Commission on the Status of Women Concludes its 54th Session, More Progress Needed
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Report by the UN Non-governmental Liaison Service

*http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article2271


The 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held from 1–12 March 2010, brought together more than 3,400 participants from over 450 organizations for the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA) and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly (2000).



It concluded with the adoption of a declaration in which governments reaffirmed their commitment to the goals and objectives made fifteen years earlier. The Commission also adopted a number of resolutions – concerning gender equality and women’s empowerment – which will be sent to the Economic and Social Council for adoption.

The 54th session of CSW included a high-level roundtable that focused on achievements, gaps and challenges in linking the implementation of the BPFA and efforts to achieve the MDGs; panel discussions; several interactive events; as well as a rich variety of parallel events. NGLS co-organized several events during the session. On 4 March, together with UNIFEM, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) and the Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development (WWG-FfD), it co-sponsored a one-day discussion on the theme “Gender Equality in Economic Crisis and Recovery: Getting the Macroeconomic Policies Right" (summary). NGLS, Social Watch and UNIFEM also organized on 9 March a panel discussion to mark the launch of Social Watch’s publication entitled “Putting gender economics at the forefront. 15 years after the IV World Conference on Women.” (summary).




A wide range of topics were debated during the session, including: linkages between the implementation of the BPFA and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); women’s economic empowerment in the context of the global economic and financial crisis; eliminating violence against women; implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to gender equality and the empowerment of women; and women’s political participation. While a number of positive developments have been made since Beijing – in terms of women’ and girls’ education, women’s empowerment and an increase in political participation – many participants stressed that not only does much remain to be done, but that progress must be accelerated in a number of areas. Pointing to the global economic crisis, speakers suggested that progress made on gender equality and women’s rights was the first to be eroded under such circumstances. Others highlighted the need for women to have a stronger voice in global governance and policy-making as well as a greater role in the resolution of armed conflict and in peacebuilding processes. Progress in these and other areas were seen as positive ways of accelerating growth and development for all.

The new gender entity was discussed during the session with the Commission welcoming GA resolution 63/311 of 14 September 2009. The GEAR Campaign was active during the session and organized a number of events on Gender Equality Architecture Reform at the UN. However, not all NGOs agree on a particular strategy for the new entity. Some call for quick actions and decisions while others are more cautious. For more information on the new gender entity, read NGLS Roundup 138.

NGO reactions to the review session of the BPFA were mixed as women’s groups pointed to what they saw as insufficient progress on commitments to protect the universality of women’s rights, including sexual and reproductive rights or adequate progress in moving forward the new composite gender entity. Others highlighted the need for increased funding for gender-related issues, including resources to battle sexual violence.

For more detailed information on the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, please consult the resources listed below.

Websites:
Division for the Advancement of Women

UNIFEM at the Commission on the Status of Women

TERRAVIVA Beijing + 15 coverage

Press releases and articles:
Secretary-General Calls for End to Sexual Violence against Women / 11 March

Deputy Secretary-General’s remarks to Expert Panel in preparation for ECOSOC Ministerial Review / 9 March

IPS ‘CSW Marked by Political Uncertainties’ / 12 March

Beijing+15 Blogs and Opinions


1. AWID Association of Women's Rights in Development is an international, multi-generational, feminist, creative, future-orientated membership organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women's human rights. AWID’s mission is to strengthen the voice, impact and influence of women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements internationally to effectively advance the rights of women. See here for AWID's Beijing+15 Blog and here for links to further comment and analysis.

2. Wendy Harcourt’s blog

Dr Wendy Harcourt is Senior Programme Director and Editor of Development at the Society for International Development (SID) in Rome. See www.wendyharcourt.net. She is a former Chair of WIDE and currently series editor of the ZED Books Gender and Environment series.

3. Website of the Global trade union movement at the CSW/Beijing+15 Review

4. Women In Development Europe (WIDE) is a European feminist network of women´s organisations, development NGOs, gender specialists and women´s rights activists. WIDE monitors and influences international economic and development policy and practice from a feminist perspective. The WIDE delegation blog is (here).

5. Canadian, Mary Scott of the National Council of Women of Canada has a very useful blog with links to a vast range of other sites and of documents relating to the Beijing+15 Review.

Beijing+15-Report #1 March 8th 2010

I have just returned from the 54th Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in New York.



I had thought before I left that I would have time to write a couple of reports/blogs while there. I take my hat off to those who can go to events and meetings all day and still write lengthy blogs at night. The most I could have managed was a tweet-if I knew how to tweet, that it. So instead I am now putting together my scribbled notes and impressions—and thanks to the internet, also other people’s—and I’ll be sending them out over the next week. I’ll also post more material with links to other websites and with photos and documents on the Banulacht Update section of the website.

Maeve Taylor,
Policy and Training Project Leader, Banúlacht


According to the UN (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/index.html) the event was about the following:

15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000). Emphasis will be placed on the sharing of experiences and good practices, with a view to overcoming remaining obstacles and new challenges, including those related to the Millennium Development Goals. Member States, representatives of non-governmental organizations and of UN entities will participate in the session. A series of parallel events will provide additional opportunities for information exchange and networking.

Many of the blogs I’ve seen celebrate the presence in New York of so many women and women’s organisations from all over the world: for me, it’s not about lots of women being there: it’s the number of feminist organisations present and the number of feminist events that are held. And one of the things that feminist organisations have been highlighting at the Beijing+15 Review is the need to constantly reclaim and insist on the feminist vision and content of the BPFA.

This isn’t an aspirational NGO interpretation-it’s a call to governments to remember and recommit to what they signed in 1995. And it’s critical: one of the things that struck me was the fact that many government officials and also many NGO representatives were not using the short-hand “Beijing+15” but talking only about the CSW. And that raises the question of whether the language, goals and principles of the BPFA are being side-lined or even forgotten.

At the end of the first week, I joined a group of other representatives of NGOs to draft a parallel statement raising this and other concerns. The opening paragraph reads:

The Fourth World Conference on Women produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), a comprehensive women’s human rights paradigm that envisioned the transformation of power relations. This was a global vision of social justice, equality, development and peace. Fifteen years later, the BPfA would seem to be considered by governments as technical instrument, and its substance has been depoliticised and diluted. The key implementation strategy of gender mainstreaming has lost its critical perspective and transformative purpose in terms of power relations and inequalities.


This statement was initiated by WIDE, of which Banúlacht is the Irish Platform, and has been endorsed to date by the following organisations:

WIDE Network, European Women’s Caucus at CSW 54, AWID, International Women’s Health Coalition, Campana “Muevete por la Igualdad”, Coordinadora ONGD-Spain, Banúlacht- Ireland, One World Action- UK, Kulu- Denmark, Wo=Men- Netherlands, Feminist Task Force of the Global Call for Action Against Poverty, ENLACE, IFOR Women Peacemakers Program, DAWN, Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development, Siglo XXIII/SERR. See Banúlacht’s website for the full text. http://banulacht.blogspot.com/2010/03/statement-by-feminist-ngos-in-relation.html


On Banúlacht's the website you’ll also find some “grassroots” statement in relation to Beijing+15 drafted by some of the organisations that Banulacht works with. If members wish to send their own short statements, we’ll post them on the website and also foreard them to colleagues in New York who are hoping to use statements from women’s organisations in the North and South to draw attention to the joint NGO statement: http://banulacht.blogspot.com/2010/03/before-heading-to-csw-number-of.html

For a link to the UN site with webcasts of high level events: click here
http://www.un.org/webcast/

Before heading to the CSW, a number of Banúlacht workshops on human rights were held. The groups came up with statements expressing their concerns about women's human rights. These statements were taken to the CSW and circulated to other women's organisations. There will be a launch of a parallel women's organisation to the CSW during this week (see previous post). If your organisation wants to include a short "grassroots statement" along the lines of the message below, please send it to Banúlacht by email by Wednesday 10th March at the latest (the Beijing+15 Review ends on Friday).


Enough is enough
Equality for women now
Change is the way
Women need fair play


Violence against women is a violation of women's human rights globally: it could be your mother, your sister, your daughter, you: can you close your eyes?


Messages from the Clare Women’s Network



W--Why are women still fighting for human rights in 2010?
O--Open the box: grassroots women’s participation is critical globally
M--More women in positions of power
E--Equality now—no more broken promises
N--No stopping women!


Message from the Limerick Women’s Network



For women in the South from this women's group in the North: we empathise with your struggle, your fight and hope for change and equality symbolises your strength and courage. In solidarity we stand with hope for change for women all over the world.

Message from the St Michael’s Estate Women’s Leadership Course, Inchicore, Dublin

Statement by feminist NGOs in relation to Beijing+15Final version March 5, 2010
Final Statement

Concerning Beijing +15 process Review at Commission on the Status of Women
New York, March 4th, 2010 The Fourth World Conference on Women produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), a comprehensive women’s human rights paradigm that envisioned the transformation of power relations. This was a global vision of social justice, equality, development and peace. Fifteen years later, the BPfA would seem to be considered by governments as technical instrument, and its substance has been depoliticised and diluted. The key implementation strategy of gender mainstreaming has lost its critical perspective and transformative purpose in terms of power relations and inequalities.

Women’s organizations have been the driving force behind the Beijing process. We note the Secretary General’s repeated emphasis on the importance of civil society to the work of the UN, particularly in relation to the achievement of women’s rights. As representatives of such organizations we are deeply concerned that the spaces for influencing decision making by women’s organizations at the Beijing+15 Review have been significantly reduced.

This is manifested by:
- The Declaration on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women having been agreed ahead of time and adopted without consultations with civil society.

- The absence of information on opportunities for civil society to influence the conduct and outcome of the CSW meetings and the Declaration.

- Poor logistics and facilities that have prevented women from participating effectively.

The presence of such a huge gathering of women has been used instrumentally to legitimise an empty Declaration. This is another example of the reduction of the space for critical engagement between governments and civil society.
The 54th Session of CSW was intended to be the opportunity to review progress and promote the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. However, in its failure to strongly reaffirm and commit to renewed and concrete actions and resources to implement the BPfA, the Declaration represents a backward step.

The Declaration appears to overstate the progress made, and to ignore the slow and partial nature of implementation. It underestimates the degree and types of challenges that remain for women in their multiple identities, including the persistence of all forms of violence against women. It fails to take into account changes in the global and local contexts. The current context of multiple crises--such as the food, energy, climate change, care , economic and financial crises--new forms of insecurity, new aid modalities, internationalization of conflicts, perpetuation of the feminization of poverty and the ongoing struggle around women’s health issues, including Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and HIV/AIDS, have created challenges not present 15 years ago.

For this reason, we call upon the Secretary General, the Chairperson of the CSW and Member States to take all opportunities associated with the forthcoming global negotiations in relation to Special High Level Meeting of ECOSOC with the Bretton Woods Institutions, World Trade Organization and the UNCTAD and the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit in order to recover the transformative nature of the BPfA by:

- Reaffirming the BPfA both as a comprehensive, critical and human rights framework that requires full implementation as a matter of urgency and as integral to and a prerequisite for the implementation of the MDGs.

- Ensuring that civil society, including women’s organizations, is able to participate meaningfully and that young women are empowered to become future leaders of these processes.

- Committing to an accountability framework for the BPfA with concrete benchmarks and timetables.

-Ensuring adequate funding for gender equality policies, programmes and institutional mechanisms and for women’s rights organizations through the implementation, among others, of the 2008 Doha Declaration on Financing for Development, which has strong and concrete commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

- Protecting the policy space of countries so that they will have the flexibility to determine their development pathways consistently with universal women's rights and global commitments.

- Creating in 2010 a strong, well-resourced UN Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Entity with strong operational capacity and ability to hold the UN to account as well as strong mechanisms for meaningful civil society participation as supported and articulated by the GEAR (Gender Entity Architecture Reform) campaign.

Signatures:
ACSUR Las Segovias;
Ad Hoc Coalition for Women's Equality and Human Rights (Canada);
African Women`s Development and Communication Network/FEMNET;
ALTERO-Association for personal training education development and empowerment Serbia;
Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND);
Articulação de ONGs de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras (Brasil);
Articulación de Mujeres Brasileras ;
AWID
Balance Promoción para el Desarrollo y Juventud (México);
Banúlacht-Women in Ireland in Global Solidarity/WIDE Irish Platform
Campana “Muevete por la Igualdad”
Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW);
Canadian Federation of University Women;
Canadian Labour Congress - Congres du travail du Canada;
Canadian Teachers' Federation;
Canadian Union of Public Employees;
Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir – Colombia ;
Centro de Estudios para la Accion Femenina (Republica Dominicana);
Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristán;
CIASE – Corporacion de Investigacion y Accion Social y Economica ;
Confluencia de redes de Mujeres Colombia;
Confrontations Utopia;
Consell Nacional de Dones de Catalunta;
Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad (Mexico); Red Nacional de Mujeres Colombia
Coordinadora ONGDSpain
Corporación Humanas – Colombia ;
Creación Positiva;
DAWN
DDESER/ Red por los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos en México ((México);
DECIDIR Coalición de Jóvenes por la Ciudadanía Sexual Cómplices por la Equidad /MenEngage México; International Alliance of Women;
Educational International – EI;
El Desarrollo Integral de las Mujeres “Mercedes Machado”;
ENLACE IFOR Women Peacemakers Program
Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía Trabajo y Familia A.C. (México);
Espacio Espiral Promoción Cultural Desarrollo Sustentable y Equidad AC (México);
European Women’s Lobby (EWL);
Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec – FIQ;
Feminist Legal Studies Queen's University (Canada);
Feminist Task Force of the Global Call for Action Against Poverty
Feminist Think Tank Poland;
Feministas en Marcha (Puert o Rico);
FinnWID - Finnish Women in Development;
Foro de Mujeres y Políticas de Población (México);
Forum de Política Feminista –Spain;
Fundac – Colombia ;
Fundació Isonomía Spain;
GADN – UK Gender and Development Network;
Geledés - Instituto da Mulher Negra (Brasil);
GIRE Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida México;
HOPE Pakistan;
Human Rights in Democracy Centre (HRDC) Albania;
International Alliance of Women;
ITUC – International Trade Union Confederation;
K.U.L.U.– Women and Development/WIDE Danish Platform;
KARAT;
L’Alliance canadienne féministe pour l’action internationale (AFAI) Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL); Autonomous Women's Center Belgrade;
La Diaspora Solidaria (Latinoamerican women in Europe's fund);
Le Monde Selon les Femmes- Belgique;
Limpal –Colombia ;
MATCH International;
Mesa por la Vida y la Salud de las Mujeres Colombia;
Milenio Feminista (México);
Mujeres Sonorenses en Acción MUSA (México);
National Women’s Council of Ireland
NAWO (INDIA) South Asia Women's Watch
NETRIGHT
Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana
NGO Women`s Safe house Podgorica Montenegro;
One World Action- UK
OXFAM International;
PLENT (Platform for Equal & Non Transferable Parental Leave) ;
PPIINA (Plataforma por Permisos Iguales e INtransferibles de Nacimiento y Adopción).-
Programa Comunicacion y Sistematizacion Tierra Viva;
Programa Feminista Centroamericano la Corriente (Nicaragua);
Public Service Alliance of Canada;
Public Services International – PSI;
Red de Mujeres Afrocaribeñas Afrolatinoamericanas y de la Diáspora;
Red de Observatorios de Violencia Social y de Género (México);
Red de Salud de las Mujeres latinoamericanas y del Caribe RSMLAC; Red Mujer y Habitat Latinoamerica;
Red Latinoamericana de Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (RLACDD);
REPEM – Colombia ;
REPEM (Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres de America Latina y el Caribe)
S. Mujer CC.OO. Málaga Spain;
Siglo XXIII/SERR Mujeres en Zona de Conflicto-Spain
Spain PLENT (Platform for Equal & Non-Transferable Parental Leave) – Europe;
Syndicat Canadien des communications energie et du papier (SCEP);
Teamsters Canada;
The Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP);
The National Council of Women of Canada;
TIYE International;
Udruzenje''Zenski razvojni centar''/Association''Women's development center';
UNI – Global Union
UNI Global Union;
WIDE Austria;
WIDE Network
Wo=Men the Netherlands
WomanAction;
Women Media and Development ( TAM) / Palestine;
Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development
Women's Resource and Advocacy Centre;
Xarxa de dones per la salut;