arbitrary depravation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. These violent acts can take many forms and can be performed by anyone (teachers, intimate partners, employers, family members, among others).

There are many important factors that contribute to the increase and continuity of this kind of violence such as the drawback that many women face in various societies when trying to access the educational system, the forced economic dependency, and the several religious and social repressions. It is indeed a major problem in many societies and a clear violation of human rights. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 5.000 women are murdered worldwide every year by their own family members in the name of honor.

In Angola, according to the US Department of State there are 350 domestic NGOs operating in the country, 100 of which are related to human rights issues and more than 100 international NGOs also operate there. The government has never refused visas or restricted the access for international NGO observers.

Under the Angolan law and constitution women enjoy the same rights and obligations as men, but still the economic scene the country is involved in leads towards the discrimination of women. The law also provides equal salaries for equal work, although in general they hold the low-level positions of the labor market and many of them are forced to rely on the informal market.

Domestic violence against women is common in Angola and in many cases remains unpunished, and part of that is the result of the limited resources that are allocated for these matters, the lack of forensic capabilities, the judicial system and also, in part, the passiveness of society itself. In this sense, there are direct effects that this kind of crime inflicts upon the victim, such as physical and mental health, risky behavior, in addiction to the social and economic costs entailed. These crimes are reflected in all of society and represent a real problem in many social, cultural and economic aspects.

In 2007, a study about domestic violence indicated that 78 % of women were victims of some form of violence. In the following 12 months 27 % of women reported abuses in Luanda, while during the same period 62 % of them reported abuse in the outskirts of town (poorest area). In that period police recorded a total of 831 crimes. Most of these crimes are being perpetrated by the husbands or boyfriends who try to take advantage of women. Until recently, domestic violence was not illegal in Angola so on the rare occasions that it had reached court, the case was usually prosecuted under rape, assault or battery laws.

A little story told by a young housekeeper on the Diário de África blog: “This morning, she had pictures taken of her back, arms and legs; they are covered with black and purple bruises resulting from the drubbing received from her ex-husband. Armed with a stick, Amâncio eased his frustrations on Nely”(www.globalvoicesonline.org). This story goes on because during the fight he cut himself and went to the police to present charges against Nely. She also presented charges towards Amâncio but in the end he was released, and Nely will have to live with all the physical and emotional traumas such violence generates. In many cases the result is death for one of the parties involved in the case, in other cases women kill their partner in order to survive or to escape these violent acts.

But not all is bad news. Although a study indicates that there were more known cases of domestic violence in 2008 than in 2007, this can for some be seen as a positive result. It means that people are starting to be aware of their rights and it is a step closer towards the end of domestic violence; women are now fighting against this violence.

There are cases in which the end is almost a “happy ending”, where the abuser is punished by the legal system for its crimes, and ends in jail serving the sentence.

According to UNDP, the rapid growth in the economy has also led to the investment in social services that have increased substantially the living conditions of many Angolans. Angola is one of the countries that is showing both will and capability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Angola is achieving one of the targets of the MDG’s, namely the increasing participation of women in the Parliament and Government. Moreover, the gender parity in schools has almost been reached.

Also notably remarkable was the approval of the Domestic Violence Act by the Parliament in December 2010, securing the protection of women against such acts, making any form of domestic violence illegal. At a national level this was a great effort taken by the government through the inter-ministerial work spearheaded by MINFAMU, consisting of many informative campaigns and workshops.

We can conclude that there is will and that many steps have been taken, in order to change the way people and government face the violence against women in Angola. It’s a country that is still willing to evolve not only as an economic power but also as a social developed country. Many aspects of this society are changing for the achievement of a better one.

ALGERIA: WOMEN RIGHTS LEFT FOR DEAD?

2011-03-15T13:57:00.002+01:00

UN Photo/Martine Perret

Marion Ouldboukhitine, UNRIC Brussels

For many years, more and more women driven by poverty have been flocking to Hassi Messaoud from all Algeria to find a job in multinationals as cooks, cleaning ladies or secretaries, hoping to be able to support their family.

Hassi Massaoud, an oil-producing city in south Algeria and one of the wealthiest cities of the country, was the stage of criminal attacks in 2010.

During the night of 11^th April 2010, many of these migrant workers suffered brutal attacks by men armed with knives, iron bars and sabers, who invaded a neighborhood in which many of these women lived.

Despite the cries for help, nobody came to save them, and they even said the police was unwilling to protect them against such violence. Many conservatives have even accused women of Hassi Messaoud of working as prostitutes. And even if they were, this is not an excuse to attack them. Raping, killing and burning innocent women are crimes prohibited by the Koran and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In that matter, the first judgement given by the Court in 2004 was so astounding that the prosecutor himself appealed against it.

Unfortunately, this tragedy takes us back to another similar event which took place on 13^th July 2001 when a thousand women were raped, lynched, tortured, burnt and even buried alive to respond to the call of a local fundamentalist Imam, who had spurred the faithful men to “chase the female fornicators out of the area” and begin the “Jihad against the Evil”. It would seem that for these fundamentalists, leaving one’s hometown, migrating, being single or working in multinationals to support one’s family was unacceptable to the extent of justifying extreme violence from torturers without scruples. Since 2010, similar facts have been reported, explaining why 15 Algerian human rights associations raised the alarm. They were indignant about the barbarism working women have suffered.

It is important to mention that Algerian women’s way of life is in accordance with the Algerian Family Code, a set of laws adopted in 1984 which establishes strict rules that force women to be under the tutelage of their father or husband. They must always obey their husband who has the permission to repudiate his wife whenever he wants to. Moreover, some articles of the Algerian Family Code do not comply with the article 29 of the Algerian Constitution.

Nadia Kaci, a famous Algerian actress, in collaboration with the daily El Watan, wrote a book denouncing the inertia of the Algerian authorities as well as the rising violence against women in the whole country. She has been trying to inform citizens about the story of these fearful, traumatized but hateful women.

Through her book “Laissées pour mortes” (“Left for dead”). Nadia Kaci has been struggling alongside the local NGO’s to inform people about those crimes and help these women to restore their honor. She tells us the story of Rahmouna and Fatima, the only two victims who still fight for being considered as victims of Islamic terrorism. The objective is clear: everybody should talk about this disturbing situation to show men that they do not have the right to decide about the life or death of any women regardless of the reason.

'Shocked by the violence the working women have suffered and by the inertia of the forces of law and order, who did not protect the victims, we have decided to express to them our total solidarity,'

Cherifa Bouatta

Member of the Association for the Defense and Rights of Women (ADPDF).

Many NGO’s are fighting for Algerian women to safeguard and guarantee their rights. Every day, they need to struggle against this ever-present hatred towards women in the Algerian society. The Government refuses to face up to its responsibilities with respect to the security of their citizens leaving to the local NGO’s the responsibility to defend these women.

“The development of the situation and the women’s demands will determine for us what future actions to take; our current role is to continue to solicit the institutions so that they will assure their mission, which is to guarantee the security of persons and property as per the Constitution. The struggle is long: the events of 2001 proved it — one must not give up publicly decrying against the crimes and demanding justice; whereas material or financial aid is only secondary to the recognition of their status as victims…”

Dalila Iamarene Djerbal,

Réseau Wassila

(Group of associations and professionals that have been fighting violence against women and children for ten years in Algeria)

Algerian voices say

No to Violence Against Women

MIGRATING WOMEN: An anonymous group

2011-03-15T13:56:00.000+01:00

UN Photo/UNHCR/A. Duclos

Mary-Sanyu Osire, International Organization for Migration

With “Madam,” Amiina calls out to the Caucasian lady who has just walked through the gate. Amiina’s right hand disappears into her guntiino (the traditional dress that Somali women wear) and it hastily resurfaces with a piece of paper in firm grip. With great stealth, she scoots the bewildered visitor into a corner and starts to bombard her with requests.

“We need a visa; we fear for our lives; these are my children,” she turns round, but there is no one by her side. She swings her head to the right-hand side of the compound and throws a glaring look at the five children who are hurdled in a far corner. One glance is all it takes. They scuttle to her side.

She animates her voice, raising it and lowering it, each time to emphasize different parts of her story. Amiina’s voice fades off as I walk further away.

IN TRANSIT. I am in a transit centre in Nairobi, Kenya. A place built to accommodate refugees as they await possible transfer to countries that are willing to accept them. With an approximate number of 440,000 refugees, Kenya hosts the fifth largest number of refugees in the world.

According to the latest World Migration report, there were an estimated 214 million international migrants in the world in 2010, a figure that represents an increase of almost 40 million in comparison with the first decade of the 21^st century, and more than twice as many international migrants as in 1980.

Amiina, and other female migrants like herself, introduce the aspect of gender considerations into discussions about migration. It may be different reasons why women and men move, the process of migration itself can be different, and men and women will encounter different social, political and economic environments in their countries of destination.

NEGLECTED IN STUDIES. In Africa, female migrants like Amiina are said to comprise 46 per cent of all migration, and according to the International Organization for Migration, this figure is set to increase. Yet women are generally neglected in migration studies; they are mostly seen as the people who are left behind, and are in some cases viewed as mere additions to male migration.

Although research in the field of migration and its gender dimension is advancing, very little is known about what determines female migration. The new migration pressures for women and girls and the specific migration routes that they prefer to use. To this day patterns of female migration remain scantily researched and inadequately understood.

With specific regards to female labor migrants, Gloria Moreno Fontes, a migration specialist with ILO Migration Branch, notes:

“Besides being subject to sometimes very harsh working and living conditions, migrant female workers are in some instances prohibited from marrying local citizens. They also risk losing their jobs if they are pregnant, and are subject to pregnancy tests every six months. It is not only their status as women and non-nationals that put migrating women in a vulnerable situation, but also the type of work they engage in. They find themselves incorporated into an already disadvantageous labor market towards women, and these disadvantages intensify in the case of migrant women, especially for those who do not have legal travel documents.”

ACTION TAKEN. Around the world, the question of gender is taking a position of prominence in many fora, and Africa is not being left behind. In February 2009, the African Union (AU) adopted the AU Gender Policy. Prior to this, the AU had adopted several other important gender-related documents, including Article 4(1) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. These policies are aimed at accelerating MDG 3 which highlights Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

Humanitarian actors in Africa are also active participants in the gender debate.. The United Nations system in Kenya recently embarked on a joint gender mainstreaming program. Signed into force towards the end of 2010 by 14 of the 17 UN entities resident in Kenya, ‘The UN Joint Program on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment’ is aimed at mapping and promoting enhanced coordination of the UN systems’ support to national priorities in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment in Kenya.

SHAPING THE FUTURE. Female migrants like Amiina can no longer be ignored or clustered into one homogenous group with men because their needs are very distinct from the needs of men. Policy makers and various stakeholders ought to be mindful of these dynamics as they shape migrant laws, and as they work towards capitalizing on the benefits that come from the migration of women.

Employing Technology to Empower Women: Improving Access to Maternal Health Care

2011-03-15T13:55:00.001+01:00

UN Photo/John Isaac

Jenna Gustafson, UNIC Washington DC

As an intern at the United Nations Information Centre in Washington DC, I am sent to cover a variety of events around the city on a regular basis. During these discussions held at think tanks, law schools, UN offices, and non-profit organizations, I hear a common sentiment echoed among panelists: technology is on the vanguard of women’s empowerment in developing countries. Speakers addressing a variety of topics, from long-term recovery efforts in Haiti to Internet and freedom of expression, have contributed to the premise that in developing countries especially, technology is a mechanism for women’s well-being and socio-economic advancement. One of the most important areas for improvement is access to maternal health care. Improving mothers’ access to much-needed, skilled reproductive health care is within the reach of technology.

Access to maternal and reproductive health care is part of Millennium Development Goal 5. MDG 5 is comprised of a two-fold objective for women’s health: 1) to reduce maternal mortality by one-third, and 2) to attain universal access to reproductive health care by the year 2015.

According to The 2009 Millennium Development Goals Report, statistics show that per 100,000 live births in developed countries, there are nine maternal deaths. In contrast, statistics from developing countries show 450 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Additionally, 85 percent of all maternal mortality occurs in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Facts and statistics provided by the non-governmental organisation Women Deliver, a major collaborative partner of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), indicate that “Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death and disability for young women” in the developing world. The 2010 Millennium Development Goals Report highlights a staggering statistic: over one third of maternal mortality is caused by postpartum hemorrhaging, a condition that can be treated or prevented. Preventing maternal mortality and morbidity is essential for the social and economic well-being of families, communities, and countries. According to Women Deliver, the work that women are not compensated for, labor in both the home and in the fields, equals approximately 1/3 of global GDP. This evidence demonstrates the magnitude of the socioeconomic contribution that women make to the world.

Mobile technology is fast becoming a way to supply mothers in developing countries with much-needed medical treatments. Jill Sheffield, Founder and President of Women Deliver, explained that one way technology serves to remedy postpartum hemorrhaging is through administering oxytocin via a device called the “BD Uniject ®”. This device can help to facilitate treatment. The Uniject®" is an intramuscular, pre-filled injection device that features a retracting needle to reduce risk of exposure for health-care workers and others while ensuring correct dosage requirements. Another treatment option for postpartum hemorrhaging is misoprostol, which is administered in pill form to produce blood coagulation within thirty minutes. Both medications can be found on the World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines. Proper use of these treatments could contribute to reducing maternal mortality rates in developing countries.

The United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation have joined together in a public-private technology partnership, mhealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World. The joint partnership has produced projects in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Mobile technology has the capacity to transmit knowledge and awareness of health risks and prevention. Mobile technology can also facilitate real time data collection in addition to remote patient monitoring, diagnostic, and treatment support. Part of the technological impact on health and well-being in developing countries will likely also stem from open source software (computer software without expensive licenses, usually developed publicly) a cost-effective, efficient way to localize community development for sustainable innovation, independent of external consultants.

In Haiti, other types of technology are reportedly being used as a way for women to protect themselves. The UN Foundation is collaborating with UNFPA on initiatives for women’s health and safety in Haiti using technology. Solar lighting has been placed in tent camps as a method for increasing women’s safety. Women requested that LED lighting systems be set up near locations such as healthcare clinics and latrines, areas where women are particularly vulnerable to protection concerns such as gender-based violence.

Mobile technology is on the forefront of change. With greater availability of technological solutions, there appears to be more possibilities for improved maternal health care in developing countries. Already, innovative reproductive care and remedies directed at vulnerable women are beginning to surface in the quest to save the lives of women around the world. Perhaps innovative use of technology will generate a wider range of more accurate and reliable data collected in global research. Better data is necessary to expand the reach and response of health care for women in even the most remote regions. The role of technology continues to unfold in the pursuit to empower women across the world.

Sex trafficking – are states responsible for violating core human rights of women and girls?

2011-03-15T13:54:00.004+01:00

UNICEF

Miriam Aced, UNRWA

Trafficking in human beings (THB), an age-old crime, has received increased media attention in the last decade. THB violates a host of core human rights and it is also one of the most severe forms of violence against women - especially sex trafficking. Trafficking to work in the agriculture and horticulture sectors, construction, textile, hospitality, catering and mining sectors as well as domestic service sectors also occurs and is no less serious than trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation. However, sex trafficking is of particular importance because women and girls are disproportionately affected by it. This article will focus on the paradox between how the international community says this crime should be dealt with in theory and how it is dealt with in practice.

Because the nature of human trafficking often involves the crossing of state borders and heinous physical and mental violations, protection of trafficking victims invokes international law instead of domestic law. Oddly enough, an internationally recognized common definition of THB did not exist until the coming into force of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. This Convention is important because it brought about a uniform idea of what trafficking is in order to combat it, to share information regarding this crime and in order to recognize and protect victims. Another important outcome of the Convention is the clear distinction between human trafficking and human smuggling - two crimes previously used interchangeably. Trafficking and smuggling take place for different reasons, under different conditions and have different legal consequences. Lansink writes, “Trafficking is done for the purpose of exploiting the labour or services of the trafficked person, whereas in the case of smuggling migrants, the relationship between the smuggler and the smuggled person comes to an end after the illegal entry into the state.” In other words, trafficking is a crime violating an individual’s rights and smuggling is a crime violating the state.

The Convention considers a situation to amount to trafficking if the following three elements exist: (1) recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons; (2) threat, use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, deception, the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person; (3) for the purpose of exploitation.

One of the reasons why a uniform definition of trafficking did not come into place until recently is because states had differing views on prostitution (whether it should be regulated or deregulated and whether prostitution itself is a human rights violation against women). Those that advocated the making illegal of prostitution lobbied for a trafficking definition that said that all prostitution is a form of trafficking. As the definition stands now, states are free to handle prostitution as they wish. The definition of trafficking is broad and covers a multitude of situations in which an act can be considered trafficking, even when someone is willingly transferred only to find out later in the trafficking process that they have been coerced, much like the situation many women face. For example, it is common practice to give young women false hope of moving abroad to work as waitresses with good pay, only to confiscate travel documentation upon entry into the country of destination and force them into sex slavery.

A host of other human rights instruments specifically mention human trafficking. For example, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture include trafficking-related provisions which can protect trafficking victims.

The international community has explicitly recognized that trafficking violates many and some of the most important human rights guaranteed to every human being. Countries have done their duty by signing and ratifying a host of international and bilateral treaties related to trafficking. However, when it comes down to the implementation of provisions found in these treaties, states are not willing to pledge cooperation and assistance in a meaningful way. Instead of focusing on the women who have fallen victim to traffickers, some who lived through the most unimaginable of situations, when state authorities identify victims, in most cases they have no more than one month to decide whether they want to cooperate with criminal investigations against their trafficker or not. If not, deportation is the solution. By focusing on the criminalization of the traffickers instead of on the well-being of the victims, states act in complete contradiction to the promises they made when signing the dotted line of instruments such as those previously mentioned. In addition, this procedure makes little sense practically.

As stated in the international trafficking definition, deception and coercion are common traits of a trafficking situation. Thus, often victims have limited information about their trafficking situation and their trafficker which could be helpful for a prosecution. This is especially the case if a victim was trafficked by an organized crime group. In the case that a woman does decide to cooperate with state authorities, she fears and is at risk of reprisals against herself and her family in the country of origin; she is traumatized from the trafficking itself and could have very little trust in police officials due to possible negative experiences with corruption in the country of origin; she is traumatized from the trafficking itself and could have very little trust in police officials due to possible negative experiences with corruption in the country of origin. Nonetheless, controlling who enters one’s state and who stays is, as Chetail and Aleinikoff (2003) stated, “…one of the last bastions of the truly sovereign state’ and states’ reasons for linking protection to criminal cooperation are far from invalid.

It is easier for states to deal with non-state actors, i.e., holding traffickers criminally liable as opposed to dealing with other governments. Another explanation could be that states see trafficking as a security problem and thus, desire to inhibit the continuing cycles of trafficking. States may want to retain the ultimate jurisdiction over how to deal with what is essentially an in-state question. Or, states do not want to encourage people to enter into trafficking situations with the knowledge that they will be protected under international law if discovered.

These justifications for dealing with trafficking as a criminal matter make sense; however, they do not remove the weighty justification for also treating victims of trafficking as individuals deserving protection, regardless of their cooperation with the authorities. Major human rights norms that states allegedly pledged themselves to be concerned with are being violated. States and governments do not know whether to tackle the trafficking problem from a human rights approach or a criminal approach and thus leave its victims out in the cold. A better human rights – state security balance is needed.

States may be weary to pledge cooperation and assistance in a meaningful way, but they should be more scared of the spread of human trafficking, which is something that experience has shown they cannot handle on their own – as the problem still persists. By retaining so much sovereignty, they only make it easier for traffickers to forum shop.

Growing Equality: Women’s Empowerment through Small-Scale Agriculture

2011-03-15T13:53:00.000+01:00

UN Photo/Martine Perret

Sara Draper-Zivetz, World Food Program, USA

What is empowerment? Suggested in the term is a fundamental shift in the status quo, in which a person or group typically oppressed by social, political or economic forces experiences a change in circumstance and is able to more significantly determine its own destiny. It is a word that has been historically used in the struggle of individuals and communities, groups and societies, to redefine their status in society at large.
Women’s empowerment is a notion that refers to historical and contemporary struggles for gender equality and crosses all geographic, economic and political boundaries. As an inherently positive term, empowerment points to successes in these struggles and the ability of women to gain traction in achieving the broader goal of equality.

For women, social, political, and economic empowerment has historically come in the form of dramatic steps such as enfranchisement, labor laws and human rights declarations, among others. Currently, while major shifts in the global gender dynamic continue to take place, more subtle transformations are contributing to women’s empowerment.

One such shift can be found in agriculture, a female-dominated sector in much of the developing world. Traditional gender roles have prescribed a division between labor and profit in this field, where women, who account for a large portion of agriculture laborers, account for less than one percent of landowners. Consequentially, women have practically no access to the revenue from the sale of the crops they raise, which perpetuates the traditional male-as-breadwinner and therefore male-as-head-of-household dynamic. In addition, women do not have ownership or access to the food produced on the land, limiting their ability to fulfill their role as food providers for their families.

Empowerment in this sector has been achieved in various ways, including through improved property and landowner rights and laws, basic minimum wages for farm workers in some countries, and increased skill training for women. Another form of empowerment for women in this sector can be found in the expansion and greater support for small-scale, community, and backyard agriculture.

For many, community and backyard gardens appear to be simply a venue for recreation and hobby gardening. In reality, a family of six can be fed for a year from a piece of land as small as the size of four standard doors. Small-scale agriculture is highly productive, and an excellent means of addressing community food insecurity. In bypassing the traditional large-scale agrarian system, communities investing in small-scale agriculture are less dependent on weather systems, market volatility, infrastructure and political dynamics to access food.
Furthermore, as a result of size and location, small-scale agriculture circumvents traditional landowner and worker systems; too small to be deemed a profitable investment and often within the confines of a family’s homestead or immediate community, small-scale agriculture is an ideal means for women to gain access to food and thus a source of income. Women engaging in small-scale, ‘backyard’ agriculture can raise crops outside the influence of a typically male-dominated system, and can grow food for themselves, their families, and in some cases, sell as a supplemental source of income. This is a profoundly empowering activity, which contributes to a shift in marital and societal-based gender dynamics, and is helping to redefine traditional gender roles.
In an age of innovation, where dramatic improvements are being made in the productivity, nutritional value and dependability of crops, there has also been a global recognition of the valuable role of small-scale agriculture in developing a more reliable and thriving food system. A gendered understanding of the importance of small scale-agriculture will contribute ultimately to a system that is not only more reliable, but more just; changing the way the world grows food can be a key means to advance the status of women and therefore, advance society.

A history of violence: The evolution of gendered crimes in international law

2011-03-15T13:52:00.000+01:00

UN Photo/Louise Gubb

Leoni Ayoub, UNRIC Brussels

“For most of history,Anonymous was woman”

Virginia Woolf

The evolution and effect of emerging theories of gendered crimes within the international legal system is a particularly remarkable subject. Within a matter of 50 years or so, we have seen a dramatic change and great progress through the recognition of women’s rights but also the emergence of gendered crimes such as rape, forced prostitution, sexual slavery and others, as crimes prohibited during times of war. However, this change of approach towards gendered crimes followed a longstanding silence and invisibility of women within international law: prior to the early 1990s, theories surrounding the ‘feminine’ perceptions of war crimes and sexual violence were almost nonexistent. Despite the strong feministic movements that eventually granted women ‘equality’ in the eyes of human rights law, there was little to be told within the ambit of the laws of war. Therefore, the underlying question is: what kept these silences imminent for so many years? When considering that women represent about half the world’s population, why were they not given more protection?

Some would immediately jump to a conclusion that sexual crimes are the “spoils of war”, that “boys will be boys” and since war is immediately associated with the masculine, rape and sexual crimes can only be considered as an inevitability of war. Alongside the atrocities that took place during the Holocaust in World War II we saw violence against women of any ethnicity, race or peoples. Likewise, the Japanese Imperial Army used “comfort women” to the grotesque realization of providing encouragement to the Japanese soldiers while on the field. The “abductions” of women during the Indo-Pakistani war, the violent acts against women during the conflict in East Timor, these are only few examples of the poorly documented history of violence against women.

One of the first war-regulating international documents is the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons during Times of War that granted women some protection through Article 27 requiring that ‘Women will be especially protected against any attack on their honor…”.

What must be noted is that the Geneva Conventions drew up a list of international crimes that are carried out during times of war, and gave that list a form of hierarchy. Needless to say, the crime of ‘rape’ or any form of sexual violence was not added to that list. This is further reflected in a number of subsequent international documents where the international legal system avoided elevating the status of women during times of armed conflict.

What is more troubling than the legal hierarchy, figures and events are the perceptions and the theories underlying the approach of international law, that is, its inability to view violence against women from the eyes of women themselves. What was most disturbing, for example, is the use of the word ‘honor’ in the text of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The use of the word immediately places rape as a crime against the dignity and pride of a woman, rather than a crime of violence. What was ultimately wrong with this definition is the very fact that rape is not a matter of dignity but a bodily abuse, a torture, a treatment of violation of psychological and bodily integrity. Taking this a step further, such a provision oversees not the protection of the woman herself, but a protection from shame of men in the community.

In 1993, the world saw the first substantive change in the approach of women in armed conflict during the Vienna Human Rights Conference when the topic ‘Violence against Women’ received unprecedented attention. The resulting Declaration not only recognized gender-based violence but also called for national and international cooperation in pursuing the adequate legal measures, indicating some improvement in the area. More impressive however, was that with the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), we saw rape enter the grand ‘pantheon’ of international laws of war. Both their legal instruments were the first to enlist ‘rape’ within the ambit of ‘crimes against humanity’ – one of the gravest forms of crime. With the emergence of these legal instruments, we also impressively saw the Courts themselves taking groundbreaking decisions. The ICTR for example, ruled that rape can be recognized as an instrument of genocide and the ICTY saw rape and enslavement as crimes essentially constituting sexual slavery. The greatest milestone of all, however, was the Rome Statute 1998 that established the International Criminal Court and has placed ‘rape and sexual violence’ both as a crime against humanity and a war crime.

Over the decades, we have seen great development on the perception of rape and other forms of sexual violence during times of armed conflict. Most importantly, we saw the riddance of the ‘honor’ baggage that was given to such crimes, which are now considered as crimes of violence and not of pride or dignity. There has been a shift of trying to protect the men of a community to the protection of the community as a whole, and this has made a significant impact on how these crimes are viewed in the international legal system. Of course, many Feminists continue to argue that despite these changes, the continuing secondary nature of the crimes does not give them the eminence they need in international law as they remain secondary in the humanitarian priorities of the international legal system. Nonetheless, this shift in the human reality that grants greater protection to women during times of war remains a promising step forward that may eventuate in even stronger protection of women in the years to come.

Violence Against Women: Human Trafficking and Prostitution

2011-03-15T13:51:00.000+01:00

UN PhotoJohn Isaac

Fiona Lau, OHCHR Brussels

I was on the train back home from Antwerp when it went past the red light district behind the major train station of Brussels North. As an Australian intern in Brussels, I was frankly quite surprised – I only knew of the notorious red light district in Amsterdam (as most tourists like myself were aware of)! There were women scantily clad in lingerie moving around provocatively in shop windows that had a red light flashing in the corner, while numerous seedy-looking men would walk up and down the street, occasionally staring into the windows. It was only lunchtime. I felt confronted by such a sight. How and why can prostitution be legal in broad daylight? How is it that the demeaning trade of prostitution can still be legal in many parts of the world, with the knowledge that many women are forced into this profession involuntarily, and that this is one of the major trades fuelling human trafficking?
Prostitution is the act of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment, usually in the form of money. It is also known as the oldest profession in the world. Prostitution can take up several forms – from prostitution in brothels to being an escort, a street prostitute and prostitution in the form of sex tourism where the main aim of travelling to another country (usually a developing country), is to engage in sexual activity.

Every country has one way or another to regulate this trade, and questions of ethics, morality, freedom of choice, exploitation and gender role all come into consideration. In some countries, it is a legal activity (such as Australia and Belgium), while in others it is punishable by death (such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan).

According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the major sources of trafficked persons used for prostitution include Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer or receipt of persons by use of threat or force to achieve the consent of a person controlling another person for the purpose of exploitation. As documented by the UNODC’s report, it is clear that there is a correlation between the wealth of the countries where the sources of trafficked persons come from – that is, it is usually women of poor countries that are forced or sold into this profession without knowing that they will be exploited as sex slaves. In Europe’s poorest country, Moldova, where half the population is unemployed, human traffickers often prey on the vulnerability of the young women in rural villages by offering them the chance to escape poverty. These traffickers, which are often neighbours, classmates or people from neighbouring villages will then confiscate the passports of these young women and force them to prostitute and service clients, or face physical abuse. There are many shocking anecdotes from trafficked women who have been tricked into this exploitative sex trade against their will. It does not just happen in Moldova, but all around the world. If one has ever steppedfoot into a red light district, you will see that the majority of prostitutes are not locals, but usually immigrants. For example, in Spain, the ethnicity of street prostitutes is usually Africans and the same goes for Copenhagen. Chinese migrants in Europe are also known to have massage parlours to give a ‘happy ending’. Thus, the typical profile of prostitutes is usually women from a poor country who are either forced or tricked into the trade, or are seeking a better future for themselves. With this knowledge in mind, it makes no sense to allow the dangerous trade of prostitution to be legal where many women are abused. We are just effectively saying yes to prostitution and human trafficking instead of curbing this deathly and exploitative trade.

As with all arguments, there is always another side to the coin. Many people believe that criminalizing prostitution will do nothing to stop the trade, and just drive it underground into the hands of illegal criminal gangs. They believe that banning the trade is counterproductive, and so it is better to tolerate it – as harm reduction is better than nothing. Regulation is the key to providing safety and better health conditions for prostitutes.

However, evidence has otherwise shown this to be a misconception. The Netherlands initially legalized prostitution in 2000 to protect women, and the country is well known for its liberal prostitution laws. But this has only made the country a major source for sex tourism, as former Mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen states “we’ve realized this is no longer about small-scale entrepreneurs, but that big crime organizations are involved here in trafficking women, drugs, killings and other criminal activities”. The level of violence has also increased due to the increase in illegal immigrants transported into this trade.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has noted in General Recommendation No. 19 that States parties are required under article 6 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to “take measures to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of the prostitution of women”. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) also highlights the fact that gender-based violations of human rights, especially against women and girls, are one of the causes of human trafficking and a fundamental feature of the trafficking process. As such, women and girls are prone to suffering from gender-specific forms of harm from being trafficked, such as rape, forced marriage, unwanted or forced pregnancy, forced termination of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Meanwhile, unlike many other countries, which concentrate on harm reduction principles, Sweden targets prostitution by helping people out of prostitution or to stop purchasing sex. Sweden’s Sex Purchase Act, which was enacted in 1999, makes it illegal to purchase sexual services but not to sell them. The rationale for penalizing the purchaser but not the seller was enunciated in the 1997 government proposition that “... it is unreasonable to criminalise the one who, at least in most cases, is the weaker party who is exploited by others who want to satisfy their own sexual desires”.

Since criminalizing the purchase of sexual services, street prostitution in Sweden has been halved. This decrease may be considered to have a direct link to the banning of sex purchases. This is especially true when in 2008, the number of street prostitutes in Norway and Denmark was estimated to be three times greater than Sweden. Due to the great similarities in the social and economic facets of these three countries, it is reasonable to presume that a reduction in street prostitution in Sweden is directly due to criminalization. Although it is difficult to assess the precise scale of human trafficking for sexual purposes, in Sweden, the scope of this crime is substantially smaller in size than in its neighbouring countries, Norway and Denmark. The Swedish National Criminal Police believe that the criminalization on the purchase of sexual services acts as a deterrent to human traffickers considering an establishment in Sweden.

With regards to the fear that criminalization would drive prostitution into the underworld, make it more difficult to assist the vulnerable, result in an increased risk of physical abuse, and cause the living conditions of prostitutes to deteriorate, there have been no such reports from police officers and social workers. According to the Swedish police, purchasers are more afraid of being caught and the stigmatization that it carries, should their family and acquaintances become aware of it. According to surveys conducted in Sweden following criminalization, fewer men have purchased sexual services in Sweden than in any other Nordic country. These findings can only be interpreted to the effect that the ban deters prospective purchasers of sexual services.

It is also equally important to note that criminalization can never be more than a supplement to other efforts used in the fight against prostitution. Hence it is necessary to provide a holistic approach to combat prostitution by providing continued social work and support to prevent and diminish prostitution and trafficking in human beings for sexual gratification.

My train ride from Antwerp certainly made me consider the broader issues surrounding prostitution and human trafficking, especially in the context of violence against women. Bearing in mind that most prostitutes are not there by will or consent, one must really consider whether prostitution should be legal. Sweden’s approach to prostitution is commendable in that it recognizes who the true victims are, and penalizes the party that deserves to be punished. The question is, will you support the fight in preventing violence against women?

Muslim women: Democracies against the veil

2011-03-15T13:50:00.007+01:00

UN Photo/Luke Powell

Ana Patricia Carvalho, UNRIC Brussels

“No woman should be forced to wear religious apparel by her community or family. Nobody should be forced to go to any kind of house of prayer. We say no to oppressive doctrines or laws which limit the freedom of individuals.”

Thorbjorn Jagland

Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Since 1948, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights has been calling for “freedom of thought, conscience and religion”. In this sense, men and women are entitled to choose their religion or belief and manifest it “either alone or in a community with others, in public or in private, (…) in teaching, practice, worship and observance”.

In 2010, the French government approved a law banning from public places all religiously associated veils, including the burqa and the niqab, making France the first European country to implement such measures, basing itself on the defense of women’s rights: the veil symbolizes the subordination of women in Muslim societies.

Initially, burqas were banned from schools and public buildings, and eventually, from all public places. This decision was based on three main reasons: 1- for security, 2- that covered faces restrict communication, and 3- to tackle Muslim women’s subjugation. Following France, other European countries such as Spain and Belgium also adopted the rule that prohibits women from wearing their traditional head or face hijab, with or against their will.

Muslim society has different views about what women’s dress code entails and how the body should or should not be covered. Islam’s dress code is based on female modesty and depends on the place, time and social class. They may use a burqa, which covers the face and the body, a veil covering their face or just a headscarf. Different meanings can also be attributed to them as women can use it for religious purposes: as a sign of devotion to their faith or for cultural or political purposes, for instance as a symbol of protest against Westernization.

This issue causes controversy and raises many questions in democratic countries, particularly in the face of Europe’s tradition of secularism. The use of the burqa is creating some tensions between western countries’ values and Muslim populations who go to these countries to seek equal rights and freedom of religion. These countries claim that the veil is a symbol of woman’s subordination and Islamic fundamentalism that does not reflect the freedom and democracy they practice.

Does Europe have the right to ban the wearing of veils from its countries? And how will this decision affect the Muslim population living there?

This ban affects Muslim women’s identity regarding their perceptions of modesty, devotion and respect for their religion. Democracy entails freedom of expression. Legally forcing women not to wear a veil when it is their wish to do so, is perhaps not the best way forward. In a way, forcing them not to wear a burqa almost amounts to forcing them to wear it. The portrayal of this particular clothing as a synonym for Islamic radicalism may lead to the discrimination of the Muslim populations living in the countries that adopt the banning of the veil. It could represent a form of oppression on the basis of a religious practice, giving room to Islamophobia.

Many Muslim women are prevented from making their own choices in many situations and their lives are defined by their community (such as what to wear and which directions to take in life). In this sense, the solution to this problematic is certainly not easy but it should include a prohibition of the coercion of the use of burqas, or any other religious symbols or practices for religious motives. It is imperative not to interfere with someone’s religious practice or belief but rather give women the opportunity to choose what they really want to wear.

This powerful symbol reminds us of the gap between the West and the Muslim community’s system of values which should be based on cultural relativism, leading Europe to being tolerant towards acceptable Islamic practices in their countries. The use of the burqa is seen as outrageous by the West, and even more by western women, but that feeling is not shared by all Muslim women.

Promoting gender equality and empowering women is one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which involves the realization of women’s rights. It needs to be backed up by meaningful laws and their subsequent implementation as well as by services for the protection and prevention of violation of women’s rights. In this sense, European countries’ legislation must be exemplary in protecting the rights of Islamic women, including their rights as free individuals living in the West.

Linking Gender to Environment in European Union Development Policies and Funding Instruments

2011-03-15T13:49:00.000+01:00

UN Photo/x

Julian Kirchher, UNEP Brussels

Within European public opinion as well as the European Union’s (EU) policy agenda, gender and environment have gained momentum: In the latest Eurobarometer, more than two-thirds of European citizens call for additional investments in renewable energies and lower carbon emissions and 59% believe gender mainstreaming must remain a political priority.

Accordingly, the European Commission (EC) integrated sustainable growth as a key target in its overarching EU-2020 strategy. It aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, increasing the share of renewable resources in final energy consumption to 20% and moving towards a 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020. Furthermore, the EC adopted its comprehensive and cross-cutting 2010-2015 Roadmap for Equality between Men and Women in September 2010.

Gender and environment

As many reports of UN Women and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) acknowledge and underscore, both issues are of vital importance for a sustainable regional and global development. However, the European Commission fails to link both issues to create synergies and more effective policies – internally as well as abroad. That is a serious mistake.

In the 1960s and 1970s, social issues such as gender mainstreaming were largely disconnected from environmental policies and programmes within the United Nations. Fortunately, this changed over the years:

Women are one of the United Nations’ nine Major Groups and Stakeholders, as recognized in the Agenda 21 in 1992. Since 1980, UNEP – with the establishment of the Senior Women Advisory Group (SWAG) – integrated gender approaches in its environmental work. In 1991, UNEP organized the Global Assembly on Women and the Environment. Since then, UNEP’s Policy Series on Women and the Environment triggered a lot of interest in the often hidden interlink between gender and the environment.

Additionally, in its current 2010-2013 Medium-Term-Strategy, UNEP recognizes gender as a cross-cutting priority.

Hidden Links

But what is this interlink between gender and the environment? Is a cross-cutting and synergetic approach really necessary? As many of UNEP’s scientists point out, such an approach is indeed inevitable: Particularly in developing countries, women play an essential role in the management of natural resources, including soil, water, forests and energy. Men and women use resources differently, as they take on different roles in society. Effective strategies aiming at poverty alleviation and environmental protection must therefore pay close attention to the impact of disparities between women and men on access to resources and opportunities.

Female-lead households in Africa, for instance, are the poorest and are therefore more inclined to adapt less sustainable land use management practises compared to male-lead households who control more resources. When creating programmes to facilitate sustainable land use, one must take these differences into account and particularly address the situation of women. This has been repeatedly recognised by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and in UNEP’s strategy on land use management and soil conservation.

Furthermore, women as oftentimes the poorest and weakest part of developing societies, are particularly vulnerable to environmental degradation. Therefore, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed gender guidelines for emergency preparedness. These include key questions to be asked in an emergency situation to help ensure that emergency interventions will be sensitive to gender differences. Several other disaster-relief NGOs, including OXFAM, have done similar work.

In the Asia-Pacific region, an increasing number of women are now involved in environmental decision-making. NGOs and, to a lesser extent, governmental environmental agencies have women in middle-level management positions. The Asian Development Bank and UNIFEM have supported these developments. Some environmental NGOs, such as Friends of the Earth International and Both Ends, have also adopted gender policies and action plans, recognizing the importance of a gender approach to their work.

The UNEP Liaison Office to the European Union in Brussels aims at increasing policy dialogue between UNEP and European Union institutions. The current consultations on the EU multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020 offer a promising opportunity to embed the link between gender and the environment in the EU policies and instruments such as the Instrument for Stability (IfS) or the Humanitarian Aid Instrument (HAI). As the European Union remains the largest global donor of development assistance worldwide, the successful integration of such a link would have a huge levering effect and would be a major achievement for the United Nations.

Defining Women

2011-03-15T13:48:00.002+01:00

UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein.

Gautier de Bosredon, UNRIC Brussels

“Men have presumed to create a female domain”

Simone de Beauvoir

A person’s identity is defined according to his or her relationship to others. Historically speaking, women have always been socially considered as the partners of men, or in the words of American philosopher Sarah Conly: “Society, dominated by men, has come to see women not just as a particular kind of thing, but a kind defined by its difference from men”

So how do relationships between men and women influence the problem of violence? And how does the reality in which women live influence their struggle for equal rights? We will get to that. But first, let’s look at the historical background of the feminist movement.

WOMEN IN THE “FREE” WEST. In the 1960s, primarily through the global movement of emancipation of the western societies that touched the young generations, some women started to construct a specific discourse mainly influenced by a new consciousness of women themselves. This consciousness was based on liberal ideas and values such as freedom and independence that emerged in the 18^th century and have been outlined since by several important characters. Among them were Olympe de Gouges, a writer and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience in the 18th century, the French revolutionary anarchist Louise Michel who was part of the events of the Commune de Paris in the 1870s, and the writer Virginia Woolf. After the turn of the century the French philosopher Simone Weil in the 1930s and Simone de Beauvoir after World War II also fought for these ideas.

Later on, on a more structural aspect, the 1960’s atmosphere was also influenced by the struggle against the western systems and values in what is called the Third World. This also revealed an increasing will of finding and asserting another path than the European/North American model of a consumer society and its consideration towards women, development, education, etc.

The typical Western-European model relied on the ideas, inherited from the French Revolution, of freedom, equality and fraternity. Over the years, those ideas led to great achievements for humanity, such as the banishment of slavery (1848 in France) and torture (Geneva Convention, 1949). This progress occurred over a long period of time before eventually being shared equally in the world without racial and/or sexual discrimination. In France, for example, women only got the right to vote in 1945.

Many facts and ideas have “allowed” the emergence of the feminist movement. One of these is the “masculine domination” that was exposed by Pierre Bourdieu in his book, The masculine domination (1991), but also in some of his articles in the 1980s.

MASCULINE DOMINATION. Though the feminist discourse has been influenced by several periods and ideas, the 1960’s are usually defined as the second wave of assertion of the feminist movement. The first wave can be seen in the construction of several values which have influenced the struggle, for example, the identification of the masculine domination as the main cause of sexual segregation.

Radical feminism is one of the many forms of feminism that emerged in the 1960’s. It denounces patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a compound of relationships based on the assumption that "male supremacy" oppresses women.

STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE. That considered, how should we characterize such ‘male supremacy’? Does any violence necessarily reflect ‘physical’ aspects? Research shows that the violence can be expressed in the structure of the society and in the relationships between individuals. For example, one can claim that the Indian lower castes are a subject of structural violence in their society. Thus, in the 1990’s, Pierre Bourdieu introduced the concept of symbolic violence, which he describes as ‘the tacit almost unconscious modes of cultural/social domination occurring within the every-day social habits maintained over conscious subjects’.

Feminists based their struggle on the social position of women. To stop the scourge (the unfortunate social position of women) from spreading, ‘activists’ fought against all types of violence that women can face every day. The struggle is twofold; women must fight against a violent outcome in individual situations, and also against the societal causes that make violence happen in the first place.

The difference between women and men, more than being ‘biologically printed’ in our genes is also socially constructed. Indeed, you just have to take a toy-shop magazine just before Christmas and you’ll see that boys are expected to become a “Do it yourselfer”, while young ladies are expected to learn how to iron and clean. That can seem pointless but, for the feminist activists (from the Black women in the 1960s in the United States, to the “Ni pûtes, ni soumises” association in France today), that differential socialization defined as the process of inheriting norms, customs and ideology, is the main cause, wherever it may take place, of sexual segregations and violence.

THE POWER OF THEORY. The theoretical background of feminism is hard to grasp as it has been constructed over the years but one of their main ideas is the interpretation of the social reality.

A theoretical examination is useful if we want to understand the background of the feminist fight to see the female status recognized. The fact that some people have tried to deconstruct the social interactions and see in them the foundations of sexual discrimination is extremely powerful for the ‘feminist struggle’. Indeed, from the young women who are victims of rape or sexual mutilations to the sexual domination of males in their recognition of the attributes of femininity or virility, the social construction can be identified through the new lens of the ‘gender aspect’.

As a result, many concepts that are supposed to demonstrate something universal are biased. Historically, the terms ‘Sex’, ‘Women’ and ‘Men’ can indeed be defined as a system of knowledge, discourse and power.

Organizations such as the United Nations Development Fund for Women, or since 2011 - UN WOMEN, have for years fought to see the status of women recognized as equal to that of men.

The feminist struggle has been influenced by the theoretical reflections of the construction of social reality. That reflection has been influenced by the moral values we have fought for before: the political rights for every citizen living on earth, as noted in the second article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 (otherwise the last sentence of the article doesn’t make sense) : Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.’

A Life Free of Violence against Women and Girls: Engaging men and boys

2011-03-15T13:47:00.004+01:00

UN WOMEN

Marine Smeets, UN WOMEN Brussels

“(...) Just as the black movement cannot be left solely to black people, women’s struggle cannot be left solely to women.”

Boaventura de Souza Santos (2002

Violence against women has traditionally been apprehended as a women’s issue. However, linked to gender-based inequality, violence against women is something that is learnt and which can be fought with a different approach. Therefore, as a gender issue, men and boys are unavoidably involved. More recent initiatives have emerged regarding the need to engage men and boys as perpetrators and agents of change in preventing violence. Their participation has been encouraged in several places, for example at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, where violence against women was recognized as a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women.

SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED. From a bottom-up approach, working with men and boys, both as agents of change, is essential as it enables us to tackle the structural underpinnings of continued violence against women. It is crucial to acknowledge the fact that gender norms and the way men define themselves are socially constructed and therefore can change. Stereotypical thinking and oppressive behavior are social and cultural factors that contribute to the use of violence. Since this violence is rooted in widely-accepted gender-norms, effective means must engage men, in order to address the underlying discriminatory social norms that legitimize male power, control and use of violence. Therefore, engaging men and boys should be considered as a socialization process that should already start with newborn babies.

INFLUENTIAL ALLIES. Men represent untapped and potentially influential allies in the struggle to end violence within their family, communities and decision-making process. The majority of powerful and influential positions in law, politics, finance, justice, security sector, business and media are in the hands of men. They can be effective in helping to make a change towards more egalitarian practices.

There can be difficulties of change in gender arrangements for men and boys due to socialized expectations, conceptions of masculinity, which makes it difficult for men to accept equality or even fear of social stigma or loss of dignity if men depend on women’s earnings. In spite of all this, there are many reasons for men to act in support of equality since this can be valuable for men and boys as well as women and girls. For that matter, Puspa Dhakal from Nepal said: “Gender equality would do wonders for our society. Simply [women] being able to receive an education, status, property ownership and leadership will help reduce and eventually eliminate the grave conditions that exist. Both men and women will benefit from gender equality and advancement of women. Educated, advanced and working women will add to a family's income, productivity, increasing nations' monetary and professional value, help reduce poverty, and eliminate those social taboos and caste based discriminations.”

Through awareness activities and education, men and boys can develop respectful and egalitarian attitudes towards women. Of course, it is crucial that men work hand in hand with civil society, in particular women’s organizations, in the efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women.

PREVENTION. Focusing on prevention is a key area to achieve violence-free future generations. Although work on prevention has suffered from decades of political neglect and underfunding, developing models and programs to prevent violence is the most efficient and cost-effective medium-to longer-term strategy. UN Women’s programming approaches strive to be transformative, in terms of promoting change on the individual and collective level, and empowering, by providing women with access to information, skills, resources and opportunities to overcome barriers and exercise control over their choices and destinies. A major challenge is to translate policy commitment to address gender-based violence into practice. In order to assist governments and practitioners, UN Women has launched a global virtual centre on how to address the issue. A cornerstone of its effort to tackle this global phenomenon is its initiative Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls. Launched in 2008, the notion of Safe Cities for women aims at tackling sexual harassment and violence that women experience in their daily lives on city streets, transportation and in other public spaces.

In the end, it is important to keep in mind that violence is preventable. Initiatives engaging men and boys need to receive more attention to become effective interventions. However, from a gender-responsive approach, focus should always remain on the women. As Boaventura de Souza Santas said, “…the most important struggles in the world cannot be left to a single social group”.

Beyond Microfinance

2011-03-15T13:46:00.004+01:00

Karinna Berrospi, UNIC Washington DC

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

Chinese Proverb

The idea of micro financing was based on a wish to empower poor women instead of securing their survival by offering them hand-out after hand-out. Through microfinance the women are supposed to gain access to credit, which enables them to make their own money. This is looked upon as an empowering process, a homegrown solution which began with the arguments of Economist Muhammad Yunus. His idea was to develop lines of credit for the poor; a model to learn how to respond to the needs of people, instead of imposing a top-down formula of development. In this new development model the first step for aid workers is to learn about how one can be a good listener, and take the time to learn about people’s needs and expectations. Like economist William Easterly said, we need to “treat them [the poor] like a client.”

LACK OF ACCESS. The idea of microfinance has been highly applauded. Still, the expansion of microfinancing projects in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) has been slow. It is also in these countries that financing projects are most needed. Therefore, the UN focused its attention to the LDCs by launching Microlead, a microfinance Fund for LDC, in November 2008. A recent study by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has found that, “Despite the rapid growth of the microfinance industry in the past ten years, it is estimated that between two and three billion people still lack access to a broad range of financial products and services on a sustainable basis.”

CLOTHING BANK. In non-LDC countries, however, where there seems to be more access to finance, alternative ways to microfinance are emerging. This is the case of the Clothing Bank in South Africa, whose vision is to “empower unemployed mothers through enterprise development”. Their objective of making women financially and socially independent is similar to that of microfinance. To achieve this, the Clothing Bank has come up with a systematic approach. They COLLECT – new and second-hand clothing then REPAIR – items or sometimes remodel them, SORT clothing into different categories, and DISTRIBUTE it to non profitable organizations, government departments and welfare institutions.

Finally the Clothing Bank has an Enterprise Development Program, which allows women who have participated in the process to buy clothes and resell them to their communities in order to make a profit. The Clothing Bank portrays itself as a facilitator, as money is not coming to them but it is going to the women.

UNUSED POTENTIAL. In South Africa there is an excess of clothing, estimated at a value of R450-R900 million per annum (46 to 92 million Euros). This means that the full value of garments is not used. At the same time, clothes are being shipped to South Africa from developed countries. The Clothing Bank’s model to empower women is similar to microfinance in the sense that it uses small amounts of capital to finance the beginning stages of self-employment. But it has a different local flavor to it. At the Clothing Bank workers are not taught entrepreneur skills, or how to create unique business ideas, instead they are taught trading skills. This is an interesting fact in a country that is mostly looked upon as a crafter nation, not a trading nation.

EXPORTING IDEAS. Most NGOs teach people how to make something, but not how to sell it. The Clothing Banks approach is the opposite. It is yet to be explored if this model works in other contexts and other cultures, but the model’s potential should be explored: Can this be a contribution on the road to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UN MDGs), and in particular the goals of ending poverty and hunger, increasing universal access to education, and improving health services? The idea of the Clothing Bank is based on thorough knowledge of the South African society’s needs and demands. Therefore one question remains: Can this idea be exported and applied to other countries?

Looking Beyond Social Media: Emerging Media Practices that Contribute to Women’s Empowerment

2011-03-15T13:45:00.004+01:00

UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

Alexandra Jacobs, UN Association of the National Capital Area, Washington DC

In the past two years, authoritarian regimes around the world have been challenged, if not toppled by swarms of citizens demanding change—many of them through Twitter feeds and Facebook posts. These communications media have contributed to the protests in Egypt and given birth to the Green Movement in Iran. However, after the organization of vast revolutionary networks and dramatic regime change, it is important to ask what happens next. Following a successful removal of an oppressive dictator and regime, can media still play a role in alleviating deeply embedded social conditions that prevent progress towards social equality?

Lasting social change seems to require more quiet revolutions. Recently, many successful community development projects have featured media productions in film and radio, giving communities the opportunity to educate themselves and contribute to their own civic advancement over a period of time. Most Twitter or Facebook posts demand immediate response, while these projects hope to bring lasting social change in the context of local communities. Revolutions brought on by the organizing power of social media are undoubtedly important aspects in movements for social change. But these successful community development projects show that more attention must be paid to a different brand of social media—media productions that address pressing social issues and provide a space for positive community involvement and self-expression.

In pursuit of the 3^rd Millennium Development Goal, gender equality and the empowerment of women, UN agencies have recognized the importance of a local approach and have often partnered with grassroots organizations to attempt to reach this goal. Media outlets such as film and radio are useful tools in efforts to localize discussion of social equality. We can see the powerful effects of film and radio in Terrat, Tanzania, a rural community of Maasai, a pastoral ethnic group that lives throughout East Africa. Since 2004 a local grassroots organization has broadcast an FM radio station with a significant portion of their programming being in the local KiMaasai language, which is not officially recognized by the Tanzanian government.

With the help of the Swedish International Development Agency the radio station has become an integral part of the community. The staff members of the radio see themselves as activists for Maasai culture, a minority group in Tanzania. But they do not limit themselves solely to cultural cheerleading. The radio station has identified the advancement of the rights of women and

girls in their community as one of their primary goals. In 2006 the radio staff broadcast a program proposing an alternative rite of passage activity to combat the prevalence of female genital mutilation among the female population. The station became such an important contributor to community efforts to end the practice that girls who were fleeing their homes in order to avoid the procedure came to the radio station for protection and support.

Radio did more for this community than just transmit news and entertainment. It provided a space for civic discussions and activism, and put the development of women’s rights on its agenda. Other media projects throughout Africa have also targeted women’s empowerment in the face of violence as a necessary theme to explore in African communities.

Search for Common Ground, an international organization that uses media for conflict resolution, has partnered with two Dutch filmmakers who produced a documentary film about the widespread practice of rape in Democratic Republic of Congo. The film features victims of rape and their families, discussing how they have struggled to put their lives back together. With the help of funding from UNHCR and Amnesty International, the organization has used a mobile film screen to present the film in several communities where the use of rape as a weapon of war has been widespread. After screening the film, discussion facilitators invite the audience to discuss how they as a community have worked to overcome the social biases that surround rape victims and their families. Facilitators have been trained to lead discussions for groups of women, adolescents, married couples, and members of the military. Rural communities in Africa often have very little access to film. For one night, communities are able to come together and watch a film with critical social relevance. The film also works to stimulate conversation about topics that can be difficult to broach without an outside stimulus. The film itself becomes much more than social commentary, but a catalyst for dialogue and subsequent activism that inspires community member involvement and social progression.

As social media gains ground throughout the world, the international civic community should urge the UN with increasing intensity to support programs that focus on the emancipatory potential of these media forms with a local approach. Media forms such as radio and film require more time and more community involvement, but when pursuing long-term social goals such as gender equality, this kind of time investment can truly be a recipe for success.

Women’s dignity in Italy: No rose without thorns

2011-03-15T13:44:00.005+01:00

UN Photo/x

Maria Elena Penzo, UNRIC Brussels

Throughout history, women have been denied civil, political and economic rights. In a world where words as democracy and rights are used daily, it seems absurd that women still aren’t completely free… In Italy, before we are even born, the wish expressed by our parents is already: “Auguri e figli maschi” – Congratulations, may you be blessed with sons. In many parts of the world women are still a subordinated figure, reduced to a role of procreation, with few rights and many domestic duties. Women are not only robbed of human dignity through genital mutilation and rape, but they are made the property of men. These women are denied their rights - but there are also women who put themselves in a situation where their rights are trampled on. Some women demean themselves, which is, in my opinion, the situation in Italy.

THE WORLD OF ITALIAN WOMEN. The third article of the Italian Constitution states that human beings are equal regardless of gender. In Italy there is a Ministry that should fight for equal opportunities although it does not have a portfolio. However, simply looking at some data concerning employment, salaries and political representation shows that there is still a long way to go to reach equality. Italian women get better academic degrees than men, there are also more women than men who graduate, and yet, less than fifty percent of women have a paid job. Moreover, women at the same working level as men earn 16.8% less than their male colleagues. Female ministers of government represent 21% in total, whereas in the Parliament the percentage of women does not exceed 20%. This is the world faced by Italian women, a world in which they are introduced to others as “the wife of” or “the fiancée of” and rarely by their name and surname.

LUXURY LIFE. In Italy, women have to face a life that is much more difficult than the lives of their male colleagues, not only at work but also in their private life. Over the last two decades, a trend has developed in which women use their bodies to get what they want. The situation is now internationally infamous because of the Berlusconi scandals, but it has deep roots in the entire society. Nowadays the police headquarters in Milan are witnessing the coming and going of young girls who are beautiful, wear heavy make up, with bags as big as suitcases and large sunglasses that cost more than the rent of an apartment. To afford this, they sell themselves to employers, rich men and politicians.

TAUGHT BY SOCIETY. These women are the product of a society that revolves around money, celebrities and sex. While growing up in Italy, this is what you hear and see, what is shown on television, what is suggested by governments in the media, and even by female politicians who are elected for other skills than their political ones. In Italy showgirls can magically move from the dancing pole to a seat in Parliament. These young women choose prostitution as the fastest way to achieve their goals: money, fame, employment or just a top grade from university. This well-known trend is the product of a deep cultural change, a lack of education, culture and dignity that has arisen in the last decades in the Italian society. It is a society that has lost values such as family, respect, solidarity and altruism. Instead Italy has slowly grown to be an individualistic society where abuse and quick access to everything and everyone has become the most important thing, regardless of how you get it. In a society that in general does not invest in young human beings and even less in young women, young people are left at the mercy of an uncertain future. It is difficult for a young Italian woman to cut herself free from this situation when she is constantly promised that her dreams can come true in return for indecent proposals offered by men.

HOPE. There is also an Italian community that looks differently at their lives On February 13^th 2011, Italian women in all major Italian cities and on major squares all over the world protested for their dignity and respect, joining what Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro democracy icon, said: “a meaningful existence goes beyond the mere gratification of material needs. Not everything can be bought with money, not everyone is willing to be bought”. Unfortunately, some women who demean themselves don’t realize the impact of their acts.

Act like a Lady: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World

2011-03-15T13:43:00.000+01:00

UN PhotoChristopher Herwig

Mariah Mercer, UNIC, Canberra, Australia

Nowadays, there are less than 20 female world leaders out of more than 200. Although there are more women in governments today than ever before, women are still outnumbered 4 to 1 in legislatures around the world, according to a 2010 World Bank report. The parity zone, the point at which it is considered that women have achieved equality in government, is between 40 and 60 per cent. It will take developed countries at least 20 years and other countries close to 40 years to reach that level. Lest the picture looks too grim, there are some signs of progress – continued and faster increases in the proportion of female parliamentarians and the recent elections of women such as Julia Gillard to Prime Minister in Australia, and Dilma Rousseff to President in Brazil – but clearly the world has a far way to go in achieving gender equality in electoral politics.

WHY GENDER EQUALITY? First, women’s political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for any democracy. Gender disparity is a form of political inequality and incompatible with the basic tenets of democracy. Second, women’s political participation is essential to bring stronger attention to women’s issues. According to a 2007 study by Gerrity et al., women as a group introduce more legislative bills that relate to women's issues than men, and they support these bills throughout the legislative process. Studies of women and development also indicate that women’s social economic status improves as more women hold elected office, thus improving overall economic development through the influence of policies that ensure equal rights and access to services. UNIFEM has also stated that women in public offices encourage greater political engagement by ordinary women.

BRIDGE BUILDERS. One under-emphasized reason to increase female electoral representation is the “feminine” approach to leadership and decision-making. While not all women lead in the same ways – nor do all men –, general studies have noted statistically significant differences between genders. Women's leadership style has been found to differ from men's, and incorporating it can contribute to democratically-sound political processes. Research suggests that women are more likely than men to prefer democratic decision-making processes. In fact, the largest overall sex difference in leadership styles was a female preference for democratic approaches while men opted for autocratic styles. This startling difference was found by Eagerly and Johnson in a study in 1990. In addition, studies by Kimmel et al. also show that males are more likely to rely on both coercion and expert power, while females are more likely to rely on connection power and the power of important relationships.

Women appear to be bridge builders: they are more likely to solicit input from others and are generally more likely to encourage participation. Female leaders are far more likely than men to describe themselves as transforming subordinates' self-interest into concern for the whole organization, according to a 1990 Rosener study. Literature from a variety of fields has found that women, who are more likely to engage in cooperative behavior, are more concerned than men with achieving consensus and emphasize interpersonal relations. This can have an impact on the legislative process. A 1994 study from Kathlene showed that female committee chairs are less likely to dominate proceedings and more likely to foster discussions among participants.

LET THE WOMEN IN. In order to best capitalize on the potential benefits of feminine leadership styles, it is essential to increase the number of women in power. Eagly and Johnson have found that in organizations with more men, women’s behavior appeared more like that of men. The researchers theorized that this occurred because women in male-dominated environments may have to adopt more typically male styles in order not to lose authority and position.

This style of leadership is increasingly relevant in the realm of international relations.At the beginning of the 20^th century and before, nations functioned in relative isolation and faced more conventional threats that were political-military in nature. Power that was more coercive in nature and the culturally-accepted view of a strong leader as one who demonstrates the assertive “masculine” leadership traits like dominance, was more relevant.

Today, however, the international community is increasingly facing problems without passports, challenges that cannot be addressed by one country alone or by force. Collective action and consensus models, not armies, are required to address fundamental challenges such as climate change, pandemics and nonproliferation. These systems and challenges require what Joseph Nye calls “soft power,” the ability to obtain what one wants through co-option and attraction, a type of power very much in keeping with women’s leadership style and its reliance on connection power, democratic decision-making and the development of relationships. This feminine leadership style is more conducive to reaching effective solutions to today's problems than traditional coercive approaches and can thus contribute to more productive diplomacy between countries.

AN ENRICHING PROSESS. Increasing women's political representation has the potential not just to change which decisions are made, but also to improve and enrich the decision-making process. The addition of far more women elected officials can contribute to a feminine leadership style, which can, in turn, help create a more inclusive, democratically-sound political process for everyone involved.

Editorial 11th edition

2010-12-13T13:59:00.001+01:00

One year after the last issue of Internal Voices, I am delighted to be writing the Editorial for the 11th edition. First of all let me thank the Editorial Team and all those who have contributed to this issue. Also, our work has been made much easier by the excellent job of the previous Editors, and everything they built, which relieved us from having to start from scratch. And of course, thanks to the contributors, you would not be reading anything without their effort. This magazine is made by interns, its success depend on all of us!

That being said, welcome to Internal Voices. The theme for this edition was somewhat imposed on us by this year’s events, and particularly the MDG Summit that took place in September. Ten years after the Millennium Declaration, world leaders met again in New York to reaffirm their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. This was clearly also the occasion for a review of progress, with only five years left to 2015, and the results are mixed.

Much has been done in the past years. The overall poverty rate dropped from 46% in 1990 to 27% in 2005; this translates into around 920 million people living under the international poverty line —half the number in 1990. The number of HIV infections and deaths is stable or declining. Between 2003 and 2008, the number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy increased tenfold—from 400,000 to 4 million—corresponding to 42% of the 8.8 million people who needed HIV treatment. Despite the financial crisis, the core message of the Summit was that the MDGs are within reach.

However, in order to meet the 2015 deadline, more efforts are needed and aid promises have to be kept. Aid remains well below the UN target of 0.7% of gross national income for most donors. In 2009, only 5 countries reached or exceeded the target (Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden). The overall average is only 0.3%.

The 11th edition of Internal Voices touches on several issues related to the MDGs, with a special focus on the human rights perspective. We decided not to reproduce tables and statistics on the 8 Goals; you can find specific information in the MDG report 2010. Instead, we encouraged our contributors to write on specific issues they felt were important in the path towards achieving the Goals.

The Internal Voices Team hopes you enjoy the reading.

Youth and development in Nigeria

2010-12-13T13:58:00.002+01:00

Ify Ogo, UNIC Lagos

With 150 million people, Nigeria has the largest population in Africa. Nestled between the Republic of Benin and the Republic of Cameroon, with its southernmost states lying on the Atlantic Ocean, and its northern states touching the Sahara desert, Nigeria is a geographically, economically, and culturally diverse nation. Like many other developing countries, Nigeria’s development process has been fraught with numerous difficulties. Nonetheless, Nigeria has achieved increased, albeit uneven, levels of economic growth as well as social and technological advancement over the last few decades.

It has been reported that 70% of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 30. The Nigerian youth represents a vast and energetic human resource, and should be integrated into development discourse and projects in order to create policies. This is because it would be impossible to achieve any meaningful developmental goals without youth participation.

Firstly, there is a need for a coherent development action plan; the Nigerian government has committed itself to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The 7 point agenda (Power, Security, Wealth Creation, Land Reform, Mass Transit, and Niger Delta Region) put forward by the late President Musa Yar’Adua clearly outlines the most pressing development challenges and how to overcome them.

Secondly, the Nigerian youth needs to be awakened to developmental goals: sustained awareness campaigns are needed to sensitise and mobilise. Television, radio and online media platforms are crucial in engaging the youth. I remember watching a programme aired by the Nigerian Television Authority in the mid-‘90s about health issues. During one episode, in addition to highlighting the dangers of diarrhoea, the programme showed viewers how to prepare oral rehydration therapy to counter the dehydration associated with diarrhoea.

Technology and the media have since evolved and can be effectively utilized to reach large groups of people: with 77 million active subscriptions, Nigeria now has the largest number of mobile phone users on the African continent. Many young people in Nigeria have access to mobile phones, the internet and social media platforms. The government, public and private organisations working in development practice can make use of these platforms in order to provide information to, and engage young people in an accessible manner. Similarly, there is no reason why the Nigerian film industry, popularly called Nollywood, cannot provide a platform from which developmental issues can be highlighted. Nollywood is said to produce about 200 movies monthly, and is the third largest in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood. Nollywood films, popularly known as home videos, reach millions of young Nigerians at home and abroad, and can facilitate development discourse by presenting issues crucial to Nigeria’s development. Furthermore, youth participation is crucial to make any gains in the development process. If young people have a sense of ownership over their country’s development, policies and projects will be sustainable and improved upon.

I suggest the creation of a National Development Corps designed to train young people from different professional, educational and vocational backgrounds in development practice. Similar to the National Youth Service Corps, which was created in the aftermath of the 1967-70 civil war to reconstruct and rebuild the country, this Development Corps would engage the youth for up to 3 years, providing education, training and manpower to stimulate development. For example, young engineers joining the development corps would learn about development in general, Nigeria’s particular development goals, reconstruction goals, and will be assigned to help achieve these goals. In addition to achieving development goals, this corps would turn out highly skilled, well trained, development minded graduates who can move into the mainstream economy, where they would add value.

Finally, Nigeria has already begun the development process and has a long way to go in achieving its goals. The youth is an under-represented group in development discourse and practice, and should be engaged both formally and informally. Technology and the media provide platforms for information exchange and dissemination. Also, formal schemes such as a development corps will provide the youth with knowledge and equip them to participate in development. The existence of highly skilled, young, vibrant youth interested and working in development cannot have any disadvantages.

Picture : UNICEF video / Guy Hubbard

Agents of development: How migrants contribute to achieving the MDGs

2010-12-13T13:57:00.001+01:00

Saskia Koppenberg, EC-UN Joint Migration and Development Initiative, Brussels

Despite the evident links between migration and development, migration does not feature explicitly in the MDGs. However, in recent years there has been increasing recognition of the multi-dimensional relationship between migration and development. The positive contribution of migrants to the development of their families and communities at home, as well as their countries of origin, is finally being acknowledged. In fact, migrants are increasingly seen as agents of development. Key issues such as remittances, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship are becoming the focus in discussions of the so called migration-development nexus.

The significance attributed to the contribution of migrants to development is reflected by the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). Since its creation in 2007, the GFMD is held on an annual basis at different locations – first in Belgium, then in the Philippines, Greece and most recently in Mexico - to discuss the migration-development nexus. The forum’s aim is to advance understanding and cooperation and to foster practical and action-oriented outcomes as well as policies which further enhance the positive contribution of migrants to development. The GFMD has become an important platform for dialogue between governments, international organizations and civil society stakeholders. Although the forum does not form part of the United Nations system, it holds strong links with the UN, e.g. through the participation of the UN Secretary-General, the support of both the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Migration and Development, and also the inter-UN agency Global Migration Group (GMG).

The different stakeholders participating in the forum base their effort to empower migrants on a common ground, namely the recognition that migrants do make a difference in meeting the MDGs. They furthermore assume that the contribution of migrants to development is closely linked to the protection of their human and labour rights. Thus, stakeholders at the GFMD promote the protection of migrants' rights with the aim of freeing their potential to act as agents for development for their countries of origin, families and communities at home.

The approach of qualifying migrants as agents of development reveals the concept of responsible well-being, introduced by Robert Chambers and influenced by Amartya Sen's capability approach. This concept regards people – and so migrants - as a major engine of development. It puts the personal and the individual ability at the centre of development processes, because it is their ability to act and change the world which drives development. Development in this context is defined as a person's well-being and good quality of life. And it is good quality of life which the MDGs stand for. The term 'responsible' thereby points to an obligation, the obligation to take responsibility for one’s own well-being as well as for the well-being of others, just as migrants do through their commitment towards their families, communities and countries of origin. How does this commitment translate in practice?

The most prominent contribution of migrants to development are their financial remittances. Remittances are the sum of migrant workers’ earnings sent back to their families and communities in their countries of origin. They are sent either individually or collectively as part of a diaspora organisation. By sending remittances, migrants contribute to the achievement of the MDGs in a variety of ways.

Firstly, remittances provide an additional family income and play therefore a significant role in:
A) eradicating extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1), when spent on food, shelter and clothing;
B) achieving universal education (MDG 2), when children either don't need to start working to earn a living for themselves and their families thereby holding them to be in school, or when spent directly on the education of the families’ children;
C) reducing child mortality (MDG 4), improving maternal health (MDG 5) and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG 6), when spent on medicines and on medical help.

Secondly, remittances enable migrants to finance economic activities, which in turn increase the families’ income and contribute to the achievement of the MDGs as described above. Thirdly, remittances represent a source of foreign direct investment in real assets including building schools and clinics and thereby contribute to MDGs 2, 4, 5 and 6. Fourthly, remittances finance development projects and philanthropy or charitable activities in the countries of origin. Remittances can thus have a further positive effect on achieving the MDGs, when spent on the right projects.

Stakeholders at the GFMD pointed out a growing number of female migrants who represent almost half of the world's migrants. Women become senders of remittances, which leads to their empowerment within family structures. As recipients of remittances from a family member abroad, women are empowered because they decide how the money is spent. Migration therefore has the potential to change gender roles and empower women, contributing to the achievement of MDG 3, the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Migrants do not only contribute to the MDGs through financial remittances, but also through ‘social remittances’. These include ideas, practices and identities that migrants remit home. Migrants - for example – who familiarize with empowered gender roles in their receiving countries contribute to the transformation of gender relations at home and thereby to the achievement of MDG 3.

A third way of migrants contributing to the achievement of the MDGs is through the transfer of technical knowledge and professional skills acquired abroad. These can be used for business set up and entrepreneurship or - for example – the improvement of the health sector.

It becomes clear, that migrants have the capability to contribute to the achievement of the MDGs, that they do it day-to-day on a small or even bigger scale, and that the international community is able to support them, as the GFMD does when promoting migrants' ability to contribute to development processes.

Picture : ©IOM 2010 – MPK0418 (Photo: Marco Bottelli)

Development aid and environmental sustainability: a case from Argentina

2010-12-13T13:56:00.000+01:00

Alessandra Devitofrancesco, UNRIC Brussels

When I arrived in Buenos Aires in 2006, the conflict around the Uruguay River pulp mills had been going on for a year. A diplomatic crisis between Argentina and Uruguay, the most dramatic one ever, was threatening the historically good relations between the two countries. But, more surprisingly, it was mobilizing thousands of people -- of all social statuses, cultural and ethnic background -- to go into the streets and protest to defend their sovereignty over their land and resources, against a huge “development project”, which would change their lives forever.

In 2003 the Uruguayan President, Julio Batlle announced the construction of two paper mills in the locality of Fray Bentos, on the Uruguay River, which would be owned by two transnational companies, the Finnish Matse Botnia and the Spanish Ence. The project, which was applauded as one of the biggest development investments in Uruguay, was meant to provide economic benefits that would generate 8 percent of the country’s export (for about 30 years of production) and create about 2500 jobs in the mill, as well as in local transportation systems.

The World Bank considered it a perfectly suitable project with a long-term development strategy based on foreign investments and export growth; but what were the real reasons behind the choice of locating the pulp mill at the Uruguay River?

Uruguay has been trying to expand its economy through Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). Thanks to promotional forestry policies, plants can be realized in free-trade zones, where investors do not have to pay taxes on land that has been sold at very low prices in multi-decade contracts. The land in Fray Bentos, where the pulp mills will be built, has only been sold for $20.000 for 30 years, with promises of no taxation, customs duty on machinery and equipment; and massive infrastructural investments by the national government to facilitate the exportation of the pulp. It seems that the government has allowed economic interests to prevail over environmental concerns. Based on eucalyptus monoculture, the pulp and paper industry is a particularly dangerous type of FDI. It provokes irreversible loss of biodiversity, water and air pollution and the displacement of entire communities of people.
The project is also affecting the communities of Gualeguaychu, which are found in the Argentinean territory.

These communities launched elementary, non-violent resistance movements called, Asamblea Ciudadana Ambiental de Gualeguaychù ACAG (Citizens’ Environmental Assembly of Gualeguaychù), to fight a development model that privileges economic growth, at the expense of local communities’ sovereignty over natural resources. The ACAG has questioned the pre-existing socio-economic and political structure. Therefore, its mass mobilization represents a glocalisation process regarding concrete territorialities that claim social delimitation and appropriation of the territory; a more sustainable long-term development; and safeguarding the well-being of future generations.

In spite of domination by authorities – such as violence and blockage of all roads connecting Argentina and Uruguay –, the activism of the ACAG has led to a five-year, non-stop protest, comprising of sit-ins and pacific resistance.

The construction of these two paper mills on the Uruguay River is only one of the many cases that provide evidence that numerous FDI strategies and big industry projects, which are implemented in the name of “development”, are not sustainable for local populations, and can turn into acts of environmental depletion, threatening the socio-economic and ecological well-being of future generations.

Furthermore, in the South , counter-hegemonic grassroots resistance movements are rallying to protect their land, cultural identities and autonomy. These movements therefore play a critical role in the contemporary development scenery, vindicating alternative social and moral frameworks for the global society.

Glocalisation is a relatively recent phenomenon, which calls for a new development strategy, that aims to empower local communities -- linking them to global resources and facilitating initiatives of peace and development—whilst providing opportunities for them to direct positive social change in the areas that directly affect them the most (The Glocalisation Manifesto, 2004). In Gualeguaychù, the civil society, Non Government Organizations, grassroots organizations, and ordinary citizens, play a key role in this glocalisation process; they contribute to produce a bottom-up answer to a globalized economy. As for the Uruguay-Argentina case, the ACAG is still fully engaged in its protest against Botnia in fighting a questionable campaign, based on acts that threaten the well-being of communities and their environment. As a result, the ACAG has had to reduce its activity, to that of a mere distribution of flyers, to sensitize the local population about the environmental impact of the pulp mills. Nevertheless, this matter is still a pertinent one in Argentina and Uruguay, as well as in regional and international spheres. The most important lesson learnt here is that the awareness about “deterritorialisation” is constantly growing among citizens. The cognizance of this “deterritorialisation” or the displacement of communities due to land rights violations, pollution, or the need to migrate in search of wage work, has led to a more informed community. A new form of activism unites different parties that are all affected by the same global changes. This creates more parallelisms and strategic alliances such as those among feminist, ecologist and indigenous movements.

The current environmental destruction, often provoked by askew macro-projects aimed at bringing economic growth to developing countries, have been leaving death and misery in their wake. Environment sustainability must a be primary concern if we are to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, as maintaining a stable environment with predictable and sufficient resources, will help to stop hunger and poverty, protect people from natural disasters and epidemics, as well as safeguard the world’s biodiversity. To achieve this goal, structural changes are also needed in the way the development paradigm is interpreted and translated into aid policies, at a local, national, regional, and global level.

Can grassroots social movements play a key role in switching to a more inclusive and democratic development paradigm? There is not a clear answer, but realistically speaking, the potential of social movements should not be over-estimated. Very often, people that live in extreme poverty and social exclusion, find themselves obliged to seek individual survival strategies, such as finding patrons who can help them in exchange of their votes. Most of the world’s citizens are now familiar with the notion that they have “human rights”, but many continue to be deprived of them on a daily basis.

Picture: UN PHOTOS/John Isaac

Reaching the MDGs, one garden at a time

2010-12-13T13:55:00.000+01:00

Alexandra Earl, UNIC Pretoria

The first Millennium Development Goal is “The Eradication of Extreme Poverty and Hunger”. The global food crisis which was exacerbated in 2008 has seen the number of people going hungry rise to over 1 billion. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations now predicts that prices will continue to rise in 2011, with global food reserves declining. This hungry billion exists in a world where many millions of others are overweight and obese. The problem lies not in production – there is enough food in the world for everyone to eat enough every day. The problem lies in food distribution and access. People do not have enough to eat because they cannot access it or they cannot afford to buy it. This applies to both the hungry and the obese. New obesity trends indicate that it is primarily located amongst the poor who cannot afford to buy food and who live in areas that have limited access to fresh food. In a world where the supply chain is becoming more and more complicated, many are turning to self-production and sustainability as a way to provide for themselves. One of the key features of such sustainability is a food garden.

Food gardens have been springing up everywhere you look – from school gardens to the front lawn at the White House to homestead gardens in sprawling townships. They have a long history of triumph in the face of adversity. “Dig for Victory”, “Turn over a New Leaf” and “For their Sake, Grow your own Vegetables” posters encouraged people to plant gardens wherever there was space – in the backyard, on apartment terraces, in allotments – in order to overcome import constraints and rations during World War Two. The Science Newsletter of 1943 says that production from gardens generated 8 000 000 tons in America that year and helped alleviate serious food shortages, particularly in fresh produce. With food prices increasing and the global recession squeezing ordinary people’s pockets, food gardening is once again becoming a viable activity which will help improve your diet and save you money.

Food gardens are also increasingly being used as a development tool. In South Africa, food gardens are springing up in both urban and rural areas. In Botshabelo Township, in the Free State Province, people have turned their backyards into veritable havens of magical garden loveliness. The gardens feature all kinds of different vegetables, from green beans and spinach to pumpkins, carrots and beetroots. Peach, apricot, fig and plum trees provide shade cover. Fruit and vegetables can be bottled when at peak harvest and stored to tide over the harsh winter months. Seeds can be bought from as little as US$0.7 per 15ml scoop – a far cheaper option when a head of cabbage is US$1.4. Gardeners grow a wide diversity of produce which means that they consume a wider diversity than their income would necessarily allow. Gardens provide a means of extra income. Bunches of vegetables are sold to others and can earn gardeners up to US$28 in a good harvest month.

One gardener in the Botshabelo Township, managed to save enough money for a dining room table and chairs – all with money she had earned from her garden produce. In a place where employment is scarce and most people survive on government grants and remittances, such income is truly invaluable. Having a garden means that in the last week of the month, when money has run out, food is still available and it is rich in micronutrients that prevent non- communicable diseases as well as starvation. Such gardens can also be gender empowering. Women are traditionally food providers and are more likely to be gardeners. Being in charge of the garden is empowering as women can earn extra income and provide food for their families. This also improves child health and wellbeing. They can therefore not only provide essential fruits and vegetables to the diet (as advocated by the WHO) but can also help reach MDG 3 – improving gender equality and empowering women.

And what of those whose access to land is limited? School and community gardens can also be successful avenues for combating hunger. School gardens can help supply feeding schemes, provide opportunities for on-hand learning, not only of gardening skills but also of biology, the environment and cooking. Such gardens rely on community responsibility and participation and can thus also create jobs. A school garden in the outlying areas of Pretoria has had particular success with involving parents in the school garden and using garden produce in afternoon meals and feeding schemes. Alice Waters, instigator of the “Edible Schoolyard” in California, says “A school garden, kitchen, and cafeteria are integral to the core academic mission of the school, so that ecology and gastronomy help bring alive every subject, from reading and writing to science and art.”

The World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health advocates eating 5 fruits and vegetables every day in order to maintain nutrition. Gardens can be made anywhere and allow you the opportunity of watching your food grow. In a world where the production of food is becoming increasingly mechanized, sterilized and chemical, growing your own is becoming something everyone should try. If you don’t have much space, you can grow herbs and tomatoes successfully on the kitchen windowsill. In doing so you will become aware of the joys of local produce, seasonal eating and you will make a small contribution to reducing your carbon footprint.

Picture : WIKIPEDIA/Linda

Tackling urban slums: The bottom-up approach

2010-12-13T13:54:00.000+01:00

Laura Kirk and Pavel Potekhin, UN HABITAT New York

The reduction of slum populations is an important issue affecting almost one billion people globally. In order to formalize the UN approach towards slum reduction Millennium Development Goal 7 (target 4) was introduced in 2000 to improve living standards for one hundred million people living in slum conditions. Close cooperation between various UN bodies, local authorities and the local public is necessary in order to build upon the progress made towards the MDG for slum rehabilitation. If properly organized this interaction allows developing countries to eliminate slums and stay on track for sustainable development. Alternatively, if no actions are taken at the local level, the number of slum dweller may rise to 1.4 billion by 2020.

While considerable progress has been made within Asian and Latin American states, the Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region still lacks significant improvement in slum reduction. As a result of slum upgrading projects the number of slum dwellers has decreased by 230 million worldwide; however, 830 million slum habitats remain. The slum prevalence is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 62%; followed by Asia, with 43%; East Asia, with 37%; and Latin America and the Caribbean, with 27% (data taken from UN HABITAT side events to the MDG Summit 2010).

It is essential local levels of government be empowered and take leadership. Being closer to the general public they are better placed to deal with issues at the local level and to deliver. With specific local knowledge, these are the bodies most familiar with local issues; they know the particular development challenges of their area; are more cost effective and efficient; able to identify linkages among sectors and holistic. Moreover, local governments are elected and can be changed if they don’t deliver; are equipped to sustain long term participatory planning and financing maintenance of local investments; and operate in ways which take into account issues such as Natural Resource Management, gender and climate change as well as being more responsive to the people.

Let’s then analyse successful government projects for slum upgrading in developing countries, focusing on the ACP region.
Before 1985 Senegal experienced the following slum related issues: inappropriate land regulation, urban planning which did not reflect current needs, a lack of land occupancy control, and population growth which was not comparable to wealth growth in cities. Several steps towards slums restructurization, land occupancy deregulation and provision of rights were undertaken. In 1991 a restructuring and land regulation fund was established. In 2005 Senegal’s government worked closely together with citizens and established an entity for the supervision and control in order to allow citizens to become owners of their habitats. Several infrastructure projects have been undertaken with participation of private investors. Infrastructure within habitats alongside changes in the legal system

In Jamaica three cities were selected as pilot projects; one based on size and two based on tourism sector development, rapid growth and vulnerability to natural disasters. Moreover, current policies and projects as well as gaps in regulation towards slum elimination were reviewed in order to avoid duplications. Furthermore, understanding and participation of the projects by the public at the community level was ensured. Participation was defined as feedback provision and suggestion as well as ability to undertake various SWOT analyses for future project development. The next step involved national consultation to finalize different action plans for the future: including over 200 participants representing three communities alongside various stakeholders such as private and public sector agents and NGOs. Finally, with the help of various UN bodies, training for students and local authorities was incorporated in the planning education programmes at the University of Technology of Jamaica and local authorities.

Kenya faced two main critical issues such as unclear number of people living in slums and inadequate planning regulation. The most recent census in Kenya provided accurate estimations of slum populations. Kibera, the country’s most prolific slum settlement, had previously experienced wide variations anywhere between 600 thousand and 2 million people. The census found that this settlement houses approximately 170 thousand inhabitants. Moreover, there has been a restructuring of politics within the country. A new constitution with the core principles of devolution and decentralization now applies to the 47 counties more specifically decentralization of governance and resources. It also seeks to unleash the capacity of women and now requires that one third of programme staff be female. The new constitution ‘Bill of Rights’ makes the achievement of MDGs a reality for the average Kenyan citizen.

Slum rehabilitation efforts are a major development issue affecting almost one billion people globally. While MDG targets to reduce slum settlements have been successful, it is clear that substantial efforts are still required to improve the plights of hundreds of millions worldwide. The unequal progress of regions and particular need for improvements in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States demonstrates a clear necessity to refocus on slum rehabilitation. Action at the local level is best placed to deal with such locality-specific issues and together with best practice efforts is essential for progress to be made in this area.

Picture : UN Photo/Claudio Edinger