meeting 2014
Early bird reduction extended till 20th of July
Please note the time for the reduction rate for the UWE Conference is extended to 20th of July!! UWE2014Bucharest-presentation-may 2014
And we have just posted the draft agenda with several calls:
- Call for candidates for Vice Presidents: Call for Candidates.def
- Call for hosting a possible Meet and Greet and the next UWE Conference: Call for Hosting UWE 2015 and Meet and Greet
- Call for Jan Gremée award: Call for Jans Gremmée Award 2014
Please share this information and don’t hesitate to contact the UWE Board if you have any questions or suggestions concerning the AGM on 7th of September via universitywomeneurope@gmail.com or skype edith.lommerse1
University of Women Europe “Meet and Greet” in Amsterdam, successful and inspiring!
Aside Posted on Updated on
A job well done team UWE! Excellent venue, brilliant setup and excellent execution of a successful UWE meet and greet in Amsterdam. Thoroughly enjoyed the full 4 days. Yes we went a day early to see what all the ‘background’ was about and I’m glad we did. Indeed it was fantastic the warm welcome offered by Gerda with Edith, Vera and Mary Josè 🙂 ElenaFlavia (Siracuse)
It is one of the many positive evaluations UWE received after two intensive days at the first UWE Meet and Greet in Amsterdam. Over 40 representatives of the branches of UWE from France, Romania, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Finland, Switzerland, Ireland and UK met for a two-day gathering aiming at exchanging information about joint actions at European level. Here an impression of the Meet and Greet.
It started with a welcoming reception hosted by the UWE president Edith Lommerse to celebrate Europe day as the UWE was founded with the specific purpose to encourage European higher educated and university women to participate in the progressive development of European society. The “Meet and Greet” event was an opportunity to UWE members to get to know more about the work of the EWL and discuss possible collaboration in informal setting mixed with a social and cultural program.
EWL Acting Coordinator Pierrette Pape was invited to present the work of the EWL (see PPT presentation), while the Vice-Presidents of UWE explained the possible ways for UWE to be engaged at EU and Council of Europe levels.
UWE members warmly applauded the EWL video clip on the impact of austerity on women. It is a great clip to watch and use on a screening evening with members to increase awareness of the effects of austerity policies currently undertaken at the EU and many countries in Europe. Research shows it is women who suffer the most of these policies and that’s also why it is so important to vote and underwrite the manifesto for The European Parliament Elections.
Amongst the different issues of interest for the members of UWE, violence against women experienced by educated women is a concern which led UWE to decide to develop a two-year project in order to map and raise awareness on the scale of domestic violence faced by educated women in Europe. Some members also mentioned the situation of migrant skilled women. Contact person Uta Krope explained the approach which aims at learning together with an elaborate powerpoint which has lots of links to interesting information of the diverse approaches. Next learning conference is in Bucharest Romania from 5-8 June. More info see: U-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MET BY EDUCATED WOMEN-1
After the presentations the group discussed themes for UWE to be proposed at the BUcharest Conference 5-7 september after a proposal from the UWE board four themes were seen as potentially good themes to put into practice for the UWE as a whole.
- Support implementation of EVAW and raise awareness
- Training Gender Sensitive approach to society
- Women in decision making (in boards and at educational institutions)
- Cooperation and communication (internal and external)
Along the four themes several working groups formed which will be presented in a different article. Besides in-depth discussion on the implementation of women’s rights, UWE members had the chance to do an architectural tour of the Eastern Docklands of Amsterdam, Dutch honorary member Angeline Joordens took care of two tours in the pouring rain as there were so many members interested. Thank you Angeline!
In the evening several local presidents came to meet the UWE representatives at the reception hosted by the Amsterdam Branch of the Dutch VVAO. President Rosy van der Vlies explained the importance of meeting and working together thanking UWE President Edith Lommerse for this opportunity to contribute:”I gladly volunteered after she twisted my arm”. After a lively dinner where still more Dutch members appeared it was late when the day was ended with a warm applause for the organisation.
Next day a smaller group was instructed by Uta Krope on new ways of cooperating and disseminating information by Uta Krope. She showed several new and more practical ways of cooperating digitally and made it abundantly clear that emailing with attachments is old fashioned and not very effective. She is always happy to assist and provided an interesting PP with useful tips and tricks. Uta Krope:”If you have seen the instruction once you will know what is is about and after three times watching a video instruction on Youtube ánd trying, you will be able to do it! ” More info see web-2-introduction-amsterdam version for blog. Thank you Uta!
While the rain was pouring down the group went to the North of Holland to visit a Chrysanthemum farm Dekker which provides 30 percent of the Chrysanthemums of the world. Mister Erik Floris was so kind as to inform us extensively of the growing process and the different types of flowers.
Find another story on the Meet and Greet on the website of the EWL: http://womenlobby.org/news/ewl-news/article/university-of-women-europe-meet?lang=en
Equality in Europe
Recently a few Europe wide reports were published: violence against women, the gender gap report etcetera. They are also published on this site. The reports are clear, too many women suffer from violence and too many women get paid less than men. It is may be hard to believe when you yourself are not in such a position but it is important and worthwhile to join forces and show that women will not put up with violence and strive for better positions in society.
Still a lot has been done also on a European level and in these document you will find an overview of the European efforts for Equality since 1957. Europe and equality 2012 Next week almost forty women from all over Europe will gather in Amsterdam to be introduced to the work of the European women’s Lobby and the Council of Europe in which the UWE has participative status. I am looking forward to great debates and meeting lovely and interesting women. Purpose of the discussions is to set new goals and priorities for UWE to be presented and reviewed at the AGM in Bucharest 4- 7 September 2014. More news will follow shortly.
INGO Conference Council of Europe: Impressive, busy and somewhat overwhelming
A side-event on “A Europe without torture: what is today’s reality?”, a discussion on the situation in Ukraine with the participation of NGOs from Ukraine, and a debate on “which democracy do we want?” were among the highlights of the session. The Conference of INGOs adopted texts on hate speech, the situation in Ukraine and human rights and religions. It took me awhile to write this report as I needed some time to put all the new information in a report which was not too long. I hope this report will give you more of an impression and if you would like to know more about UWE’s work at the Council of Europe: visit the Meet and Greet 2014 in Amsterdam. More information 2014 meet and greet uwe in amsterdam 1
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It was my first time in Strasbourg and I was impressed to talk and meet with representatives of over 100 International NGO’s. The first days were dedicated to the so called committees among which the Culture and education committee see http://www.coe.int/t/ngo/conf_educ_en.asp for the agenda.
The first meeting was a lively one with lots of discussions and presentations and a paper on religion and human rights which was later adopted by the full conference at the end of the week. http://www.coe.int/t/ngo/Articles/CONF_PLE_2014_APP1_HR_religions_en.asp The INGOs are “determined to safeguard, whatever happens, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe is launching an appeal to the men and women of Europe and to NGOs operating on the ground so that, together, everyone can take action at their own level and in their own setting to ensure continued respect for the equal dignity of all individuals and of the values connected with this inviolable principle.” Part of this concern is also the ever growing amount of so called Hate speech growing racism and intolerance in Europe, combating Hate speech will be part of the 2014-2016 program.
It will prepare a “Civil Society White Paper’ to combat hate speech and prepare a “Civil Society Forum”, together with the media and political parties, for the purposes of launching the White Paper and drawing up a Charter of good conduct for tackling hate speech more effectively. I participated also in a working group on Gender equality from the Dutch Gender Advisor Betty Doornenbal. Priority is still the signing of the Istanbul Convention to combat gender based violence. More info: http://www.coe.int/t/ngo/conf_tg_gen_en.asp. Another important meeting was the working group Living Together in which UWE also participates.
Ukraine
One of the most impressive and sad occasions at the INGO conference were the statements of NGO’s of Ukraine stating the difficult circumstances and violence they live in. At the initiative of the Conference of INGOs, a group of civil society representatives from Ukraine participated in meetings at the Council of Europe end of January.
The NGOs met with the Secretary General, the Commissioner for Human Rights and participated in a hearing with the INGO Conference at which they reported their concerns regarding the current situation, in particular Human Rights violations. The Conference of INGOs adopted a Resolution urging Council of Europe bodies to monitor the ongoing situation and offered to be the platform to promote dialogue and civil society involvement to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine. Message of solidarity to civil society representatives in Ukraine.
Statement by Jean-Marie Heydt, President of the Conference of INGOs, Strasbourg , 20 February 2014
The Conference of INGOs is deeply shocked and appalled by the current turn of events in Kiev, specifically, the escalation in violence and the many unfortunate deaths that have occurred. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims. The Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe once again expresses its solidarity with Ukrainian civil society at this difficult moment and calls for an inclusive dialogue and a peaceful and democratic solution to the current crisis. The Conference remains ready to offer its platform for involving national and international civil society actors in these efforts.
Personal observations
Although resolutions can’t negate the effects of violence and force as is shown in the case of Ukraine and Georgie The INGO Conference is an important tool to enhance democracy it advises the Council of Europe via the President of the INGOs Jean-Marie Heydt. It has three special programmes the Code of Good Conduct, the Dialoque Toolkit – you will be introduced to at the Bucharest Conference in September – and The Expert Council.
Especially the Expert Council which investigates and writes reports on the situation in countries on the participation of civil society is an impressive tool. Next year they will very likely investigate Turkey after investigating Russia and Azerbeidzjan! http://www.coe.int/t/ngo/expert_council_en.asp Its work covers the 47 member countries of the Council of Europe and Belarus. It was created in January 2008 by the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe with the aim of creating an enabling environment for NGOs through examining national NGO legislation and its implementation and provides advice on how to bring national law and practice into line with Council of Europe standards and European good practice.
The INGO Conference is a wonderful platform to meet lots of other representatives of INGO’s and find partners to create new actions and work towards our goals. I met representatives of the Catholic women, Teachers union, Jewish women etc. etc. and was able to make some contacts. The first few days of the conference are a preparation for the last day in which the voting takes place. As the UWE is on the Standing Committee we are part of a group that can help decide what should be the agenda of the conference. The Conference however decides.
New Vice President
A new candidate for Vice Presidency of the UWE (Vera has done this intensive work September 2014 over six years) to participate in the INGO of the Council of Europe needs to be fluent in English en preferably also speak French as some meetings are in French and not always translated into English. The documents of the INGO and the meetings can be found on the website of the Council of Europe http://www.coe.int/t/ngo/default_en.asp to find out more about the Committees look under structure where you will find the documentation.
Meet and Greet in May is on!
UWE 2014, Happy New Year
Wishing you a great 2014!
Hoping to see you at the:
Meet and Greet in Amsterdam: 9th– 11th of May 2014
Starting on the 9th of May in the evening with a reception at the house of the President of the UWE as it is Europe Day, next day workshops on Council of Europe and European Union including the work at the EWL and hopefully an introduction to the work of the UWE Board for potential candidates. Invited are Cer’s, presidents of the NFA’s, potential candidates and other interest groups. The Dutch NFA from Amsterdam will dedicate the Sunday to cultural and friendship events.
Mind, we can only continue this program if at least 10 members participate. Already Ireland and the Netherlands said they would participate. Hope to see you all! If you start looking for flights, train trips this early the cost will be rather low! Staying with Dutch NFA members can be organized, let us know!! Interested? Keep an eye on the website and let me know if you are planning to come at Universitywomeneurope@gmail.com (don’t reply this mail that doesn’t work!!)
AGM in Bucharest, Romania: 4th – 7th of September 2014
The UWE conference 2014 will be dealing with challenges and demands on the education of the 21 century ending in proposals tackling these issues with the intention to use these insights in developing policies. We are looking for experts on early child education, adult learning, HR education and Diversity!! Also we are looking for assistance for the marketing and communication of this special event!!
Purpose Conference 2014 : Quality Education for all in EUROPE
1 Create a UWE vision on what high quality of education in the 21 century demands.
2 Enlarge the knowhow of the procedures EU and COE and the ways to participate in civil society (living together and Code of Good Practice of the COE) for UWE members and potential members.
The UWE Board:
Edith Lommerse, Marie José Jonczy,
Vera John-Mikolajewski, Auli Ojala
University Women of EUROPE 