Êtes-vous préoccupée par le harcèlement en ligne, la pornographie sur Internet, les attaques anti-féministes et misogynes en ligne ou l'utilisation d'Internet pour favoriser le trafic international des femmes et des filles ? Le programme de réseaux femmes ( Women's Networking Support Programme) de l'Association pour les communications progressistes ( Association for Progressive Communications) a lancé le 16 mai dernier une discussion internationale en ligne sur les enjeux de la violence faite aux femmes et Internet, qui se poursuivra jusqu'au 5 juin prochain. Cette discussion fait suite entre autres aux débats tenus lors de la dernière rencontre de la Commission sur le statut de la femme à l'ONU en mars dernier. Les trois grands thèmes principaux sont : - la violence conjugale - la violence sexuelle - les femmes dans les zones de conflit La discussion se déroulera en anglais, et vous trouverez ci-dessous les informations complètes au sujet de cette discussion et comment y participer. Pour celles qui maîtrisent l'anglais et ont quelque chose à dire ou souhaitent en apprendre davantage, je vous invite à participer à cette discussion, qui sera sans doute des plus intéressante ! Katherine Macnaughton-Osler, CDÉACF ===================================================== THEMES and SCHEDULE 16 - 22 May, 2005: Harmful representations of women in ICTs, censorship and internet governance. 23 - 29 May, 2005: Violence against women, ICTs and Global Policy Processes (Beijing Platform for Action, Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, World Summit on the Information Society Declaration etc.) seeing the gaps, making the connections. 30 May -­ 5 June, 2005: Strategies for the future. The outcome of the discussions will be summarised thematically, and posted on www.genderIT.org , a site by APC WNSP that addresses gender and ICT policy issues, under the section of Feminist Talk. HOW TO PARTICIPATE To participate in the email discussion, please send an email to Lenka Simerska. To view the summary of the discussions and post your comment on the themes, visit the Feminist talk section BACKGROUND INFORMATION This discussion will be moderated by the Association of Progressive Communications, Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) and will be for a period of three weeks, starting from May 16 - June 5. APC WNSP is in the process of writing a paper that explores the connections between ICTs and Violence Against Women. The paper was presented at an NGO side event at the recent Beijing + 10 process conducted at the 49th Commission on the Status of Women in New York. You can download the first draft of that paper, "Cultivating Violence Through Technology? Exploring the connections between ICTs and Violence against Women" This online discussion is aimed to continue the dialogue that began at the event, and to further explore some of the concerns that were raised. The outcome of the online discussion will feed into the paper, as well as inform both our collective advocacy on Violence Against Women issues, as well as those related to information and communications technologies. We hope that a women's movement agenda relating to these connected issues can be shaped. In the recent World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), gender was very nearly dropped out of the language in the declaration. Multi-national profit driven companies were given the edge in setting the agenda and powerful governments in the economic 'North' are facilitating this imbalance of power (for an overview, see the Bridge ICT & Gender Pack). Now that we are in the process of preparing for Phase II of this Summit, to be held in Tunis later this year ( http://www.itu.int/wsis/ ), it becomes all the more urgent that gender and how ICTs impact on women's rights issues are rendered visible and vocalised as a concern. Further, the recent 49th CSW that sought to reaffirm and reassess the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) was conspicuously silent on the issue of women and the media. Section J of the BPFA, which deals with women's participation in the media and issues of representation, was not highlighted in the discussions prior to or indeed, rendered visible during the event. This demonstrates a worrying lack of political consciousness or will to view communication and information rights as urgent and critical issues for the women's movement. Women largely being in the poorest sections of community are much affected with regards to the issue of access to infrastucture, skills and information communities, particularly in new ICTs. Content and development of the technology also mainly rests in the hands of men. Apart from that, ICTs play a large role in the development and dissemination of culture. This ties in with the issue of sexist and mysogynistic content which enable the perpetuation of violence against women. We call for your participation to create a collective understanding to this issue, from the particular perspective of violence against women, and also to strategise for actions that can be taken. APC WNSP is actively engaged with policy advocacy in the field of ICTs, and your views, expertise and experience are important to mutually enrich each others' work in addressing women's rights. Thank you, and looking forward to our dialogue soon. Warmest regards, Jaclyn Kee & Lenka Simerska Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme APC WNSP http://www.apcwomen.org/