Nobel Women's Initiative

Cambodian women are joining with politician and rights defender Mu Sochua in a fight for judicial reform. Mu Sochua, a sitting member of parliament, has exhausted her appeals against a conviction for defaming the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen.

The case stems from comments made by the Prime Minister about Mu Sochua, which were derogatory to her as a woman. When she announced her intention to sue him for defamation, she herself was convicted of defaming the Prime Minister.

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The Mexican Supreme Court handed down a verdict in favour of the activists of Atenco today, calling for the immediate release of 12 political prisoners, who have been detained since the state's violent crackdown on protests in Atenco in 2006.  

The Court concluded that false or insufficient evidence was utilized in the case against the the protesters. Judge Juan Silva Mesa said that the charges appeared to be a backhanded way of criminalizing social protest. 

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The ethnic conflict in Kyrgyzstan, which erupted in the first half of June, has been marked by high levels of violence, widespread arson, looting and sexual violence. A total of at least 375, 000 people have fled from the conflict-affecting city of Osh and Jalal-Abad Province. More than 100,000 of them have sought refuge in neighbouring Uzbekistan.

Women have become targets in the fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, and women fleeing the violence face difficult choices in seeking safety. Referring to the high price of safe escort to the border, one young woman explained, "Because all Uzbek girls are being raped at the moment, they explained that for this price they will guarantee only that we will not be killed." 

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Nobel Peace Laureates, Shirin Ebadi and Wangari Maathai, will be attending the first ever Review Conference of the International Criminal Court in Uganda from May 31 to June 11 in Uganda. The International Criminal Court has the potential to be a powerful tool in the struggle for gender justice – it has criminalized rape as a weapon of war and other atrocities that specifically target women and girls. The Court provides a glimmer of hope to the millions of women who have lived the daily reality of armed conflict and sexual violence.

Follow our delegation, led by Nobel Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Wangari Maathai, through video, blog posts, and daily updates from the review conference. Check out our blog at www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/blogs/iccreview and follow us on twitter and facebook.

 

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Eleven Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including: Shirin Ebadi, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Wangari Maathai and Jody Williams have sent an open letter to President Calderon demanding justice for the people of Atenco. On May 3-4, 2006, more than four thousand state security and police attacked at least two hundred people in Atenco during a protest. The Laureates are asking the President to release the 12 political prisoners still held, and drop all charges against them. The Laureates are calling for justice for the 50 women of Atenco who were raped and tortured during the attack.

 

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Evo Morales opened his second term as President of Bolivia by appointing a cabinet comprised of 10 men and 10 women.

The unprecedented commitment to gender parity was warmly welcomed by women’s groups and activists across the country. Their support played an integral role in the socialist president’s rise to power.

 

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Rigoberta Menchú Tum helped launch the regional Say NO - UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign for Latin America today.  The campaign is an initiative of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in support of the UN Secretary General's Campaign to end violence against women.  Together with her sister Nobel Peace Laureates, Menchú Tum released a statement calling on governments in the region to support women in their daily struggle to end violence.

"It is essential that we support women's leadership at all levels," stated Menchú Tum.  She called on regional powers to redouble their efforts to fully comply with their international commitments to women’s rights.

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The One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality in Iran has won the RAW in WAR's third annual Anna Politkovskaya Award.  The grass roots campaign, launched in 2006, aims to collect one million signatures of Iranian nationals to a petition demanding an end to legal discrimination against women in Iran.

Leila Alikarami, a lawyer and human rights activist, accepted the Anna Politkovskaya Award on behalf of the Campaign, which was presented to her by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Mairead Maguire, at a special award ceremony at Kings Place in London.

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The United Nations Security Council has recently adopted two key resolutions to protect women in conflict.

 

Resolutions 1888 and 1889 reaffirm previous UN resolutions on women, peace, and security. These resolutions condemn the use of gender-based violence in conflict situations and commit to increasing women’s participation in peace processes including negotiation, mediation, and post-conflict governance and reconstruction.

 

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On September 14th, 2009 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution to merge together four UN Women's entities into a more inclusive and stronger agency advocating for the "well-being of women worldwide and to work towards gender equality".

The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UNISTRAW) are the four agencies to be merged.

In a statement posted in a UN News Centre article, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that is was "an important step...in the area of gender quality and empowerment of women."

In addition, international advocacy organization AIDS-Free world welcomed the new agency as a first step to gender equality while at the same time recognizing the need for action, as its co-Director, Paula Donovan, affirmed.

 

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