Conference Review - Terre des Femmes
Transcrição
Conference Review - Terre des Femmes
Conference 29th October 2011 A Review For several months Kerstin Horak, the TERRE DES FEMMES conference and her assistant Friederike Schwebler prepared for this day. On Saturday 29.10.2011 the preparations and wait was finally over: more than 400 women’s rights activists, experts and guests from all over the world came together in Berlin to discuss the progressive topic of girls’ rights at the international conference “Strengthening Girls’ Rights Worldwide” - and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of TERRE DES FEMMES - Human Rights for Women. When asked whether she was proud of what has become of TERRE DES FEMMES since it had been founded in her private apartment in October 1981, Ingrid Staehle one of the founders answered: „Es ist mehr als Stolz, es ist Überwältigung.“ (eng.: It is more than pride, it is overwhelming.) TERRE DES FEMMES originated from a deep feeling: The shock of what happen to women in this world had to be addressed somehow. This deep conviction, that girls and women's rights need their own platform and lobby so they can live independently and free, was present in all the speeches and discussions at the conference. Germany’s Federal President acknowledges work of TERRE DES FEMMES Federal President Christian Wulff stressed the importance of the tireless efforts of TERRE DES FEMMES for women's rights in his speech. „Unsere Demokratie lebt von Menschen wie Ihnen.“ (eng.: Our democracy thrives on people like you) He also emphasized that human rights violations against women in Germany is not a thing of the © Silke Helmerdig past. „Wir diskutieren über die Quotenregelung für Führungspositionen und zugleich werden Frauen - mitten in unserem Land - Opfer von häuslicher Gewalt, von Zwangsheirat oder von Racheakten im Namen der sogenannten Ehre." (eng.: We discuss a quota system for management positions and at the same time, women - in the middle of our country are victims of domestic violence, forced marriage, or of acts of revenge on behalf of so-called honour). The Federal President earned broad support from the audience, as he invited the chairwoman of TERRE DES FEMMES, Irmingard Schewe-Gerigk to his foreign trip to Scandinavia in 2012. The exemplary manner in which Scandinavian countries implement women's rights will be part of the trip’s agenda. Continuing violence against girls and women Rashida Manjoo, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women gave a dedicated keynote speech, which included a global overview on human rights abuses against girls and women. For Manjoo improving the availability and quality of education for girls is the main approach to improve the overall situation for girls. © Silke Helmerdig According to Manjoo, girls face a double disadvantage when it comes to education: on the one hand, girls tend to leave school without a degree, on the other hand, they are exposed to a heightened risk of sexual abuse, both on the way to and at school. Afternoon Panel Discussions After lunch the four parrallel panel disussions, which dealt with important aspects concerning the rights of girls, started. With more than 100 participants, the panel on Education was the best attended. The extreme differences between countries became particularly obvious during this panel: while Rekha Panigrahi from the Indian Orissa Research Centre stressed that families are still firstly concerned about their sons’ school education and only then about their daughters’, it was agreed that girls in Germany are more privileged. Wenka Wentzel, the scientific companion of the Girls' Days Initiative indentifies clearly: „Bildung soll Lebenschancen ermöglichen“ (eng.: education should enable life-long opportunities). In comparison to other OECD countries women and girls in Germany remain severely disadvantaged with significantly lower salaries,. In the next room the dicussion about Virginity was equally dedicated: The evocative documentary "The Burden of Virginity" by the Uzbek filmmaker Umida Akhmedova has been banned in her home country. But even in Germany, female sexuality is a taboo subject. Dr. Christine Klapp from the Ärztlichen Gesellschaft zur Gesundheitsförderung der Frau (ÄGGF, eng.: Medical Society for the Advancement of Women’s Health) reports that among the 14,000 students, which they reach as part of gynecological prevention projects each year, virginity is the central topic. The Department Head of TERRE DES FEMMES, Sibylle Schreiber also emphasized: „Als Frauenrechtsorganisation muss man sich mit Jungfräulichkeit beschäftigen, damit Mädchen selbstbestimmt leben können“ (eng.: As women's rights organization one has to take on the topic of virginity, so that girls can live independently). During the panel on Honour Crimes / Forced Marriage different definitions of "honour" were debated: Yilmaz Atmaca can easily question "honour" in his work with boys for the project Heroes. Here discussions on sexual self-determination lead to controversy. Meanwhile women's rights activist, Fauzia Viqar reports that patriarchy is so deeply rooted in Pakistani society that even more fundamental rights are withheld from girls and women, which are reasoned through "honour", such as leaving the house alone. The panel on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) included a controversial discussion on the role of men. Rugiatu Turay, founder of the women's rights organization Amazonian Initiative Movement (AIM) in Sierra Leone, said that because sexuality is a taboo subject, there is no discussion about the impact of FGM: "In our traditional setting, we do not talk about sex." Men only know women who underwent FGM and only awareness training shows people the extent of the suffering experienced by girls and women who endured the mutilation of their genitals. In the concluding panel "Quo vadis? Girls' and women's rights" the current global women’s political events were debated: The Tunisian developmental psychologist Souad Rejeb reported on the impact of the Arab Spring on women's rights and expressed concern about developments in the wake of the Tunisian elections, which were won by the islamist Ehnahda party. Dr. Sima Johanna Nelles, Souad Rejeb, Dr. Sima Samar, Ines Pohl, Ingrid Staehle, Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa (v.l.n.r.) © Silke Helmerdig Samar, chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, noted that in the past ten years since the last TERRE DES FEMMES Conference in which she also participated, many things have improved. However girls and women are still treated like "second class citizens”. Johanna Nelles emphasized the important task of the Council of Europe to bring the actors together and that the Convention Against Violence Against Women is currently in the process of being signed by member states. Eva-Welskop Deffaa , head of the Equality Unit of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, underlined the importance of women's rights work in and for Germany - even if her department with seven people does not have sufficient resources. This shows that committed women's rights activists are still needed and continue to be needed. After the day's program offered much food for thought, an evening of celebration followed: The women's rights successes of the last three decades and the untiring efforts for girls and women by TERRE DES FEMMES in the past 30 years were celebrated. © Silke Helmerdig