Dear FAWCOites,

The 37th FAWCO Biennial Conference is coming up in Birmingham, England in March 2005. One of the items of business at this meeting is the submission and approval of Resolutions and Recommendations which are meant to be guidelines for FAWCO and Club action over the next two-year period, and must therefore be suitable for practical implementation. The “R&Rs” should be specific and not merely generalizations. They are generally influenced by current world problems, current concerns of American citizens abroad and current problems faced by women everywhere.

The Resolutions and Recommendations approved by the 36th FAWCO Biennial Conference in Stockholm, Sweden (March 2003) reflected FAWCO’s growing status as both the largest organization of Americans abroad and an official Non-Governmental Organization at the United Nations (NGO). The 2003 R&Rs addressed the rights of women and children, education, health, working rights and conditions for Americans living abroad, environmental awareness and world peace.

We would now like to solicit your input in drafting the 2005 R&Rs. Please share your thoughts on the direction you think FAWCO should be going in the next two years by submitting your own recommendations prior to NOVEMBER 1st.

Three months before the Biennial Conference (December 2004), after reviewing and possibly condensing proposals, the committee will send no more than five proposed Resolutions back to the Clubs. The Clubs may express their decision on these Resolutions in writing to the committee before the Conference, or through the vote of their delegate at the Conference in Birmingham, March 2005.

Member Clubs of FAWCO are expected to publish the Resolutions and Recommendations in their Club publication after the Biennial Conference and endeavor to implement them.

We look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Sincerely,
FAWCO Resolutions and Recommendations Committee
Emily van Eerten, Chair (AWC Amsterdam)
Pamela Girtman (AWC Brussels)
Nan de Laubedere (AAWE Paris)
Nancy Thornley (FAUSA)

FAWCO BIENNIAL CONFERENCE - March 2003

RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The FAWCO 2003 Conference:

Resolves to promote the rights and welfare of women and children through education and awareness-raising efforts, and recommends:

1. Continuing to work through the UN to advocate women's rights and child rights with support for CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) and the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child);
2. Disseminating basic information on legal and employment rights of foreign women in host countries;
3. Supporting efforts to protect women and children in abusive and conflict situations;
4. Promoting special programs for literacy training of women and children and supporting job training programs;
5. Continuing to contribute to educational needs, especially for dual national children and for students who learn differently;
6. Supporting health services and programs, including AIDS and sex education programs, aimed at preventing, controlling, and treating diseases, and promoting awareness of practices harmful to women;
7. Raising awareness of the dangers and implications of substance abuse and providing information about available treatment resources;
8. Publishing information on the control of breast cancer and other women's health issues;
9. Promoting active aging and disseminating information on health, finance, care and security for the elderly.

Resolves to work to improve conditions for Americans living, working and retiring overseas, and recommends:

1. Actively promoting and assisting the rapid implementation of the Help America Vote Act of 2002;
2. Continuing to organize voter registration campaigns and encouraging easier overseas absentee voting;
3. Supporting and contributing to the inclusion of US citizens abroad in the 2010 Decennial Census;
4. Exploring possibilities for the establishment of Congressional representation for overseas US citizens;
5. Continuing to monitor citizenship issues specifically affecting overseas Americans, including inequalities in citizenship rights for adopted children;
6. Promoting spousal employment rights for Americans living abroad;
7. Working towards the abolition of double taxation of overseas US citizens.

Resolves to encourage and assist member clubs in activities to benefit the environment, particularly in their efforts to reduce pollution and combat global climate change, and recommends:

1. Assisting in the creation of active Environment Committees in member clubs, providing articles for club publications and posting relevant links on the FAWCO website;
2. Advocating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate their effects on the global climate;
3. Recommending that each member club support one local environmental project yearly;
4. Encouraging participation in local "Clean-Up the World" projects.

Resolves to promote methods for peaceful resolution of conflict situations, and recommends:

1. Arranging for qualified speakers and workshops at Conferences and Regional Meetings;
2. Endorsing the United Nations as a forum for the peaceful resolution of conflict.

FAWCO Mission Statement (revised March 2003)

The Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas is an international network of independent organizations whose mission is:
• to serve as a resource and channel of information among its members;
• to provide a voice for American women abroad and to support the rights of all Americans worldwide;
• and to contribute actively to the global community with a specific focus on education, the natural and human environment, multicultural understanding and international goodwill.