2003 International Strategic Directions Consultation
November 18 - 21, 2003

A decade has passed since women's rights were formally recognized as human rights at the UN world conference on Human Rights in Vienna, and the term of the first Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences has come to an end. Women have used the UN and its multilateral institutions effectively to advance women's human rights, but much has changed that mandates critical reflection on the most strategic moves to make in this time of backlash and growing militarism. To address these issues, the Center marked the 10th Anniversary of the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights by engaging diverse women in a variety of forms of strategic conversations. In August 2003 the Center launched an E-Consultation Survey seeking as wide an input into this process as possible. In November 2003, the Center hosted an International Strategic Directions Consultation with a number of partners based outside of the US. In addition, on November 17th the Global Center hosted a public forum at Rutgers University to introduce the participants in the international consultation to a wider audience. The Center also held two New York consultation meetings, one day each in October and December with women in the New York/East Coast region. These two New York meetings provided an opportunity to examine the current world situation and brainstorm about new possibilities in terms of strategies and venues for our future work, including but not limited to the UN. Together, these consultation meetings looked broadly at women's human rights but also focused more particularly on how to advance work on violence against women in terms of its linkages to human rights, militarism, fundamentalisms, globalization, development and security.

Public Program & Reception: Monday, November 17, 2003

List of Participants

Sunila Abeysekera
INFORM Human Rights Documentation Center, Sri Lanka & IWL Visiting Global Associate

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi
The African Women's Development Fund, Nigeria/Ghana

Mahnaz Afkhami
Women's Learning Partnership, Iran/USA

Lydia Alpizar
Artemisa, AC, Costa Rica/México

Roxanna Carrillo
UNIFEM - United Nations Development Fund for Women, Peru/USA

Mirna Cunningham
Iniciativa Indigena por la Paz, Casa Museo Judith Kain, Nicaragua

Claudia Garcia-Moreno
WHO - World Health Organization, México/Switzerland

Brigid Inder
Women's Initiative for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court, Australia


Joanna Kerr
AWID - Association for Women's Rights in Development, Canada

Leni Marin
Family Violence Prevention Fund, Philippines/USA

Pramada Menon
CREA - Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action, India

Anita Nayar
SAGE - Strategic Analysis for Gender Equity, India/USA

Wanda Nowicka
Federation for Women and Family Planning, Poland

Gita Sahgal
Amnesty International, India/United Kingdom

Farida Shaheed
Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Centre, Pakistan