Calendar

More then 20 young women from the member associations in the Middle East (Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine and Jordan) will meet in Amman – Jordan. This workshop is related to the Power to Change Fund.

The key issues of this workshop are: Violence Against Women, Advocacy and Peace Building, Youth as agents of change.

The 20th session of the Human Rights Council is being held in Geneva from 18 June to 6 July 2012.

The agenda includes the annual day of discussion on women’s human rights with half of the day dedicated to remedies and the other half to women human rights defenders; presentation of the Special Rapporteur (SR) report on VAW; report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCRH) on VAW and girls and disability, and the adoption of the resolution on violence against women and remedies led by Canada.

• www.ohchr.org

Rio+20 — the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012 - is a historic opportunity to define pathways to a safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener and more prosperous world for all.

Twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, where countries adopted Agenda 21 — a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection — the UN is again bringing together governments, international institutions and major groups1 to agree on a range of smart measures that can reduce poverty while promoting decent jobs, clean energy and a more sustainable and fair use of resources. Rio+20 is a chance to move away from business-as-usual and to act to end poverty, address environmental destruction and build a bridge to the future.

The objective of the Conference is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assess the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development, and address new and emerging challenges

The Conference will focus on two themes: (a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development.

• More information on UNCSD 2012
• The YWCA, Climate Justice and RIO + 20

Youth leaders from and through national and local YMCA and YWCA movements around the world are invited to join the Journey for Justice in Palestine. The Journey for Justice brings together youth to experience and share the life under occupation.

For nine days, they join Palestinian youth and travel around occupied Palestine to witness the effects of Israeli occupation. The challenging journey aims to witness and accompany Palestinian youth in their daily life.

The Journey includes:

• Stories / experiences / dreams and daily life sharing.
• Devotions and reflections.
• Home stays with Palestinian host families.
• Passing through checkpoints and roadblocks together.
• Visiting their universities and understand Palestinian students' difficulties.
• Joining a local youth work camp, where youth come from all over Palestine.

Participants should be between 17 and 25 (up to 30 could be allowed for special cases). The deadline for application submissions is mid June, 2012.

• More information on the Journey for Justice Youth Programme
• Youth Experience in Palestine

The XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) will take place in Washington DC, USA, from July 22 to 27, 2012. Organised by the International AIDS Society (IAS), in partnership with a number of international bodies and local partners, AIDS 2012 is the largest gathering of professionals working in the field of HIV, including people living with HIV and other leaders in the HIV response. It plays a fundamental role in shaping the global response to HIV and in keeping HIV and AIDS on the international political agenda. AIDS 2012 is expected to convene more than 20,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries, including more than 2,000 journalists.

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.

Useful links:

• Interfaith Pre Conference website
• AIDS 2012 website  (in English and Spanish)
• SIDACTION (information in French)
• Turning the Tide Together: XIX International AIDS Conference Theme Selected 
• A Call for Youth Participation at the Interfaith Pre Conference on HIV and AIDS 2012 Conference

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.

The World YWCA Board will hold its annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. The board brings together twenty women and young women representing each region. It will discuss how the movement has been for the last one year.

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.