Vienna +10 - A Time for Reflection
The Vienna Tribunal - Taking a Second Look

In 1993 the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights was held in Vienna. Member states of the UN came together in Vienna to assess and reaffirm their commitments to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948. The goal of the conference was to appraise the current status of human rights worldwide and to recommend better mechanisms to realize universal human rights. During the Vienna Conference process, thousands of women from around the world raised their voices to:

• Make visible and concrete what are gender-based violations of women's human rights and challenge the international community to take these issues seriously;
• Urge governments to make commitments to eradicate violations of women's human rights and to be accountable for these commitments;
• Inform human rights organizations about the issues surrounding women's human rights.

"The Vienna Tribunal: Women's Rights are Human Rights" was a key element in that strategy. The Tribunal that the Center for Women's Global Leadership coordinated in Vienna provided a global forum in which to demonstrate the failure of existing human rights mechanisms to provide and protect the human rights of women. The Tribunal's 33 testimonies covered five broad areas of violations of women's rights:

• Human Rights Abuse in the Family
• War Crimes Against Women
• Violations of Women's Bodily Integrity
• Socio-economic Violations of Women's Human Rights
• Gender-based Political Persecution and Discrimination

The purpose of the Tribunal was to bring these patterns of gender-based human rights violations to the foreground. The testimonies recounted by women at the Tribunal also contributed enormously to the important task of documenting, defining and making visible violations of women's human rights that the present structure and practice of human rights failed to address adequately. Women's efforts in Vienna resulted in significant achievements for women's human rights:

• Major coverage by most global media - TV, radio and print - effectively casting a worldwide spotlight on violations of women's human rights;
• Sensitization to the issues surrounding women's human rights amongst key decision-makers from the 171 member states participating in the conference;
• Recognition within the Vienna Programme of Action that violence against women is a violation of women's human rights;
• Adoption of the UN Declaration on Violence Against Women;
• And, the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Violence Against women, its causes and consequences.

Ten years have passed. What progress has been made on Women's Human Rights since then? Have the promises and high hopes of Vienna been fulfilled? It is time for assessing progress and naming the challenges for the future. We encourage you to use the Vienna Tribunal video to engage in the process of reflection as well as to look at the current world situation and brainstorm new possibilities. To look broadly at women's human rights but also to focus on how to advance the work on violence against women in terms of its linkages to human rights, militarism, globalization, development and security. After you have watched the video we hope you will reflect on changes in your own community and organization.