Antigua, Guatemala
28. - 31. oktober 2008
All over the world women are subjected to systematic discrimination in various contexts because there is structural inequality between men and women. Women all over the world, however, are working to improve this situation and to create an equal and just society.
Women’s rights are formalized in international documents such as conventions, declarations and programs of action. These rights are, to a large degree, established in national legislation, but implementation is lacking.
Women have the right to participate actively in the processes which affect them. It is especially important to prevent discrimination and promote the rights of marginalised and vulnerable women. To make women aware of their rights and strengthen their abilities to demand them is an important part of this work.
To enlighten this theme, FOKUS arranged a networking conference on the 28th – 31st of October 2008 for partner organisations in Latin America and Norway. The overall theme of the conference was women’s rights, with special focus on:
- Political rights
- Legal rights
- Indigenous women’s rights
- Right to land
- Economic rights
The aim of the conference was that women’s organisations in co-operation would engage in:
• Working with their own and other countries’ authorities
• Networking, establishing contacts, entering into alliances to promote common strategies
• Increasing competence within different areas of rights
The networking conference was divided into three parts. The first day consisted of a presentation of the delegates, along with a book launch; the second and third days were concerned with a conference on women’s rights; the last day, how to work in a network.
‘Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places – close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Such are places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity and equal dignity, without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.’
Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair United Nations Commission on Human Rights (1953)