49TH SESSION OF THE UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN /
BEIJING +10: WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY PREVAILED
Friday March 11th concluded the 49th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women,
this year known as “Beijing + 10”. Ten resolutions on different issues and a political declaration
reaffirmed government’s commitment to the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, agreed
ten years ago, in the Fourth World Conference on Women.
The CSW session was an excellent reflection of the current geo-political context within the UN
system, where the United States of America tried to forcefully impose its neo-conservative
agenda on other countries, and to question and violate international consensus and human
rights agreements.
Despite the US’s alliance with like-minded conservative right wing organisations (mostly from
the US) and other actors such as the Vatican (commonly known in the UN as the Holy See)
to block consensus on the full reaffirmation of the Beijing agreements, progressive women’s
organisations and networks from all regions rose up to the challenge of holding the line and
not allowing this CSW session to undermine what the women of the world had achieved
throughout this last decade.
Participation at this CSW session included approximately eighty ministers, over 1800
government delegates from 165 member states of the United Nations, together with
representatives from UN agencies, multilateral institutions and over 2,600 civil society
organisations. NGOs participated both as observers and as part of government delegations.
This CSW session was somehow different to others, as an extended session with
participation of most member states of the UN, and not only the members of the CSW
(formed by 45 states). The first week of the CSW was mostly focused on high-level
panels and the negotiation of the text of the Political Declaration. The Political Declaration
was approved by consensus, without any reservations, at the end of the first week of the
session. The declaration not only reaffirms the Beijing agreements, but also states that
the full implementation of the Beijing documents is essential to achieving the internationally
agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. The text of the
declaration is available in English (soon will be available in all other UN languages) at:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/documents/Declaration
%20issued%20by%20the%20CSW%20as%20revised.pdf
Besides the Political Declaration, several countries presented draft texts for resolutions
on a range of issues to be approved by the 45 members of the CSW.
It is important to highlight and acknowledge the hard work done by progressive feminist
and women’s organisations and networks from all regions of the world in lobbying
government delegations, preparing arguments, background information and language
to support the process of negotiations and elaboration of the texts of the different resolutions.
All this work was key to ensuring that most of the resolutions approved by the CSW
advance women’s human rights and gender equality, or that at least they do not retract
already established international agreements.
>From the ten resolutions approved by the CSW this year, some underwent a complex
negotiating process, while others were easily approved by the Commission. The US
introduced two draft resolutions: one on the trafficking of women and girls and another
on women’s economic advancement.
The draft text on trafficking presented by the US was problematic because it focused
on criminalising prostitution and using trafficking as means to regulate labour migration
and strengthen security and surveillance policies and cooperation among countries.
The text explicitly ignored the root causes of trafficking and proposed the criminalisation
of demand as one of the most important means of fighting trafficking (a strategy that has
proven ineffective and has undermined the rights of sex workers). This position on
trafficking is a common one used by the US in different arenas.
At the CSW it was successfully challenged by an excellent team of progressive women’s
organisations and experts on this issue, as well as by countries such as New Zealand
and South Africa that have more progressive policies and responses to trafficking.
The current text of the resolution is much better than the initial one. It has stronger and
better human rights language (including references to the Palermo UN Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime), and
incorporates the importance of addressing the root causes of this problem and protecting
the rights of trafficked persons.
The draft resolution on women’s economic advancement also presented by the US
government was again problematic and reductionist since it promoted neoliberal economic
policies, particularly focused on entrepreneurship, as means to advance the economic
status of women. Through the negotiations, strong lobbying and language proposal by
progressive women organizations and unions, the text of the resolution changed significantly
to incorporate, for example, useful language on sexual and reproductive health and rights,
the role of the public sector and recognition of the negative impacts of globalisation. The
approval of the resolution generated tension in the final plenary of the CSW, since the US
wanted to withdraw its support to the text of the resolution, due to the amendments introduced
particularly by Cuba and South Africa. At the end of the session, the resolution with all
amendments proposed was approved by consensus.
One concrete resolution approved by the CSW addresses the possibility of the appointment
of a Special Rapporteur on laws that discriminate against women. The government of Rwanda
supported an initiative launched by Equality Now at the CSW and introduced the text of this
resolution, calling for the CSW to consider the advisability of appointing such special
rapporteur in 2006.
Different organisations and networks of indigenous women were very active and well-organised
at this CSW. Through their effective lobbying they were able to get the government of Bolivia
to present a draft resolution about indigenous women, which was joined by many other
governments as sponsors of the resolution. The approved text reaffirms previous government
agreements such as the Beijing Platform of Action and the Durban Plan of Action, as well as
the recommendations of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and calls for ensuring
the full and effective participation of indigenous women on relevant international processes.
The text of these and the other resolutions approved will soon be available in the CSW 49th
website at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/. For a general official overview
of the 49th Session, including information on the political declaration and the resolutions
adopted, you could visit:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/wom1504.doc.htm.
During the CSW sessions, there were several caucuses organised. Besides some of the
ones already mentioned (such as the indigenous women, economic empowerment and
trafficking), there was a very active and visible Youth for Women’s Rights Caucus (formed
by national, regional and international progressive youth organisations that worked hard to
promote young women’s participation and present their proposals throughout the session),
and a Diverse Sexualities Caucus that gave visibility to sexual rights (a much contested
issue in that space) during the CSW. Special recognition should be given to the Latin
American Caucus that organised an “intelligence area” that served as a key meeting
point for progressive women’s groups during the CSW, where most important and
strategic information and documents could be found and where intensive translation
and outside of UN dissemination of information took place. Additionally, the morning
caucus facilitated by the International Women’s Health Coalition amongst others served
as a vital informatory and safe meeting space, enabling work on strategies to influence
the negotiating processes that took place at the CSW.
The active participation of women and feminist organisations and networks in the
negotiations and deliberations of the CSW was supported by dozens of side events
inside and outside the UN that were organised by UN agencies, funders and women’s
groups, on a wide range of topics. There was a Global Week of Action for Women’s
Rights called “Beijing and Beyond”, that was initiated by the Center for Women’s Global
Leadership (CWGL), the Women’s Environment (WEDO) and Development Organization
and Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), that took place
between March 1 – 8. For more information see: www.beijingandbeyond.org.
As usual, the space provided by the review of the Beijing Conference served as a venue
for networking, discussion, and further debate on current issues and challenges facing
women’s movements. It was also a space to celebrate and come together in this 30th
anniversary of the First International Women’s Conference, held in Mexico City in 1975,
and the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Conference.
The CSW parallel NGO events also included the feminist launching of the Global Call
for Action Against Poverty. The event was organized by AWID in association with several
other women’s organisations and development agencies. In 2005, women's groups
throughout the world will join hands with hundreds of civil society groups whose aim
is to mobilise citizens across the globe to demand much greater action by their
governments on poverty. The Global Call to Action against Poverty is a worldwide alliance
committed to pressuring world leaders to fulfill their promises including those outlined by
the United Nations Millennium Declaration. Hundreds of civil society organisations from all
over the world – including women’s groups, trade unions, faith groups and human rights
organisations – are joining together to work toward shifts in national and international policies
in order to end poverty and both achieve and exceed the Millennium Development Goals.
More information on this initiative can be found at:
http://www.whiteband.org.
So, women … there is much to celebrate! The Beijing Commitments and Consensus are
alive and kicking, and so is the energy and determination of progressive feminist and women’s
movements to continue struggling to advance women’s human rights and gender equality at
different levels. Hopefully, the energy and spirit present at the Beijing + 10 / CSW session
these past weeks will carry on to other significant international and regional processes and
venues, such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation, as well as the UN
Millennium Summit Review Process where key decisions are being and will be made for the
lives of women and girls worldwide.
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT THE CSW 49TH SESSION:
Resolution on women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS: this resolution was presented by Mauritius,
on behalf of the South African Development Community (SADC).
Resolution on reducing demand for trafficking women and girls from all forms of exploitation:
this resolution was presented by the US government.
Resolution on a Special Rapporteur on laws that discriminated against women: this resolution
was introduced by the governments of Rwanda and the Philippines.
Resolution on mainstreaming a gender perspective into national policies and programmes:
presented by the Governments of Bangladesh and the United Kingdom.
Resolution on integrating a gender perspective in post-disaster relief efforts, particularly in
the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster: presented by the government of the
Philippines.
Resolution on the situation of and assistance to Palestinian women: introduced by Jamaica
on behalf of the Group of 77.
Resolution on strengthening of the International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women (INSTRAW): introduced by Jamaica on behalf of the Group of 77.
Resolution on economic advancement for women: presented by the US.
Resolution on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan: introduced by Jamaica on
behalf of the Group of 77.
Resolution on indigenous women: presented by the Government of Bolivia.
By Lydia Alpiar
Program Manager, Feminist Movements and Organizations theme
Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
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