Dear friends, As you probably know, the World March of Women in the Year 2000 is a seven-month community awareness campaign involving women in 155 countries around the world. Its two main aims are: the elimination of poverty worldwide, greater equity in the sharing of wealth between women and men; and the elimination of violence against women. The World March of Women was launched internationally on International Women's Day this year and will conclude with a number of events in the lead-up to the world rally in New York on October 17th (International Day for the Elimination of Poverty) when millions of cards from people around the world will be presented to secretary general Kofi Annan at United Nations headquarters. There will also be a mass rally in Washington on October 15th. Part of this march will parade outside the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. General and logistical information on the mass actions in Washington and New York City is available on the World March web site <http://www.ffq.qc.ca/marche2000/> and will be continuously updated. In addition, there will be innumerable events of varied formats around the world in most of the 155 participating countries between October 1st and 17th. Around Australia, there will be Women's Song and Dance Fests for women of all cultural backgrounds on Saturday October 7th. For further information about the Australian events, please contact us and we can put you in touch with the organising group in your nearest centre. I'm writing writing now on behalf of the committee to invite applications from women to represent Australia at the concluding events in the United States. There are two categories of application: 1. Women can apply to be representatives of the national organising committee at one or both of the two mass events in the US. It is envisaged that a number of representatives will participate in this capacity. 2. Women can apply to be considered to fill the one vacancy for Australia on the international delegation to meet (on at least two separate occasions) with personnel from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United Nations. In addition, this woman would need to be available to participate in an unspecified number of other meetings to be held in Washington and/or New York between 12th and 18th October. Each participating country can appoint one member to the international delegation team. Although there are now 155 participating countries, it is unlikely that all participating countries will be sending a representative. The IMF, WB and UN personnel will include the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan who has made one and a half hours available for a meeting with the international delegation on 17th October. Applications need to be received in writing (and preferably by email) by Thursday July 13th 2000 at 5 pm. The Selection Criteria are: 1. Demonstrated experience in women's issues 2. Written support of a women's organisation 3. Agree to support articles of CEDAW 4. Ability to self-finance travel and other expenses involved 5. Agree to report back to the national organising committee on outcomes of the US meetings. Applicants should include a copy of their CV and send it to us preferably by email at the address below. If unable to send via email, applicants are asked to include a copy of their application on disk. Please also include contact details: postal address, phone and fax numbers, email address. Please note that since the national organising committee is operating off no budget, the women concerned are expected to pay their own travel fares and other expenses. And finally, the selection of women in the two categories mentioned above will not affect the decision of any individual woman or women who may choose to participate in the mass rallies as individuals since these mass rallies are open to any person wishing to participate. As it will be in the interests of all Australian women intending to travel to the US for the Washington and NY events to be in touch with each other prior to travel, an invitation is also extended to any woman intending to travel to the US for the concluding events to make contact as soon as possible with the national organising committee. Please let us know your name, address, phone and fax numbers, email address; date of departure; contact details while in Washington or NY; which of the two events you will be attending. Women may also be interested to subscribe to the World March of Women, Australian Information email list. If so, please make contact. Many thanks for your assistance in circulating all of this information among your networks. Please feel free to contact us in any case at the address, phone and email below if further information is required. all the best, Cathy Picone for the national organising committee World March of Women - Australia c/o Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), GPO Box 2094, Adelaide, SA, 5001 Phone: 08 8296 4357 Fax: 08 8377 0706 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web site for Australia: http://www.uq.net.au/march2000/ overseas web site: http://www.ffq.qc.ca/marche2000 -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
