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Posted 10:40 PM
by Mary
Egypt: First Group of Female Judges Appointed
Government Should Now Ensure Women's Participation at All Levels of Judiciary
http://hrw-news-women.c.topica.com/maaf5vqabxmI4bSx4Isb/
(Cairo, March 22, 2007) - The Egyptian government's appointment of the country's first group of female judges is a welcome step toward ending discrimination against women in the judiciary, Human Rights Watch said today.
Before the Supreme Judicial Council appointed the 31 female judges on March 14, the only sitting female judge in Egypt was Tahani al-Gibali, who was appointed to the High Constitutional Court in 2003 by presidential decree. The new female judges are expected to be assigned to courts by the end of the month.
The government's previous exclusion of women from the bench was not codified in Egyptian law. The Supreme Judicial Council, which is the government body tasked with appointing judges, had simply rejected the applications of all women applying to join the criminal department of the public prosecutor's office, from which most junior judges are chosen. In some cases, the council explicitly cited the applicant's gender as the reason for her rejection.
"Egypt's appointment of female judges sends a strong message about including women's voices in the judicial process," said Farida Deif, women's rights researcher for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch. "For this decision to have real bearing, the government must now follow up by removing other barriers to women's participation at all levels of the judiciary."
The apparent change of policy in regards to the appointment of women to the bench brings the Egyptian government closer to compliance with antidiscrimination provisions in international law and its constitutional guarantees of equality of opportunity to all Egyptians. In order to fully meet these obligations, the Egyptian government should ensure that female judges are not solely relegated to certain types of courts, such as family courts, and that there is no discrimination in the selection or training of these judges.
The government should also apply objective and clear procedures for the appointment of judges in line with international standards set out in the United Nations' Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary.
The appointment of women to the bench comes as the result of a long campaign by a broad range of Egyptian civil society groups. Some senior judges had argued to exclude women from the bench on the grounds that they would have to spend time alone with men.
"This is a positive step, but it shouldn't be the last," Deif said. "We hope the government will select applicants to serve on a variety of courts, irrespective of their gender."
Posted 11:41 PM
by Mary
UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com, UN/ - 20 March 2007 -- A report just
released by the Auditor-General of UNESCO, the President of the French Cour
de Compte (the General Accounting Office), presided by a well-known French
political figure, Philippe Seguin, led last week to the resignation of the
highest ranking American official in charge of Education Sector at UNESCO.
The audit report examined the improper use of procedures followed in
retaining consultants for the reform of the Education Sector.
Peter Smith, the Assistant-Director-General for Education, joined the
Organization less than two years ago and shortly after the U.S. resumed
membership in UNESCO.
Before assuming this position he was the founding President of the
California State University Monterey Bay campus and a one-time Republican
Congressman from Vermont.
In his letter of resignation to UNESCO's Director-General, Smith stated that
on 9 February he had received "... a written threat against my life,
received through the mail at my home.
After receiving the death threat, I can no longer tolerate the working
environment at UNESCO. For each of us, there is a limit to what we will
endure in the name of "doing the right thing. The threat against my life,
and the subsequent weak follow-up, has taken me past that limit at UNESCO.
The expiration of my first contract on June, 17th gives me an opportunity to
review my future service to UNESCO."
His current two-year contract with the Organization would have expired on 17
June 2007.
Last Friday, 16 March, the Director-General sent a message to the UNESCO
staff stating that "Mr Peter Smith, Assistant Director-General for
Education, has tendered his resignation, which I have accepted, and which is
effective immediately. I wish to reiterate my full commitment to the aims of
the Education Sector strategic reform, which will continue. All necessary
steps will be taken to ensure that UNESCO achieves its goals in education".
What happened to proper checks and balances? The Audit report by Mr. Seguin
will be presented to the Executive Board at its upcoming session in April
2007 (see UNESCO document 176 EX/139), one of the governing bodies of the
Organization.
The report documents that Mr Smith had awarded .. contracts in less than a
year, with a total value of US$ 2.145 million - equivalent to 5.7% of the
total contractual services of the Organization for the biennium - to one
particular consulting firm, Navigant Consulting of Chicago.
The auditors faulted that in the process exceptional and dispensatory
procedures were used, avoiding proper process of competitive bidding and
selection of consultants. Fees were not negotiated and provisions of the
Administrative Manual of the Organization - designed to protect the
Organization - had not been respected. According to the financial
regulations of UNESCO, such payments could only have been made if there was
a waiver issued by the Organization. Instead, payments were structured in
such a way that 4 of out of 8 contracts to Navigant, signed by Mr. Smith,
were issued in amounts below US$ 100,000, suggesting an effort to avoid
obtaining required waivers.
The Auditors also indicated that they had not found any documented exchanges
or record of negotiation with the contractor as to the price and value of
services rendered or expected.
In reacting to the findings by the Auditors, the ADG/ED noted that "the
fractioning of the contracts into four, each under 100,000, was not intended
to bypass the Contracts Committee but it was rather to enable the rules of
UNESCO. He added that the Contracts Committee, therefore, was not consulted
as the threshold of $100,000 had not been reached".
The auditors noted that waivers for proper procedures of bidding for the
same vendor were supposed to be granted only once every 12 month and under
condition of non-repeat of contract. Furthermore, it was stipulated in the
rules that recourse to outside expertise must be temporary.
Should the unavailable expert knowledge become "permanently necessary, the
sector is required either to establish a temporary post or recruit someone
to fill an existing post".
The audit report asserts that, once the competent officers in the Executive
Office of the Education Sector had drawn Mr Smith's attention to the
procedural requirements, he removed the authority from the Administrative
Officer concerned and transferred him. Mr. Smith subsequently sought the
approval of the Contracts Committee for amounts exceeding the limit of US$
100,000, including contracts in an amount of US$ 800,000, $400,000 and
$549,955.
The minutes of the Contracts Committee show that at points some members
refused to sign the minutes of the meeting for lack of transparency of the
competitive bidding and backed up their refusal with a memo to the
ADG/Administration a.i. (at the time the Deputy Director-General).
Nevertheless, other members of the Contracts Committee chose to conduct a
pro-forma evaluation and moved to approve the contracts. In their
accompanying letter, "they regretted that the Education Sector has not paid
adequate attention to the established procedures". The objections of the
Legal Advisor in particular were then overridden by the affirmative decision
of the Deputy Director-General.
The audit report also points out that five contracts concluded between June
and December 2005 were financed from the regular budget of the Education
Sector, although these expenditures had not been envisaged in the
Organization's regular budget for this period. The Audit report further
casts doubt on whether any authorization had been obtained for the sixth
contract worth $400,000.
Further investigation revealed, however, that the contract was originally
valued at US$1.2 million. ADG/ED had split the contract into two segments
of US $400,000 and US $800,000. This was done in order to indicate that the
800,000 charge represented a discounted rate, far below that of KPMG, BCG
and other competitors. The report also found that the payment claims were
signed by the Assistant Director-General of the Education Sector instead of
the contracting firm, i.e., Navigant Consulting.
The audit report concludes that Mr Smith had retained Navigant Consulting on
a "preferential basis" without required scrutiny of its background, relevant
experience or areas of competence. According to its website, Navigant was
specializing in legal counseling, dispute, military technology, litigation,
healthcare and energy areas - with scant reference to the educational
exigencies of the Organization.
The Executive Board had requested the Director-General to "develop a
management framework for a decentralized and results-oriented education
program reflecting UNESCO's specific contributions, especially in
capacity-building for Member States, institutes and field offices at the
international, regional and country levels". Furthermore, it had encouraged
the Director-General "to consider appropriate organizational changes which
may be necessary in order to implement the above mentioned management
framework".
Following the recent adoption by UNESCO and its four co-convening "Education
For All" partners (UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank), which was
supported by the G-8 at its St. Petersburg summit, UNESCO had moved to
assume a leadership role in coordinating the global education for all
movement particularly at the country level.
It remains to be seen how this most recent upheaval will impact the ability
of the Organization to deliver and to dispel questions that might arise at a
time when the Organization's governing bodies are called to decide about the
UNESCO's budget for 2008-2009.
by Mehri Madarshahi, MaximsNews Paris Correspondence.
Posted 9:30 AM
by Mary
War on Terror, War on Women
By Heather Wokusch
March 8, 2007,
www.commondreams.org"On September 11, we saw clearly that evil exists in this
world, and that it does not value life... Now we are engaged
in a fight against evil and tyranny to preserve and protect
life." - Bush in 2002, linking abortion rights with terrorism,
as he declared the 29th anniversary of Roe v. Wade to be
"National Sanctity of Human Life Day.
Under Bush, the US has become more militaristic and less
tolerant of diplomacy and dissent. Women's rights have
deteriorated accordingly.
Sabotaging programs for women has become something of a sport
for this administration - in fact, one of Bush's first acts as
president was to shut down the White House Office for Women's
Initiatives and Outreach. Among other activities, the office
had monitored policy initiatives and coordinated federal
programs affecting women.
Bush then tried to close the Department of Labor Women's
Bureau regional offices, thus prohibiting women from learning
about their legal rights in the workplace.
Most recently, the administration took revenge on the Office
of Women's Health, presumably because it had backed scientific
research supporting the emergency contraceptive Plan B.
Previous attempts to punish the office had included appointing
a veterinarian as its director (speaks volumes, Bush wanted an
animal doctor to be in charge of US women's health), but two
weeks ago, the hammer fell. The Women's Health Office learned
that its budget for this year would be slashed by 25%, thus
threatening ongoing operations and research into everything
from menopause to birth control.
The administration often uses funding as a weapon against
women's programs, both at home and abroad. Quickly after
assuming office, for example, Bush brought back Reagan's much-
maligned "gag" rule, which prohibits healthcare providers
abroad from receiving US funding, even if they spend their own
money in counseling women about abortion or in providing
abortion services. For developing countries struggling with
HIV/AIDS, the gag rule's return has meant a double whammy:
reduced access to USAID-supplied contraceptives and condoms
plus the closure of healthcare clinics critical to local
populations.
The administration has also defunded the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA), which works in over 140 countries
supporting maternal-health and family-planning programs, as
well as fighting HIV/AIDS and violence against women. The
administration has claimed that UNFPA was involved in coercive
reproductive health practices in China - a charge a State
Department investigation proved false.
Such funding cuts have had predictably tragic consequences.
The respected British medical journal Lancet notes that more
than 500,000 women die each year from "often preventable"
pregnancy complications and that "women's health rapidly
improves when abortion is made legal, safe, and easily
accessible but this is not an option for many women."
According to Lancet, "An estimated 90% of deaths from unsafe
abortions and 20% of obstetric mortality could be avoided with
improved access to contraception . Yet the latest figures show
that donor funding for family planning has decreased by 36%."
Unfortunately, the administration's FY2008 budget promises
more of the same: hundreds of billions of dollars for war with
corresponding reductions in programs benefiting women.
So as we observe International Women's Day, it's up to those
of us lucky enough to live in relative freedom and financial
security to link the Bush administration's focus on achieving
goals through war and weaponry with the inevitable cutbacks to
social programs benefiting women and children. And it's up to
us to demand that the administration pursue diplomacy with
Iran, rather than a disastrous military strike.
After all, the US and Iran have a lot in common. Unlike most
other countries across the globe, neither has ratified the UN
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women.
Heather Wokusch is the author of 'The Progressives' Handbook:
Get the Facts and Make a Difference Now, Volumes I and II'.
She can be reached at www.heatherwokusch.com
Posted 10:13 PM
by Mary
MESSAGE BY H.E. SHEIKHA HAYA RASHED AL KHALIFA
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ON THE OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Violence against women and girls is widespread in all societies. The
United Nations Charter affirms faith in fundamental human rights, in the
dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and
women. The right to live without fear of violence is a basic human right
for all people, including women and girls. The right to seek equal
justice, without discrimination, is a basic human right. We have a moral
and political duty to uphold these rights.
The comprehensive study on violence against women issued during the 61st
Session of the General Assembly includes strong recommendations that can
end the impunity of violence committed against women. We have made huge
advances in setting global standards to prevent, punish and eradicate
these heinous crimes. Our efforts have gone far to reverse what used to
be the traditional lack of response. But progress in ending violence and
impunity remains insufficient and inconsistent in all parts of the
world. States have binding obligations and can be held accountable. The
failure to comply with international standards or to exercise due
diligence is a violation of the human rights of women.
Sates cannot abdicate their international obligations to punish
perpetrators and prevent violence against, and the exploitation of,
women and girls. Neither can they hide behind cultural and religious
reservations to international treaties condemning this violence. We must
demonstrate by our actions that we intend to keep our promises.
We also need to recognize that ending violence against women and girls
is not only the responsibility of the State. It also requires a change
of mindset. It requires us to demonstrate, once and for all, that there
are no grounds for tolerance and no tolerable excuses. If we are going
to stop violence against women and girls – we must begin by speaking
out. We must ensure that women and girls enjoy their basic human rights
without discrimination. Criminal impunity must end. Every crime must be
prosecuted.
When the Charter was being signed, Eleanor Roosevelt said that universal
human rights begin in small places, close to home. Most violence against
women and girls happens at home - not only physical, but sexual and
psychological violence too. To change attitudes, to prevent and
prosecute violence against women and girls we need to begin in the home.
www.un.org/dpi/ngosection
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