General

• Condemn the crimes committed by the PUK in Kurdistan
  On 14th July this year, six members of the Worker-communist Party of Iraq (WcP) were brutally murdered in the city of Soleymanyeh in Iraq by the agents of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

• Global Petition about the Situation of Women in Afghanistan
  (United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, 19/08/99)

• New Soul City Series Targets Violence Against Women
  (Soul City, July 1999)

• Support White Ribbon Campaign
  (Nisaa Institute for Women's Development, 9/7/99)

• Rape Crisis Cape Town Calls for Action after Weekend of Brutal Rapes
  (Rape Crisis Cape Town, 28/6/99)

• Speak Out - Stop Rape - Petition
  (People Opposing Women Abuse, POWA, 5/5/99)

• Summary of UNIFEM's End-violence Working Group Discussion, 29/10-4/11/98

• Britain Supports Action on Violence Against Women in South Africa
  (Britain's Department for International Development DFID, 15/12/98)

• Women Light The Way......Take Action To Make It Happen!
  (1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights, 23/11/98)

• COSATU Press Release on 16 Days of Activism to Combat Violence Against Women
  (COSATU, 26/11/98)

• Women Worldwide Organize Around 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
  (IWTC Women's Globalnet #116, 6/11/98)

• 16 Days of Activism to Combat Violence Against Women: Publicise Your Events in a National Calendar
  (Commission on Gender Equality, 2/11/98)

• Plan for 16 Days of Activism Against Domestic Violence in Eastern Cape
  (Masimanyane Women's Support Centre, 23/9/98)

• Join UNIFEM's Internet Working Group to End Violence Against Women
  (UNIFEM, October 1998)

• The Thohoyandou Declaration on Ending Witchcraft Violence, 10 September 1998
  (National Conference on Witchcraft Violence, 10/9/98)

• 1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights
  A Masimanyane Women's Support Centre report on their activities and programmes as part of their 1998 campaign "No Human Rights without Women's Rights".
  (Masimanyane Women's Support Centre, June 1998)

• Women's Rights Campaign: UN Declaration of Human Rights - 50th Anniversary
  A 1998 Nisaa Institute for Women's Development letter and memorandum to the Minister of Justice to translate the rights guaranteed in the Constitution into legal and practical rights for abused women.
  (Nisaa Institute for Women's Development, 27/5/98)

• Discussion Group and Web Site on Preventing Violence Against Women in the SADC Region
  Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre in association with Women'sNet has established a discussion group (mailing list) for Non-governmental and Community-based organisations (NGOs and CBOs) that focuses on preventing violence against women in the SADC region. This discussion group provides a unique opportunity for networking amongst organisations, sharing ideas and information and engaging in discussion through the electronic medium.
  (Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre and Women'sNet, May 1998)

• Women in Parliament Caucus for Action to End Violence
  A March 1998 Agenda article written by three women working in Parliament that report on a joint parliamentary and civil society campaign to end violence against women and children.
  (Agenda No 36, March 1998)

• Evidence-led peace-building and reconstruction: preventing sexual violence in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Johannesburg
  It has been claimed up to one woman in every five living in Johannesburg's Southern Metropolitan region has been raped. However, the true extent of sexual violence in the area has not been quantified. Over the next two years a community-based information system will be introduced by CIET, focusing on resilience factors, the men who do not become sexually violent, in the search for possible solutions.
  (CIETafrica, 22/3/98)

• Putting Sexual Rights on Our Agenda
  An intersectoral reproductive rights campaign to tackle poor teenage sexual reproductive health, violence and HIV and AIDS.
  (Agenda No 36, March 1998)

NGO Shadow Report to Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women

• Request to Complete Questionnaire for Impact Study on the Implementation of CEDAW
  Masimanyane Women's Support Centre has been requested to contribute to an Impact Study on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
  (Masimanyane Women's Support Centre, 27/10/98)

• CEDAW Shadow Report Preparations
  Masimanyane Women's Support Centre announces plans to write a CEDAW shadow report as a critique of the SA government report with a focus on violence against women.
  (Marleen Hasselerharm, Coordinator , Research Project Masimanyane Women's Support Centre, March 1998)

• Introducing NGO Shadow Report to Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women
  Masimanyane Women's Support Centre has co-ordinated the development of a CEDAW Shadow Report. It is an NGO response to the government report and has a specific focus on violence against women. The shadow report analyses and critiques the government report, which was prepared in 1996, on its implementation of CEDAW, lists priority areas of concern to NGOs and gives recommendations to the CEDAW Committee.
  (Masimanyane CEDAW Working Group, East London, 29/5/98)

• NGO Shadow Report to CEDAW South Africa - Focus: Violence against Women
  As a signatory to the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the South African government has to guarantee the right of women to be protected against violence through its policies, plans of action, departments and programs. While the government has recognized the seriousness of this problem, it has not adequately fulfilled its responsibilities in this Women's Convention.
  (Masimanyane CEDAW Working Group, June 1998)

• See also Women'sNet, Human Rights, Documents: CEDAW

• CEDAW at work: 19th Session (22 June-10 July 1998)
  • Women's anti-discrimination committee begins consideration of South Africa's initial report [24 June 1998]
  • Expert members of women's anti-discrimination committee discuss South Africa's report, express special concern [24 June 1998]
  • Women's anti-discrimination committee hears further expert comments and South Africa's response on its initial report [29 June 1998]

Some Previous Campaigns

• Men Marching to End Violence Against Women and Children - a Personal Reflection
  The men's march (on 22 November 1997) is a good start, but is not the end. Individuals and organisations must work together in taking up concrete actions and struggles towards the eradication of violence against women, writes Mazibuko Jara.
  (Tshwaranang Udadate, Vol 01, No 4, December 1997)

• 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence: 25 November - 10 December 1997
  A 16 day campaign spearheaded by the Women's National Coalition - aimed at focusing attention to the issue of violence against women - which is part of a longer campaign leading up to the national elections in 1999.
  (Gauteng Provincial Legislature, 24/11/97)

• Support 37 Arrested Sudanese Women
  A letter from Isis-WICCE in Uganda requesting people to write to various members of the Sudanese government to protest against the unlawful imprisonment of Sudanese women at the beginning of December 1997.
  (Isis-WICCE, Kampala, Uganda December, 1997)