[0]Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, founded in 2002, addresses five urgent issues they believe are required for greater human development and security:
- encouraging women’s leadership;
- fostering more equitable international trade and development;
- strengthening efforts to realize the human right to health;
- shaping more humane migration policies;
- and influencing corporate social responsibility
With a mission to put human rights standards at the heart of global governance and policy-making they hope to ensure that the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable are addressed on the global stage.
Realizing Rights was founded by Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United National High Commissioner for Human Rights, and its supporters include Jimmy Carter, Desmon Tutu, Musimbi Kanyoro and Stephen Lewis.
The organization seeks to harness civil society, government, business, and economic forums to build awareness for their selected areas of concern. They facilitate dialogues and relationships between decision makers and key stakeholders, particularly those most marginalized, to arrive at more transparent, ethical and responsible policies and joint actions to achieve change. They also develop specific policy recommendations and seek to communicate their finding to key decision makers and the wider public.
In July 2007, the Women Leaders Intercultural Forum (WLIF) team from Realizing Rights traveled to Nairobi to discuss security issues with 70 African women leaders. The WLIF, an initiative dedicated to connected women leaders across borders and providing a collective voice in prioritizing action for a more secure world, in cooperation with the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), explored how WLIF could make a difference in addressing the security challenges facing Africa. The WLIF stressed that in this century, women’s voices, priorities and vision must be heard. But for this to happen, more strategic approaches are needed and more links between grassroots and global leaders must be forged. Women leaders also have a responsibility to create the space where young women leaders can interact with older women leaders.
Also highlighted was the need for women leaders to be better organized and to speak out against injustices. The comment of one participant summed up the challenge well: “If women in position of power don’t speak out, who will?”
To learn more about Realizing Rights, and their initiatives, please visit their website at: www.realizingrights.org [1]