Coming Out of the International Colloquium-Liberia

The Monrovia Declaration
A Call to Action from the participants of the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security
Monrovia, Liberia
International Women’s Day, March 8, 2009

We, who came together for the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security, have joined together under the inspiring leadership of H.E. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, and H.E. Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland to celebrate and draw strength from women’s leadership at all levels.

We recall the spirit of Beijing and other African regional and global gatherings, and the reaffirmation of women’s rights exemplified in the Beijing Platform of Action, African regional instruments and CEDAW. We honor the great strides women have made since then to achieve leadership positions in international arenas and close to home. We note that women in the 21st century hold high-level positions and at the same time are doing extraordinary work at the community level.

We came together as leaders celebrating our achievements, solidifying our commitment to work together for change, reassessing our efforts, and strategizing to achieve greater success.
We stand in solidarity with our sisters in Darfur, Zimbabwe, and conflict areas around the world. We commit our energies to accelerating the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
We recognize that we are living through multiple global crises that are threatening our security at all levels which are having a devastating impact on the lives of girls and women all over the world. What is now required is a paradigm shift in our approach to global security and development that puts women at the center of social, economic and political policies.

It has been shown in East Asia and Latin America, that women are particularly vulnerable to reductions in exports, foreign direct investment and remittances. As countries put in place their economic stimulus packages for development, we urge them to target women’s economic empowerment. But while women are vulnerable, they should not be viewed only as victims but as agents of change and worth investing in as a smart way to help rebuild economies.

The aspirations we hold as women and men coming together in Monrovia are not satisfied by the policies and practices we see all around us. We therefore shaped the Colloquium around thematic priorities that, if acted upon, would make a fundamental and sustained improvement in the lives of women and girls and their communities. Having convened this historic event, we now make a collective call for profound changes in the priorities that shape policies and resource allocations from the global to the local level, and demand accountability from the institutions and individuals who must effect these changes.

We call for full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 for the protection, participation and promotion of women’s rights in peace processes, and the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1820 that addresses sexual violence as a tactic of war. We call for greater accountability to accelerate implementation by all stakeholders - UN Member States, the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Secretary General. We call on them to present their plans of action and accomplishments at the 2010 Ministerial Review Conference of UNSCR 1325. The call to accountability and end to impunity on crimes against women should be in the declaration.

We further encourage countries to collaborate creatively and support each other on the development and implementation of National Action Plans on SCR 1325.
We commit to honor women’s leadership at all levels of community and public life and to enable through our actions and decisions women leaders, in particular young women, to take up roles of leadership and responsibility.

We call for greater numbers of women in leadership. We’ve seen that if we have more women, we see better decision-making by states and communities. It has been demonstrated that the discourse changes with their involvement, and we want to see these changes on a sustained basis. Liberia and Finland, both co-conveners of the Colloquium, are examples of this. We also call for male leaders to respect and promote women’s rights and leadership development.

We call for greater efforts to enable and empower women to participate fully and on fair terms in the economic life of their communities, removing barriers and increasing their capacity in trade and business activity from the local to the global level. Women and men deserve the right to decent work opportunities in the formal and informal economy. Women’s rights must be respected in the workplace and within value chains no matter how dispersed. In the current economic and food crisis, we need to make sure responses to this situation, such as stimulus packages and trade finance support, are specifically apportioned for women.

We commit to ensure that women will be present and their voices heard in all debates concerning climate change with a particular commitment to women’s participation in the global climate change summit in Copenhagen in December 2009.
We call for far greater urgency in addressing the mitigation and adaptation aspects of climate change – otherwise we risk undermining all our efforts to date on eradicating poverty and suffering. An acknowledgement of women’s roles as powerful agents of change, and their greater vulnerability to climate change impacts in many societies, must be demonstrated through women’s greater role in climate change negotiations and incorporation of gender considerations in the new agreement as well as in international, national, and local strategies and programmes implementing this agreement.

To better protect women and girls in displacement settings, to uphold the dignity of migrants and to enhance the social and economic integration of migrant women and men alike, we call for a gender-based approach to migration management, promoting policies and programmes integrating the needs of migrant women and supporting migrant women in diaspora communities to engage in development efforts through their availability, skills, knowledge, expertise and financial resources.
The leadership of young people, and especially young women, is critical to advancing development, peace and security. The participation of young people is a prerequisite to the development of communities and nations.

Young people are the inheritors of decisions made today which affect the future. We commit to the inclusion of young women and young men in decision-making processes and leadership and in all processes that work towards the achievement of the MDGs. We therefore call for:

• Urgent investment to support young women and young men in the achievement of the MDGs including women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.
• The creation of safe and supportive spaces which enable the leadership development of young women.

We further commit to unite and mobilize our collective leadership to end violence against women and especially young women. We call for safe and supportive environments for women and girls who have experienced violence and abuse. We commit to work collaboratively with women’s organizations and networks.

If these calls are met with action, not empty promises, the future will be brighter for every girl, every woman, every grandmother, and for the men who share their aspirations and their life

Ok, very nicely spelled out. So how will conversations in local communities continue around these principles? How do progressive women's groups and others engage policy makers over the next several months to ensure that "these calls are met with action?" I'm wondering about sustainability and institutionalizing practice around these goals. Did this piece also run in the papers? What has the pick up been like on local radio stations? Is there a long term PR/media strategy to ensure that these issues stay in the forefront of folks' minds?

Are there any female playrights in Monrovia developing works or performing works that dramatize the unique challenges women face in Lib today?

Jst thinking out loud.

Daaaamn, Traveller, what's in your coffee this morning?

Nica wrote:

Daaaamn, Traveller, what's in your coffee this morning?

Ahn geh nating to do since my wife not here and I spending ho day with my chayrehn.

as u said...'all very nicely spelled out'.

Are there any female playrights in Monrovia developing works or performing works that dramatize the unique challenges women face in Lib today?

u know something that still hetting my heart? at the opening of the ceremony, someone recited a maya angelou's poem, still i rise. i love maya and will deal with anyone who messes with her....but chay...what happened to elma shaw and stephanie horton and helene cooper? so how we localize this is far from my mind since i had assumed that our 'local' work would feature highly in the colloquium to send out the message that liberian women are on a path towards joining other sisters. my assumption was wrong. so while my natural reaction would be to be overly optimistic about the last two days, as with everything ellen, i will say, we did well just in the organization and gathering of women. the national dimension to the colloquium was also good in bringing in Liberian women to discuss the objectives to the colloquium. small point: it was difficult to even get an invitation. up to saturday morning, we were wondering what was happening. at skd, i understood that the government had said any one culd attend but this was after all the women stayed at home since they did not get an invitation. this da long story let me leave it.

krazzy wrote:

as u said...'all very nicely spelled out'.

Are there any female playrights in Monrovia developing works or performing works that dramatize the unique challenges women face in Lib today?

u know something that still hetting my heart? at the opening of the ceremony, someone recited a maya angelou's poem, still i rise. i love maya and will deal with anyone who messes with her....but chay...what happened to elma shaw and stephanie horton and helene cooper? so how we localize this is far from my mind since i had assumed that our 'local' work would feature highly in the colloquium to send out the message that liberian women are on a path towards joining other sisters. my assumption was wrong.

I say Krazzy, you couldn't have been right oohh. This same nonsense had me mad like hell during Ellen's remarkable inauguration. The renowned UL choir had to sing the anthem "The Heavens are telling the glory of God" by Composer Franz Joseph Haydn.

You mean to tell me the university choir director couldn’t have composes a freaking song for this historic occasion, but they had to sing a European classic.- We never appreciate our own yah – da dey God forsaking Liberian yah of thinking.

i really thot about elma and the work she has done around bringing the consequences of the war and hopes for peace to the fore with her book. why couldn't she be there?

I thought about Elma too. I also thought about Patricia Jabbeh Wesley and many of the aspiring thespians on the ground. What happen to Evelyn Fairley?

yea..wesley...

evelyn is here and making movies...big time

Krazzy, when we were in high school Evelyn used to be an incredibly gifted basketball player!

http://www.tlcafrica.com/wc_photos_09/pictures_from_liberia_08_715.htm

Love all the african outfits....Damn I need to go back home to shop

i think they were invited. we were talking about the reading of maya's poem at the opening when it could have been a wesley's or knuckles' poem. morning flo

Hi KR. I got that part of the discussion and agree cuz if we dont expose our own artists works no one else will.

[quote="LadyFlo"]It would indeed be a shame if Elma or other Liberian women that are striving to make a difference weren’t invited. It may be shocking to note that most kids in high school in Lib today cant list 5 liberian authors. Shouldn’t it be part of curriculum to learn about local authors. I know that’s the only way I learned about Wilton Sankawolo and Bai T. Moore cuz I had to read their book and short stories. What happen to those days.

Elma, Helene, Stephanie, Patricia, Evelyn and many more unknown names are the ones that could have greater success in spreading the importance of what took place back home. This may just be my view but education ministry shud consider making it compulsory for student to learn the art of the Liberia authors and inspirational folks. Maya Angelou is dear to my heart to but she would appreciate us recognizing our own on sight an occasion. Ok I talking plenty nah so I’ll pause here. Lol[/quote


Flo, i don't think it is compulsory but should be necessary. The awareness should also be created. There is a need for Libraries to be built in all major cities and communities where these books can be made available.................

Well i say complusory cuz honestly not many of our high school kids go to libraries these days. eventhough i do not have the slightest idea how many libraries are in Liberia now, i know for a fact u have the ratio of 1 in every 20 student that'll go to a libraries to read any book.

Making it complusory to have a least 1 Liberia author book read in either a literature or any other class isn't too much to ask.

Hmmm, I say the power of words...

gadyu..u economist? skimming on words?