ECICW-CECIF Report – ICW Triennial Izmir 2015

ECICW-CECIF is a group of 23 organisations from all over Europe including the Mediterranean. But we are also part of a bigger group of the International Council of Women with Member Organisations from all corners of the World. We are multicultural, multi-lingual and of multi-faith and it really humbles me to be standing here before you and report the achievements that ECICW-CECIF has managed to provide for its members. This is achieved by caring, unpaid, volunteers from the international and local communities and it is greatly commendable.

Since ECICW Board’s election in 2011 in Barcelona we met for our first Autumn Assembly in Zurich while the 2012 Spring Assembly was in Athens. The reports were presented at the 2012 Triennial in Seoul, South Korea.

The next ECICW Spring G.A. was in The Hague in 2013 together with the ICW Board Meeting. The Netherlands Council of Women and the Defence Women’s Network organised a seminar entitled “Women as Powerful Agents of Change for Peace” at Frederil Kazerne, van der Burchlaan. Peace and reconciliation processes, protection of  women’s and girls’ rights in conflict areas, and gender dimension of peace processes all arise from the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR1325).

The 2013 ECICW Autumn meeting was held in Monaco. The Union des Femmes Monegasques organised a seminar under the patronage of Princess Caroline, Princess of Hanoveron “Women in Politics”. Her Highness stated that the UMF has been working to better the position of women in the country for many years in eradicating all forms of discrimination against women and ensuring equal gender representation in all walks of life.

The ECICW 2014 Spring General Assembly was held in Malta during ICW’s ECM. A seminar with the theme “Women: Building-Blocks Of Our Society” was organised. The many reactions to the presentations of the International, European and National Speakers was lively and informative.

The 2014 Autumn meeting of the European Centre of the International Council of Women was held in Vilnius, Lithuania. We participated in the Seminar“ Women and Work: Economic Empowerment”organised by the Lithuanian Women‘s Society and the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. Those of us, who participated, saw this event as a positive experience as we were able to visit the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) meet the officials who run it and get familiar with the work and papers they offer.

After every ECICW GA a statement is issued according to the topics discussed. The members are asked to disseminate these to the Authorities in their Countries while the Board sends it to the relevant Authorities in Europe and beyond.

As I look back on my term of office as the President of ECICW for the last four years, I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be associated with such a unique, interesting and vital organisation. Here I must mention the loyalty, devotion and hard work of the Board Members and the way they invested their energy to make ECICW into a thriving and dynamic organisation. I thank each one of them for the support and commitment during these four years.

I would like to thank you all for participating in our meetings and thank those Councils who hosted us. We are very grateful to you all. We look forward to the 2015 Autumn G.A. which is being hosted by Luxembourg.

I have many times thought of the challenges that our organisation faces to establish a mutual bond of friendship amongst its members and to function as a non profit organisation providing information on policies that help women lead a normal, healthy and secure life.

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