Women's Views on News |
- Gender alert as UK-supplied bombs hit Yemen
- Consensus on new sustainable development agenda
- Call for LGBTI education in Scottish schools
| Gender alert as UK-supplied bombs hit Yemen Posted: 06 Aug 2015 12:52 PM PDT
Since March 2015, open conflict amongst rival factions has spread across Yemen, culminating in the on-going Saudi-led coalition's bombing of targets in Houthi-controlled sections of the country. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that 21.1 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 1.26 million internally displaced people. The full extent of the humanitarian crisis in the Yemen, where the UK is helping to arm Saudi planes attacking rebel targets, emerged as a five-day ceasefire to allow aid workers access to some of the worst affected areas was broken within minutes by shelling from both sides, the Independent reported on 28 July. According to the Independent, the British defence minister, Earl Howe, confirmed that the UK was providing arms to Saudi Arabia that are being used in Yemen. "We are not participating directly in Saudi-led military operations in Yemen, but we are providing technical support, precision-guided weapons and exchanging information with the Saudi Arabian armed forces through pre-existing arrangements," he said in a Parliamentary written answer. "We have a small number of liaison personnel in Saudi and coalition air and maritime headquarters. "This includes personnel in the maritime coalition co-ordination centre in the region supporting the delivery of humanitarian aid into Yemen." But even before the civil war, Yemen was the poorest country in the Middle East and had the world's second highest malnutrition rate. Now, in the Saada region in the north of Yemen, Oxfam warns that 80 per cent of the population – at least 670,000 people – are going hungry, with 50 per cent of them at critical levels. And according to a new Gender Alert on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, approximately 20 to 30 per cent of displaced households are female headed, an increase from about nine per cent before the current crisis. This is due in large part to many men and boys having been recruited to fight, injured or killed. UNFPA estimates 2.6 million women of reproductive age have been affected by the crisis, including approximately 257,000 pregnant women. Prior to the current crisis, only 45 per cent of deliveries were attended by skilled medical professionals – due in large part to a lack of females killed birth attendants in rural areas. However, with disruption to normal health service provision – and a further decrease in female health workers – this is likely to worsen further. An estimated 15 per cent of the pregnant women (38,550) will suffer some form of maternal or obstetric complications and they will face an increased risk that these complications will become life-threatening as they will have difficulty accessing professional medical care. Women have also lost access to family planning, exposing them to potential unplanned pregnancies in perilous conditions. And as with any humanitarian crisis, the risk of sexual abuse and exploitation by either humanitarian actors, security forces, host community members, armed actors and others is high in Yemen. Added to this, a further new alert from the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Reference Group on Gender in Humanitarian Action, reports that 10,500 refugees and migrants have arrived in Yemen by sea since the beginning of the ongoing conflict – primarily from Ethiopia and Somalia, and fleeing there in the mistaken belief that the conflict was over. Those making the sea crossings – and particularly women and girls – are vulnerable to abduction, attacks, drowning, exploitation and sexual assault. Women are disproportionately affected by the current crisis because of restrictions of mobility, decision making power and a lack of access to and control over resources. They also have poor access to information, whether it is regarding their rights or helpful information such as hygiene promotion material. But insecurity, a lack of access and shifting regional and tribal variations of gender equality, mean that a detailed picture of the current plight of crisis affected women and girls across the country has yet to be established. The Gender Alert emphasises how essential it is that the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank’s planned damage and loss assessment (and any other needs assessment) reflect gender in their scope and analysis and are based on accurate sex and age disaggregated data, so that the needs and vulnerabilities of the women, men, girls and boys of the crisis affected population are adequately identified and addressed. UN Women, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Women's Refugee Commission are co-chairs of the IASC Reference Group which is made up of UN and non-UN agencies, NGOs and civil society organisations and promotes the integration of gender equality and women's empowerment in global humanitarian efforts. You can read the full gender alert ‘Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen Gender Alert: July 2015′ here. You could also forward it to your MP – whose contact details can be found here – so you can be sure they know the effect of UK-supplied military ‘support’ on civilian society.  |
| Consensus on new sustainable development agenda Posted: 06 Aug 2015 02:19 AM PDT
The 193 Member States of the United Nations reached agreement on 2 August on the outcome document that will constitute the new sustainable development agenda that will be adopted this September by world leaders at the Sustainable Development Summit in New York. Concluding a negotiating process that has spanned more than two years and has featured the unprecedented participation of civil society, countries agreed to an ambitious agenda that features 17 new sustainable development goals that aim to end poverty, promote prosperity and people's well-being while protecting the environment by 2030. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement, saying it "encompasses a universal, transformative and integrated agenda that heralds an historic turning point for our world." Ban said the September Summit, where the new agenda will be adopted, "will chart a new era of Sustainable Development in which poverty will be eradicated, prosperity shared and the core drivers of climate change tackled." He added that the UN System stands ready to support the implementation of the new agenda, which builds on the successful outcome of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, and which, he said, will also contribute to achieve a meaningful agreement in the COP21 in Paris in December. UN Women has also welcomed the agreement reached by Member States on the post-2015 development agenda that is to be adopted at the UN Summit in September. "Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" is a comprehensive blueprint for people and the planet that for the first time brings together the three dimensions of sustainable development in one ambitious document. The preamble of the 29-page text says, "We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet." It continues, "We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. "As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind." Importantly, the document strongly emphasises the centrality of gender equality and women's empowerment to achieve the sustainable development agenda. UN Women welcomes the transformative stand-alone Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that addresses structural barriers to women's empowerment along with important targets on gender equality in other Goals. UN Women also welcomes the commitment to significantly increased investments in gender equality. We need a Planet 50–50 by 2030, and we must Step It Up for gender equality. UN Women congratulates Members States on reaching this historic agreement but also recognises the important contributions made by civil society organisations, especially the women's organisations and networks that provided the consistent and clear advocacy that helped to ensure strong language on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The next step, to complement the commitment on Financing for Development and the post-2015 agenda, will be a strong agreement on climate change being the outcome of the Paris conference later this year. The real test will be the depth and speed of implementation at country level, with the focus on the most marginalised women and girls. It will require the strong lead of governments with the full participation of other stakeholders, including women's organisations. There is of course no time to waste in implementing this path-breaking agenda. More than 150 world leaders are expected to attend the Sustainable Development Summit at the UN headquarters in New York between 25 to 27 September to formally adopt the outcome document of the new sustainable agenda. The new sustainable development agenda builds on the success of the Millennium Development Goals, which helped more than 700 million people escape poverty. The eight Millennium Development Goals, adopted in 2000, aimed at an array of issues that included slashing poverty, hunger, disease, gender inequality, and access to water and sanitation by 2015. The new sustainable development goals, and the broader sustainablity agenda, go much further, addressing the root causes of poverty and the universal need for development that works for all people. To read the draft agreement, click here.  |
| Call for LGBTI education in Scottish schools Posted: 06 Aug 2015 02:11 AM PDT
A new campaign for LGBTI education as a statutory right in the curriculum of Scottish schools has been launched to tackle homophobic attitudes among young people and to increase the confidence of the LGBTI community. Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) have started by trying to get members of the public to sign a Scottish Parliament public petition – which closed on 4 August – to convince politicians to support the proposal and to kick-start a national debate on the subject. They also want people across the nation to be open about their time at school – their experiences of homophobia at school, and their journey towards self-acceptance – by submitting their own story to stories@tiecampaign.co.uk. This will be presented to the Scottish Parliament. A report into the experience of LGBTI pupils at schools in Scotland found that 54 per cent do not feel part of their school communities, while 71 per cent regularly skip school. 54 per cent who have experienced direct homophobic bullying are regularly self-harming, while 26 per cent of those bullied have attempted suicide. To read the whole report, click here. The campaign was launched by two Scottish activists, Jordan Daly and Liam Stevenson. Daly is a student at Glasgow University and struggled to accept his sexuality while at school, where he found no solace nor support. He shared his experiences as an LGBTI young person with Stevenson and they decided to ignite a campaign for serious educational change. Daly said of the campaign: "The current Scottish Education System allows schools to opt-out of progressive teaching programmes that include LGBTI youth. "If we truly are a forward thinking society, then we need a progressive and inclusive education system to reflect this." The campaigners are hoping that by tackling the issue and sparking national debate in Scotland, they can send ripples throughout the rest of the United Kingdom and encourage other activists and LGBTI+ organisations to join in. The campaign is being supported by a variety of activists and influence figures in the Scottish progressive movement, including co-convener of the Scottish Green Party Patrick Harvie (MSP). Stevenson said: "It has become very clear to me that there has to be a fundamental reform of our education curriculum – LGBTI+ issues must be addressed in the classroom, and support must be available for anyone struggling to accept themselves. "Children should be taught that love comes in all shapes and sizes and love should be respected regardless of who shares it. "Once we educate our children about the struggles and history of the LGBTI+ community we can unshackle society of transphobia, biphobia and homophobia very swiftly," he continued. "Education is the key to building the inclusive society that I am determined to see in my lifetime." Daly said: "It is one thing for a young kid to be struggling to accept themselves; it is another for them to feel trapped and excluded in an environment where they are supposed to feel safe and nurtured. "By refusing to acknowledge or teach LGBTI issues, what our schools are essentially doing is candidly ostracising LGBTI pupils. "Education is the best tool to tackle homophobia in our schools. "Perhaps if we made clear the struggle and difficulties that many brave LGBTI+ people faced when fighting for their rights, then kids would think twice before calling each other "faggots". "Perhaps, ," Daly continued, "if we taught them that for every Martin Luther King, Rodney King and Rosa Parks there is a Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard and Peter Staley – then maybe our youth would have more understanding and respect for a community that they otherwise only refer to when claiming that something is "so gay"." Cat Boyd, from the Scottish Left Project, added: "Education absolutely must be accessible to everyone. "This campaign highlights the serious issues for LGBTQI young people in our institutions and I hope it is successful in changing the current trajectory."  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Women's Views on News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |