International: The UDHR60 Campaign and the Stop Killing and Stoning Women campaign

While the UDHR enshrines far-reaching principles of human dignity with the proclamation that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," and the stipulation that human rights apply to all equally without distinction of any kind including sex, this rhetoric has not yet been fully translated into reality.

Every Human Has Rights

The 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Reclaiming the UDHR Campaign marks the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – the landmark document which outlines the basic human rights guaranteed to all people. The Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) is a proud partner in the UDHR 60 NGO campaign, which comes at a time when the legitimacy of both women’s rights and human rights are being challenged in too many settings. This NGO campaign is led by The Elders project, and is being held in conjunction with the UN’s celebration of this anniversary. In the month of March, using International Women’s Day (March 8th) as an anchor, CWGL took the lead through highlighting a spectrum of women’s human rights issues and the importance of women’s leadership in realizing human rights for all.

The Center for Women's Global Leadership's initiative is carried out under the slogan of Human Rights for Women ‹—› Human Rights for All: UDHR60 and their primary areas of focus will be to:

* Support Women Human Rights Defenders

* End Violence Against Women

* Strengthen Gender Equality Structures in the UN

* Expand Financing for Gender Equality

(For further information on CWGL's demands please see here)

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women!

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! is initiated by a group of activists, lawyers, journalists, and academics, who are committed to ending the stoning and killing of women. Hosted by the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network, this campaign seeks to end the relentless mis-use of religion and culture to justify killing women as punishment for violating the imposed ‘norms’ of sexual behaviour. The killing of women – under any pretext – is unacceptable. It is also a grave and serious violation of International Human Rights Law.

Inspired by and growing out of women’s struggles in their own locations to combat various manifestations of this phenomenon, (e.g. Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and Nigeria), the Campaign will support and enable women’s human rights advocates, national and transnational women’s movements to resist those forces which politicize and mis-use culture and religion to subjugate women and the abuse of their human rights.

On 4 March, 2008 the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! participated in an event hosted by the Center for Women's Global Leadership, coinciding with the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. The event promoted the message of Human Rights for Women ‹—› Human Rights for All, and was intended to celebrate advances made by activists who have used the human rights framework to achieve protections for women as well as to make demands for the future. The main themes include support for women's human rights defenders, ending violence against women, strengthening gender structures at the UN, and committing greater resources to achieving gender equality worldwide.

The main co-sponsors of the event were: Amnesty International, Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), Global Fund for Women, MADRE and the Women Won't Wait: End HIV and Violence Against Women Now! Campaign.

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! was pleased to participate in the event and delivered a statement entitled: "No Cultural Justifications for Violence Against Women".

In addition, the Women Living Under Muslim Laws network also issued a statement (currently available in French and English) on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration Human Rights.