The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has now killed more than 1,500 people and infected over 2,200 since its onset last August. Lack of security in the locations where the virus has spread, which are also some of the country’s most densely populated areas, as well as limited community engagement in the response is main reasons why the epidemic has continued to spread.
Two years after launching its #March4Women global campaign, CARE International applauds governments, employers, and workers for today agreeing a new International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on ending violence and harassment in the world of work.
“Since the first day I arrived in Turkey, six years ago, I said to myself, ‘I will come back to Syria, I will come back’. I thought I would stay in Turkey only for a month, then one month became two, two became three and here I am, six years later, still in Turkey. You cannot imagine how difficult it is to leave your home, without knowing when and if you will ever go back.”
We meet Djordjie first thing in on a typically busy morning at the centre. He’s overseeing the arrivals of new refugees while dozens of men and boys who have spent the night in the centre, sheltering from the cold Belgrade winter, are starting to wake. The centre is warm, but the smell of dozens of unclean bodies is inescapable as many of the arrivals haven’t slept indoors, or had access to washing facilities, for many weeks or months.
I am the eighth of ten children, I have 8 sisters and one brother. My family didn’t agree for me to leave – it was my own idea, but they were angry and I fell out with my family. They didn’t want me to come to Europe, they wanted me to stay with them – I was just 15 when I left. But there is nothing left of our home, and some of my sisters live in Turkey now. I tried living there but I was working for 16 or 17 hours each day, for very little money. Not enough to send for my family from Syria.
We know that a lack of access to finance is one of the major barriers facing women entrepreneurs in marginalised communities across the world. The women entrepreneurs we work with every day at CARE tell us, and so do the statistics: 80% of women-owned businesses with credit needs are either unserved or underserved. This is equivalent to a massive $1.7 trillion financing gap.
Ahead of this this week’s donor conference in the cyclone-ravaged city of Beira, Oxfam, Save the Children and CARE are calling on donors to meet or exceed a proposed $5 million target for gender programming to support women and girls in reestablishing their lives.
May 2018 marked a turning point when the International Labour Organisation (ILO) agreed to establish a global Convention to protect workers everywhere—now we must all see to it that this Convention is adopted during #ILO100 when the International Labour Conference convenes in June 2019.
CARE International will this morning (23 May 2019) challenge global leaders to commit long-term, predictable funding mechanisms for the protection of women from gender-based violence abuse during crises and conflicts.
In FY2023, CARE worked around the world, contributing to saving lives, fighting poverty, and increasing social justice.
