Posted by sabina on January 12, 2010
Kavita N. Ramdas Credit: Global Fund for Women
On the occasion of the speech on women’s reproductive rights given on 8 January by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton at the State Department, IPS published an op-ed by Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women.
The Global Fund for Women (GFW) is the world’s largest women’s foundation dedicated to advancing the rights of women, working with women’s groups in 161 countries.
Supported by the Dutch MDG3 Fund, GFW is helping the work of grass roots women-led civil society organisations in Asia. Within its MDG3 programme of work, IPS is partnering with GFW and other MDG3 Fund co-grantees organisations committed to women’s empowerment to strengthen the visibility of their own work.
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Posted by sabina on December 14, 2009
Credit: Samantha Smit/IPS
Dec 14, 2009 - In this week’s podcast you will hear of:
* a young girl’s daily struggle to survive…
* how South Africa’s progressive gender laws only live on paper
* and how changes to the law in Egypt are slowly empowering women.
Posted by admin on November 20, 2009
UNESCAP head Noeleen Heyzer: "There is no reason why so many women have to die." Credit:Marwaan Macan-Markar/IPS
Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews NOELEEN HEYZER, U.N. under-secretary general and head of UNESCAP
BANGKOK, Nov 20 (IPS) - Nearly 15 years after a landmark international conference to advance the rights and freedoms of women, the picture in the Asia-Pacific region is mixed, says a leading women’s rights advocate and senior United Nations official.
While educated women and those with skills “can go as far as they want,” it is a different reality for those who come from Asia’s poorer millions. “There have never been cracks in the glass ceiling for many women in poor rural areas,” says Noeleen Heyzer, head of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), a U.N. regional body based in Bangkok.
A similarly mixed picture appears with the push to strengthen the cause of women through the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a U.N. treaty that has been ratified by 186 countries. While lawmakers and governments have embraced this international convention, culture and traditional beliefs have placed roadblocks. More »
Posted by admin on November 9, 2009
David Bahati submitting his controversial anti-gay Bill to parliament. Credit:Wambi Michael/IPS
By Wambi Michael
KAMPALA, Nov 9 (IPS) - The Ugandan government will put to death gay citizens repeatedly caught having sex and throw into jail those who touch each other in a “gay” way, if a new proposed Bill becomes law.
A new Bill, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, seeks to legislate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people in Uganda. And it wants to pave the way for its harsh treatment of them by nullifying any international treaties, conventions or declarations believed to be contrary to it.
“The Bill is so inhumane … It violates every aspect of a human being. I mean you cannot tell me you will kill me because I’m gay,” says Gerald Sentogo, the gay administrator for the organisation Sexual Minorities Uganda.
The death penalty is listed as punishment under an offence called aggravated homosexuality. This part of the Bill states that “repeat offenders” of homosexuality are liable to get the death penalty. The death penalty is also applied in a homosexual relationship if a partner is under 18, or has a disability, or is HIV positive. People accused under the aggravated homosexuality clause will be forced to undergo an HIV test. More »
Posted by admin on April 7, 2009
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, Apr 2 (IPS) The debate on the decriminalisation of therapeutic
abortion has been revived ahead of the December presidential elections in
Chile, one of the few countries in the world where abortion is illegal
even under extreme circumstances, such as risk to the mother's life or
a severely deformed foetus.
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Posted by admin on April 1, 2009
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 1 (IPS) - The spreading global financial crisis is
threatening to undermine another one of the U.N.’s major development and health goals: family planning.
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AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT: A CRITICAL MOMENT TO SUPPORT SUDAN 
THE PRIVATISATION OF LIVELIHOOD
WOMEN'S HEALTH - A SMART INVESTMENT IN TROUBLED TIMES
POOR COUNTRIES RAILROADED INTO WEAK COMPROMISE AT UN FINANCIAL SUMMIT
LET THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT DO ITS WORK
WORLD MUST KEEP UP PRESSURE ON AFGHAN LAW AGAINST WOMEN
GLOBAL CRISIS: WOMEN WORKERS WILL BE HIT HARDEST
HEALTH-SWAZILAND: 'Role Models in the Community'
GLOBAL HEALTH SYSTEM IN STATE OF ALARM
