Subject: [fem-women2000 595] UNIFEM project to facilitate the use ICTs by Arab women
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 11:17:45 +0900
Seq: 595
---------------- Original message follows ---------------- From: "Ra'ida S. Al-Zu'bi" <info@arabwomenconnect.org> Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 10:03:08 -0500 Subject: UNIFEM project to facilitate the use ICTs by Arab women -- PLEASE DISSEMINATE WIDELY "Arab Women Connect News" UNIFEM Western Asia launches the Arab Women Connect Website, E-Mail List and E-Newsletter Issue 1, Vol. 1 February 2001 (Please print out this page for future reference) Dear "Arab Women Connect News" Readers: Welcome to the first issue of "AWC News", the newsletter of the Arab Women Connect website: a pilot project launched by UNIFEM Western Asia on December 17, 2000 in Amman, Jordan. AWC is a bilingual clearinghouse website providing easy access to on-line information, analyses and resources on Arab women to policy-makers, researchers, NGOs, government agencies, donors and UN agencies. This website is part of a comprehensive internet networking/training strategy formulated by UNIFEM Western Asia to encourage and to facilitate the use of new information and communication technologies by Arab women. To assist you in navigating our website, we have prepared a brief introduction to our various sections (below). For your navigation of our website to be as easy as possible, we recommend that you: 1. Download Internet Explorer 5.5 to read the Arabic text. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/ie55sp1.htm 2. Download Adobe Acrobat to be able to read documents in PDF format. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html 3. Have Windows 95 or 98 and MS Office 2000. 4. Register as a member of our Website, to post your news and views on our Website. http://www.awc.org.jo/cgi-bin/forum/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Register Please note that to download an ".exe file", you first need to click on the document link, than to choose whether you would like to download the document (save this program on disk), or to open it from its current location (run from current location). If you download the document, you need to indicate where you want it saved, after which you should go to the saved file location and click on it, than click on "extract, to view the actual document. Arab Women Connect Sections: (If the underlined internet addresses do not appear in blue (hypertext), please copy and paste them in the "Address" box in Explorer) Weekly News: http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/main.html A weekly feature containing current news on Arab women. What's New: http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/main.html Contains the latest documents and links submitted to our website. Arab Women's Organizations Database: http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/organizationdb.html A comprehensive on-line directory of Arab women's NGOs and governmental organizations. Experts Database: http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/tsearchE.html An on-line database of Arab experts in gender and development, media, new information and communication technologies, advocacy, project formulation and management, strategic planning and analysis (if interested, please submit your resume to: info@arabwomenconnect.org) Arab Country Sections: Download full-length studies, reports and newsletters for, by and about Arab women from: Egypt http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/egypt/egypt.html Lebanon http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/lebanon/lebanon.html Syria http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/syria/syria.html Palestine http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/palestine/palestine.html Jordan http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/jordan/jordan.html Yemen http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/yemen/yemen.html UAE http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/uae/uae.html Qatar http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/qatar/qatar.html And the Region: http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/regional/regional.html UNIFEM Western Asia: Access our latest on-line publications at: http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/western_asia/west_asia.html Events and Publications Bulletin Board: http://www.awc.org.jo/cgi-bin/forum/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Headlines&BID=24&S ID=932Read about the latest women-centric events and publications from the Region and across the globe. You are also welcome to post your events and publications in this section, but remember, you have to register here first http://www.awc.org.jo/cgi-bin/forum/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Register. Discussion Forum: http://www.awc.org.jo/cgi-bin/forum/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Headlines&BID=29&S ID=937Engage in lively and informative on-line discussions with experts from the Region on topics of relevance to Arab women. For the first discussion, UNIFEM Western Asia's Human Rights Program Team have prepared the following introduction and suggestions: "In October 1999, UNIFEM Western Asia Regional Office organized a workshop that brought together experts from across the region to share ideas about the compatibility between international human rights law, particularly that pertaining to women, and Islamic law (shari'a). The workshop aimed to promote a constructive dialogue among religious leaders and human rights activists around the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and shari'a in order to advance women's human rights on the national and regional level. It became evident in the roundtable discussions that increasing awareness on the meaning and provisions embodied in the CEDAW is an essential and much-needed strategy for minimizing misconceptions of what the CEDAW stands for, and for the advancement of the human rights of women more broadly. (Please go to the AWC website and click on UNIFEM Western Asia, Human Rights, Report on the Roundtable Workshop) The Human Rights Team invites you to continue the discussion on one of the following three issues: 1. Should the reservation by Arab countries on article 7 (prohibiting women from assuming public office) be abolished, since there is no explicit legislative proof prohibiting women from assuming public office? Consequently there does not appear to be any justification for maintaining any reservations on Article 7, on the pretext of its contradiction to Islamic legislation. 2. Should nationality laws in the Arab world be amended to allow Arab women to pass-on their nationality to their children? At present, the majority of the constitutions of most Islamic countries have embodied the principle of equality amongst its citizens, regardless of gender, thereby implying that nationality laws in those countries which discriminate between men and woman are unconstitutional. 3. Should the marriage contract used by most Arab countries be amended to include stipulations safeguarding women's rights (following the recent Egypt marriage contract model)? What, in your point of view are the most important stipulations to be included? Please send an e-mail to: info@arabwomenconnect with the topic of your preference (e.g.: topic #2). Job Vacancies Section: Improve your career opportunities with access to a comprehensive listing of the latest development-related vacancies. http://www.awc.org.jo/cgi-bin/forum/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Headlines&BID=26&S ID=938 Links Section: Explore a comprehensive list of websites for local, regional and international organizations dealing with gender and development issues. http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/english/main_links.html Please feel free to browse through these sections, and do send us your comments and feedback on how to make our website more user-friendly. We also invite you to send us your press releases, publications, and your job vacancies for posting on our website (please send us a clean copy in electronic format, either on diskette or via e-mail). Our e-mail address is: info@arabwomenconnect.org Lastly, since Arab Women Connect is a work in progress, we would appreciate your sending any technical problems you encounter to: webmaster@arabwomenconnect.org We hope that you will find the above information useful and welcome you as a regular visitor to our website. With warm regards, The Arab Women Connect UNIFEM Western Asia You are receiving this e-mail as a member of the Arab Women Connect mailing list. If you do not wish to be a member of this list, please send an e-mail to info@arabwomenconnect.org from your mail account, with the message: unsubscribe. Ra'ida Al-Zu'bi, Coordinator Arab Women Connect Project UNIFEM Western Asia Regional Office Fax: 9626 567 8594 Tel: 9626 567 4689 P.O. Box 830896 Amman, 11183 Jordan http://www.arabwomenconnect.org _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem