A Woman among Warlords: the Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice is Malalai Joya’s powerful eyewitness account of life in Afghanistan. Joya made international headlines when, at twenty-five years old, she stood up at a meeting of her country’s newly elected constitutional assembly and passionately denounced the war criminals among them. Two years later, she was elected Afghanistan’s youngest Parliamentarian, and her struggle became the subject of the acclaimed documentary Enemies of Happiness. Despite being one of the most popular MPs in the country, she faced constant harassment and was suspended in 2007. Her supporters believe Joya was suspended for her persistent criticism of warlords, drug barons, and their cronies in government.

Prior to her political career, Joya was raised in the refugee camps of Iran and Pakistan. She organized underground classes during the Taliban regime, hiding books under the burqa she was forced to wear, and also helped establish a free medical clinic and orphanage in her impoverished home province of Farah. In her book, Joya recounts daily acts of resistance by the long-suffering Afghan people, including families that lend their basements as classrooms for female students; men who step forward to prevent women from being punished by authorities for walking alone; and courageous women who take to the streets in protest. She emphasizes ordinary Afghans’ desire for powerful war criminals to finally be brought to justice.

Her message is clear:  only after Afghans are freed from decades of civil war and occupation, and corrupt fundamentalists are no longer allowed to tyrannize them with impunity, will Afghanistan have a genuine democracy.

According to Joya, women continue to suffer as they did under the Taliban, only now with higher rates of suicide and abduction and total impunity for rape. She notes that even though nearly a third of the lower house of Parliament is composed of women due to a quota, few have publicly supported women’s rights. Joya has said that many of these MPs are supported by warlords who intend to intimidate independent women in order to dissuade them from running for office.

Joya has survived four assassination attempts to date, is always accompanied by armed guards, and can only sleep in safe houses, yet she continues to be an outspoken advocate for her people.

“How can a country improve when 50% of its population is silenced? It is like a bird with only one wing.”

– Malalai Joya

Site: Malalai joya

As U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Susan Rice released a statement today in commemoration of the 30^th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Rice said that “notable progress” has been made in the 30 years since the introduction of CEDAW, which is informally known as the Treaty for the Rights of Women. Ambassador Rice called for action to “close remaining gender gaps, both at home and abroad.” Speaking on the commitment of the United States, one of the only remaining nations that has yet to ratify CEDAW, Rice said:

“The Obama Administration strongly supports this landmark treaty, and is committed to United States ratification.”

The Ambassador went on to note U.S. support of the creation of a UN agency that will be dedicated solely to women and gender issues. Rice further added: “The battle to eliminate discrimination and enshrine women’s equal rights is not yet won. The U.S. will not rest until, with others, we make this shared goal a reality.”

Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice- U.S. Mission to the United Nations

On December 18, 1979, the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), informally known as the Treaty for the Rights of Women. Today, 30 years later, the international community commemorates the adoption of this critical instrument for the preservation and practice of women’s rights.

The Treaty for the Rights of Women is an international instrument for governments, activists, advocates and citizens joined in a global movement towards the full realization and practice of women’s rights. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979, the Treaty has since been ratified by 186 nations as the preeminent treaty acknowledging the comprehensive rights of women as fundamental human rights. In defining discrimination against women, the Treaty includes any restriction or exclusion, made on the basis of sex, which has as its purpose or effect a denial of the full recognition and exercise of a woman’s fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil, or any other sphere.

CEDAW uniquely addresses prejudice as a social construct with systemic and systematic consequences, citing social and cultural patterns of conduct based on perceived inferiority or superiority as root causes that perpetuate discrimination against women. Written in the progressive spirit that was later echoed by the historic 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, the Treaty urges that women and men recognize and remedy a reality that permits socially constructed gender roles to dictate the experience and opportunity afforded an individual.

The Treaty is a decisive call for the promise of equal opportunity to be practically extended to women in areas of political and public life, education, employment, health care, economic and social rights, as well as in marriage and family relations. In distinguishing de facto equality from de jure equality, the Treaty seeks to engage signatories as partners in an active movement to realize women’s rights, promoting concrete measures to be taken by states parties in an effort to accelerate equality between men and women.

Currently, only the United States, Sudan, Somalia, Iran and three other countries have not ratified CEDAW. A signatory since President Jimmy Carter signed the treaty in 1979, the U.S. has been at an impasse in Congress since then, and despite several attempts, the Treaty for the Rights of Women remains unratified. The Obama Administration has declared ratification of CEDAW a priority. Failure to ratify has often undermined American credibility in its rebuke of human rights abuses abroad and calls for women’s human rights.

Following their ratification of the Treaty, various countries across the world have taken action based on CEDAW in efforts to empower women and legitimize and enforce their rights.

• Nicaragua, Jordan, Egypt and Guinea are among other nations that have seen significant increases in literacy rates after improving access to education for women and young girls.
• Colombia has, since ratification, criminalized domestic violence and required protection for victims.
• Ukraine, Nepal, Thailand and the Philippines are among other states that have passed legislation to address sex trafficking.
• Uganda, South Africa, Brazil and others have incorporated provisions of the Treaty into their constitutions and domestic legal codes.
• India developed national guidelines on workplace sexual assault after the Supreme Court found that CEDAW required such protections.

Vital Voices Global Partnership stands with hundreds of NGOs in support of U.S. ratification of the Treaty, so that our country, long respected as an advocate and example of human rights, may lend its full support and credibility to its commitment to ensure the human rights of women across the world.

If you are interested in supporting CEDAW, here are a few ways that you can express your support:

Ratify CEDAW on its 30^th Anniversary –Citizens for Global Solutions

Working Group on CEDAW

Physicians for Human Rights

Related: The Significance of CEDAW in Turkey: Interview with Urun Guner-Vital Voices

Georgina Nakitari of Kenya is a valued member of the Vital Voices network, most recently participating in Rising Voices: Young Kenyan Women’s Leadership and Communications Training. Living as an HIV positive woman, Georgina was profiled by The Standard as a true crusader who has “taken a brave step by coming out in public about her status and reaching out to other infected women.” Georgina works as a social worker and supervisor at the Coptic Hope Center, where she is in charge of the adult clinic. Her inspiring story is featured in this article, “Crusader larger than AIDS virus,” The Standard.

Elizabeth Kumba Torto is challenging tradition in the eastern part of Sierra Leone, looking to leave a male-dominated political custom behind in her bid for the position of paramount chief in the local chieftaincy election. In Kono, where many believe the nation’s civil war over “blood diamonds” began, Torto is contesting a decision that has found her candidacy invalid because of a recently-passed Chieftaincy Act, which states “a person is qualified to stand as a candidate in a paramount chieftaincy election where tradition so specifies,” as IPS News reports. It is this “tradition,” which excludes women from holding high-level political positions like the paramount chief, the “highest traditional head who rules over 11 districts in the country.”

Torto and her supporters are taking her case, which has evolved into an issue of women’s civil rights, to the Sierra Leone High Court. Veronica Dauda, president of Kono Women’s Group, said of the situation:

“Madame Torto’s fight is a woman’s fight. If we are able to (allow) her to contest the election then we would have broken a strong barrier to [women’s] equal participation in politics.”

Sierra Leone: Woman Breaking Traditional Walls in Chieftaincy Elections -IPS News

In a speech given this Monday at Georgetown University, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlined the human rights agenda of the Obama administration for the 21^st century. Clinton said that as we commemorate the 61^st anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we must look to the document itself as a “standard for achievement.” The Secretary went on to say:

“Our human rights agenda for the 21^st century is to make human rights a human reality…people must be free from the oppression of tyranny, from torture, from discrimination, from the fear of leaders who will imprison of “disappear” them. But they also must be free from the oppression of want –want of food, want of health, want of education, and want of equality in law and in fact.”

Clinton said that human rights, democracy, and development must be pursued simultaneously, as part of one agenda. In an effort to advance a comprehensive agenda of human rights, the Secretary of State said that we must highlight and recognize the achievements of human rights activists around the world:

“We can amplify the voices of activists and advocates working on these issues by shining a spotlight on their progress. They often pursue their mission in isolation, often so marginalized within their own societies And we can endorse the legitimacy of their efforts…we can applaud Vital Voices, the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, and the Lantos Foundation, that do the same.”

Secretary Clinton went on to insist that “we have to remain focused on women –women’s rights, women’s roles, and women’s responsibilities.” Recalling her words at the historic Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 – “human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights”– Clinton said “I wish it could be so easily translated into action and changes.” Though there remains much to be accomplished regarding gender equality internationally, Secretary Clinton said that she and the Obama administration will work towards the full extension of human rights for all.

Remarks on the Human Rights Agenda for the 21st Century - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

In her remarks on Human Rights Day during The Courage to Lead: A Global Summit for Women Leaders, a gathering convened by Vital Voices and The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang spoke about women worldwide taking the lead in an effort to eliminate discrimination and secure the equal rights of all people. Noting that only six years remain before the 2015 deadline for the UN Millennium Development Goals, Kang pressed for greater efforts to address global gender disparities.

The Deputy High Commissioner went on to cite the importance of certain UN conventions, namely the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Kang said that age-old prejudices persist, threatening the full practice of women’s human rights:

“These underlying prejudices and practices determine gender roles, entrench discrimination in other contexts, such as education and participation in decision-making, and also render women more vulnerable to many forms of violence, including trafficking.”

Women Leaders: The Courage to Lead -UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Related:

On Human Rights Day 2009, UN High Commissioner Calls for Non-discrimination -Vital Voices Blog

On November 21, the 2009 Global Women’s Mentoring Walk took place in six countries across the globe, convening established women leaders and rising professionals in an effort to foster the leadership potential of the next generation of aspiring women leaders. Organized locally by Vital Voices alumnae of the FORTUNE/US State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership, the first walk to be held in Egypt was carried out with great success. Participant and organizer Noha Khattab, senior vice president at a regional private equity firm, writes on her experience and the mentoring walk in the post below.

Fellow FORTUNE/US State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership alumnae Ghada Darwish, Nermeen Nosseir and myself are proud to report the success of Egypt’s first mentoring walk. Held under the auspices of the Ministry of Family and Population, and sponsored by ExxonMobil and Al Azhar Part, our walk had 120 participants from many disciplines including business, NGOs, media, advertizing, medicine, and education among others.

Before the walk, we had matched mentors with mentees; some mentors walked with only one mentee, while others walked with as many as three mentees. The event was kicked off when Ghada, Nermeen and I gave an overview of the idea of mentoring, and what the walk will be about. We spoke about how we were introduced to the idea of mentoring through the FORTUNE/State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Program, and how we hope that this walk, which is Egypt’s first, would be the first of many to come. We said that we want to work towards reaching out to more and more women, especially marginalized women.

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Washington Life Magazine recently named the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards ceremony as the Most Inspirational Event of 2009. Held annually at the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Awards honor remarkable women leaders from across the world for their contributions in the fields of human rights, economic empowerment, and political participation. Among the honorees and presenters this year were Somaly Mam, Nicholas Kristof, Chouchou Namegabe, Ben Affleck, Sally Field, Ambassador Melanne Verveer, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Washington Social Diary: We Pick 2009 Best Events -Washington Life

Join us tonight for the Vital Voices Artisan Bazaar! This evening we are opening up our offices to host an annual bazaar, which features jewelry and crafts fashioned by women artisans from around the world. A fabulous silent auction will also be held, featuring a unique selection of items.

If you are in Washington, DC, be sure to come by and celebrate with us as we showcase beautiful products from the many talented women artisans we work with internationally. Our office is located at 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 850. Parking will be available in the building garage or on side streets nearby. Join us from 5:30 to 9 pm this evening.