YWCA News current

The World YWCA paid a Solidarity Visit to the YWCA of Haiti from February 24 to March 1, 2010 following the massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation on Tuesday January 12, 2010. The earthquake, the worst in the region in more than 200 years, has left the country in ruin with 230,000 people confirmed dead according to the Haitian Government, and an estimated one million homeless.

As CSW 2010 came to close in New York City, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered the closing remarks at the United Nations headquarters March 12, 2010 marking the 15th anniversary of the U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing.

On Friday March 5, 2010 at the CSW, the president of the YWCA of Sierra Leone Florence Kaindaneh spoke on a panel about supporting the caregivers of people living with HIV and AIDS. Panellists explored challenges facing caregivers and strategies for supporting and retaining them.

As Canadas only established national network and largest single provider of shelter services for women and children leaving domestic abuse, YWCA Canada has deep roots in the countrys violence against women movement, offering services to approximately 20,000 women every year.

YWCA Guyana’s General Secretary Glynis Alonzo-Beaton was part of a panel discussion at the CSW 2010 on March 9 about the negative effect that guns have on girls and women in settings of endemic violence.

Female and male condoms are the only dual protection methods that prevent HIV, STIs and unintended pregnancy. World YWCA Communications Coordinator Sarah Davies, along with other civil society male and female advocates, discussed the issues of expanding access to female and male condoms through advocacy and programming at the 54^th CSW in New York City on March 9, 2010.

Walking into the Global Action on Aging Office on March 2, 2010 I get a warm greeting from the facilitators Bonnie Fatio and Arda Aghazarian. The office space is beautiful with silk hangings on the wall and large windows. From the front you can see a spectacular view of the UN building and the river.

On Thursday March 4, 2010 at the CSW, Women Arise was officially launched, an initiative to ensure that “all women and women’s issues are central and visible in the objectives and programme” of the next AIDS Conference in Vienna in July 2010 and future conferences. With AIDS now the leading cause of death among women of childbearing age worldwide, the need to incorporate gender dimensions into research, education, and advocacy on HIV and AIDS is more urgent than ever.

The United Nations has appointed a group of independent experts to advise on ways to better protect women in conflict situations, and to ensure that their voices are heard in peace processes and that they are included in post-conflict reconstruction and governance structures.

Three YWCA leaders from Palestine, Sudan and Sri Lanka briefed CSW participants on the status of conflict situations in their countries underlining the role of YWCAs in strengthening their communities’ capacities for peacemaking on March 5, 2010.