Mr. Bertie Ahern
President of the European Council
Dublin

May .., 2004

Dear Mr. Ahern,

As a coalition of religious leaders, policy makers, human rights and women's rights leaders, we call upon you to withdraw article 51 from the European Constitution. This article would constitutionalise the privileged status that the Catholic church already holds in the European Union, and contravene against the European principle of equality. We also wish to draw your attention on the current political scandal provoked in Hungary by the Catholic church at the occasion of the European elections. This incident illustrates the dangers of giving privilege to the Catholic church.

The Catholic church is the only religion to hold diplomatic relations with each one of the old and new Member Countries. But on top of its status as a foreign government with an Apostolic nuncio representing the interests of the Holy See at the EU, the Catholic church wishes to secure, through the constitutional mechanism of participatory democracy, a privileged status as "European civil society".

1. Article 51 guarantees the Church as an employer with exemptions from various EU principles, notably the principle of non-discrimination on the ground of religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, etc, and

2. Article 51 guarantees the Church as a "political actor" to have a say in EU policy making through compulsory pre-legislative consultation. Just a few weeks ago, the Irish Presidency received the European bishops for a routine - although still non constitutionally binding - consultation about the agenda of Ireland for the EU.

The European Union is a constitutively a-religious political construction. Separation of church and state is indeed one of the conditions for peace in a pluralist society and a constitutive characteristic of a democratic regime. But the Holy See has for years lobbied for the institutionalisation of a special status for the church within the European Union, and in particular during the drafting of the European Constitution. All the ambassadors of the old and new Member Countries accredited at the Holy See have been admonished in that sense by the Pope, who has also received in private audiences high European officials and policy makers, including European Convention president Valérie Giscard d'Estaing, Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament, Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Joschka Fischer, German vice-chancellor.

Incidents like the current political scandal in Hungary provoked by the church and its allies show the degree to which the church attempts to impose itself on the political stage and gives evidence about its conception of democratic dialogue. The church and its allies have harshly accused of anti-Catholicism Mrs. Magda Kosa-Kovács, a democratically elected representative of the Hungarian people, and have called upon the Hungarian citizenry not to vote for the Socialist Party in the European elections, because one of their members states facts that the church searches to silence. Please find enclosed a copy of the letter of solidarity with Mrs. Magda Kosa Kovács addressed to the Hungarian Socialist Party, in which forty Members of the European Parliament have congratulated the president of the Hungarian Socialist Party for their Party's support of Mrs. Kosa Kovács.

We urge you, as current President of the EU to withdraw article 51 from the Constitution.

Yours faithfully,

***

News

1 - France

* Sexisme à la radio

Dans l’émission du 25 avril 2004 de Brigitte Patient consacrée à la place des femmes sur France Inter, le Directeur des programmes a dépassé les bornes.

Les propos sexistes sont insupportables, ils sont humiliants pour les femmes. Mais lorsqu’ils sont proférés par un cadre supérieur, un directeur en la matière, ils sont un signe symbolique de domination, un outil d’asservissement. En effet, si l’on peut répondre à un collègue, il est souvent difficile de remettre à sa place un supérieur hiérarchique. Et lorsque ce supérieur hiérarchique, Jean-Luc Hesse, les prononce sur l’antenne, le mal est encore plus profond ! «…je suis victimisé par les femmes : elles sont nombreuses, elles sont mignonnes
, elles ont toujours raison, on ne peut pas leur résister…elles sont belles, ça sent bon, j’aime bien les femmes, je suis pas objectif avec ça ». Et avec cela, pas une parole professionnelle.

A Radio France aussi le salaire est toujours inférieur, à travail égal, pour les femmes et ce malgré notre vigilance constante et nos interpellations dans les instances.

Faut-il en plus supporter les propos dégradants qui n’ont rien humoristique ?! Cela ne nous fait pas rire de la part d’un « patron » ! Discriminations, harcèlement sont rendus possibles par un climat, une ambiance générale qui donnent des signes que tout est permis. Sommes-nous obligées d’être mignonnes, belles, de sentir bon et de « plaire » à nos cadres pour espérer travailler à Radio France ?

NOUS ATTENDONS VOS EXCUSES AU NOM DE TOUTES LES FEMMES Y COMPRIS DES AUDITRICES

From : nelly.trumel@free.fr

* Et la femme recréa l'homme...

(...) Tous le confirment : trente ans après la révolution féministe, les hommes vivent eux aussi un changement radical et profond, allant bien au-delà de leur statut social, professionnel et familial. Un changement qui touche leur être le plus intime, leur façon de ressentir, de dire et de vivre leurs émotions, leur manière d'aimer, leur sexualité. Incertains d'eux-mêmes, plus vulnérables peut-être mais aussi plus riches de possibles, ils font peau neuve. Et ils le savent. Car un homme est d'abord un fils, et ceux qui ont 20 à 40 ans aujourd'hui sont déjà, pour la plupart, les héritiers d'une première génération de mutants.

Nés dans les années 1960, ils ont été élevés par des femmes plus viriles, des hommes plus féminins que la génération précédente. Venus au monde dans les années 1980, ils ont peut-être connu les belles heures des "papas poules" et des "executive women". Pour tous, en tout cas, la notion d'égalité des sexes, acquise ou revendiquée, est très tôt devenue familière.

Disparition du modèle familial traditionnel, remise en cause du "premier sexe" et du partage des rôles, perte de la position d'autorité du père, mixité généralisée à l'école : quels hommes sont devenus ces garçons-là, qui ont essuyé les plâtres de la libération des femmes ? Et comment cherchent-ils à se distinguer de ces dernières, quand les valeurs musculaires et machistes, naguère si prisées, sont en pleine déroute ? Pour le sociologue Pascal Duret (université de la Réunion), ce n'est pas tant l'absence de modèles masculins que leur multiplicité qui complique aujourd'hui la construction identitaire des hommes.

"Quand cohabitent dans une même culture des figures célébrant l'androgynie et 'l'effémination' (Florent Pagny, Leonardo DiCaprio), avec d'autres symbolisant la virilité triomphante (Bruce Willis, Eric Cantona), on comprend que les choix soient plus problématiques qu'aux temps, pas si lointains, où John Wayne et Lino Ventura offraient des images concordantes de ce que doit être un homme", souligne-t-il. Plus souple qu'on aurait pu le craindre, le mâle nouveau aurait ainsi appris à composer avec ces modèles contradictoires, "sans trop s'engager dans l'un d'eux pour conserver plusieurs "soi" possibles, et éventuellement opérer un recyclage identitaire d'un modèle à un autre".

Si crise de la masculinité il y a, ce n'est donc pas dans la perte de figures de référence qu'il faudrait la chercher. Mais plutôt dans la vie privée, truffée d'écueils et de paradoxes. Difficultés parentales (comment être un bon père, responsable mais tendre, quand on ne partage souvent que les week-ends avec ses enfants ?), conjugales (interdiction d'être macho, mais prière de rester fort et séduisant !), difficulté, souvent, des relations sexuelles... Un sujet particulièrement sensible pour nombre d'hommes confrontés à une liberté d'initiative et à une exigence féminines qui les dépassent, si l'on en croit les psys qui les écoutent. (...)

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3238,36-361860,0.html

* La mixité menacée ? (Rapport)

Recommandations adoptées par la Délégation du Sénat aux droits des femmes et de l'égalité entre les hommes et les femmes : "La mixité menacée ?"

1. Donner une consécration législative à la mixité à l’école, en introduisant cette notion dans le code de l’éducation.

2. S’assurer que les projets d’établissement respectent les exigences d’intimité liées à chacun des deux sexes au niveau de la conception des bâtiments scolaires et mobiliser les collectivités territoriales concernées pour apporter les correctifs nécessaires.

3. Dans un souci de rééquilibrage, inciter les hommes à s’orienter davantage vers la profession enseignante, aujourd’hui largement féminisée. Demander au ministère de l’éducation nationale d’étudier, en liaison avec les universités, les moyens d’encourager une plus grande mixité dans les filières de l’enseignement.

4. Dresser le bilan concret des recommandations de la convention interministérielle du 25 février 2000 pour la promotion de l’égalité des chances entre les filles et les garçons, les femmes et les hommes dans le système éducatif relatives au contenu des formations dispensées au sein des instituts universitaires de formation des maîtres (IUFM) en matière de mise en œuvre de l’égalité des sexes.

5. Associer, y compris sur le terrain, le ministère de la santé à cette convention interministérielle du 25 février 2000.

6. Fournir aux enseignants, dans l’exercice quotidien de leur métier, les outils pédagogiques nécessaires à une meilleure approche de la psychologie des adolescents et de la diversité, selon les sexes, des rapports à la culture et au savoir.

7. Même s’il est clair que la culture de la mixité doit être intégrée à toutes les formations des professeurs, introduire dans la formation initiale et continue des enseignants du primaire et du secondaire un module portant sur la façon d’appréhender la mixité au sein de la classe et d’assurer son bon fonctionnement. Une plus grande sensibilisation à l’éducation à l’égalité pourrait les aider à lutter contre les stéréotypes sexués et à modifier certains comportements culturels, différenciés selon le genre des élèves.

8. Organiser de façon concertée et expérimentale des moments d’enseignement pendant lesquels garçons et filles seraient séparés, notamment dans le cadre de l’éducation sexuelle, de manière à faire « respirer » la mixité à l’école.

9. S’assurer qu’au sein de l’enseignement privé hors contrat, notamment confessionnel, la totalité des disciplines figurant dans les programmes et instructions officiels de l’éducation nationale est effectivement enseignée aux filles.

10. Améliorer le dispositif d’orientation scolaire et professionnelle des filles afin de mettre en adéquation leur réussite scolaire et leurs carrières professionnelles.

11. Associer davantage, dans le processus d’orientation, l’institution scolaire aux familles afin de diffuser l’information la plus complète possible et de favoriser des procédures d’orientation débarrassées des stéréotypes sexués.

12. Amplifier les campagnes d’information nationales et locales en faveur de la mixité des métiers et des recrutements.

13. Veiller à ce que la disposition législative annoncée en matière de laïcité à l’hôpital prohibe toute discrimination entre les sexes à l’occasion des consultations ou soins dispensés et permette aux médecins et aux personnels médicaux de se concentrer sur la dimension médicale de leur mission.

14. Etudier de manière approfondie, par une collaboration entre le ministère des sports, les collectivités territoriales et les associations, l’ensemble des obstacles à la pratique sportive féminine, en particulier dans les quartiers urbains défavorisés, afin d’être en mesure de les lever efficacement.

15. Engager, avec l’aide des fédérations sportives, une campagne d’information afin d’inciter les jeunes femmes à pratiquer un sport en club.

16. Assurer le respect des principes d’utilisation des équipements sportifs publics ou subventionnés, en particulier la laïcité et la mixité.

From: "Danièle Gaulon" <d.gaulon@senat.fr>

***

5 - Iran : Iranian Women Protest Polygamy TV

Around 250 people, mostly women, protested Wednesday against state-run Iranian TV for airing a series that promoted polygamy, saying it was evidence that the hard-line Islamic state was trampling women's rights.

Wearing brightly colored clothing as opposed to the traditional head-to-toe black chador, the women gathered at a building in central Tehran to denounce policies by hard-liners that seek to restrict women to roles such as obedient housewives.

"Our gathering today is a voice of protest against the trampling of our rights and promotion by television of polygamy," woman rights activist Parvin Ardalan told The Associated Press.

Women activists launched a protest campaign last month after state television, controlled by hard-liners, aired a series titled "Another Lady," on which a woman introduces her friend to her husband for marriage.

Under the strict form of Islamic law applied in

Iran

, men can keep up to four wives at the same time, a right not granted to women. Also, a woman needs her husband's permission to work or travel abroad, while a man's court testimony is considered twice as important as a woman's.

Farzaneh Sadeghi, another protester, said state TV rarely promotes the idea of women working in high public posts or as professionals.

Rather, it seeks to depict woman as people restricted to kitchen, she said.

There are no official statistics available on polygamy in

Iran

, but it is prevalent in many small cities and rural regions in

Iran

.

Despite being restricted from the nation's highest political posts, Iranian women — who number over 32 million of the nation's 68 million population — enjoy more political rights than women in most neighboring Gulf Arab states, possessing the right to vote and hold public office.

The 1997 election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami led to women enjoying greater freedoms. Khatami appointed a woman as vice president and others to top government posts, but not Cabinet positions.

(TEHRAN,

Iran

, April 28, 2004)
From : farideh araki femme2001fr@yahoo.frF

***

6 -

Iraq

* Women's International League Outraged at President's Claim

In last night's address to the nation, President Bush made reference to the "work of a fanatical political ideology" in the Middle East that seeks "to oppress and persecute women." The elimination of this fanaticism against women, he claims, provides part of the motivation for the slaughter of more than 10,000 Iraqi civilians and a growing number of U.S. deaths.

As part of the oldest international women's peace organization, the United States Section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom is outraged at the notion that this unjustified war was fought for women's rights. Not only has this Administration pursued an agenda which puts women at risk around the world, but grassroots movements for women's rights already exist throughout the Arab world. To declare that the total destruction of both Afghanistan and Iraq was a necessary step in securing women's equality is as patronizing as it is dangerous. Women from Iraq have said they feel less secure now in a so-called "liberated" Iraq and still must fight to have any voice in decisions about the future of their country.

While terrorism is a genuine threat, it is not the issue defining the lives of most people. Continuing the trend of his State of the Union speech, the President makes no mention of the environment or real solutions for the economy or ideas for dealing with the AIDS epidemic. If the President is truly moved to be an advocate for women's rights, he could start by adhering to U.N. Resolution 1325 requiring women's participation in decision-making. He could help secure adequate funding for health care and education. He could rescind the dangerous Global Gag Rule that prohibits USAID funding for NGOs which use their own non-U.S. money to provide legal abortion services, lobby their own governments for abortion law reform, or even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion.

We at the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, United States Section, call on our elected officials to remedy the policies of the current U.S. Administration which also seek "to oppress and persecute women."

WILPF, 14 April 2004

For the full statement, visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/1325/WILPFUS13252004.html

* Iraq's postwar kidnapping crime wave

Although world attention has focused on the fate of dozens of foreigners kidnapped in Iraq over the past week, the story of hundreds of other victims has received scant publicity. Living with her family in the Kathum district of Baghdad, Aisha, a 21-year-old university student in her third year, used to view the future with healthy optimism. But that changed one hot summer night when two men stormed into her bedroom and seized her while the rest of her family were asleep.
The intense heat had driven her parents to sleep on the flat roof – a seasonal habit for many Iraqis. And so they failed to hear Aisha's cries for help before the two men overpowered her, taped her mouth shut and blindfolded her. Although several months have passed since her ordeal, Aisha's face still pales as she recounts the story. The kidnappers drove her to another location and put her in a room with two other women around the same age as her. Outside the room where Aisha was held stood a female guard, who brought the women food and water. The guard insisted nothing worse would happen to them – provided their families paid the ransom. Two days after her abduction, Aisha's family received their first ransom demand. The kidnappers called to say they wanted $20,000 by the following day, or Aisha would be killed. (...)

Aisha may have been targeted because her father was a senior figure in one of Saddam Hussein's brutal security agencies and, consequently, he made a lot of enemies during his tenure. Postwar Iraq is a country where revenge attacks and the settling of scores have become the norm. The lack of law and order tops women's concerns in Iraq. But postwar Iraq also suffers from a huge lack of security. Cars are stolen at gunpoint on a daily basis, symbolising a surge in random crime. But it is the quasi-organised variety that frightens many. Kidnappings have skyrocketed – though accurate statistics do not exist because few incidents are reported to the police, who are widely viewed with mistrust and regarded as ineffective. "It's a growing trend, a new business in Iraq," says the deputy police chief for Baghdad, Raad Yasir. Women are most at risk. According to the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq, the abduction and rape of women has become an almost daily occurence; during a four month period last year, the rights group reported 400 such kidnappings. Yasir says stories of hundreds of kidnappings each month are exaggerated. But he admits the two or three incidents reported to his colleagues each week reveals only part of the true picture. "Many people try to resolve matters themselves, or pay up the money," Yasir told Aljazeera.net. (...)

by Odai Sirri, Al Jazeera

(April 13th, 2004)

* Women's shelter to open in protected Baghdad location

US officials plan to open a new shelter for women who are victims of domestic and other forms of violence - the first of its kind in the capital, Baghdad.

In Iraq, violence against women is still a taboo subject and if a woman complains about it, her family and husband's family sit down together to try to work out the issue. In such an atmosphere, US Major Martha Boy, a civil affairs officer with the 350th Civil Affairs Unit plans to open a women's shelter in two weeks in the "green zone", now a protected area for US administrators in Iraq where former President Saddam Hussein and his elite Republican Guard used to live. The centre's exact location in the two-kilometre-wide area will be kept secret to protect the women, Boyd said. "It's a new concept in Iraq, but it's not revolutionary. I think Iraqis and Coalition forces agree on that," Boyd told IRIN. "I know it's risky, but I believe you have to make change. We're trying to meet a need for women who are abused and need a place to go."

The new centre is meant as a temporary stop for the women until a more permanent solution can be found, Boyd said. Teenagers who are abused may be sent to one of the city's orphanages until they can finish school, for example, she said. Iraqi orphanages which take care of children who have been abandoned by their parents are generally well-funded and well-staffed, she added. Older women may be counselled and be encouraged to find a job. Already, workers are getting calls every few days about women who have been subjected to physical or sexual abuse who are looking for a way out, said a male staff member trained to work at the shelter but declined to be named. (...)

In Iraq and other Muslim countries, some women are killed by family members if they do something perceived to hurt the family's honour, including being raped. This is referred to as an honour killing. Although there are no recent statistics for violence against women, NGOs in northern Iraq have collected documents showing more than 5,000 honour killings in a 12-year period, according to Layla Mohammed, a spokeswoman for the Organisation for Women's Freedom in Iraq. The women's group has also opened its own safe house at an undisclosed location in the north, which currently has three residents and some children, Mohammed said. (...) The centre will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with male and female staff who will be able to work with 15-20 women at a time. Boyd is currently looking for a director for the centre. But in the future, she hoped to hand it over to a humanitarian agency or find an additional funding source. No matter who runs the safehouse, it should definitely continue to have Iraqi support, she said. (...) A similar women's centre is already open in Kirkuk. And another women's group is trying to open a longer-term women's centre in Baghdad, Boyd said. Because of the poor security situation, however, that group's plans are on hold.

BAGHDAD, 21 Apr 2004 (IRIN) http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40685&SelectRegion=Iraq_Crisis&SelectCountry=IRAQ

***

7 - Europe : Lutte contre la Prostitution

L’OTAN PRIÉE INSTAMMENT D’INTERDIRE À SES TROUPES DE FRÉQUENTER LES MAISONS CLOSES ET LES SEX CLUBS – Le jeudi 4 mars, les Nations Unies et la Norvège ont encouragé l'OTAN a prendre des mesures drastiques contre la traite des êtres humains et l'industrie du sexe, organisées dans les bars et les clubs fréquentés par des troupes en missions à l’étranger. Elles ont également invité les membres du partenariat à dispenser des formations au personnel militaire sur la traite des êtres humains, à témoigner de la traite d’êtres humains pratiquée dans des clubs et dans d’autres endroits fréquentés par le personnel militaire de l’OTAN et à intégrer, dans les contrats de service civil à l’étranger, des clauses interdisant la participation à des activités de soutien ou de promotion de la traite des êtres humains.

Pour obtenir des informations complémentaires : http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4499667

LE VOTE DU RAPPORT SUR L’INDUSTRIE DU SEXE POSTPOSÉ POUR LA DEUXIÈME FOIS – La discussion et le vote du rapport de la MPE suédoise Marianne Eriksson (GUE/NGL) sur l’industrie du sexe, prévus pour la réunion de la Commission des droits de la femme et de l’égalité des chances le 15 mars, ont été une fois de plus postposés par le PPE et le PSE, au motif qu’ils avaient besoin de plus de temps pour discuter de ce problème complexe. Dans un communiqué de presse, M Eriksson a déclaré qu’elle regrettait que les « MPE craignent d’aborder ce thème, tout simplement parce qu’ils ignorent, au-delà du débat, si la prostitution doit être légalisée ou pas. […]”. Cette décision peut entraîner des conséquences très néfastes pour le rapport, puisque Marianne Eriksson ne se représentera pas aux élections de juin et le rapport est né de sa « propre initiative ».

Pour obtenir des informations détaillées, contactez Marianne Eriksson MPE +46 705 782 797, Marie Fredriksson, Assistante +32 495 250 016, ou Judy O´Loan, bureau de presse GUE/NGL +32 477 470 031

EXAMEN CRITIQUE DE LA RÉPONSE À LA PROSTITUTION DANS QUATRE PAYS – Ce rapport, rédigé par Julie Bindel et Liz Kelly de la Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan University, et publié par The Routes Out Partnership, est une étude comparative sur les impacts d’une série d’approches de la prostitution à Victoria (Australie), en Irlande, aux Pays-Bas et en Suède. Il analyse la situation juridique de la prostitution dans les quatre pays, ainsi que les conséquences de ces législations pour l’augmentation ou la baisse de la prostitution.
Vous pouvez consulter le texte à l’adresse http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/lg/evidence/lg04-ptz-res-03.htm

Y:\EWL info\Newsflash\Nf2004\NF03_FR.doc

***

8 - Muslim Countries

* In memory of those who have been stoned to death

One-minute silence In memory of those who have been stoned to death

The International Committee Against Stoning (ICAS) has been actively working towards the abolishment of stoning in all countries such as Iran, Pakistan and Nigeria where stoning takes place. ICAS was one of the main forces to stop the stoning sentences of Amina Lawal in Nigeria and Zafaran Bibi in Pakistan and to exert pressure on the Islamic regime of Iran to suspend stoning sentences.

In order to expose the brutal act of stoning internationally and also to strength the fight for the elimination of this law, we have proposed July 11 as the International Day against Stoning. July 11 is the day on which in 2001 Maryam Ayoubi, an Iranian woman and mother of three children, was stoned to death). This year on July 11, 2004 we call upon all women’s rights and human rights organisations and individuals all around the world to observe one minute of silence at 11:00am GMT.

Where ever you are on this day, take one minute of silence to remember those who have been cruelly tortured and stoned to death and those who have been deprived of their life.

July 11 was proposed by the International Committee Against Stoning at the International Conference against Stoning, held in Naples, Italy on September 26, 2003, and was endorsed by the conference. July 11 should be the day on which people around the world reaffirm their rejection of stoning. Please add the name of your organisation to the list of organisations endorsing July 11 as the international day against stoning by sending an e-mail to stopstoning@yahoo.com.

International Committee Against Stoning May 2004. Mina Ahadi is the Coordinator of the Campaign.
For more information on this day and the work of the Committee, contact: Shiva Mahbobi, Public Relations, International Committee Against Stoning : shiva_mahbobi@yahoo.com..

* Charter of the International Committee Against Stoning

Death by stoning is open barbarity against humanity. It is a despicable Islamic punishment