POSTED 5/8/00

Colombian Women Implore the U.N. to end America's War on Drugs

by Ginger Otis

One of the least known side effects of America’s "War on Drugs" is the creation of more than 2 million homeless, poverty-stricken refugees in Colombia. Most of these are women and children who have been forced from their rural homes by ongoing civil violence.

This newly-minted refugee class, largely unacknowledged by international aid organizations, the United States, as well as the Colombian government, grows larger every day, augmented by rampant unemployment and a lack of social service programs. Because Colombia’s economic infrastructure has been all but destroyed by more than three decades of warfare between guerrilla groups, paramilitary squads, and the national army, refugee women and children have absolutely nowhere to turn for assistance; in a country already saturated with violence, their plight simply doesn’t register in the national consciousness.

This is why Pilar Rueda, a presidential advisor in Colombia and a grassroots activist, is planning a trip to Beijing + 5 in New York City this June. Infuriated by the lack of official response from the Colombian government, and all but abandoned by many international aid donors, Pilar and a handful of other activists are currently working to get funding for their trip this June. For Pilar, a trip to Beijing + 5 is a crucial step in changing the destiny of not only the 2.5 million refugees in Colombia, but also the destiny of her country. "We are creating an entire class," she says, "that has grown up with violence. We need to address this and understand the impact it will have on the future if it is not stopped. Otherwise, Colombia’s violence will continue to be perpetuated from one generation to the next." By coming to Beijing+5, Pilar hopes to find an international audience capable of understanding the special issues surrounding refugee women and children, and generate financial support for the few grassroots organizations managing to survive in the war torn country.

Among the activists accompanying her will be Ana María Sánchez, a laywer and human rights activist for the Colombian Commission of Jurists, and Ana Cristina González, a doctor who travels throughout Central and South America educating people about women’s reproductive and sexual health. Both these women will arrive armed with figures demonstrating just how dire the situation is for the millions of Internally Displaced People (IDP’s) inColombia. And the situation is indeed dire, says Antony Sanchez, director of Mencoldes, another grassroots organization dedicated to helping refugees. Because there is no organization tracking IDP’s, definitive figures are hard to come by, but Sanchez estimates that there are more than 2.5 million displaced people in Colombia right now. Of that number, 52%, or approximately 1.2 million, are women. Another 1.6 million are children.

"The problem largely stems from the internal conflict," says Sanchez. "The fighting is never-ending. Colombia is ineffectual on a national level, there are no basic health, education, medical, or protection programs in place for poor, indigenous people or people threatened by extreme groups. For the rural peasants, who are particularly vulnerable to threats and intimidation from guerrillas and paramilitaries, there is nowhere and nobody to go to, except head for the nearest city. They are completely on their own." Displacement effects women and children disproportionately, says Sanchez, because many men have been killed during the years of war. And in many other cases, although the husband may still survive, he has chosen to walk away from his family.

"Unemployment is at 20%," stresses Pilar Rueda. "There are almost no jobs anywhere. At that point, having a family becomes more of a problem than a solution and many men just split, some crossing the border into Panama, others just disappearing. "This reality is reflected in the gender/age breakdown of IDP’s: women and children alone account for a staggering 85% of all displaced people. Despite the swelling numbers of refugees, highly visible in all the major cities of Colombia, the government has no official policy for the care of IDP’s and, according to Rueda, has absolutely no intention of developing one. The United States, which has already sent upwards of $3 million (not to mention military equipment) to current Colombian president Andres Pastrana in an effort to "aid" Colombia in its war on drugs, has not discussed or even acknowledged the growing refugee problem. Of the $1.6 billion additional aid slated for his hands, roughly 80% - along with 63 helicopters and $341 million to upgrade radar and other intelligence gathering systems - is going directly to the Colombian army. White House drug policy director Barry McAffrey, who strongly supports the package, has recently written several op-ed pieces for large, metropolitan papers across the country in which he claims that "American interests at home and in South America have been increasingly threatened by ongoing, interrelated crises in Colombia. We must protect ourselves from the flow of Colombian heroin and cocaine, in particular, as well as support democratic government, the rule of law, economic stability and human rights in that beleaguered country." However, activists and human rights organizations across the globe have questioned the policy of giving money directly to the military.

An excerpt of a 1999 State Department report that was obtained and published by United Press International on March 27, noted that "At times the [Colombian] security forces collaborated with paramilitary groups that committed abuses. [And] in some instances, individual members of the security forces actively collaborated with members of paramilitary groups by passing them through road blocks, sharing intelligence, and providing them with ammunition." The effects of the United States collaboration with the Colombian government can already be seen in the swelling numbers of IDP’s around Bogotá, Medellín, and other urban areas.

Almost 2 million people have fled the country entirely in the past 30 years, many heading to New York, which has a large Colombian community. "The ones that can get out do it," says Pilar. "but that’s mostly men. The rural women and children have to flee the minute they get wind of an imminent arrival by paramilitaries. They have to go immediately - that second. They drop everything and they run -- no money, no papers, no documentation. Most of them windup clustered in the outskirts of major cities, living under bridges, in abandoned buildings,or cardboard shacks." These women and children are left with no support from outside Colombia and very little support from within.

In Colombia, where the official government has almost no control over day to day events, human rights organizations -- and the people who work for them --are often targeted by guerrilla and paramilitary groups, especially if they are perceived as powerful community organizers. Just a few weeks ago well-known Colombian activist, Maria Emma Prada, who was working in the northern section of Colombia as the director of ANMUCIC (National Association of Black and Indigenous Women Farmers) was forced to flee the country after receiving threats from a paramilitary group. Maria and her family have sought asylum in an undisclosed Central American country, where she tries to continue campaigning and lobbying on behalf of refugee women and children via e-mail.

Maria recounts that prior to the arrival of paramilitary groups, ANMUCIC had been able to function relatively well despite being in what is considered to be guerrilla territory. "We usually just had to pay the guerrilla group some money to be able to hold our meetings," she says, "and they more or less left us alone." But it is a well-known rule of thumb in Colombia that where there are guerrilla groups, there will eventually be paramilitaries. Not too long ago, they arrived in Maria Emma’s town, and true to form, began threatening several community leaders, activists, and anyone else who indulged in activities considered "subversive."

"I came home and there was a note on the door of our farm," Maria explains. "It said the occupants had 24 hours to get out of the premises." Knowing full well there would be no assistance from the police, and that to stay meant death, Maria Emma and her family packed up their belongings and quit their home of almost 40 years. Aside from Mencoldes and ANMUCIC, there are very few other programs that attempt to stem the tide of displaced women and children in Colombia. With no funding, no resources, and no government powerful enough to protect them from threats, many grassroots groups are forced to disband for their own safety. The newfound lawlessness, says Pilar Rueda, is reflected in the number of violent acts - murders, executions, kidnappings - occurring daily in Colombia: since 1998 they have doubled, now hovering around 20 reported incidents a day. For her, there is a clear correlation between the influx of American money earmarked for Colmobia’s military and the plight of the dispossessed. "Every time the United States sends more money down here," she says exasperatedly, "the paramilitaries go off on another round of search-and-destroy for guerrillas. When villagers see them coming, they know enough to flee." It is to halt the never-ending cycle of violence that Pilar is intent on getting her message heard at Beijing + 5.

"We’ve got to find a different way," she says intently. "Funneling money into the military is madness. These women and children aren’t going to magically disappear once the war stops--if it stops. They are an endemic problem that must be addressed head on - it must be dealt with now."

POSTED 4/8/00

The U.N. Takes on Trafficking

by Lisa White

After the Commission on the Status of Women's "Beijing Plus Five" PrepCom finished up in March, the trafficking of women and girls into forced prostitution has remained on center stage for women's activists worldwide. As grassroots activism continues among women in affected countries such as Thailand, Russia, Nepal and the Dominican Republic, there is new hope in the arena of international criminal law.

United Nations member states, along with the International Human Rights Network and other Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), are currently working on a Convention to establish enforceable international law that would criminalize trafficking, increase governmental cooperation across borders and facilitate global information sharing. Most importantly, this Convention would protect the women and girls who are forced into sexual slavery. The Convention is called the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime; it includes a Protocol on the Trafficking of Persons.

For women's activists participating in the June review of the 1995 Beijing Women's Conference, this is potentially good news. It gives these activists a rallying point from which they can pressure their governments to support Critical Area 4 of the Beijing Platform for Action, which focuses on Women and Violence. The Platform says "Violence against women is a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of women's full advancement...Women may be vulnerable to violence perpetrated by persons in positions of authority in both conflict and non-conflict situations."

For millions of young women and children living in the Global South, a life of forced prostitution is a reality. It is a life filled with abuse, desperation and despair. They are now an integral part of a global black market industry; an industry, which transports women and children from country to country to fulfill the fantasies of men; an industry fueled by globalization and tourism. Increasingly, these women and girls are also falling prey to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in non-Western countries.

Welcome to the industry of trafficking. Trafficking is the business of transporting women and children within and across borders for the purposes of recruiting, buying and selling them into prostitution. This industry, says a United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNCPCTO) report, flourishes in regions of high unemployment and financial crisis. From Asia to Africa to Eastern Europe, women and children of varying ages and education levels are sold into forced labor. The report says women and children fall into the trafficking net via advertisements for work as entertainers, models, domestic helpers, kitchen aids or even mail order brides. Once trapped, they face constant threats of violence and forced sexual work. Passports or identity cards are taken away. They are left penniless. According to Human Rights Watch, these women are often kept locked up or physically tortured with cigarette burns, knives and electric shocks.

Isolated from friends and family they have become victims in fear of arrest and deportation back to their country of origin. When the women are sent back, says Chair of Asia Women's Watch, Pam Rajput, they become stateless citizens especially if they have contracted the virus that causes HIV/AIDS.

"When they are suffering from HIV, they are not accepted by their own country, their community or their own families," says Rajput. "You can just imagine the plight of these women--and the plight of their children who also carry the stigma."

Trafficking is one segment of the brutal transnational organized crime system that dehumanizes and devalues women and children. It's a system that's part of a sophisticated network which relies on a nation's dysfunctional economic, political and social apparatus. Traffickers are nefarious entrepreneurs who view poverty and depressed economies as a lucrative way to exploit a world without borders and exploit women seeking a way out of misery. These criminals traffic women and children like they traffic weapons and drugs. Often traveling the same routes as trafficked drugs, human commodities rake in huge profits. The UN maintains that Asian prostitutes in the U.S. and Japan can sell for up to $20,000 each. African women imported to Belgium sell for $8,000 each. In German brothels, Russian prostitutes reportedly earn approximately $7,500 per month. Of that amount, the brothel owner takes at least $7,000 and the victim reaps little or no rewards for his/her labor.

One reason trafficking is spreading like the HIV/AIDS disease relates to a lack of national and international laws that deal with the problem as an industry. Chief of the Russian Mission of the International Organization for Migration IOM), Edwin P. McClain says, "there is no country in this world that has model legislation that bans the trafficking of human beings." He says trafficking as a global industry is a new problem that governments simply don't know how to deal with. Legally, it is a complicated problem because the industry involves many different areas of the law, such as family law, kidnapping and domestic violence. "It's interwoven," says McClain, "and it's hard to intervene on one front without addressing the others."

For countries like Russia, which are in the midst of an economic, cultural, social and political transition, wiping out trafficking becomes even more complicated. Take the country's penal code, for instance. Not only is it "the size of the Manhattan phone book if not larger" says McClain, "but it is also a holdover from Soviet days-some of the laws don't apply or have been amended." Though the code makes trafficking in human beings illegal, it does not proscribe criminal penalties for it. Unfortunately, Russia's legal system is not unique. "India's laws", says Rajput, "set aside certain instances where human trafficking is actually considered legal."

Dr. Janice Raymond is the Co-Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CAATW). She quips that there are stiffer penalties for those who traffic drugs than for those who traffic people. Raymond also points to the gap in national and international laws as a major reason why trafficking has become such a problem in the last 25 years. Furthermore, national laws often burden the women who are trafficked with criminal charges rather than the traffickers. The reason is that national laws first find the woman guilty of prostitution and minimize the role of the trafficker as middleman. And in many cases, women are immediately deported to their homelands before they can testify against their abusers in lengthy legal battles.

"Trafficking has become an industry without borders," says Raymond. "There's little cooperation between governments and little cooperation within national police forces as well."

Raymond says that if the U.N. Convention Against Transnational Crime is passed, the resulting global law will provide governments with much needed guidance for abolishing the industry. Before that happens, however, Raymond points out two issues that must be addressed: the definition of trafficking and the establishment of protective mechanisms that rehabilitate women and reintegrate them back into society.

The defining policy question for activists is, "Should the definition be centered around a women's consent or the exploitation of women by the trafficking industry?" Rajput says the issue of consent is nothing but "lip service" by those who profit from it. To illustrate her point she recalls a telling court case. "In India there was a woman who was raped by the police officials and the court said, 'Well, she didn't shriek enough to indicate her lack of consent.' So what is this consent? This consent is a very, very dangerous kind of notion, " says Rajput.

The notion of consent can not only be dangerous, it can also be problematic. Consent requires a woman to prove that she was coerced into going abroad which negates the role of the trafficker. With this in mind, Raymond maintains that the definition should focus on the exploitation of women to protect all victims of trafficking.

"If we say that trafficking is only force or trafficking can only occur when the victim doesn't consent, then we'll have lots of difficulties," Raymond says. In order to prosecute traffickers, a woman would have to prove, in a court of law, that she was forced to travel abroad. "Traffickers can use the consent loophole as a defense," Raymond says. "Lots of women consent to going abroad, it's just that they don't always know what they're getting into once they get there."

Not only do women and children misunderstand what they're consenting to, they're often unaware of what awaits them once they reach their destination. Activists are hopeful that the new U.N. Protocol will address all of these subtleties. Raymond also hopes that once the Protocol is finalized, it will address woman's need for rehabilitation on every level.

"Women need a means of protection once they're in the trafficking route," she says. "They need shelter; they need income generating projects to get out; they need asylum in some cases. They need to be protected in various ways that will help authorities prosecute traffickers." The solution, Raymond muses, lies in the establishment of victim assistance programs for women who testify against their traffickers. These women must be allowed to stay in the country once they've been apprehended for prostitution or for working as an illegal alien.

In countries that are member states of the European Union (E.U.), this is a key provision for trafficked women and children. In Holland, for example, though prostitution has long been legal, the brothel business has recently become legal for E.U. citizens and legal residents. For activists working on immigrant rights in the Netherlands, the fear is that illegal immigrants, afraid of immediate deportation, will be forced further underground, into the hands of criminal trafficking rings and out of the reach of activist groups and the police, both of whom would have a harder time finding them. For these women, the dark shadow of "Fortress Europe"--a Europe for native Europeans only--looms large.

While world leaders and international NGOs prepare the Convention and the Protocol on Trafficking of Persons for the UN Millennium Assembly later this year, grassroots organizations are forming coalitions and arming themselves with their only weapon: education. One such coalition working in Russia under the auspices of an American NGO, Miramed, is launching a media campaign beginning April 17th to counteract the claims of the traffickers.

Miramed's three-month campaign will include advertisements that list contact information for a wide range of embassies so that women can determine which businesses and job offers are legitimate and which are not. The embassies will also provide official information about how to obtain a visa. Traffickers often flaunt the idea that getting a visa is a simple and easy task when in reality it is a complex and lengthy process.

But underlying the policy debate about trafficking is the need for governments to more effectively address poverty--one of the root causes of trafficking. If governments were able to develop their economies fully, invest in their people through adequate healthcare and education, provide decent job opportunities, and have the political will to punish traffickers, this insidious business would diminish. Women around the world must be assured that they do have choices that include the right to a life full of hope and free of violence and abuse.

Young Conservatives Wage Their Battle at the U.N.
by Lynette Lisk

When you think of young people, chances are, adjectives like "radical," "leftwing" or "liberal" come to mind. But at this month's preparatory committee meeting at the U.N. for the June review of the 1995 Beijing Women's Conference, a group of approximately 100 young conservatives, calling themselves the "World Youth Alliance," lobbied hard to fight what they believe is the Beijing Platform for Action's over-emphasis on condoms and reproductive health. On International Women's Day (March 8th), the group showed up in full force at a U.N. Town Hall meeting entitled "Women Uniting for Peace" which featured peace activists from Colombia, Sierra Leone, Angola and Sri Lanka. So far, the vigor of the rightwing "World Youth Alliance" has caused pure havoc for their progressive nemesis, the U.N.-based "Youth Caucus."

The "World Youth Alliance" is advocating an end to the promotion of condoms to curb rising HIV/AIDS figures. Their solution? Educational programs supported by parents and teachers that encourage abstinence and a chaste lifestyle. "Condom distribution has not been effective in the U.S. in the fight against STD's, teen pregnancy or AIDS," says "World Youth Alliance" member Mark de Young from the United States. In cases of rape, incest and other instances of sexual violence, the group's stance is firmly anti-abortion and anti-choice for women and girls often caught in less than negotiable situations worldwide. "Even after rape or incest, girls should not have abortions," says Anna Halpen, a "World Youth Alliance" member from Canada. "The women's movement does not deal with women as whole beings, just as sexual beings," she continues. Statements like these have led to heated arguments during "Youth Caucus" meetings and very little middle ground between conservative and progressive young voices at the United Nations.

The "World Youth Alliance" is also advocating an end to the use of career women as role models for girls around the world. Instead, they believe the proper female role model is that of a mother and nothing else. For activists who fought hard at the Cairo and Beijing Women's Conferences for a woman's right to make her own decisions about her body and her life, the resurgence of the right wing at the United Nations has become a considerable threat. Members of the African Women's Caucus pointed out that the vast majority of right wing groups are comprised of North Americans with no other agenda besides waging a pro-life campaign. Questions of dealing with armed conflict and poverty have elicited very little input from conservative groups showing up at this year's meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The "World Youth Alliance," however, insists that it is attempting to sway the U.N. and its delegates away from concentrating on issues such as reproductive health to problems such as inadequate water supplies and poverty around the world.

As the debate between conservative and progressive youth groups rages on at the U.N., visitors and delegates will continue to see the debates reflected in a battle of the badges. Conservatives are toting badges proclaiming "motherhood" or "family" whilst feminists are sporting "F.A.K.E. Women" labels (the acronym stands for "Feminists Alive and Kicking for Equality"). Meanwhile, the valuable time allotted for Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to lobby country delegates and U.N. agencies like UNIFEM, UNICEF and WHO is rapidly vanishing.

Young Women Stand Up Loud and Proud at this Year's CSW
by Lynette Lisk

For almost half a century, the Commission on the Status of Women(CSW) has been making women’s rights a priority at the U.N.’s global policy table. Since 1945, the CSW has consistently put forth gender sensitive policy proposals and treaties and organized four world conferences on women, including the 1995 Women’s Conference in Beijing, China. But last year, at the annual CSW meeting, a group of three young women who were interning at the U.N., felt out of place. Their issues had taken a back seat on the agenda. So they organized themselves into the now vibrant, U.N.-based "Youth Caucus" which includes girls and young women from around the world. Their goal? To increase the inclusion and participation of young women and girls in the CSW and throughout the UN.

Since its founding, the Caucus has grown to include approximately 80members from more than 20 countries, covering an age range of 16 to 30. Amel Gorani and Shireen Lee represent the diversity and depth of this group. Lee is an American Grad student and Gorani is a Sudanese woman currently living in Sweden. Together, they represent the group’s focus on including young women in the mainstream of the global women's movement, especially in leadership and decision making roles. "

Although many issues affect young and old women alike," says Lee, "young women suffer disproportionately on a number of issues such as trafficking and sexual exploitation." According to a recent report from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), exact statistics about the number of children forced into sexually exploitative work is hard to come by but UNICEF’s recent "State of the World’s Children 2000 report" quotes the International Labour Organization which estimates that "some 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 work in developing countries and some 50 million to 60 million children between the ages of 5 and 11 work in hazardous circumstances." This is especially true in Eastern Europe and South East Asia where the poverty rates are swelling as the chaos and whimsy of the global economy wreak havoc around the world. "Furthermore, HIV and AIDS, especially in West Africa, is affecting young, monogamous women in their twenties more than any other segment of society," says Gorani. "To ignore the voices of young women is to assume that the only prejudices women face revolve around gender and that simply is not the case," she said. "Young women have specific needs just like older women and disabled or minority women," she added. Gorani explained that one of the difficulties young people face as they fight for recognition, was being taken seriously by the United Nations or governments in general. "They think we lack experience or knowledge," Gorani said.

But Gorani and Lee, along with their colleagues at the Youth Caucus, are proving the old guard wrong. When the Caucus addressed the CSW plenary on March 1st, they were greeted with applause—a rare occurrence at the U.N. Furthermore, the group has secured official recognition by the NGO committee of the United Nations and has been fully included in events organized by the CSW this year.

Everything, however, isn’t perfect. "We have to address the dominance of women from North America and Canada in the Caucus, " said Gorani. "Poverty is the greatest threat to women worldwide and it’s women in the global South who fall prey to it," she added. To date, financial and political hardship continue to limit the participation of women from the global South. But the presence of the Caucus at the U.N. has provided an exciting opportunity for dialogue across generations. Finally, young women worldwide have an advocate for their specific needs.

"There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that this momentum will continue," said Gorani.

"One of the first steps involves establishing institutions and processes that document the gains and efforts of the Youth Caucus," she noted. And therein lies the key to a brighter future for generations to come.

Access Denied

At the close of last week’s sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), two new resolutions were approved to secure greater access for NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) who want to participate in the Beijing Plus Five review. To date, women’s groups, or NGOs, that would like to participate in the review must satisfy one of three criteria. First, they qualify if they have “consultative status” with the U.N.’s Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC). Secondly, women’s groups who were accredited by the U.N. at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing are authorized to participate in the review. This group, however, excludes those activists who only participated in the 1995 forum in Huairou, China which paralleled the official Beijing meeting. Finally, and most recently, activist groups that were formed after the 1995 Beijing conference are also eligible to participate in the review. This affects activists in regions such as Eastern Europe where the women’s movement has only recently formed.

One of the most difficult implications of the new criteria involve explaining why activists who attended Huairou have suddenly been excluded from the June review. According to activists close to the negotiations for NGO eligibility at the review, much of the battle has to do with space. Unlike the 1995 Women’s Conference in China, New York City offers very little meeting and gathering space for the 40, 000 plus activists and delegates who attended the Beijing and Huairou forums. As a result, some sources point to a reluctance by the U.N. to include a wide range of women’s activists simply because the numbers of attendees would be overwhelming. However the criteria for which groups to include and which to exclude, remains unclear. The U.N. also has not ruled on whether or not members of NGOs would be able to speak during the official review sessions in June.

At press time, no parallel forum similar to the one held in Huairou had been organized. Several Japanese women’s groups have attempted to organize what they’re labeling a “Beijing Plus Five Mini NGO Forum” from June 3rd to June 9th at the Foundation for the Support of the United Nations (FSUN) Building at 809 United Nations Plaza. Currently, however, the forum appears to be geared towards Japanese participants. To find more details about this event, visit the group’s website: http://members.aol.com/womenmedia. Some activists who feel excluded from the review are encouraging local women’s groups worldwide to voice their issues and concerns about the Platform for Action to any accredited NGO from their respective country. Through e-mail, snail mail and phone calls, it’s clear that through the activist grapevine, women worldwide will be sure to raise all of their voices by early June.

Celebrate International Women’s Day

Today is a busy day for women’s rights activists worldwide. Marches, parties, plays, postcard campaigns and statements of support from leaders around the world continue to pour in as the CSW carries on with the panels and workshops it has organized to assist NGOs participating in Beijing Plus Five.

Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, has issued a statement condemning violence against women. Citing instances of so-called ‘honour killings,’ acid violence, female infanticide and bride burnings, Bellamy noted that examples of men and boys killing or seriously injuring women abound.

“For too long, some men have been getting away with murder,” said Bellamy. “It is time for governments and local communities to acknowledge these actions as crimes and to act decisively to prevent the continuing murder and disfiguring of thousands of girls and women. Such crimes should be swiftly prosecuted.” Bellamy went on to note the myriad UNICEF programs targeted at reducing violence against women and girls worldwide. Today’s appeal followed Ms. Bellamy’s strong condemnation of child trafficking for sexual purposes a month ago in Japan.

At the U.N., International Women’s Day has been honored by Secretary General Kofi Annan who stressed the importance of women’s roles in politics and peacekeeping. The United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) will celebrate the day at a Chamber Music Concert on the evening of Saturday March 11th at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Finally, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) has called on women to take the reins of leadership at media houses throughout the world. For the latest on events, see the WomensWire calendar.

There are also a number of events by non-U.N. agencies such as the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy which will host a panel entitled “Winning the Struggle for Reproductive Rights” on March 8th from 1-3 p.m. on the 8th floor of the Church Center (777 United Nations Plaza, 1st Avenue and 44th Street).