International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific

Current and Proposed Activities by Programme for 2009

Most of the programmes are interlinked with capacity building, advocacy and knowledge building components. However in terms of implementation of specific activities to achieve our objectives the activity is anchored in one or another programme. This Calendar of activities highlights some of the IWRAW Asia Pacific events planned for the year in order to implement our programmes or to support the work of national partners. It also includes some of our engagements with various international human rights mechanisms & processes at the regional or international level as well as certain key international events/forums in relation to women’s human rights.

For a snapshot of the 2009 Calendar click here

Month	Programme	Event/Activity
May	Building Capacity for Change	Round table on women's human rights and migration/trafficking with GAATW and Caram Asia The purposes of the four day Roundtable on Using CEDAW to Protect the Rights of Women Migrant Workers and Trafficked Women in South and Southeast Asia (Roundtable) are: To explore the nexus between migration and trafficking in South and Southeast Asia in the context of migration for work, with a specific focus on the promotion and protection of the human rights of women through the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); To review the position of migrant women within international and national legal frameworks and consider whether migrant women might find greater human rights protections within the CEDAW framework; and To develop strategies to promote the rights of migrant women using CEDAW. The key objectives of this meeting is the development of a CEDAW advocacy strategy, which will seek to improve the status of migrating women from South and Southeast Asia through the CEDAW shadow reporting process and treaty body monitoring process leading to changes in States' legislation. This should include a mechanism for contact and collaboration among advocates throughout its implementation and develop more conceptual clarity among international, regional and national NGOs working on issues related to migrating women and trafficking;
May	Building Capacity for Change	Participatory Assessment in Thailand and with Burmese Women’s Groups We are conducting participatory assessments in the selected countries to assist in the appraisal of IWRAW Asia Pacific’s engagement with the national partners in said countries. The work includes identification of the gaps in information we have about the status of CEDAW implementation, stakeholders involved in the process, best practices, obstacles, challenges/gaps if any, as well as the most current needs and priorities identified by national organizations, with recommendations on the ongoing role IWRAW Asia Pacific can play to support this work. The participatory assessment will focus on country visits framed around bi-lateral dialogues with existing national partners and organisations, possible partners in the country we can engage with and relevant state agencies with a goal toward reconnecting and strengthening IWRAW Asia Pacific’s partnerships with organisations and individuals in identified countries in Southeast Asia; and to assess the effectiveness of IWRAW Asia Pacific’s support and interventions in the identified countries.
June	Enhancing Realisation of Rights	Human Rights Council (11th Session) Our engagement with the Human Rights Council is motivated by the fact that women’s rights and issues relating to gender and sexuality rights remain some of the most contentious and divisive issues in the Human Rights Council and continue to be sidelined. The challenge of bringing recognition to the human rights of women and sexual and gender minorities remains a significant challenge which IWRAW Asia Pacific continues to address through its advocacy at HRC. At the 11th Session discussions on WHR and reports of SRs on VAW and health would be of cirtical interest to us.
July	Enhancing Realisation of Rights	From Global to Local Training Programme (44th Session), New York “From Global to Local” is a programme conducted by the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW Asia Pacific) held in conjunction with the CEDAW Session. This programme is designed to fill the gap between human rights monitoring by the CEDAW Committee at the international level, and grassroots activism of NGOs demanding government accountability at the national level. Through the programme, IWRAW Asia Pacific: Alerts NGOs when their State is scheduled to report to the CEDAW Committee; Provides NGOs with guidelines and training on preparing an NGO shadow / alternative report; Assists NGOs to attend the CEDAW session to lobby the CEDAW Committee; and Continue to provide useful information post CEDAW review to NGOs including how to monitor the State’s implementation of the Concluding Observations.