Nobel Women's Initiative

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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The presence of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams  in Atenco, Mexico last week was a visit of solidarity with the women  and people of Atenco, who are defending their right to live in their land.

Read the account of Jody Willaims' visit to Atenco in Spanish.

 

La prescencia de la Premio Nobel de la Paz Jody Williams, en Atenco, Mexico la semana pasada fue una visita para solidarizarse con las mujeres y el pueblo de Atenco, quienes se encuentran defiendiendo su derecho a vivir en sus tierras.

Aqui puede leer el informativo de la visita de Jody Williams a  Atenco en Español.

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Nobel Laureate Jody Williams joined over a dozen civil society groups from across Mexico and Central America yesterday to call for the release of political prisoners in Atenco, Mexico—and justice for women sexually violated and psychologically abused by Mexican police.

“Mexico usually does the right thing when it comes to international agreements, but when it comes to inside Mexico, it treats people like they have no value,” she told the gathering of 300 activists and well-known Mexican personalities including actresses Julieta Egurrola and Ofelia Medina.

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The Nobel Women's Initiative stands in solidarity with the Honduran Feminists in Resistance, all women and activists in Honduras who continue their fight for the restoration of democracy in their country.

In addition, we express our support for the Women's Human Rights Week in Honduras, an international delegation to Honduras from August 17 to 21, 2009.

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Nobel Peace Laureate, Jody Williams, attended the Global Women’s Summit in Santiago, Chile in May. The summit is an annual gathering of 1000 or more business women and political leaders from around the globe. This year it took place in Santiago de Chile and was hosted by President Michelle Bachelet. 

Williams spoke about violence against women and the political, social and domestic aspects.  She also provided concrete examples of what women in the corporate sector could do to promote a fairer world for women.

Read the full report.

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