Newsletter of the Asian Women's Resource Centre for Culture and Theology
Vol. 10, No. 1, April 2005

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AWRC coordinator participates in CCA pre-assembly women's forum

As part of the ongoing partnership with the Christian Conference of Asia-Gender Justice and Women’s Empowerment Programme, AWRC coordinator Yong Ting Jin participated in the pre-assembly Women’s Forum of the Christian Conference of Asia in Chiang Mai, Thailand on March 26-30. 

Invited as resource person, Ting Jin co-facilitated a workshop on women and human sexuality with Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro, a theologian from the Philippines. The workshop deconstructed the tendency to regard women’s sexuality as taboo, and affirmed that women’s sexuality is at the core of their identity and self-respect. 

In one evening, Ting Jin shared about the life and work of AWRC. Other representatives of ecumenical women’s groups who shared about their respective organizations were Esther Byu for the International Fellowship of the Least Coin and Marilia Schuller for the Sisters in Solidarity against Racism and Sexism (SISTERS). Several women present shared about the Asian Church Women’s Conference on behalf of Chiang Shu Wen. 

The CCA Women’s Forum is a regular pre-assembly feature to prepare women delegates for the assembly proper. There were about 50 people present for the Women’s Forum consisting of delegates as well as observers at the 12th CCA General Assembly. 

CCA women’s programme desk and AWRC continue to have close cooperation and do joint programmes on women doing theology, gender/women’s issues, women’s full participation and leadership in the church. 

One of the highlights of this Women’s Forum was celebrating this partnership together with women in the ecumenical movement. Thus, AWRC and CCA women continue to empower and enhance one another in the journey of struggle for liberation and transformation.

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International Women's Month observed in the Philippines

The Ecumenical Women’s Forum (EWF), a broad alliance of Protestant, Catholic, Muslim and other faith-based or related organizations in the Philippines, marked the International Women’s Month through various activities on the theme, “Women of Faith: Journey Onwards with the People!”

Activities began in February and included education and advocacy. Educational activities included biblico-theological reflections, fora and reflection sessions. Activities for advocacy and prophetic action included issuing statements, media promotion, solidarity visits to Hacienda Luisita (site of ongoing peasant farmers’ struggle), ecumenical prayer gathering for a VAT-less (value added tax-less) economy, and the International Women’s Day celebration, including a march on March 8. 

Such activities also served as preparatory and build-up activities for the projected formal organization of EWF in June 2005.

EWF seeks to:

The Association of Women in Theology (AWIT) and the Board of Women’s Work of the United Methodist Church, both members of AWRC, are part of EWF.

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Counting the Gains: Women and Beijing + 10

The following was taken from an electronic release from the Association for Women’s Rights in Development or AWID, an international membership organization committed to gender equality and a just and sustainable development process. – Editor

The 49th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) passed ten resolutions during its 49th session, reaffirming government commitment to the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action agreed upon ten years ago at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. 

This was made possible through networks of progressive feminist and women’s organizations in spite of attempts to block consensus by US alliance with conservative right wing organizations and other actors like the Vatican or Holy See. 

Following are the resolutions adopted at the CSW 49th Session, which concluded on March 11:

Parallel NGO events were also held including the feminist launching of the Global Call for Action against Poverty, organized by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) and other women’s organizations and development agencies. This Global Call is a worldwide alliance committed to pressuring world leaders to fulfill their promises including those outlined by the United Nations Millennium Declaration. 

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International Signature Campaign

The following is from the Global Campaign for the Human Rights of the survivors of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery and the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. It was sent by Chung Sook Ja, a member of the AWRC Coordinating Team. - Editor. 

Global Petition to the UN & ILO: Urge the Japanese government to solve the issues of Military Sexual Slavery and say “No” to Japan’s wish to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Next year is the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation day for hundreds of thousands “comfort women” from sexual slavery by Japan. However, the issue of “comfort women” is still unsolved. The Japanese government has been ignoring the voices of survivors of “comfort women” and the women’s and human rights organizations supporting them, as well as the recommendations issued by international organizations such as UN Commission on Human Rights, ICJ, WCC, etc. Furthermore, the Japanese government has insisted that the issue was previously resolved by San Francisco Peace Treaty and bilateral treaties. Also, the Japanese government asserts that ‘the Asian Women’s Fund’ already compensated “comfort women”. The fund, as manifested, is only an atonement money, not complying with formal reparation provided as compensation for the victims.

Today we see the violent impacts of war, armed conflicts and militarism particularly on women’s bodies and lives. We see the vicious cycle of impunity of violence against women in the name of “war on terror” or “national security” at the present time. In order to stop the impunity of war crime against women, the Japanese government must recognize full official legal reparation which is fully based on recovering/enhancing the survivors’ dignity and on their needs. Once again, we encourage international organizations including UN bodies to urge the Japanese government to take its responsibility for its human right violations and violations of humanitarian law. Collection of worldwide signatures from one million people will be submitted to UN and ILO in 2005. 

The periods of collecting signatures:

For web signature: http://www.womenandwar.net/english/sign_en.php

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Women's groups appeal for an inclusive framework of disaster response

Following the tsunami that affected several countries in Asia, a collective of women’s rights groups conducted a series of fact-finding mission in affected areas in Sri Lanka in January and brought to public attention serious issues concerning the safety and wellbeing of women which had not been addressed so far in relief efforts.

In a statement the groups appreciated the many public initiatives to collect and deliver relief and assist those affected by the tsunami. “However, our observations indicate that these efforts need to be refocused to ensure that those who have suffered as a consequence of the tsunami are not subjected to further violence and abuse by unscrupulous persons,” they said. 

“The heightened vulnerability of people in these areas due to the destruction of communication lines and the large-scale mass displacement and death of people has created situations in which women and girls become more likely to encounter violence.

“In particular, we have received reports of incidents of rape, gang rape, molestation, and physical abuse of women and girls in the course of unsupervised rescue operations and while resident in temporary shelters, particularly in the south. Apart from these incidents (the number of which is not known), these reports have also indicated that women’s mobility continues to be restricted due to the fear of sexual violence. No proper monitoring body has been set up to receive complaints, to take action against perpetrators, or to ensure the safety of women in these areas.”

The groups urged government authorities and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in particular to take immediate measures to investigate such incidents. They also urged collaboration between state institutions and agencies working on gender-based violence. They also asked for adequate security and complaint mechanisms as an urgent priority in the relief process. 

The groups expressed concern that the information flowing from the tsunami-hit areas does not provide detailed accounts of the numbers of specific vulnerable communities such as pregnant women, lactating mothers, persons with physical and mental disabilities, persons with special medical needs and requiring daily and consistent medication. Such data is critical for identifying priority needs. 

Since the lack of a system to identify children separated from their families hampered efforts to locate families, missing children or to resettle children with relatives in locations where they were found, they strongly urged the National Child Protection Authority to work in coordination with the Department of Probation and Childcare Services to set up a mechanism to address this problem.

Women’s groups that made the statement were: 

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Materials on womenet may be quoted and copied provided that womenet is acknowledged as source. Printed copies of womenet are available on request from the AWRC Office.