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WGNRR Speaks Up! keeps members and partners informed about WGNRR's activities, conferences, resources, funding opportunities, solidarity, etc. It also gives members space to make announcements, request information or share points of view. Your contributions are welcome! Send them to office@wgnrr.org

WGNRR Speaks UP!

November 2014
Monthly e-update for partners and members of WGNRR
IN THIS ISSUE
Framing the Post-2015 Agenda:
  • Beijing +20 Regional Review Process
  • Ressources and Upcoming Events on Post-2015
WGNRR at Global and Regional Events
  • ICW-WGNRR Advocacy Project to Adress the SRHR of Women Living with HIV
  • Training on "Judging from a Gender Perspective and SRHR" for Mexican Judicial Officers
  • Elige Forum on Public Policy for Young Women
  • Workshop on Abortion in Tanzania
SRHR Campaigns
  • Campaign of "las17", 17 Salvadoran women imprisoned on suspicion of having an abortion

 
  • Botswana High Court allows registration of LGBTI organizations
  • WGNRR urges Kyrgyzstan to vote agains the "Anti-Propaganda" Bill
  • Nurse faces death penalty over abortion death in Kenya
  • WGNRR condemns the tragic deaths and injuries id Indian women subjected to unsafe abortion in Chattisgarh
  • First Public apology of the Mexican government for a maternal death
  • Human Rights-related resources
Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs)
  • Three Canadian Organizations merge under Action Canada
WGNRR Member in Action

Events, Resources & Opportunities

What's New at WGNRR?
WGNRR is growing and we have two new members to welcome on our team! Wendy Jacoby is our new Communications Officer and Marisol Marisol Ruiz Celorio is our Programme Associate. Both will be working in our Mexico Office. Your can reach them by e-mail under wendy@wgnrr.org and programme_associate@wgnrr.org. 

We hope you will enjoy the newsletter!

In solidarity,
WGNRR Team

                                             
                      Wendy Jacoby                                                     Marisol Ruiz Celorio

Framing the Post-2015 Agenda

WGNRR's work to push  for SRHR in the Post-2015 agenda, as well as helpful information on the New Development Agenda process for SRHR organizations
 
Source: UNWoman via Flickr CC and WGNRR 

 
Beijing +20 Regional Review Process 

November was a very busy month for WGNRR with the Beijing+20 Review Process. WGNRR was particularly active in Asia, where we served as a member of the CSO Steering Committee that organised the CSO Forum on Beijing +20; jointly organized with partners a parallel session on SRHR; and provided strategic support for civil society engagement in the Asian and Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Beijing+20 Review. At this meeting, UNESCAP member states adopted the Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. The Declaration includes States' commitments to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), and will feed into the 59th Session on the Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), to be held in March 2015 as part of the global review process.
 
Read More on Beijing+20 Events and WGNRR´s Involvement Â 

The CSO Forum on Beijing+20, held on November 14-16 in Bangkok, Thailand with the support of UNWomen, gathered 480 women’s rights organisations and movements from across the Asia and the Pacific region. Throughout the Forum, participants called on governments to be accountable to their commitments made 20 years ago to advance gender equality and the rights of women and girls.
  
Also during the Forum, WGNRR along with Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (APA), The Asia Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women (ARROW), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), International Planned Parenthood Federation SARO and the International Women’s Health Coalition organised a parallel session on “SRHR in the Beijing +20 and Post-2015 Agenda: From Commitment to Accountability.” Participants in the interactive workshop identified urgent SRHR issues and key recommendations for governments in the region, and specifically demanded the recognition and inclusion of SRHR language in the Beijing +20 review.
 
The 3-day CSO Forum was followed by the Asian and Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Beijing+20 Review, where UNESCAP member states adopted the Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. The declaration includes States' commitments to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) and will feed into the global review process dialogue to be held in 2015 at the 59th Session on the Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).
 
Over the course of the ministerial meeting, the CSO Steering Committee was given opportunities to deliver statements on behalf of civil society in the region. WGNRR, as represented by Marevic Parcon delivered a statement on behalf of the CSO Steering Committee calling for governments’ accountability for the human rights of women and girls in the region. Please download the statements HERE.
 
By the end of the ministerial meeting, CSOs expressed disappointment at some of the regressive outcomes document agreed to by States. For example, the outcome document failed to include progressive language on sexual rights and on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). CSOs also reiterated the need for accountability and financial and political will to ensure States' commitments under the BPfA, including ensuring that these commitments are included in the post 2015 development agenda.
 

In Africa, Catherine Nyambura from WGNRR member organization Dandelion Kenya, attended the African CSO review for Beijing+20, the experts meetings and a luncheon for young women hosted by the Deputy ED of UN Women. Click here to read her article on the outcomes of the event.
 
Click here to read the Beijing+20 Civil Society Forum Statement from Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe and Latin America. 
 
Resources and Upcoming Events on Post-2015
  • Here is an interesting video explaining and calling for Development Jstice in the Post-2015 Agenda
  • Post-2015 co-facilitators shared a "Food for Thought" paper  proposing dates, the scope of negotiations, and working methods for the next year.

WGNRR at Global and Regional SRHR Events

WGNRR actively participates in regional and global events related to WGNRR’s focus areas (youth SRHR, sexual rights, access to safe abortion, and access to contraception) as one of its strategies for advocacy and networking.

             
Source: WGNRR
 

ICW-WGNRR Advocacy Project to Address the SRHR
of Women Living with HIV
 

Through the support of Stop AIDS Now!, ICW and WGNRR are undertaking a new project based in Nigeria, to build local skills and develop an advocacy strategy to address SRHR violations in healthcare settings experienced by women living with HIV (WLHIV). This Fall, WGNRR held an inaugural workshop in partnership with ICW Global and ICW West Africa, bringing together SRHR and HIV advocates to form a coalition of CSOs and WLHIV to implement the project. During the workshop, women shared their experiences of accessing SRHR services and gave numerous accounts of how services are limited or denied, especially for young unmarried women. The next stage of the project will provide capacity building on advocacy and campaigning skills, and a youth meeting will be held in 2015.

 
                                      
                                                           Source: Judicial Power of Yucatán

Training on "Judging from a Gender Perspective 
and SRHR" for Mexican Judicial Officers

This Fall, our Latin American Advocacy and Programme Manager, Vanessa Coria, delivered a training for more than 100 judicial officers on human rights from an SRHR and gender perspective. The workshop took place in the Mexican city of Mérida and was hosted by the Judicial Power of Yucatan and WGNRR´s local partner UNASSE (Unidad de Atención Sicológica, Sexológica Educativa para el Crecimiento Personal). 
                    
Source: Elige


Elige Forum on Public Policy for Young Women 

Red de Jovenes por los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos, centering on young women's priorities relating to public policy in Mexico City.  In the event, Lara along with other young female civil society representatives reflected upon why it was important to afford space to young women in public policy discussions, as well as ways in which such discussions could be used to further improve the wellbeing of young women. 
                                                                      
                                                               Source: Women´s Promotion Center

Workshop on Abortion in Tanzania
 
WGNRR Africa Programme Officer Nondo Ejano supported our key Tanzanian partner, the Women’s Promotion Centre (WPC), in leading the development of a common strategy that could help members of the Coalition to Address Maternal Mortality due to Abortion and its Complications (CAMMAC) address abortion-related stigma, in order to improve access to safe abortion and post-abortion care. This support included the facilitation of a 3-day workshop geared towards enhancing CAMMAC members’ advocacy skills on safe abortion, as well as providing inputs into the review report and the abortion reduction strategy document for the Coalition.

SRHR Campaigns

Information about WGNRR's campaigns, allies' campaigns & calls for solidarity

 
                                        
Source: Las 17


Campaign of “las 17,” 17 Salvadoran women
imprisoned on suspicion of having an abortion
 

On 1 April 2014, human rights advocacy organizations presented 17 requests for pardons to the Legislative Assembly in El Salvador, for 17 women imprisoned on suspicion of having an abortion. This November 3, women’s human rights defenders undertook a follow-up action in front of the Supreme Court of Justice. They presented new evidence accumulated through a recent medical review, highlighting inaccuracies in medical opinions that were used to unjustly condemn the 17 women to 30-40 years of imprisonment. In response to the call for solidarity, WGNRR presented a letter to the Consulate of El Salvador in Metro Manila, Philippines and in Mexico City. Many thanks to all those who sent a letter!  There is still time to show your support - please visit the following LINK to see the template you can use to send solidarity letters.

On 1 April 2014, human rights advocacy organizations presented 17 requests for pardons to the Legislative Assembly in El Salvador, one for each of the 17 Salvadoran women. This November 3, women’s human rights defenders took action in front of the Supreme Court of Justice. They presented new evidence accumulated through a recent medical review, highlighting inaccuracies in medical opinions that were used to unjustly condemn the 17 women to 30-40 years of imprisonment. In response to the call for solidarity, WGNRR presented a letter (LINK) to the Consulate of El Salvador in Metro Manila, Philippines and in Mexico City. Many thanks to all those who sent a letter!  There is still time to show your support - please visit the following LINK to see the template you can use to send solidarity letters.

SRHR as HR

WGNRR's work to seek recognition of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as human rights (HR). Resolutions, statements, agreements, decision and actions that acknowledge SRHR as HR.

 
                                        
                                                                     Source: Flickr CC
 
Botswana High Court allows registration of LGBTI organizations

As of November 14th, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons in Botswana have the right to register their own organisations, as part of their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. See more HERE.
                                                
                                                                   Source: LabrisFlashmob
 
WGNRR Urges Kyrgyzstan to Vote against
the “Anti-Propaganda” Bill
 
 
WGNRR issued a STATEMENT expressing concern about the recent decision of Kyrgyzstan’s lawmakers to adopt the discriminatory “Anti-Propaganda” Bill targeting the Kyrgyz LGBTQI community and rights activists, urging lawmakers to vote against it. Among the proposed bill’s provisions would be the banning of LGBTQI organizations, the closure of gay clubs, as well as a one-year prison sentence for those found guilty of propagating “non-traditional sexual relations,” thereby limiting the freedom of speech, expression, and assembly of activists, journalists, and members of the LGBTQI community. 
                                                 
                                                                           Source: WGNRR
 
Nurse faces death penalty over abortion death in Kenya

This Fall, a Kenyan court sentenced a nurse named Jackson Namunya Tali to death for performing an abortion that resulted in the death of a young woman in 2009. Though questions linger about the facts of the case, including whether the woman had sought a clandestine procedure elsewhere before going to Tali, one thing is certain: this verdict is already having a chilling effect on healthcare providers in Kenya, placing safe abortion and post-abortion care services further out of reach for Kenyan women. 
                                              
                                                                   Source: World Bank via Flickr CC
 
WGNRR condemns the tragic deaths and injuries of Indian women subjected to unsafe sterilization in Chattisgarh
 
The death of 13 young mothers during a sterilization camp in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh has caused international outcry. The routine sterilization drive was part of a campaign by the Indian government aimed at controlling population growth, and was conducted by doctors at a private hospital who reportedly performed 83 operations within six hours. Several organizations have released statements condemning this tragic case, like Population Foundation, IPPF and UNFPA and ARROW. Here is also an interesting editorial by Gita Sen on the Lessons from Bilaspur.
                                                 
                                                                             Source: GIRE
 
First public apology of the Mexican
government for a maternal death


The campaign driven by the Mexican organization GIRE has brought its first results. For the first time, the local government has apologized for a case of maternal death. Her name was Susana, her gallbladder was removed without consent and her fingerprint was taken after death to falsify the authorization of the surgery that killed her. Click here to sign GIRE´s petition  or here to watch the related video.  
Human Rights-Related Resources
  • Manuela Case CRR Report in English: Manuela was a 33 year old Salvadoran woman of low socio-economic resources, who died of cancer while serving a 30 year prison sentence for the crime of aggravated homicide, after having suffered an obstetric emergency. You can find the toolkit for the case HERE.
  • Colombian Ruling on Abortion: Since 2006 Colombia recognizes the right to abortion under certain circumstances. This publication by Women´s Link Worldwide analyzes the rules for conscientious objection set by the Colombian ruling.

Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs)

Highlights of issues that SRHR activists, advocates and defenders face as a result of their work.
 
                               
                                                                   Source: KathleenPye/Twitter

Three Canadian Organizations Merge under Action Canada
 
This November, three of Canada’s leading voices on sexual health and rights merged to launch a new progressive, pro-choice charitable organization called Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, thereby creating a strengthened SRHR voice in international and national-level policy, education and access. For more information, please click HERE.

WGNRR Member in Action

Every month we will feature at least one member organization or individual to facilitate sharing of experiences and information among members and encourage collaboration.

                       
                                                                        Source: Taller Salud

 
Taller Salud - WGNRR member from Puerto Rico

 
Feminist grassroots organization Taller Salud is focused on education and prevention in the areas of sexual and reproductive rights in Puerto Rico and celebrated this year its 35th anniversary. Established in 1979 as the first feminist organization in Puerto Rico, it’s main goal was to stop the massive sterilization processes that were performed on women of low income.



Taller Salud now works mostly with women and girls in the north-eastern coastal town of Loíza in the areas of: 
  • HIV/STIs
  • Child abuse
  • Sexual aggression
  • Teenage pregnancy and
  • Domestic violence prevention.
 
In these 35 years Taller Salud has supported about 35.000 women. The organization recently launched a fundraising campaign to ensure it´s ongoing work in future years and continue supporting women in Puerto Rico. Here is a video (in Spanish) that briefly presents the work of Taller Salud.

For more information on Taller Salud contact them via Twitter, Facebook or at their website.
 
 

Events, Resources and Opportunities
Resources
Events
  • 4th international conference SVRI Forum 2015, September 15-17, 2015,  organised by the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI).


Opportunities
Connect with WGNRR in Your Region
If you would like to know more about what’s happening in your region, please coordinate with WGNRR staff in your region:
Africa - Nondo (nondo@wgnrr.org)
Asia Pacific - Marevic (marevic@wgnrr.org)
Europe - Aiste (aiste@wgnrr.org)
Latin America and the Caribbean - Vanessa (vanessa@wgnrr.org)
North America - Lara (lara@wgnrr.org)
 
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