filia.die frauenstiftung

In Chechnya the experiences and consequences of the two wars – that have affected every single family in the country – are taboo. There is no arena for debates and exchanges, neither in public nor in schools and universities. Chechnya is now a Russian sub-Republic, part of a country that has no interest in scrutinising its own human rights violations before, during and after the two wars. The annexing of Chechnya by Russia was accompanied by an “ethical-moral renewal” proclaimed by President Ramsan Kadyrov. According to his understanding, in 2007 this meant introducing compulsory wearing of headscarves for all girls age six years upwards and for all women working in government agencies. It means the rebirth of marriage by abduction and greater understanding for polygamy. When the oldest son marries, the daughter-in-law moves in to his parent’s house with him and becomes a subject of his mother. 

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Belgrade, 8 March 2008
“The celebrations for the 100th International Women’s Day, prepared by Women in Black, were banned by the police. Following the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo in February 2008, the wave of authorised violence in Serbia created a kind of public self-censoring effect.

Belgrade, 8 March 2009
Feminists took to the road in Serbia in 2009 too. “The special reason for the demonstration? – Parliament had struck discussion on the Anti-discrimination Act from the agenda.

Tbilisi, 8 March 20098 March is to become a public holiday with a political background again, not a day of official propaganda as ordered in the times of the Soviet Regime, or subsequently dressed up as “Mothers’ Day” or “Valentine’s Day”. The Women’s Fund in Georgia therefore called upon local women’s groups to join in a competition.

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"They are inconspicuous, nice and socially committed... the new nationalist-minded women." Carrying a film camera, girls between the ages of 13 and 16 in the Federal State of Brandenburg in the East of Germany set out to explore what role women and girls play in radical right-wing groups. Their share in the right-wing scene is growing. The image of women ranges from "the mother", via "the housewife", up to the "single multifunctionary" of a radical right-wing party. The aim was to look behind the facade in various ways. The girls visited the concentration camp memorial site Ravensbrück in order to learn from history. They met eye witnesses and talked to experts from the mobile counselling team from Berlin and Brandenburg in order to understand the present better.

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1. Successful Alternative Rreport
The UN CEDAW Convention (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979) is an achievement of the global women's movement. It defines the facts of discrimination in various social fields and explicitly sets out the human rights of women.

2. Gender is a human right The alliance of women's organisations has strategically resolved to draw up two supplementary reports on the situation of transsexual and intersexual women. "A country's stand on human rights, what human rights really mean to a country, can best be seen by the way it treats minorities. Transsexual people are such a minority", says the report by ATME on the human rights situation of transsexual people in Germany.

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The Mongolian women's foundation MONES has been supporting empowerment of women in Mongolia ever since it was set up in July 2000. To date MONES is the only local institution making money available for women's rights. The province of Zavkhan is one of its "pilot provinces". Here MONES supports women's organisations and their cooperation specifically in order to sustainably improve the life situations of women. In addition to domestic violence (affecting one in three women), the under-representation of women in politics is a core problem in Zavkhan Aimag. Issues such as health care, education and other social services that strongly affect the life of women are way down at the bottom of the political agenda. Women have no voice in deciding on their concerns.

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“And we should never forget that freedom must always be defended, again and again.”With these words the German-Turkish author Necla Kelek reminded the some 200 women and men who had come together in remembrance of Morsal Obeidi in Hamburg on the grey Tuesday morning of 16 December 2008 of the democratic values that we often “take for granted”. filia supported the event in response to an urgent application. Ms Obeidi was brutally stabbed to death by her brother on 15 May 2008 for “reasons of honour” – with the approval of her original family, who considered the “western” lifestyle of their daughter and sister to be in crass contrast to their own standards and values.

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In mid-January we received an urgent enquiry from a women's organisation in Turkmenistan (we regret that it must remain anonymous*) working in the area of promoting civil society and strengthening women's rights. The Head of State Nyazov, who died in 2006, caused many housing districts to be demolished in order to push through hotel construction and road building. At the time the some 1000 ejected impoverished families were promised in writing that they would receive substitute accommodation. However, in many cases this did not happen. The new President Berdymukhamedov did not feel bound by the arrangements of his predecessor and changed the promise into "housing - if available", thus creating a legal vacuum governed by arbitrariness. Women ejected from these areas were moreover denied the registration (propiska) embodied in the country’s basic law which is a prerequisite for being able to participate in the state school and health systems and draw on police and other emergency assistance.

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OWEN e.V. (Mobile Academy for Gender Democracy and Peace Research) has been implementing a unique project in the crisis region of the Caucasus since 2006. The Omnibus 1325 project has actually succeeded in bringing participants from all participating and enemy regions of the north and south Caucasus together in a long-term work process. They have been working together for three years towards a single goal – they want to achieve support for women as actors in peace-building processes at all levels, and above all co-determination of women. This is also formulated in UN Resolution 1325 that was adopted in the year 2000 – an important milestone for feminist peace work.

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The second ProjectParty at filia – already an "institution" with clear rules of the game and many interested visitors. filia founder Ute Pfeifer hosted the Party in June 2008. As a result of the great response in the previous year, it was held at the same venue and time as the General Meeting of the endowment contributors. This gave more contributors and many visitors the opportunity of getting to know a woman and her vision supported by filia. And what a vision! What a woman1 Beatrice Achaleke, Head of AFRA (International Center for Black Women’s Perspectives, based in Vienna), had the idea of a Europe in which all voices are heard, including the voice of black European women. 

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