Soroptimists throughout New Zealand have had many enquiries about helping the thousands affected by the devastation of the earthquake on Tuesday February 22nd at 12.51 p.m. 165 people died and several thousand were seriously injured. You will have seen clips and pictures on TV and internet. Women are particularly

 Below are some updates from Soroptimists in the affected areas – SI’s thoughts are with you.  Please visit SISWP's website for more information and up to date news.  Sheilah Downs, SI Lower Hutt, NZ My nephew's wife Alison, is a nurse and was on the 14th floor of the Grand Chancellor Hotel,

 At its fifty-sixth session, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 2000/10 of 17 April 2000, in which it decided  to appoint, for a period of three years, a Special Rapporteur on the right to food in order to better respond to the necessity for an integrated and coordinated approach

  The 49th Sessions for the Commission for Social Development recently convened at the UN in New York where  a re-examination of the traditional measures for the eradication of poverty through global development was called for. Most societies continue to be characterised by significant economic and social disparities with sharp contrasts of

  The theme of Commonwealth Day 2011 is ‘Women as Agents of Change’. Women and girls make up over half of the world’s population. In the Commonwealth, that’s over one billion women and girls! As part of the events taking place throughout the year to celebrate this theme, the Commonwealth

The Human Rights Advisory Committee published the findings of a study into the right to food in January. The report is very informative, providing some concise and powerful insights into the challenges facing women and girls - in particular, rural women. Despite global efforts to combat extreme poverty through the

Congratulations to Hilary Ratcliffe and Anusha Santhirasthipam on their appointment as Co-Directors of International Programme for SI. For the forthcoming biennium, SI has decided to appoint two International Programme Directors to progress SI’s strategic plan. The review panel, including representatives from each Federation, felt that this was the best approach

An e-discussion on Education: Closing the Gap is being held from 1 February to 4 March, organised by the Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Development Group’s MDG-Net forum. The

Torild Skard, Senior Researcher and Chair of the Norwegian Association of Women’s Rights has published a great article on the history of the UN, gender equality and inclusion called 'Getting Our History Right'. For those who want to know more about the history of women's issues at the UN and

The United Nations University Office at the United Nations is broadcasting a Live Webcast as part of the Current Affairs Series entitled "2011 AARP-UN Briefing Series on Global Aging" on key global aging issues from February 8-9, 2011. Date: 8th and 9th of February, 2011 Time: 1:30 pm - 3:00