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GEO/ICAE
3.- Convened by Women Won’t Wait: End
HIV AIDS and Violence against women and girls. NOW!
4.- Draft presented by the Bureau of
the Commission on the Status of Women Commission on the Status of Women
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1.- CSW 52 - LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN CAUCUS 27th. February 2008 – Prepared by Marcela Hernandez, GEO /ICAE
The Latin American Caucus gathered today for one hour to propose recommendations for the CSW agreed conclusions (see below). The meeting had quite a numerous participation and these are some of the key issues mentioned:
- Include the voice of rural women, particularly to push forward important issues such as the right to land and access to credit. - A Caribbean representative mentioned the importance of including decent work for women. - Alejandra Scampini from Action Aid remarked the weakness of the document compared to the one of the year before and the need to make it stronger so she suggested the creation of a preamble to make it stronger and more assertive. She added that the document is vague and only mentions the Beijing Platform and not other commitments previously assumed. - Another participant mentioned the importance of including the declaration within the framework of Doha because it is the next important event. - A representative from the International Women’s Health Coalition agreed with Alejandra Scampini that the document has many flaws and added that it does not talk about health. - Another issue raised was gender budgeting and the proposal for governments to incorporate gender budgets within the ministries of finance. - The inclusion of adult women, not only girls and also other groups of women such as indigenous, afro-descendant, gay, migrant, etc. was also mentioned.
At this moment the different groups are working on language and recommendations, and trying to approach and do advocacy with the different delegations. Next week, negotiations will take place, so this week is essential for NGOs to agree on what needs to be included in those agreed conclusions.
A concern mentioned in the Linkage Caucus today was how the ONE UN pilot projects would impact on women and the importance of the involvement of women in this process. A representative from WEDO informed that at this moment a review is taking place by co-chairs in 4 countries (Cap Vert, Mozambique, Vietnam and Tanzania) out of the 8 countries where ONE UN pilot projects are ongoing. They are supposed to submit a report before March 17, so they recommended and asked women’s organizations to meet those UN representatives in those countries.
2.- Meeting of Parliamentarians on Financing for Gender Equality and women’s
empowerment
It was
great to see the rich and lively engagement of parliamentarian women in the
CSW. They were given a separate session and a big room. It was great to
listen to them expressing their experiences as women entering in a very
harsh arena: politics and finance.
Parallel session
3.- Convened by Women Won’t Wait: End HIV AIDS and Violence against women
and girls. NOW!
Prepared
by Alejandra.Scampini@actionaid.org
Just a
year ago a group of organizations and networks working around HIV AIDS,
Sexual and Reproductive rights and health and violence launched the WWW
Campaign in NY in the framework of CSW and its discussions around violence
against women and girls. After a year of policy work, outreach and
campaigning there are lots of lessons, challenges and more opportunities to
continue exploring the intersection of the HIV&AIDS and violence against
women. We came again here, to the UN to give visibility to these
intersection and call for more allocation of resources to fight HIV AIDS and
VAW.
Misogyny
is on the rise in SA – two weeks ago a woman was stripped and assaulted by a
group of 100 men. “. She explored the different situations such as
reinforcement of child headed households Virginity testing, VCT are also
increasing the possibility of violence for women. It was very clear that WWW
as a coalition has a niche and a demand to move forward on this issue as at
local and national level groups find their own actions to deal with these
issues
4.- Draft presented by the Bureau of the Commission on the Status of Women Commission on the Status of Women Fifty-second session, 25 February – 7 March 2007
Agreed Conclusions
Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women 1. The Commission on the Status of Women reaffirms the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which emphasized the need for political commitment to make available human and financial resources for the empowerment of women and that funding had to be identified and mobilized from all sources and across all sectors to achieve the goals of gender equality and the empowerment of women, (Based on Platform for Action, para. 345) and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, which called upon Governments to incorporate a gender perspective into the design, development, adoption, and execution of all budgetary processes, as appropriate, in order to promote equitable and effective resource allocation and establish adequate budgetary allocations to support gender equality and development programmes that enhance women’s empowerment. (Resolution S-23/3, annex, para 73 (b)) 2. The Commission acknowledges that national machineries are necessary for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action; and that for national machineries to be effective, clear mandates, location at the highest possible level, accountability mechanisms, partnership with civil society, a transparent political process, adequate financial and human resources and continued strong political commitment are crucial. (CSW Agreed conclusions 1999/II, para. 4) 3. The Commission recalls that the Platform for Action recognized the roles of United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies in the promotion of the empowerment of women, and therefore in the implementation of the Platform for Action within their respective mandates, and noted that the resources provided by the international community needed to be sufficient and should be maintained at an adequate level. (Based on Platform for Action, para. 360) 4. The Commission recognizes the importance of non-governmental organizations, as well as other civil society actors, in advancing the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. (Based on ECOSOC 2006/9) 5. The Commission recalls the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol and draws attention to the work of the Committee towards the practical realization of the principle of equality between women and men. (Based on CEDAW article 2 (a)) 6. The Commission recalls the outcome of the International Conference on Financing for Development in 2002, which emphasized the importance of a holistic approach to the interconnected national, international and systemic challenges of financing for development –sustainable, gender-sensitive, people-centred development. (Based on A/CONF.198/11, chapter 1, resolution 1, annex, paragraph 8) 7. The Commission also recalls the 2005 World Summit, which reaffirmed that the full and effective implementation of the goals and objectives of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly is an essential contribution to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration. (A/RES/60/1, para. 58) 8. The Commission reaffirms the declaration adopted on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which stressed that challenges and obstacles remained in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, and pledged to undertake further action to ensure their full and accelerated implementation. (Based on para. 2 of the CSW Declaration, see ECOSOC decision 2005/232 contained in document E/2005/99) 9. The Commission is concerned that, despite a growing body of evidence demonstrating that investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity, efficiency and sustained economic growth, and despite the calls for gender mainstreaming in economic and public finance processes, adequate resources have not been systematically allocated, and that monitoring and reporting on resource allocations remain insufficient in all areas. (Based on E/CN.6/2008/2, paras. 14, 83 and 87) 10. The Commission is also concerned that insufficient budgetary resources continue to undermine the effectiveness and sustainability of both national mechanisms for the advancement of women and women’s organizations in advocating for, supporting and monitoring the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 86) 11. The Commission urges Governments, the United Nations system, and invites the Bretton Woods institutions, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, as well as other civil society actors, including the private sector, as appropriate, to take the following actions: a. Strengthen the mandates of national machineries for the advancement of women, and ensure that they are adequately resourced to carry out their critical mandates in advocating for, supporting and monitoring the incorporation of gender perspectives in all policy areas and the implementation of gender equality plans and programmes; (E.CN.6/2008/5, para. 90 (f)) b. Strengthen the dialogue between ministries of finance and planning and national mechanisms for the advancement of women, gender focal points in line ministries and women’s organizations to ensure the incorporation of gender perspectives into all economic policies, plans and budgets; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(f)) c. Ensure that gender equality is prioritized as a central goal in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all national economic policies, strategies and plans, across all policy areas, including in national development strategies and poverty reduction strategies, and encourage the active participation of national mechanisms for the advancement of women and women’s organizations in the design and development of such policies, strategies and plans; (E.CN.6/2008/5, para. 90 (c)) d. Cost and fully resource national gender equality policies, strategies and plans and ensure that they are incorporated into overall national development strategies and reflected in relevant sector plans and budgets; (Based on E.CN.6/2008/5, para. 90 (e)) e. Improve sex-disaggregated data collection and develop performance indicators to measure progress in financing gender equality and empowerment of women at national level; (E.CN.6/2008/5, para. 90 (h)) f. Allocate resources for capacity-building in gender mainstreaming within finance and relevant line ministries, to ensure that domestic resource mobilization and allocation is carried out in a gender-sensitive manner; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(g)) g. Undertake and disseminate gender analysis of macroeconomic policies, including taxation, public expenditure, investment and finances; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(b)) h. Develop methodologies and tools to systematically incorporate a gender perspective into results-based public finance management, including through analysis of both revenues and expenditures, as well as into tools developed to monitor and evaluate public financial management systems; (Based on E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(c)) i. Assess the gender impacts of revenue raising measures, including user fees as well as the taxation structure and composition, and develop mechanisms to ensure gender-sensitive revenue raising; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(d)) j. Initiate transparent expenditure reviews, with the participation of civil society, which link the allocation of resources to overall development goals, including gender equality, and evaluate impacts on the poor, in particular women; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(e)) k. Incorporate gender perspectives in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of trade policies, and facilitate the active participation of women decision-makers and women’s organizations in national, regional and international trade decision-making structures and processes; (Based on E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(i)) l. Carry out gender-sensitive assessments of labour laws and standards, with particular attention to export processing zones, and establish policies and guidelines for the employment practices of foreign investors, including global corporations, building on existing agreed multilateral instruments, including the International Labour Organization conventions; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(j)) m. Take measures to develop and implement gender-sensitive programmes aimed at stimulating women’s entrepreneurship and private initiative and assist women-owned business in participating in and benefiting from, inter alia, international trade, technological innovation and investment; (CSW Agreed Conclusions 2002/5/A, para. 5(w)) n. Increase the share of development assistance specifically targeting gender equality and women’s empowerment, through both gender mainstreaming and targeted activities, and strengthen mechanisms to effectively measure resources allocated to incorporating gender perspectives in all areas of development assistance; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(l)) o. Eliminate conditionalities in debt relief initiatives and debt financing measures that lead to the perpetuation or exacerbation of gender inequalities, and earmark resources released by debt relief to address specific targets and benchmarks agreed upon in the Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(k)) p. Ensure that international financial institutions take gender perspectives into account in loan approvals, debt servicing and debt relief, in compliance with commitments to gender equality; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(n)) q. Take measures to incorporate gender perspectives in new aid modalities and efforts to enhance delivery mechanisms, including through the Development Cooperation Forum; (Based on E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(m)) r. Increase resources for gender equality work throughout the United Nations system, including for gender mainstreaming ( E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(q)) and for the interagency work on gender equality to enhance coherence and coordination; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(r)) s. Develop a more coherent and transparent system for tracking financial resources across the United Nations system, including on gender mainstreaming, and institute systematic reporting on resources invested; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(p)) t. Ensure that resource allocation is incorporated in all evaluations and audits of United Nations entities’ implementation of gender equality policies and programmes; (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(o)) u. Ensure that direct funding goes to women’s organizations to advance their autonomy and sustainability, and increase support for women’s funds which provide small grants to women’s initiatives. (E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(s)) 12. The Commission encourages the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to: a. Include in its lists of issues and questions prepared as part of the consideration of States parties’ reports explicit requests for information on resources allocated for gender equality; (Based on E.CN.6/2008/5, para. 91 (b)) b. Invite States parties to include information on resources allocated to the practical realization of the principle of equality between women and men. (Based on E.CN.6/2008/5, para. 91 (a) and CEDAW article 2(a)) 13. The Commission requests Member States, with a view to strengthening financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women, to fully incorporate gender perspectives in the preparations for and outcome of the “Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus”, and to fully reflect these Agreed Conclusions therein. (Based on E.CN.6/2008/2, para. 88(a)) * * *
Dear friends,
FTF colleagues are on the ground here at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. We will be providing updates from the UN regularly. For now, here's a reminder about our event on the INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S TRIBUNALS ON POVERTY and our LAUNCH OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY (IWD) 8 MARCH CAMPAIGN (on Thursday, Feb. 28, UN Church Center, 11th floor, 3:15 - 4:45pm). See info below or download the attached flyer.
The GCAP Feminist Task Force invite you a presentation on the outcomes of regional "Women’s Tribunals on Poverty" and the launch of the March 8th International Women’s Day Global Mobilization
Thursday, 28 February 3:15 PM - 4:45 PM UN Church Center - Hardin Room (11th Fl.) New York, New York
The GCAP Feminist Task Force and partners will present the findings of international women's tribunals on poverty held in India, Egypt and Peru as part of the mobilization activities related to the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Oct. 17, 2007. The event will highlight the intersections between race, class and gender, as well as the presenting the cases of rural women.
Come learn about how you can organize a women’s tribunal on poverty in your country. Come learn about the Feminist Task Force of the Global Call to Action against Poverty.
The FTF will also launch the International Women’s Day Global Mobilization calling on governments around the world to invest in women and girls, to increase financing for gender equality and women’s empowerment and bring an end to the feminization of poverty.
GENDER EQUALITY TO END POVERTY Feminist Task Force GCAP ~~
"Women's Tribunals on Poverty" Program: Introduction and welcome: Rosa G. Lizarde, FTF North America representative and FTF Co-coordinator Opening remarks:
Ana
Agostino, ICAE; FTF Coordinator and GCAP Co-chair Presenter: Pam Rajput, India Women’s Watch Video: “Women’s Tribunal on Poverty India” _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXyy1tMi2-k_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=lXyy1tMi2-k) Peru “National Tribunal for ESCR of Rural Women in Peru” Presenter: Martha Rico, Flora Tristán Visual presentation “Plans for the Women’s Tribunal on Poverty” Presenter: Josephine Kamel, AWEPON Q & A on tribunals Launch of the International Women’s Day Global Mobilization Ana Agostino / Rosa Lizarde Video clip: “Mobilizing Women” Mobilizing on the web Closing For more information, contact Rosa G. Lizarde rosaencasa@aol.com
Rosa G. Lizarde ENLACE-Education and Networking for Latina Cooperation and Empowerment e-mail: Rosaencasa@aol.com skype: Rosaenskype
"Gender Equality to End Poverty" Feminist Task Force of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) - member
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