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15 Mar 2012 - At the United Nations 2005 World Summit, leaders of all nations agreed on two things highly relevant to today's situation in Syria. They reaffirmed democracy as a universal value. And they agreed on the doctrine of responsibility to protect. They stated a "clear and unambiguous acceptance by all governments of the collective international responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity," and their "willingness to take timely and decisive collective action for this purpose, through the Security Council, when peaceful means prove adequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to do it."

For the full story, see International IDEA.

International IDEA joins the rest of the world in celebrating women on International Women’s Day 2012 with the theme, Making Democracy Deliver on Women’s Empowerment.

For IDEA, women’s empowerment is essential for democracy building and therefore, the question is, is democracy delivering on women’s empowerment? Why must we insist on democracy delivering on women’s empowerment?

Across the world, women’s long journey to empowerment still remains an uphill climb. It involves struggles on all fronts over rights, recognition, participation, representation and influence. There is no doubt that there has been some progress, but each step has been achieved despite difficult obstacles and resistance. It is tempting to ask, “when will we finally arrive there”? – at a gender equal society where women and men, boys and girls have equal rights, life prospects and opportunities and the power and influence to shape their own lives and contribute to society.

The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), ratified by 186 UN Member States sets out a comprehensive agenda for ending discrimination against women and girls. CEDAW recognises that due to historic discrimination, women do not start on an equal footing to men and therefore holistic empowerment strategies are needed to eliminate discrimination against women.

Furthermore, women had reason to expect change after the adoption of the landmark governmental agreement at the 1995 conference in Beijing which sets targets to transform and empower women worldwide. It is evident that there is no shortage of agreements and declarations, what is missing is the political will to translate these commitments into strategic actions that can deliver on women’s empowerment.

One major issue that persists in countries at different stages of democracy building is the continued absence or low presence of women’s voice in positions of power and decision making at all levels. With the understanding that democracy consists of popular control over public decision making, political equality in exercising that control, principles of deliberative democracy, human rights and civil liberties, well-functioning democracies should be incubators for women’s empowerment. We need to be alert to situations where democratization entails the transfer of power from one group of predominantly male political elites to another. This trend undermines women’s empowerment.

Read more about International IDEA's work here.

International IDEA joins the rest of the world in celebrating women on International Women’s Day 2012 with the theme, Making Democracy Deliver on Women’s Empowerment.

For IDEA, women’s empowerment is essential for democracy building and therefore, the question is, is democracy delivering on women’s empowerment? Why must we insist on democracy delivering on women’s empowerment?

Across the world, women’s long journey to empowerment still remains an uphill climb. It involves struggles on all fronts over rights, recognition, participation, representation and influence. There is no doubt that there has been some progress, but each step has been achieved despite difficult obstacles and resistance. It is tempting to ask, “when will we finally arrive there”? – at a gender equal society where women and men, boys and girls have equal rights, life prospects and opportunities and the power and influence to shape their own lives and contribute to society.

The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), ratified by 186 UN Member States sets out a comprehensive agenda for ending discrimination against women and girls. CEDAW recognises that due to historic discrimination, women do not start on an equal footing to men and therefore holistic empowerment strategies are needed to eliminate discrimination against women.

Furthermore, women had reason to expect change after the adoption of the landmark governmental agreement at the 1995 conference in Beijing which sets targets to transform and empower women worldwide. It is evident that there is no shortage of agreements and declarations, what is missing is the political will to translate these commitments into strategic actions that can deliver on women’s empowerment.

One major issue that persists in countries at different stages of democracy building is the continued absence or low presence of women’s voice in positions of power and decision making at all levels. With the understanding that democracy consists of popular control over public decision making, political equality in exercising that control, principles of deliberative democracy, human rights and civil liberties, well-functioning democracies should be incubators for women’s empowerment. We need to be alert to situations where democratization entails the transfer of power from one group of predominantly male political elites to another. This trend undermines women’s empowerment.

Read more about International IDEA's work here.

International IDEA joins the rest of the world in celebrating women on International Women’s Day 2012 with the theme, Making Democracy Deliver on Women’s Empowerment.

For IDEA, women’s empowerment is essential for democracy building and therefore, the question is, is democracy delivering on women’s empowerment? Why must we insist on democracy delivering on women’s empowerment?

Across the world, women’s long journey to empowerment still remains an uphill climb. It involves struggles on all fronts over rights, recognition, participation, representation and influence. There is no doubt that there has been some progress, but each step has been achieved despite difficult obstacles and resistance. It is tempting to ask, “when will we finally arrive there”? – at a gender equal society where women and men, boys and girls have equal rights, life prospects and opportunities and the power and influence to shape their own lives and contribute to society.

The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), ratified by 186 UN Member States sets out a comprehensive agenda for ending discrimination against women and girls. CEDAW recognises that due to historic discrimination, women do not start on an equal footing to men and therefore holistic empowerment strategies are needed to eliminate discrimination against women.

Furthermore, women had reason to expect change after the adoption of the landmark governmental agreement at the 1995 conference in Beijing which sets targets to transform and empower women worldwide. It is evident that there is no shortage of agreements and declarations, what is missing is the political will to translate these commitments into strategic actions that can deliver on women’s empowerment.

One major issue that persists in countries at different stages of democracy building is the continued absence or low presence of women’s voice in positions of power and decision making at all levels. With the understanding that democracy consists of popular control over public decision making, political equality in exercising that control, principles of deliberative democracy, human rights and civil liberties, well-functioning democracies should be incubators for women’s empowerment. We need to be alert to situations where democratization entails the transfer of power from one group of predominantly male political elites to another. This trend undermines women’s empowerment.

Read more about International IDEA's work here.

13 Mar 2012 - There has been growing recognition that good development models are based on evidence and mutual accountability. Yet for years the lack of gender-related statistics has been used as a reason to not take bolder action on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

A dynamic new partnership, the Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE) Initiative, is responding to this gap. Jointly managed by UN Women and the UN Statistics Division, in collaboration with Member States, the World Bank, the OECD and others, it will work to meet the rising demand by countries across the world for greater support in accessing and using gender statistics – mainly by helping to build national capacity and strengthen national systems on data collection in critical areas. It will also promote the work already being done to develop standards and definitions for those who gather statistics, and those who use them.

For the full story, see UN Women.

13 Mar 2012 - There has been growing recognition that good development models are based on evidence and mutual accountability. Yet for years the lack of gender-related statistics has been used as a reason to not take bolder action on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

A dynamic new partnership, the Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE) Initiative, is responding to this gap. Jointly managed by UN Women and the UN Statistics Division, in collaboration with Member States, the World Bank, the OECD and others, it will work to meet the rising demand by countries across the world for greater support in accessing and using gender statistics – mainly by helping to build national capacity and strengthen national systems on data collection in critical areas. It will also promote the work already being done to develop standards and definitions for those who gather statistics, and those who use them.

For the full story, see UN Women.

27 Mar 2012 - Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) delivered the keynote address at a March 22 luncheon honoring the Women’s Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan, the 2012 recipient of the Madeleine K. Albright Grant awarded by NDI.

In her address, Wasserman Schultz challenged women to take the lead. “Too often, women don’t speak up,” Wasserman Schultz said. “But women's voices are crucial to democracy.”

For the full story, see NDI.

27 Mar 2012 - Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) delivered the keynote address at a March 22 luncheon honoring the Women’s Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan, the 2012 recipient of the Madeleine K. Albright Grant awarded by NDI.

In her address, Wasserman Schultz challenged women to take the lead. “Too often, women don’t speak up,” Wasserman Schultz said. “But women's voices are crucial to democracy.”

For the full story, see NDI.

26 Mar 2012 - SEOUL, March 25 - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Sunday met United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, exchanging views on the development of women roles while the latter showed his support on the matter both in Thailand and in the region.

Ms Yingluck told him that the development of women roles is one of her urgent policies, delivered to Parliament when her government took office last year.

For the full news article, see MCOT.

26 Mar 2012 - SEOUL, March 25 - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Sunday met United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, exchanging views on the development of women roles while the latter showed his support on the matter both in Thailand and in the region.

Ms Yingluck told him that the development of women roles is one of her urgent policies, delivered to Parliament when her government took office last year.

For the full news article, see MCOT.

26 Mar 2012 - SEOUL, March 25 - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Sunday met United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, exchanging views on the development of women roles while the latter showed his support on the matter both in Thailand and in the region.

Ms Yingluck told him that the development of women roles is one of her urgent policies, delivered to Parliament when her government took office last year.

For the full news article, see MCOT.

19 Mar 2012 - On 15 March 2011 a group of children of the sadly now famous city of Deraa, on their way out of school, wrote the first slogans on street walls calling for democracy and change of the authoritarian regime in Syria. That was a symbolic, peaceful and civilized act by very young citizens to echo the astonishing events in Egypt and Tunisia. The security forces reacted immediately through the only way they are used to under an oppressive rule, by arresting those children and subjecting them to brutal and disproportionate torture. It was not long before the Syrian people, completely aware of what was going on around them in the region and having suffered for long decades of ruthless oppression, could not support such cruelty anymore and decided to take to the streets. They peacefully cried out the so common demand in the Arab Spring “down with the regime”. In a matter of days protests spread across the country and among all segments of the Syrian social fabric.

For the full story, see IDEA.

19 Mar 2012 - On 15 March 2011 a group of children of the sadly now famous city of Deraa, on their way out of school, wrote the first slogans on street walls calling for democracy and change of the authoritarian regime in Syria. That was a symbolic, peaceful and civilized act by very young citizens to echo the astonishing events in Egypt and Tunisia. The security forces reacted immediately through the only way they are used to under an oppressive rule, by arresting those children and subjecting them to brutal and disproportionate torture. It was not long before the Syrian people, completely aware of what was going on around them in the region and having suffered for long decades of ruthless oppression, could not support such cruelty anymore and decided to take to the streets. They peacefully cried out the so common demand in the Arab Spring “down with the regime”. In a matter of days protests spread across the country and among all segments of the Syrian social fabric.

For the full story, see IDEA.

19 Mar 2012 - On 15 March 2011 a group of children of the sadly now famous city of Deraa, on their way out of school, wrote the first slogans on street walls calling for democracy and change of the authoritarian regime in Syria. That was a symbolic, peaceful and civilized act by very young citizens to echo the astonishing events in Egypt and Tunisia. The security forces reacted immediately through the only way they are used to under an oppressive rule, by arresting those children and subjecting them to brutal and disproportionate torture. It was not long before the Syrian people, completely aware of what was going on around them in the region and having suffered for long decades of ruthless oppression, could not support such cruelty anymore and decided to take to the streets. They peacefully cried out the so common demand in the Arab Spring “down with the regime”. In a matter of days protests spread across the country and among all segments of the Syrian social fabric.

For the full story, see IDEA.

26 Mar 2012 - Women in Pakistan have faced formidable challenges in their efforts to achieve gender equality and address gender-based violence in their country, with particular problems posed by elements among customary norms and practices.

Yet throughout the past few years, breakthroughs in pro-women legislation have shown that both the efforts of Pakistan’s government, and the advocacy of groups working toward women’s empowerment in the country, are taking effect.

For the full story, see UN Women.

26 Mar 2012 - Women in Pakistan have faced formidable challenges in their efforts to achieve gender equality and address gender-based violence in their country, with particular problems posed by elements among customary norms and practices.

Yet throughout the past few years, breakthroughs in pro-women legislation have shown that both the efforts of Pakistan’s government, and the advocacy of groups working toward women’s empowerment in the country, are taking effect.

For the full story, see UN Women.

26 Mar 2012 - Women in Pakistan have faced formidable challenges in their efforts to achieve gender equality and address gender-based violence in their country, with particular problems posed by elements among customary norms and practices.

Yet throughout the past few years, breakthroughs in pro-women legislation have shown that both the efforts of Pakistan’s government, and the advocacy of groups working toward women’s empowerment in the country, are taking effect.

For the full story, see UN Women.

27 Mar 2012 - UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet travelled to Libya on 11 and 12 March to meet with leaders and strengthen UN advocacy and engagement in support of Libyan women’s meaningful engagement in the transitional process.

She addressed a forum with youth and civil society on the role of women in politics, including the electoral process, a topic of great interest given the pending first democratic elections in Libya. Special attention was focused on supporting Libyan women as voters and candidates in the upcoming elections for the National Congress, which are anticipated for late June.

For the full news story, see UN Women.

27 Mar 2012 - UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet travelled to Libya on 11 and 12 March to meet with leaders and strengthen UN advocacy and engagement in support of Libyan women’s meaningful engagement in the transitional process.

She addressed a forum with youth and civil society on the role of women in politics, including the electoral process, a topic of great interest given the pending first democratic elections in Libya. Special attention was focused on supporting Libyan women as voters and candidates in the upcoming elections for the National Congress, which are anticipated for late June.

For the full news story, see UN Women.

27 Mar 2012 - UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet travelled to Libya on 11 and 12 March to meet with leaders and strengthen UN advocacy and engagement in support of Libyan women’s meaningful engagement in the transitional process.

She addressed a forum with youth and civil society on the role of women in politics, including the electoral process, a topic of great interest given the pending first democratic elections in Libya. Special attention was focused on supporting Libyan women as voters and candidates in the upcoming elections for the National Congress, which are anticipated for late June.

For the full news story, see UN Women.

10 April 2012 - Now that I am aware of my rights as a citizen, I feel so empowered”, said Aber Evalyn a 51 year-old woman from Uum village in the North of Uganda after participating in trainings held by the Forum for Women in Democracy to increase women’s involvement in the decision-making processes at the community level.

A grantee of UN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality, the Forum for Women in Democracy trained women in 16 communities in Uganda to form Village Budget Clubs. These clubs are working to ensure that women are actively involved in budget allocation and decisions regarding gender-sensitive policy measures at the local level. Aber Evalyn is one of the 320 people who benefited from a three-day training session designed to empower communities to demand accountability and the provision of better services from public authorities.

For the full story, see UN Women.

10 April 2012 - Now that I am aware of my rights as a citizen, I feel so empowered”, said Aber Evalyn a 51 year-old woman from Uum village in the North of Uganda after participating in trainings held by the Forum for Women in Democracy to increase women’s involvement in the decision-making processes at the community level.

A grantee of UN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality, the Forum for Women in Democracy trained women in 16 communities in Uganda to form Village Budget Clubs. These clubs are working to ensure that women are actively involved in budget allocation and decisions regarding gender-sensitive policy measures at the local level. Aber Evalyn is one of the 320 people who benefited from a three-day training session designed to empower communities to demand accountability and the provision of better services from public authorities.

For the full story, see UN Women.

10 April 2012 - Now that I am aware of my rights as a citizen, I feel so empowered”, said Aber Evalyn a 51 year-old woman from Uum village in the North of Uganda after participating in trainings held by the Forum for Women in Democracy to increase women’s involvement in the decision-making processes at the community level.

A grantee of UN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality, the Forum for Women in Democracy trained women in 16 communities in Uganda to form Village Budget Clubs. These clubs are working to ensure that women are actively involved in budget allocation and decisions regarding gender-sensitive policy measures at the local level. Aber Evalyn is one of the 320 people who benefited from a three-day training session designed to empower communities to demand accountability and the provision of better services from public authorities.

For the full story, see UN Women.

5 April 2012 - Delegates at the 126th Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Kampala, Uganda have asked parliamentary institutions in the world to prioritise matters of maternal and child health.

In the resolution passed, yesterday, parliamentarians were urged to ensure a coordinated approach to all matters pertaining to maternal and child health, such as sanitation, access to safe drinking water, the fight against malnutrition, and gender quality.

For the full story, see All Africa.

5 April 2012 - Delegates at the 126th Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Kampala, Uganda have asked parliamentary institutions in the world to prioritise matters of maternal and child health.

In the resolution passed, yesterday, parliamentarians were urged to ensure a coordinated approach to all matters pertaining to maternal and child health, such as sanitation, access to safe drinking water, the fight against malnutrition, and gender quality.

For the full story, see All Africa.