UN Women NZ NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2013

Transcription

1 1 PO Box 12473, Thorndon, Wellington 6144, New Zealand For more information visit:.nz UN Women NZ NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2013 UN WOMEN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND National Committee President: Sue Kedgley Vice-President: Angela McLeod Secretary: Liz Brown Treasurer: Deb Moran Past president: Rae Julian National Committee: Alana Bowman, Barbara Bedeschi, Joy Dunsheath, Nina Eghani, Ruth Harrison, Pia Karlberg, Christine Low, Beryl Matete, Elizabeth Ponter, Sunshine Prior Communications Assistant: Yvette Rigby Read more about committee members at.nz PRESIDENT S MESSAGE I have recently taken over the Presidency of the National Committee of UN Women New Zealand from Rae Julian. We all owe Rae a huge debt of gratitude for her leadership, hard work and dedication over the past three years. Four new members have joined the committee bringing new energy and skills to UN Women, Deb Moran, Ruth Harrison, Pia Karlberg and Barbara Bedeschi. We have had a busy three months. The inaugural White Camellia awards were held at Parliament, together with our partners The Human Rights Commission, the EEO Trust and the New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women. The awards recognise companies that have made a real effort to empower women and promote gender equity in their workplaces. The ceremony was held at Parliament, hosted by the Minister of Women s affairs and attended by around 100 people. Banks took 6 of the 7 awards. ASB bank won the supreme award for doing most to establish high level PARTNERING FOR RESULTS IN THE PACIFIC In April 2013 the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment in the Pacifi c (UNWomen) and Te Tuao Tawahi Volunteer Service Abroad New Zealand (VSA) came together in partnership with the aim of working with Pacifi c Island countries and territories governments and civil society organisations in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women s four programme areas are: Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacifi c; Ending Violence Against Women; Women s Economic Empowerment and gender, Climate change and Disaster Risk Management. Four VSA volunteers are already working with UN Women in the area of Women s Economic Empowerment. Most volunteers are placed for two years. Elzira Sagynbaeva (Photo: VSA) On her recent visit to New Zealand, Elzira Sagynbaeva, representative of UN Women in the Pacifi c outlined some of the current problems with implementing progammes in the Pacific: The budget requested for UN Women had been cut by half. Continued on page 2 column 1

2 2 corporate leadership and making the most progress in implementing the Women s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). WEPs meetings are coming up in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Youth for UN Women groups initiated by our Coordinator Sunshine Prior are very active. See page 5 The regional director of UN Women in the Pacifi c, Elzira Sagynbaeva, visited New Zealand recently to speak at the AGM of New Zealand Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA). Elzira spoke at a lunch time meeting held with VSA and met with members of our committee. We had the opportunity to discuss options for our next Pacifi c project, to follow up on our $60,000 contribution to the Solomon Islands market programme in Honiara to make markets safer and better suited to women vendors. Elzira also updated us on the contributions of VSA volunteers working for UN Women s Pacifi c Programmes in Suva, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. We hope to fi nalise our next Pacific fundraising project at our next National Committee meeting, where we will also agree on a three year strategy and our fundraising strategy. UN Women is cash strapped, as are other UN agencies. Many countries have not met their donor contributions, so we need to make a real effort next year to raise funds, particularly for projects UN Women is contributing to in the Pacifi c. Sue Kedgley Thank you to two long serving office holders on the UN Women committee: Rae Julian retired at the recent AGM after four years as President. Rae s wealth of experience in the fi elds of women s rights, international development and in many organisations was invaluable to UN Women. Rae remains on the committee as immediate past president. Beryl Anderson retired from the national committee at the AGM after serving as treasurer for three years. The books were always kept in immaculate order. The committee was also fortunate to benefi t from her expertise, advising on the website set up and her experience with CEDAW and the National Council of Women. The expense of doing business in the Pacifi c, scattered islands, costly travel. Without bilateral donors further cutbacks. Overall required to do more with less. However, Elzira referred to some positive gains for Pacifi c women: Some countries have passed family protection legislation. Aim for 10% women in Samoan Parliament. 30% quota for women in local councils in Vanuatu. Involving men and boys in taking responsibility and contributing to ending violence against women as in a programme in Tonga. Elzira emphasised the need for a rights based approach to women s advancement and that good governance was advancing gender equality in the Pacifi c with seven countries complying with CEDAW. WOMEN IN POLITICS FIJI The National Council of Women in Fiji is embarking on a project that aims to increase the representation of women in politics in the lead-up to the elections promised for next year. Its general secretary, Fay Volatabu, says it will work with the UN Democracy Fund to raise public awareness and train women as leaders. Ms Volatabu says the new constitution is silent on the issue of women in politics, so it is up to the parties to decide who they will nominate, and the public to who they are going to vote for. She says there is still a possibility that the yet to be released Electoral Act may demand that half the electoral roll will be reserved for women. This is basically about the empowerment of the public to make decisions. I mean that s all it is. It s about freedom; it s about human rights enshrined in the constitution, so as far as we are concerned the people need to be enlightened and especially for us as women. Fay Volatabu says it is not about getting all women into leadership, just those of merit and integrity. From Radio New Zealand International

3 3 Olivia Owen is the Inter-Agency Initiatives Coordinator, UN Women Suva, Fiji. Olivia, a VSA volunteer, with UN Women staff on a volunteer project for UN Day 2013, Fiji Working in the Paci c region has opened my eyes to both the impacts that organisations such as UN Women make, and the importance of ensuring they are able to continue well into the future. Olivia Owen Photo UN Women Youth for UN Women at a panel discussion on politics in Wellington Guest speakers, Rae Julian, Helen Kelly, Jan Logie, Greta Snyder, and Claudette Hauiti. Photo Sunshine Prior Sue Kedgley speaking at a Wellington Suffrage Day lunch, September Sue is the new President of UN Women NZ

4 4 UN WOMEN MEETING IN ROME L to R Rae Julian Pia Locatelli Joy Dunsheath Pia (centre) was a long-time member of the Italian Parliament. She is a member of the European Parliament where she sits on the Committee on Women s Rights and Gender Equality. She is notable in Italy for dedicating her life to improving the status of women. Photo Joy Dunsheath UN WOMEN AGM SEPTEMBER 2013 National committee members Christine Low, (Christchurch) left Liz Brown, Secretary right Photo Sunshine Prio WHITE CAMELLIA AWARDS White Camellia Awards were presented at Parliament in September. The awards recognise companies that have made the a real effort to empower women and promote gender equality in the work place. Women s Empowerment Principles Committee members Noeline Reisch and Angela McLeod Photo Sunshine Prior

5 5 YOUTH FOR UN WOMEN There s been an exciting development since the last newsletter: UN Women Aotearoa NZ now has a youth branch. Active since July the group has really gained momentum, with branches in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin. Sam Allen and Bronwyn Tilney, two incredibly passionate and dedicated young leaders, manage the Dunedin and Auckland branches, while Sunshine Prior is the offi cial coordinator for the group and oversees the Wellington activities. There are plans to develop more branches as more people get involved. The Goal of Youth for UN women is to provide an outlet for young people interested in supporting the incredible work of UN Women. Membership is open to anyone who identifi es as youth and is enthusiastic about getting involved. We have 175 people who receive updates from our group and 96 people have liked our Facebook page. Youth for UN Women has already organised several successful events including an inaugural event, a panel discussion on women in politics, featuring guest speakers, Rae Julian, Helen Kelly, Jan Logie, Greta Snyder and Claudette Hauiti. Almost 100 people attended and raved about it! Each Branch also organised celebrations for the 120th year of women s suffrage. In addition to organising awareness and celebration events, each branch is also committed to advocating for change through political activism. For instance, the Wellington and Dunedin branches recently sent submissions to the parliamentary select committee for the inquiry into funding for sexual violence services. Youth for UN Women would like to use these opportunities to remind leaders of the need for gender equity and that the safety, health and status of women should be a top priority. Youth for UN Women is keen to continue growing, so if you know someone who would like to join us, please get in touch. There are so many great ways to get involved and we would love to have you, or them, on board. Our address is: YouthforUNWomenNZ@gmail.com Our Facebook page is: https;// We hope you all have a lovely holiday season and watch for more Great Youth for UN Women updates in the next newsletter. Photo Sunshine Prior Helen Clark UNDP, Administrator, with Sunshine Prior (Youth for UN Women Co-ordinator) at VSA, August 2013 WELLINGTON WALK FOR WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DAY Tuesday 10 December 2013 Time: 11.0am Start: Parliament Grounds by the white camellia Kate Sheppard in front of Parliament. The walk through historic Thorndon will be led by Rae Julian RSVP - Joy Dunsheath to reserve a place or joydunsheath@xtra.co.nz Sunshine Prior

6 6 NATIONAL COMMITTEES MEET IN ROME Joy Dunsheath and I attended the annual meeting of National Committees (NC) and representatives from UN headquarters, New York, from the 9-11 September. Fourteen NCs were represented, Ireland and Hungary having disbanded and Canada is looking into the viability of continuing. A new NC, France, was present. These meetings are very valuable opportunities to meet other NCs and learn about their activities. We also heard from UNW New York about their progress and challenges. The key message from Rome was the extreme shortfall of funds for UN Women to carry out their programmes throughout developing countries in the world. Much of this has been due to the global fi nancial crisis, which resulted in many donor countries not fulfi lling their pledges of assistance. UN Women has been working hard with the corporate sector to attract more funds but they also made it clear that they expect a much greater effort from NCs. Key events and campaigns for 2014 onwards 1. Post 2015 and the move to sustainable development goals: UNW s policy is that there must be a standalone goal on gender equality including freedom from violence; leadership and fair distribution of capabilities and resources. The theme for the next commission on the status of women is Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the MDGs for women and girls The IWD priority theme will be similar. 2. Beijing +20 UNW wants to lead this process of review and appraisal with activities at all levels-political mobilisation and recommitment to the Plan of Action; - social mobilisation, especially among youth and substantive mobilisation to capture knowledge on programmes and policies that are effective in empowering women Rae Julian WOMEN S RIGHTS AND ADVOCACY IN THE PACIFIC Over the past year, Women s Rights and Advocacy in the Pacifi c network (WRAP), has focused on lobbying the government to honour the pledge it made when it signed the Pacifi c Gender Equality Declaration (PGED) at last year s Pacifi c Forum. This was to promote gender equality in the Pacifi c, and take action to protect women from violence, improve their access to justice, to increase the number of women in leadership and political roles in the Pacifi c and to improve economic opportunities for women through better access to fi nance and markets. We have written twice to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr McCully inquiring what specifi c steps the government has taken to meet its commitments. The Minister has stated that the government is committed to the Pacifi c Leaders Gender Declaration and is playing a lead role supporting Leaders to monitor and report progress on their commitments to gender equality and women s empowerment. In addition the Minister stated that NZ supports the (PGED) through the New Zealand Aid Programme. For further information on NZs approach to gender equality go to We also met with women MPs who attended the recent Pacifi c Forum held in the New Zealand Parliament. In the meantime, some progress has been made for women in the Pacifi c in the past year. Family protection legislation has been drafted for Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands and this legislation is supposed to be introduced later this year. Papua New Guinea has a family protection bill in draft stages, but there is as yet no date as to when it will be introduced into their parliament. Sue Kedgley CONTRIBUTIONS Letters, photographs, articles and for advertising enquiries please contact: The Editor: Elizabeth Ponter UN Women NZ P O Box Thorndon Wellington 6114