Turkey to Sign International Treaty on Violence against Women

The Turkish Foreign Ministry will sign an international treaty designed to prevent and combat violence against women during a meeting of the Council of Europe Ministers on May 11 in Istanbul. The Council of Europe’s convention sets out standards for states to act with integrated policies to tackle gender-based violent crimes and promote international cooperation. Governments ratifying the treaty will have to take necessary legislative or other measures to ensure criminalizing acts such as domestic violence, violence in public places, sexual harassment, forced marriage, “honor” crimes, rape and genital mutilation. The convention proposes the establishment of state-wide telephone help lines that would operate around the clock to provide confidential advice to anonymous callers. The treaty defines “domestic violence” as all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim. The draft text also calls for specific monitoring mechanisms to check implementation of the convention. Turkey will also host a conference on the reform process of the European Court of Human Rights between April 26 and 27 in İzmir. The conference will include a preliminary assessment of the impact of Protocol No. 14 and will study the achievements made by the reform process launched by the Interlaken conference in February 2010 and reflect upon further ideas for improvement prior to May 11. Turkey, which has held the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council, will hand over the presidency to Ukraine on May 11.

Ukraine Educators Visit America

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A group of social workers and educators from the Ukraine taste some bread made by students in the cooking class at North Valleys High on Monday. The group, which is part of the International Visitor Leadership Program, was invited to become acquainted with American practices of providing social services to youth. Left to right is Volodymyer Nay, Nadiia Lakymiv, Lelyzaueta Onyshchenko and Oksana Vozniuk. / RGJ

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Written by

Michael Martinez
mmartinez@rgj.com

• FILED UNDER
• Local Life

In the Ukraine, about 90 percent of the students attend school regularly, according to statistics compiled by UNICEF.

Dropouts are not acceptable. Students are required to wear uniforms in most cases. And truancy: If you don't want to be picked up by police and returned home to your parents or to a detention center, go to class.

So what did a group of Ukrainian educators and youth social service workers stand to gain from a visit to Washoe County schools Monday?

"You have youth services outreach families and counseling for domestic violence," said Nataliya Yeremenko, the head of social services in Kreminna is the Ukrainian state of Lahansk.

She spoke through U.S. state department interpreter Alex Tsiovkh, who also is professor at the University of Kansas.

"We want to see and hear the best practices of what people, agencies and services in the United States do with these issues you face here in the United States and adopt them back home, and to take those best practices and adapt them," Yeremenko said.

Yeremenko and a handful of her colleagues visited a about four campuses Monday, including North Valleys High School, where Principal Jeana Curtis, vice principal Josh Reddig and school district police Chief Mike Mieras took them on a tour of classrooms.

Prior to the visit, Curtis and Reddig talked about the school's policy Project Respect which emphasis "respect, responsibility, loyalty, honesty and courage everywhere on campus."

Reddig said since 2008 when the program -- culled from input by administration, teachers, staff and students at the school -- was implemented, behavioral referrals to the office have declined.

He said teachers use enrichment periods at the school, also reserved for tutoring and other activities, to remind students of these expectations.

The contingent of Ukrainian visitors got to witness the policy in effect in various classrooms.

"We've had many interesting, positive and pleasant impressions because we've been able to communicate and exchange ideas with new people," Yeremenko said.

"We've learned many cultural traditions that differ from those we have in the Ukraine, so we are able to better characterize people in the United States."