Together Women Rise Selects IANGEL as its Featured Grantee for March 2024
Out of a crowded pool of over 500 applications submitted in the fall of 2023, IANGEL was proud and grateful to be awarded a grant by Together Women Rise (TWR), and honored to be its featured grantee for March of 2024. TWR is a powerful community of women and allies dedicated to global gender equality, with hundreds of chapters throughout the United States. TWR was inspired and impressed by IANGEL’s multi-faceted work fighting gender apartheid Afghanistan. At TWR’s request, we made this video, to explain the problem, to highlight the work we do to address it, and to show the impact of our work:
To learn more about our partnership with Together Women Rise, visit our TWR profile here, including a video recording of March 7, 2024 webinar featuring IANGEL’s founder and CEO, Nancy Newman.
Know an inspiring feminist leader? Nominate her!
IANGEL seeks nominations for our 2024 Amel Zenoune-Zouani Rights and Leadership Award. This award honors an outstanding feminist leader for demonstrated courage in overcoming injustice, opening doors for women, or using advocacy and the rule of law to advance gender justice. Help us celebrate an inspiring gender justice trailblazer by submitting a nomination for this award, to be presented at IANGEL’s Anniversary Gala Celebration later this year. Visit iangel.org/rights-leadership-2024 for more information.
IANGEL Presents in New York at CSW 68
In March of 2024, the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women met for the 68th time in New York City (“CSW68”) and IANGEL joined thousands of gender activists from all over the world for the occasion. On March 18, IANGEL presented a CSW68 parallel event, in partnership with Tunisian equality advocates from Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS). Titled “Force Multiplier: How Global Networks and Intersectionality Fight Poverty and Inequality,” our event featured a lively discussion of the power of global networks to effect change, how to build movements through collaboration, and the importance of an intersectional lens to promote equality and resilience in our communities. Warm thanks to panelists Mahassen Segni and Dr. Ramy Khouli from HBS, co-panelists Nancy Newman and Stella Odife, and moderator Natalia Urzola Gutiérrez for presenting this program at CSW68! We already look forward to CSW69. Read more here: iangel.org/csw68
IANGEL Welcomes Anupriya Ramraj
IANGEL is excited to introduce the newest member of our Board of Directors, Anupriya Ramraj. Anu is a Partner with PwC’s Cloud Group and a technology executive with over two decades of industry experience. Recognized as a global top 100 influencer for hybrid cloud by Onalytica in 2021 and ranked among the top 25 digital transformation leaders by a consulting report in 2022, she is deeply committed to gender equity in technology. Her passion for empowering women in technology earned her the Cloud Girl Trailblazer Award in 2022. Notably, she partnered with her daughter to establish an organization aimed at promoting STEM skills globally. We are thrilled to welcome Anu to our board, and look forward to her valuable insights and leadership.
We Are All Brigid: Celebrating Women’s Creativity
On February 1, 2024, a wonderful group of women musicians, singers, dancers, and poets presented We Are Brigid, a benefit concert for IANGEL. Led by talented fiddler and impresario Anne Goess, the program featured Irish music, dance, and song in solidarity with Ireland’s I Am Brigid movement, in honor of the Catholic saint and the pagan Goddess Brigid/Brid. The event was enjoyed by a packed house at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley. Heartfelt thanks to Anne, the She Arose chorus, the dozens of artists who donated their talents, and to UUCB for hosting this delightful evening.
Celebrating International Women’s Day in Afghanistan
On March 8, International Women’s Day, IANGEL attended a special international celebration featuring nine BRIDGE Project participants – Afghan women lawyers who joined the video meeting from Herat, Kabul, and Laghman, Afghanistan. These inspiring women shared Afghan poetry, presented on the history of International Women’s Day and why it is important to celebrate it even in the dark circumstances of gender apartheid in Afghanistan. Participants shared a laugh, and gave each other advice on how to stay hopeful and resilient. We were also heartened by the wonderful celebrations of International Women’s Day inside the underground schools in Kabul that we support, including cake, balloons, and gift exchanges. We are in awe of the creativity, intelligence, and spirit of our BRIDGE group and these Afghan women teachers, and inspired by their courage.
IANGEL Advocacy In Action
IANGEL submits comments to UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan
On March 17, 2024, IANGEL and Femena submitted a joint statement in response to a Call for Input issued by the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett. Our joint submission highlights the institutionalized system of discrimination in Afghanistan, including a personal account from one of the teachers from underground Schools that IANGEL supports describing her recent ordeal of being seized in front of her crying students, and then imprisoned and terrorized for a month by the Taliban. The submission includes insights, factual information, and recommendations based on extensive engagement and research. We requested that the Special Rapporteur’s office upload the submission to the mandate’s website for consideration, and inclusion in his upcoming report. Read the submission here.
Gender Apartheid is a Crime Against Humanity
After receiving official comments from six member states in January 2024, criminalizing gender apartheid continues to be a live issue for discussion at the United Nations. On March 15, 2024, IANGEL signed a letter alongside 300+ organizations and individuals urging member states to declare support for moving the draft treaty on crimes against humanity into negotiations. Read the joint statement here. The issue was discussed in April 2024 at the UN General Assembly’s 6th Committee session on the Draft Convention on Crimes Against Humanity, and there are now 10 member states supporting the consideration of gender apartheid in the draft crimes against humanity treaty. We are proud to be part of the #EndGenderApartheid movement, working to build a coalition of states willing to support this effort and to create a record to inform future diplomatic negotiations on the proposed crimes against humanity treaty. The treaty is an important tool for justice and accountability for women, girls, and LGBTQI+ persons in Afghanistan, and around the world.
IANGEL signs amicus brief in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine
On January 30, 2024, IANGEL signed onto the latest amicus brief in the FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine case, in support of mifepristone as a safe option for medication abortions. The brief warns of the danger of restricting access to the medication nationwide, especially for patients in communities facing the most obstacles to care. Read the amicus brief in full here.
End the Attacks on Afghan Women’s Human Rights Defenders
Manizha Sediqi, a brave Afghan women’s human rights defender, took to the streets demanding an end to oppression. Since the forceful takeover by the Taliban, women have faced forced disappearance, imprisonment, torture, and even death for demanding basic human rights such as education and employment. Because she chose to speak out, Manizha was abducted in October 2023 and recently sentenced to two years in prison by the Taliban. On April 1, 2024, IANGEL signed a letter from FEMENA urging the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to raise Manizha’s case and demand her immediate release. We must end attacks on human rights defenders and other civic actors and ensure the safety and rights of Afghan women.
IANGEL continues to amplify voices for gender equality and to advocate on key issues affecting women and girls in the US and abroad. To find out more, visit our updated Advocacy Actions page.
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