New report calls for strategic partnerships with religious actors working for gender equality.

At a time of rising fundamentalisms, which are pushing back hard against women’s rights at every level and across the world, a new report ‘Looking Back to Look Forward: The Role of Religious Actors in Gender Equality since the Beijing Declaration’ argues that understandings of the gender-religious nexus is critical for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality.

The report, authored by Dr. Nora Khalaf-Elledge, reveals how religious actors have advanced and hindered gender equality since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action and Declaration in 1995 and provides a critical and contextualized understanding of how religion and gender politics are intertwined in all countries, high and low-income alike.

The pushback

The report addresses how patriarchal gender norms continue to be packaged in the language of religion because it legitimises them. Nearly 84 per cent of the world’s population identify with a religious group and anti-rights actors are mobilising religious language to block or even reverse progress on gender equality. Religious language can make patriarchal practices appear divinity-ordained and unchangeable.

For example, although 189 states have ratified the 1981 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), many countries still maintain reservations to specific articles of the convention. Over 60 percent of the 440 recorded reservations are religion-based.

The potential

The report also profiles the work of religious actors, who are advancing gender equality from maternal health to LGBTQI+ rights. The examples given in the report show how religious leaders and actors are often trusted voices within communities and can act as critical change-makers, in advocating for stronger gender just laws, challenging social norms, acting as moral compasses and legislators and stepping in, when governments fail to provide social protection.

Recommendations

Co-published by ACT Alliance with Act Church of Sweden, Islamic Relief Worldwide and Side by Side, in partnership with the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development, the Joint Learning Initiative on Local and Faith Communities and Sexual Violence Initiative GBV Hub, and Goldsmiths, University of London, the report provides the following recommendations:

• Choose partners who are leaders on gender issues in their contexts: International collaboration and partnerships are pivotal for achieving all SDGs, especially now as the world tries to recover from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Achieving SDG 5 is deeply interconnected with achieving all SDGs.
• Encourage religious literacy: Development agencies need to provide training throughout their organizational structures that conveys a basic understanding of the ways in which religious discourses are context-specific, historically situated, internally diverse, continually reinforced and altered by both internal and external factors.
• Conduct comprehensive gender analyses prior to projects and partnerships: A comprehensive, context-specific, and theory-based gender analysis can highlight the religion-gender intersection in each locality and facilitate the inclusion of religious actors. It can also uncover the patriarchal power dynamics behind religious arguments supporting gender inequality.

Generation Equality

As world leaders, institutions, civil society, and faith actors virtually gather at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, we must find common ground and together work to counter rising fundamentalisms, strengthen progressive movements within faith communities and demand the necessary steps required for achieving the Beijing Platform for Action.

Find the report here

The first online session with UN climate talks ended on June 17. Parties had, for three weeks, tried to make progress in the talks, leading towards the upcoming summit (COP26) in Glasgow in November. And they failed.

I must admit that conditions for a breakthrough were bad from the start. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, negotiations had to take place online, with difficulties because of internet access, time zones and technique. It was also agreed that talks this time would not delver any decisions, so what could we expect?

I may be naïve, but reading recent climate science reports, and looking at ongoing climate related disasters around the world, I had hoped parties would have taken the opportunity to scale up ambition, to search for diplomatic solutions, and to ensure that the climate emergency would be taken seriously. Unfortunately the talks, to a large extent, instead became a space for presenting existing positions.

But lack of progress in online negotiations should not be an excuse for climate inaction. Each party should now do their homework, and make sure that their country is moving forward with scaled up ambition.

Concretely that means revision of national climate plans. Recent research reminds us that we are rapidly moving towards a 1.5 degree temperature increase, and all parties, including those who have already submitted their national plans, should consider what more can be done in the coming five years, to reduce global warming.

Their homework also includes an increased focus on adaptation, and climate change induced loss and damage. As a broad alliance of developing countries stressed during the online talks, loss and damage is not getting enough attention on the UN agenda. At the same time more and more people face climate related disasters each year, which, with lack of adaptation, may lead to loss and damage.

But neither mitigation, nor adaptation or loss and damage related activities in developing countries, can happen unless the required support is made available. Developed countries are lagging behind with their existing commitments to mobilise climate finance, and this is a big concern for developing countries, and poor and vulnerable communities, urgently lacking support. Developed countries must mobilise the support which has been promised, and they must do so now.

The next climate summit will take place in November, in Glasgow, in Scotland. That meeting will be important, and it must deliver a success. Parties have already presented their positions, and it is now time to search for solutions, which can promote international cooperation and a scaled up climate ambition. I hope all parties will do their homework, before the summit November.

Mattias Söderberg, Senior advocacy advisor in DanChurchAid. Mattias serves as co-chair of the ACT Climate Justice Reference Group.

ACT Alliance joins with Lutherans around the world in congratulating Rev. Anne Burghardt on her election as the new General Secretary for the Lutheran World Federation, based in Geneva.

LWF is a key part of the ecumenical family, and of the ACT Alliance, as it represents 148 Lutheran churches around the world in 99 countries.  LWF’s humanitarian, development and advocacy work is globally recognized and a valued part of ACT’s identity and work.

“I am very pleased at the election of Anne Burghardt,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of ACT Alliance. “her appointment is a benchmark for the Lutheran Communion and the entire ecumenical world, as she is the first woman to lead a global communion. I am looking forward to working closely with Anne in this time when prophetic theology and diakonia are crucial.”

The new General Secretary will begin her term on November 1, 2021, serving for seven years. 

“I am excited to work in close collaboration with Anne in the coming years,” concluded de Faria. “The success of ACT Alliance is the work of our members, and LWF has a long and successful history of working to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in the world.  We know that work will thrive under Anne’s leadership.”

Fernanda Zúñiga Keim, Lutheran Church in Chile, recorded vlog for ACT as we continue to follow the climate negotiations happening this month online in preparation for COP26 in Glasgow later this year.  The English translation of her vlog is below:

According to the IPCC, climate change will not only affect the different regions of the world differently, but also the different generations and genders, and it is in this sense that the poorest population will be more affected by the consequences of climate change. And according to the United Nations, 70% of this population are women and a large percentage of them are young women, therefore climate change does have a gender and generational perspective, which is why I believe that it should be a priority in everything related to climate change.

I want the importance of ensuring gender justice in the climate field to be recognized, where the real impact of gender policy is seen, not only as those who suffer the consequences of the climate emergency, but also because gender does have a real impact on adaptation and mitigation measures. Women should not be included only because we are more vulnerable to the climate emergency, but because we bring different perspectives and experiences to the work.

Growing up in a faith community has allowed me to analyze and observe different aspects of climate change and how it affects people. For example, how there are communities that are not represented or how their voice is often minimized. In this sense, being part of a faith community has given me the duty to raise my voice for those who are most unprotected, it invites me to look out for those who need it most and has allowed me to find meaning in my work within the church, seeking to raise my voice for those who do not have the means to do so.

The ACT Palestine Forum has published the following statement on health care access to Gaza:

The ACT Palestine Forum is deeply concerned about the devastation caused by the recent military operations in the Gaza Strip. The loss of lives, displacement of tens of thousands of people, destruction of civilian buildings and healthcare infrastructure, deprivation of access to basic humanitarian needs including food, water and sanitation is unacceptable. The widespread trauma among all people, especially children, must be addressed.   

The healthcare system in Gaza has been already under pressure because of COVID-19. Closed checkpoints have hindered access to life-saving medical supplies, equipment and personnel. It is imperative to ensure that life-saving treatment for seriously ill patients can be delivered. This includes treatment for cancer patients from Gaza, who have been denied access for necessary treatment at hospitals in East Jerusalem. 

This week, the Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH), a specialist hospital for advanced cancer treatment run by the Lutheran World Federation, a member of the ACT Alliance, planned an emergency oncology support mission to Gaza. Its staff were denied access by the Israeli Military Authority. The purpose of the mission was to provide support and consultations to cancer patients who could not get their medication on time due to the lengthy closure of the Erez Checkpoint caused by the recent hostilities on Gaza. 

This is unacceptable. These patients must be given permission to travel across the border or doctors allowed to administer treatment in Gaza. 

The ACT Palestine Forum condemns the denial of entry for medical and humanitarian professionals into Gaza. This contradicts key principles under international humanitarian law and international human rights laws. 

The ACT Palestine Forum calls upon 

• the Israeli government to allow humanitarian access for medical staff urgently needed for lifesaving and emergency assistance, including medicine for cancer treatment 
• the international community to take immediate action in support of a long-lasting solution to this conflict, which includes ending the military occupation and securing equal rights for all. 

ACT Palestine Forum 

The main objective of the ACT Palestine Forum (APF) is to increase the effectiveness and impact of the humanitarian assistance and development work being undertaken by members through improved coordination. In its joint advocacy on behalf of the members of the forum, the APF seeks to spread awareness of the humanitarian consequences of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to promote humanitarian access for goods, personnel and services. 

ACT Alliance 

The ACT Alliance is a global alliance of more than 140 churches and church affiliated organizations working together in 125 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards. 

The UNFCCC climate negotiations started again on May 31, 2021 against a background of predicted forecasts that are not good, in fact, bad: 

• The World Meteorological Organization reports a 40% chance that global temperatures could reach 1.5 degrees C years sooner than the decade long timeframe given in 2018, and a 90% chance that they will exceed 2016 temperatures, the highest on record.
• The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center also reports that never in their history have they recorded more internally placed people than in 2020. We can expect the storms, floods, droughts, forest fires, hurricanes, heatwaves, disrupted cultivation and harvest cycles we have recently seen to intensify.
• Extreme weather now displaces more people than war or conflict. Climate change has disrupted food supply, and increased the number of people facing hunger, which had been falling for several years.  690 million were undernourished in 2019 but this could rise to 840 in less than a decade, based on current trends.  

Some bright spots have also emerged:  Last week, also, a Dutch court ordered Shell, one of the world’s largest oil companies, to cut carbon emissions from its oil and gas extraction by 45% by 2030, the first major judicial verdict of its kind.  On the same day, investors in Chevron mandated that the company cut its emissions.  Climate advocates and activists cheered, me included.  

These are positive steps, but they do not halt the pace of warming which outstrips original predictions.

ACT Alliance’s Climate Justice messaging about urgency and scaled up climate action now need to get through to the right people, at the right time.  Our team is therefore paying close attention to the talks currently underway.  We especially want to hear more how governments – from both developed and developing countries – plan to mitigate the destructive impact of climate change on specific groups or improve their resilience to it.

It’s only been one week so far, but already we have some cause to be worried.  In their opening comments, for example, few delegates included mention growing gender gaps, the needs or contributions of vulnerable or impoverished groups.  Some have questioned the full participation of civil society organizations in the discussions.  This was an inauspicious start. 

Negotiating an international treaty across 197 countries is inevitably a political and technical discussion.   But governments also have a moral, ethical and legal responsibility to fulfil obligations to their citizens, and safeguard rights. 

Evidence is increasing, for example, of the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and girls.  Vulnerability, risk, as well as the capacity to adapt to climate change are rooted in social codes often highly disadvantageous to women and girls, and very hard to change.  In some environments, it is men and boys who are more affected.

Research also shows that other groups are at risk of being disproportionately affected during rapid and slow onset climate change: migrants, refugees, people living in camps, indigenous, disabled, migrants, refugees, gender non-conforming fluid communities and LGBTQI.  

Communities that are historically vulnerable for social, cultural, political or economic reasons will need special protections and services to prevent a further downward slide into poverty or human rights abuses.  

These considerations must be incorporated across all national climate and adaptation plans but are often missing.

Governments can and must pay closer attention to the human dimension of climate change.  They can take steps to ensure broad consultation, participation from diverse sectors, invest in gender analysis and budgeting, research, and develop an evolving understanding of who is at risk, where, how and why.   They can promote gender transformative practices in adaptation and mitigation that respect human rights and build resilience from the ground up.  They can listen more to affected communities which often have their own solutions and just need technical and financial support to do so.   Scaled up climate finance from developed countries is critically needed to make this happen.

Promoting rights and equity is a win – win strategy.   Countries which have invested in gender equality and rights have better economic and environmental outcomes, and lower carbon footprints.  Equity is also better for business.

This human face is baked into the Paris Agreement, whose opening framework acknowledges that climate change is “a common concern of humankind”.   Articles 7.5 and 7.9 of the agreement call on parties to adopt participatory, transparent, gender-responsive approaches which protect vulnerable groups and communities, while preserving ecosystems, while Articles 8.4 and 11, 12, respectively, reference vulnerability, resilience, capacity building, public participation, and transparent, country owned processes.

As we enter week two, ACT Alliance will continue to remind government delegates of how climate justice can still be achieved.

Jasmine Huggins is Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at Church World Service.  She covers climate and gender justice issues and is based in Washington D.C.

The UN climate summit (COP25) in Madrid ended on the 15th of December, 2019. At that time nobody knew it would be almost one and a half years until negotiations would continue. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only challenged people and communities around the world, it has also hindered important talks about the future of our species, and our planet. This week negotiations are back, and hopefully on track towards an ambitious outcome at the upcoming climate summit- COP26- in Glasgow, Scotland in November.

Since the summit in Madrid a number of worrying climate reports have been published. The latest, from the World Meteorological Organization, shows that the the global temperature may pass the critical 1.5 degree threshold already by 2026. That is horrific news as scientists predict that temperatures above this limit will have irreversible, dramatic effects on millions of poor and vulnerable communities around the world.

But we do not have to look at science to be alarmed. We can just look out the proverbial window. Since COP25 in Madrid, we have seen heat waves, devastating cyclones, droughts, flooding, forest fires, and melting glacial ice.

We have seen these climate related disasters, and people on the frontline of climate change have felt the effects on their bodies, and in their homes and their livelihoods. There is no doubt. The need for climate action has become even more urgent.

So, what can we expect from the UN negotiations? Will they provide the solutions we need? Well, negotiations right now will certainly not deliver the solutions. Because of the corona virus negotiations will, for the first time, take place online. This setting is uncertain, and it has been agreed that no formal decisions will be taken.

So no, negotiations right now will not provide solutions.

However, they will, or maybe I should say, could, pave the way, so that decisions and agreements can be formally reach at the summit in Scotland in November.

Negotiators will address a number of key topics, which all are important to address if we want to deal with the climate crisis we are facing: rules about climate finance, carbon trading, agriculture and the “global stock take” which is the five year ambitions mechanism in the Paris agreement, designed to ensure that ambition- and action- can be scaled up.

For poor and vulnerable communities, at the forefront of climate change, time is rapidly running out. Droughts and floods will continue to affect the most vulnerable, but without progress in the UN climate cooperation it is difficult to see how the global ambition will be scaled up.

I am happy UN talks about climate change are back, and I hope they will help us to get on track, towards the resilient and green transition we all need.

Mattias Söderberg, Senior advocacy advisor in DanChurchAid. Mattias serves as co-chair of the ACT Climate Justice Reference Group.