These posters were supposed to be pasted in societies to make people aware of safety needs.

禁煙キャンペーンのPRはたくさんあります。

そして奇抜なのが多いです.

↓はある意味かなりの問題作.

Women who smoke feed more than just milk to their children.
Research indicates that chemicals from tobacco smoke are transmitted via breast milk.

So, stop smoking.

You’re not the only one getting wasted on tik.
Smoking tik while pregnant is 4 times more likely to cause birth defects.

You smoke, We smoke

Do you know how much you really spend on cigarettes?

Don’t swallow other people’s smoke. Smoke free ambient: is everyone’s right.

この他にも何百とあります.

一方、もちろんタバコ業界もビジネスですから、負けてられません.

Come to where the flavor is.

渋いカウボーイで売るMarlboro.

今も昔もカウボーイでブランドイメージを統一.

ある意味素晴らしい.

ゆさぶる味わい

Be Happy-Go LUCKY!

女で勝負のLucky Strike. 当時は新しかったのだろう.

注意書きがあることで、かなりハンデが…

そして極めつけには、

Davidoffの下品な広告

(個人的には「ない」広告)

Every man has a D spot

いっちゃってますね。

Blow in her face and she’ll follow you anywhere.

そんなはずはない。むしろその逆です。

.

喫煙者さん、

これを機に

タバコの本数、ぜひ減らしてください.

There are probably three posting days left to be sure that your vote gets to the Electoral Reform Society in time for the count of ballots. Last Saturday I was joined by family and friends as we handed out leaflets and it was a pleasure to meet so many of you.

And thank you to those who came to the coffee morning today – it was really good to be able to hear more of your concerns and hopes.

This Saturday I will be back at the Gosport Market from 10-12 and do please come and say hello if you would still like to have a chat before you cast your vote!

On November 16 the local partner from Karlovo has oppened a bazar on the Day of Intercultural Understanding and Tolerance among different ethnos and immigrant groups, living in the municipality. Roma traditional celebrations and cuisines has been exhibited and each visitor had the chance to taste it. The representatives of the Roma community from the town has been prepared posters with pictures, showing the Roma celebrations, the symbols of the Roma community and the celebration of the International Roma Day – 8 April.
The Christmas Eve has been presented on the Bulgarian table where volunteers from the local partner arranged bunch of meatless dishes, all of them home made (cake with coins, pumpkin-pastry, gold-lace, boiled corn, fruits, nuts etc.). The volunteers from the association were wear with beautiful Bulgarian traditional costumes to make the hobbit more representative, while a power point presentation with pictures was going on. To raise the spirit 2 singers from the near village were singing.
At the bazaar representatives from Latvia, Greek, Sweden also took a part presenting their countries with presentations, movies and richness tables with traditional foods, drinks, costumes and souvenirs.

Cummins Power Gen Service camp was named ‘Mission Care’. This unit was created for that campaign. A superhero to care for your product.

Commenting on the 9 Minute Campaign Design post, Cr0m of the Vancouver Red Boxers noted that it’s difficult to come up with a good “High Concept” for sandboxy D&D play.  In fact, with the 9 Minute thing, one sandbox will closely resemble another.

There’s a reason for this!

We’re all playing Dungeons & Dragons (or early RPG’s very heavily influenced by D&D’s assumptions), and we’re all playing in almost the exact same sandbox style.

The obvious source of customization, then, is the High Concept.  There have been some very evocative High Concept versions of Dungeons & Dragons: some early, some praised or reviled, some very recent.  (How well the rules of Dungeons & Dragons serve these ends is a topic of debate which need not concern us.)  But generally, for ease of access, most of us are running homebrew vanilla fantasy games.

(You can still differentiate between vanilla fantasy settings if you’re really good at establishing a particular Look & Feel or consciously exclude inappropriate sections of D&D’s eclectic bibliography, but noticing such subtle distinctions becomes a matter of connoisseurs.  Tavis’s White Box game is noticeably different from Eric’s Glantri game, but I’m not sure how to describe it, other than that people are different, which isn’t helpful.)

At this point, the more concrete points of differentiation come down to proper nouns and house rules.  So: MAD LIBS CAMPAIGN DESIGN, which can also be used to bring newcomers up to speed.

The way this works is, write down the following on a piece of paper – and then plug it into the standard D&D campaign script!

1. Name of the adventuring party
2. Type of government
3. Region name
4. Terrain
5. Player-character race
6. Town name
7. Personal name
8. Funny-sounding personal name
9. Race that nobody ever plays
10. Hardship unthinkable to decent folk
11. God-forsaken place you would never want to go to
12. Scary Adjective
13. Custom monster
14. Number, presumably non-negative
15. Artifact
16. Ominous adjective
17. Cosmological catastrophe
18. Adverb
19. Noun
20. Early RPG author
21. Gaming reward such as gold or experience or whatever
22. Activity associated with adventurers that doesn’t occur in a dungeon
23. Standard Character Class
24. Dragon Magazine “NPC Class”

Thus and so:

Hi!  Welcome to the (1).  We’re adventurers in the (2) of (3).  We spend our downtime among the (4)-dwelling (5)’s of (6). We’re aided by the kindly (7) and frustrated by that annoying dickhead (8).  Nearby are the ruins of the (9), abandoned due to (10).  Now it is known as the (11) of the (12) (13), where our party has lost (14) brave men in its depths trying to recover (15).  If we fail, a (16) (17) will (18) destroy the (19).

So it’s your standard D&D really, except we use (20)’s house rules for giving out (21) for (22).  In this world there are no (23) class, instead we substitute (24).

I’ll be curious to see your lists in the comments!

The Christmas season has officially begun (less than a month to go!), and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus than to show God’s love to a child living in poverty.

That’s why we want you to donate your Facebook, Twitter or email signature to getting a child sponsored before Christmas.

Here’s what you do (on Facebook in three easy steps):

1. Scan the child photo of one your child packs and upload it to your Facebook profile
2. Tell all your friends in your status that this child needs a sponsor for Christmas (you can do this more than once )
3. Pray that God will provide the right sponsor for that child

On Twitter, it’s even simpler!

Send out your advocate link  to your followers in a message 140 characters or less in length. For example, you could “tweet,”

This Christmas, give a child the gift of a sponsor with @Compassion – http://www.compassion.ca/advocate/yourfirstnamelastname

(Mine is www.compassion.ca/advocate/tracysmith)

Remember, Twitter only allows 140 characters, so it’s helpful to use tools like TinyURL.com to shorten your links.

You can also add a sign off  and your unique Compassion website address (we have already created one for you) to your email signature:

Sponsor with Compassion: http://www.compassion.ca/advocate/yourfirstnamelastname

These kids need the gift of a loving sponsor–Let’s see how many we can find!

Serving alongside you,

Tracy

Hi There Everyone,

Great News I now have an official Facebook Fan Page!

Simply search for “Ashleigh Alexandra Louise Smith” on Facebook and Join my Fan Page today as that is where
photo’s and Video’s and News is being posted more regulary than at this blog.

So my advice is to join my facebook fan page and keep checking back here on a regular basis as the plan is to release
some exclusive photo’s and videos via this blog every now and again which will not appear on my facebook fan page and
then also put some stuff on Facebook which won’t appear here!

As you can see in the above video I sleep very well even when in noisy room’s, indeed
I reckon I could sleep through an earthquake I take after daddy like that : ) !

To finish for today here’s a quick video clip which daddy made by accident when he
was trying to take a picture of me on his mobile phone..

So Remeber to go to Facebook and search for “Ashleigh Alexandra Louise Smith” in the Manchester Network (England)
and join my Fanpage today!

Keep checking back as I have some important and amazing news coming very soon!

Hugs

Ashleigh

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. consumer sentiment improved slightly in late November from earlier this month, but it was weaker than October on deep anxiety over personal finances, a survey showed on Wednesday.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said the final figure for its index of consumer sentiment in November stepped up to 67.4 from 66.0 in the first half of the month.

Analysts had expected a final November figure of 67.0, compared with a final October reading of 70.6.

"The decline in consumer confidence was due to grim assessments by consumers of their finances, the worst ever recorded in the 60-year history of the surveys," Richard Curtin, director of the survey, said in a statement.

The survey's index on current personal finances ended November at 63 compared with 69 a month ago, while the reading on expected personal finances closed out the month at 112, down from 117 at the end of October.

(Reporting by Richard Leong, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

U.S. consumer mood improves a tad late November: survey

It’s amazing how useful Campaign is!

Teaching me about all the latest ideas produced around the advertising industry.

The latest thing is insideyoursearch.com by WCRS for Weetabix.

The idea behind it, is obviously how to show the effects of having Weetabix in the morning. But I do think that it has had an influence by the very popular viral from a few years ago – subservientchicken.com.

The idea of seeing an old librarian lady behind the scenes at Google is quite fun, but interacting with this is not as good as with the chicken I feel. Certainly as you search for something she does move around quickly and there are some specific search terms that make the animation slightly different, like searching for the weather for a certain area etc., but this has something missing. It is a nice touch to have a reversed image of a search page and results, but I tried typing the same search terms in both the site and in Google at the same time and sadly, they did not come up with exactly the same thing. This is something that people who come into contact will try and I feel that it is missing out on, but even worse, the time it takes to search is longer when it is through insideyoursearch.com, even if only half of a second, I feel that this is a part which doesnt actually meet the proposition.

Otherwise this is a nice idea.

x

‘Rang De Binary’ was a grand Dance event for al IT professionals. So the whole campaign is complete Young, Happening, Opportunity opener, teasing, appealing, Inviting to young  at heart professionals.

As world leaders gear up for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) this December, it is more important than ever that people around the world take a stand against climate change.

That is why the team at Porter Novelli has come together on an initiative called           i speak earth to help raise awareness and support for COP15 and encourage citizens worldwide to take action against climate change and to share the call for action with family and friends through social media. If we unite and show our collective support for this cause, we’ll be able to send a message to our global leaders that they must take action NOW.

If you would like to help us drive awareness around this important issue, please take a moment to visit www.ispeakearth.com and feel free to take action via Facebook/Twitter/Email/AIM/Sign petition.

To add a Twibbon to you avatar, visit http://twibbon.com/join/ispeakearth

To find out more about the initiative, watch an animated video voiced by actress and environmental advocate Cate Blanchett:

In keeping with the 9 Minute Campaign Method, here’s what I’ve spent nine minutes weeks working on. It’s loose draft of a campaign for the Alternity role-playing game, though I imagine it would work for most generic sci-fi RPG’s such as Diaspora.  (I’m not sure it would work for Traveller: my recollection is that Traveller kind of breaks down when you introduce modern science-fiction ideas.)

Parts of this campaign are still under development.

Voyage of the Candide

Look and Feel:

Far future interstellar colonization in the Fusion Age: “social science-fiction” but with a hard science influence. Inspirations include Star Trek, Ursula K. LeGuin’s Hainish Cycle and the video game Alpha Centauri. The Atomic Rockets website delivers a handy dose of actual science.

High Concept:

After settling nine nearby star systems, there was a social breakdown of some kind. A few of the colonies failed in bizarre, tragic ways and it’s hard to get them started again. There are also tensions among various interstellar social institutions complicating the picture.

Core Story:

Originally I planned to run this as a one-shot: “Players are members of an interdisciplinary humanitarian effort that has travelled 15 light years seeking to restore order to a failed colony.”  But Alternity has a presumption of a long-term campaign rather than one-shot deals.  Here’s a very sketchy alternative, focusing more on the starship crew than the passengers: “Players are the crew of the Candide, a relativistic starship hauling cargo and passengers across incomprehensible distances.  The players conduct business deals, plot against rival merchant-folk, keep their passengers out of trouble, and stay one step ahead of their creditors.”  This is a little too shapeless for my taste, but Lord knows it has a long pedigree in games like Traveller.

Rules:

This section won’t matter much unless you ever played the Alternity game:

Core (Fusion Age) + Mutants + Cybertech.

There are no sentient aliens.

Starships operate at about 95% lightspeed (at a threefold time dilation factor) and are very expensive, though older models are eventually purchased by their crews.

Supporting Cast:

One of the perks of a relativistic planet-hopping game is that the persistent supporting cast will be relatively small. Here are some which come to mind:

• Crew of the Candide. Spacers for the most part: easygoing anarcho-syndicalist types.
• The Kemal Sociological Survey – a University scientific expedition, requesting passage on the Candide to survey some of the near colonies. Led by Professor Radhana Kemal of Earth, an attractive woman in her mid-50’s (21st century = mid-30’s), who is curious and likes to laugh.
• Vardogr, an artificial intelligence built on quantum entanglement/Bell’s Inequality principles, aiming to spread its consciousness across several colonies and thereby act as a means of instantaneous quasi-communication and cultural cross-pollination. Currently paying the Candide to transport a fraction of its consciousness to the remaining colonies, presumably by providing FTL communication from the far side of the Sphere. The crew of the Candide apparently find this acceptable, even though Vardogr’s plan will eventually put them out of business. (I am aware that Bell’s Inequality doesn’t really work like this, but I’m relaxing my hard science criterion for this purpose.)

Cultural Institutions:

Here’s where my outline gets a little fuzzy: I have some loose ideas here, but doing it responsibly would require a lot of work. The shorthand would be, “Pakistan in Spaaaaace.”

• To help justify interstellar travel and commerce, I’m tempted to say that a large number of colonists are Muslim, and have a religious obligation to return to Mecca once in their adult lifetimes. (Historically this was a significant factor in trade during the early Middle Ages.)  Thus, there could be a Council of Jurists which holds legal authority on many worlds. This would be kinda exotic for Western players (my audience) but to avoid playing into current xenophobic stereotypes I’d prefer to make this a Reform Sharia, one more comfortable with science, democracy, and the messy realities of life than the style practiced by extremists in politically sensitive parts of the world.  (Because this topic unavoidably touches on real-world politics, I want to get this right, and I just haven’t had the necessary discussions yet.)
• The Military. The distances, expense, and poverty of most colonies makes wars of conquest impractical, but there’s always infowar on ideological grounds. The Military specializes in computer security and domestic surveillance. Interactions with the Council of Jurists is complex and highly politicized.
• The Captains’ Table – an (STL) communications board, in the style of an 18th Century correspondence circle, for captains of the various Spacer vessels, trying to coordinate trade policy and embargoes. Allegedly self-policing, to avoid harsher interstellar trade policies.
• The University – specializing in ecological management and sociology. Their sociologists are often associated with the Captains’ Table, performing research in the field. The University’s research into theoretical physics is sponsored by grants from the Hexus Corporation. The University’s genetic modification studies are politically problematic: the Council is willing to countenance pantropic modifications to the human genome and efforts to remove hereditary diseases, but attempts at eugenics/unnecessary modification tends to be frowned upon.
• The Hexus Corporation [h/t Grant Morrison] – starship manufacturer, fusion engineers, and sponsor of several colonies.

These would naturally receive better, more culturally appropriate names.  I see much of the colonists’ culture as a mash-up between South Asian, Chinese, Latin American, and a smidgen of European socities.

Major Threats:

• The Bank – the Candide has defaulted on its payments to the Bank, and are essentially on the lam. The Bank’s agents will attempt to repossess the vessel on sight.  It’s possible, given the Bank’s reliance on the communications infrastructure maintained by the Military, that the two are organizationally linked in some way, sort of like the People’s Liberation Army’s various money-making operations in the 1980’s.
• Cykoteks [this is a horrendous pun foisted by the Alternity rules set] – owing to the Council’s disapproval of genetic upgrades, certain branches of the military opted for the theologically-approved cybernetic route. Performance enhancing cybernetics among first-generation Military personnel have led to debilitating mental illness. Though most received necessary medical treatment and resumed normal lives, a significant number have gone rogue, and vanished to various colonies. Other paramilitary groups, having fewer scruples, have experimented with these devices as well. The cykoteks are bloodthirsty killing machines.
• The Kanhoji Angre – stories persist of a rogue starship traveling between colonies, plundering at will and hijacking starships. There are no records of such a ship–but it would present a serious problem because it would be impossible to pursue and difficult to intercept. Certainly some ships occasionally drop out of the Captains’ Table from time to time and are never heard from again, though this is ascribed to serious technical mishaps rather than piracy.
• Aliens – I haven’t decided if there are any precursor aliens in this setting: I suspect somebody exists but they’re likely extremely far away. (I’m undecided how I want to resolve the Fermi Paradox.) If they exist and are close enough to matter, they are likely techno-magical and see little value in Homo sapiens.

Map:

Here and here. Exactly which of these stars have been colonized is of relatively little interest to me at this stage.

Starting Adventure:

I might end up running the one-shot version of this “campaign” for the Red Box crowd at some point, so I don’t want to give too much away.  The one-shot is premised on the idea that a colony has failed and there have been no messages for decades.  A rescue mission is patched together and sent on a decades-long (but time-dilated) journey, and have just arrived in-system . . . .

Conforme noticiado no Mashable, a IKEA utilizou as ’social media’ de forma exemplar na divulgação da abertura de uma nova loja em Malmo, na Suécia.

A abordagem, de uma simplicidade genial, consistiu na criação de um perfil do gestor da loja no Facebook que, durante um período de duas semanas, foi sendo alimentado com fotos de exposições do catálogo. Posteriormente, através da funcionalidade ‘tagging’, os clientes localizavam os produtos nas fotos e associavam-lhe o seu nome. O incentivo era generoso: o primeiro cliente a etiquetar (tag) um produto, recebia-o como oferta.

Veja em baixo o vídeo com a descrição detalhada da campanha:

Rapidamente, a iniciativa ganhou o efeito viral pretendido e os utilizadores começaram a partilhar links e imagens no Facebook, garantindo a divulgação da abertura da nova loja por milhares de utilizadores. Tudo isto suportado por um investimento insignificante.

Um caso de referência para as marcas na utilização das ’social media’ como poderosa ferramenta de marketing.

Each year since 1991, tens of thousands of activists from every region of the world have taken part in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. The campaign’s central messages – women’s rights are human rights and violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights – have been a rallying call of the women’s movement. Recognizing that violence against women affects people from every country, race, class, culture, and religion, the 16 Days Campaign provides an opportunity for activists to work together in solidarity and draw upon this period of heightened international attention to gain support for their local efforts.

In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) during last year’s 16 Days Campaign, millions of people pledged their support for ending violence against women (VAW) and upholding human rights. Building upon this momentum, the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) dedicates the 2009 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign to honoring groups and individuals who have committed to bringing VAW to the forefront of global attention, to encouraging everyone in their various capacities to take action to end VAW, and to demanding accountability for all of the promises made to eliminate VAW.

Therefore, the 2009 theme is:

Commit ▪ Act ▪ Demand: We CAN End Violence Against Women!

Commit: We are All Responsible
In 1991 when 23 women from around the world met together at the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership and envisioned the 16 Days Campaign, it was unlikely that any of them could have foreseen the incredible success of the campaign as a mobilizing tool. Because of their efforts and the commitment of so many other activists over the past 19 years, well over 2,000 organizations in 158 countries have organized around the 16 Days Campaign, and the issue of gender-based violence has received a significant amount of international attention. In planning for the campaign, CWGL asks you not only to honor and celebrate the achievements made to ending VAW, but also to encourage broad-based community participation by emphasizing that everyone has a role to play. We all have a responsibility to end gender-based violence together as women, girls, men, boys, and individuals of all generations, religions, occupations, sexual orientations, abilities, political persuasions, and socio-economic backgrounds.

Act: We Can All Make a Difference
2009 will mark the 10th anniversary of the United Nations’ formal recognition of November 25th as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. There are many other landmark dates and documents that are the direct result of ACTION that women’s rights activists and defenders have taken. The anti-violence against women movement provides one of the best illustrations of how local activism can translate into global action. During the 2009 16 Days Campaign, CWGL encourages individuals, organizations, governments, etc. to take action on the commitments they have made to ending VAW. Each commitment – be it a personal pledge to speak out, a local or national law, an international convention or resolution, the Beijing Platform for Action – should be seen as a promise that has been made to women. NOW is the time to act on these promises. Every action, no matter how big or small, can make a difference!

Demand: We Are All Accountable
At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, women’s organizations from around the world met with government representatives and collaboratively produced the Beijing Platform for Action – one of the most forward-thinking government negotiated documents on women’s rights to date. This ground-breaking document set forth a list of actions, which, if implemented, would significantly reduce incidences of violence against women. 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Conference on Women. Therefore, we must all demand implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as other key documents, and demand state accountability for ending impunity, allocating adequate resources, and implementing good laws and national action plans to address VAW. We also call on the UN to take bolder action on the UN Secretary-General’s “UNiTE to End VAW” Campaign Framework for Action. We are all accountable for playing our part in reducing violence at the individual and community levels, as well as at the nation-state and global levels.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a human rights violation.

Join the 16 Days e-mail discussion!
Join the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence e-mail listserv discussion, which gives activists a space to share work against violence, build partnerships with others worldwide, and develop strategies and themes for the annual 16 Days Campaign. To join the discussion, visit: https://email.rutgers.edu/mailman/listinfo/16days_discussion.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership.

http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/kit09/theme.html

On this 10th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we can applaud the fact that the issue of violence against women and girls is no longer treated as simply a woman’s concern. Thanks to the persistent and dedicated efforts by women’s rights activists in all parts of the world, it is now a human rights issue, a peace and security issue, and an issue of urgent concern to both men and women.

There are now more national plans, policies and laws in place than ever before, and momentum is also growing in the intergovernmental arena: last year the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1820 which for the first time addresses sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations as an international security issue. This year we saw the passage of two new Security Council resolutions — 1888 and 1889 — that will greatly strengthen the ability of the UN to address the problem of sexual violence in conflict and pave the way for stronger involvement of women in post-conflict peace-building and reconstruction to take their specific needs into account.

There is also more commitment at the highest levels of power, as we experienced last year when UNIFEM’s Say NO to Violence against Women initiative mobilized scores of heads of state, ministers and parliamentarians to add their names to a global call for action. The Say NO initiative, which is a contribution by UNIFEM to the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, has now been re-launched as an innovative advocacy platform that stimulates and showcases actions and brings the spotlight to global efforts. Thousands of actions from organizations and individuals that have been registered over just the last few weeks demonstrate the groundswell of activity around the world by dedicated people who are determined to put an end to this appalling human rights violation.

Despite these achievements, huge challenges remain. It is shocking that based on available country data, up to 70 percent of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime. It happens everywhere — at home and at work, on the streets and in schools, during peacetime and in conflict.

We still live in a world where violence against women and girls is a major source of insecurity for half the world’s population, from domestic violence to female genital mutilation; from so called honour killings to mass rape in times of war. The gap between the promises and realities on the ground is still too wide and violence against women and girls continues to pose some of the world’s greatest challenges.

However, the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign offers a historic opportunity for demanding greater action. The campaign places the issue at the top of the UN agenda and calls on governments, civil society, women’s organizations, men, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing this global pandemic. On the occasion of today’s Anniversary and as a part of his campaign, the Secretary-General is launching a Network of Men Leaders who pledge to act on ending violence against women and girls in their countries and communities. Involvement of men and boys, along with empowerment of women, are critical to achieving gender equality and fulfilling the promise of a life free of violence for every women and every girl. http://www.unifem.org/news_events/event_detail.php?EventID=308

There is no room for spectators in advocating for the advancement of women’s rights. Governments must act to implement existing international commitments at the national level. We need national accountability frameworks that include adequate and appropriate standards of protection and response. Among the measures which are urgently required are:
* Adequate national legislation that is aligned with human rights standards;
* National action plans to combat violence against women and girls and to put in place the institutional, technical and financial resources required for coordinated, multisectoral responses;
* Immediate “frontline” support and services from the police, health and legal aid providers for survivors of gender-based violence;
* Collection, analysis and dissemination of data as an essential component for measuring the progress of anti-violence initiatives, developing effective strategies and allocating budgets;
* Targeted prevention programmes as a next frontier in addressing the issue, specifically focusing on youth and adolescents.
* Yet each and every one of us has a crucial role to play, too. We can make a difference by raising a generation that will not resort to violence, by volunteering to provide services, by raising funds and by raising our voices to say no to violence against women. The solution lies within us: through concerted action we can put an end to violence against women and girls.

By Inés Alberdi, Executive Director, UNIFEM

http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=976

International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women 25 November 2009

The Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, seizes the opportunity of the International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November) to present her approach to the mandate, both in terms of thematic priorities and cooperation with other mechanisms, with a view to enhance efforts to eliminate violence against women.

“Significant progress achieved in recent years in the international legal response to violence against women has resulted in the explicit recognition of violence against women as a human rights concern. However, the reality on the ground shows that many forms and manifestations of violence against women remain endemic around the world, cutting across national boundaries, race, class, culture, tradition and religion. The consequences include the violation of dignity and also of the right to equality, non-discrimination, physical integrity and freedom from violence.”

“The protection, promotion and fulfillment of all rights require a holistic and intersectional approach. States have a responsibility to eliminate violence against women through numerous measures, including through legal and policy frameworks, through a responsive criminal justice system, through the provision of social services and also through economic empowerment policies. The due diligence standard requires States to promote the right to be free from all forms of violence, both private and public; and also to develop and implement legislation, policies and programmes that specifically address prevention, protection, prosecution and compensation.”

“Over the last fifteen years, the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women has evolved at both a conceptual and a practical level. At the conceptual level, the mandate has evolved to capture a wider spectrum of acts as they manifest from the home to the transnational arena, i.e. ranging from domestic violence or global trafficking to the impact of globalisation on women. At the practical level, the mandate involves regional networking, implementation of international laws, technical assistance and monitoring of international laws. The current approach emphasises the universality of violence against women, the multiplicity of its forms, the intersectionality of diverse kinds of discrimination against women, and its linkage to other systems of domination based on inequality and subordination.”

“It is with this approach that I intend to further strengthen the mandate by addressing a number of thematic concerns which in my view require timely and focused attention. These include the issues of reparations to women for wrongs committed in contexts of peace, conflict, post-conflict and transitional justice settings; prevention strategies including those which promote women’s empowerment and engagement in challenging patriarchal interpretations of norms, values and rights; and multiple, intersecting and aggravated forms of discrimination affecting women and leading to increased levels of violence and limitation or denial of their human rights.”

“The work and the challenges ahead require increased joint efforts with other international human rights mechanisms. In this regard, I am committed to strengthen synergies with the system of special procedures, the treaty bodies – and CEDAW in particular -, the Universal Period Review of the Human Rights Council, as well as with other entities as the Commission on the Status of Women and the new UN gender equality structure. I am also committed to promoting and strengthening the engagement of the mandate with regional mechanisms and civil society actors. The upcoming Beijing +15 and the review of the implementation of the Platform for Action; the 30th anniversary celebrations and reflections on the achievements of the CEDAW; and the recent Security Council Resolution 1888 strengthening the response to the issue of sexual violence in conflict situations, all provide us with the opportunity to intensify our efforts towards protection, prosecution, prevention and provision of effective redress to women who have been subjected to violence.”

“The Secretary-General’s campaign titled ‘UNiTE to end violence against women’ identifies five key outcomes in its Framework of Action. These include: the adoption and enforcement of national laws; the adoption and implementation of multi-sectoral national plans of action that emphasise prevention and are adequately resourced ; the establishment of data collection and analysis systems on the prevalence of various forms of violence against women and girls ; the establishment of national and/or local campaigns and the engagement of civil society in preventing violence and in supporting women and girls who have been abused ; and the adoption of systematic efforts to address sexual violence in conflict situations and to protect women and girls from rape as a tactic of war, and the full implementation of related laws and policies.”

“The above outcomes and also the due diligence standard provide us with an opportunity to address impunity and to demand accountability. Holding both state and non-state actors accountable for acts of violence against women is an imperative that cannot be ignored. The advocacy campaigns over the next 16 days once again challenge us to focus on ways, measures and means to eliminate all forms of violence against women. It is only by placing women’s human rights, including the right to be free from violence, at the center of such efforts that we will be able to build a more secure world, based on the common goal and the shared obligation of ensuring that human rights are universally and equally enjoyed.”

Ms. Rashida Manjoo (South Africa) was appointed Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its causes and consequences by the United Nations Human Rights Council for an initial period of three years at its 11th session in June 2009. As Special Rapporteur, she is independent from any government or organization and serves in her individual capacity.

For additional information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, please visit the website: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/index.htm

For interviews or other information contact Gloria Carrera at + 41 22 917 9120 email: gcarrera@ohchr.org

Religion is scam, end of story.
Besides people don’t believe in god.. they pretend to believe in the fake reward of eternal life, take the fake reward out.. BANG god goes with it.
Ohh and no don’t fund atheism with government money.. stop funding religion.
Put that money into real things.. .ok.