Russia's glamorous female champion boxer Natalia Ragozina won a heavyweight belt with a knockout of Pamela "Grenade" London in her first fight in her native land, Russia.  Natalia, who now lives in Germany, defeated Pamela "Grenade" London of Guyana.   She moved up from super-middleweight class to contest the vacant Women's International Boxing Federation (WIBF) heavyweight title.  Her win set a new record in women's professional boxing.  She was outweighed by 60 pounds, but managed to maintain dominance during the entire fight with great footwork and hand speed.

Natalia appreciated her opponent's talents and mentioned how difficult it was to win against her. She has been happy as she had been able to fulfill the expectations of her fans and well-wishers, who came to cheer her.

She is known for wearing a unique outfit in every fight, such as a schoolgirl uniform or some other outfit involving a short skirt. She says, "Women's boxing should look nice and feminine," and that she likes "to do things with beauty and grace." In an interview on television, she said that despite her glamorous image, most of her fans are females.

Ragozina entered the ring for her first professional fight in July 2004, after becoming a kickboxing and then boxing world champion as an amateur.  Ragozina is 33 years old, nearly six feet tall, and the world's most-decorated female boxer.  Her trainer is Vyacheslav Yanovsky, a Seoul 1988 Olympic gold medalist. 

The media calls her "The Russian Tsarina."  Natalia has fame not only in the field of boxing.  She is a single mother with a nine year old son who has done photo shoots for magazines, including Penthouse.   She is known for her out-of-ring modeling career.  About her professional life she says,  "I'm a professional athlete. And I combine the two to make it look beautiful and dignified."  Natalia improved her pro boxing record to 22 wins and no losses, with 13 knockouts.

She still wants to fight Laila Ali, the daughter of Mohammed Ali.  However, Laila Ali has rejected several offers of fighting against her.  When questioned, Ali said she does not want to fight anymore.  "There is nothing left for me in boxing," she said. "Ragozina is better than many of the girls in the super-middleweight division. But she does not have even 40 percent of what she would need in her arsenal to beat me.  I feel that she would last a little longer than some of my past opponents, but the end result would be the same. I would take her to school and knock her out."

Lisa KARPOVA
PRAVDA.Ru

The Conference held by Afghan women activists ahead of the Afghanistan Conference on Thursday served as a launching point for their recommendations on good governance and a lasting solution which will bring stability to all members of society, paving the way towards reconstruction. The key? In a word, inclusion.

The Afghan women activists' recommendations on security, development and governance are the only input from Afghan women concerning the key decisions being taken about their country...by men.

Three quotes, to highlight the plight of Afghanistan's women and to underline why the London Conference gets it right:

"As the global community knows, nowhere are women's rights more at stake than in Afghanistan. Therefore it is of grave concern that women's voices and perspectives are largely missing from this London conference on Afghanistan's future. The international community should stand behind the women of Afghanistan, and elevate their voices, not barter away their rights in the name of short-term peace and stabilization". (Wazma Frogh, Afghan Gender and Development Specialist).

"Besides the high levels of violence experienced by ordinary women and girls, there has been a very high rate of deadly attacks on women human rights defenders and women in prominent public roles. This makes the determination of the women who have travelled to London to share their concerns and proposals all the more inspiring, and the international community needs to hear what they have to say".  (Anne Marie Goetz, Chief Advisor, Governance Peace and Security for UNIFEM).

"Afghan women have the most to gain from peace and the most to lose from any form of reconciliation compromising women's human rights. There cannot be national security without women's security, there can be no peace when women's lives are fraught with violence, when our children can't go to schools, when we cannot step on the streets for fear of acid attacks". (Mary Akrami, Director of the Afghan Women Skills Development Center).

The Afghan women activists who met ahead of the London Conference on Afghanistan in London and Dubai are deeply concerned that the Conference will not address fundamental women's rights. 87 per cent of Afghan women suffer domestic abuse.

They point out that by including Afghanistan's women in the peace process, sustainable peace can be attained more easily while violence and extremism can be countered and moderated. Women are currently excluded from any reconciliation and negotiation processes in Afghanistan with the Taliban, the war lords or any other segment of society. Why?

Don't they have the right to exist?  As women's rights activist Orzala Ashraf points out, "Short-term deals with insurgents will not deliver long-term stability if there aren't guarantees of women's rights".

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

Afghan Women's Leaders' Priorities for Stabilization

Statement and Recommendations

January 27, 2010

We, Afghan women leaders and representatives of women's civil society organizations, concerned about the absence of women's perspectives on proposals being discussed at The London Conference on Afghanistan have created recommendations for stabilization that bear in mind the obligation to consult women and address their priorities and needs. These recommendations were developed during consultations with women leaders in Dubai on January 24th and in London on January 26th.

Afghan women are the first to benefit from stability and pay the heaviest price for the resurgence in violence. They are mobilized as never before to protect the gains they have made with the help of the international community since 2001 and to contribute to the peace process by promoting security and good governance grounded in respect for human rights and equality. We call for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and related resolutions calling for women's full participation in peace building as part of all initiatives to accelerate conflict resolution and recovery in the country.

Security

Fundamental to progress in Afghanistan will be enhanced security on the ground. But achieving true security will require more than military stabilization; it will require access to basic services-police protection, health care, education, and clean water. Additionally, it will necessitate social change in private as well as public life; rampant domestic violence and other abuses of women's rights exacerbated by conflict are major contributors to women's insecurity. Women experience instability differently from men; they therefore have specific perspectives on how to achieve security for all Afghan citizens. To fully engage all Afghans in efforts to create a secure environment, we recommend:

1. Ensuring women's representation in peace processes. Consistent with constitutional guarantees for women's representation, women must comprise at least 25% of any peace process including any proposed upcoming peace jirgas. They must be represented in any national and local security policy making forums, such as the Afghan President's National Security Council.

2. Guaranteeing that reconciliation protects women's rights. The government and international community must secure and monitor women's rights in all reconciliation initiatives so that the status of women is not bargained away in any short-term effort to achieve stability.

3. Implementing gender-responsive security policy. All efforts to enhance security in Afghanistan must better serve women. This can be achieved by: a. training national and international security personnel regarding women's rights and security needs;

b. recruiting women to security services, especially national police, UNPOL, international peacekeepers, civilian and military staff of PRTs; and

c. expanding the number of Family Response Units in local police districts to enable more culturally sensitive and responsive engagement with women.

Governance and Development

In 2001 the number of women in government increased dramatically. Further investment to expand women's engagement and effectiveness in public decision-making, in electoral politics, public administration, and in civil society help to deepen democracy, tackle corruption, increase the legitimacy

of government, and concentrate the focus of public sector management on providing basic services. To strengthen women's leadership skills and to promote gender-responsive public sector performance we recommend:

1. Implementing existing national gender equality policies. International donors should make aid contingent on accelerated implementation of existing policies for the advancement of women in Afghanistan, especially the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan, and the cross-cutting gender component of the Afghan National Development Strategy.

2. Promoting governance for gender equality. Good governance reforms should advance gender equality and the capacity of public services to respond to women's needs by:

a. Creating gender offices or focal points in all national institutions;

b. Extending the current 25% parliamentary quota to provincial, district, and village-level governance structures;

c. Special measures to help women overcome obstacles to effective political competition (e.g.: measures to prevent political violence against women, measures to overcome access barriers to public debate, training, and resources);

d. Applying the 25% constitutional quota to civil service positions;

e. Strengthening of the Ministry of Women's Affairs and ensuring it participates in all decision-making clusters to ensure attention to gender and women's needs.

3. Tracking aid for women's rights. Donor aid to address women's needs should increase [by 20%] and all aid should be monitored to track its effectiveness in promoting women's rights and gender equality. Financing for Afghan women's organizations should increase to strengthen women's implementation of the development agenda and civil society participation in reconstruction.

4. Addressing gender bias in traditional dispute resolution. Traditional dispute resolution systems have historically been gender biased; if used, they must comply with national and international human rights standards. Use of these systems must be monitored to ensure compliance with national and international standards and to provide the opportunity to appeal decisions inconsistent with international norms.

5. Expanding peace education through schools and shuras.

Regional Frameworks/International Architecture

We commend the regional cooperative forums focused on trade, refugees, and drug trafficking for their efforts to involve women. As regional mechanisms are developed to address cross-border security challenges, we advise:

1. Building on existent women's regional peace coalitions. Any regional efforts should engage women and leverage the relationships they have built through existing networks.

2. Involving women in efforts to shape new regional mechanisms. Women should help design any new approaches to and structures for stabilization and reconstruction in Afghanistan as well as efforts to create regional forums for cooperation. Any such processes and structures should engage women at all levels of decision-making and should implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and related Security Council resolutions calling for women's participation in conflict resolution, prevention of violence, and protection of vulnerable groups.

3. Using regional forums to stop labor and sex trafficking.

Women's rights organizations welcome UNSC support on the implementation of a United Nations Resolution which will take action on indicators which assess and address the impact of war upon women and which stress the need to include women in the peace-building process and the resolution of conflicts and crises.

UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, issued a statement yesterday welcoming the support of the UN Security Council on the implementation of the measures outlined in Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. "The Security Council's commitment to take action on these indicators represents one of the most significant moves by the international security system in recent years to accelerate implementation of resolution 1325," declared the Executive Director of UNIFEM, Ines Alberdi.

Ines Alberdi went on to claim that "The indicators will reveal where women and experiencing exclusion and threats to their security and help identify good practices. They will be much more than numbers on a paper. They will provide a sensitive barometer of the current situation and help identify future priorities".

Resolution 1325 involves 26 indicators and covers four areas:

1. The participation of women in all aspects of conflict prevention and peace-making;
2. The prevention of violence against women;
3. The protection of women's rights during and after a conflict;
4. The needs of women involved in relief and recovery.

The indicators are a response to Resolution 1889 of October 2009, which called for indicators to be implemented at a global level to track the success of measures drawn up under Resolution 1325 of 2000. They were drawn up by14 UN entities coordinated by the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and were developed in close association with Member States and women's civil society groups.

DR Congo: Rape capital of the world

The plight of women in conflict is highlighted by the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which Margot Wallstrom, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, has described as "the rape capital of the world". Returning from a trip to this central African country, she called on the UNO to bring in measures which effectively end impunity, impost accountability and punish those who violate the rights of others.

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An alarming truth coming out of the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna is that women's voices are not being heard, women are not participating at the same level as men in decision-making processes to find sustainable solutions. Gender exclusion norms were mentioned as the main reason by almost 80 per cent of those polled.

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The United Nations Organization recognizes that in post-disaster scenarios, the most effective way to protect human rights and the most vulnerable members of society is to involve women in the relief process, due to their natural capacities and capabilities - despite recognizing that they are also most in need at such times.

The United Nations Organization recognizes that in post-disaster scenarios, the most effective way to protect human rights and the most vulnerable members of society is to involve women in the relief process, due to their natural capacities and capabilities - despite recognizing that they are also most in need at such times.

CEDAW, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, recognizes that after disasters occur, the natural capacities of women as caretakers of children, the elderly, injured and disabled affords them a critical role in early recovery and in implementation of long-term sustainability mechanisms.

Naela Mohamed Gabr, head of CEDAW, stated yesterday that "The needs and capabilities of women must be taken into consideration in all sectors and clusters of the emergency response" however, the UNO must provide them with the protection they need to perform the task, because "whilst the strength and resilience of women are in high demand following such emergencies, they cannot adequately fulfil these roles if their basic needs are unmet and if decision-makers ignore them".

Ms. Gabr recognized also that at times of increased stress and lawlessness, women are also the most vulnerable members of society.

The UN's World Food Programme has also launched a new scheme focusing on women in food distribution operations, providing them with vouchers which are coloured and dated and which can be exchanged for food on determined days and at certain places. Natasha Scripture, WFP spokesperson in Port-au-Prince, claims that "WFP generally targets female heads of household with food assistance. Distribution to women tends to be more orderly and calm," while stating that "women are often the first ones pushed out of line".

Where such policies have been implemented, the UNO has noted that distribution is far more orderly and proceeds without the frantic scrambles which often turn violent.

The out-going Chilean President Michelle Bachelet will now be working alongside UNIFEM to advocate for the needs of Haitian women. UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women's empowerment and gender equality.

Throughout her Presidency, Michelle Bachelet highlighted women's issues and has committed herself to providing a leading role in engaging international cooperation, especially in Latin America, for the women of Haiti and in formulating a common strategy to "include the voices and perspectives of Haitian women in the recovery efforts" (UNIFEM).

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

The recent meeting of the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) in Lisbon, Portugal was focused on a new role for women and the media in solving problems in facilitating dialogue and breaking down social barriers, such as hate-fuelled stereotypes as a first step towards meaningful dialogue with practical results.

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 taken one decade ago this month stressed the urgent need for women to be given equal participation and full involvement in matters of peace and security, due to the fact that women and children are frequently the victims of conflict and because of "the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building".

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