European & International News

International news globe All the latest news from the European Union, its member states, and beyond.

European & International News
Council of Europe: Europe in biggest human rights crisis since Cold War

Posted on 2 May 2014 |

[Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 23 April 2014] "Europe faces the deepest democratic crises since the Cold War", says Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe in the first-ever comprehensive report on the state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe.
"Human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe now face a crisis unprecedented since the end of the Cold War. Serious violations – including corruption, immunity from prosecution, impunity, human (...) Read more
European & International News
O Canada! Will You Free Your Glorious Land of Prostitution?

Article of Taine Bien-Aime, CATW, in the blog of the Huffington Post

Posted on 2 May 2014 |

[Taine Bien-Aime, Executive Director of the Coalition against Trafficking in Women (CATW), in The Huffington Post, 30 April 2014] A daughter of the First Nation Ojibwe, Bridget Perrier was born in Long Lake #58 in Northern Ontario. Given up by parents unable to care for her, Bridget was placed in a welcoming home with five other children. In that house, a family friend raped Bridget. Her behavior subsequently became so disruptive that a social worker counseled her foster family to send her (...) Read more
European & International News
Global Parliamentarians mark twentieth anniversary of ICPD, key instrument for Women’s rigths

6th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, Sweden on 23- 25 April 2014

Posted on 2 May 2014 |

[Brussels, 28 April 2014] The Sixth International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI/ICPD), which reviews of the implementation of the Programme of Action. As the report states, the gains in maternal health and other dimensions of sexual and reproductive health and rights during the past 20 years are among the great successes to celebrate since the ICPD. However, women still face significant challenges in exercising their rights all (...) Read more
European & International News
World Malaria Day 2014 – The time for accelerating investment is now

Article from DSW blog, 25 April 2014

Posted on 30 April 2014 |

[DSW, 25 April 2014] DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung) is an international development and advocacy organisation. 25 April was World Malaria Day. Here is an article published on DSW blog.
World Malaria Day 2014 – The time for accelerating investment is now
Marking World Malaria Day today, Caroline Kent, Director of Partnerships and Communications at DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung), reflects on what needs to be done to eradicate malaria once and for all.
Today we celebrate (...) Read more
European & International News
Élections européennes 2014 : engagés à promouvoir la solidarité entre les générations

Posted on 28 April 2014 |

[Communiqué de presse d’AGE Platform Europe et des eurodéputé-e-s candidat-e-s aux élections appartenant à de grands partis politiques européens, Bruxelles, le 28 avril 2014] AGE Platform Europe et des eurodéputé-e-s candidat-e-s aux élections appartenant à de grands partis politiques européens saisissent l’opportunité offerte par la Journée européenne de la solidarité entre les générations pour s’engager à promouvoir davantage de solidarité et de coopération entre les générations lors du prochain mandat du (...) Read more
European & International News
Egypt: Stop Mutilating Little Girls!

After the death of a little girl, the doctor who mutilated her genitals is being taken to court. In Egypt, that’s a first.

Posted on 28 April 2014 |

[Article published in The Daily Beast, Cairo, 26 April 2014] It was supposed to be a routine “operation.” The parents of 13-year-old Soheir al-Batea, from a village in Egypt’s Nile Delta, took her to be circumcised at the local clinic that had been recommended by friends. They had done the same with her older sister a year before. A doctor typically cuts off the whole clitoris or a part of it, sometimes in extreme cases removing the labia as well, in a procedure that is now illegal but still (...) Read more
European & International News
10 ratifications reached: the Istanbul Convention will entry into force this summer!

Posted on 23 April 2014 |

[Brussels, 23 April 2014] Andorra became the 10th member state to ratify triggering the entry into force of the Istanbul Convention on 1 August 2014. In total three countries have recently ratified the Istanbul Convention on violence against women: Spain (on the 10/04/2014) and Andorra (on the 22/04/2014) and Denmark (on the 23/04/2014).
This ratification marks is a huge step towards the end of violence against women and the promotion and protection of women’s human rights in Europe. Read (...) Read more
European & International News
Turkish Women Use Twitter to Fight Sexual Harassment

Article published in TheLede on 18 April 2014

Posted on 22 April 2014 |

[Turkey, 18 April 2014] Thousands of Turkish women have taken part in a Twitter campaign to voice outrage at men who invade their space by spreading their legs while sitting next to them on buses and trains.
“Stop spreading your legs. Don’t occupy my space,” reads the campaign slogan, which was started by the Istanbul Feminist Collective and reverberated on the social network as women shared their experiences that related to the violation of personal space on public transit.
So many messages (...) Read more
European & International News
Women-only Scottish cabinet event

Article published on BBC on 19 April 2014

Posted on 22 April 2014 |

[Scotland, 19 April 2014] The Scottish government has announced a women-only Scottish cabinet event to debate issues related to the independence referendum.
The event, which will bring together women from organisations across the country, will take place on 9 June, 100 days before the vote on 18 September.
The battle to win female voters is seen as crucial to the referendum’s outcome.
The event will look at issues such as gender equality, female representation on boards and childcare.
It (...) Read more
European & International News
Des femmes Nobel de la paix au secours des Européennes

Article publié sur rfi.fr le 19 avril 2014

Posted on 22 April 2014 |

[France, le 18 avril 2014] A l’approche des élections européennes, des signaux rétrogrades, émis par certains Etats, inquiètent la société civile. C’est pourquoi une campagne a été lancée, mercredi 16 avril, par la ministre française des Droits des femmes Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, supportée par trois femmes prix Nobel de la paix. Parmi elles, l’Américaine Jody Williams et la Libérienne Leyma Gbowee ont livré leur sentiment à RFI.fr.
« Je ne veux pas être un homme ! Je ne veux pas prendre la place de (...) Read more