Nobel Women's Initiative

An unprecedented number of women ran in the latest elections in Guatemala, which wrapped up on Sunday. The list of nine candidates for president included Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchú Tum.

"We are the voice of the thousands of silenced people, who have no room (in the system) and who only take orders," said Menchú Tum. She emphasized the fact that she is a woman, specifically an indigenous candidate, in a country that is “‘machista,’ racist and excludes people."

Today marks the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.  On 2 December 2009, the United Nations General Assembly declared 29 August the International Day against Nuclear Tests which is meant for all sectors of society to come together to 'inform, educate, and advocate' for the banning of nuclear tests.

Over fifty organizations, legal academics and professionals – as part of the August 12 Campaign – have sent letters to President Obama asking that he lift the abortion restrictions on humanitarian aid for girls and women raped and impregnated in armed conflict from accessing abortion information or services.

Human rights groups critical of the Israeli government are under threat from a series of anti-democratic bills sweeping the Knesset. The latest anti-democratic legislation - submitted to the Knesset last Wednesday by over forty lawyers - aims to explicitly entrench the status of Israel as a 'Jewish state.’

Japan commemorated the 66^th Anniversary of the Hiroshima - Nagasaki disaster on Saturday August 6^th.  Thousands attended the ceremonies to honour and remember all of the victims who died as a result of the attack.

Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Nobel Peace Laureate and Laura Reyes are two indigenous women running for office in the upcoming Guatemalan presidential election.   Systemic violence and abuse of women prevails in the country, and the political involvement of these indigenous women is a call for gender inclusion, and recognition of indigenous rights.

Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with Burmese labour minister – Aung Kyi – yesterday in Rangoon. In a joint statement, both parties said they were satisfied with the meeting. 

Yesterday Saudi News reported that a Saudi woman is to be tried for driving in what she says was a medical emergency. Police arrested the unnamed 35 year old woman in the city of Jeddah. She was later released with the help of her father who acted as her male guarantor. 

Israeli naval vessels seized control of the French flagged Dignite /Al Karama – the final remnant of the planned “Free Gaza” flotilla. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) naval commandos boarded the ship in international waters with no resistance from the 16- passenger crew and transferred them to the Israeli port of Ashdod. 

UPDATE: UN declares drought in Somalia as full fledged famine.

Women in the horn of Africa are facing disastrous circumstances in an environmental turned humanitarian crises.  East Africa is facing its worst drought in 60 years, affecting over 10 million people.   

Mothers and their children have been arriving in the thousands to full refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.  The refugee camp, Dabaab, in Kenya is operating at over four times its capacity and receiving 1300 more people daily, according to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR).

Aung San Suu Kyi, head of Burma's pro-democracy movement, has begun her tour outside of Rangoon for the first time since being released from house arrest since last November.   In June, the Burmese regime threatened that if Suu Kyi embarked on her tour, "There may be chaos and riots as evidenced by previous incidents."  

In a recent media release by 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate,  Wangari Maathai called on African heads of state to address the climate crises at this week’s African Union Summit Meetings.  Maathai states that climate change disproportionately affects people in Africa; especially women.

“The AU Summit is the last chance for African leaders to come together and focus on climate change before the global gathering in Durban. African leaders must use this opportunity to commit to some concrete actions that will increase the pressure on Western and other countries to accelerate their efforts to provide support to the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change,” states Maathai.

Join us on June 25th, the international day of action to advocate for a treaty to ban all nuclear weapons.   On Nuclear Abolition Day,  you can add your voice to the Nuclear Abolition Movement and continue the momentum towards a binding treaty to put an end to nuclear proliferation.