The Asian Network of Women’s Shelters and the Oceania Network of Women’s Shelters held a forum at the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on the topic of “Asia-Pacific Shelters: Going the Second Mile with Advocacy and Service Work” early in the morning on Monday, March 10, 2014.

 

The speakers were Bandana Rana, President of Saathi, Nepal and Chair of the Global Network of Women’s Shelters; Anthony Carlisle, International Affairs Supervisor at the Garden of Hope Foundation, Taiwan (which is the secretariat of ANWS); Kristen Liu, Executive Director of Garden of Hope New York; Alena Victor, Assistant Director of Shelters at the New York Asian Women’s Center; Margaret Augerinos, CEO, Centre for Non-Violence, Australia; Julie Oberin, CEO of the Annie North Women’s Refuge, Australia; and Ivy Josiah, Executive Director, Women’s Aid Organisation, Malaysia. The meeting was moderated by Chi Hui-Jung, CEO of the Garden of Hope Foundation, Taiwan and chair of ANWS.
The Asia-Pacific is the most diverse region in the world. Differences in shelter services are as wide as the cultural and economic divides. Some countries do not have the legal framework to protect women from domestic violence (DV) let alone the welfare structure to provide sufficient shelter support; while other countries are working on better shelter management and follow-up services.

The panelists discussed the current status of women’s shelters in the Asia-Pacific, looking at issues such as the link between advocacy and shelter work in South Asia, support services to help survivors become economically empowered in North Asia, and resources and services for Asian migrant women in New York.Continue reading “ANWS presents at the UN Commission on the Status of Women NGO Forum in New York”

Establishment of Asian Network of Women’s Shelter

Almost 200 hundred delegates participated in the 2013 Asian Conference of Women’s Shelters organized in Kaohsiung from December 2 – 3, 2013, where the establishment of the Asian Network of Women’s Shelters was announced. The overseas delegates were from 11 countries (including Japan, Singapore, Nepal, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, etc.) The Garden of Hope Foundation hosted the 2013 Asian Conference of Women’s Shelters. In addition to discussing the situation of shelters (in terms of advocacy, services, policies etc.), different needs of battered women in the process of their life reconstruction was discussed.

From the survey conducted by Global Network of Women’s Shelters (GNWS) of more than 44 countries and 121 shelters, it is found that 8,148 women worldwide were turned away from shelters due to lack of resources, 77% of shelters do not have enough government funding, 68% lack financial security, 68% of shelters are forced to operate shelters giving low wages to employees, 50% of shelters cannot find professional staff, while 25% of shelters use volunteers who are committed to maintaining the shelter. In current situations, many shelters face challenges in sustaining long-term!Continue reading “Give Her a Shelter, Stop Violence Against Women”