Report of launching Gender Equality Platform at PES Congress

The Regional South Eastern European Platform for Gender Equality was launched at PES Women and PES Congress in Budapest (11-13 June 2015). The Platform was also endorsed, not only by social democratic and progressive parties in the region, but also by over fifty high level men and women politicians from the PES family.

The Platform calls for:

1. Strengthening the rule of law and respect for women’s rights as fundamental human rights through measures to combat violence against women; giving women the right to decide about their body and procreation; implementing a  gender-sensitive active employment policy; defending workers’ rights and taking measures against the unemployment of women, including the elimination of the pay gap between women and men.
2. Strengthening democracy and gender equality within the socialist, social democratic and progressive forces, parties and their policies through gender parity in party bodies; electoral lists (with the use of quotas to achieve a ratio of 50/50 to 2020); gender-sensitive political platforms and decisions, as well as adequate capacity building for party cadres for policy implementation and the allocation of adequate  financial resources for party work in promoting gender equality in all spheres of life.

At a PES Congress CEE Gender Network was accepted as a part of PES Family as an observer.

Check out:

Gender_Equality_Platform

Seize The Moment – Shape Your Future – Low ResFinal

Sonja Lokar participated in conference “Ukraine, Moldova, Georga: European Choice”

Party of European Socialist (PES), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and Forum for Democracy and Solidarity held a two day international conference “Ukraine, Moldova, Georga: European Choice” in Kiev, November 15-16.

Marina Muskelishvili from Georgian Centre for Social Studies summerised the situation in these three countries in one paragraph:

“Crucial decisions concerning development of our countries are taken by global actors, this make our nations ungovernable. The governments can not deliver according to the expectations of the people, and when national leaders do not know what to do, they become populists and go to war in order to generate political support. The only way out of it, is to work out a social democratic reform of democracy an all its institutions, working together, SD from the EU and SD  in aspirant countries”.

CEE Network representative Sonja Lokar added:

We should do it by including women in this endeavor, on equal footing with men, as women are most vitally interested in peace, participatory democracy, decent, equally paid work, in universally available, efficient social services: education, heath, child care, care for elderly, social protection in case of unemployment….

Sonja Lokar also held a consultations with the team of young activist, working on the joint LP WF project named New SD Platform for Ukraine.