Engender disappointment at CSW
11 Mar 2010
In an atmosphere of outrage and disappointment the hopes of building on Beijing stall…
The 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) began on 1st March in New York and like hundreds of other NGOs from around the world, Engender submitted a report. We also sent three women to take part in the debates. In the reports, each country detailed the progress women had made in the 15 years since the UN Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for Women (PFA) was launched in Beijing in 1995. The aim of the meeting in New York was to review progress towards the aspirations of the Beijing Platform for Action, hear from the Governments who are signatories to CEDAW on how successful they had been in implementing the BjPfa and to enable women’s NGOs to influence the future development of the BjPfa /CEDAW agenda so that it reflects women’s experiences across the globe as they deal with the changes in the world since Beijing and the new challenges they bring to achieving gender equality.
In his message for International Women’s Day, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon recognised the efforts of civil society organisations in advancing equal rights and empowering women worldwide. He also stressed how far we still had to go, calling the level of violence against women and girls a cause for global shame, acknowledging that sexual violence during conflict is endemic and noting the rise in trafficking. He went on to urge the UN General Assembly to move quickly on the creation of a new United Nations entity to promote women’s rights all over the world
It was therefore with some surprise that on the second day of the proceedings that NGO delegations found that the CSW had already issued a declaration which more or less reaffirmed the existing Beijing Declaration and closed off any further debate which could lead to enhancements to the Platform of Action. The 7000 women who had made their way to the session found themselves silenced– there was to be no debate. The Engender delegation were advised by the UK mission that the decision to simply reaffirm the existing Platform for Action was a tactical and pragmatic move to defend it. The fear was that any attempt to alter the Platform would, in reality, re-open the debate and enable some nations to dilute or retract their commitment to it.
The European Women’s Caucus (and others) responded immediately to the CSW registering their anger that the voices of civil society organisations were not being heard and the opportunity to advance the PFA was being denied. They noted that the declaration issued by the CSW ‘appears to overstate the progress that had been made and ignore its slow and partial nature’. They also raise concerns that new issues such as the financial crisis, and food and climate issues could not now be addressed. Read the letter from the Euoropean Caucus here.
The women who, at not insignificant expense in time and money, travelled across the world in the hope of contributing to the advancement of women worldwide will leave New York having come up against real politik – and finding it a sobering experience.
If it is indeed the case that all we can do now is defend what has already been enshrined (but not necessarily delivered) it’s a sad day for the human rights of half the population. It appears that we can’t move forward without risking what we have.
We can only hope that during the second week of CSW some of the resolutions being proposed by women are accepted, albeit that they are not legal instruments, and that there is at least some debate about the shape, power and funding of the proposed new gender entity so that the opportunity of 7000 diverse women’s voices are not lost in the UN Assembly deliberations and decisions as they set it up.
Read more:
Engender’s Report to the CEDAW
