Impact: International
Karama is also working to increase the visibility of women’s rights activists and their priorities across the region through international forums, including the United Nations, international and regional women’s movements and international women’s funding networks. Karama delegations have thus brought an Arab perspective to international meetings of the Association of Women in Development, re-launched the Middle East Caucus at the Commission on the Status of Women, participated in exchange visits in Sweden and South Africa, and submitted and/or contributed to NGO shadow reports on their governments’ compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
AWID International Forum, Cape Town, South Africa
In November 2008, a Karama delegation of 15 women traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, to attend the AWID International Forum and to hold a panel entitled "Karama Movement in the Arab World: Ending Violence on Our Own Terms." The delegation represented Karama partners and staff members from Morocco, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Somalia, Iran, Palestine, and Palestinians of 1948.
Commission On the Status of Women (CSW), New York
2-13th March 2009
For the third consecutive year, Karama partners placed Arab women center stage at the United Nations, where Karama's delegation made multiple interventions at the 53rd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. Addressing the 2009 CSW themes of equal participation in decision-making at all levels and equal responsibility for caregiving, the Karama delegation released a policy paper, "Toward an enhanced participation for women in decision-making positions in the Arab World," using the occasion of a high-level speakers' panel co-sponsored by Karama and UNIFEM, an international press briefing, and meetings with the Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Gender Issues, the head of the New York Office of the UN High Commission on Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and the Chair of the UN CEDAW Committee.