Author: watchthedot
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Women's Major Group Delivers UN Statement as Rio+20 Draws Closer
Soroptimist International is an active member of the Women’s Major Stakeholder Group for the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio+20. The below statement was given at the ECOSOC on May 3rd. Women’s Major Group Statement United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 3 May 2012 Vice President of the Council, distinguished delegates and…
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UNESCO Future Forum: Global Water Futures 2050+
SI UNESCO Representative Dominique Mertz reports back from the Global Water Futures Forum. By 2025, an estimated 60 percent of the world’s population will live in “water-stressed” conditions. Securing access to safe drinking water (MDG 7) for all and managing this limited resource is therefore a high priority on the sustainable development agenda for the…
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SI Denmark and Kenya – An Award Winning Partnership!
How did the project “Women and Climate Change” – a partnership between SI Kenya and SI Denmark, come about? Else Larsen, previous SI UN Representative at the FAO in Rome, recently visited Kenya with a group of Danish Soroptimists. Here she reports the highlights and shares their learning. Recently (5-16 March) I was the happy…
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Cambodia: Forgotten Poverty
This week we hear from one of the Assistant Programme Directors in SIGBI, Barbara Dixon. Earlier this year she visited Cambodia in her professional capacity as a dentist. Here she shares her experiences – from the cities of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to the rural villages. When we think of extreme poverty, poor living…
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Soroptimist International Attends AWID Forum in Istanbul
Programme Director Reilly Dempsey and President Elect Ann Garvie attended the 12th AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights & Development, held in Istanbul. AWID is the Association For Women’s Rights in Development, and Soroptimist International joined the association in 2011. AWID is an international, multi-generational, feminist, creative, future-orientated membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality,…
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“Help Us and Ask Us Questions”
As Soroptimist International prepares to take part in a side event on migrant women and their children in prisons at the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, we issue our message to global leaders on this critical topic. "Help us and ask us questions" This was the plea from a young Lithuanian girl, detained…
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Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice: International Cooperation is Essential
This week, SI’s UN Representatives in Vienna are attending the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. They report back on the opening session: The 21st Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, chaired by Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand opened today in front of about 800 delegates, 111 States and…
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Soroptimist International Comes to Tanzania!
This was the banner created by SI Arusha, and proudly displayed high above the city streets on their Charter date of 20th March 2012. Four years ago the seed of soroptimism was planted by Mrs Margaret Ndzelen, a SI member from Bamenda, Cameroon. While visiting with her daughter who had just given birth, Margaret…
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If Rio+20 Is To Deliver, Accountability Must Be At Its Heart
Press Release: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights In an open letter to world Governments, a group of 22 UN independent human rights experts called on States to incorporate universally agreed international human rights norms and standards with strong accountability mechanisms into the UN Rio+20 sustainable development conference’s goals, as the Rio+20 first…
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Population and Development: Empowering Women Through Choice
SI UN Representative Lois Beilin reports back from the Commission on Population and Development, taking place in New York this week. The Commission on Population and Development meeting at the United Nations in New York, April 23 – 27 has refocused attention on the International Conference for Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo, Egypt…