Human Rights
/Gender
- Mon Mar 12 2007
Source:
AWID - Resource Net
By Sarah Rosenhek
General overview of the 51st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) that identifyies some key themes, and highlights the impact of NGOs and women's groups in this space written by the Association for Women's Rights in Developmen (AWID). This year's priority theme was "The Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination and Violence against the Girl Child".
The Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination and Violence Against the Girl Child: 51st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Held in New York from February 26-March 9, 2007
March 9, 2007
Introduction
Today concludes (March 9, 2007) the final day of the annual session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). For the 51st time, Member States assembled at United Nations Headquarters in New York from February 26-March 9 "to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide" [1]. This year's priority theme was "The Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination and Violence against the Girl Child" which was substantially supported by a Report put forth by the UN Secretary-General's Report which shares the same title [2].
This week's Friday File is the first part of a two-article series conducted by AWID staff, dedicated to covering the CSW. This first article seeks to give readers a general overview of the event by identifying some key themes, and highlighting the impact of NGOs and women's groups in this important space. By the end of today, final resolutions and the Agreed Conclusions will be adopted by the Commission (they are the principal output documents of the CSW [3]) and documents will be made available on the Division of the Advancement of Women (DAW) website [4]. In two week's time, AWID's second article in the series will provide a more in-depth assessment of the adopted resolutions, Agreed Conclusions and the political dynamics surrounding the negotiations.
Girls Speak Out!
Last week, for the first time, young women's voices were included at the opening of the UN Commission on the Status of Women's (CSW) 51st Session. An opening address given by a 17-year-old South African girl, Quilinta Nepaulas, started the two weeks of CSW debates and negotiations for this year's priority theme "the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child." More than ten years after the gains made at the Forth UN World Conference on Women held in Beijing and in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 17-year old Quilinta reminded listeners that discrimination and violence waged against girls continues to undermine their rights, as well as having harmful effects on societies overall.
The Impact of NGOs at the CSW
Over 1,000 NGO representatives participated in the CSW in the company of over 100 member states of the United Nations, and representatives from UN agencies and multilateral institutions. The active participation of women's organizations and other NGOs is essential to the success of the CSW, particularly in terms of holding governments accountable for the commitments made in "shaping the current global policy framework on women's empowerment and gender equality" [5].
One powerful NGO intervention took place during a general debate at the start of last week when Rahal Saeed from the organization Aahung Pakistan, made a statement to the Commission on behalf of the International Sexual and Reproductive Rights Coalition (ISRRC). In spite of being sandwiched between statements by member states and given only one minute to speak, Rahal stood out as provocateur and agenda-setter by being the only person in the plenary to raise the issue of sexual violence against the girl child and so highlighted the vital role women's organisations can play in broadening conceptual frameworks and evolving traditionally understood definitions of human rights [6].
The hard work and dedication of feminist organisations and progressive women's rights activists who came from around the world was evident throughout the CSW. Advocates tirelessly lobbied delegations, conducted key pieces of research, and collected and disseminated background information and language for negotiations processes. This effort undoubtedly contributed to retaining historical gains made in previous UN agreements and instruments. Furthermore, advocates contributed to pushing the agenda forward by ensuring that the resolutions included language that would empower girls to become women who could ensure their own human rights in the future.
Progressive women's rights organisations and activists are not however the only groups doing advocacy and lobbying work at the UN. Just as there are progressive women's rights advocates lobbying for example for government commitments to girls' access to sexuality education, and sexual and reproductive health services (commensurate with their evolving capacities), there is also a powerful and committed group of right-wing organisations pushing their own, very different, agenda.
Representatives from anti-family planning groups and anti-choice groups such as the World Youth Alliance continue to attend UN meetings such as the CSW in significant numbers. Such groups traditionally support the anti-reproductive rights lobby at the UN in their attempts to curtail reproductive freedom for girls and women [7]. Conservative forces aiming to 'protect the girl child' saw this year's priority theme as an opportunity to undo some of the commitments made by governments in Beijing - particularly in relation to women's ability to control their own sexuality, free from coercion, discrimination or violence [8]. Many right-wing faith-based organisations who ally themselves with the agendas set out by the current US Administration, the Vatican and other conservative governments such as Egypt, Syria and to some extant Pakistan, are extremely well organized and showed a strong presence at the CSW.
Strengthening the Gender Equality Architecture of the UN
One crucial issue that was addressed at length both within and outside the UN spaces at the CSW was the recommendation to strengthen the gender equality architecture of the UN contained within, the report "Delivering as One," from the UN High-Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence [9]. This Panel was charged with the hefty task of making recommendations for structural changes to the current UN machinery to build a more unified and stronger United Nations. In part as a result of the efforts by women's groups and movements at last year's CSW, the Panel clearly affirmed its commitment to gender equality in the report.
The key characteristics for a women-specific entity at the UN include: agency autonomy, high-level leadership, universal country presence, and adequate resources. At this year's CSW, and in honour of International Women's Day, Representatives from over 150 women's organisations and allies delivered an Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the UN and to UN Member States to support the proposed gender architecture at the UN [10]. This statement was born out of a series of discussions held in the NGO Linkage Caucus convened by the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL), the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), and the Committee on the Status of Women.
The General Assembly will convene to discuss the Panel's recommendations in the coming months, and in the meantime civil society, and in particular women groups will be strategizing and organizing around next steps in the process [11]. The opportunity for women's rights advocates and organisations to envisage the kind of UN they want is a tremendous opportunity, and one that has not taken place since the establishment of UNIFEM after the Mexico Conference of 1975. There is currently enormous momentum around and support for the proposed UN gender architecture and it is vital that women's movements continue to strategise and build collective power to influence member states to support the Panel's proposals [12].
Following the first week of the CSW, the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) and the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) organized a key strategy meeting where regional and international organisations gathered for an intense two days to discuss next steps for the UN reform process and the gender architecture. In the coming weeks, the group will be disseminating some information about the meeting.
For more key information relative to UN Reform Processes and the newly proposed gender entity for women, please check out AWID's website for analysis in English French and Spanish at http://www.awid.org/go.php?pg=un_reform
Draft Resolutions from the 51st Commission on the Status of Women
In the first week of the CSW, five draft resolutions were tabled by Member States. These were:
* Women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS (Lesotho on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are members of the Southern African Development Community)
* Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women (Pakistan on behalf of the Group of 77 and China)
* Ending female genital mutilation (South Africa, on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are members of the African Group)
* Forced and early marriage (United States of America)
* Elimination of harmful practices of prenatal sex selection and female infanticide (Republic of Korea and the United States of America)
In two weeks time, AWID will conclude its series on the CSW and Friday File staff will carry out an interview with a leading International Policy Advisor and feminist who will share some insights into these resolutions as well as the Agreed Conclusions.
Looking forward
Next year's priority theme at the CSW will be devoted to financing for gender equality. In anticipation, AWID's Executive Director Lydia Alpizar participated in an agenda-setting Informal Panel entitled "Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women." As the only NGO representative, Lydia's presentation focused on sharing the results of AWID's research on the funding situation for women's rights organisations, and key issues the CSW should consider as part of its deliberations in their annual session next year [13].
Notes:
[1] The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. For an indepth description of the Commission's Mandate visit:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/index.html#about
[2] The basis for this year's discussions was the UN Secretary-General's Report "The Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination and Violence against the Girl Child." The Report concluded that despite advances, violations of the human rights of girls persist. The Secretary General Report is available for download at
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?OpenAgent&DS=E/CN.6/2007/2&Lang=E
Secretary-Genderal Ban Ki-Moon reaffirmed his commitment to gender equality on International Women's Day yesterday in his speech stating that, "empowering women is not only a goal in itself. It is a condition for building better lives for everyone on the planet." His speech is available at
http://www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2007/sg-message.shtml
[3] Over the course of the past two weeks, government delegations worked on finalizing the Agreed Conclusions on priority themes. The Agreed Conclusions is the principal output document from the CSW which identifies chief areas of concern to girls and devises sets of recommendations and commitments for governments, intergovernmental bodies and other institutions, civil society actors and other relevant stakeholders, to be implemented at the international, national, regional and local level. In conjunction with the Agreed Conclusions, the Commission adopts a number of negotiated resolutions that are then included within an overall report to be submitted to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
[4] Division for the Advancement of Women website:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/51sess.htm
[5] For a technical description of the roles NGOs play at the CSW visit
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/ngo/index.html
[6] Statement by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies, http://www.iwhc.org/docUploads/COALITION%20FOR%20SEXUAL%20AND%20BODILY%20RIGHTS%20statement.pdf
Statement by U.S.-based organisations sent to the U.S. Representative to the CSW
http://www.iwhc.org/docUploads/Letter%20to%20USG%202%2D26%2D07%20%5F2%5F.pdf
[7] March 2005 "Conservative Catholic Influence in Europe: an Investigative Series," prepared by Catholics for Free Choice
[8] Beijing Platform for Action, pp 225 of the Human Rights of Women Section
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/human.htm#back2-3
[9] The Panel's 52-page report entitled "Delivering As One" is available at
http://www.un.org/events/panel/resources/pdfs/HLP-SWC-FinalReport.pdf
[10] The Open Letter regarding Women's/Gender Equality Architecture at the UN from the NGO LINKAGE CAUCUS is available at
http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/policy/csw07/index.html
[11] If you'd like to stay involved with UN reform conversations, subscribe to WEDO's listserve and receive future advocacy statements by email:
unreform@wedo.org
[12] You can find further statements endorsing the Panel's proposal for reforming the UN gender equality architecture on the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) website at: http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/policy/unadvocacy/index.html
[13] Statements from the "Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women" panalists are available for download at
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw51/Panel_financing.html
To see Lydia Alpizar's statement, visit
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw51/pdfs/panelpapers/Lydia%20Alpizar.pdf
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