After Its Relay Round the Planet, the Women's Global Charter for Humanity Gets a New Start

OUAGADOUGOU, October 18, 2005. Close to 4000 people were present at the end of the Relay of the Women's Global Charter for Humanity on October 17, here in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Hundreds of women from Ouagadougou and the provinces mobilized to attend the event. Also present were delegations from South Africa, Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger and many women from the Basque Country, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, France, Galicia, Haiti, Italy, India, Jordan, Netherlands, Peru, Québec and Switzerland.

The women marched through the city singing and shouting slogans, demanding the application of the values contained in the Charter: freedom, equality, solidarity, justice and peace.

The march ended with a naming ceremony of the Place de la Femme pour la Paix (Women’s Peace Square), in the centre of Ouagadougou. The officials present and the members of the March International Committee, representing the different regions of the world, released doves and displayed the solidarity patchwork quilt. The quilt consists of approximately 60 squares made by women during the Relay to illustrate the values contained in the Charter. The diversity of the squares mirrors the diversity of the members of the March.

Awa Ouédraogo, the March coordinator in Burkina Faso, pointed out that the last leg of the Relay took place in her country to underscore the poverty and violence experienced by women there. With the international delegation present in Ouagadougou as witnesses, she demanded “the presence of 20% women in the next government and 30% of elected members to the legislative assembly following the elections scheduled for 2006.”

“The Charter is a tool that we want to use to make governments and international institutions move, to work with our allies, to change women’s lives in concrete ways, to change the world,” International Secretariat coordinator Diane Matte added.

This is why the March decided to designate certain women, women’s groups or social movements as keepers of the Charter. Egyptian writer Nawal El Saddawi will be the keeper of the Charter on behalf of the value “equality.”

The peasant movement Via Campesina, fighting for fair land distribution, a real land reform and food sovereignty, is a keeper of the Charter because of its commitment to build another world and the value of “solidarity.”

For the value of “peace,” the March gave the Charter to the Women in Black network. Founded by Jewish and Palestinian women opposed to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the militarization of the region, this movement now exists throughout the world. It is made up of women fighting against conflicts in the world and against the violence women are subjected to during those conflicts.

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace laureate and opposed to the dictatorship ruling her country, received the Charter for her commitment to “freedom.”

Last, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, in Argentina, who for 30 years have been demanding that justice be done for their loved ones who disappeared, are keepers of Charter in the name of the value of “justice.”

Other individuals and groups will be identified subsequently, thereby giving the Charter a new start.

These events took place while actions were held in support of the Women's Global Charter for Humanity all over the planet, at noon, thereby forming a 24-hour wave of solidarity.

Moreover, to mark their active solidarity with the women of Burkina Faso, women of the March from all over the world chipped in to grant a scholarship to a young Burkinan woman to study journalism and communications.

Women writers, journalists and feminist activists sent us their thoughts in essays on the Charter. Fina d’Armada (Portugal), Nawal El Saddawi (Egypt), Ghislaine Sathoud (Congo-Brazzaville), Florence Montreynaud (France) and Luz Piedad Caceido (Colombia) accepted to have their writings published on this Web site. Other articles are in preparation.

For more information, photos or interviews, please contact Brigitte Verdière, communications officer, World March of Women, bverdiere@marchemondiale.org