Calendar

The fifty-first session of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), will take place in February 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland, and is scheduled to consider reports from the following seven State parties:

• Algeria  
• Brazil
• Grenada
• Jordan
• Norway
• Republic of the Congo
• Zimbabwe

Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 1979, CEDAW is an international human rights treaty that focuses on women's rights and women's issues worldwide. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. CEDAW is not only an international bill of rights for women but also an agenda of action. Countries that ratify CEDAW agree to take concrete steps to improve the status of women and end discrimination and violence against women.

Priority theme:
The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges

Review theme:
Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women ( agreed conclusions from the fifty-second session)

The World YWCA, the YWCA Canada and the YWCA of Nigeria have submitted a joint statement specifically recognising the vital role of leadership and political participation by women and young women in the eradication of poverty in rural communities.

The 56^th  session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)  promises to be an exciting and progressive event focusing on the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and other current challenges. The CSW will also provide the strategic platform to review the issue of financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The World YWCA, the YWCA Canada and the YWCA of Nigeria have submitted a joint statement specifically recognising the vital role of leadership and political participation by women and young women in the eradication of poverty in rural communities.

Read more

The Council will hold an annual discussion on the integration of gender perspective, sponsored by the Government of Chile, and the discussions will focus on gender equality and institutional practices, and will analyse how States’ commitment to promote women’s rights can be translated to concrete realities.

World Day of Prayer is a worldwide movement of Christian women of many traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year, and who, in many countries, have a continuing relationship in prayer and service.

• It is a movement initiated and carried out by women in more than 170 countries and regions.
• It is a movement symbolized by an annual day of celebration – the first Friday of March – to which all people are welcome.
• It is a movement which brings together women of various races, cultures, and traditions in closer fellowship, understanding, and action throughout the year.

Upcoming Theme and Writing Country:

"Let Justice Prevail" (Malaysia)

March 8 each year, thousands of events are held throughout the world to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) - a day dedicated to celebrating women and their achievements.
Text:

For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women's rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. 1975 was designated as 'International Women’s Year' by the United Nations.
Women's organisations and governments around the world have also observed IWD annually by holding large-scale events that honour women's advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.
The World YWCA invites it's members and women around the world to celebrate and reflect on how investing in women and girls is investing in the growth of all communities.

Since 1950, YWCAs have taken one day out of the year to affirm their involvement in a global movement of women and girls working for justice, peace, health, human dignity, freedom and care for the environment. Over time, that day has come to be known as World YWCA Day and is celebrated every year on April 24.

The YWCA Round the World Breakfast has been a vital part of day’s events since 2003, serving to connect YWCAs around the world and raise awareness of our global impact on the lives of women and girls.

The biennial International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policymakers, people living with HIV and others committed to ending the epidemic. AIDS 2012 is expected to convene more than 20,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries, including more than 2,000 journalists. The conference will be held from July 22 to 27, 2012 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The International AIDS Society, the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with 14,000 members in 190 countries, will organise AIDS 2012 in collaboration with its international and local partners.

Conference registration, individual hotel reservations, and abstract submissions will open in December 2011. As more details about these and other matters become available, they will be posted at www.aids2012.org.

International Youth Day gives the world an opportunity to recognise the potential of youth, to celebrate their achievements, and plan for ways to better engage young people to successfully take action for development.

International Youth Day gives the world an opportunity to recognise the potential of youth, to celebrate their achievements, and plan for ways to better engage young people to successfully take action for development.

Imagine a week without violence. Imagine women walking the streets at night without fear. Imagine police officers without guns. Imagine female genital mutilation, domestic violence and rape as faded memories of a long gone era.
Text:

This is the vision of the global movement of YWCAs. This is what the YWCA Week Without Violence works to achieve.
The YWCA Week Without Violence is an annual global campaign to stop violence in all its forms. Throughout the week activities focus on raising awareness, promoting attitude change and enabling individuals and organisations to begin positive actions towards ending violence in their communities.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University in 1991.

Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasise that such violence is a human rights violation.

The World YWCA and the World Alliance of YMCAs will issue a joint call to prayer during the Week of Prayer and World Fellowship.

During this week, the two movements pray and act together on a particular theme in solidarity with members and partners around the world.

November 25 is marked as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Living a life free of violence has been recognised as a human right in several international human rights conventions and treaties. However, a lot still remains to be done before all forms of violence against women ceases.  On this day the global community calls for an end to violence against women and girls and to ensure that women and girls can live lives free from violence.

The date of 29 November was chosen because of its meaning and significance to the Palestinian people. On that day in 1947, the General Assembly adopted resolution 181 (II), which came to be known as the Partition Resolution. That resolution provided for the establishment in Palestine of a "Jewish State" and an "Arab State", with Jerusalem as a corpus separatum under a special international regime. Of the two States to be created under this resolution, only one, Israel, has so far come into being.

The International Day of Solidarity has traditionally provided an opportunity for the international community to focus its attention on the fact that the question of Palestine is still unresolved and that the Palestinian people is yet to attain their inalienable rights as defined by the General Assembly, namely, the right to self-determination without external interference, the right to national independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property from which they had been displaced.
In response to the call of the United Nations, various activities are undertaken annually by Governments and civil society in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. These activities include, among other things, the issuance of special messages of solidarity with the Palestinian people, the organization of meetings, the dissemination of publications and other information material, and the screening of film

World AIDS Day is an annual campaign to bring attention to the global AIDS pandemic.

Started on December 1, 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

Human Rights day is celebrated annually across the world on December 10. The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which occurred on December 10, 1948, the first global enunciation of human rights.

The World YWCA was one of the first organisations to bring women’s human rights onto the United Nations agenda. In 1948, the World YWCA prepared and presented to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, information gathered from member associations around the world. The World YWCA continues to reaffirm the importance of the full and equal enjoyment of human rights by women and girls.