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In The News:

IMO State Passes Violence Against Person's Prohibitions Bill

The Imo State government recently passes the Violence Against Person's Prohibitions (VAPP) Bill click here to download.

Op-Ed: Ban's Second Term: The Case for a Woman Secretary-General

by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury* (new york)
Monday, June 20, 2011 Inter Press Service

June 20, 2011. Last Friday's recommendation to give the incumbent U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon another five-year term drew the international community's attention to another opaque, non- democratic process that is the hallmark of the 15-member Security Council's decision-making ..... Read more

Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill Passes Through its 2nd Reading in the House of Representatives

Abuja - November 30th 2010: The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill was read by the Honourable of the House of Representatives with an overwhelming numerical endorsement. Members, especially the male sponsors and supporters drew attention to the fact that a comprehensive legal frame work to respond to old and emerging forms of gender based violence was long overdue.

Hon. Binta Masi Garba, Chair House Committee on Women and Children received massive support from her female colleagues but most gladdening from the leadership of the House, and the strong male voices especially Hon. Faruk Lawan and a host of the many male gender champions in the House.

Amidst the overwhelming support, key concerns were raised on the need for the committee of reference to revisit some of the provisions of the Bill to remove ambiguous language and strengthen it by way of imposing stiffer penalties for certain offences in order to attain its intended effect of demanding accountability as well as a deterrent. At the end of the debates, the Bill passed through with no pronounced dissenting voices. It was then referred to the committees on Women Affairs, Human Rights and Justice for further legislative work.

Switzerland: Swiss 16 Days against Gender Violence 2010 campaign focuses on guns

Switzerland launched their third "16 Days"-campaign with a press conference on the 23rd of November 2010. Presidents of both chambers of the Swiss Parliament gave key note addresses as well as representatives of counseling services and peace organizations that play a leading role in the Swiss campaign.

The campaign launch on the 25th of November 2010 will surprise the public at noon with a gun sticker on household furniture by the street in various towns. Guns at home are as wrong as furniture outside is the message. Domestic violence is the cause of death for one out of two women murdered in Switzerland, killed by their partners or ex-partners. Read more

MAURITIUS: GL WELCOMES FIRST WOMAN VICE PRESIDENT

Port Louis: 16 November – Gender Links welcomes the appointment for the first time of a woman, Monique Oh San Bellepeau, as vice president in the Republic of Mauritius. After nearly four decades of independence and two decades of Republic, her nomination is a strong sign that gender equality is high on the agenda of the present government. It is also a victory for gender activists and Mauritian women at large, as well as for women in the region.

Oh San Bellepeau has a long history of social activism and a good grasp of the media, having worked at the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation in the 1960s. She was also a junior minister at the Ministry of Rural and Urban Development from 1995 to 2000. In 2009 she was given the distinction of Grand Officer of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (G.O.S.K) for services in social and political fields. Read more

Swiss women claim majority of seats in Cabinet

GENEVA—Swiss women for the first time captured most of the seats in the country's seven-member executive branch Wednesday, brushing aside Switzerland's history as one of Europe's last nations to grant women full suffrage.

the tilt in the balance of power came as parliament in Bern voted Social Democrat lawmaker Simonetta Sommaruga into the Cabinet. read more

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