Network News Rights & Democracy Network Issue 4 March 1, 2006

NEWS FROM THE NETWORK

Invitation to all: National Mingler on Thursday, March 23 at 6:30 pm

A Rights & Democracy Network national event will be held on March 23 & 24, 2006 in Montreal. Rights & Democracy Network delegates from 40 universities across Canada will be invited to attend to meet, discuss, and debate key issues related to Canadian foreign policy, and to share ideas and initiatives from their local Delegations, thanks to the financial support of Foreign Affairs Canada.

All Network members are invited to attend the public “Mingler” event on the evening of Thursday, March 23rd. The Mingler is a unique opportunity for student members, faculty resource people, and partners including representatives from CIDA and Foreign Affairs too come together with Rights & Democracy’s President, staff, and members of its Board of Directors, to celebrate the ways Canadian youth are concretely engaged in our shared objective of promoting international human rights and democracy. The evening will be held at the Théâtre Plaza, 6505 St-Hubert (Metro Beaubien) in Montreal. More details to come soon!

Places are limited! RSVP by March 15 to Geneviève Paul at gpaul@dd-rd.ca.

DELEGATION NEWS

Malaspina film award winner screens film at Global Film Festival

The Nanaimo Rights & Democracy Delegation was a co-sponsor of the 2006 Global Film Festival which took place from February 17-19 in Nanaimo, B.C. On opening night, the Festival presented a short film by Alejandra Malendano, winner of the Delegation’s 2005 student filmmaker award, about the the indigenous people of Ayoreo, Paraguay, a community she has known since she was nine years old. The 2006 student filmmaker award was presented to Susan Burron this year for production of a short film on women’s rights, which will screened at next year’s Global Film Festival.

For more information about the film festival, visit: http://www.nanaimofilmfest.org/

Elections observation and democratic development training session at the Université de Montréal

For the second year in a row, the Université de Montréal Delegation is presenting an elections observation and democratic development training session, featuring presenters from Elections Canada, the Directeur général des élections du Québec, and from Rights & Democracy. The session will take place Friday, March 3 from 9 am to 4 pm, and will be followed by a reception.

To register, visit: http://www.dddum.com/inscription_formation.htm

UBC Conference to explore inequities in women’s health around the world

On March 3 & 4 at UBC, the 2006 M.O.R.E. Conference, entitled Toward Equity in Global Health: The Status of Women's Health, Beijing +10, invites students and health care providers to explore the obstacles that make women disproportionately vulnerable to marginalized health. The conference, organized by UBC health care students and members of the UBC Rights & Democracy Delegation, will focus on violence and conflict, health access, access to education, empowerment, HIV and infectious diseases, reproductive health options, and obstetrical care.

For more information, click here: http://www.rightsdemocracy.net/delegations/bc/ubc/en/projets.htm

McGill Delegation allows children to creatively explore their rights

The McGill Rights and Democracy Delegation and the Human Rights Working Group presents “In Children's Hands: An Art Exhibition on the Convention on the Rights of the Child”, a children's art exhibition at McGill during the week of March 6th, 2006. The exhibition will feature children's creative responses to the rights contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which are the result of human rights workshops held at different elementary schools in the Montreal area. Offering children in pre-kindergarten to grade 6 an opportunity to contribute their ideas on the meaning of their rights, the exhibit aims to explore children's perspectives, voices and understandings.

For more details, visit: http://www.rightsdemocracy.net/delegations/qc/mcgill/en/projets.htm

Mount Allison presents an undergraduate role-play conference entitled “Human Rights: A Gendered Perspective”

To coincide with International Women’s Week, the Mount Allison Delegation will be organizing a Gender Issues conference, in conjunction with the university’s Canadian Studies Department. Using a simulation-style format, this innovative conference will explore three themes pertaining to gender-sensitive human rights issues: Canadian Aboriginal women’s experiences; reproductive rights, and gender and warfare. The goal of the conference is to produce policy proposals in hopes of improving how local, provincial, federal and international decision-makers approach the issue of gender.

For more information and to see the full schedule, click here: http://www.rightsdemocracy.net/delegations/nb/mountallison/en/projets.htm

Rights & Democracy NEWS

Rights & Democracy calls on Préval to form national reconciliation government in Haiti

MONTREAL – Feb. 16, 2006 – The decision to declare René Préval as the winner in Haiti’s presidential elections must be followed by immediate steps towards healing past divisions, including the establishment of a government of national reconciliation, says Rights & Democracy.

More: http://www.dd-rd.ca/site/media/index.php?lang=en&subsection=news&id=1655

HUMAN RIGHTS NEWS

Globalization must have a human rights dimension, says UN official

20 February – Opening a new session of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a senior UN human rights official stressed today that any discussion of racism, globalization, and migration must conducted from a human-rights perspective.

FULL STORY
Source : UN News Centre

INTERNATIONAL DAYS & YEARS

International Women’s Day

Putting women and women’s rights to equality on the global agenda is the moving force behind International Women’s Day. The idea of a day for women, celebrated all over the world, began at the beginning of this century in America and Europe. The focus was the movement for women’s rights and achieving universal suffrage for women. International Women’s Day really took hold between 1913 and 1917 when women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.

Since those early years, much progress has been made for women in developed and developing countries alike. Although much remains to be done to achieve full equality, the voices of women are being heard. March 8th provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the achievements of women and to highlight the needs and concerns of women on national, regional and global agendas.

Source: http://www.unac.org/en/news_events/un_days/women1.asp

JOBS & INTERNSHIPS

The Network’s on-line forum announces job and internship opportunities in Canada and around the world. To access the forum, you must be a member of the Rights & Democracy Network.

Become a member by signing up here: http://www.rightsdemocracy.net/en/membres/devenez_membre.htm

If you are already a member, visit the Forum’s jobs and internships section by clicking here: http://www.droitsdemocratie.net/network-forum/index.php?login_lang=en

Network News is a bi-weekly newsletter published by the Rights & Democracy Network.

The Network Team:
Coordinator: Cynthia Gervais
Liaison Officer: Elana Wright
Webmaster: Sylvain Aubé
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Rights & Democracy Network
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www.rightsdemocracy.net

Past issues :

Issue 03 (February 16, 2006)
Issue 02 (January 31th, 2006)
Issue 01 (January 17th, 2006)

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