The ACT Alliance oral statement was delivered by the Regional Representative – Asia/Pacific, Anoop Sukumaran (photo) to the 61st session of the Commission on the status of Women in the United Nations General Assembly hall.

Respected Chair, your Excellences, thank you for this opportunity in a growing environment where the space for civil society is increasingly shrinking.

I represent the ACT Alliance, a coalition of 144 churches and faith-based organizations working together in over 140 countries. The Act Alliance works on Humanitarian Action, Development, Advocacy and human rights. The alliance is committed to respect,  and protecting the dignity, intrinsic worth and human rights of every woman, man, girl and boy.

The ACT Alliance recognizes commitments to gender equality and justice in existing international instruments and development frameworks such as the CEDAW; the Beijing Platform for Action and resolutions on Women, Peace and Security; the call for systematic transformational change for women and girls’ well-being in the roll-out of Agenda 2030.

Gender equality is not only a basic right, it is also essential for achieving sustained socio-economic growth. Legal frameworks are necessary and crucial for the achievement of gender justice, however, parallel legal systems based on custom or religion are excessively influential in many countries which negatively impact upon women’s legal rights and economic empowerment. Child marriage,  and other harmful practices, which are often upheld by customary law practices, hinder education and sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls. A re-engagement with the parallel legal systems and re-interpretations of religious narratives is crucial for ensuring women’s and girls’ economic empowerment, and can lead to effectively challenging and ultimately dismantling patriarchy.

ACT Alliance emphasizes the positive role that faith, and communities of faith, can play in achieving gender justice. ACT is a progressive faith voice advocating globally on gender justice to counter the misuse of religion by certain groups that undermine the rights of women and girls.

Collaborative efforts to empower women as actors in the political sphere must also include engagement of men and boys to address harmful and discriminatory social norms and practices. Furthermore, we need to recognize the need for women to have an equal social and legal status so that we, as women, can powerfully participate in the full realization of human rights and in the fulfillment of Agenda 2030.

Maternal health and sexual and reproductive health are basic rights for all. Access to sexual and reproductive health rights is a prerequisite of girls’ education and women’s economic empowerment. A reduction in the number of maternal deaths will not be achieved without fulfilment of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health rights. Act Alliance believes that the inclusion of family planning, age-of-consent minimums, access to sexual and reproductive health care and context-appropriate comprehensive sexual education are all essential elements that need further consideration. We know these are expressed in Goal 3 and 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals, and advances this dialogue, but more action is required, and the time is now. Controversy over the social, religious and cultural dimensions of sexual and reproductive health rights and subsequent inaction in addressing them has had a detrimental impact on social equity and sustainable development.

We welcome the increased interest of UN delegations in listening to the breadth of religious voices present at CSW and beyond.

We urge CSW to work to:

• Depoliticize women’s health and provide equal access to health systems, including sexual and reproductive health rights.
• Support and implement policies and legal frameworks of prevention and response to gender-based violence.
• Equal access to an enabling environment for civil society organizations in general and specifically those addressing the issues regarding equal rights and participation of women.

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A short video of the ACT Alliance oral statement that was delivered by the Regional Representative – Asia/Pacific, Anoop Sukumaran to the 61st session of the Commission on the status of Women in the United Nations General Assembly hall.

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK, March 15, 2017 – ACT Alliance and the UNFPA hosted a side event at the 61^st Commission on the Status of Women. The event “Protecting bodies, protecting rights – Religious and customary law enabling economic empowerment” explored the gap between women’s legal rights and their ability as individuals to claim them.

Parallel legal systems exist in many countries based on custom or religion which impact upon women’s legal rights and economic empowerment. Child marriage, for instance, which is often accepted in many customary law practices, hinders education and sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls.

The panel was composed of experts from around the world on religious law, women’s and girls’ health and gender equality. Dr. Azza Karam, director of the UN Interagency Taskforce on Religion and Development, and Senior Advisor to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) moderated the session held at the UNFPA headquarters.

Åsa Regner, Sweden’s Minister for Gender Equality, Children and the Elderly said that “gender equality preconditions a welfare state and vice versa, they are inseparable.” In Sweden, the government through its emphasis on individual social security, and individual taxation as well as individual parental leave, puts the individual at the centre of the welfare state and not the family as a unit. Regner, who previously served as country director for UN Women in Bolivia, stressed that “women and girls are actors in their own settings, not victims”.

Commenting on how national constitutions are increasingly likely to guarantee gender equality, but many also recognize the authority of parallel legal systems based on custom or religion, Dr. Marwa Sharafeldin, from Musawah, defended that gender equality is very much possible from within a faith narrative, but there are still many challenges at stake. “We should not be bullied by those who use religion to justify oppression against women. We should not accept that religion is used that way”, she said.

“Religion is not really the problem. The real problem is the political will of the state and of policy makers who decide which religious speech fits the law approved by them and which one they ignore”, added Sharafeldin.

For Rev. Dr. Gunilla Hallonsten, ACT Alliance Senior Advisor on Gender, one of the key issues that is the debate on gender and human rights in relation to the interpretation of religious texts. “Customary norms are being confused as the interpretation of religious texts” said Rev Dr Hallonsten.

ACT emphasizes a progressive engagement with the parallel legal systems and interpretations of religious narratives is crucial for ensuring women’s and girls’ economic empowerment, diluting and eliminating the patriarchal perspectives within those systems. “Patriarchy is within our religions, and we need to recognize this fact”, stressed Rev. Dr. Hallonsten.

Dr. Azza Karam, argued that the ACT Alliance is a bridge between the progressive secular feminist discourse and the progressive faith based feminist discourse.

ACT and UNFPA are pleased to have been able to facilitate this discussion. We see this as the beginning of a larger conversation culminating in the achievement of rights of women in all spheres.

ENDS

Pictures of the panel HERE

For further information contact:

Anoop Sukumaran (Anoop.sukumaran@actalliance.org)

Gunilla Hallonsten (Gunilla.Hallonsten@svenskakyrkan.se)

The World YWCA is an ACT Alliance member and also a member of the ACT Gender Community of Practice.  It’s also a global faith based movement impacting over twenty-five million women, young women and girls worldwide. On this 61^st session of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women, we stand together as the ACT Gender CoP to amplify our collective faith voice to ensure that decision makers review their economic and labour policies and actions substantively to contribute to the fulfilment of the human rights of ALL women, young women and girls. It is a fact that when more women work, economies grow. Investing in women’s economic empowerment is crucial for gender equality, women’s rights, poverty eradication and achieving economic growth for all.

The CSW constitutes one of the most important avenues for the ACT members to engage with. As the designated UN annual platform to review commitments made by governments in regards to women, young women and girls, CSW presents itself as a critical platform to review commitments already made by governments and to advocate for new commitments in areas where they are most needed.

This year,  commitments will be made by governments in accordance with the priority theme on “Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work”. It is important to ensure that the new commitments under this priority theme are in line with and re-inforce the priorities of our faith based organisations. CSW61 is also very important for ACT as it presents itself as an opportunity to develop the leadership and collective power of women, young women and girls to achieve justice, peace, health, human dignity, freedom and a sustainable environment.

For the majority of women, young women and girls, sex and gender discrimination intersect with discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, health, status, age, class, caste, ability, migration status, sexual orientation and gender identity.  This reality  pushes a lot of women who are already marginalized into poverty in a global economic system that privileges the wealthy and men. Millions work as domestic labourers in unsafe and insecure conditions under which they are particularly vulnerable to rights violations. As part of ACT Gender CoP, the World YWCA will engage with the ACT Gender CoP priorities in

• Recognising the positive role that faith, and communities of faith, can play in achieving gender equality and justice. The role of religious communities and leaders in enabling change is crucial in relation to parallel legal systems based on custom or religion laws.
• Analysing the impact of parallel legal systems based on custom or religion: implications on economic opportunities through family, marriage laws and head of household laws that impacts women’s ability to access inheritance, own property, open bank accounts and start businesses.
• The indirect impact from parallel legal systems based on custom or religion laws: legal autonomy and agency through for instance, the practices of child marriage, hinders education and sexual and reproductive health and rights, both crucial enablers for economic empowerment.

We have a voice as a Faith Based Organisation and we will continue to champion and transform inter-generational and shared leadership of women, young women and girls. Through our collective efforts, we have the confidence to break away from the entrenched roles that society has assigned to women.

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Ritah Muyambo is Head of Programmes for World YWCA, a global women’s movement working for women’s empowerment, young women and girls’ transformative leadership and rights in more than 120 countries and 20 000 local communities.  She has experience working with Civil Society Organizations including Faith Based Organisations and NGOs in the area of health and human rights with a focus on human rights and gender equality related to Young Women Leadership, Violence Against Women, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, Economic Empowerment and ICT, Peace and Justice programming.  She has facilitated youth voice particularly young women’s voices through advocacy on national, regional and global level.   She has extensive knowledge and experience in evidence based research programming, development and implementation of community affordable programmes and sustainability of training programmes

March 15, 2017 marks six years of the Syrian conflict.  Since the beginning of the violence, ACT members have been providing humanitarian relief to affected people and communities in Syria and in the surrounding countries.  Please join us in praying for an end to this conflict, and for peace for all those affected, including this Syrian refugee woman who shared her story with ACT member DSPR Lebanon:

“I am a Syrian refugee who fled to Jordan three years ago; I lost my husband during the war. I had to take my four children and escape. You cannot imagine the danger we faced and the fare during our trip. I lost hope and got depressed; my children started wetting their beds while they were sleeping. We struggled to secure our daily needs of food and if it was not for our neighbours who supported us we would be dead now. Now we live in Husn Refugee Camp with our friends. I was afraid to talk to people at the beginning and afraid what the future is hiding.

“I talked to one of my neighbours who told me to visit DSPR at the camp; they will be of great help to you. After great hesitation, I decided to go to the DSPR centre and met the centre supervisor who was very kind with me and allowed me to talk and express myself and offered me the chance to participate in a training workshop for 15 days called “Start Your Business.” At the beginning I hesitated because it’s a long workshop, but at the end I decided to participate.

“We were 25 ladies, we enjoyed participating in such a workshop, we learned a lot about starting a small business, how to start it, how to market for it, how to calculate profit margin, and how to sell my product. At the end of the workshop we received a certificate that made me proud of myself.

“After the workshop, I started thinking of a real project that could support me and my children. I started producing whole wheat bread. With the support of my eldest son Suleiman, we started selling the bread to houses and small supermarkets. The income was small at the beginning but over time it increased due to high demand for such bread. The next step was buying a sealing machine to pack the bread and seal it for better quality and more income. Thank you DSPR Jordan!”

PRESS RELEASE 

ACT Alliance stands as a progressive faith voice for advocacy on gender equality and justice. The 61^st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York provides the potential for members of ACT Alliance to actively engage and influence the CSW negotiations and the official text of its message.

ACT members will raise awareness of faith-based organizations’ work and ability to challenge existing power structures, harmful and discriminatory social norms and address barriers to gender equality.  The important work of strengthening the visibility of faith voices and faith communities will be put on the agenda at CSW in collaboration with UNFPA and the World Council of Churches at the side event: Protecting bodies, protecting rights – Religious and customary law enabling economic empowerment? on March 14.

“National constitutions are increasingly likely to guarantee gender equality, but many also recognize the authority of parallel legal systems based on custom or religion,” said Gunilla Hallonsten, ACT’s Program Manager for Gender. “Our side event approaches the complex matter of parallel legal systems, which have implications for women’s economic opportunities through family, marriage and head of household laws that impact women’s ability to access inheritance, own property, open bank accounts and start businesses. The gap between women’s legal rights and their ability to claim them is significant.”

The side event will also engage with the depoliticizing of women’s health to achieve equal access to health systems, including sexual and reproductive health rights, and further discuss the implementation of laws at national, regional and global levels to guarantee a life free from gender-based violence, exploitation, discrimination and fear.

ACT, in a statement to the CSW, encourages UN agencies, member states, faith-based organizations and the civil society to act together to protect the rights of women in situations where parallel laws discriminate against women and girls. The statement also calls on these bodies to recognize the active role faith, and communities of faith, can play in promoting women’s economic rights and empowerment.

ENDS

For further information, contact:

Gunilla Hallonsten
ACT Alliance Program Manager for Gender
+46 76 800 01  90
gunilla.hallonsten@actalliance.org

Elsbeth Gravgaard
Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor on Gender Equality and Active Citizenship, DanChurchAid.
+ 45 25502112
eg@dca.dk

As an advisor on gender equality at DCA and a dedicated supporter of gender equality for decades, I am excited to be going to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for the fourth time. I will be part of the official Danish delegation and therefore be able to take part in the actual negotiations.  I will also be part of the small but very active ACT team at the CSW.

I very much look forward to the hectic time of meetings, learning, dialogue, laughter and sometimes frustration that always follows the CSW negotiations.

Background to the CSW

CSW is the biggest annual UN event on women’s rights with most nations’ governments and thousands of NGOs in attendance.

The United Nations has previously organized four world conferences on women. These took place in Mexico City (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995).  The World Conference on Women in Beijing marked a significant turning point for the global agenda for gender equality. The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, was adopted unanimously by 189 countries and has formed the reference point for global work on gender equality ever since.

For me it is really thought provoking that it has not been feasible to organise another Women’s Conference in over 20 years, mainly out of fear of not being able to agree on some of the difficult issues and therefore risking a backlash on already agreed upon language.

The role of faith-based actors including ACT Alliance

Faith actors will need to challenge existing power structures and address barriers to gender equality, including poverty, unpaid care work, unequal pay, and social marginalization – all of which will be on the agenda in this year’s CSW, which focuses on women’s economic empowerment.

It is very important to strengthen the visibility of faith voices in support of gender equality at the CSW.  We need constructive engagement from the faith community in the struggle for gender justice.   We must also dare to openly discuss all issues, even those where we might not fully agree.  In many UN discussions involvement of faith institutions are seen more as an obstacle to achieve gender equality than as a necessary part of the solution.

ACT Alliance has also recognised this challenge and aims at bringing progressive faith voices to the CSW 61 where we will do global advocacy on gender justice. ACT has to be present and influence the CSW 61 official text and the CSW negotiations. We also hope to mobilise members to engage on a high level at CSW62 and to follow up CSW 61 through advocacy in their regional and national forums.

I am however very happy to recognise that during the years I have participated in the CSW the understanding of the importance of inviting constructive faith voices into the debate has gradually increased with UN and government agencies.

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Elsebeth Gravgaard works as senior policy and advocacy advisor on Gender Equality and Active citizenship at DanChurchAid. She is also a long-term member of the ACT Communities of Practices on Gender Justice and previous chair of ACT Gender reference group.

Europe acted like a dissonant choir when responding to the Trump administration’s travel ban. Is this a surprise? Not really when one looks at the trend of EU’s migration policies in the past two years: the erection of walls and international cooperation to keep refugees and migrants out of sight and out of reach. Is this the Europe that we want? ACT Alliance EU has joined 160 other organisations in asking European leaders to stand up for humanity and dignity and to foster and promote the European Union’s commitments to human rights and international law at home and abroad.

The announcement of the “travel ban” by US President Donald Trump provoked mixed reactions among European leaders. A quick overlook at the various reactions offers an interesting snapshot of Europe’s consensus on asylum and migration.

Federica Mogherini, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy stated at the European Parliament that “The EU will not turn its back on anyone who has the right to international protection”. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel lectured president Trump on the virtues of the 1951 Geneva Convention on the phone.  French president François Hollande asked him to show a sense of responsibility. Theresa May who initially did not condemn the ban was finally pressed at the House of Commons to declare: “I’ve made very clear that this policy is divisive and wrong. It is not a policy that we would introduce”.

Nonetheless, the ban found a positive echo in Central Europe. Support came from Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán. The Hungarian government’s chief spokesman, Zoltán Kovács already claimed Trump’s election in the US was contributing to “a change of mood in Europe” that vindicated Orbán’s tough position on migration. Meanwhile, Poland’s foreign minister defended President Trump’s immigration order, arguing that every sovereign country has the right to decide its own immigration policy. Writing on Twitter, the spokesperson of President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic said Trump “protects his country” and called for the European Union to take similar measures.

The absence of unanimous condemnation is no surprise when one looks at the reality of EU’s policy vis-à-vis refugees and migrants. We, Europeans, already have our “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall”: the Mediterranean Sea. It is not actually that impenetrable, but is still dangerous enough that 5,096 refugees and migrants were reported dead or missing at sea in 2016 alone. Talking about walls, many have not waited to be inspired by president Trump’s approach to build their own walls on their land borders. In 2015 alone, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria all started construction or announced plans to build fences. In the same vein, Norway built a steel fence at a remote Arctic border post with Russia to deter migration. A one-kilometer “anti-intrusion” wall was built in late 2016 to block access to the northern port of Calais for migrants trying to clandestinely cross the English Channel to Britain. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, European countries have built or started 1,200 km of anti-migrant fences, costing at least €500 million ($570 million) –which represents 40% of the US-Mexico border.

On top of this, to deter the ones who would try to reach its continent, the European Union is entering into agreements with other countries where they agree to seal their borders and create the conditions for migrants and refugees to stay in these countries. This approach has huge financial and political consequences as well as human rights implications.

The EU-Turkey deal implies the disbursement of €3 billion funding which are designated for projects to improve the lives of refugees as well as of host communities in Turkey. To quote Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe: “The EU-Turkey deal has been a disaster for the thousands who have been left stranded in a dangerous, desperate and seemingly endless limbo on the Greek islands”.  It is presented as a success story by the European Commission and serves as a model for other deals.

Last month, the European Commission announced a plan to disburse 200 million EUR to be shuffled into border control and surveillance in the hope of containing people likely to attempt the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing in the upcoming months. Concerns were raised by civil society organisations,including ACT Alliance and ACT Alliance EU: the decision to transfer the responsibility for managing migratory movements along the central Mediterranean route to Libya will neither reduce human rights abuses, nor end smuggling. Instead, it will significantly increase harm and suffering.

These examples show that instead of countering the rise of xenophobic populists, Europe’s response has too often been to copy their recipes and ignore voices offering sustainable, long-term migration policies that guarantee respect for people’s rights. At the occasion of the European Council 9-10 March, 160+ organisations -ACT Alliance EU among them- reminded that Europe needs to be strong and faithful to its core values which are based on respect for human rights and international law. “Strength doesn’t mean turning away those most in need. Strength is about showing a way forward that upholds values”.

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Agnès Bertrand has more than ten years’ experience in EU external affairs and human rights. She is currently the European refugee crisis advocacy officer for the ACT Alliance, based in Brussels, Belgium, since May 2016 and was previously the Middle-East policy officer for ACT Alliance EU. In her current position, she is charge of advocacy to the European Union in relation to its policies vis-à-vis refugees. Agnes is holds a PhD in International law from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and a masters in European law from the Sorbonne. She taught international law at SOAS and external relations of the European Union at Science Po Lille.

When Rudelmar Bueno de Faria joins the ACT Alliance as the new General Secretary on June 1, he will arrive with 25 years of experience working in the ecumenical family. Rudelmar has worked with LWF World Service and the WCC in a wide range of roles. “I had the opportunity to work in different settings, but also to relate to different cultures,” he said in an interview.  “Currently In my position here in New York, I am facilitating the participation of the ecumenical movement in the advocacy at the United Nations… World Bank and IMF, and also with several of the interreligious organizations that are engaging in both humanitarian and development work.”

Members are the strength of ACT

When asked about the strengths of the ACT Alliance, Rudelmar immediately pointed to the over 140 members who make up the alliance, working at the national, regional and global levels. He highlighted the “…different skills and expertise that different members bring to the alliance.

We have organizations that have access to remote communities. They are able to provide first response in case of emergencies- saving lives. But they are also able to influence at the national level policies that are affecting the lives of people. And they have also the space and the connection to global decision-making spaces like the UN systems but also government as well.”

The broad range of churches and agencies that make up ACT also allow the alliance to be “…effective in all elements related to accountability, especially to affected populations by disasters.  [ACT has] very good systems in place which help to create this effectiveness when responding to humanitarian crises but also working on sustainable development and advocacy.”

Rudelmar’s experience as a member of the ACT Governing Board and Executive Committee during his time with LWF has ensured that he is aware of the areas where ACT can improve.  He is confident that the alliance can grow and increase its effectiveness together. “I believe that working together collaboratively …[can] bring different skills, can support common objectives- [for] improved lives of people and to fight against injustices in all parts of the world.”

A focus on members and ecumenical diakonia

Rudelmar’s first few months with ACT will be focused, among other things, on a dialogue with members about ecumenical diakonia and what it means to be an alliance with so many different areas of expertise and different roles that members play.  ACT needs to be “…discerning together about distinct roles of different members, how we can build up an alliance that can be effective and will make a difference in the world today.”

The concept of ecumenical diakonia is a key to the ACT Alliance- an important part of its founding, and its movement into the future.  The goal in creating ACT “…was to establish a coordinated platform for ecumenical diakonia expressing a joint vision of the ecumenical movement with the member churches and specialized ministries with the purpose to assist people in need and work for a better world.”

The conversation around diakonia will help ACT members to come to a “…common discernment and agreement in terms of the different contributions, talents, gifts that different actors from the ecumenical movement can bring to promoting human rights, human dignity, fighting against injustices.”

Members: Engage positively in the alliance

Rudelmar’s message to ACT members is simple and inspiring: “I make a call to all ACT members to engage with the alliance- engage positively, engage in terms of providing elements and also bringing the different perspectives and the contextual situations in their respective countries and regions to be [debated] and also to help to define what the profile of the alliance after the Assembly.”

The full interview with Rudelmar is available here

ACT Alliance stands in solidarity with its members in Guatemala and with Guatemalan human rights defenders as they stand up, despite threats and attacks, to promote and protect universally recognized human rights.

The serious situation for those who work for human rights in Guatemala was painfully illustrated by the deaths of two human rights defenders in January 2017. John Nduna, General Secretary of the ACT Alliance, said, “ACT Alliance was founded to work towards a world where all people can live with dignity, justice and full respect for human rights and the environment. Threats, intimidation, and violence against people who are peacefully protecting their own and their communities’ rights cannot be allowed.”

The Guatemala ACT Forum has released a statement urging:

1. The Public Prosecutor (MP) and corresponding authorities to investigate the assassination and attacks against human rights defenders in Guatemala, identify the perpetrators and initiate legal proceedings.

2. The Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH) to fulfill its mandate of observing human rights and making recommendations to the Guatemalan state about how to improve the fulfillment of national and international human rights obligations, especially with regards to indigenous peoples and human rights defenders.

3. The Ministry of the Interior to guarantee the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, especially for rural populations and indigenous peoples organizing in favor of their rights to land, water, and self-determination as indigenous peoples.

4. The State of Guatemala to implement the mechanisms established by ILO Convention 169, and other aspects of national and international law that guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples.

5. The international community and the United Nations Human Rights Council to call upon countries with financial investments in the region to monitor and evaluate their actions so that they do not contribute to social conflicts or threats towards human rights defenders who work in favor of social and environmental justice.

6. Churches and faith-based organizations to join in solidarity with the rural and indigenous communities of Guatemala who have mobilized in favor of the environment and human rights.

ACT Alliance is a coalition of 144 affiliated churches and organizations that work together in more than 100 countries to foster and promote a positive, sustainable change in the livelihoods of poor and marginalized people regardless of their religion, political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality and in compliance with the strictest international codes and norms.