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Introduction

Trust Women is more than just a Conference. It is an influential international gathering with one main goal: action.

Unlike many other events focused on women’s rights, Trust Women forges strategic commitments to empower women to know and defend their rights.

Drawing on the global reach and reputation of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the International Herald Tribune, Trust Women drives innovation and strategic partnerships by connecting those working to promote women’s rights with the legal expertise and the financial, technological and educational resources they need to achieve results.

In 2012 the first Trust Women Conference gathered over 350 delegates from all over the world to tackle issues such as human trafficking, slavery, child and forced marriage, FGM (female genital mutilation) and understand better the impact of the Arab Spring on women. Two Nobel laureates, Aung San Suu Kyi and Shirin Ebadi, opened the two-day event. Speakers included Queen Noor of Jordan, Oscar winning Sharmeen Obaid from Pakistan, and Sima Samar from Afghanistan.

Remaining true to our motto – ‘taking action’ – this year we will review our previous commitments on key issues: human trafficking, when culture clashes with the law, the Arab Winter for women, and slavery. We will also broaden the debate with a special one-day focus on women’s access to healthcare.

More news about women's rights

More about the conference

New themes for 2013
2012 themes

Fighting modern day slavery in the digital age

Unaware victims: the psychology of slaves

From Arab Spring to Arab Winter? Women’s rights in the Middle East

Sexual Violence and Impunity, when the rule of law is not applied

Access to healthcare: learning from collective failures

When HIV-AIDS leads to forced sterilization

The modern day slave trade

The ILO estimates place the number of domestic workers at a minimum of 53 million, but experts say they could be as many as 100 million across the world. For some of these workers, particularly migrants, the conditions and circumstances of their work amount to forced labour.

Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to the slave trade in domestic labour.

Rewriting the rules: Embedding women’s rights in constitutions

In the wake of the Arab Spring, new constitutions are being written in a number of countries but the inclusion of women's rights often remain very much in question. Moreover, many current constitutions, even in highly developed countries, fall short when it comes to guaranteeing full equal rights for women.

Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to enshrining women's rights in national constitutions.

Child marriage: Forced marriage

Every day, more than 25,000 girls under the age of 18 are married worldwide, rights groups estimate. The practice affects a third of girls -- and some boys -- in developing countries, according to UNICEF, which describes child marriage as "perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls".

Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to helping girls access their rights.

Click here for more information on child marriage.

Female genital mutilation: Challenging ‘culture’ to stop the cutting

Female genital cutting is found in some communities in and from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The UNFPA estimates that between 100 to 140 million girls and women have undergone some form of genital mutilation/cutting, and at least 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing the practice every year. FGC has both immediate and long term consequences to a female's physical and emotional health.

Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to ending the practice worldwide.

Click here for more information on FGC.

How to put the trafficking business out of business?

The International Labour Organisation and the United Nations have estimated there are 12.45 million persons in situations of forced labour, of which 2.5 million are said to be trafficked. Other estimates place these numbers much higher, and while there is no definitive estimate, one thing is certain: the trafficking business is thriving.

Trust Women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to putting the business of trafficking out of business.

Click here for more information on trafficking.

Women and finance: The high cost of exclusion

From lack of access to business loans to the dearth of women-owned firms in supply chains, the exclusion of women from financial resources is costly to national and regional economies. In Asia-Pacific, for example, it is estimated that limits on female participation in the workforce cost the region $89 billion each year. Barriers to inclusion for women often have a basis in family and labor laws that restrict women's entry to certain industries, or their ability to enter into legal transactions or even open bank accounts without a husband's permission.

Trust women will convene a high level group of authorities from the public and private sectors to discuss key challenges and solutions to women's inclusion in the global financial market.