Regional reports from the 2010 NGO Global Forum for Women are available at:
http://www.beijing15.org/?page_id=13
NGO Shadow Reports from countries and regions are also available there.
If the link does not work, please go to www.beijing15.org and click on resources and documents. Scroll down to see the full list of reports and resources.
For more than 3,500 civil society representatives and hundreds of government
delegates who traveled, often long distances, to New York for this year’s Commission
on the Status of Women (CSW), it was an occasion to mark large and small victories
over the last 15 years and to focus on the challenges that remain.
It has been 15 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were
adopted, concluding one of the most influential global meetings ever held – the
Fourth World Conference on Women. During its two-week session from 1-12 March, the
CSW focused on assessing what has been achieved since the Beijing Conference, on
sharing experiences and good practices and outlining priority actions. In addition,
nearly 100 side events were organized by UN agencies, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), the private sector and governments.
The following four areas of priority importance to women were discussed by the
Commission:
Maternal mortality
The Millennium Development Goal to improve maternal health – and the affiliated
target of reducing the rate of maternal mortality by three-quarters – has been the
most elusive target of all. Lack of decisive progress in this area has been matched
by a lack of reliable statistics, and a failure to attract large-scale support. Best
estimates are that in 2005 more than half a million mothers died as a consequence of
childbirth.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recognized the conundrum at last June’s Global Health
Forum. He said that “people often call an issue on which all can agree a ‘motherhood
issue’ … however, motherhood itself has not yet become a motherhood issue.”
But the Secretary-General also detected a “tipping point” in international concern,
as the outcome of the 2009 World Health Assembly included a special focus on
maternal health, and global philanthropies stepped up their commitment of resources
to this goal.
With a strong CSW resolution adopted at the March session on eliminating maternal
mortality and morbidity, with the Secretary-General’s planned launch of a global
framework for action to fast-track progress on women’s and children’s health, and
with the selection of this issue as the “top priority” of the host country, Canada,
for the G8 meeting in June, there is reason to believe that the imperative to save
mothers’ and infants’ lives will gain added momentum over the remaining five years
of the drive to reach the MDGs by 2015.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro on maternal mortality
“My formative professional experience was working as a Legal Aid attorney, and I
will never forget the heartbroken families who came to see me seeking redress after
their loved ones had died in childbirth.
I understand their pain even more now because I, too, have lost friends. Not in the
villages, either, but in the cities, where you might think the services are far
better.
In far too many parts of the world, when a woman goes into labour, relatives and
friends do not go so far as to say goodbye, but they are often thinking, is this the
last time they will see her? And the reverse is also true. . . .
When I was giving birth to my second child, I had the same fear. I was wondering
whether I would get out of the room alive, whether my kids would survive, and this
is just a few years ago, just about ten years ago. Isn’t it an irony that, just as
we celebrate an impending birth, we fear an imminent death. . . .”
– 15 June, 2009
Violence against women
Violence against women is a pandemic behind closed doors – it is calculated that up
to 70 per cent of women experience violence in their lifetime. It not only inflicts
personal suffering, but “undermines development, generates instability, and makes
peace in society much harder to achieve,” as noted by the Secretary-General at a
panel discussion at this month’s Commission.
Margot Wallström, his newly appointed Special Representative on sexual violence in
conflict, departs for the Democratic Republic of the Congo in April. On her return,
she will report to the Security Council.
In the meantime, action on the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against
Women campaign has moved to the regional and national levels, with particular
emphasis on the first of the campaign’s five goals – the adoption and implementation
of national laws on violence against women.
Role of women in decision-making
An Inter-Parliamentary Union survey found that women comprise 18.8 per cent of
members of parliament worldwide – an all-time high, although this falls short of the
30 per cent target advocated in Beijing.
Rachel Mayanja, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
Advancement of Women, describes the representation of women in parliaments as “an
accountability issue.” She finds that countries where women are under-represented in
government tend to be “less inclusive, less egalitarian and less democratic.”
Under-representation in decision-making positions can be self-perpetuating, in that
it limits the incorporation of gender perspectives into policies. For example, the
absence of women in top positions in peace processes limits the attention given to
gender in peace agreements. Since 1992, women have constituted only 7.1 per cent of
official delegation members in negotiations, and only 2.1 per cent of signatories to
peace agreements, according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Very few have been formal mediators.
“History has taught us that any peace not built by and for women is far less likely
to deliver real and lasting benefits,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
speaking at the Commission 15 years after her seminal address to the Women’s
Conference in Beijing.
New gender entity
The General Assembly adopted a resolution late last year paving the way for the
creation of a new UN body for gender equality and the advancement of women, and
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has submitted his proposals for the entity to the
General Assembly for their consideration.
The importance of moving ahead with the creation of this new entity was repeatedly
and emphatically highlighted throughout the Commission’s 15-year review session. In
his remarks at the official observance of International Women’s Day (8 March), the
Secretary-General made it clear that it was now up to Member States to act, urging
Governments to adopt a resolution creating a new entity “without delay.”
His plan would merge four separate UN units with differing mandates: the Office of
the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI); the Division
for the Advancement of Women in the Department for Economic and Social Affairs
(DAW/DESA); the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); and the United
Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW).
There has been strong support for the creation of a unified body that would
strengthen the participation of women in international affairs and give the UN a
stronger mandate on women’s issues. However, different strategic approaches have
emerged from the discussion of this issue. Some Member States stress gender
equality, ensuring full rights and legal protection. Many from the developing world
place more emphasis on “advancement,” entailing a strong pro-women development
agenda.
Through the adoption of seven resolutions at the conclusion of its 54th session, the
Commission on the Status of Women:
• Urged Governments – with the support of civil society and the private sector – to
take all steps to empower women and girls to protect themselves against HIV
infection;
•Called upon all parties to armed conflict to release women and children taken
hostage, and reaffirmed that hostage-taking is an illegal act aimed at destroying
human rights;
• Urged continued special attention to the promotion and protection of the human
rights of Palestinian women and girls;
• Called upon Member States to take all necessary measures – including enacting and
enforcing legislation – to address and eliminate harmful traditional practices,
especially female genital mutilation;
• Urged States to develop and implement specific policies and programmes to promote
economic empowerment, including through enhancing women’s access to full and
productive employment and accelerating women’s full participation in economic
decision-making;
• Urged global and national leaders to generate the political will, resources,
commitment, cooperation and technical assistance urgently required to reduce
maternal mortality and morbidity, and improve maternal and newborn health;
• Welcomed the General Assembly resolution on establishing a new UN entity for
gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Produced by the Department of Public Information Strategic Communications Division,
March 2010
Yours Sincerely,
NGO Relations, DPI
United Nations
www.un.org/dpi/ngosection
Commission on the Status of Women.
Below is the extract from the UN press briefing on it:
(http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/wom1792.doc.htm),
The representative of Egypt than introduced a resolution entitled strengthening the institutional arrangements of the United Nations for support of gender equality and the empowerment of women by consolidating the four existing offices into a composite entity (document E/CN.6/2010/L.7).
She said it was a political statement of the will of Member States to support system-wide coherence of all United Nations entities mandated to work towards gender equality.
It reflected the United Nations important role to achieve that priority target of gender equality and women’s empowerment, as set out in the Beijing Declaration and Platform. It reaffirmed Member States’ commitment to put women front and centre.
The representative of Norway said that, in adopting the text, which had more than 181 co-sponsors, the Commission would confirm that strengthening United Nations institutions was a truly universal objective.
That clear message from Member States should inspire and boost ongoing negotiations of the General Assembly to set up an entity by the end of the current Assembly session.
The Women’s Empowerment Principles are a set of Principles for business offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. They are the result of a collaboration between the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Global Compact. The development of the Principles included an international multi-stakeholder consultation process, which was launched in March 2009.
Resources from NGO Global Forum for Women – Now Available
From the NGO Committee on the Status of Women:
We are pleased to inform you that most of the regional reports from the 2010 NGO Global Forum for Women are available on the website for NGO organizing around Beijing +15:
Here is the link for the page: http://www.beijing15.org/?page_id=13
NGO Shadow Reports from countries and regions are also available there.
If the link does not work, please go to www.beijing15.org and click on resources and documents. You will have to scroll down to see the full list of reports and resources.
INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION
Beijing goals on women in politics still unmet, new report finds
New York/Geneva, 3 March Press Release No. 336
Taking stock of women’s political participation today gives cause for guarded satisfaction. Fifteen years after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing , overall improvements have been registered in parliamentary and executive spheres of government. Still, the target of gender balance in politics is far off in too many countries. In the words of Anders B. Johnsson , Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), “Things have certainly improved, but not nearly as much as we would want them to”.
This is the main conclusion of a new survey on progress and setbacks of women in parliament released by the IPU. The survey is being published along with a new World Map of Women in Politics 2010, a poster-size map produced in cooperation with the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women showing the number of women politicians by country and region.
Parliaments
By the start of 2010, the global average for the proportion of women parliamentarians reached a high of 18.8 per cent, compared to 1995, when it stood at 11.3 per cent. This equates to an average 0.5 percentage point gain per year. Ms. Rachel Mayanja, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Gender Issues, noted that ECOSOC had set a target of 30 per cent women in leadership positions to be met by 1995. “We are a far cry from this goal. But we are determined to finish the Beijing agenda. We cannot afford any further delays in action to achieve the gender equality goals, including for women’s political participation.”
While overall progress has been slow, some counties have progressed at a much faster pace than others. The number of parliamentary chambers reaching the 30-per-cent target now stands at 44 (16.7%) spread across 38 countries. This is a six-fold increase over 1995, when just seven chambers in seven countries achieved this goal. The range of 30 per cent-plus chambers is diverse and includes 16 in Europe, 13 in the Americas , 11 in Africa and four in the Asia-Pacific region. The number of chambers with a membership of 10 per cent or less women members has more than halved, from 62 per cent in 1995 to 27 per cent today.
However, it is clear that challenges to women’s political empowerment remain in all regions. In several parliaments there have only ever been a handful of women, and the number of parliamentary chambers where no women have seats has not shown any dramatic decline, dropping from 13 in 1995 to 10 today. Women’s advancement into leadership positions in parliament has been much slower than the improvement in access to parliament. From 24 in 1995, there were 35 women Presiding Officers at the helm of parliaments at the start of 2010.
Ministerial positions
For women in the Executive and Heads of State, overall progress is even slower than at the parliamentary level. As shown in the World Map, women count for just nine out of the 151 elected Heads of State (6%) in 2010, up from just eight women leaders in 2005.
On average, women hold 16 per cent of ministerial posts. In total, 30 countries have more than 30 per cent women members, with Cape Verde , Finland , Norway and Spain achieving over 50 per cent women ministers. At the other end of the spectrum, the number of countries with no women ministers has increased — from 13 in 2008 to 16 in 2010. The majority of these States are found in the Arab region, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands .
Compared with 2008, there is more diversification in terms of the portfolios held by women. As with previous years, however, women tend to dominate portfolios related to social affairs, children and youth, women’s affairs, and increasingly the environment.
Detailed information on our dedicated web page at: http://www.ipu.org/splz-e/csw10.htm
Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva , Switzerland , the IPU – the oldest multilateral political organization in the world – currently brings together more than 150 affiliated national parliaments and eight associated regional assemblies. The world organization of parliaments also has an Office in New York , which acts as its Permanent Observer to the United Nations.
Contacts:
In Geneva: Ms. Luisa Ballin , IPU Info rmation Officer. Tel.: ++41 22 919 41 16, e-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org and cbl@mail.ipu.org
In New York : Ms. Julie Ballington , IPU Programme Specialist, Gender Partnership Programme. Tel. ++1 202 557 58 80; e-mail jb@mail.ipu.org; ny-office@mail.ipu.org ; IPU website: www.ipu.org