Our key activity was in Canberra (the nation's capital) on Monday, June 27th where an all-day Women’s Expo was held in the Exhibition Room of our Legislative Assembly building. Ms Katy Gallagher, the Minister for Women accepted the Charter on behalf of the women of Australia and other parliamentary dignitaries was present. The Expo featured music, banners, brochures and display materials from across women’s and community services – we have asked that they reflect the five values underpinning the Charter. We were arranging to have some photos taken in Washington and New York at the WMW 2000 enlarged as part of the display as we wanted to share the spirit of the women who gathered there.

On Tuesday evening, June 28th, a representative flew out of Sydney to deliver the Charter to the dear women in Japan. She will join them for a solidarity meeting in Tokyo.

In Japan, women mobilize against the government's project to rewrite on war-renouncing article 9 of the Constitution. Women of the World March of Women will hold a meeting and a rally on July, 1st. They also sent postcards to Korean women, to whom they will give the Charter, including supporting messages (see in the following page).

Read more about the relay in Osaka on July 2.

The World Relay will passed by the Republic of Korea between July 3rd and July 5th, 2005. Japanese and Korean women united their voices in an appeal for peace in East Asia. They visited a DMZ (demilitarization zone) and initiated a discussion together. On July 6th, there was a Women Peace March which is an anti-war action and a campaign against VAW (Violence against women).

More information and pictures in our News section.

Women from Philippines will hold a welcome march for the arrival of the Charter and the quilt. They plan to present those symbols to the media in a press conference during the Women’s Summit. They will also have a community rally-program for the sewing of the quilt.

July10. Arrival of the WMW quilt from the Philippines.

July 11. WMW quilt will be presented in Vientiane Capital. Gathering of women and sewing of the Lao quilt to the WMW quilt.

July 12. Caravan from Vientiane Capital to Laos-Thailand border where we will meet Thailand and Burma group at the centre of the Friendship Bridge.

Joint focal point with Thailand.

Women has begun holding workshops about the Charter in March. The Charter shall arrive from Thai/Burma in Kolkata. There will be six regional events in different states – West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka – involving women of two states or more at each event. Finally, the Charter will reach Delhi. It will then be handed over to the President of India and a press conference will be held. A national delegation for Peace and Solidarity will transfer the Relay to women in Pakistan.

Events will be held mainly during two days:

July 31, 2005
Place: Al Mina Harbour, Tripoli, 06:00 pm
Event: A huge crowd of people is expected, including representatives of the townhall, NGOs, organizations. They'll come withe the lebanese flag, posters, signs about the 5 values contained in the Charter. Then, they'll march "on the sea" (cruise) rallying islands.

August, 1rst
Place: Main road, downtown, Tripoli, o6:00 pm
Event: A large crowd will rally on a closed street, with representatives of the townhall and from the local civil society. An artistic performance including art exhibition (drawnings, music evoking the 5 values of the Charter) will be held and interviews with the press.

Women will invite civil society representatives to Amman, the capital, where there will be an official presentation of the Charter to highlight its importance. They will also submit the Charter to their government so they take measures to inscribe the values in our national legislation. There will be meetings at the regional level to discuss the content of the Charter.

On Saturday August 6th, there will be an activity in the city hall of Amman under the patronage of his Excellency the Mayor of “Great Amman”. A delegate from Tunisia, another from Lebanon and a delegation from the Palestinian occupied territories will also attend the main activity and be invited to address their speeches.

The main activity will be held in South Darfur. In solidarity with women in Darfur, two of our task force will accompany the relay there; it will be a one-day celebration. After that, they will return to Khartoum and the relay will be sent to the Great Lakes region.

Another activity will take place simultaneously in North Darfur, in collaboration with local organizations, to introduce the WMW.

Joint focal point with Burundi and Rwanda.

Women in Congo are planning:

• Radio shows on different stations of the cities of Bukavu, Goma, Kisangani and Kinshasa, followed by a big conference/debate on the Women’s Global Charter for Humanity;
• A march from the place of reception of the Charter to the hall where will be organized a conference for the official presentation of the Charter;
• Presentation of the Charter to the local political authorities;
• A march to accompany the Charter to Gisenyi, at the border of Congo and Rwanda;
• Ceremonies for the hand over of the Charter and the Quilt.

Joint focal point with Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Rwanda, the Charter has been translated in Kinyarwanda. Pro-Femmes held awareness campaigns in the provinces and did education on the Charter. The Rwandese women embroided their symbol on their patchwork for the quilt.

To sum up, the activities in Rwanda were:

• Translation of the Charter,
• Education about the Charter,
• Drawing and slogan,
• Welcoming of the Charter and the quilt from the women of DRC,
• Transmission of the Charter and the quilt to women in Burundi,
• On October 17th, by noon, solidarity action for the poorest women.

Joint focal point with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

The women of the CAFOB in Burundi will receive the relay from their sisters at the border with Rwanda and would like to have a delegation travelling to Mozambique to transmit the Charter and the quilt to the women there. Here are the activities they plan:

• Translation of the Charter in Kirundi
• Popularization of the message of the CharterText about the Charter in the newsletter “Nawe arashoboye” made for the women by CAFOB
• Welcoming of the quilt on September 15th 2005 at the Kanyaru border (of Rwanda and Burundi) by a delegation of women from the government and feminine associations conducted by the minister of Social Action and Promotion of the Woman
• Sewing of the patchwork of Burundi to the international quilt in Kanyaru
• Trip back to Bujumbura
• On September 16th, 2005, national celebrations around the relay at the FFB stadium
• On September 17th, 2005, handing over of the relay to the women of Mozambique.

September 18th

- Welcoming of a delegation from the Great Lakes region (Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi) who will bring the Women’s Global Charter and their national squares for the patchwork quilt of solidarity.

- Car procession from the airport to the accomodation place of the delegates from the Great Lakes.

- Reception to welcome the visiting delegation with women’s organizations and Board of directors of Forum Mulheres.

September 19th

- National march from the Freedom Square to the Independence Square, where will be held the main event of the World March of Women in Mozambique. Presentation of the Women’s Global Charter for Humanity, of the Declaration of Women from Mozambique, and of the National Patchwork Quilt of Solidarity.

September 20th

- Visit of a few projects or organizations members of Forum Mulheres.

September 21st

- Departure of a Mozambican delegation to hand over the relay and the squares for the quilt to women in South Africa.

Women in Benin will receive the relay from the Cameroon. They also plan the visit of delegations from Ghana, Niger and Togo, in addition to other women’s groups from all over the country.

Meetings and workshops are planned with the mayors of a few cities and the speaker of the Parliament.

On October 3rd, the women will march to meet with the First Lady. The women in Benin will hand over the relay to their neighbours from Guinea. They also plan to have a delegation attending the end of the relay 2005 in Burkina Faso.

A group of women will welcome the relay at the Conakry airport, with a group of majorettes accompanying it to the French-Guinean Cultural Center (Sory Kandja Kouyaté) where other women will wait their arrival. A 2-km march is planned from the Cameroune Station to the Sory Kandja Kouyaté.

On the second and third days, we plan some activities to explain the Women’s Global Charter in the five areas of Conakry.

The fourth day, the women in Guinea will present their demands to the Prime Minister, through the Minister of Social Affairs. Those claims are, among others, about the acceleration of the project of a new code on the persons and the families which always delays being adopted.

We also plan to have a folk danse (mamaya), and then a group of women will bring the relay to the airport. A delegate from Guinea will accompany the relay and will hand it over to the Senegalese women.

The passage of the relay in Senegal has been a great success; the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister received the Charter and the quilt. They were accompanied by the Ministers of the Women and of the Relations with the institutions.

Congratulations to the women in Senegal, and everywhere in the world!

Women in Ghana will collect signatures in participating regions (Western, Central, Greater Accra and Northern). They want to present 5000 and more signatures in a support petition to speaker of Parliament. The theme is: “Right to Property, Secure Property Rights, Secure Family Life”.

In October, 3000 women should converge in Accra and march to the Parliament. They will march for their rights, present their petition to the Speaker, and draw attention to the enactment of the law on the property rights of spouses.

The Secretariat of ATWWAR will produce a national quilt representing peace. There will be the presentation of the Women’s Global Charter for Humanity to the Minister of Women and Children Affairs. The national activities programme will also be presented.

There will be radio and TV discussions about “Women working together to Secure Property Rights of Spouses” at local, regional and national levels. They also want the population to be aware of their national activities and to discuss the themes of the Charter with a special reference to the situation in Ghana.

Mali welcomed the relay in the morning of October 11, from the Senegalese representative. The ceremony was leaded by the First Lady, spouse of the chief of the Malian State, who was the first to sew on the patchwork, in the presence of all the women ministers in Mali, a few ambassadors and a lot of other well-known Malians. The party was great. Mali left with the relay on October 13 to arrive in Burkina Faso the day after.

October 17th, end of the Relay. There will be a march to a site chosen for the final step of the Relay and possibly the maiden of a woman statue on a place that could be named Place de la Femme pour la Paix ("Woman for Peace" Square). The statue will be covered by the solidarity quilt, and then unveil in a call for peace. In May, the women have organized a caravan that crossed the regions of the country with activities such as a women bicycle race, a forum-debate, and participatory theatre around the five values of the Charter.