The following is a post written by Mikhail Bell, a Human Rights Program Intern with Vital Voices. Mikhail Bell is a 2008 graduate of Hamilton College (Clinton, NY). He is interested in studying sex trafficking and plans to pursue an advanced degree in International Affairs.

On January 21, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed an attentive Newseum audience. The gathering, sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, outlined the Obama Administration’s plans to increase internet access and freedom of expression within the international community. Her comments, delivered nine days after the Haiti earthquake, positioned “21st century statecraft” as an important tool in America’s foreign policy arsenal.

Even now, state-sponsored technology is helping survivors of Haiti earthquake. The State Department’s text campaign lets mobile users text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 dollars towards American Red Cross relief efforts. The effort, which has raised over $25 million since it began, is one of the few resources that provides emergency alerts and locates victims. Two survivors, a woman and a 16-month old infant, were found beneath the rubble because people texted for help.

Secretary Clinton asserted that technology is forming a new nervous system, which is keeping more governments accountable and increasing transparency in certain places, such as Iran. She also noted that information networks are a double-edged sword. While demonstrations were organized online, the Iranian government also used websites like Youtube to crush protests and locate dissenters.

Encouraging Americans to promote internet freedom, Secretary Clinton declared:

“We cannot be silent about these issues simply because we cannot hear the cries.”

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With critical elections scheduled in April, women in South Sudan are rallying for an increased role in the rebuilding of government infrastructure and civil institutions, reports IPS News. A nation severely weakened by conflict and violence, Sudan and its citizens are in desperate need of reform and development –a process that has many women campaigning for full and fair participation in political life. Hannah Dario, a social worker in Lakeside State, says that it is time for change in Sudan:

“We believe this change will come through an engendered decision-making process, as well as in implementation of these decisions…No one should gamble with the peace for which we have paid such a high price to enjoy.”

Members of grassroots women’s organizations say that the future of their nation should be shaped by an equal partnership between men and women. Sudanese women are gathering to discuss and debate important issues surrounding political, social, and economic life, preparing to offer a unified and representative platform as election season gains way. According to IPS, “the meetings also serve to collect and articulate women’s grievances and issues to be passed on to those women who occupy elected and appointed seats in government.”

Deborah Tito, a housewife and member of the Women’s Union organization, which branches across all states in northern and southern Sudan, says that women must be regarded as equal stakeholders in the political future of the state. Tito goes on to say that women’s leadership must be engaged and recognized in its many forms:

“It’s very unfortunate that the debate about women and leadership has degenerated into the number of seats we can or should have.”

Tito insists that the women’s movement in Sudan be focused on the quality, as opposed to quantity, of leadership as it affects women. The path to equality, she argues, will take more than a high percentage of female representation in government. As Sudan rebuilds, and many women are uniting to join in the effort, still others are struggling to secure basic needs of survival. One government representative says:

“For most women, even with the end of the war, survival precedes all else. As long as they can put something together to feed the family, then all else is luxury, including a more balanced gender make-up in government.”

As elections near, women’s organizations continue to mobilize citizens in an effort to communicate their needs and ideas as a community.

SOUTH SUDAN: Women’s Eyes on the Political Prize -IPS News

In an interview with CNN, the mother of Neda Soltan, a protester fatally shot in the aftermath of the Iranian election, shares her last memory of her daughter. On the night before her death, Neda told her mother, Hajar Rostami, that she had dreamt of a struggle, and of her role in it:

“There was a war going on, and I was in the front.”

Rostami expressed her thanks to the millions who have come out in support of her daughter to honor her memory in the four months since her death.

Read the full article: Neda’s mother: She was ‘like an angel’ -CNN

Related on blog:

Iran’s Neda Becomes Rallying Cry for Protesters

Neda- The New Face of Opposition in Iran Mobilizes Women Protesters

The military suppression of the September 28 political demonstration in Guinea, which is said to have led to the deaths of between 56 and 157 people, included several instances of rape, according to accounts of witnesses cited in The New York Times. The demonstration took place in a stadium, where close to 50,000 people may have gathered in a show of opposition of the military junta, led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. As details continue to unfold and footage surfaces from cellphone recordings and photographs of the military action, the Times reports:

“women were the particular targets of the Guinean soldiers.”

In the Muslim nation, documentation of the rapes of unknown numbers of women is being met with “particular revulsion.” Photos depict women lying in muddy ground as they are assaulted by soldiers wearing military fatigues and red berets. Despite the stigma associated with rape in the nation, some women have chosen to speak about the violence they suffered, including whippings, beatings, knife wounds, and the brutality of gang rape. Violence in the form of mass rape has not previously featured as a tactic of government repression, said former Prime Minister Sidya Toure:

“This time, a new stage has been reached. Women as battlefield targets. We could never have imagined that.”

Another former Prime Minister, Francois Lonseny Fall, said of the sexual violence perpetrated by Guinean soldiers: “They especially tore into the women. They were seeking to humiliate them.” He went on to add: “We want a force of intervention to protect us from the ferocity of the Guinean army.”

Foreign Minister of France Bernard Kouchner has called for “international intervention” and declared that his country could no longer work with Captain Camara. As recently as 2007, security forces in Guinea shot dead several hundred antigovernment protesters, who were demonstrating in opposition to the regime of Lansana Conte, predecessor of Camara.

In a Guinea Seized by Violence, Women Are Prey- NYT

As the United Nations Climate Summit convenes in New York City this week, there is a call for women’s involvement and representation in the global dialogue on climate change. IPS News reports that of the 146 attendant national delegations, only seven were headed by women, prompting Oxfam Director Barbara Stocking to comment that “once again, women find themselves left out of the negotiations on issues that affect them the most.” With responsibilities such as collecting water, feeding families and tilling soil resting squarely on the shoulders of women, various climate activists argue that the female population has a vested interest in climate change and must participate accordingly in forming a response to the mounting global crisis.

In a statement, Finnish President Tarja Halonen attests to the need to involve women in negotiations:

“climate change hits most seriously the poorest regions and the weakest groups of people. Since about 70 percent of the world’s poor are women, they will suffer the most.”

Halonen went on to insist that “we need to ensure full and active participation of women in the making and in the implementation of the new deal.” With thousands gathered this week in New York to focus on the challenges presented by climate change, activists are urging that gender-perspectives and considerations be included in the formation of any global plan to address climate change.

ENVIRONMENT: Women on Front Lines of Climate Week- IPS News

A new Gender and Human Rights Report released on September 7, 2009 indicates that only 20% of the judges serving on Argentina’s high courts are women. This figures illustrates a discrepancy in the Argentine judicial system, especially given that the majority of lawyers in the country are women.

The study suggests that instead of focusing solely on gaining equal gender representation, the issue would be better resolved by providing judges with gender-awareness education.

Several groups are ensuring that this education makes an impact. Besides the efforts of NGOs, the Gender Commission of the National Ombusdman’s Office is requiring all judges, public defenders, and other judicial employees to complete a gender-awareness course, which are held monthly.

Julieta Di Corleto, an employee of the Gender Commission, told IPS, “Having a woman on the bench does not guarantee a gender perspective. We have to train men and women to incorporate this perspective and apply it.”

ARGENTINA: Women Judges Not Enough; Gender Awareness Training Needed - IPS

In commemoration of International Peace Day, over 1,000 members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA/MOZA) took to the streets in a call for peace in the African nation. The Zimbabwean organization began as a women’s civic movement in 2003 and has since evolved to incorporate men along with women in a national move for gender equality. The theme of the protest was ‘Social Justice will bring Peace of Mind’.

Tracey Musiwa, a member of WOZA, participated in the 2007 Vital Voices of Africa: A Pan-African Leadership Summit for Women and Girls.

Read the statement released by WOZA/MOZA to mark International Peace Day

On September 21, citizens around the globe observe the International Day of Peace, first initiated by the United Nations in 1981. This year, the date marks the culmination of a 100-day campaign for disarmament led by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who insisted on September 18 “We must disarm! We must have peace.” Emphasizing that nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation contribute to development and safeguard the rights of the vulnerable, Mr. Ban further added that nations must choose to disarm,

“Because the world is over-armed and peace is under-funded.”

International human rights organizations, student groups, and individual peace activists are honoring the day of global ceasefire in various ways. In previous years, International Peace Day has been commemorated with mass polio vaccinations, as happened in the remote regions of Afghanistan in 2007, when some 1.4 million children were vaccinated. One artist and filmmaker, German Jeremy Gilley, has for the past 10 years been meeting with international leaders and experts, campaigning for peace and promoting the day as “a 24-hour-long platform for life-saving activities around the world.” Through his organization, Peace One Day, Gilley intends to reach 3 billion people with the message of peace by 2012.

In one example, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has ordered all members of the Afghan Armed Forces not to resort to violence on this day, and news reports indicate that the ceasefire is being observed with only isolated incidents of violence.

As UN marks International Day of Peace, Ban makes appeal for disarmament-UN News Center

Peace One Day

Last week, I came across Vanity Fair’s “The New Establishment 2009” list. According to the magazine, “Like the economy, V.F.’s annual ranking of the top 100 Information Age Powers has been truly shaken up, with new blood emerging.”

So, who does Vanity Fair consider the top dogs? 87 men and only 13 women, which, incidentally, is the same gender breakdown as in the United States Senate.

The first female presented is not even a woman in her own right; rather it is the couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Not included in the list are: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Delegate Susan Rice, and Cabinet members Janet Napolitano and Kathleen Sebelius. Also apparently too insignificant to make the cut is Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, despite the fact that she is on the brink of ushering in universal health care to America for the first time. Continue Reading »

Zimbabwean Vongai Chikwanda participated in the April 2008 ‘Women’s Leadership in Public Life’ Vital Voices political training, where representatives from 13 African countries joined to engage in political campaign and public leadership training. Vongai is a researcher and program assistant with the Women in Politics Support Unit, an organization working for the equal participation and inclusion of women in political processes.

Vongai Chikwanda of Zimbabwe, after participating in a Vital Voices political training, has initiated a project to involve young women in the constitutional reform process currently underway in her nation. The disputed elections of June 2008 in Zimbabwe led to the formation of the Government of National Unity, a coalition government that includes President Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front), Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (Movement for Democratic Change) and Deputy Prime Ministers Thokozani Khuphe and Arthur Mutambara (Movement for Democratic Change-Mutambara). The administration came together after the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in September 2008. In accordance with one of the stipulations of the GPA, parties must draft a new constitution for Zimbabwe through a democratic, inclusive and citizen-driven process.

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