Invitation to the media in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The Women's Global Charter for Humanity Relay will end On October 17, 2005 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

• On October 16, at 7h30, at a press conference that will take place in the « Restaurant Mont Blanc » (CGP first floor, in Koulouba).

• On October 17, at noon, at the baptism of the WMW for Peace public square, at the new roundabout of Boinsse-yaar, north of the « Archevêché ». Women will begin their march at 10h30 at Wemtenga au secteur 29.

Mrs Chantal Compaoré, First Lady of Burkina Faso, will be present at this ceremony, as well as an important international delegation.

On October 17, 2005, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the women of the World March of Women will complete the Women's Global Charter for Humanity World Relay.

For the occasion, many women will gather in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the last stop of the Relay, to remind the planet that women are demanding the elimination of poverty and violence against women and that they want to build a world based on equality, freedom, solidarity, justice and peace. They will come from African countries but also from European, Asian and American countries.

The Women's Global Charter for Humanity was adopted on December 2004. The Relay began on March 8, 2005, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. At every stop, women organize actions to present and distribute the Charter and transmit it to decision-makers. In every country women also create a quilt square representing the values of the Charter that they then attach to an international solidarity quilt. The patchwork quilt will be presented in Ouagadougou on October 17. during the baptism of the Peace Square.

Mrs Chantal Compaoré, First Lady of Burkina Faso, will be present at this baptism. Women will release doves and peasants will read the values of the Charter in the vernacular languages.

Peace was highlighted during the Relay, in many countries around the world. Many women held actions to promote this value, like in Colombia, in Cyprus where Greek and Turkish Cypriot women from the World March staged a joint action. Japanese women showed their opposition to their country's remilitarization by denouncing a revision of article 9 of the Constitution.

Corean women inscribed the symbol for peace on their square of quilt to reflect their profound attachment to this value.

In India and Pakistan, women also acted together. A delegation of Indian women visited Pakistan's coordinating body to participate in workshops on violence against women.

Arab women also called for peace in their region as the Relay passes through Lebanon, Tunisia, and Jordan. During the 13th International Conference of Women in Black, that took place in Jerusalem in August, a delegation of women went to Ramallah to show its support to the Palestinian women.

Then the Relay went on to the region of the Great Lakes of Africa where women from Burundi, Congo and Rwanda, have been working together for many years to build a society without war and conflict.

Women also denounced all kinds of discriminations they live in the social, political, cultural fields.

Please, note that on October 17, while the relay ends in Burkina, women in all time zones will successively take to the streets at noon to stage actions for one hour. This is how they will show their support for the blueprint for society depicted in the Women's Global Charter for Humanity. In the Pacific Islands (New Caledonia, Samoa, etc.), the women of Asia will kick off the relay, followed by the women of Africa, then Europe and so on.

International participation

We are expecting delegates from : South Africa, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Spain, France, Guinea, Haiti, India, Italy, Jordan, Mali, Netherlands, Peru, Philippines, Québec, Rwanda, Senegal.

You can download the WOMEN'S GLOBAL CHARTER FOR HUMANITY from our Web site: http://www.marchemondiale.org/en/charter3.html

For more information, interviews, pictures, please contact :

Brigitte Verdière, Communications Officer.

Till October 7, 2005 : 1-514-395-1196 (Montreal, Canada)

From October 11 till October 18: 226-76 49 74 53 (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)

World March of Women, 110 rue Ste-Thérèse, #203, Montréal, Québec (Canada) H2Y 1E6

Fax : 1-514-395-1224

info@marchemondiale.org www.world.marchofwomen.org