White Paper on Youth Policies: The EWL participated in the consultation of civil society on the White Paper on Youth Policy proposed by the European Commission. The EWL formally contributed to the paper and was invited to present a statement at a hearing organised on 20.02.01 by the European Commission, the Economic and Social Committee and the European Youth Forum. For more information, please contact Cécile Gréboval at the EWL Secretariat: greboval@womenlobby.org

V-DAY “STOP-RAPE” contest :  The EWL, as the regional coordinator for Europe, was present in New York at the presentation of the 60 action plans to Stop rape. The selection was not easy as there were many interesting and creative ideas and only three proposals could be selected to receive financial support for their implementation. Among the three winners, one is from Western Europe (Germany) and aims to launch a campaign against rape using messages printed on bread-paperbags. The contest has been renewed for one more year, until February 2002. To know more about the “STOP-RAPE Contest, contact the EWL’ s Centre on Policy against violence against women: centre-violence@womenlobby.org

Women’s International Day, 8^th of March – In preparation for the Women’s International day, the EWL has compiled updated statistics demonstrating the intolerable persistence of inequalities between women and men in the European Union in all areas of life: women & employment, women in decision-making, women and the media, violence against women, women in poverty, education and Health. The EWL will be present in the European Parliament (stand on the passerelle) all day on the 8^th with comprehensive documentation and available to reply to questions and/or discuss any issues in relation to the situation of women today in the EU. Denise Fuchs, President of the EWL, will participate into these activities. The statistics as well as a note describing activities of EWL members across Europe for the 8^th of March are available in English and French on the EWL website or upon request at the secretariat.

Revision of Directive 76/207 on gender equality in the labour maket -  The Hautala report on the subject was presented at the Women’s Rights Committee on 27.02.01. The document is to be found at:

http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/femm/20010226/femm20012626.htm

Trafficking in women – EU Council of Ministers: Legislation to combat trafficking in human beings urged - At their first informal meeting of the year, EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers agreed on the need for prompt legislation and a collective EU strategy to combat trafficking in human beings. Presenting the conclusions of the meeting, Sweden's Minister for Justice Thomas Bodström said a common EU strategy should contain legislative measures and police co-operation as well as financial support for projects working to combat trafficking in women and children. Co-operation with non-EU member countries, from where trafficking often originates, should be boosted. During the informal meeting, ministers also discussed how to proceed with the harmonisation of the EU's refugee and asylum policy. For information:  http://www.eu2001.se/eu2001/main/default.asp?2211255

National Action Plans to combat social exclusion  - The Nice European Council decided on a European strategy against social exclusion and all forms of discrimination. Each Member State is now in the process of developing national action plans covering a two-year period, in accordance with common European guidelines. These plans should define indicators and monitoring mechanisms capable of measuring progress, and be submitted to the European Commission by the end of June 2001. Gender mainstreaming has been highlighted as an important theme in the European guidelines for the National Action Plans - but without the pressure from women's NGOs, the national plans risk not transforming the principle into concrete actions – For more information, contact Malin Bjork at the EWL secretariat: bjork@womenlobby.org

European Commission, 10 key priorities to promote growth and employment – The European Commission challenged EU heads of state and government to "close the gap between words and action" when it outlined 10 key priorities to promote growth and employment in a paper to be submitted to next month's summit in Stockholm. Since the Lisbon summit, the Commission said it had put forward over 40 legislative and policy initiatives to make the objectives adopted there a reality.  In the paper, the Commission identified 10 areas for action: more and better jobs; new European labour markets - open to all, with access for all; economic reforms for goods and services; integrated financial markets; the right regulatory environment; eEurope 2002; closing the IT skills gaps; research, innovation and enterprise; frontier technologies; effective social protection for an ageing population. The full text of the Communication "Realising the European Union's Potential: Consolidating and Extending the Lisbon Strategy" is available at the following address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/stockholm_council/index.htm

Swedish Presidency, meetings focusing on Gender Equality: Joint seminar Swedish presidency and Women’s Rights Committee on "Men and Equal Opportunities", from 10 - 12 o'clock in EP Spinelli, Room 3G3 -  Meeting on men and gender equality, 16 March Örebro, This meeting will focus on two issues: prostitution and trafficking, and the need for men’s increased responsibilities in the family/ parental role - Special Meeting of the European Council, 23–24 March Stockholm (Spring Council): Assessing the coherence between different policies of the EU, focusing on the links between economic policies, employment policies and social policies. The European Council will especially look at the progresses achieved in the implementation of the Europe 2002 Action Plan (the development of a knowledge-based society as well as the priorities).

World Social Forum (WSF), 25-30 January in Porto Alegre, Brazil: The WSF represents a new international arena for NGOs and social movements to create and exchange ideas on social and economic alternatives under the motto “another world is possible”.  WomenAction, where the EWL is a member, was present at the Forum to disseminate information about the activities during the Forum from a feminist perspective, and as co-organiser of a workshop on ‘Communication and citizenship’. Out of several hundred workshops taking place throughout the five days of the Forum, some 60 workshops are organised by women’s organisations highlighting the need to promote women’s human rights and economic and social initiatives.  For more information: http://www.iiav.nl/european-womenaction-2000/  and http://www.penelopes.org

Ø      45^th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, 6-16 March 2001, New York – Two thematic issues: (1) Women and HIV/AIDS  (2) Gender and all forms of discriminations , in particular racism. For more info:  http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/45sess.htm

Ø      Extraordinary General Assembly of the Platform of European Social NGOs, 21 March 2001, Munchen Bryggeriet,”Nobelterrassen Room” Söder Mälarstrand 29, 104 62  Sweden - Info: simona.delisi@socialplatform.org

Ø      Platform Conference on Social Issues in Stockholm, 22 March 2001, Munchen Bryggeriet,”Nobelterrassen Room” Söder Mälarstrand 29, SE-104 62 – Information: simona.delisi@socialplatform.org

Ø      International Conference on Refugee Women fleeing gender-based persecution, 4-6 May 2001, Montreal, organised by the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) with the goal of promoting recognition of gender-related persecution as a basis for refugee protection. For further information on this, please contact Afsaneh Hojabri: ahojabri@total.net - More information on the network and the conference can be obtained from the web page: http://www.web.net/~ccr/gendpers.html.

Ø      "WOW - Women on the Web", March 8-10: Hamburg, Germany - International conference sponsored by the city of Hamburg and the German and Swedish governments. Information from the conference website: http://www.wow-conference.de

Ø      "Partnerships and Social Responsibility in the New Economy", June 27-29: Copenhagen, Denmark - Organised by the Copenhagen Centre, an agency exploring, researching and promoting new social partnerships between business, governments and civil society. For further information: http://www.copenhagencentre.org/tcc2001.

Ø      Guide to good practice for Journalists and communicators, prostitution and trafficking in women for sexual exploitation in the mass media, edited by Yolanda Alba, a Daphne project of  European Network of Women Journalists, lared@adpc.org

Ø      Violencia Contra as Mulheres: Tolerancia Zero, European Conference on Violence against Women, Lisbon, May 2000 (in English, French and Portuguese)l

Ø      "European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights" - A sum of 38 million euro will go to projects focusing on 10 priority areas decided by the Commission in key regions and countries, including projects supporting human rights education, measures to protect minorities, promoting freedom of speech, the rights of children, the abolition of the death penalty, strengthening the rule of law, promoting democracy and good governance, and conflict prevention. Deadline: 19/03/01. Details: http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/tender/index_en.htm

Ø      Tacis LIEN programme (ref EUROPEAID/111907/C/G/WW) – To stimulate citizens initiative and to strengthen the capacity of NGOs working in the social sector in favour of disadvantaged groups of the population. The programme encourages the development of exchanges and cooperation from at least an organisation based in an NIS country (new Independent State) in cooperation with at least one based in an EU Member State - OJEC 2001/C 46/10 – Deadline for application: 11/05/2001 – Further info: Technical Assistance Unit email: lien@cev.be or Fax: +32 2 5145989 - http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/2001/c_04620010213en.html

Ø      Indirect RTD actions under the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration on improving the human research potential and the socio-economic knowledge base: Marie Curie Industry Host Fellowships (IHP-MCHI-01-1), Stays at Marie Curie training Sites Fellowships (IHP-MCHT-01-1), Marie Curie Development Host fellowships (IHP-MCHD-01-1) – OJEC 2001/C 49/16 and 49/17 – Deadline 16/05/2001 - http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/2001/c_04920010215en.html

Ø      Information, consultation and participation of representatives of undertakings (VP/2001/006) – Strengthening transnational cooperation between worker and employer representatives in respect of information, consultation and participation within undertakings operating in more than 1 Member State – Deadline: 15/09/2001 – OJEC 2001/C 49/18 - http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/2001/c_04920010215en.html