13 September 2011

As part of the awareness and mobilization for the COP17 the province will be hosting Gauteng pre COP 17 Provincial Summit linked with Gauteng water Sector Forum on 08 and 09 September 2011

We, the delegates of women drawn from the media and environment, also joined by women in the public sector, academia and Non-Governmental Organisations, attending the first “Women in Media and Environment” conference in Pretoria on 03 and 04 September 2011,

Supportive of South Africa’s hosting of the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Durban from 28 November to 09 December 2011

Recognising that climate change is a reality that will have devastating impacts on the environment and people of the world if no concrete action is taken urgently

Determined to play a role in educating ourselves and broader society on matters relating to environmental health and climate change

Concerned about the lack of public awareness on the subject of climate change,
Concerned that women will bear the brunt of environmental degradation as a result of climate change, and consequently subjecting poor households threats to food security and price volatility in the market

Imploring world governments and all delegates to the COP17/CMP7 to act decisively and with requisite urgency to restore the integrity of international climate change negotiations

Recognising that our continent, Africa, is already experiencing dire consequences of climate change and that the continent is likely to suffer the most from these consequences

Calling on women and society at large to take greater interest in matters relating to environmental health and climate change

The war on rape is far from being won and more attention needs to be given to curb the scourge, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has acknowledged. Speaking at the release of the National Crime Statistics in Pretoria on Thursday, Mthethwa said the number of reported rapes for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 was unacceptably high. Even though the sexual offences ratio had decreased by 3.1%, and they had been on a general decline for the past two years, the minister said he was particularly concerned about rape. "Rape increased from 55 097 to 56 272 cases and we cannot seriously say we are winning the war against rape," Mthethwa said.

Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, has called on the Atteridgeville community to break the silence on woman and child abuse.Responding to a tragedy involving a man who last Wednesday allegedly burnt to death a woman and her two daughters, aged 14 and 18, at their home in the Tsunami informal settlement, Ramokgopa challenged the community to reflect on what else needed to be done to stop the carnage of gender based violence. She led a delegation, including local councillors and parliamentary constituency office, which visited relatives of the deceased Ralulimi family to provide support following the incident. According to neighbours, the man had stopped visiting the family for a while and it was understood that the 33-year-old woman, Thifhelimbilu Ralulimi, had obtained a restraining order against him.

While health care and educational professionals are always in contact with victims of violence, they are unable to assist them due to lack of knowledge on how to recognise victims of violence. In a bid to equip these professionals on how to recognise and respond to victims of violence, a newly launched Gender-Based Violence Capacity Development Project will develop a series of training programmes tailored to the working environment of health care and educational professionals. Launched on Tuesday, the project aims to train 3 825 health care and educational professionals on violence-related subjects, including recognising and responding to gender-based violence. This will include training community service doctors on how to collect forensic evidence in violence-related injury cases, especially rape cases, using standardised guidelines and evidence collection kits. The project will be rolled out with the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) in collaboration with the National Centre for Knowledge (NCK) on Men's Violence against Women at Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden, through the support of the Swedish International Development Agency.

Children and young people continue to lack accurate and comprehensive knowledge of HIV and how to avoid sexual transmission of HIV. The silence around sexuality in general and children’s sexuality in particular generates misconceptions, myths and misinformation which contribute to children and adolescents risky sexual practices. Save the Children, the world’s largest independent child rights organisation, commissioned the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) to undertake pioneering research in South Africa and Zambia to examine attitudes, practices and knowledge of sexuality, gender, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV among children between the age of 5-17. In South Africa, the study showed that children between 5-11 years old have very limited knowledge of their own sexuality, reproduction or their sexual and reproductive health. The age group 12–17 had higher levels of knowledge but it was still not comprehensive. This is significant because according to the research the average age of sexual debut for both boys and girls was between 14 and 15 years and most parents were unaware that their children were sexually active. The study found that for 12-17 year olds schools and peers are the main sources of information on sexuality and reproductive health with only 12 percent of parents or guardians having discussed issues of sex and HIV and AIDS with their children.

In response to an article entitled 'Unpacking the LGBTI communities', by Andrey Mbugua, Mia Nikasimo takes great exception to Mbugua's assumptions, language and presentations of LBGTI and transsexual people.On 'Unpacking the LGBTI communities'[1]: 'I matter because I say I do as an African (black) transsexual woman (gender identity) who identifies as a lesbian (sexual orientation) and that all there is to it.' This essay is a response to 'Unpacking the LGBTI communities,' by Audrey Mbugua. I do not know the author of this article personally but I am enamoured by her eloquence with the regards to the positioning of the 'tagging' of the 'T' onto the LGB. However, I do not agree with the exclusions hazarded in the writer's attempts to unpack the LGBTI community. Sure, according to the author, '[t]he issues concerning LGB people stem from sexual orientation, whereas those of transgender people stem from their gender.' [2] I almost said as in gender role, but no. For me, matters are more personal and so is my gender identity. I say who I am, no matter what the wider communities positions are. I matter because I say I do as an African (black) transsexual woman (gender identity) who identifies as a lesbian (sexual orientation) and that all there is to it.

"Women have more opportunities nowadays to participate in the economic, social and political development of the country, but this has still not improved the quality of their lives," said Laura Reyes, one of the three women candidates for vice president of Guatemala. "Many women have done a good job, but others have taken advantage of power to serve their own personal interests," Reyes, a lawyer belonging to the Cakchiquel Maya indigenous group, told IPS ahead of Sunday's general elections. An unprecedented number of women are standing in the elections. Three women are running for president, and three more for the vice presidency, out of a total of 10 presidential and vice presidential tickets. In contrast, in 2003 there was only one woman vice presidential candidate.

While advocacy groups say the national increase in rape statistics shows more people are reporting the crime, it's feared that the figure is actually much higher. It was revealed yesterday that rape is one of the few crimes showing an increase following the release of South Africa's crime statistics for last financial year. The number of reported rapes nationally rose from just over 55 000 in 2009/2010 to more than 56 200 in the last financial year. Cookie Edwards from KZN Network on Violence Against Women says the statistics show that more people are coming forward to report rape.

Crime statistics tell us nothing about domestic violence, hate crimes, and human trafficking, writes Chandre Gould. While we celebrate the significant reduction of many types of crime in South Africa, it is worth asking what this means, if anything, for gender-based violence. Every year, public attention focuses on crimes that grab the headlines, yet there are significant crimes that don't feature in the annual police statistics. Since nearly eight males are murdered in South Africa for every female murder victim, a reduction in the murder rate doesn't tell us much about whether women are any safer now than they were a year ago.

Pockets of food insecurity are plaguing areas in Southern Africa where floods or prolonged mid-season dry spells have reduced harvests. Communities are battling to access food and desperate families increasingly go hungry, according to a Famine Early Warning Systems Network assessment conducted in July. It points out varying food insecurity levels across the Southern African Development Community region, with higher levels in Lesotho and greater food insecurity anticipated in Namibia -- the two countries where the impact of excessive rains and floods on crop production and livelihoods is most severe. Conditions in these areas remain a concern as harvests have been reduced. The resulting food deficits have had adverse impacts, especially on poor households that, even in average production years, face constraints in accessing adequate food.