March 8, 2010 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Each year, MONFEMNET members and partners, in cooperation with the Mongolian Women’s Fund (MONES), select a policy issue of strategic importance as the main theme and draw together women’s rights and human rights’ activists and partners from diverse civil society sectors as well as government to share analyses and views on the issue to develop a common platform and strategies for collective action. This year, we will focus on a national mechanism for protecting fundamental human rights. This forum, informed and guided by two decades of women’s human rights activism in Mongolia, shall follow up to our work during and after the state of emergency of July, 2008, as well as our work on specific violations of human rights of women and children. By focusing squarely on human rights protection, the forum shall also reinforce and enrich the on-going national process of preparing for the Universal Periodic Review of the protection and promotion of human rights on the ground. The 2010 forum shall also consciously seek to amplify the voices of the marginalized groups, including herderwomen, vegetable growers, artisanal miners, gher district dwellers, child victims of violence, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities and people with disabilities and raise awareness on the need for a more comprehensive legal framework with strong provisions for protecting the rights of minority and marginalized groups, and an independent mechanism for protecting human rights. Based on specific experiences of some of the most disempowered groups in the society and in-depth analysis of the legal and institutional framework, the forum shall seek to present a comprehensive analysis of the gaps in the national mechanisms for protecting and promoting human rights. An effort shall be made to link this analysis to structural inequalities, poverty, development gap between urban and rural areas, and underlying political economy. Another special feature of this year’s forum is going to be the last session that shall provide space for young women to share their views, thoughts, experiences and strategies for influencing their own lives and promoting social change towards a more humane, genderjust and democratic society. The energy and information for this session shall be brought from the first in Mongolia Young Women’s Voices forum to be held on March 6. In the past, “Through Women’s Eyes” annual forums have drawn over 300 participants from diverse sectors of civil society as well as government, international organizations, and media. MONFEMNET has sought to ensure wide coverage of the forum in media including not only interviews but also publication of articles. In addition, MONFEMNET publishes compilations of forum presentations for a nation-wide distribution and more lasting effect. Previous forums: The first “Through Women’s Eyes” Forum was held in 2006. Through this forum, leading women’s NGOs and activists facilitated the sharing of critical analyses on corruption and the governance crisis, lack of judicial independence and protection of human rights, economic growth and poverty, and development of civil society and status of citizen participation in public affairs. This was the first time women activists presented a more holistic and systemic analysis based on the principles of human rights and gender equality, drawing together different sectors of civil society, going beyond the limited circle of women’s NGOs. The 2007 forum similarly focused on systemic and policy issues, focusing on ethics in politics, media, the negative effects of cash handout social welfare policies as well as movement building to bring about social change towards a more gender just, democratic and humane society. The 2008 forum focused on identifying common policy objectives with a view to influencing parliamentary election campaign agendas of the political parties and independent candidates. MONFEMNET members and partners identified 5 key policy objectives, which included child protection, food security, family-support policy, civil society development and free and a just electoral system. The 2009 forum, financially supported by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and MONES, focused on the national security policy, with a view to stimulating discussions on redefining national security as human security, while taking into account gender-specific vulnerabilities of women and children. The forum discussed issues such as labor migration, human trafficking, sexual exploitation of women and girls, violence against children, food security and environmental protection as well as ensuring civil society development as a key factor in promoting human security. The forum’s goal was also to contribute to redirecting nationalist discourses away from ethnocentric emphases on the purity of Mongolian gene pool and the revival of patriarchal feudal traditions towards humane and democratic definitions of national security and national interests, based on gender equality and human rights. Women Activists and Human Rights in Mongolia Since the inception of the independent NGO community in Mongolia in the early 1990s, women activists have played a key role in promoting democracy and human rights and promoting overall development of civil society in addition to working on gender-specific issues such as violence against women and women’s participation at decision-making levels. This crucial role was evident during the events of July 1st of 2008 when hundreds of citizens were subjected to police brutality and unfair trial during and after the State of Emergency, announced following the first in Mongolia post-election violence. Within 2 days of the postelection violence, which resulted in the death of at least 5 civilians and mass arrests of over 700 people including women, children and the disabled, women human rights activists mobilized to form a non-partisan NGO coalition to document human rights abuses, provide free legal aid to victims of state repression and police brutality, and provide objective and truthful information to national and international community. The coalition’s team of lawyers continued to provide legal aid to victims unable to pay for lawyers’ services and monitor human rights violations by the police, prosecutor’s office and the courts while analyzing the national system for the protection of fundamental human rights. The findings of the Human Rights Monitoring and Protection under the State of Emergency Coalition and the Coalition’s Coordinator and Lawyers’ Team Leader played a key role in the first parliamentary public hearings on human rights violations held in 2009. Furthermore, the analysis of the July 1st cases and participant observation of the legal and judicial systems clearly demonstrated that Mongolia, despite its declaration of commitment to democracy and human rights, lacks an effective system of protecting fundamental human rights. This year’s forum topic is central to the work of Mongolian women activists as protection of women’s rights and promotion of gender equality cannot be imagined without a strong national mechanism for protecting fundamental human rights of all people within the jurisdiction of the Mongolian state. 3 Expected Outcomes Building analytical capacity of women activists, other civil society sectors, government and interested individuals on gender, human rights, democratic governance and social justice issues. Promoting networking, communication, cooperation and alliance-building among progressive civil society actors and other stakeholders, including diverse sectors of civil society, government agencies, media, local communities and other partners. Strengthening a common platform for broad-based, inclusive and democratic movementbuilding to bring social change to ensure human rights of all, democratic reforms and inclusive social development. Enhancing skills of human rights and women’s rights activists and marginalized groups to effectively frame their issues as legitimate claims of rights-bearers based on better quality analysis and advocate for their rights vis-à-vis duty bearers and raise public awareness on their issues. Raising profile of women in the society, thereby contributing to the recognition of the important role of women in the society and the critical need to include their voices and analyses in tackling societal issues. Strengthening the on-going process of preparing civil society submissions and national report for the Universal Periodic Review of Promoting and Protecting Human Rights on the Ground. |