The Feminist Task Force kicked off this year’s United Nations 60th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) on March 8th, International Women’s Day with a tweet-a-thon! (see #IWD2016)
Then on March 13th, FTF Director Rosa Lizarde presented at the CSW NGO Consultation Day at the 92Y, as a speaker on the featured panel, “No one Left Behind: Opportunities and Obstacles on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda.” See details here.
The Feminist Task Force also co-sponsored the event “Empowering Women & Girls through Online Organizing on the SDGs & 2030 Agenda” with the UN World We Want Global Platform. The panelists included PSG co-chairs Rosa Lizarde of FTF & Ravi Karkara of UN Women and members from near and far, such as Maxine Davila of local advocacy group One+1 Networking for a Better World, Rohit Pothukuchi, founder of Verdentum and Marta Benavides of Siglo XXIII/FTF from El Salvador (to name a few). The panel spoke about the importance of reaching grassroots and disenfranchised communities through the World We Want global platform, and many PSG members and staff provided valuable insights on the field.
Then on March 15th, at 4pm FTF, partnered up with the Women’s Campaign School at Yale, facilitated by FTF/WCSYale Staff Erica Carlino to provide a Women’s Leadership training. Invitations went out on EventBrite, and the event was called: “Women’s Advocacy & Leadership Workshop for Political Parity 2030.”
Finally, FTF Staff ended the week with a groundbreaking event on March 17th “Challenges of Connecting the Dots – Visions for Women’s 2015-2050 Agenda” and a commemoration to Berta Caceres, murdered Honduran environmental activist. FTF had the honor of listening to Berta Zuniga Caceres speak on behalf of her mother at the event. Berta Zuniga urged NGO’s and participants of the CSW to act in solidarity with the human rights defenders and citizens of Honduras (like her mother) who are being murdered everyday by publicly denouncing the Honduran government and the economic interests it supports on social media. She also called for Honduras to stop work on the Agua Zara dam, and all major infrastructure projects that stood against indigenous peoples livelihoods. FTF will join the rally at 5:30 pm in honor of Berta Caceres’ life and the lost life of murdered fellow activists at COPINH which also happened this week. You can view the list of full demands below:
Currently existing campaigns/ calls for action:
- Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos: Justice for the murder of Berta Cáceres, feminist & indigenous woman human rights defender
- M4: Acción Urgente: solicitamos la protección de Gustavo Castro, herido durante el asesinato de Berta Cáceres
- CAN: Climate Action Network Demands Justice for murdered activist
- SUM of Us: Ask the FMO bank to withdraw investment from the Agua Zarca project
- Friends of the Earth-US: Tell Secretary Kerry to end U.S. military aid to Honduras and stop the murder of environmental activists!
- International Rivers: Pull Out of Agua Zarca Dam!
- Amnesty: Honduras: Allow Gustavo Castro Soto to Return to Mexico (UA 50/16)
- Bank Track: Agua Zarca dam
- Numerous: Open letter to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández
- US Food Sovereignty Alliance: http://usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org/press-statement-on-the-assassination-of-berta-caceres-and-call-to-action/
- http://action.ciel.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=18506
Also – share on Twitter:
Tweet to the Honduran authorities: ALERTA MÁXIMA x integridad física/psicológica de Gustavo Castro, testigo clave en caso d Berta Caceres @SREHonduras @sdhjgdhn @CNDH @SRE_mx
#JusticiaParaBerta #SeguridadParaGustavo #IWD2016 @FemTaskForce
Be sure to check our Twitter and Facebook page for periodic updates and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @Femtaskforce.
Week in review & photos, submitted by: Erica Carlino, FTF staff
Feminist Task Force 