International Translation Day 2018

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

In 1953, the International Federation of Translators selected September 30th for International Translation Day. The date corresponds to the celebration of the Feast of Saint Jerome, a day in the Catholic liturgical calendar of Saints. Saint Jerome, was a multilingual scholar in the year 340 AD, who was canonized for having first translated the Bible from the original Hebrew and the Greek (Septuagint) versions, into a unified Latin version. Saint Jerome's more widely accessible Latin version of the Bible is called the Vulgate. During the 16th century, the Council of Trent subsequently proclaimed Saint Jerome's Vulgate the official version of the Bible for the Catholic Church. Saint Jerome's Vulgate thus replaced the various and incomplete former Vetus Latina (Old Italic) versions of the Bible, which had used only the Greek Septuagint translations as their source.

International Translation Day is now also officially part of the UN calendar of celebrations. On May 24, 2017, during the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly, September 30th was voted as International Translation Day. This unanimous decision is set forth in UN Resolution A/RES/71/288, recognizing:

 "The role of translation in  connecting nations, and fostering peace, understanding and development."  [UN A/RES/71/288]

This year, International Translation Day celebrates the “promotion of cultural heritage in changing times.” In particular, International Translation Day is celebrating the role of translation in promoting, supporting and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. The selection of this theme arises in anticipation of the year 2019, during which the UN will be celebrating the International Year of Indigenous Languages of the World.

Happy International Translation Day! 

References
FIT - International Translation Day 2018
http://www.fit-ift.org/international-translation-day/Saint Jerome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome
UN resolution A/RES/71/288 
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/71/288
UN 2019 International year of Indigenous Languages of the world
https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/news/2018/04/establishment-of-the-steering-committee-for-the-organization-of-the-2019-international-year-of-indigenous-languages/

Happy V-Day!

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

February 14 was co-opted by Eve Ensler in 1998 when it was declared V-Day. This was the year when the V-Day non-profit organization was created, an organization dedicated to ending violence against women and girls  The organisation was founded using the 250,000 dollars in proceeds from a single benefit performance of Ensler's famous Broadway hit, and multiple-award-winning, activist and humanitarian play:  The Vagina Monologues.  

Since then, and in light of the staggering statistics on the number women and girls victims of violence, V-Day launched the One-billion women rising campaign on V-Day 2012. This is the single largest mass action to end violence against women and girls, where the one billion rising represent the 1 in 3 women, victims of violence in a world population of 7 billion. 

Since 2012, V-day has become a world-wide day for organizing, celebrating and dancing the specially choreographed Break the chain piece for the occasion. Otherwise, V-Day arises within the context of three months of intensified fundraising events, including performances of the famous play that brought women's and girls' experience of violence into the limelight.

Please feel free to click on the following [link] to tune into the One Billion rising V-day celebrations, and perhaps to find and connect with the women and girls, and all those who love them, celebrating in your area.  Everyone will be dancing, marching, speaking and fundraising in celebration!

V-day is also a special day for the UN HeForShe campaign, a United Nations campaign that has enlisted the support of men to hold up one-half of the sky, and to speak up on behalf of women and girls in the fight to end violence against them. The UN HeForShe mission is no less than to end gender inequality. The new logo for this movement of men in support of women, in their bid to end violence directed at them, is included to the right.

Please feel free to stand together and join the fight [here]!  

In 2016, the facts on violence against women and girls are still bleak:

-  One woman in three  is still the victim of violence (physical, emotional and/or psychological) perpetuated mostly by an intimate partner. In 2012, one in 2 women killed were killed under such circumstances by their partners or family. In comparison, 1 in 20 men were killed under such conditions [UN: Facts & Figures].

- Two thirds of countries have outlawed domestic violence, only 52 countries have criminalized marital rape [UN: Facts & Figures].  

- 4.5 million, of the 21 million estimated victims of forced labor and human trafficking, are victims of sexual exploitation, and 98% are women [UN: Facts & Figures]. 

- 133 million women and girls have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in 29 countries of Africa and the Middle East, 1/3 less than 30 years ago [UN: Facts & Figures]. 

- 700 million women were married before the age of 18, one-third before the age of 15. 2.5 times more poor girls are likely to be forced into child marriages than wealthier girls [UN: Facts & Figures].  

 Thus, violence directed against women and girls is still considered of pandemic proportions.

References

Ensler, E. (1996) The Vagina Monologues ( Acting Edition). New York, NY: Dramatist Play Service Inc.

Farhan Akthar (Dec. 1, 2015) What is a real man – a mard?

http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2015/12/farhan-akhtar-what-is-a-real-man

One billion rising

http://www.onebillionrising.org/

UN Women

http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us

UN- Fact and Figures: Ending violence against women

http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures

UN – HeForShe campaign

http://www.heforshe.org/en
V-Day Org
http://www.vday.org/

One Billion Rising - FlashMob - Break the chain  - San Francisco, CA 

October 11, 2015 – International Day of the Girl Child

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Today is the International Day of the Girl Child, promulgated in 2011 by the United Nations. This year’s theme for celebrations is “The power of the adolescent girl: Visions for 2030”.

Indeed, 2015 is an important benchmark year as it marks both the deadline for measuring all that was accomplished since 2000 when the UN set the first series of Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), and the onset of a second set of Goals for Sustainable Development (GSDs) with a deadline in 2030.

Looking back on the past 15 years, progress is reported for Millenium Development Goal Number 3 designed to promote gender equality and to empower women. The girl child has more chances of attending elementary school, of being vaccinated and of receiving food. However, girls still lag behind in receiving an education at the secondary and university levels. They still do not receive enough information or means to manage their reproductive health, to avoid child marriages, or to protect themselves against sexual violence. (MDGs - Report, 2015)

Recognizing the pivotal role (beyond reproduction) that girls play in the economic development  and well-being of nations, the Goals for Sustainable Development set forth in 2015, include girls in goal Number 5 – Gender equality, with such targets as:

•        End all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere
•        Eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in private and public spheres
•        Eliminate all harmful practices (including genital mutilation and forced marriages)
•         Recognize the value of unpaid and domestic work with the provision of public services and social protection
•        Ensure women’s full participation and opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making
•        Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health
•        Undertake reforms to ensure women’s right to economic resources, access and ownership of land
•         Enhance the use of enabling technologies, and
•         Adopt and strengthen policies that promote gender equality (UN- Goal 5 )

 In 2030, the girl child of today will be an adolescent girl, and the UN recognizes this day her power to change the world, contingent upon the achievement of targets set forth this year for Sustainable Development Goal Number 5, in 2030.

As for the first set of Millenium Development Goals that the UN drafted 15 years ago, in 2000, nations will be able to monitor progress of the new Sustainable Development Goals set forth this year, during the course of  the next 15 years, with an ever better fate for young girls.

Happy Girl Child Day to all gals big and small!

References

UN International Day of the Girl Child 2015

http://www.un.org/en/events/girlchild/ 

UN - Goal 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all girls and women

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda/goal-5.html 

UN - Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda.html

UN- Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/reports.shtml 

Millenium Development goals Report 2015

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20(July%201).pdf

 

International Women's Day 2015

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann 

This year... International Women’s Day calls for Action! The theme is “Make it happen!”

Below, the Make it Happen platform, extracted from the IWD hub:

-       For greater awareness of women’s equality

-    For more women in senior leadership roles

-    For equal recognition of women in the arts

-    For growth of women-owned businesses

-    For increased financial independence of women

-    For more women in science, technology and engineering

-    For fairer recognition of women in sport

-----

At the UN, the International Women's Day 2015 theme is: Empowering women, empowering humanity: Picture it! 

Commemorating the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the conclusion of the Fourth World Conference on Women, in 1995 , the UN is taking stock on 20 years passed since the agenda for women's rights was set in Beijing by 189 countries.

 In 2015, the UN call is to "Step it up!". Much has changed in 20 years, particularly in the areas of access to primary education, the reduction of some of the world's maternal mortality, access to more sanitation, and government endorsement of women's rights. But for Planet 50/50 to become a reality, before 2030, much more needs to be achieved.

Below, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, calling for "Planet 50/50 by 2030"!

Happy International Women's Day to you all, and to all the women in your lives!

  References
International Women's day
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/  
UN International Women's Day 
http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/ 
UN - Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action - Beijing +5 
http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/csw/pfa_e_final_web.pdf

International Translation Day 2014

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Oopse… that was yesterday, on September 30, 2014, the Feast of Saint Jerome, according to the Saints’ Days of the Gregorian calendar. 

Saint Jerome was the first to translate the Old Testament of the Bible from Ancient Hebrew to Latin, in the year 405 AC, at a time where translations of the bible existed only from Greek (translated from Hebrew) to Latin. Thus, it is in his capacity as first translator of the bible that Saint Jerome is considered the Patron Saint of Translators, in a Christian calendar tradition that assigns patron saints to just about every profession. For example, Saint Nicholas (December 25) is Patron Saint of bakers, Saint Francis (October 4) is Patron Saint of ecologists, Saint Matthew (September 21) is Patron Saint of bankers, accountants and stockbrokers, Saint Lucy (December 13) is Patron Saint of writers and electricians (!), and so forth for every day of the Gregorian calendar, commonly used in the Western world.

International Translation Day was launched by the IFT - International Federation of Translators, a European-based organization founded in 1953 that regroups more than 100 professional associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists worldwide, including the American Translators Association. The IFT thus represents more than 80,000 translators in 55 countries. 

Each year the IFT selects a theme for International Translation Day. The 2014 theme was “Language rights: essential to all human rights”. Indeed this is the idea that Human Rights to dignity, freedom, justice, health and peace for all human beings, as set forth in the provisions of the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights, are contingent upon effective communication. In other words, it is impossible to uphold and defend human rights without the ability to communicate in a language that is mutually understandable. Take the case, for example, of immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, tourists or foreign workers, who lose their linguistic rights in courts, hospitals or government offices when they are unable to defend themselves, or express themselves or explain their situation in the language into which they are thrown. 

The IFT thus calls for a greater awareness of the need for professional linguistic services, to avoid the tragedies of injustice, imprisonment and irreversible damages to health arising in those situations where people cannot express or defend themselves in a language that is mutually understandable.

Mark your calendars for International Translation Day on September 30, 2015 with another theme. And in the interim, spread the word! 

Reference
International Federation of Translators
www.fit-ift.org

International Women's Day 2014 at the UN

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Today, March 8, was International Women’s Day, celebrated with a very special invitation at the United Nations, in NYC, for men and boys to hold up one half of the sky and walk side by side with women on the path to equal rights.

Why? Because: equality for women is progress for all

This is the message that was reported and substantiated in a UN panel session convened on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2014, and it is the new foundation upon which the UN will devise a second set of development goals to end world poverty, once the UN Millennium Development Goals of the year 2000 expire at the end of this year.

Indeed, it was an extraordinary victory for women worldwide that equality and the empowerment of women was included as Goal No. 3 in the UN Millennium Development Goals of the year 2000, considering that 188 nations ratified recognition of the role of women in economic development beyond childbearing. And it should be even more interesting and extraordinary to see how good men and boys will respond to an explicit HE for SHE program in support of equal rights for women for the purposes of fostering development for all.

Please feel free to listen to this important invitation in the speeches of H.E. Mr. John W. Ashe, President of the United Nations General Assembly, and Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuke, Under Secretary and Executive Director of UN Women, directly at the UN Women Watch site: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd/

You will also find in this webcast of the event plenty of additional data and information in the speeches of the other 3 members of this distinguished 2014 International Woman’s Day UN panel, including:

H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, who kept a promise to tell the world about female genital mutilations, and to speak in support of women activists seeking to put an end such practices;

Former US Secretary of State and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who called for Women Rights as Human Rights, 20 years ago; and 

Ms. Andrea Nunez, Vice President of the World YWCA Board, representing young women and civil society, working in the field to end child marriages and violence against women, and to support equal rights for women.

References

International Women’s Day at the UN (March 8, 2014)
https://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd/

UN Millennium goals

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/