WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS: BUILDING A PEACEFUL WORLD IN AN ERA OF GLOBALIZATION

WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS: BUILDING
A PEACEFUL WORLD IN AN ERA OF
GLOBALIZATION
(poster)
An International Human Rights Education Spring
Institute
MAY 1 – JUNE 9, 2006
Registration Deadline: March 1, 2006
Director: Alda
Facio
with Peggy Antrobus, Angela Miles and Monica
Muñoz

The
Institute brings feminist perspectives and an activist orientation to
the inextricably related issues of peace, human rights and
life-sustaining development. Participants will gain an understanding of
the global economic, ecological, legal, cultural and political contexts
of this work, as well as of the groundbreaking work that is currently
being done and has been done over decades by women and men around the
world.

Important milestones such as the U.N. Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Security Council Resolution
1325, the Beijing Platform for Action, and Women’s Action Agenda 21,
will be featured. Women’s historical struggles for their adoption, their
potential as resources for social change, and effective ways of using
them as tools for education and practice will be explored.

PURPOSE	WHO SHOULD DO IT?	PROGRAMME	TESTIMONIES
FACULTY	LOCATION	APPLICATION AND TUITION	CONTACT

PURPOSE
In today’s
environment of rising fundamentalism, disregard for human rights,
ecological and economic devastation, and the aggressive use of force we
are faced with major challenges in practice. There is an urgent need for
broad transformative approaches, supported by increasing clarity of
analysis and vision and effective practical skills. Participants will
learn how to deliver Human Rights education and to work for women’s
human rights in their own country, with an increased awareness of varied
international strategies and exposure to diverse local and national
contexts.

The Institute’s goal is to raise awareness of the human
rights standards set by the U.N. with the objective that foreign as well
as Canadian participants will be able to engage in human rights
education themselves. The need for human rights education at all levels
and for all ages was understood by the international community when the
U.N. declared a Decade For Human
Rights Education. This was a response to the discovery that although
most countries have committed themselves to upholding human rights and
have ratified many of the U.N. human rights instruments, most people,
especially women, are unaware of their existence. Although the decade
ended in 2004, the need continues because in many countries very little
progress was made during the decade.

The UN Security Council
Resolution 1325 passed in October 2000 affirms the principles that women
should be involved in peacebuilding processes at all levels and that the
rights of women and girls need to be respected in times of war and
conflict. However, without women’s organizations and peace groups around
the world holding UN member states and the international system
responsible for the commitments they have made, these are not likely to
be implemented. Unless and until most of the inhabitants of each country
are aware of their rights and responsibilities, democracy, peace and
justice will continue to be unattainable.

Vernor Munoz
Villalobos, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, UN Commission
on Human Rights, Letter of Recommendation.

WHO SHOULD DO
IT?
Participants should have an interest in and openness to
feminist approaches and respect for their variety, a commitment to
social change, and a desire for dialogue with others with different
experiences and approaches.

Anyone involved in humane governance,
human security, peacekeeping, conflict transformation, constitution
building, poverty eradication, personal transformation, sustainable
development, crime prevention, eradicating violence, sexual and
reproductive health will gain insights about these issues through
learning about human rights as a way of being in this world and in their
communities, and as a legal and ethical framework to guide them into the
future. Participants will learn about peace as a comprehensive,
multifaceted concept aimed at not only ending the direct violence of war
and armed conflict but also of creating the conditions for a just and
sustainable world.

We encourage a wide variety of participants,
including teachers and educators, union representatives, practitioners,
policy-makers, movement activists, development workers, government
workers and staff, and students. The Program will serve those interested
in learning how to develop their projects within a human rights
framework, those wishing to strengthen their practice and develop their
theoretical and conceptual understanding of human rights and
peacebuilding and those interested in human rights education within both
school and community settings.

Participants taking part in the
Institute will have the opportunity to:
• gain a deeper knowledge of
gender and feminist analysis and theory
• engage in
research/scholarship connected to and informed by practice
• gain
increased understanding of the causes of injustice and possibilities for
change
• learn about the U.N. Human Rights system and how it
works
• increase their skills in community practice, political
lobbying, and international networking and organizing
• increase
their ability to use Human Rights education as a tool for social
change
• develop their own perspectives by examining diverse
approaches and current debates and addressing tough questions of
practice

PROGRAMME
The
Institute, while rich in theory and scholarly information, will be
characterized by committed, engaged activism, rather than a purely
academic stance. There will be an integration of theory and practice;
reflection and action; and critique and vision. Human rights, peace, and
emerging alternatives to globalization will be examined both as
interconnected elements of a socially just and sustainable world and as
alternative ways of knowing, acting, being, and interacting. This will
be reflected in the teaching principles and methodology; the institute
will aim to create a safe, supportive, cooperative and celebratory space
that honours differences, affirms women’s strengths, values individual
and collective experience and draws on and contributes directly to
practice.

All instructors have extensive activist experience at
local, national and international levels and are known for their
theoretical, academic and policy contributions in these areas. To
maximize each individual’s learning opportunity, the number of
participants is limited to twenty and will come from all regions of the
world.

COURSE THEMES

• What Does it Mean
  be a Female Human? (Basic notions of Human Rights)
• Human Rights in the
  Age of the Market (Feminist Alternatives to Corporate
  Globalization)
• From Women´s / Our
  Bodies to the U.N. (Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Violence Against
  Women)
• CEDAW for Change
  (Tools for Building Human Rights)
• Another World Is
  Possible (Dreaming Human Rights into Reality)
• Human Rights
  Education for a Lasting Peace (Participant Presentations and Workshops)
  

Students will
receive a Certificate of Completion for full participation in the
Institute. Those who wish to apply their work toward academic credit in
other programs will be supported to do this.

ASSOCIATED
RESOURCES
WHRNet (Women’s
Human Rights Net) provides reliable, comprehensive, and timely
information and analyses on women’s human rights in English, Spanish and
French, as well as: an introduction to women’s human rights issues
worldwide; an overview of UN/Regional Human Rights Systems; a Research
Tool that serves as gateway to the best available online resources
relevant to Women’s human rights advocacy; and a comprehensive
collection of related Links.
The Women’s Human
Rights Resources is a project of the Bora Laskin Law Library at the
University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. The main goal of the Women’s
Human Rights Resources site is to provide online information to assist
individuals and organizations in using international women’s human
rights law to promote women’s rights.

TESTIMONIES from 2005
participants:
“At my current position in the
International Centre for Ethnic Studies, an NGO in Sri Lanka, I utilize
much of the knowledge gained through the course.  For example, in
researching the criminal justice systems of the countries of South Asia,
I have been enriched by my knowledge of international human rights
instruments and standards gleaned through the course.  These
instruments, such as the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, form an international standard by which I
have analyzed the justice systems of these countries.  Also, I have
been able to look at the human rights regime in Sri Lanka through a
gendered lens gained through the instruction of Alda Facio. This
gendered perspective will be useful in my later work in law school as
well.” -Bernadette Maheandiran

“As for the info I
acquired during the last session, the one that I put to use immediately
was the Human Rights component. I have done a visual presentation for
our member agencies on CEDAW and it applicability to Canadian NGOs.
There were 19 individuals present from a variety of agencies that serve
survivors of sexual violence. It was well received and what amazed me
was the lack of knowledge around CEDAW and international processes in
place.” -Kiruthiha Kulendiren

“I am working on the
linkages between climate change, adaptation and vulnerability and
gender. I’ve got very valuable inputs regarding human rights and women’s
rights… Because the convention on climate change is based under the UN
framework, the lectures around UN and Women and possibly entry points
were very useful.” -Livia Bizikova

FACULTY
DIRECTOR Alda
Facio is a feminist human rights activist, jurist and writer.
In September 1996, she was awarded the first Women’s Human Rights Award
from International Women, Law and Development in Washington D.C. As one
of the founders of the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice in the
International Criminal Court, she was its first Director. Since 1990,
she has been the Director of the Women, Gender and Justice Program at
the United Nations Latin American Institute for Crime Prevention
(ILANUD) based in Costa Rica.

She was very involved in all the
activities around the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna and the
IV World Conference on Women and has participated in many U.N. meetings
as an expert on gender and human rights., She was one of the final
candidates for Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women in 1994 and
was an official candidate to the CEDAW Committee. Alda is also now a
member of the Advisory Committee for the UN Secretary General’s Study on
Violence Against Women.

She has written hundreds of articles on
feminist issues and women’s human rights published in various books, law
reviews, newspapers and magazines, including FEMPRESS (a feminist Latin
American news agency) for whom she was a correspondent for fourteen
years. She has lectured extensively and been a visiting professor at
universities around the world, as well as in human rights and women’s
organizations and law centers. In 2003 she was the 7th Dame Nita Barrow
Distinguished Visitor at the University of Toronto. For the past
three years she has been a professor at the U.N. University for Peace in
Costa Rica. Alda Facio has also been a judge, the founder and General
Director of the Costa Rican National Dance Company and for six years she
was the Costa Rican Alternate Delegate to the United Nations Offices in
Geneva.

Peggy
Antrobus was born in Grenada and educated in Grenada, St. Lucia
and St. Vincent. She holds a degree in economics, a professional
certificate in social work and a doctorate in Education. She has worked
with government and NGO programmes in St. Vincent, Jamaica and Barbados.

Since 1974, when she was appointed as Advisor on Women’s Affairs
to the government of Jamaica, she has worked in the field of Women in
Development. In 1987 she set up the Women and Development Unit (WAND)
within the School of Continuing Studies of UWI and was it’s head until
her retirement in 1995. She was a founding member of CAFRA (the
Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action) and of the
network of Third World women promoting Development Alternatives with
Women for a New Era (DAWN), of which she was General Coordinator from
1991 – 1996.

Over the years she has written and published
extensively on a wide range of topics related to women’s role in and
perspectives on International Development and has received numerous
awards for her work in this field. Her doctoral work focused on the
impact of government policies on women, and the ways in which these
policies reflect global trends.
She has a special interest in
transformative leadership in the women’s movement. She describes women
who exhibit this kind of leadership as feminists with a passion for
justice and a commitment to change things and change themselves. She is
the author of The Global Women’s Movement: Origins, Issues and
Strategies (2004).

Angela
Miles is Professor of Adult Education and Community
Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the
University of Toronto. She has been involved in the Canadian women’s
movement since the early nineteen seventies and is a founder member of
(currently) Toronto Women for a Just and Healthy Planet and the
International Feminist Network for the Gift Economy and (earlier) The
Feminist Party of Canada and the Antigonish Women’s Association in Nova
Scotia and is a member of the editorial board of Canadian Woman Studies.
Her main research interest and passionate commitment is the theory and
practice of feminism as an increasingly global and women centred
politics, especially feminism’s central significance for transformative
social change and its relationship to other social movements in the
current period of neo-liberal globalization. Her publications include
co-edited collections of writing on the Canadian women’s movement,
Feminism: From Pressure to Politics (1989), and the global feminist
movement, Feminist Politics, Activism and Vision: Local and Global
Challenges (2004), monographs on North American feminism, Feminist
Radicalism in the 80s (1985), and the global feminist movement,
Integrative Feminisms: Building Global Visions, 1960s-1990s
(1996).

Monica Muñoz is an expert in gender and
women’s human rights. Feminist and sociologist, she studied in Chile
(BA), in Brazil (Ma.) and in England (PhD). From 1985 until 1989 she
worked for UNICEF as the Women’s Programme Coordinator for Central
America, Panama and Belize. In 1990 she moved to Brazil, also working
for UNICEF. From 1994 to 2003 she worked in UNIFEM as the Regional
Programme Director for the Andean Region (1994-1999), Regional Programme
Director for Brazil and the South Cone (2003-2004) and Chief for the
Latin America and Caribbean Section (2000-2003). In 1999 she received
the UN award for her leadership in the Latin American and Caribbean
United Nation campaign “A Life Free of Violence is our Right” and the
award of Woman of the Year 2000 offered by GEMS Television for her
participation in the defense of women’s human rights in Latin America
and the Caribbean. Currently she is an international
consultant.

LOCATION
INSTITUTIONAL SETTING

The host of the Summer Institute is the Centre for Women’s Studies in
Education (CWSE) at the Ontario Institute for the Studies in
Education at the University of
Toronto (OISE/UT). CWSE is a research centre established in 1983,
which generates and acts as a clearing house for research around the
world, and coordinates a program for international Visiting Scholars.
Centre activities include the international journal Resources for Feminist
Research and the Dame Nita Barrow
Distinguished Visitorship which brings a renowned feminist leader
from the economic south to OISE/UT to teach a graduate course each Fall
term.

The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the
University of Toronto (OISE/UT) is a graduate and research institute
with a diverse student population, and significant student interest and
a strong international reputation in the areas of feminist and community
studies. Among the many resources available are excellent libraries, including the
Bora Laskin Law Library’s Women’s Human
Rights Resources and OISE/UT’s Women’s
Education Resource Collection with strong historical links to the
women’s movement and noteworthy archival holdings of movement documents
from countries around the world as well as a broad based international
collection of books and periodicals.

TORONTO
Toronto is located on the land of the
Mississauga of the Credit First Nation, and derives its name from the
Huron word meaning “meeting place.” The United Nations has recognized
Toronto as the world’s most diverse city with 190 different ethnic
groups represented here. Toronto is also home to Canada’s largest gay
and lesbian population. All of these communities include many women’s
and feminist organizations with vibrant and active links to women in
other parts of Canada and other regions of the world and to
international networks. The Association
for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) also makes its home in
Toronto. There are many excellent bookstores within easy walking
distance of OISE/UT, including the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, Wonderworks, A Different
BookList.

Toronto is a global city 70 miles from Niagara Falls , and hosts
first-rate theatre, a lively concert scene, alternative movie houses,
over 5000 restaurants, art galleries, International film festivals,
writers’ festivals, spoken word performances, Pride celebrations, and
much more. Despite its cosmopolitan flair the people of Toronto are
friendly and the streets safe, clean and well-maintained. On any given
day you can see people riding their bikes to work and tending to
community gardens. Each Toronto neighbourhood has its distinct character
and history, and most are easily accessed by an excellent transit/subway
system. (Toronto links /
Toronto maps /
University of Toronto
map)

APPLICATION AND
TUITION
Completed application forms must be received with
deposit at our office by February 15, 2006. Details on Application Form.
Please be aware that a Visa may be required and take some time
to process. See Canada Citizenship Immigration website
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.html .

To receive an
application form or further information regarding enrollment, contact
Pat Doherty, Executive Assistant, at springinst@oise.utoronto.ca,
Tel. +1(416)923-6641×2204.

Tuition is US$4,500
/ CAD$5,000. Payment must be made by bank draft or money order, in U.S.
funds drawn on a U.S. bank or in Canadian funds drawn on a Canadian
bank, payable to “Centre for Women’s Studies in Education OISE/UT.”
Details on Application Form.

Accommodation: arranged and paid separately by
participants. We recommend Wycliffe
College. Other U of T
residences may also be of interest.

Scholarships /
Funding: Click here for
a list of possible funding sources compiled by CWSE. Click here for a
useful list compiled by the Association for Women’s Rights in
Development.

CONTACT
To
receive an application form or further information regarding enrollment,
contact:

Pat Doherty,
Executive Assistant, at springinst@oise.utoronto.ca,
Tel. +1(416)923-6641×2204.

For academic information,
contact:

Alda Facio, Director
at aldafa@racsa.co.cr or Angela
Miles at amiles@oise.utoronto.ca, Tel
+1(416)923-6641 x2344.