International Women’s Day 2009, nsw, Amnesty International Australia

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International Women’s Day 2009

Published on 10/02/2009
Stop Violence Against Women Network

The Stop Voilence Against Women hand sign displayed on a banner
Stop Voilence Against Women banner © AIA

With ongoing delays in the government’s development of a national plan of action to address violence against women, International Women’s Day on March 8th will be more important than ever for reminding the government of both the need and the community support for ending violence against women.

The Federal Government made an election commitment to produce and fund a National Plan of Action (NPoA). However, the draft is running very late - the Plan has now been delayed until March. Decisions about the 2009-2010 budget are fast approaching, and there is a possibility that funding for the NPoA will not be included if the Plan is not released in time. We need to act now to ensure the Federal Government keeps its election promise.

Amnesty International Australia NSW will be taking action across NSW electorates – keep an eye out for details. We are also linking with two key events in Sydney:

UNIFEM Australia's Sydney Breakfast, March 6, 2009, 7-8.45am at the Bayside Grand ballroom, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour. Guest Speaker will be Fozilitun Nessa from Bangladesh.
International Women’s Day March, with the International Women’s Day Collective, Saturday March 7, 2009, starting at Sydney Town Hall, George Street at 11am.

A selection of other International Women’s Day 2009 events around NSW can be found at the website of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet Office for Women's Policy.

Amnesty International Australia, alongside 200 partner organisations, has campaigned since 2005 for the Australian Government to adopt a National Plan of Action (NPoA) to address violence against women.

Take Action

The Federal Government still needs to be convinced that the general community cares about violence against women. Otherwise, the Government may not prioritise ending violence against women in their next budget. The two crucial elements of the next part of Amnesty International Australia's campaign are:

Demonstrating to our Federal MPs that the general community cares about violence against women and wants the election promise of an adequately funded NPoA fulfilled.
Ensuring that the Federal government will fund the NPoA in this year's budget to be announced in May.

Resources for taking action