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Sundus Abass Hasan
Director of WLI
Iraq-Baghdad
Iraqi women of my
generation and millions of women like me have lived
all their lives either preparing for a war or living
an ongoing war or dealing with results of earlier
conflicts.
It is therefore our
ambition that SCR1325 would constitute a framework
for the work of the United Nations Mission in Iraq.
This stems from our understanding as women, working
for peace and human security, given our belief that
peace does not only represent the cessation of armed
and war operations but also means:
equal
opportunities
to access resources, services and finance,
reaching decision
making positions
And wider women
participation in negotiation
This needs a serious
review of applied laws and regulations as well as
public policies. It also needs adopting new policies
taking into consideration the conditions of women.
We (as womens
organisations from the civil society) were hoping
that the SCR1325 will represent a mandate for the
United Nations Mission to play a key role in
combating trafficking in women and children, the
killing and abduction of women and address the
increasing poverty amongst women. Widows , and
Female Heads of Households are millions , Despite
all this, our voices as survivors remain un heard
and even if we raise our voices they remain
disrespected only because we are women because they
and probably you also think we are victims and we
cannot do anything to help ourselves except crying
and yelling and blaming others. We are yet not seen
as survivors, as part of the solution where our
opinion has a real added-value for peace building,
if not the very basis for it.
We are here today to
restart from the beginning, I am afraid I say I
challenge you to accept us as partners and work in a
real manner with us. This is the only way to real
democracy and development.
Therefore, I would
suggest the following:
-
Adopt an
action plan for SCR 1325 for 2010-2011
-
Reiterate
that the key factor strengthening the UN presence in
Iraq is the adoption of SCR1325 as an integral part
of the UN mission here.
-
More
support for women NGOs in all Iraq working on GBV
-
support an
initiative for Gender budgeting for Iraq
"Dr.
Sundus Abass, WLI's Director participation in the
round table organized by the Arab House in Spain,
Madrid"
With an
invitation from the Arab House, WLI's director Dr.
Sundus Abass participated in the round table held in
Madrid under the line "women from Iraq". This event
was part of the Iraqi week organized by the Arab
House in cooperation with the Iraqi embassy in
Spain, on June, 22, 2010.
Conferences
New York Conferences 2010
New york,
March 10.2010
Press
Release
On the
occasion of the 54th session of the CSW
at the United Nations- New York aiming at tracking
progress of conditions of women in the context of
the Beijing platform for Action 15 years after it
was announced in 1995.
The conference
was attended by Ms. Sundus Abbas Women's Leadership
Institute and Ms. Khanum Lateef from Asuda and Ms.
Liza Nissan of Baghdad Women's Association.
From March 3
to 10, 2010, the delegation participated in most of
formal and informal meetings held within the
commission's agenda, where Ms. Sundus Abbas gave a
presentation on the progress made in women's
participation in decision- making positions within
the framework of the integration of the Security
Council resolution 1325\2000 confirming the
importance of addressing the lack of implementation
of the resolution and its integration, as well as
discussed the reasons for the adoption of a national
plan for the integration of the resolution in Iraq.
The delegation
also visited a Safe House Center in New York City on
4 March, and members of the delegation discussed
with the Co- Executive Director, mechanisms for
cooperation, coordination and exchange of
experiences between the institutions involved in
providing protection for women.
As part of
parallel events and in the framework studied the
efforts of women's organizations in South Africa and
Iraq on March 6,2010, Ms. Khanum Lateef of Asuda
presented Asuda's experience of protection of women
in Iraq from violence live testimonies of women
survivors of violence. Ms. Sundus Abbas underlined
the importance of solidarity exists between the
Masimanyane in South Africa and some women's
organization in Iraq.
Entitled
"Challenges facing women under occupation', Ms.
Sundus Abbas gave a presentation on March 7,2010 on
challenges facing Iraqi women in the absence of
security and stability and lack of services as well
as high rates of violence against women, poverty and
illiteracy amongst women in Iraq.
On the
occasion of International Women's Day, March 8, the
delegation visited the Headquarters of the Open
Society institute International in New York, where
they discussed the situation of Iraq women and the
priority needs of women and women's organization in
Iraq.
The delegation
also attended the presentation on March 9,2010by
Iraq's chief of Mission at the United Nations on
women's role in bringing about the change and
participated in the discussion of the submitted
working paper.
At the end of
the event attended by the delegation on 10 March
2010 the delegation met with representatives of
Equality Now in New York. Within the framework of
the working sessions on the challenges and
difficulties faced by women's organization working
on addressing violence against women, Ms. Lisa
Nissan a gave a presentation on the experience of
listening and consultancy centers for women. Ms.
Sundus Abbas underscored the importance of providing
protection mechanisms for women of violence and the
importance of the adoption of programs to support
women activists and defenders of women's rights.
Asuda,
combating violence against woman
Women
Leadership Institute Baghdad Women
Association
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