Questions raised - VAW & ICTs: global policy processes

This theme is to explore the gaps between different international
conventions and documents that address women’s rights and communication
rights, and how we can find connections for policy advocacy. For
example:

• How can we use the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
  Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) particularly through Section 5
  that deals with sex role stereotyping and prejudice, or Section J of
  the Beijing Platform for Action that deals with women and the media, to
  hold governments accountable for national action plans that is
  conscious of gender in the media and ICTs? How can we make this
  connection through surfacing the link between ICTs and VAW?
  


• How have ICTs and the debate around information societies through
  ICTs dealt with the issue of gender? Who is involved, and where is the
  primacy of women’s rights in its deliberations? Particularly in light
  of the World Summit on Information Society that is happening in Tunis
  in November this year, and the regional preparatory meetings that is
  currently underway, are women’s rights advocates even aware of these
  global platforms and events? What is the level of engagement? If there
  is a gap, why?
  


• What about the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)? Do they
  address the connections between development, poverty, information and
  VAW? Are they sufficient? With the seemingly narrowing of civil society
  spaces in global processes and platforms, as well as the emphasis on
  MDGs, how would this affect women’s movements that work on VAW issues
  as well as media and communcations, with particular attention to the
  dimension of ICTs?
  


• What kinds of recommendations can we make in relation to our
  different engagement with these different processes, instruments and
  platforms that is able to vocalise and suface a solid and urgent need
  for connecting ICTs, media and communications with VAW?