Days of action for women's lives, health and rights.

In 1996, the Women's Health Network began actively promoting two annual campaigns celebrating two dates that are emblematic for the women's health movement: May 28th, International Day of Action for Women's Health, and November 25th, International Day Against Violence Against Women. Since its creation, LACWHN has been involved in activities held on these two days to commemorate women's struggles, as well as other campaigns, such as September 28th, Day for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, in 1996, the Network began coordinating Calls for Action and providing financial support for small projects implemented by its member groups in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

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Through this program, LACWHN seeks to forge links among member groups to promote action on issues related to the condition of women, to place these issues on the public agenda and to foster public debate. This focus is expected to raise the awareness of other social actors and to boost support for LACWHN member organizations in their countries and the region.

As most of the activities carried out in these campaigns are implemented by grassroots women's organizations that have few resources at their disposal, LACWHN's support may be modest, but it is vital for developing the capacities of these groups and assisting them in their efforts to reach their identified target audiences.

The priorities identified by LACWHN in each Call for Action also have had a positive impact: participating organizations clearly identify with the content and through them have felt empowered to recognize their rights. Citizenship, participation, leadership, sexual rights and reproductive rights as human rights, freedom of reproductive choice, sexual diversity, the right to live free from violence, the right to voluntary maternity and access to high-quality health care are just some of the many concepts that women are increasingly appropriating. By internalizing these concepts and integrating them into their daily lives, women have strengthened their discourse and their ability to have an impact in public arenas in which these and related issues are debated.

It is interesting to note that the initiatives implemented by our organizations do not always seem to focus directly on LACWHN's proposed theme, demonstrating that while the organizations are moved to respond to the Call for Action, they also use it as a springboard to design their own projects, approaches and analyses. In other words, the Call for Action is a point of departure for discussions on issues that directly affect the women members of these groups.

Also worth noting is the creativity shown by organizations in designing actions, which range from workshops, panels, open discussions and press conferences to information fairs, artistic presentations, theatrical works, competitions and marches. The creation of self-help groups and task forces (for example, around the issue of violence) has been particularly valuable, allowing women to hear themselves reflected in other voices and understand that they are not alone in their experiences. This strengthens their resolve to overcome obstacles, to recover their self-esteem and confidence, and to demand a life free of all forms of violence.

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In the same way, activities directed towards other sectors, such as health professionals, teachers, students, journalists and even judicial officials and the police, have offered new, clearly-defined pathways for forging key alliances with a significant potential for engendering change. Also, we must not forget that men of all ages, directly or indirectly, often take advantage of these opportunities that women have generated, in many cases choosing to embark upon a profound examination of the way that they live, express and experience their masculinity.

Many organizations have tried to impact areas that lead to changes in public policies and legislation favorable to women. This has not been easy, as it often involves profoundly influencing the mindset of those in power to promote structural modifications. Nevertheless, some advances have been made through the establishment of concrete commitments with national or local government authorities and the creation of task forces in which women interact more horizontally with these authorities, placing their agendas on the table in the search for consensus.

This decade supporting the activism efforts of our membership is therefore both a great achievement for the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network and an incentive to move forward and to coordinate new Calls for Action and design new support strategies and activity proposals.

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In this focus section, we offer a brief overview of our campaigns from 2005 along with a brief description of selected projects associated with each, recognizing that these are just a few of many equally valuable and outstanding initiatives.

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RELATED ARTICLE: May 28 International Day of Action for Women's Health.

Participants at the 5th International "Women and Health" Meeting (San Jose, Costa Rica, 1987) responded to the proposal presented by the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network to create an international day of action for women's health.

For the first eight years, May 28th was celebrated with the Campaign for the Prevention of Maternal Mortality and Morbidity, coordinated jointly by the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights, WGNRR (the Netherlands) and the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network. The primary goal of this campaign was to raise awareness about the high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality--especially in less developed countries--and to denounce these deaths and illnesses, which are preventable in most cases. The campaign demanded that governments develop policies and legislation to confront these senseless losses. Campaign activities included policy and program proposals and discussion forums with academics and health-care workers.

Significantly, this concern of the women's health movement coincided with other campaigns promoted by international health organizations, such as the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization's Safe Motherhood Campaign.

The following Calls for Action were issued under the May 28 Campaign for the Prevention of Maternal Mortality and Morbidity:

1988 - Maternal Mortality: A Call to Women for Action

1989 - Prevent Maternal Mortality and Morbidity: A Call to Women for Action

1990 - A Call to Women for Action: Maternal Mortality and Morbidity

1991 - The Tragedy Must Stop

1992 - Teenage Pregnancies 

1993 - Abortion: We Shall No Longer Be Silent About It!

1994 - All Women Should Have Access to Safe and Legal Abortion

1995 - Stop Feminization of Poverty, Promote Women's Health

In 1996, the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights undertook an international process to evaluate the previous eight years of the campaign and to visualize the best strategies for the future. This overview revealed the need to broaden the campaign's focus to emphasize the paradigm of sexual and reproductive rights and to include other issues that have a direct or indirect impact on women's health. That same year in Cuenca, Ecuador, WGNRR coordinated an evaluation of the past eight years of regional efforts. Along with many other representatives of the women's health movement in Latin America and the Caribbean, LACWHN participated in this evaluation process, which resulted in the decision to promote a new campaign throughout the region: the Advocacy Campaign for the Exercise of Sexual and Reproductive Rights under the sole coordination of the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network.

1996 - Maternal Mortality and Morbidity: Evaluating 8 Years of Campaigns to Keep Advancing. 25 groups from 11 countries took part.

Since 1997, LACWHN has promoted regional activities for May 28th within the broad scope of sexual and reproductive rights under the following Calls for Action:

1997 - Access to Quality Health Care, A Woman's Right. 25 groups from ten countries participated in this campaign.

1998 - Access to Quality Health Care, A Woman's Right. A total of 40 organizations from 14 countries organized events for the campaign.

1999 - Access for Adolescents to Sexual and Reproductive Health Education, Information and Services. This call for action was taken up by 106 groups from 15 countries.

2000 - Access for Adolescents to Sexual and Reproductive Health Education, Information and Services. This year, 157 groups from 14 countries took up the campaign.

2001 - Women's Right to Health: A Civil Right. A total of 119 organizations and networks from 13 countries participated.

2002 - Women's Right to Health: A Civil Right. 200 groups and networks from 14 countries joined this campaign.

2003 - Maternal Mortality: An Issue of Human Rights, A Matter of Social Justice. A total of 127 organization and networks representing 12 countries took part.

2004 - For Women's Comprehensive Health and Rights: ICPD+10, Not One Step Back. This year, 78 organizations from 14 countries participated.

RELATED ARTICLE: November 25 International Day Against Violence Against Women.

At the First Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Meeting (Bogota, Colombia, 1981), November 25th was declared "International Day Against Violence Against Women" in homage to the Dominican Republic's Maribel sisters--Minerva, Maria Teresa and Patria--who were assassinated on this date in 1960 during the Trujillo dictatorship.

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In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly recognized November 25th as an official date to be included in the UN calendar, although various UN agencies--such as UNIFEM and PAHO--already had been celebrating the International Day Against Violence Against Women for a number of years.

Since 1996, the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network has coordinated a regional campaign commemorating this date. Special focus is placed on the serious consequences that gender-based violence has on women's physical and psychological health.

To date, the following campaigns have been undertaken:

1996 - For the Right to Live Without Violence. During the first year of the campaign, 29 groups from 12 countries participated.

1997 - For the Right to Live Without Violence. 42 organizations from 14 countries took up the Call for Action Let's Protect Our Health by Saying NO to Violence.

1998 - For the Right to Live Without Violence repeated the 1997 Call for Action, and 125 groups from 15 countries took part. This year, the campaign was linked to the Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights, "Celebrate and Demand Women's Human Rights," organized by the Center for Women's Global Leadership (USA).

1999 - Violence Against Women, Everybody's Problem. The Call for Action "Know Your Human Rights, Reject All Forms of Violence" was taken up by a total of 138 organizations from 11 countries.

2000 - Violence Against Women, Everybody's Problem. The Call for Action "Know Your Human Rights, Reject All Forms of Violence" included 158 groups and networks from 12 countries.

2001 - Violence Against Women, Everybody's Problem. Over 300 organizations from 16 countries took part in the Call for Action "Sexual Violence: Recognize It to Stop It."

2002 - The Regional Contest "For Women's Health and Against Violence" recognized experiences in the prevention of domestic and sexual and violence and support for victims of violence.

2003 - The Call for Action "Reviewing the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women, the 'Belem do Para' Convention" celebrated the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of this international treaty. 89 organizations representing 13 countries took part.

2004 - The second Call for Action "Reviewing the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women, the 'Belem do Para' Convention" included participation by 128 organizations from 16 countries.

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