February 24, 2018

Angelina Jolie & John Kerry Talk Women's Rights & Environmental Action In ELLE US March 2018

February 24, 2018/ Anne Enke

Superstar Angelina Jolie sits down with former US secretary of state John Kerry to talk March 8, International Women's Day in the March 2018 issue of ELLE US. In truth, they spend as much time talking environmental issues as women's rights, although the two intersect in so many ways. As guest editor of the March 2018 issue of Vogue Australia, Emma Watsonmakes the same point: women suffer more than men as a result of climate change.

At age 42, Angelina Jolie has devoted herself to shedding light on women’s rights and violence against women around the world. Jolie serves as a goodwill ambassador and special envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where she’s completed nearly 60 field missions, including visits to Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. As cofounder of the British government’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, Jolie's met with rape survivors in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

April 24, 2017

A Joke or Not?? Saudi Arabia Awarded Seat on Commission on the Status of Women

April 24, 2017/ Anne Enke

A Joke or Not?? Saudi Arabia Awarded Seat on Commission on the Status of Women

In an appalling act of absurdity, The UN Economic and Social Council voted days ago to award Saudi Arabia a four-year term on the Commission on the Status of Women. beginning in 2018

“Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s absurd.”

“Every Saudi woman,” said Neuer, “must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf, controlling a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia also bans women from driving cars.”

“I wish I could find the words to express how I feel right know. I’m ‘saudi’ and this feels like betrayal,” tweeted a self-described Saudi woman pursuing a doctorate in international human rights law in Australia.

Saudi Arabia was elected by a secret ballot last week of the U.N.’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Usually ECOSOC rubber-stamps nominations arranged behind closed doors by regional groups, however this time the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley U.S. forced an election, to China’s chagrin.