Subject: [fem-women2000 386] WA Daily Newspaper, Edition 4 : 9 June 2000
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 06:45:51 -0500
Seq: 386

long version
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Forwarded by lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
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 From: "liz" <liz@gn.apc.org>
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 Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 20:37:10 +0200
 Subject: [B5NGONEWS] Daily Newspaper, Edition 4 : 9 June 2000
--

http://www.womenaction.org/ungass/bulletin/index.html

*102 year old activist at the Special Session
*Government on our own! - Women in the Czech Republic
*Women and Children raise their voices for peace
*Women's radio programming - the Asia-Pacific experience
*Uganda - political commitments
*Trafficking
*NGOs in the UN - Interview with Mia Adjali
*ARE ALL OUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET?
*Book launch - Violence against women : manual for journalists
*Women`s strategicly using Internet
*SMALL ARMS : A NORTH-SOUTH ISSUE
*So that was Beijing +5
*Where the evaluation is
*What Globalisation Brought to Women

102 year old activist at the Special Session

Esther Hymer, a 102 years old activist in the women's movement worldwide,
took part today in the activities of the Beijing+5 Special Session. She
visited WomenAction premises in the Church Centre and was interviewed by Les
Penelopes. In the interview, Esther talked about her experiences in women"s
struggles in the late forties and early fifties and said that "women"s
dignity is still far from being respected".

Esther Hymer, de 102 a-os de edad, y quien fuera una activista reconocida en
el movimiento de mujeres , particip- ayer de la Sesi-n Especial de la ONU.
Visit- los estudios y oficinas de WomenAction en el Church Centre y fue
entrevistada por Les Penelopes para su programa en el canal web. Esther
habl- sobre sus experiencias en las luchas que llevo adelante el movimiento
de mujeres en el periodo de la posguerra y se-al- que todav'a dista mucho
para que la dignidad de las mujeres sea respetada de manera plena.

Interview to Esther Hymer on the net, tomorrow at 1.30 pm and Saturday at 9
am www.canalweb.net/vers/cyberfemmes.asp

  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Government on our own! Women in the Czech Republic don't want to wait to be
given the space in politics

by Lenka Simerska

The Czech social democratic party won the election and came into power after
8 years of being in opposition. It is the only Czech political party that
applies an internal quota for women of 35% in all party bodies and has a
women's section within the party. In spite of all expectations, in the first
government formed by the social democrats in 1998 there was no woman
appointed to a ministerial position. The Prime Minister explained this
surprise with: $Be5(Bhis government has a very difficult task ahead of it - it
will be the government of suicidal people and women should not be exposed to
such difficult work.

One year later the Prime Minister shuffled his cabinet and once more there
was no woman in the cabinet. The Prime Minister's explanation this time was
that he had considered all the possible male and female candidates, the male
ones appeared to be better experts.

At this point women lost their patience. Jana Volfova, social democratic MP
and chairwoman of the party's women's organisation, formed an alternative
government of women only! Together with another member of the women's shadow
cabinet Michaela Marksova-Tominova (director of the Gender Studies Centre in
Prague) Jana Volfova are here at UNGASS as members of the official Czech
delegation. WomenAction used this unique opportunity to ask how women can
get their space in politics.

Jana: "When the Prime Minister said he was not able to find any woman expert
enough for his Cabinet, we took it as a challenge. I decided to find such
women and form a shadow women's cabinet. We also want to show that women
would pay attention to different topics while forming the ministries. We
don't have a ministry of military/defence in our governmental structure, we
have replaced it with ministry for family and women. We also introduced a
ministry of human rights." Michaela: "When I heard about this, I was excited
and agreed immediately to become a member, although the whole thing was
considered to be quite controversial. But who else should not to be ashamed
to became a member of a women's shadow cabinet than me who is working for a
women's NGO/is a women' s/feminist activist?"

Jana: "People asked why we hadn't appoint a Prime Minister. Our main task
was to show that specialists do exist in this country, not to distribute
posts among ourselves. The Prime Minister is a manager and we women don't
need to be managed by somebody, we can manage ourselves!"

Michaela: "But there was one thing which disappointed me: at the press
conference, when the shadow government was introduced to the public - I
wasn't there because I was participating in the March PrepCom - the speaker
[a Czech actress] announced that none of the women considered herself a
feminist and none of them felt oppressed by men. This wasn't true, but the
media picked it up and criticized the shadow government as a step back."

Jana: "The problem was that most of the 'ministers' are real specialists in
their fields and have no idea about what feminism really means; but they do
believe in cliches like social majorities. Our next task is to teach the
shadow government. It was very amusing to watch Prime Minister's face
shaking hands with all the female specialists who he said did not exist!"

Michaela: "The cabinet now has meetings with the 'real' ministers. In two
weeks we will introduce our cabinet proclamation." Jana: "We followed the
structure of the 'real' proclamation but escaped some issues and described
others in depth, mainly those concerning women. In the future, if new
legislation is introduced we will organise a press conference."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Women and Children raise their voices for peace

By Juliet Were Oguttu

In situations of armed conflict, women and children bear the biggest
brunt.Of the 30 million persons displaced in war torn areas, 80 percent are
women and children, reported Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the
United Nations Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, in a forum
here at the ongoing UN General Assembly Special Session on Women 2000. He
said that the changes in the social and economic situation have drastic
effects on women and children in war-torn areas and in areas of armed
conflict.

The women and children are forced to stay in refugee camps where resources
and essential services are very limited, he said.Women build improvised
shelters using sacks and cardboard. Relief distribution is not well planned
and in most times leaves the children and women with very little to live on.
In the absence of basic resources, they are forced into prostitution and
sexual slavery.

Rapes committed during war seem to be increasing and have received more
attention in recent years, according to International Alert, a London-based
NGO dedicated to peace issues.But women and children, encouraged by peace
and citizens organizations, have not given up. In Sierra Leone, women NGOs
formed a forum to advocate for the needs of displaced women and children.
They mobilized and marched to the residence of the head of the rebel group
and protested and civil society also followed suit, which forced him to
flee. This is a beginning of women's resistance to conflict and the struggle
for peace.

In Colombia, the children have organized themselves as peace advocates.
Fifteen-year-old Gloria Luz Gomez, of the Children's Movement for Peace
narrated during a session at the ongoing conference here, "Many children
have lost their parents and no longer have homes. Children are helping other
children but we also want to be like other children, we want peace and will
not give up. We dream of a country and world that is different and
peaceful."

International Alert said that new and emerging issues in the concerns of
women and children caught in war include the need to provide physical and
psychological care to survivors of sexual violence and rape, and to explore
the creation of a permanent women's assembly to address conflict resolution.

In several discussions here, participants have noted that the nature of
warfare has changed over the years, and it is becoming increasingly more
difficult for women to choose between being neutral victims or active
participants.In one caucus, participants proposed a drastic reduction of
military spending five percent for the next five years -- as war is
maintained through massive investments and preparation.

The proposal will just be a starting point, and is estimated to free up to
half a billion dollars per day, money which could be spend for social and
economic justice and peace programs."Five percent a year does not sound too
painful," said a participant to the forum.The women here have also cited the
need to address "gender-based" violence during times of war, which include
systematic rape and forced pregnancy.

"The failure of governments to commit themselves to this process also
encourages non-state actors such as paramilitaries, mercenaries and other
groups to continue violating human rights," said a coalition of women NGO
participants.The NGOs have been meeting to draft proposals for the "Outcome
Document" that member-states will sign when the Women 2000 conference ends
on Friday, June 9. The document aims to reaffirm the commitment of the UN
member nations during the Beijing Platform of Action passed during the
Fourth International Conference on Women held in the Chinese capital in
1995.

  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Women's radio programming - the Asia-Pacific experience

By Mavic Cabrera-Balleza

Manivanh works her rice paddies solitarily. But she doesn't seem to mind.
Her transistor radio keeps her company. Occasionally, Manivanh nods her head
and utters a few words, as if intently talking to someone. After weeding,
she goes to check her water buffalo, which she left grazing on the hilly
part of her farm. Holding the radio in one hand, she loosely ties the beast
to a mango tree under which she also slumps, presumably to take a short rest
and have her breakfast. But eat, she does not. She brings out instead a stub
of a pencil and a nearly tattered notebook. She writes as she listens
intently to her radio. We later learn that Manivanh is "attending" the
school on the air over Lao National Radio.

Manivanh is just one of the many women we met while researching women's
radio programmes in Asia and the Pacific. Carried out in 10 countries, the
study validated our observation that in the region radio has the widest
reach and is one of the most powerful media for information dissemination
and education. This despite the upsurge of the new information and
communication technologies. Another factor that accounts for radio's
popularity is the fact that in Asia-Pacific, the habit of reading is not as
established as listening, more so for groups who come from low-income
communities and do not have a high degree of literacy. Thus, there is still
a great need for information-sharing and communication initiatives that are
not print-based and can be easily accessed. Apart from being a vehicle for
disseminating vital information essential to most societies, radio provides
an arena where many affairs of public life are played out.

Radio in the context of the women's movement in Asia and the Pacific is more
than just an information tool. It is a potent vehicle in ventilating women's
issues and concerns. It is a means of mobilising action toward social
transformation. The data gathered from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand,
the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and New
Caledonia, reveal some very telling commonalities. First, is the need to
address the question of sustainability. The scarcity of resources,
particularly financial resources to cover production costs, that confronts
women broadcasters in Cambodia is also experienced, albeit to a different
extent, by radio producers in Japan. Next to funding, the other oft-repeated
problem is lack of information. Being in the information business, this is
striking. This is as real in Indo-China as it is in the Philippines.
Philippine-based GABRIELA (General Assembly Binding Women for Reforms,
Integrity, Equality, Leadership and Action, a national coalition of women's
organisations), which produces a long-running radio program for women
attests to this.

If not for their actual involvement in campaigns, they say, they would not
have enough material to broadcast. Add to this the question of language.
Despite the reality that only a handful of countries in Asia and the Pacific
speak English, most of the materials received by radio networks are in
English. The national radio Voice of Vietnam is addressing this by providing
English language training for their broadcasters. The other concern in all
of the 10 countries is the lack of training opportunities for women
broadcasters. Isis International-Manila addresses this by organizing
national and regional radio production training for women broadcasters.
Recent efforts in the region to produce women's programmes that highlight
the role of women in social development and challenge the patriarchal nature
of media come from women working in radio. But the more critical and
strategic intervention would be in the area of helping national and
community organisations in the region develop their appreciation of radio as
a communication tool.

  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Uganda - political commitments


Uganda Vice president Specioza Kazibwe said in a panel on women and
political participation that there are not indicators to measure
statistically State commitments to the advancement of women in the political
field. She considered that it is important that women work in the local
spheres to demand concrete changes in their own communities and that women
politicians should not loose touch with grassroots women, so as to be able
to take in their demands in the formulation of public policies with a gender
perspective.

  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Trafficking

UNICEF report on children and teenage sexual trafficking shows that this
kind of child exploitation has increased in several parts of the world, but
specially in Tailand, Vietnam, Nepal, India, Mali, Armenia and Costa Rica.
Many of these children are sold to traffickers by their own parents and many
others have to pay with their work for loans to their families. In the
discussion of this report during a panel, NGO representatives considered
that sexual exploitation and slavery has its roots in poverty,
underdevelopment and scarce education. Sexual trafficking of children has
also become big business for mafia organizations all over the world.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Book launch - Violence against women : manual for journalists

By Anoma Rajakaruna

Five years ago, after the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, violence
against women, one of the most flagrant violations of human rights is on the
increase. The media is more often than not part of this problem. How can the
media be true to itself while contributing constructively to ending this
scourge.

On the June 8th, at the Church Centre, by launching a training manual for
the media, Inter Press Service (IPS) and Gender Links offer some answer. The
Manual put together by IPS in consultation with an international team of
journalists, psychologists and gender activists, is targeted at the media
and non-governmental organizations involved in media training. The training
manual provides a step by step guide to media people on how to report on all
forms of violence against women.

Indirect costs of violence against women to development are extremely high
and violence perpetrated against a woman in the home has adverse effects on
the family and especially on children. In some instances, the women are
forced to stay away from work due to domestic violence, negatively impacting
on her income earning ability, too.

On the other hand, violence against women is prevalent at various levels of
the criminal justice system, too. Yet the system is the avenue that a woman
can pursue when she is affected by violence. The result is that many women
do not report crimes perpetrated against them.

At state level, violence against women has cost implications at the levels
of law enforcement, access to health services and the provision of emerging
housing and offer results in increased demand for resources. This means that
the addition to providing general health care services to broader public
more financial and human resources must be invested to make provision for
this additional burden created by violence against women, the manual notes.
Ultimately, "The State has to incur costs in preventing and addressing
violence against women".

The manual provides guidelines for reporting on women who are violated in
the different spheres, in areas of conflict, refugee camps within the home
and at workplaces. It also looks at HIV /AIDS and violence, sex workers,
trafficking and the role of men in combating violence against women.

  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NGOs in the UN - Interview with Mia Adjali

By Cheekay Cinco

Mia Adjali of the United Methodist Church's UN office has actively
participated in many struggles for change since she began her work in the
1960's. NGO delegates to the UNGASS were introduced to her by the Chair of
the General Assembly, the ambassador Theo-Ben Gurirab of Namibia. Mia Adjali
was instrumental in helping SWAPO, the South West African People's
Organisation, receive UN accreditation and later observer status. Her NGO,
he said, was a significant influence in SWAPO getting UN support which
assisted the organisation in ousting the country's colonial regime.

Mia Adjali explains the influence of NGOs in creating change - in this case
with SWAPO and in other socially just causes, such as the anti-apartheid
movement, in the following way. NGOs pressure or influence the UN to focus
on issues, the UN sets up mechanisms and provides information on these
issues, and the NGOs then lobby the UN on these issues. She has seen the
participation of women's NGOs in the UN grow in a similar way. Women's
groups have been allotted resources - financial and human - to be able to
attend UN Meetings and Conferences, in the belief that such efforts would
contribute to the improvement of the status of women.

According to Adjali, 2000 NGOs have ECOSOC Status and more have DPI
Accreditation. "Some NGOs participate and lobby more effectively than
others. Being an NGO in the UN is no longer an 'amateur job'. It requires a
level of sophistication in various skills such as negotiating with
diplomats, writing and understanding the UN language. Added to the fact that
the UN is located in New York and in Geneva," she says, "participation in
the UN is not very accessible - specifically to smaller women's groups in
the South."

Mia would like to see regional UN offices as sites where NGOs can meet
regularly. Perhaps there should be regional CSW's where Preparatory and
regular meetings can be held. "Effective lobbying is also a matter of
training," she adds, "so women understand the structure and the processes in
the UN. These trainings should be held regularly."

Recent developments in the negotiations for the Outcome Document for the
five-year review of the Platform for Action, have left many of the
participants frustrated. Complaints have been lodged on the slowness of the
process and the "watering down" of the document. Mia agrees that the level
of frustration among the women is high, but she differentiates two types of
frustration. Some women are feeling political frustration brought about by
countries that have not changed their conservative positions on the BPFA and
the Outcome Document. The most frustrated women, Adjali feels, are those who
expected to change the UNGASS process. What these participants fail to
realize is that the opportunity to negotiate with and lobby for changes in
the document was at the PrepCom and the Intersessionals, and that there
isn't much opportunity to influence the document at this point.

  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

ARE ALL OUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET?

Gabrielle Le Roux

As the fifth UN Conference on Women draws to a close it seems a good moment
to ask some of the ten thousand participants how they are feeling about the
process.

"It's a slow and backward sliding process", says Cholpon from Kyrgyztan an
NGO delegate, "It's such a wonderful forum for meeting women from other
countries doing inspiring work", says an activist from Honduras, "How on
earth do you make news out of these people taking four hours to decide on
the placement of a comma and one word in a document?" complains a US
journalist in the corridor outside one of the negotiating rooms of the UN.

A lot of time and energy is being spent on negotiating word for word the
language of the outcome document. There is a lot of concern that the bulk of
the energy is being spent in making sure that we are not sliding backwards
rather than finding the ways to move forward as a strong international
women's movement.

Driving the feeling of disappointment and disillusionment home was a protest
today at which the women zipped their lips with adhesive labels which said
Beijing - 5.

Confusion is a key feature of the conference with government delegations and
NGOs alike spending a good deal of their time trying to find the meetings
that they are wanting to attend and finding that the venue has changed, or
the time. These are the least of the problems, more disturbing are the
number of forums where important issues like globalisation or women and
media are being discussed by a "panel of experts" who are professionals but
not necessarily feminists or women committed to social justice.

It is clear that there is no one kind of feminism but there do seem to be
two distinct brands here - the polished professionals who earn good money
>from espousing popular causes like poverty relief; and those who see sexism,
poverty, classism, racism and homophobia as linked and want to see this
connection recognized in all the work of the women's movement. The
professionals claim that women are not oppressed if they get good enough at
their jobs to keep up with the competition.

The second group believe that women who know the problems can generate the
solutions and that a lot of bureaucratic discussion does not answer or even
recognize the real issues of marginalization and exclusion that women face.
Devaki Jain, Indian feminist economist and long-time activist says: "The
women's movement needs to side with those women at the bottom of the pile."

There are concerns that NGOs even though they are now part of the process do
not have sufficient voice and that they battle to keep up with what is
happening and even in some cases to be in touch with their government
delegations. The government reports reflect on the triumphs over the last
five years and fail to address the problems and challenges women face. Jain
says: "The Beijing Platform for Action lay around virtually untouched for
four years. When the call came for a report on the progress governments
quickly drew up whatever they could to make themselves look good".

In some instances the government reports were not seen until the day before
the delegates left for New York. At that point it was difficult to make
changes. An obvious irony is that the Women's Budget, an initiative
introduced to Parliament in 1994 by ANC MP and Chair of the Committee of the
Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women, Pregs Govender has
been hailed internationally as a model of a gendered budget. Yet it is
reflected in the South African report as an NGO initiative and not a
government initiative. This, along with the fact that it was not reflected
in this year's national budget in South Africa sounds warning bells about
the fragility of the gains women make.

Shanaaz Mathews of the Gender Advocacy Programme, GAP and part of the South
African NGO delegation suggests that much more organization needs to happen
before the event so that each country's delegates know each other and are
able to be in touch during the conference. Sonu Chhina, journalist and youth
activist based in Delhi, has found that she is asked to tell her countries
official delegation about very basic information about the negotiations.

Asked what the key issues are for her and how they are faring in the
conference, Chhina says: "Sexual rights and sexual orientation; for the
first issue there is a big battle on in the closed contact group to which we
don't have access. On the issue of sexual orientation government delegates
think that it can be sacrificed for something less contentious."

Lydia Alpizar, youth activist working with Mexican NGO Elige feels that
women are losing ground in this Beijing +5 process: "I can't believe that
the platforms have been re-opened. There is a real lack of political will
and commitment to women's rights". She feels that it is a harsh lesson for
the women's movement not to rely on governments to take their agenda
forward. "The gains we have are through our own efforts and we cannot put
all our eggs in one basket".

Asked what changes should be made to the next UN conference on women the
women tended to agree with Jain's proposal that it would be more fruitful to
make the focus be on the work of the NGO's, and have governments come along
as observers. They also emphasise the importance of building links between
women at all levels to work together in the common cause of advancing
women's rights.

  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Women`s strategicly using Internet

The WomenAction 2000 Internet cafe during Beijing+5

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well as the radio Internet broad casting programs by FIRE.

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$BShdescribeglobalisatioby(B $Bthword(B $BeS(Begulation". She is using the
regulation $BeB(Bs a handle for expanding the space of social justice". The
powerful institutions that are the main actors of globalisation like the
World Bank, IMF, international financial institutions, the US private
corporate sector and multinational companies, are now thinking that we must
have some regulation. These institutions used to say: "deregulate,
globalize, liberalize", now they propose new types of international
financial architecture, new rules in WTO, new rules in international
migration organisations. She suggests that feminists should take the word
regulation instead of globalisation because it is used in many ways -
globalisation of information and communication technologies is one thing, a
positive one, globalisation of capitalism is quite a different thing and
globalisation of labor is completely different; globalisation is not one
item. She suggests that we as feminists focus on regulation within
globalisation, we can design regulatory mechanisms to make sure that
globalisation brings justice. What will these regulations be like? Financial
management will become transparent, accountable, and reach our programs so
that the poor can benefit. Not only business for higher and higher
production.

Ms Jain describes UNGASS as a global women's event - an opportunity to
globalise the women's movement. In spite of the fact that Devaki Jain is a
strong oponent of globalisation, she can see great possibility for women in
globalizing themselves. She says: $Be5(Bhe environment of the global conferences
allows us to meet women who think in similar ways. It is like when men meet
and say $BcI(Bi, I know you, why don't we make this new financial group'. We
have set up a "men's club of women" here and we carry home new impulses, and
commitments for cooperation."

To the question how can this global women's movement overcome the various
differences she answers that across the differences we as women share one
global identity. We have to point out the differences and the regional
diversity, different class, political and economic context. But at the end
of the day we can see oneness. There is something similar among us and we
shouldn't abandon it because of our diversity. Because politically without
unity we will never make it. She compares it to the black movement. If
blacks in the USA say they are different from blacks in Africa, racism will
never go away. Racism can only go, when they forget their differences and
fight the racism whether it is in America, South Africa, whereever. Women
should unite in one identity for their political negotiations. Only demands
done on behalf of such united women can be heard and implemented We are
asking for things as women. It is women's experience that builds the
identity, different identity. The best example was the caucus on armed
conflict. No matter where women came from (e.g. participants from Fiji,
Afganistan, Sri-Lanka, Barma, East Timor were present), they all had the
same thing to say: 75-80% of women raped, killed, mutilated and no help at
all because the state is against them. Also the UN gives statistics, e.g.
80% of all refugees are women, 75% of all illiterate people are women. Isn't
it a sense of identity, different from men, she asks. This is the first
identity, then comes the different identities of women. If we deny the fact
that women are different from men, we loose certain political capacity to
fight for women. We would always have to say "I am fighting for Lithuanian
or French or other women." It will not allow us to create a global space for
women's rights.

Another issue of globalisation Devaki Jain points out is the link between
culture and women. All nations are now saying that they are getting
culturally colonized, there is the universal "Coca-Cola culture". As a reply
to this, Africa is now having cultural rennaisance - celebrating African
culture as a different one. But when nations start to accentuate their
cultures it becomes very harmful to women. Across the borders, cultures are
formed by tradition and traditions are oppressive to women. For women's
rights to be implemented, we have to have a universal principal of rights.
If we say that it has to be modified according to the cultural differences
because for example Afghanistan is different from France, Afghan women will
be the losers. We shouldn't be afraid to declare that there is a unity
within diversity.

To the question of whether a global women's movement is possible she says:
yes, yes, yes. But this global movement has to stand on social justice, not
just on a definition of a woman. In our political standard, we are against
political discrimination of every kind. We can be the greatest political
force in the world. "You can feel the solidarity here at UNGASS", she says.
"We are celebrating our unity not our differences." Intellectually, she says
she understands the diversity, but in the physical presence she feels the
excitement of oneness.



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Staff: Dafne Sabanes Plou (editor), Sonja Boezak, Mavic Balleza, Irene Leon,
Anne Walker, Lenka Simerska, Malin Bjork, Thais Aguilar, Sonia del Valle,
Maria Eugenia Miranda, Cheekay Cinco
Translators: Sharon Hackett, Nicole Nepton, Roxanna Sooudi
Photographers: Lin Pugh, Anoma Rajakaruna, Maria Suarez
Design and layout: John Napolitano


Editorial Policy: WomenAction is a global information network with the long
term goal of women's empowerment, with a special focus on women and media.
This is an independent trilingual newspaper that critically reflects on the
activities at UNGASS 2000 with the intention of expressing opinion and
stimulating debate.







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