Spotlight on actions to promote women’s rights and gender equality around the world

The European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) funds several initiatives around the world producing concrete results in this area. Below are a few examples.

Women in demining

Women play a prominent role in  demining actions in Abkhazia, Georgia, that are supported by FPI and implemented by HALO.  FPI also supported the ground-breaking establishment of female demining teams in Azerbaijan through a recently initiated partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Mines Advisory Group (MAG).

Supporting women journalists in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, the EU supports women’s organisations and helps them cope with the challenges they are facing under the Taliban‘s regime. The women-led radio station “Radio Begum”, a project supported by FPI and implemented by UNESCO, is one of the only media organisations left in the country that employs almost only women journalists and produces contents for women and girls to make the voices of Afghan women heard.

Radio Begum also provides Afghan girls with access to alternative forms of education. One of them is Fatima, a 15-year-old girl who has been blind since birth. Now that she has discovered Radio Begum, she never misses a program. She says she might never get a chance to attend a blind school or learn how to write but being able to get educated through the radio is a great asset for her, for which she is grateful. The resilience and bravery of Afghan women deserve our continued support.

Supporting women’s engagement in the Syrian political process

In war-torn Syria, the EU supports the efforts of the UN Special Envoy to Syria to put an end to the civil conflict through a meaningful peace process. In this context, the Women Advisory Board (WAB) was established. It is a group of 15 resilient women from Syria tasked to provide policy advice to the Special Envoy on key thematic issues related to the peace process and to secure the active representation of women in the peace talks when engaging with local, national, regional, and international political actors.

The WAB is the first Gender Inclusion Mechanism created for a UN Special Political Mission. It is a practice that has been replicated in Iraq and Yemen and is being explored in other contexts, including in humanitarian contexts. This shows the importance of the WAB, that goes well beyond Syria. Its success is a sign of hope not only for Syrians but also for all women leaders who seek a greater role in peace negotiations all around the world.

More information:

EU  Gender Action Plan (GAP III)

EU Gender Equality Strategy