FIRE invites you to participate in the "FIRE-PLACE" August 28-Sept. 7, 2001 through its webpage. Featuring women from around the world talking about racism, FIRE will broadcast daily programmes from the WomensNet CyberCafe in Spanish, English and Portuguese under the title "Voices Without Brackets." Listeners may also participate in a "chat room" during the broadcasts.

The International Human Rights Law Group is once again urging you to participate in our "Day of Action for Women's Inheritance Rights" by joining our third annual e-letter campaign to raise awareness around the denial of the right of women to inherit land and other property in Africa. Please read, sign, and forward the letter below to Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The African Centre for Women, Information and Communications Technology (ACWICT) is pleased to announce the Horn of Africa Regional Conference on Women & ICT to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, at the United Nations Offices, Gigiri, from 11th - 15th February 2002. The aim of the conference is to raise awareness on ICTs amongst women in the Horn of Africa region and to explore opportunities for harnessing the technology to work as a tool for their development.

A Training Manual from UNIFEM (in pdf. format).

UNIFEM is supporting the African Commission's Special Rapporteur on Women and Violence, Julienne Ondziel-Gnelenga, to report on Violence Against Women at domestic, community and institutional levels, including women in conflict situations. Five field studies to assess the situation of women's human rights in Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are also being conducted. For more information, contact Hodan Addou, Programme Coordinator for East, Central and the Horn of Africa.

An online Guide to the UN Trafficking Protocol is now available. The Guide is an initiative by CATW (Coalition against Trafficking in Women), MAPP, Article Premier, AFEM (Association des femmes de l’Europe méridionale) and the EWL (European Women’s Lobby). It will soon also be made available in French and Spanish.

You are welcome to the 1st Nigeria Internet Interactive Conference organised by Women's Rights Watch Nigeria from the 9th August - 8th September, 2001. The First Nigerian Internet Interactive Conference on: THE ECONOMIC RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN NIGERIA - from rhetoric to action.

The International Gender, Science and Technology Digest is a bimonthly electronic newsletter that is useful for keeping current on events, resources, announcements and publications in gender, science and technology for development. To subscribe to this email list directly,
send a message to [email protected] with the message "subscribe" in the subject line or subscribe online.

A new issue of the journal Gender, Technology, and Development on the topic of Gender Relations in Forest Societies is now available. You can read more about this journal, including article titles and authors online.

The Third World Organization of Women in Science (TWOWS) has fellowships available for women scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries at Centres of Excellence in the Global South. It is a programme for female students to promote their effective participation in the scientific and technological development of their countries. The deadline is October 31, 2001. You can get more information, including the application, online or please contact Leena Mungapen, TWOWS.

A meeting convened by the Once and Future Action Network (OFAN) and the Radcliffe Center for Public Policy Center April 30 through May 1, 2001 discussed possibilities for closer collaboration among the global gender, science, and technology (GST) networks, and plans were outlined for future
activities. For further details contact ECOWOMAN.

According to Anthony Browne, health editor of the Observer, and a trustee of Population Concern, "there are many reasons to despise George Dubbya Bush. But as he tries to joke away his global calumny during meetings in London and in Genoa (at the G8 summit), little is heard of what can only be called his most pernicious international act. On his first day in office, he introduced a policy that is promoting Aids, encouraging maternal deaths, and increasing poverty among the world's most vulnerable people."

In 1995 the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The Platform reflected a new international commitment to the goals of equality, development, and peace for all women everywhere. the editors of the Journal of Social Work Research and Evaluation: An International Publication invite manuscripts that address one or more of the following Critical Areas of Concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action: Women and poverty; Education and training of women; Women and health; Violence against women; Women and armed conflict; Women and the economy; Women in power and decision-making; Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; Human rights of women; Women and the media; Women and the environment; The girl child.

Rape and other forms of sexual abuse are becoming more common in Sierra Leone, and greater numbers of young victims are reporting their experience to the authorities, Gladys Brima, one of the founding members of a recently established Women's Help Line (WHL), told IRIN on Thursday.

A mission to assess the training needs and the effects of Burundi's civil war on the lives of Burundi refugee women living in camps in western Tanzania observed that war has had a significant and destabilising effect on gender roles and relations between the country's men and women. The refugees were found to be virtually under the "complete control" of various development and humanitarian relief agencies, the team said in its preliminary report.

The Sudanese Victims of Torture Group has received confirmed information that on Friday 6 July 2001, afternoon , in Khartoum north street, the Public Order Police stopped 3 young women and questioned them about their clothes and dress. When the women protested, the police attacked the women, beat them and verbally abused them.

Women'sNet is planning resources for our website for the celebration of Women's Day 2001. We would like to include events planned to celebrate this day around the country. If you are planning an event, please send us the details, and we will include it on our website! Your event will then be advertised on a web site visited by women all over South Africa.

A distinguished member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action is asking for nominations for the PGA's 'Defender of Democracy' Award. Senator Johnson would much appreciate nominations of women as he fully realises women are so often overlooked in the world's awards. If you have suggestions of women defenders of democracy, please e-mail them direct to Senator Johnson on his e-mail address below. Nominations are due by July 31, 2001.

The Gender & Trade Network in Africa raises concerns about the impact that globalisation and trade policy have on women and men in Africa. There is no mystery about globalisation. It is important for all of us to understand the impact it has on gender relations, employment, violence against women and human rights. The Gender & Trade Network in Africa will hold a "teach-in". This is a participatory method of learning about issues. It gives people the opportunity to teach others about globalisation and mobilize for action. Date: 18 July 2001 Time: 09:00 am To 13:00 pm. Venue: Johannesburg Civic Theatre's Batsobi Lounge. Please RSVP with Brenda or Nthabiseng at 011-426-2056. Book early, space is limited.

Southern Africa's first women-only university will open in Zimbabwe next year. It will be one of only two women-only universities in Africa, the first being in Sudan, northern Africa.