SI Middlesbrough celebrated UN International Day of Peace with a talk by member Shahda Khan MBE about her recent visit, with a group of other north-eastern women, to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva. The purpose of the visit was to lobby governments to take more effective action on discrimination and violence against women in its many forms.
Shahda’s talk was illuminating and revealed major deficits in government policy in the UK. Much more needs to be done to lobby MPs, raise awareness, and work in a co-ordinated way with other women’s groups.
We also had the pleasure of a brief talk from one of our Federation Directors, Jackie Paling, who has done a great deal of voluntary work with a women’s refuge in Afghanistan.
Everyone enjoyed a delicious buffet of English and Asian foods.
