In the field of gender and sexuality rights, representations of religion tend to be dominated by fundamentalisms, with dogma being used to justify discrimination, stigma and abuse against those who transgress the narrow confines of patriarchal and heterosexist norms.
Each issue, we chat with readers of Facing Fundamentalisms and share a brief summary of recent events relating to religion, tradition, culture and rights-based organizing in your contexts.
This statement was delivered by women's rights organizations at the international NGO conference "Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda" that was held from 20-22 March 2013 in Bonn, Germany.
The Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YCSRR) and Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) applaud the Commission’s focus on the assessment of the status of implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.
We ask the members of the CPD47 to build upon the principles agreed to during the affirmation of ICPD in 1994 along with its 5 and 10 years review the 1994 ICPD and develop a rights-based approach to youth and adolescent sexual rights within the post-2015 development agenda.
The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), Amnesty International (AI), and the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) put together the following joint response to the Working Document which will be discussed by the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development at the 11th session May 5-9, 2014 in New York.
April 30, 2014
The draft agreed conclusions, or ‘zero draft,’ produced by UN Women to open discussions ahead of the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which will be held in New York between 10 and 21 March 2014, was released on 4 February. AWID offers here initial reactions and analysis as negotiations begin.
Achievements and challenges of the MDGs aside, we need to make the case for robust and transformatory change in the Post-2015 Development Agenda also noting that the international community is different - there are new and powerful actors in the room, with private sector and business having a bigger role than before.
This year’s theme for International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC) is Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence. While ending gender-based violence is a vitally important issue, the UN missed the opportunity entirely to tackle the root causes that allow violence to be a cycle. In its communication materials around the girl child, the UN states: “Investing in girls is the right andsmart thing to do.”
Below are the talking points delivered by AWIDer Nerea Craviotto during the event "Human rights for all in sustainable development: Is the post-2015 process really delivering?", co-organized by Amnesty International, the Center for Economic and Social Rights and AWID on 11 September 2014.
The North-South Institute’s Post-2015 Tracking Tool is an interactive aggregator of proposals on the post-2015 development agenda. Organized thematically, the tool helps tracking the goals, targets, and indicators that are being proposed to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and support and monitor development progress beyond 2015.
The Gender Equality section provides updated info on the proposals to date including external resources for each indicator