Gender activists have pledged to translate human
rights laws into Arabic language to help fight sexual and gender-based violence
among Muslim communities. The activists, under the Muslim Centre for
Justice and Law (MCJL) - an NGO, said many Muslims lack clear understanding of
English --a language in which most laws are written.
Monday, 10 September 2012
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Merck Donates Cervical Cancer Vaccine to Uganda
Global healthcare leader, Merck, has recently partnered
with the Republic of Uganda to distribute free vaccines for cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is the most common type of cancer, affecting up to 3,500 women
in Uganda and is caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) which is transmitted
through sexual contact. For most people the virus clears up on its own, but for
some it can cause vaginal and vulvar cancers in women and anal cancer and
genital warts in men and women. Since there is no way to predict who will clear
or not clear the virus, the vaccine is a very efficient way to cut down
incidences of cervical cancer. It is estimated that approximately
500,000 women develop cervical cancer annually around the world, with about 85
percent of cases occurring in developing countries. Cervical cancer is
considered the third most common cancer found in women.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Creating opportunities for women informal cross border traders in the EAC
Despite the integration of the East African countries and
the coming into force of the Customs Union and Common Market Protocols, women
continue to engage in informal cross border trade by largely using ungazetted
border crossing routes.
There is need
therefore to identify how the provisions in the Customs Union and Common Market
Protocols can be exploited in order to increase women’s trade volume, reduce transaction
costs and eliminate the non-tariff barriers which remain obstacles to trade.
EASSI with financial support from Trade Mark East Africa
(TMEA) is implementing the Empowering Women Informal Cross Border Traders
Project in the East Africa Common Market. EASSI will be implementing the
project in partnership with its focal points in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda
and Burundi.
On Friday 3rd August 2012, the implementing partner
organisations gathered at the EASSI secretariat in Kampala, Uganda to reflect
more about the project and the impact of the Customs Union and Common Market
Protocols on women’s effective participation in cross border trade within the
EAC region.
The objective of the inception meeting was also to enable
implementing partners of the project to have a common understanding of the
project, implementation mechanisms and the role each partner. Participants
during the workshop reflected on the status of the implementation of Customs
and Common Market protocols and impact on women’s effective participation in
cross border trade with in the EAC region.
“Women have not fully benefited from the Customs Union
and the Common Market Protocol largely because they lack knowledge of their
rights and entitlements; they lack business information and have limited
knowledge on trade procedures and protocols” noted Eric Tumesigye, EASSI's Project Coordinator speaking at the
meeting.
“We hope by the end of this project, women will have
access to more markets, access better networks and add value to their products
and may be cease to be informal women cross border traders” The Programs
Director EASSI, Christine Nankubuge noted.
The implementing partners pledged to support the project
and ensure more women informal traders benefit from the project through;
increasing networking opportunities for the women; proper documentation;
increased sensitization; increased utilization of the media including community
radio stations and so on.
For details about this project go to http://eassi.org/projects/on-going-projects/269-gender-and-trade
Monday, 30 July 2012
NO ARMS TRADE TREATY - BUT NOT ALL IS LOST
After a month of intense negotiations, the Arms
Trade Treaty Diplomatic Conference ended without a treaty. The Chair,
Ambassador Moritan of Argentina, stated, “my apologies are very deep because I
was not up to the circumstances.” It is not the end, however. There will be
other opportunities, among them at the General Assembly.
Mexico made a statement on behalf of 90
states declaring: “We are determined to secure an Arms Trade Treaty as soon as
possible. One thatwould bring about a safer world for the sake of all
humanity.”
In terms of IANSA’s
advocacy linking gender and women's rights to the arms trade, we have made big
strides. Considering that diplomats involved in the ATT process did not think
gender had anything to do with this treaty when we began, thefact that
gender-based violence made it into the draft with such widespread support shows that IANSA Women’s voices have been
heard. The prominence and acknowledgement of GBV is an achievement in itself
and will serve as a good basis to continue
to make the links between gender and small arms control. We can hold
governments accountable and begin to create a new norm, that the risk of
gender-based violence must be considered before approving international arms
transfers.
Direct Link to Full 4-Page Policy Paper: http://www.iansa-women.org/sites/default/files/Joint_policy_paper_gender_att_final_june2012.pdf
Note
The IANSA Women's
Network is the only international network focused on the connections between
gender, women’s rights, small arms and armed violence.
*EASSI is a member of the IANSA Women’s Network
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