NEWS AND EVENTS @ CAWN: The Central America Women's Network

Every day Central American women have their human rights violated. We have created this space to share information on the work that different organisations are doing to challenge these violations, at the same time we would like to share what our partners are doing to raise awareness of the issues.

An important part of CAWN’s work is sharing information with like minded civil society organisations in Central America and Europe. Included on these pages are links to documents and resources that we consider important or innovative contributions to debate on gender violence, and trade and economic rights.

CAWN does not share all opinions expressed in these links and disclaims responsibility for the content of these documents and resources.

upcoming events

Launch of our research report:

Intersecting Inequalities: A Review of Feminist Debates and Theoretical Approaches on Violence against Women and Poverty in Central/Latin America.

This research project will focus on comparing key elements of the European, UK and Latin American feminist movements and considering how poverty links these elements into the Central American context.

Tegucigalpa (Honduras): 2 - 4 pm, 30th July 2010, Galería Nacional de Arte.
London (UK): 21st October 2010. Location to be confirmed.

All are welcome to our launch in Honduras; for more information go to http://www.cemh.org.hn/

Information on how to book a place at our London launch will be made available closer to the date.

latest news

Honduran 'Human Rights Platform' calls on OAS not to lift Honduras' suspension.

The Honduran collective 'Human Rights Platform', which consists of a number of respected human rights organisations, including the Centre for Women's Rights (CDM) and the Centre for Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights in Honduras (CIPRODEH) have written to Carmen Lomellin, Chairman of the Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of the United States to OAS (the Organisation of American States) to urgently request that OAS do not lift Honduras' suspension, which was imposed as a result of the coup in June 2009.

In the letter, the groups express their concern at the gravity of the human rights violations which still occur on a regular basis in Honduras, the illegitimacy of the elections that took place in November 2009, the repressive and ever increasing presence of the military and the lack of independence of the judicary and other state institutions. The platform argues that to lift the suspension would give the current Honduran government legitimacy and put the Honduran people at risk, claiming that suspension is one of the main measures that has prevented human rights violations on an even greater scale than is currently occuring.

The report on the reentry of Honduras into OAS is due by 31st July; we await to see if this, and other similar pleas, have any effect.

To read the letter in full (in Spanish only) click here.

EU releases declaration condemning feminicide!

CAWN is pleased to announce that the campaign against feminicide took an exciting step forward yesterday (30th June) when the EU released a declaration strongly condemning feminicide and the culture of impunity it entails. The declaration also praised the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for establishing that gender based violence can constitute gender discrimination and endorsing the concept of Feminicide as 'Gender-based-homicides', and promised to actively support and cooperate with Latin America in the search for remedies to eliminate this.

CAWN welcomes this declaration and the EU's promise to assist in the struggle to eliminate not only gender-based killings, but also the impunity that forms such a large part of the problem and which we have been campaigning against for several years. We hope that this is the first of many such steps in the long process towards the elimination of feminicide and all forms of gender-based violence.

To read the declaration in full, please click here.

Human Rights Council releases communication on the elimination of violence against women

On 15th June 2010, the Human Rights Council (HRC) released a communication on 'Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women: ensuring due diligence in prevention', which reaffirms and builds upon previous resolutions in this area. By recognising that effective prevention of violence against women (VAW) requires a number of measures, which include government action, education, engagement of civil society, protection and redress for women who have experienced violence, and specific measures to reduce vulnerability, this communication goes further than the resolution passed in 2009 (11/2). CAWN is particularly pleased that the HRC is advocating the involvement of boys and men as one of these measures, since working with men on the construction of a new masculinity is an approach that we have actively supported in our work towards challenging VAW in Honduras.

In what CAWN sees to be another positive step, the HRC states that it is "alarmed that in situations of armed conflict women are particularly exposed to sexual and other forms of violence" and recognises the need to intensify efforts to prevent this. CAWN is also pleased to note that the HRC has advanced from 'encouraging' states to give 'due attention' to the elimination of VAW (Res 11/2 2009), to the more compelling language of 'urging' States to adopt and implement such policies and to establish or strengthen plans of action to do so. In addition to this, we note that the HRC has identified poverty as a factor in increasing women's vulnerability and calls upon states to develop and implement poverty eradication strategies. Finally, the HRC calls upon states to publicly condemn VAW, and declares that its elimination is a matter of high priority.

We consider this communication to be a significant development in the struggle to eliminate all forms of VAW worldwide, but would suggest that, in addition to the measures identified here, an effective way to empower women is by increasing their involvement and presence in political movements, both at a local and national level.
To read the communication in full, please click here.

Judges removed from the Supreme Court of Honduras for criticising the coup d'etat

In May 2010, the Supreme Court of Honduras ousted 3 judges, a magistrate and a public defender, all of whom faced disciplinary proceedings for criticising the coup d'etat, which took place in June 2009. 10 of the 15 judges sitting on the court voted in favour of ousting their colleagues, all of whom belonged to the Association of Judges for Democracy, which fights for the independence of the judiciary and its depoliticization. Two of the judges and the public defender were accused of participating in protests against the coup, one was accused of filing a legal motion in favour of President Zelaya, and the other of publishing an article in which he argued that the overthrow of Zelaya was a coup and not a 'constitutional succession' as claimed.

For an article on this by Human Rights Watch, please click here

UN Special Rapporteur on right to health calls for improvements from Guatemala

During his first mission to Guatemala (May 2010), the UN Special Rapporteur on right to health, Anand Grover, monitored women's health issues, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health. He stated that "(t)he incidence of violent crime directed against women is increasing annually, unlike maternal mortality. These numbers suggest the existence of deep-seated gender inequalities and hatred that clearly affect the rights to health and life of women in Guatemala." He called on the Guatemalan government to increase investment in primary health care, on the basis that "violence against women does not just include physical violence, but also structural violence, resulting in preventable deaths during pregnancy, a problem that disproportionately impacts indigenous communities."

To see the statement in full, click here.

CAWN featured in the latest Gender & Development OXFAM Journal

We are pleased to announce that CAWN is featured as the Organisational Profile of Gender & Development, Vol. 18, No.1, March 2010. The article describes CAWN's research, work in Nicaragua & Hondruas, and campaigns against femicide.

"CAWN has also been pivotal in providing a platform for women's voice and presence, from which unequal power relations (particularly in relation to gender-based violence and economic rights) are being challenged at policy- and decision-making level across tehe Central American and European regions" (Ronderos and Cook 2010: 138).

Click here to access the article.

cawn in the press

CAWN's Katherine Ronderos was in Honduras at the height of the coup last year. In this article, published in the Guardian in December 2009, she talks about women at the forefront of the resistance and the threat that the coup and the resultant de facto regime poses to their rights and to social progress.

To read the Guardian article in full,click here.

past events

As part of our campaigns for gender equality we organise and participate in seminars to raise awareness on issues related to women’s rights in Central America.

WIDE Annual Conference: 'Migration in the context of Globalisation: Women's Human Rights at Risk? 3-5 June 2010, Bucharest, Romania.

This conference, organised by WIDE (Women In Development Europe), considered how issues of migration, trade, economic development, and globalisation impact women's lives in times of crisis. During the conference, CAWN and the Latin American Women's Rights Services (LAWRS) held a workshop on 'How does migration lead to different forms of violence against women and reinforce existing oppressive practices against migrant women in different spheres?'.

3rd Conference: Femicide in Latin America. No more killings of women! 12 May 2010, Office of the European Parliament in Madrid, Spain .

Just a few days before the EU-LAC Summit, CAWN, in association with Heinrich Boll Stiftung, ACSUR las Segovias and in particular, the MEP Raul Romera i Rueda, hosted this conference to address the phenomenon of femicide at the European Parliament and to provide the EU with the appropriate tools to support LAC governments in the prevention of femicide and end of impunity.

We were honoured to welcome many esteemed speakers, including Ms Rashida Manjoo, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Juan Duarte Cuadrado, Director of the Human Rights Office, Ministry of External Affairs of Spain, Andrea Medina Rosas, CLADEM (Latin American and the Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights), Gilda Rivera, Director of the Women’s Rights Centre Honduras (CDM);and Rosa Celorio, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, among others.