In their diversity, tenor and colour, each of the messages as proclaimed affirmed in the most tacit way, “Equality for Women Now!”

An activist from Bangladesh called for attention on women’s role in peace building efforts through a short but punchy message that hailed women as “The Ultimate Peace Makers”.

A Somali delegate called attention to the plight of women in the present state of armed violence in her country.

The daughters of Mumbi — a Kenyan grassroots based NGO — called on the world to give due recognition to “the dignity in the work of our hands, especially women’s work and creativity”.

The issues under focus during this year’s World Social Forum have been as diverse as the multiplicity of concerns that face society globally in the 21st Century.

The defining reality is that of a world that is defiantly standing up to a structured global system of injustice that manifests at the economic, political and social levels. In the nexus of things, women and children seem to bear the greatest burden on behalf of the rest of society.

Whether the concern is about Palestine’s right to self determination, Western Sahara’s fight for sovereignty and political independence or the campaign for debt relief by Third World countries, equality for women remains a central concern, and this has been affirmed at the year’s World Social Forum.

As pointed out by a representative from Civicus — a South African based NGO that seeks to strengthen citizen action and civil society throughout the world — debt relief for countries in the South, the world’s poorest and most deprived is not a call for merciful action by the west, it is justice!

“Debt is poverty, debt is slavery particularly for the poor and hungry mothers of sub-Saharan Africa,” she said.

Away from politics and economics, Amnesty International’s global campaign on ending violence against women has now brought into focus the role of the International Criminal Court of Justice in stamping out the vice.

Although serious crimes of violence against women have now been explicitly recognised as crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International is relentless in its campaign for global support for international justice on crimes such as trafficking, forced pregnancy, slavery and rape.  

Nearly half the world’s countries have ratified the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court. A campaigner from Latvia had an admonishing message for the governments which are yet to ratify: Do it all, or else……!!

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