Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/tag/un/)
And this time the selection process is under greater scrutiny. For the first time member states may nominate candidates to act as the U.N.’s de facto spokesperson and leader. In April they will have a chance to ask the candidates questions over three days of informal dialogues.
The UN’s target for access to drinking water was reached ahead of time. Great news for girls and women, but Lisa Schechtman is still watching the off-target goal of improved sanitation. What’s the point of water if we can’t keep it clean?
Kathryn Bolkovac joined private military contractor DynCorp in 1999 eager to support U.N. peace-building in Bosnia. Instead she found herself in the middle of a sex-trafficking ring. An excerpt from “The Whistleblower,” also just released as a film.
Margot Wallström starts March 1 her two-year stint as special U.N. representative on ending conflict-zone sexual violence. She says she’ll be going right away to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a global epicenter of mass rape.
The Haiti earthquake has increased the risks for an estimated 63,000 pregnant women in Port-au-Prince, as medical facilities and supplies have been destroyed. The UNFPA is distributing delivery and ‘dignity’ kits to help minimize the damage.
Women such as Gracen Johnson have been pouring time and energy into demonstrations pressing for lower global greenhouse gas emission standards. Now many of them are hoping the U.N. meeting in Copenhagen this week won’t be too disappointing.
In Russia, 14,000 women are killed each year in acts of domestic violence, and human rights activists are dissatisfied with the government’s enforcement of laws against the crime. Sixth in a seven-part series on the Beijing Platform.
In spite of Somalia’s worst humanitarian crisis in 18 years, almost 200 women are taking advantage of scholarships to attend university in an effort aimed at meeting one of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals.
Some of the nations that have signed a U.N. convention to end discrimination against women are in New York and facing compliance review. At least two of the developed countries on the list–Japan and Switzerland–have room for improvement.
