Thursday 18th March

Eat or be eaten: courting disaster

Diana Francis, 18 March 2010
Two very different ways of viewing the world result in radically different ways of approaching conflict. When we come from the viewpoint of ‘eat or be eaten’, the whole of life is a contest for control; when we ground ourselves in the notion of interdependence we work to a very different agenda.
Wednesday 17th March

Can migration work for Britain? Not like this

Ruth Grove-White, 17 March 2010
Government policy of 'managed migration' has backfired and produced public mistrust related to a vicious circle, of the assurance of control and the reality of failure. With the major parties set to continue this system, Ruth Grove White argues that there is ample scope to challenge the principles behind managed migration. We just need to be brave enough to make the case.

Cry of a migrant

Marissa Begonia, 17 March 2010
"I may able to give my children whatever they may need and ask for but the sacrifices in exchange of all these is far cruel, I was not there to take care of them when they were sick, I never see them grow.....migrant or second class citizen I may be, I am one of the migrants who cry for any injustices and abuse in job, labour law and fellow mankind."

Life on a knife edge: migrant domestic workers in the UK

Jenny Moss, 17 March 2010
At what point do the rights of migrant domestic workers as human beings and as workers start to take precedence over their status as migrants?

Them is Us – but do we see it?

zohra moosa, 17 March 2010
Migration has opened up the chance for us to see new places and experience new things, but not everyone has the same freedoms to move where they want when they want - with some facing quite stark penalties for their border crossings.
Monday 15th March

From a culture of war to a culture of peace

Bruce Kent, 15 March 2010
The time has run out for traditional military answers. Ours is a culture of war, but cultures can change. We need education in peace and in international understanding, as so much more

Zero tolerance or zero consequence?

Pablo Castillo Diaz and Letitia Anderson, 15 March 2010
Laudable yet formalistic plans, committees and laws have been put in place to address violence against women, yet impunity remains rampant. Should the measure of progress be more mechanisms or less violence ?
Friday 12th March

Guns: the unending cycle of violence

Sarah Masters, 12 March 2010
The words of the women paralleled each other as they described how armed violence in the home and community, armed conflict, and the availability and misuse of guns feed each other in an unending cycle. These are not simple issues with easy solutions, but Sarah Masters says that this cannot justify apathy, silence, and inaction
Thursday 11th March

Putting money where our mouths are

Lyric Thompson, 11 March 2010
Lyric Thompson, in her last report from New York, writes that as we close the 54th UN Commission on the Status of Women, there’s no mystery as to what it takes to close the tremendous gap between policy and practice: money. Best-laid plans are moot if not resourced. Invest in women. As the UN motto reminds us, it's our world.

Haven't we said so already?

Roberta Clarke, 11 March 2010
If the actions recommended by the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action on Equality, Development and Peace were honoured, Roberta Clarke argues that the Millennium Development Goals could be met.
Tuesday 9th March

Keeping hope alive in New York

Muadi Mukenge, 9 March 2010
Will the government representatives at the CSW remember their commitments when they are back in their home countries? After all, any gains for women and girls translate into gains and advancement for the entire population and by extension, the planet.
Monday 8th March

Iran: time to change the question

Jane Gabriel, 8 March 2010
Parvin Ardalan spoke to Jane Gabriel at the UN CSW about the link between a conversation with her father and her work fighting for the rights and freedom of both men and women in Iran, and why it's time the international community changed the question: how can we help?

Negotiating Bliss

Cassandra Balchin, 8 March 2010
The bliss of an egalitarian and just relationship between spouses cannot be achieved through a sheet of paper. But Cassandra Balchin writes that in Muslim contexts efforts to take a fresh look at marriage contracts is certainly a step towards this goal

New York: no place for women in action

Margaret Owen, 8 March 2010
In an open letter to the United Nations Secretary General, the European Women's Lobby declares that "The 54th Session of the CSW...represents a step backwards by its failure to offer a new vision and mechanisms for implementation"
Sunday 7th March

How about equality of respect?

Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith, 7 March 2010
Last week the UN CSW54 was accused by the European Women's Lobby of being a 'step backwards' for women. As it grinds on into its second week Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith says the women’s movement needs a new twin strategy around equality of respect and quality of experience

An uncomfortable truth: the gender turf war at UN CSW

Lyric Thompson, 7 March 2010
Lyric Thompson takes issue with those who argue that men are inherently unqualified to speak as advocates for women's rights, and sees a paradoxical mirror image of the thinking that kept us out of classrooms, voting booths, political offices and boardrooms globally

Courage, controversy and chaos at the UN Commission on the Status of Women

Jane Gabriel, 7 March 2010
More than two thousand women's rights activists are in New York for the UN Commission on the Status of Women to review the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action for Equality, Development and Peace. The inside story is being covered daily by openDemocracy guest writers.
Friday 5th March

The table around which we didn't sit

zohra moosa, 5 March 2010
CSW has attracted 1000s of women to its proceedings this year, but there is a danger that we are just talking to ourselves. Two sessions on the financial crisis point to the change that is needed.

The price of peace

Lyric Thompson, 5 March 2010
“Peace processes are bad men talking to bad government and other bad men.....women in civil society are doing tremendous work on the ground, but they are not heard, they are not respected, and above all they are not funded.” Mary Robinson speaking at the UNCSW....

Women: reflections on our human rights

Jane Gabriel, 5 March 2010
It's seventeen years since women's rights were recognised as human rights at the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna. openDemocracy writers examine the struggle to turn these rights into a day-to-day reality for women and girls and examine the challenges that lie ahead
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