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Documents and Publications
Colombian women in Spain invest in the well-being of their families
The study "Gender and Remittances: Colombian Migration from the Central Western Metropolitan Area (AMCO)" analyzes the dynamics of migration from the Central-Western Metropolitan Area (AMCO) in Colombia to Spain, the flow of remittances sent and received by women and the impact of those remittances on the development of their communities of origin. UN-INSTRAW, IOM, 2008

Handbook for protection of women International Women's Day: UNHCR launches handbook for protection of women
The handbook denounces "a massive culture of neglect and denial about violence against women and girls" and outlines strategies to answer the protection challenges faced by women and girls of concern... UNHCR, 2008

Handbook for protection of women Women and the Right to Food - International Law and State Practice
The study looks at the right to food in the context of gender discrimination. It includes an overview of the position of women's right to food in international law and identifies gaps in both law and practice... FAO, 2008

Gender and Security Sector Reform ToolkitGender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit
A comprehensive tool to strengthen the security sector's response to violence against women and other gender-based crimes. The toolkit includes 12 tools and easy-to-follow practice notes on different areas of security sector reform... UN-INSTRAW, 2008

Gender Perspective: Working Together for Disaster Risk Reduction, Good Practices & Lessons LearnedGender Perspective: Working Together for Disaster Risk Reduction, Good Practices & Lessons Learned
This publication aimed to increase the knowledge and understanding of the vulnerabilities and risks associated with gender, as it presents a collection of 15 practices that showcase the valuable contributions of women to the ongoing efforts for building resilience against disasters at the community level. OCHA - UN/ISDR, 2007

The Millennium Development Goals Report The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007
The status report on progress towards the MDGs presents the latest assessment on how far we have come, and how far we have to go in reaching the goals, in each of the world's regions...
UN Statistics Division / DESA, 2007
English | French | Spanish

State of the World�s Children 2007 State of the World's Children 2007
This report examines the discrimination and disempowerment women face throughout their lives and outlines what must be done to eliminate gender discrimination and empower women and girls.
UNICEF, 2006
English | French | Spanish

Secretary-General�s in-depth study on violence against women Secretary-General's in-depth study on violence against women
The Secretary-General's study serves to highlight the persistence, and unacceptability, of all forms of violence against women, in all parts of the world.
United Nations, 2006
Arabic | Chinese |English | French | Russian | Spanish


New Websites and Online Video
UNESCO video podcasts
UNESCO released a series of video podcasts on human rights, peace, tolerance and the fight against discrimination, including "Being fed up" (with violence against women), "Why is this happening to me?" (child marriage), and "Shiva: The third eye", a reinterpretation of Hindu myths, proposing universal and eternal equality between genders.
View Videos >>

New database: Gender and the Empowerment of Women in the Arab Region
The new database by UN-ESCWA's Centre for Women will be regularly updated to reflect new research in the field, and will be expanded to include information on civil society organizations working on gender and women's empowerment as well as experts on gender and women's issues in the Arab world.
Visit Gender and the Empowerment of Women in the Arab Region >>

MDG Monitor: Track. Learn. Support
UN, Google and Cisco unveiled a new online tool in the battle against global poverty and inequality: The MDG Monitor tracks real-time progress toward the Millennium Development Goals in a number of categories in nearly every country in the world
Visit www.mdgmonitor.org >>
View news story >>

Ending violence against womenNew Online Video:
'Goals for Girls!' video campaign kicks off

View Videos >>

UNICEF Campaign info >>

UN-INSTRAW interactive website on gender training for peacekeepers
Filling a gap in the documentation of gender training opportunities for peacekeepers, this site presents an overview of pre-deployment and in-mission gender training...
http://www.un-instraw.org/jdata/en/
gender-training-for-peace-keepers.html

UNFPA:
Pop Star Lends Her Voice to Stop Maternal, Infant and Child Deaths >>


Ending violence against womenNew Online Video:
UNIFEM's
Gender-Responsive Budgeting Initiative

View Video >>


Visit the UNIFEM video channel >>

Ending violence against womenEnding violence against women
A multimedia exhibit by UNFPA:
www.unfpa.org/
endingviolence



News and Highlights
UN-backed scheme targets inequality in Nepal’s rural communities
The UN rural development arm announced today that it is providing $4 million towards a project that aims to tackle the exclusion of groups such as women, dalits and indigenous peoples in rural communities in Nepal...
IFAD, 12 May 2008


$3 Million Requested by UNFPA to Help Women and Girls Displaced by Myanmar Cyclone
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is appealing for $3 million to address the urgent humanitarian concerns of cyclone-affected populations, particularly women and girls, in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady and Yangon regions...
UNFPA, 9 May 2008


Djibouti to work with UN to eliminate female genital mutilation
Djibouti has become the first country to launch a joint programme by United Nations agencies to move more quickly to eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM)...
UNICEF / UNFPA, 8 May 2008


Advancing women’s rights critical to Liberia’s development - UN envoy
The top United Nations official in Liberia has called for furthering the rights of women as a crucial element in advancing peace and development in the West African nation that is recovering from a decade-long civil war...
UN News Centre, 7 May 2008


Women hold key to breaking out of global food crisis, stresses Migiro
Not only do women suffer the most from global problems, such as the current crisis arising from the surge in food prices, but they can also contribute the most to its solutions, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today....
UN News Centre, 1 May 2008


Marginalized groups must not be forgotten in response to food crisis - UN rights chief
Solutions to the current food crisis spurred by soaring global food prices "must include not only the poorest but also those that are particularly vulnerable to discrimination on any other grounds, including gender, ethnicity, or disability", the top UN human rights official said today, joining the call issued by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the international community to respond to the problem...
OHCHR, 1 May 2008


UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women is accepting grant applications
The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women is accepting applications for its 13th grant cycle (2008) for projects that support the implementation of national policies, laws and action plans on ending violence against women...
UNIFEM, 30 April 2008
> Application guidelines

UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman, Leading UN Officials Call for Millions to Raise Their Voices against Violence against Women
Widespread Participation in UNIFEM's Say NO Campaign Encouraged / Private Sector Urged to Contribute...
UNIFEM, 22 April 2008
> News story
> Add your voice now: www.saynotoviolence.org

Rural women could suffer due to increased biofuel production, warns UN agency
Rapid increases in the large-scale production of liquid biofuels in developing countries could exacerbate the marginalization of women in rural areas threatening their livelihoods, according to a new FAO study.
FAO, 21 April 2008
> News story
> FAO study "Gender and Equity Issues in Liquid Biofuels Production"

New Film Series Takes on Culture of Silence on Violence against Women
With one in three women worldwide suffering rape or attempted rape during her lifetime and at least one in three likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused, a United Nations-backed television series seeks to peel away the silence surrounding these brutalities...
UNIFEM, UNFPA, 18 April 2008

Officials to Discuss Gender Parity Observatory and Contribution of Unpaid Women's Work to Social Protection
The 41st Meeting of Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean will take place on 24-25 April in Bogotá...
UN ECLAC, 18 April 2008

Inés Alberdi Appointed as UNIFEM Executive Director
The appointment of Inés Alberdi of Spain as the new Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM, has been announced...
UNIFEM, 8 April 2008

Kigali Conference Calls for More Women at All Levels of Peacekeeping Operations
Participants of a high-level conference organized by UNIFEM and the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) have issued a declaration calling for programmed increases of the proportion of women in recruitment and training for peacekeeping operations...
UNIFEM, 1 April 2008

Swedish teens help educate and empower female refugees in Rwanda
Some US$900,000 raised by Swedish teenagers is giving young female refugees in Rwanda the chance to become more independent and to lead productive lives.
UNHCR, 28 March 2008

Sierra Leone: UN raises awareness of laws to curb violence against women
Two United Nations agencies have joined forces with a local non-governmental organization (NGO) in Sierra Leone to heighten awareness of three new gender laws, passed by the West African nation’s Parliament, in a bid to reduce the level of violence and abuse against women.
UN News Centre, 27 March 2008

All Liberians must play their part in anti-rape campaign, says UN envoy
The United Nations has joined forces with the Liberian Government and civil society groups in a campaign in the southeast of the West African country to try to reduce the appallingly high rates of rape of women and girls.
UN News Centre, 14 March 2008

DR Congo: South African UN Goodwill Ambassador meets rape survivors
Women who have survived sexual violence endure a "triple tragedy" - physical, psychological and social - in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South African singer and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Goodwill Ambassador Miriam Makeba has said.
FAO, 13 March 2008

Women hold key to reaching development goals - Migiro
Efforts to meet international development goals must focus on empowering women, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said last night in a speech delivered at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
UN News Centre, 12 March 2008

Climate change a further challenge for gender equity
"In order to be truly prepared for the impacts of climate change on food security, we must ask ourselves who are the most vulnerable and how they can be involved in addressing this global issue, noting that men and women are differently vulnerable and how each can contribute to addressing climate change," said FAO Deputy Director-General James Butler.
FAO, 10 March 2008
> News story
> Gender issues and climate change adaptation
> Brochure on the gender dimension of climate change


Marking International Day, top UN officials urge greater investments in women
Top United Nations officials commemorated this year's International Women's Day by calling on countries to invest more in women and girls, warning that failing to do so will undermine efforts to achieve global development targets.
UN News Centre, 8 March 2008

Women still face discrimination worldwide, says UN rights chief
Almost every country in the world still has laws that discriminate against women, and promises to remedy this have not been kept, the top United Nations human rights official said today, speaking on the eve of International Women's Day.
UN News Centre, 7 March 2008

International Women's Day: Secretary-General calls for investment in women for peace and development
Greater investment in women and girls will help further economic growth and advance development, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told today's commemoration at United Nations Headquarters of International Women's Day.
UN News Centre, 6 March 2008
> News story
> Statement of the Secretary-General
> International Women's Day website



Upcoming Events
Género, Pobreza y Empleo
Curso a Distancia, 5 May - 7 November 2008
ITC/ILO International Training Centre

Training of gender audit facilitators
Turin, Italy, 12 - 16 May 2008
ITC/ILO International Training Centre

Expert Group Meeting on good practices in legislation on violence against women
Vienna, Austria, 26 - 28 May 2008
DAW, UNODC

CEDAW: 41th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
UNHQ, New York, USA, 30 June - 18 July 2008



Recent Events
AWAY: Women, Creativity, Diaspora and Intercultural Dialogue (Exhibition)
Paris, France, 8 - 22 March 2008
UNESCO

International Women's Day
08 March 2008; UN Commemoration on 06 March
Theme for 2008: "Investing in Women and Girls"

52nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women
UNHQ, New York, 25 Feb - 7 March 2008
Priority theme: Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women

> Calendar of parallel events organized by Permanent Missions and UN Agencies
> Calendar of parallel events organized by NGOs



CEDAW: 40th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Geneva, Switzerland, 14 January - 1 February 2008


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