On Gratitude Versus Suffering: Resiliency Can Rise

The 16 Days of Activism is a worldwide campaign to end violence against women. Photo credit: UN Women.

Today is Thanksgiving in my country of origin. It is the holiday in which families and friends gather to share a long meal and be together. To talk. To laugh. To be thankful.

In France, where I live such long meals happen quite often, to the point I grow tired of dining. Sometimes at long dinners here, I remember myself as a small child at my grandmother's Thanksgiving table covered in pumpkin pies, growing more and more restless in the sunroom of their lovely home near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania because the plastic chair cover was sticking to my tights from sitting so long.

How far I have come from those days. In some ways. In fact, during the past two years, I have learned more about resiliency and growth because living in a foreign country is like shaking off any idea of cultural rules and trying to not judge myself or others for not understanding what is often perceived as cultural givens. Points of growth come from understanding that the phrase, "It's cultural," somehow gives credibility for why things are the way they are.

Upon some reflection, I have come to the conclusion that this Thanksgiving I am most thankful for my ability to summon resiliency. I imagine that by working nonstop most of my life for certain goals that I will attain them, that if I do not give up, eventually, I will look up and one day, the goal will arrive. This is not to say, any goal just arrives or all of them. It is to say that through effort, determination, and resiliency that keeping on, eventually, leads one to true change.

As an athlete, that happened for me. I ran two ultramarathons with a heart problem when most cardiologists said that I could not. Then opted due to more severe heart complications during graduate school to have a heart surgery that confirmed what I had always sort of known, that my heart issue was far more severe than thought for the seventeen years preceding. Yet, I remember laying on the surgery table wide awake, watching my heart beating on the screen completely outside of my own body's control, and the cardiologist actually asking me if I was sure I had supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) because he could not find it. I thought to myself, this man has my heart in his hands, literally, yet he knows nothing of my life story. Of what brought me here, to this moment. He has no idea how often during races, I had to ensure that I took care of myself better than everyone around me because my SVT was not just a quickened heart rate; that when my SVT launched, my chest rocked, my eyes rolled back in my head, my lips sucked in and the loss of oxygen usually rendered me unaware within minutes. He does not know the moment I decided to do this was watching my baby sister's distressed face in the streets of Paris as I tried to calm my SVT because I swore with only four days in Paris, she would not spend her last full day in a hospital. Instead, I just looked at him and said, "Yes, I am sure. I am positive, I have SVT."

A few minutes later, he found the problem in the core of my heart.  He then called in another cardiologist for a second opinion because the risk had grown enormously.

I walk often by the Institute that performed the successful heart surgery as it is around the corner from my pink cottage. I stare inside and think back to how I willed myself on that table to keep going and now my heart problem is resolved. The same way I willed the 17-year-old girl from a violent home to believe in my own education and my dreams to live in Manhattan. The same way I willed the 25-year-old homeowner trying to protect my property before the global financial crisis on a publishing salary. The same way, I willed the 28-year-old to move to Paris to study French at Sorbonne. Just keep going, eventually I will get there. And, I have. I stood this May one year after my heart surgery and walked the stage earning my Master's degree, a goal that took more years than I dare count.

Yet, that moment the cardiologist questioned a reality so real to me reminded me starkly of the times in my life when I have shared incredible truths, risked intense vulnerability, only to have someone stare back at me with disbelief and question that truth. And, often those times had to do with me as a victim of violence. It reminded me of the British police detective who erred constantly as he investigated my sexual assault, which had happened in a very well-known London hotel. It reminded me of the ninth grade history professor who gave me a zero in his class even after I told him my final paper was late because I had been having heart problems that no one seemed to understand but kept telling me were from anxiety, although I remained completely silent of the swell of domestic violence occurring in my family's home at the same time because of my own personal shame and the culture that grew that.

On this Thanksgiving, my thoughts are focused on why culture is often used as a blanket reason for why things are the way they are. Not American culture. Or French culture. But the pervasive global culture that accepts women worldwide are harmed.

Two days ago, on November 25,  international organizations and NGOs worldwide launched the 16 Days of Activism to end violence against women. The violent stories I replay in my mind from my own life trying to make sense of my own story. The stories I have listened to from young women in Congo, Mozambique, South Africa, France, the United States. The frequency of violence is astounding.

According to the World Health Organization, "Estimates suggest that one in three women globally have experienced either physical or sexual violence from a partner, or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives, and that levels of violence against women and girls remain extremely high."

And, that in some parts of the world, sexual violence is endemic – reports of non-partner sexual violence are as high as 21% in areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

Violence against women is a global pandemic, not confined to any one country or region. UN Women says, "around 120 million girls worldwide (slightly more than 1 in 10) have experienced forced intercourse or other forced sexual acts at some point in their lives." In the United States alone, the World Bank estimates that, "annual costs of intimate partner violence have been calculated at USD 5.8 billion."

That is outright and costly human suffering from every angle.

What does most research suggest as the way to end violence against women? UN Women suggests the current culture of shame and discrimination that surrounds violence against women has to shift.

Violence against women and girls is rooted in gender-based discrimination and social norms and gender stereotypes that perpetuate such violence. Given the devastating effect violence has on women, efforts have mainly focused on responses and services for survivors. However, the best way to end violence against women and girls is to prevent it from happening in the first place by addressing its root and structural causes.

Change has to happen. In response, from November 25 to December 10, the 16 Days of Activism calls on governments, organizations, advocates, and you to call for an end to gender-based violence as a basic human right. The United Nations urges participation in Orange your Neighbourhood, to wear orange to reflect your support in breaking the stigma that surrounds violence against women. To change the culture of acceptance to that of nonacceptance.

I think today of the many loved friends, family, and colleagues I have in my life, and visually if we all sat down at a Thanksgiving table how so many of us would be wearing orange. How so many of us have experienced violence in some way. And, how all of us have channeled that experience in our own way to heal and find resiliency.

Then, I think of all the incredible women I have met all over the world who have found or will need to find that kind of resiliency to move beyond the suffering that comes from gender-based violence, and I am thankful for the strength that can be forged in a collective culture that does not accept violence against women. It reminds me to stay resilient in my pursuit to ensure greater human rights for all of us everywhere. Because, if we just keep going, one day, through effort, determination, and resiliency, that keeping on will lead us to true change: women everywhere will be safer. And, that will be the worldwide culture, just the way things are.

The 16 Days of Activism ends on December 10, Human Rights Day.  

How United Religions Initiative Celebrated International Women’s Day

Elana Rozenman (near far left) from Israel visits a URI leaders in India.

As the official blog overseer of the United Religions Initiative (URI), I search for stories and try to raise the voices of our interfaith activists as best I can. So, as a woman who deeply cares about peace building and women’s rights, my job can be hugely rewarding.

As most Her Blueprint readers are well aware, International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated around the world on March 8^th. 

For me, it was a pure joy to learn about how this momentous occasion was interpreted and celebrated throughout the global URI network.

Our Cooperation Circles—that is, groups of seven or more that represent at least three different faiths or cultures—can be very progressive. Imagine people from every faith coming together to talk about the delicate state of the planet and how to become better stewards of the Earth —it happens everyday, somewhere within the URI network.  

Now imagine women coming together for peace: Christians and Muslims in Pakistan, Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem—this also happens, but on an even larger, or at least more visible, scale on International Women’s Day. 

The women of URI never need a reason to celebrate and unify for peace; however, IWD is a great way to mobilize a series of events on one day and under one unifying theme.

This year, the United Nation‘s official theme was “Equality for women is progress for all.” URI’s women leaders embraced this sentiment wholeheartedly. Here are a few snapshots of their events:

- Just south of Mumbai in Satara, India, hundreds of Hindu and Muslims women created Rangolis, or floor decorations, on the theme “Women they want to be.” A panel discussion was held on women’s roles in nation building through peace and communal harmony work.

-In Pakistan, Muslim, Christian, and Hindu women came together to receive dance and other performances by children with the theme of women’s empowerment. The female attendees spoke about the local Cooperation Circle WAKE (Women and Kids’ Education), and how its vocational training programs were empowering them to find better jobs.   

-In the Great Lakes region of Africa, more specifically, Kampala, a panel discussion with roughly 50 women from very diverse faith backgrounds was held. The theme was “Inspired by my faith for positive social change.” Women were given a safe space to discuss workplace discrimination, domestic abuse, and the lack of rights to their children and in owning property.  

-In Jerusalem, Israeli and Palestinian women came together to view Women of Cyprus, a documentary about Turkish and Greek women reconciling after the Cyprus conflict. Along with the Greek female parliamentarian who directed the film, a panel of Israeli and Palestinian women discussed the documentary’s relevance to their current situation.

At United Religions Initiative, our women leaders are finding common ground and common goals, elevating both the cause for peace and the cause of women’s equality every day.

As UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon recently said, "The evidence is clear: equality for women means progress for all." 

Mobilizing for Maternal Health: Delivering on a Global Promise to Moms Everywhere

"It's a good thing you're not having this baby in North Dakota!" my silver-tongued obstetrician declared jauntily.  "This baby" turned out to be a tiny spark of a girl, born 11 weeks early and weighing 1 1/2 pounds, considerably less than she should have in the 29th week of pregnancy.  "My little chickie," the neonatal intensive care nurse, who held my daughter long before I did, would croon. When Jan began work as a NICU nurse decades earlier, there were no needles or tubes small enough to fit the little birds who'd fallen so soon from the nest. I had landed in a lucky spot on the space-time continuum: in 2002, I lived a few miles from a Connecticut teaching hospital with a high-level, high-volume NICU. Apparently, in other parts of the 21st century United States, hospitals still did not always

With my daughter in the NICU 

have the appropriate equipment or the experienced staff to give pregnancies and babies like mine the best chances of a "positive outcome."

"It's a good thing we didn't have either of our babies in Guatemala!" I mused to my husband.  There was no hint of jauntiness to his reply, as he knew that I almost certainly would not have made it out of my first pregnancy alive. A little over a year prior to the premature emergency delivery of my son, we had lived in the central highlands of Guatemala. I was doing anthropological fieldwork on community health promoter training in rural Maya communities. I was particularly interested in women's involvement in health activism, including the work of traditional Maya midwives and healers.

Maya midwives inspired me with their deep cultural knowledge of pregnancy and birthing, their nurturing relationships with women and families, and their tireless work under extremely difficult circumstances. They also shared stories of fear, mostly of ethnic discrimination, violence, and poverty but sometimes of the challenges of helping mothers and infants through the risky endeavor of reproduction. I think of their warm, wise faces and know that I would have been one of their professional nightmares. Honestly, my high-risk obstetrics specialists probably felt the same way.

Maya midwife

In both of my pregnancies, I developed one of the most common and least understood of pregnancy complications known as pre-eclampsia. In addition to posing serious risks to the mother's health, pre-eclampsia can cause growth restriction and other problems in the developing infant, including the need for a premature delivery. Difficult to detect, it can develop -- often quite rapidly -- into the seizures and coma of eclampsia, one of the leading causes of maternal death. According to the Preeclampsia Foundation, the condition causes an estimated 13% of maternal deaths and up to 20% of preterm births worldwide. It remains one of the reasons why every year nearly 300,000 women across the globe die and many more are disabled from pregnancy and birth-related causes.

That statistic is an improvement. The United Nations focused global attention on maternal death in 2000 when it established the 5th Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5), calling on nations to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. Increased global activism and investments have contributed to a 47% decline in maternal deaths in this period, but progress has been slow and inequities persist. The vast majority of maternal deaths, which are largely preventable, occur in developing regions as a result of unequal access to healthcare and other resources.   

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/maternal.shtml

At the end of this month in which we honor mothers, Women Deliver, a global advocacy group dedicating to improving the health of women and girls, will convene its third international conference. Thousands of representatives from government, NGOs, healthcare, academia, community groups, and other spheres will gather in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to brainstorm about how to continue to mobilize the international community to improve maternal health and the overall well-being of girls and women. As Women Deliver's President Jill Sheffield stated in a recent Huffington Post blog with Jennifer James that is part of the Global Mom Relay, "We have the solutions....We just need to scale them."

Musicians, writers, filmmakers, and other artists have joined this global movement to improve maternal health. For example, filmmaker Lisa Russell and singer Maya Azucena developed an innovative platform uniting artists and activists in their work to achieve MDG 5. Their interactive website, MDGFive.com, includes content by singers, poets, photographers and artists that can be remixed to create videos that raise awareness about maternal health and women's rights. As Russell and Azucena state, "we believe in the power of imagery, sound and the spoken word to inspire cultural exchange, unite international communities, and to promote social progress worldwide."

Like the dedicated Maya midwives and health promoters I came to know, these creative artists and activists inspire me to join in their efforts to understand, prevent, and solve maternal health challenges.  The pain within my own journey of pregnancy and birthing has no doubt lefts its scars, but by virtue of my privileged location within our global geography, history, and economy I was gifted with a tremendously positive outcome for my own life and that of my children. While I sometimes may forget amidst the busyness of raising my now 10-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son, my own aging face in the mirror and their vibrant, growing faces are my call to action: to increase the opportunities for health for all mothers, infants, fathers, and families, no matter whether they live in the inner cities of Connecticut or the highlands of Guatemala, in rural North Dakota or rural Nigeria, or in any other spot on our remarkable globe.

To learn more about the signs and consequences of pre-eclampsia, see the Preeclampsia Foundation.

The Women Deliver website has further information about the 2013 conference and other projects such as Catapult, a crowdfunding platform for advancing gender equality.

Information and resources related to MDG 5 are available at: United Nations Millennium Development Goal 5 and MDGFive.com 

A Conversation on Congo with Kate, Model and Human Rights Advocate

Kate is pictured here visiting the Grassroots Reconciliation Group in Uganda.

Since last November, the over decade-long conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has once again surged. The latest outbreaks are forcing displacement of hundreds of thousands of Congolese people, escalating already rampant sexual violence, and creating larger death tolls. Since 1998, the conflict in Congo has resulted in the death of 5.4 million people. Cumulatively, this is a higher death count than the total number of lives lost throughout all of World War II.

The United Nations recently expanded its peacekeeping mission in the DRC. Yet, it is the work of NGOs, individuals, and those passionate to make lasting change in Congo who also lead the way for urgent change. In this new series, Her Blueprint talks with people who have chosen to take on Congo as advocates. Their lives are entwined with the DRC, showing that no matter where or who we are, we share our world.

Kate Tickel is co-founder of Congo-Sourced, Conflict-Free, a model, mother of a young son, and a human rights advocate based in Los Angeles. Last year, she was nominated for the Trust Women Hero Award, announced at the Trust Woman Conference in London. Kate recently answered some questions about why she is so dedicated to advocating for Congolese women and for conflict-free minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Her Blueprint: Can you share a bit of your journey to how Congo in particular has come to be your focus and your current activities surrounding advocacy? As mentioned, I believe you started your own organization and are working with the Nobel Women's Initiative?

Kate:  My journey into advocacy has been very personal, and so informed by my own experiences as a woman and a mother. I was always a little in love with Africa. I read Gorillas in the Mist, about Dian Fossey and the silverback gorillas in Rwanda, as a girl. I fell in love with the entirety of that story: with Dian, with gorillas (I was and still am an enormous animal lover), with the descriptions of Rwanda and the mists and mountains. I was from rural Tennessee and there was something in my bones that understood eastern Africa intuitively, that mix of beauty and poverty. Then I read Philip Gourevitch's book We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed Our Families. It was an impossible story to recover from; it set a seed for activism. I had joined Amnesty International by the time I was ten or so. While I was still a teenager, I moved to Los Angeles to model, and started to travel constantly. I always had one foot in activism; I was always the girl in the makeup chair talking about Zaire. But there was no particular focus except the next job; I had such a peripatetic, gypsy lifestyle. And then motherhood happened, impossibly, at a young age, (I'd been told that because of a medical condition motherhood could never happen). I didn't necessarily feel a connection to other mothers, but for the first time I felt a strong connection to womanhood and to other women, this shared experience of being female. I noticed myself becoming fiercely protective of other women.

And then about three years ago I saw the headline for an blog post, "Does Your Cell Phone Contribute to Rape?," and I clicked on it. It was a brief article detailing what was happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo, how five and a half million people had been killed in the conflict there, about how gender violence was being used as a weapon of war, and about how the minerals being looted by the armed gangs there were in just about every piece of electronics on the market. It was an epiphany; I don't know how often in life we know the moment when our life has just changed, but I knew it to be that moment. All the air went out of the room. Who would ever look at their laptop and say, "I wonder how many girls were raped in the manufacturing of this laptop?" My first reaction was that fierce protectiveness over those women and girls; I couldn't sleep that first night, thinking of them. Thinking, "These women are so much more than the worst thing that has happened to them."

It took a few months of immersing myself in every lecture, every conference, every white paper, every book on not just Congo but the nature of conflict, gender violence and genocide; my education is still constantly ongoing. In the meantime I was talking to everyone I knew about Congo, and about "conflict minerals" (also known as the 3TGs: tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold). Groups like the Enough Project and Human Rights Watch had been instrumental in passing Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires companies to disclose if the minerals in their products are sourced from Congo. Companies were citing overwhelm at the prospect of having to audit their supply chain, there were several regulatory agencies whose criterion had to be met to certify the minerals as clean, and confusion about the auditing process. In the meantime, there were concerns about the possibility of a de facto embargo happening in the Kivu provenances of eastern Congo, which is the most conflicted area; companies might just wash their hands of the whole issue and stop buying from Congo altogether, which would hurt the mine workers already the most vulnerable. So I worked with a risk management company to develop an audit process that would integrate all the regulatory agency supply chain templates, while building in a provision that encourages companies to source from Congo, and that's how Congo-Sourced, Conflict-Free happened.

Along the way, I became aware of a group called Stop Rape in Conflict, which addresses gender violence and rape as a weapon of war. They were hosting a panel in New York with the Nobel Women's Initiative, and I was able to meet Jody Williams, and Dr. Denis Mukwenge, who runs the Panzi hospital in Congo. That was a huge moment. The two groups are working together on a United Nations initiative, The International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict. If you've never met Jody Williams, you don't know how impossible she is to decline; when she says "You need to come work on this campaign," you go work on the campaign. It's incredibly inspiring to be working with so many strong women, the activists and Peace Laureates who came before you.

Her Blueprint: I know you recently visited DRC. Can you share one experience there that elucidates why you are so committed to advocating for a conflict-free Congo?

Kate: The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most beautiful places in the world. There is one piece of folklore that posits that Eden was there, and when you see the waterfalls and complete verdancy, the constant petrichor, the elephants and gorillas, you believe that Congo could be heaven on earth. How is this haven the rape capitol of the world? How can these beautiful jungles harbor such violent militias? When I was first in Goma my driver and I got on very well. He and his wife had just had their first child, a little girl, and he wanted me to meet his family, so I went to their home. My son is French-speaking, as are the Congolese, and when I walked into the house the first thing I heard was the humming of the same French lullabye, "Bonsoir Bon Nuit," that I had sung to my little one when he was a baby. I started singing it too. The world is so small. We sing the same lullabyes. We all live in the same house.

Gender-Based Violence Plays Role in Arms Treaty Conference

"A guy with a machete in a village can rape one woman. Two guys with a machine gun can rape the whole village." --Annie Matundu Mbambi, Democratic Republic of Congo


For the past three weeks, the United Nations has been the epicenter for all countries of the world to meet for the first-ever Diplomatic Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). This week, negotiations to limit the presently unregulated international arms trade are entering their final phase.


According to the United Nations News Centre, "Currently, 80 percent of the global trade in conventional weapons is dominated by a handful of countries, but with globalization, new producers are entering the market." 


What does this mean? Arms proliferation is a changing and world-threatening issue with increasing magnitude, new players, and a greater thrust because of globalization. Yet, unregulated arms control has also changed modern warfare. In April, Elle Magazine quoted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as saying, "In World War I, 90 percent of the casualties were soldiers, but in Africa's recent conflicts, 90 percent of casualties are civilians. So peacemaking and peacekeeping must change too."

Whether child soldiers or sustained gender-based violence in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, women and children are specific targets of war. In fact, a former UN Peacekeeping Commander Major General Patrick Cammaret once said, "It is now more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in modern conflict." 


As such, the report Putting Women's Rights Into the Arms Treaty, cites one of the greatest reasons for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is "that war is affecting civilians, particularly women and children, at much higher percentages." 

Enter discussions of gender-based violence and sexual violence. Kate Hughes, a British representative of Oxfam, has spent the past few weeks in New York City raising even greater awareness as to why gender-based violence (GBV) must be included within the treaty terms. In the early days of the conference, Kate helped orchestrate a media stunt picked up by CNN to highlight the current "body bag" approach to arms control, which she says, is that "we wait till body bags pile up before there is an arms embargo."

Think back to the quote beginning this article from a woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) comparing the damage done with a machete versus an AK47. In the DRC, rape statistics are beyond horrifying, with estimates of nearly two million women raped and a new rape every minute. 

Hughes says, "The opening quote really sums up why the ATT has so much relevance to the issue of gender-based violence. GBV is instantly exacerbated when you add a gun to the equation. Countries with the highest instan[ces] of gender based violence, are by and large conflict countries; countries that are awash with weapons. The Arms Trade Treaty presents an opportunity, but it is an opportunity that could be missed. Some states are resistant to the explicit reference of gender based armed violence; there are also states that are resistant to the treaty covering weapons like the AK47 for example. (It is the AK47 that is one the most prevalent weapons in DRC.)"

Yet, how vast are the effects of gender-based violence in conflict zones? The Women's Media Center's Women Under Siege has been working hard to document the new cases of GBV and sexual violence happening in Syria. If you look at their live crowd map, one gets the sense of sexual violence permeating war zones.

Hughes shares other conflict zones where that the case. "Gender-based violence has been reported to have been committed by armed groups including state security forces recently in Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Mali. It's been committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with reports of women - from young girls to elderly women - being tortured and violently raped as a tactic of armed groups to assert power and domination. Communities also increasingly report sexual violence against men and boys. During Colombia's 50-year armed conflict, sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war, routinely practiced by all of the armed groups: state military forces, paramilitaries and guerrillas. Last week, Norway pointed to the prevalence of systematic rape in the recent war in the Balkans."  

Just like every facet of war, profit often dictates rather than diplomatic intervention. A recent  allafrica.com article cites how tense conversations have become in the ATT conference's final days. 

The talks, which carried on throughout the weekend in New York, are now being dominated by sceptical governments including Iran, Syria and Cuba, intent on having a weak treaty - or no treaty at all. China and Russia are opposed to effective human rights and humanitarian rules in any deal whilst the US wants exclusions that could undermine the effectiveness of any treaty. 

London and Paris, which until now have been key champions of a strong treaty, are now coming under intense pressure from Washington. There are concerns that they may trade-off strong international humanitarian and human rights protections to get China, Russia and the US to sign up to any final deal.  

What are the desired outcomes of getting gender-based violence into the Arms Trade Treaty? The report Putting Women's Rights Into the Arms Treaty shares, "To have real impact, a prospective Arms Trade Treaty must include legally binding criteria that prevent arms transfers to abusers of human rights or into situation where there is a substantial risk that they will undermine development or exacerbate armed violence. The Arms Trade Treaty also needs to refer to gender-based armed violence in both the treaty text and criteria." 


Kate Hughes agrees, then adds:

The treaty must recognize that there is a gendered impact to armed violence and makes it a specific goal / objective of the treaty to address this. We are pushing to have a specific criteria that says that states "shall not" transfer weapons where there is a substantial risk of that these weapons will be used to commit GBV. It is not the case that the arms trade treaty will suddenly eliminate GBV, but it is a really important opportunity make sure that the international community upholds its commitments to women, peace, and security issues. 

This world map shows which countries are in support of including GBV in the treaty. The United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty ends July 27. 

Photo credit: Control Arms

Liberia's Powerful Peace Warrior - Leymah Gbowee

Image Credit: aktivioslo 

Organisations like the UN do a lot of good, but there are certain basic realities they never seem to grasp …Maybe the most important truth that eludes these organisations is that it's insulting when outsiders come in and tell a traumatised people what it will take for them to heal. You cannot go to another country and make a plan for it. The cultural context is so different from what you know that you will not understand much of what you see. I would never come to the US and claim to understand much of what you see. I would never come to the US and claim to understand what's going on, even in the African American culture. People who have lived through a terrible conflict may be hungry and desperate, but they are not stupid. They often have very good ideas about how peace can evolve, and they need to be asked. That includes women. Most especially women … To outsiders like the UN, these soldiers were a problem to be managed. But they were our children." -- Leymah Gbowee, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer and Sex Changed a Nation at War

Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee is truly a force to be reckon with. She is credited with leading a peaceful campaign by mobilizing women from across Liberia of various religious and ethnic backgrounds to bring an end to Liberia's fourteen year civil war and ex-President Charles Taylor's rule.

I found this article from two years ago in Inter Press Service that had this to say about the situation of young women in Liberia:

Despite the 2005 election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female president, and the introduction of free and compulsory primary education, many young girls in this post-conflict West African nation continue to drop out of school to cook and clean for their family, or earn a meagre living selling food or fresh water on the streets. They face discrimination, sexual violence, family pressures, early pregnancy, forced marriage, and harmful traditional practices. Three out of five Liberian women can't read.

If you get a chance, do take a minute to check out the full article. In my opinion, it plays down the reality of how foreign aid strangles the ability of developing countries to manifest their destiny and gives credit to the UN. I also think that the quote that I led this post off with by Gbowee offers a brilliant response to an article such as this.

Today, while deciding what to write for Her Blueprint, I discovered this compelling talk by Gbowee that I want to share with you.

Here's an excerpt:

Several years ago, there was one African girl. This girl had a son who wished for a piece of doughnut because he was extremely hungry. Angry, frustrated, really upset about the state of her society and the state of her children, this young girl started a movement, a movement of ordinary women banding together to build peace. I will fulfill this wish. This is another African girl's wish. I failed to fulfill the wish of those two girls. I failed to do this. These were the things that were going through the head of this other younger woman - I failed, I failed, I failed. So I will do this. Women came out, protested a brutal dictator, fearlessly spoke. Not only did the wish of a piece of doughnut come true, the wish of peace came true. This young woman wished also to go to school. She went to school. This young woman wished for other things to happen, it happened for her. 

Today, this young woman is me, a Nobel laureate. I'm now on a journey to fulfill the wish, in my tiny capacity, of little African girls - the wish of being educated.

You can visit Gbowee's website to learn more about her book and documentary, which explores more of her amazing journey.

Say No to Violence Against Women

In the last few weeks, the press have documented some controversial stories about domestic violence. In San Francisco, Ross Mirkarimi, the appointed Sheriff, plead guilty against an abuse incidence with his wife, Eliana Lopez, and was suspended as Sheriff by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. In London, actor Dennis Waterman confessed in an interview with Piers Morgan that he had hit his former wife, the actress Rula Lenska. In what could be described as a storm in a teacup, Waterman controversially claimed in the interview, “The problem with strong, intelligent women is that they can argue, well. And if there is a time where you can't get a word in... and I... I lashed out."

Waterman didn’t make things any better by going on to say, "It's not hard for a woman to make a man hit her." And, "She certainly wasn't a beaten wife, she was hit and that's different."

 Both cases were different but had the same outcome, a woman was physically attacked.

Dennis Waterman &  Rula Lenska

In the case between Ross Mirkarimi and his wife, although Lopez confessed to a neighbor, both husband and wife claimed that it was a family matter and insisted that it could be solved privately. In the case of Dennis Waterman and Rula Lenska, it was a bitter sweet relief for her. Ms. Lenska had been vilified in the press as a liar soon after she left Dennis Waterman but this recent development shined light upon her violent plight with him. Waterman's comments were appalling to say the least, but Ms. Lenska was relieved that he admitted to some of what she endured.

Both cases raise interesting points about domestic violence -- how it is viewed and dealt with. Elena Lopez clearly felt she was not a battered wife and some people do believe that the incidence should be considered "a private family matter." However, whenever a woman is subjected to violence, her life, her security, and her health are under threat. Whenever threatening behavior is used, it endangers a woman's health thereby reducing her ability to function as a healthy individual. Therefore, in my opinion, it becomes a public issue. 

Violence against women is not always between just a man and a woman. Jasvinder Sangera, an activist against forced marriage, has openly highlighted the violence women can suffer from their own families. It can also happen between women, in the street, and in the workplace. The general theme being that women are disproportionally affected, the United Nations cite statistics ranging from 15% to 76% of women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence.

The issue of violence against women is of such concern that the United Nations has dedicated a whole platform to this issue. Say No to Violence Against Women (UNite) is a social media campaign that commits itself to ending violence against women. With the collaboration of governments globally and by making the issue accessible via celebrities, awareness campaigns like this can empower people and make them aware of issues that are sometimes incorporated into customs and thought of as the "norm."

Violence is a direct threat against a person's life and violence against women should never be justified in any circumstance.

International Women's Day: Beyond All Borders

Every year International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 to honor women worldwide. To bring females closer to equity and to expand our rights and our voices globally. From America, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and beyond, IWD events are as wide-ranging as the messages. Her Blueprint commends each hosting organization, partner, or individual who participates. We have reverence knowing so many honor this day designed to make our world better, if not best, for females everywhere.

Celebrating IWD
The United Nations' theme for International Women's Day is to Empower Rural Women: End Hunger and Poverty. The goal falls within a year of launching the new UN Women with more direct funding and dedicated strength to women's rights; as the Commission on the Status of Women continues in New York City; and, with the UN already achieving two of the eight MDG Goals before 2015. Imagine how far-reaching the effect of empowering all women to help end hunger and poverty for everyone.

On March 8, CARE and Gender Across Borders invites bloggers, writers, and humanitarian organizations to Blog for International Women's Day. With over 200 participating blogs, the online event's theme is "Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures." Also, on March 8, the International Museum of Women's annual Gala benefit Art Live Lounge will entertain San Francisco's philanthropists and activists with music, dancing, and cocktails in support of our latest exhibition, MAMA: Motherhood Around the Globe.


Building Bridges of Peace
Women for Women International's Join Me on the Bridge Campaign continues as one of the most riveting IWD events because it encourages women to gather across bridges all over the world to show mutual support for women in conflict zones to stand together in peace.

Last year, 75,000 people joined the campaign, and there were 464 events in 70 countries and on 6 continents. According to WfWI's website, last year saw the first-ever bridge events in Baghdad and Kabul, "where the women took brave steps to show their strong demand for peace and equality." This year events are planned in Antarctica, Iraq, Kenya, Pakistan, Nigeria, Sweden, Poland, UK, US, and once again in Afghanistan. (You can join an event here.)

A View from Afghanistan
In 2014, America plans to pull out of Afghanistan after more than a decade at war. The image of a better, if not best, world for females becomes a hard-won goal when assessing areas of the world where women and children suffer mercilessly during and after conflict.

A recent New York Times article discussed the heart-wrenching deaths of Afghan infants in Kabul. The children, already displaced to refugee camps, died from cold overnight temperatures simply because they did not have winter blankets in their tents. Their deaths were heavily disputed by Afghan officials.

At the time, I was interviewing Noorjahan Akbar in Kabul about her recent development of Young Women for Change (YWC), a new grassroots organization to empower Afghan women and create social change. Young Women for Change formed, says Noorjahan, "because the youth of Afghanistan, who make over 65% of the population, are not mobilized in the struggle for women’s rights and social justice as much as they should be. The idea behind YWC [makes] it possible for youth around the country to be aware and empowered enough to stand up for women’s rights and start a grassroots movement."

After Noorjahan answered questions for me, I replied with thanks and received this email as her auto-reply.

We are losing more kids. Please help. This winter the weather in Afghanistan has been cruel and cold. As a result many children living under tents and families who can't afford to buy wood are dying. Please help them. How you can help? All Afghans and others living in Afghanistan look around you[r] house and if you have warm clothes, blankets, or shoes please bring it to us, so we can donate them.

If Afghan officials are denying infant deaths in refugee camps, imagine the excessive denial and resistance facing NGOs like Young Women for Change. Noorjahan explains that every male and female who come to work for the organization (pictured here) has to fight extremely hard to be there because of cultural norms. Yet, Noorjahan also shares how incredible the need for grassroots advocacy.

"According to Human Rights Council’s report of 2010, 85 per cent of women in Afghanistan face domestic violence," says Noorjahan.

"Violence in schools, harassment in the work place, street harassment and assault and rape are also very common, but often ignored or silenced. The majority of female students in the universities are likely to be harassed or assaulted at least once during their college years. These issues have led to small number of women going to colleges and universities."

Women for Women International reports that in Afghanistan, 85% of women have no formal education. Sweeta Noori, Women for Women International's Country Director in Afghanistan says,"Women in Afghanistan have the courage to move forward - they want support. They want people to stand with them whilst they walk forward, and then let them go."

Walking forward after war is not a simple act with few steps. It takes many. And, women in Afghanistan have been living in war since October 7, 2001. Yet, Noorjahan reminds war was pervasive even before then.

The [Afghanistan] war has not only made the country unsafe, especially for women, but it has also influenced people’s mindset. Because for over thirty years, due to wars, women were not as active in the social life, now it comes as a shock when women do partake in the society and it causes backlash. In addition, the war has caused Afghans to refuse to think long-term so in our decision making we often focus on now and today, rather than a better future, because we are not sure if there will be a future. Based on this, volunteerism has decreased, and very few youth are willing to work for long-term goals.

In 2011, the Afghan Women's Network launched and ran the Afghan Green Campaign to show women's dedication to being part of the political sphere. Women wore green scarves edged in red and black stripes (Afghanistan's flag colors), into which they sewed messages such as, “Our vote is our future.” Pictured is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who supported the campaign.

What would YWC's Noorjahan say to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about how to improve women's lives in Afghanistan?

I would pledge to focus efforts on empowering women in the grassroots level. This empowerment should be focus on the economical involvement of women. History is witness that when women are part of the economical life of a country, violations of their rights decrease and they are enabled to say no to violence because they can ran their life independently. I believe it is essential to have a government in Afghanistan that will respect women’s rights and put effort into making it safe for all women across the country...

Recently, YWC completed research on street harassment in Afghanistan and is now creating literacy and English language classes for women, posting awareness posters on violence and education for women on the city walls, and launching exhibitions of posters and photos that are about women’s rights. Currently, they are also working on creating a harassment-free, female-only internet café for women in Kabul.

What Razan Ghazzawi Can Teach Us about Taking Action

Razan during The 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting Oct. 2011, in Tunis. (Photo: Flickr - Ibtihel Zaatouri)

If you haven't heard the story yet, Razan Ghazzawi is the latest among a dozen bloggers, activists, and journalists who have been detained since the nine month uprising calling for the ousting of President Bashar Assad erupted in March.

Ghazzawi was detained on Dec. 4 at the Jordanian border by Syrian immigration as she tried to cross into Jordan to attend a conference on press freedom in the Arab world. Currently, she is being held in Adra prison and faces a potential 3- to -15-year prison sentence.

On Monday, Syrian authorities charged Ghazzawi with membership to a secret organisation, which aims to change the economic and social status of the state, conveying within Syria false news that could debilitate the morale of the nation and weakening national sentiment, violating Article 335 of the Syrian penal code -- banning participation in a riotous demonstration -- and inciting sectarian strife.


Who is Razan?
Razan, 31, is a blogger, feminist and human rights activist who has campaigned for the release of political prisoners and documented human rights abuses.

Prominent Egyptian blogger Zeinobia praises Razan's revolutionary spirit:

Razan has been active and outspoken when it comes to injustice. She is among a few Syrian bloggers that blog with her real name. She is U.S. born yet she is an Arab leftist nationalist. I think Razan Ghazzawi is the second female Syrian blogger to be arrested after Tal Malhoi.

I remember once, during the revolution in Egypt, Razan tweeted about how she and her family were glued in front of the TV every afternoon till late night watching Tahrir square in those 18 days and how she cried when Mubarak was ousted. Razan is another Syrian, among thousands of Syrians, detained for no reason except they want freedom and democracy.

Since 2009, Razan has been maintaining Razaniyyat where she blogs, mainly in English, about human rights, women's and gay rights, as well as Arab and Syrian affairs. She is also the media coordinator for the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression.

Syrian Uprising
On Wednesday, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged the United Nations (UN) Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. The call comes as the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) prepares to release a report also calling for Syria's referral to the ICC.

According to recent UN statistics, the brutal crackdown has left more than five thousand dead while thousands more continue to languish in prison. Today alone, violence across Syria has killed at least twenty-five people and the death toll is rising by the minute.


Time to Take Action
Since Razan's arrest, more than four thousand people have joined the Facebook campaign Free Syrian Blogger & Activist Razan Ghazzawi and started an online petition to demand intervention by the Arab League and the US government.

Twitter users have also launched the hashtag #FreeRazan to show solidarity.

As you can see, Razan was a person of action. So here's a list of ways that you can also take action:

• Write an email or send a fax to your local politician, Foreign Minister, members of parliament of congress. Use the internet to find their contact details or see this list of emails. Razan is an American Citizen – here is a list of US Embassies to contact demanding they take urgent action.
• Use your profile photo to draw attention to Razan’s arrest and the plight of all prisoners in Syria via Twibbon or you can use this image, or make your own.
• Use the tag #FreeRazan to share links, videos, news from #Syria – keep attention levels UP, don’t let this important news be overpowered by other stories and fade from view.
• Post news and links to FaceBook, blog, forums, and in comments on videos and news posts about Syria. If you write, please write about this issue.
• Schedule tweets for when you can’t be online – use Dlvr IT for feeds or Buffer for individual tweets. Also, Razan’s twitter account is currently being managed by her friends and supporters. Follow her if you’re not already @RedRazan for important updates.
• Join the Free Razan FaceBook page and share the page with all your friends.

If you have more ideas, please share them here.

Team Congo Races the 20 Kilometers of Paris

Paris is known for its incredible light. When I was training for the 2009 Paris Marathon to race for Girls on the Run International, one of my last training runs found me at Place de la Concorde. Just as my running shoe hit the center, the Eiffel Tower lit up as did all the surrounding street lamps. The natural light here can be just as profound.

This past Sunday Alice Phan, pictured here triumphant at the 20K de Paris finish line, took to the city streets along with Run for Congo Women's Team Congo Paris in sunlight that marked beauty to the highest degree. Autumn. 20,000 runners. Unite.

In early September, I met Alice in person as we ran Parc des Buttes Chaumont together in training for the 20K de Paris. At the time, she was running about five miles. Later that month, we chatted excitedly at the start line of La Parisienne, a 6K for women's health, which also marked the ninth anniversary weekend of September 11.

When Alice initially emailed me about joining Team Congo Paris, she shared how she had always wanted to work with Girls on the Run Manhattan while living in New York, but that her work hours had always been an obstacle. Phan, an optometrist, is now living in Paris due to her husband's job transfer, and while acquiring her work visa, she volunteers at a hospital and has also become an invaluable asset to Team Congo Paris. To explain Alice's energy is like harnessing a surge of fresh air, a full deep-belly laugh; she is the kind of person who congratulates herself out loud on a fantastic idea and keeps on in the face of adversity with determination and a smile.

For the first ten minutes of the 20K de Paris race, I ran alongside Alice before I launched onward. On Sunday night post-run, I checked in with her and she shared that the first eight miles she was at a consistent 10 minute mile pace, but then a major cramp kicked in. "I probably could have walked faster than what I was running, because I was pretty much crawling," she told me, "but then when I saw the 19 km sign, I was so excited and was ecstatic to finish!"

She finished in under 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Born to first-generation parents who came to the United States from Vietnam then settled in Southern California, Alice often embraces Run for Congo Women's shared reason for being. She gets it. We are out there running together raising awareness, pushing our own bodies as a metaphor for Congolese women and children whose bodies and beings have been pushed far past any fathomable sense of resiliency. We keep on as a testament to their profound hardship. Around the time I met Alice, I wrote Resiliency, Congo, and Rape As a Weapon of War, which highlighted the July 30 attack of 300 women and children in Eastern Congo, only ten to twenty miles from a UN compound.

According to the Guardian's October 6 article, Militia Commander Mayele Arrested After Mass Rape of Congo Villagers, "Over four days, at least 303 people were raped – 235 women, 52 girls, 13 men and 3 boys – according to a preliminary UN investigation published last month. Many of the victims were raped repeatedly."

In a statement from Congo, Lisa Wallström, the UN's representative for sexual violence in conflict, says the arrest of Mayele is a victory for justice. "The numerous criminal acts committed under 'Lt Col' Mayele's command cannot be undone, but let his apprehension be a signal to all perpetrators of sexual violence that impunity for these types of crimes is not accepted and that justice will prevail," she said.

Although human rights activists have commended the arrest, they have also highlighted that Mayele was not a major player or the only assailant, and this act of small justice is only one step toward a more comprehensive and effective resolution. How that resolution takes shape – or if it will – ultimately depends on a variety of upcoming actions, reports, and initiatives.

In the meantime, Team Congo Paris will continue to race in support of the women and children in Congo. For their deserved safety and well-being, at least.

You can still join Team Congo Paris and race on November 7, 2010 or you can support us via donation.

Running for Congolese Women to End Violence

Chris Jackson is running 12 marathons this year for Run for Congo Women to raise awareness about violence against women and children in the Congo. Here he is running the Congo marathon with Congolese children beside him.

Last Sunday morning, Team Congo Paris raced from Paris to Versailles for Run for Congo Women. It was a 15K journey heavy with French history, because King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were brought from Palace Versailles to Palace Tuileres at the start of the French Revolution. Around two miles into the race, came Île des Cygnes along river Seine housing a small version of the Statue of Liberty erected by Americans living here in France. It is a replica of the original standing in New York Harbor given by the French to America as a sign of international friendship in 1886.

The race had authentic historical depth to say the least. Yet, I spent it thinking how all last week while reporting on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), I noted that media did not acknowledge that violence against women and girl’s (VAW/G) is not one of the eight goals specified by the MDGs. In the World's Women at the Center of Achieving the MDGs conference during the UN Summit, one of the first points addressed was that very issue.

In August, Post-AIDS 2010 Conference Her Blueprint highlighted how tied the issue of violence against women and girls to the violation of a plethora of human rights in Health Versus Harm: Zero Tolerance on Violence Against Women and Girls. Yesterday, the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) was up for a critical vote in the United States Senate but was postponed until November. However, Ritu Sharma, co-Founder and President of Women Thrive World Wide published her thoughts about her own grandmother's death in East India in hopes of sharing why the bill should pass when voted on.

“I never met my grandmother. She was burned alive with kerosene doused on her sari and lit on fire. Some think it was suicide, some think it was a dowry murder since her mother-in-law was not pleased with what my grandmother brought into her new husband’s family. She had four children; one of them my mother, the other my uncle, who was just a few months old when she was killed. I cannot imagine her shock, grief and pain in the moments before she died…Regrettably, her story is not uncommon.”

In the United Nation's special meeting World's Women at the Center of Achieving the MDGs, Denmark's Minister of Health noted that women of the Democratic Republic of Congo have to ask their husbands before they can sign a contract or start a business. After citing this statistic, he asked, "Can you imagine?"

To be honest, I cannot imagine any of the previous scenarios. Yet, I know they are happening daily and consistently and have been for a very long time. On Sunday while racing Paris to Versailles, I began reciting statistics in my head about Congolese Women that I know by heart because right now they are who I run for.

“Congo presents one of the world's deadliest emergencies to date. More than 5.4 million people have died since 1998. Gang rape and brutal torture are a daily reality for the women and children of Congo. Women as old as 80 and as young as five have been victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence. 38,000 continue to die every month, 1200 a day. Half of these deaths are children under the age of 5 years.”

At moments I was not sure what to do with all the emotion.

One Man’s Admirable Effort of Support

Chris Jackson, a London lobbyist pictured here running the August 18th marathon in Congo for Run for Congo Women and Women for Women International, is well acquainted with the intensity of emotion and action Congo can provoke because he has devoted himself, utterly, to raising awareness about violence against Congolese women and children as part of his year-long endeavor to run 12 marathons for Run for Congo Women. Already successfully completing nine marathons, including an Ironman as well as an Olympic Triathlon along with a smattering of 10Ks, Chris is someone who is exceptional and sincere in his endeavor -- so much so he will actually be running 13 marathons just to make sure he completes one every month in 2010.

Chris can also voice what most of us can only imagine because he has run Congo. He went. He ran. He returned. And, now he shares why the Congo race was the hardest one so far for him.

UN Women and MDGs: Moving Forward with Acknowledgment

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic and the future president of the G20 and the G8 Summits, spoke at the UN Summit about focusing on Africa.

Part 3
MDGs Politically Revitalized By UN Summit?

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of UN Women and MDGs.
On Wednesday the high-level plenary session in Manhattan to assess the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ended with elites heading back home to their respective countries having firmer knowledge of budgetary and country-specific concerns. Overall, the take away was acknowledgment: the MDGs are not tracking to success.

As reported earlier this week in UN Women and MDGs: UN Summit Assesses Progress, MDG No. 5 to reduce maternal deaths by 2015 is still seen as the most lagging, and UN leaders such as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were openly acknowledging it as the most hindered goal of the eight proposed MDGs.

On September 22, BBC's UN Launches $40bn Woman and Child Health Plan reported that Ki-moon said, "Progress on women and children's healthcare has been slower than on some of the other goals discussed at the three-day summit," but Mr. Ban said the coming century "must be and will be different for every woman and every child."

"We know what works to save women's and children's lives, and we know that women and children are critical to all of the Millennium Development Goals," he said in a statement.

Yet Women's eNews Bachelet's U.N. Debut Brightens MDG Summit reports that budgets are still incredibly lacking for MDG No. 5, around $120 billion or so, in that "donors' answer to the United Nations' request for a $169 billion women and children's health plan fell predictably short at $40 billion, with about half of that committed at previous events."

Those events were the G8 Summit as well as private aid. One of the greatest hopes, according to
Women's eNews, however, is that "U.N. Women might be able to make up some of the shortfall in money to improve girls' education and women's health through an integrated approach. Supporters think this approach will work better than one that separates "women's" targets into the specialized areas of health and education."

Sarah Brown, Britain's First Lady, wrote in her Huffington Post article Sign Up to Play Your Part for Girls and Women about how in "the New York Times best seller Half the Sky, we learned that....Healthy, educated girls break the cycle of poverty. Healthy women work more productively and earn more for their families. Children whose mothers have been educated for at least five years are 40% more likely to live beyond the age of five."

Yet even with such solid statistics, even those who are experts in the landscape of female health and advocacy already voice how much work lies ahead. As Women's eNews reported, Under-Secretary General Bachelet shared her thoughts about upcoming actions in a press conference.

"I'm a very realistic person and I am completely aware of the challenges for UN Women," Bachelet told a Sept. 22 press briefing, speaking for the first time in her new role. "But on the other hand, UN Women was supported by an enormous number of member states and I will be calling on those political commitments to become a reality."

The hope is that all world leaders will rise to her call.

Photo credit: Christian Science Monitor

UN Women and MDGs: UN Summit Assesses Progress

Read Part 1, UN Women: A New Entity Paves a New Path.

Part 2
MDG No. 5: Where Change is Most Needed

Last week brought the news that Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet would head UN Women with an unprecedented annual budget of 500 million dollars. Today marked the opening of the UN Summit of world leaders to assess the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Thus, politicians, ambassadors, and Ministers of Health converged on Manhattan's East Side to take on the issues that as of ten years ago were named of utmost importance to humanity's well-being.

On the eve of the summit and with five years left to meet the 2015 goals, yesterday the The New York Times published MDGs for Beginners...and Finishers from U2's known humanitarian Bono to perhaps infuse the notion that everyone would be watching from rock star to NGO. For review, the MDGs are the following:

1. End Poverty and Hunger
2. Universal Education
3. Gender Equality
4. Child Health
5. Maternal Health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS
7. Environmental Sustainability
8. Global Partnership

When the meetings opened this morning, I listened in from Paris via the UN's Live Webcast while at the same time in Times Square, Amnesty International's death clock began to count off the passing of a woman's life lost during childbirth, thereby marking that every 1.5 minutes a woman dies while giving birth.

According to Women's eNew's U.N. to Ask $169 Billion Maternal Health Question the biggest hurdle still exists for mothers. "Millennium Development Goal No. 5 -- to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by two-thirds in 2015 from 1990 global-average levels of 400 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births -- is lagging the most out of eight major initiatives on poverty, health and equality adopted by the UN."

Yet as country representatives delivered opening speeches their messages moved between realistic and uplifting to outright robust, but what continuously overrode was how profound each country's desire to meet the MDGs. Bolivia shared that sport is a guide to keeping children on the right path. Kenya pushed for sustainable business while Guatemala cited that it still remains the top four country in the world most affected by climate change. Jordan's representative shared that development depends on peace, partnership, and global opportunity while Spain spoke of solidarity.

In Huffington Post's Revitalizing the Political Will to Achieve the Millennium Goals, Former UN Secretary General from 1997 to 2006 Kofi Annan shared his thoughts on what could be the best outcomes for the meetings. "Revitalizing the political will to achieve the MDGs and scaling up proven interventions is the linchpin to success. As instigator and guardian of the MDGs, the UN has an important role to play in this process and the High Level Advocacy Group created by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is a welcome step in the right direction. The primary responsibility, however, rests with national leaders. Their challenge is to re-articulate a compelling case for global solidarity and equitable growth -- one that embraces but goes beyond aid. One that addresses the growing inequalities between male and female, rural and urban, rich and poor. One that does not measure development and progress purely in terms of GDP but also of the quality and sustainability of growth. The message must be that MDG achievement is not optional, but an essential investment in a fairer, safer and more prosperous world."

In a recent interview, women's rights advocate and AIDS-Free World Co-Director Paula Donovan shared her own thoughts on the MDG Goals, "The Millennium Development Goals are useful, in the way that any goals can be useful, but they are no more than a set of time-bound measurements that act as incentives, and keep us focused on humankind’s shared aspirations of a world free of poverty, hardship, structural inequality, ignorance, environmental degradation and preventable diseases, including HIV."

With two more days left of the summit to evaluate where the MDGs stand and how best to meet them, it seems understood so far that political will and shared unification are two elements that will prove essential.

Photo credit: Amnesty International

Read Part 3 of Kate Stence's UN Women and MDGs posts about the UN Summit.