table of contents:
The 49th session of the UN Commission
on the Status of Women on Review and Appraisal of the Beijing Platform for
Action (BPfA ) was held in New York UN Headquarters from 27 February till 11
March 2005. The session brought together ministers from numerous countries and
thousands of women from all over the world. The first week of the conference was
mainly dedicated to the adoption of the declaration reaffirming the BPfA.
The BPfA was adopted ten years ago in 1995 during the Fourth World
Conference on Women in
After hot negotiations under the pressure of progressive government and
houndreds of women groups the
On Friday March the 6th the Declaration was adopted without any
reservations.
As Ms. Kyung-wha Kang, Chairperson
of the CSW stated on 4 March 2005: “The
delegates who are returning home after today, including the many ministers who
have stayed throughout the week for the adoption of the Declaration, will be
able to take this positive reaffirmation back to their constituencies and
celebrate International Women’s Day next Tuesday at home.”
The second week of the CSW was focused on a number of special resolutions. On
Friday the Commission approved 10
resolutions. 1. Gender Mainstreaming in National Policies and Programmes;
Trafficking; 3. Women’s Economic Advancement; 4. Integrating a gender
perspective in post-disaster relief, particularly in the aftermath of the
The UN conference was accompanied by extremely numerous side events organized by
NGOs, UN Agencies and governments.
The adoption of the Declaration reaffirming
Wanda Nowicka
Declaration adopted by
the CSW at its forty-ninth session
We,
the representatives of Governments (…);
1.
Reaffirm the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World
Conference on Women and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the
General Assembly;
2.
Welcome the
progress made thus far towards achieving gender equality, stress that challenges
and obstacles remain in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the
General Assembly, and, in this regard, pledge to undertake further action to
ensure their full and accelerated implementation;
3.
Emphasize that
the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action is essential to achieving the internationally agreed development
goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration,1 and stress the
need to ensure the integration of a gender perspective in the high-level plenary
meeting on the review of the Millennium Declaration;
4.
Recognize that
the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the
fulfilment of the obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women are mutually reinforcing in achieving
gender equality and the empowerment of women;
5.
Call upon the United Nations system,
international and regional organizations, all sectors of civil society,
including non-governmental organizations, as well as all women and men, to fully
commit themselves and to intensify their contributions to the implementation of
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the
twenty-third special session of the General Assembly.
Ten years on, women are not only more aware of their rights: they are more able
to exercise them. If we are to change the historical legacy that puts women at a
disadvantage in most societies, we must implement what we have learnt on a
larger scale.
We must take specific, targeted action on a number of fronts. The report of the
Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality outlines seven
strategic priorities for doing just that.
They represent seven specific investments and policies that can be applied
readily over the coming decade, on a scale large enough to make a real
difference.
First, strengthen girl's access to secondary as well as primary education.
Education holds the key to unlocking most of the obstacles facing girls and
women from being forced into early marriage, to vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and
other diseases.
Second, guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights. How can we achieve
real equality when half a million women die of pregnancy-related causes every
year causes that are entirely preventable?
Third, invest in infrastructure to reduce women's and girls' time burdens. What
are the prospects for girls and women who are forced to spend half of every day
gathering water, fuel and other necessities for their families?
Fourth, guarantee women's and girls' property and inheritance rights. How can
women climb out of poverty without access to land and housing? And without that
security, how can they protect themselves against the impact of HIV/AIDS?
The same goes for the fifth priority -- eliminating gender inequality in
employment. And a good job is also a woman's best protection against falling
prey to trafficking.
Sixth, increase women's share of seats in national parliaments and local
government. Equality of opportunity in policy-making is not only a human right;
it is a prerequisite for good governance.
And seventh, redouble efforts to combat violence against girls and women. That
means leadership in showing, by example, that when it comes to violence against
women and girls, there are no grounds for tolerance and no tolerable excuses.”
Human
Rights and
Charlotte Bunch, Center
for Women’s Global Leadership. Despite
some efforts to weaken the gains of the 1990’s in the first week of the B10
review, the BPFA was affirmed and remains a building block in the interpretation
of the meaning of human rights from the perspective of women’s lives.
The
So while these are not ‘new rights’ in the legal sense, nevertheless,
we should be clear about understanding what the US is trying to do in terms of
pushing back the interpretation of women’s rights as human rights.
CEDAW, the BPfA and a number of other documents and interpretations made
by human rights bodies over the past decade do spell out what it means to
realize the human rights of women, and we must not let them be turned back.
These are vital tools in the women’s rights struggle. The reaction
against them must be understood as a threat to women’s human rights precisely
because we have begun to expand the understanding of human rights from a
feminist perspective.
Brigitta Jaksa, Habeas Corpus, Hungary, ASTRA member. The
frustration about human rights advocacy nowadays includes the pressure to define
and redefine human rights as discourse all over the world is shifted by groups
abusing human rights of women.
I never thought ever before that I will be put into a position where I have to
differentiate between „real” human rights of women and
those human rights of (?) that are claimed by pro life groups, mostly encouraged
by the
NGOs
CALL FOR RESPECT FOR WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS, DEVELOPMENT, GLOBAL SECURITY AND
ANTI-RACISM AS ONE AGENDA. STATEMENT AT THE 49TH SESSION OF CSW
We,
representatives of national, regional and global civil society organizations and
networks applaud the unequivocal and unanimous support by all the governments to
the full reaffirmation of the Beijing Platform for action at the 49th Session of
the Commission on the Status of Women.
We call upon governments while reaffirming the Beijing Platform and preparing
for the Millennium Summit in September 2005, to prevent the fragmentation of the
overall human development agenda. Specifically, we note that the realization of
the Millennium Declaration and of the Millennium Development Goals depends upon
the empowerment of all women, the attainment of gender equality and the
acknowledgement of women’s rights. This requires full implementation of the
Beijing Platform for Action, the CEDAW, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and
other recognized international human rights instruments.
Sustainable development, global security, respect for human rights,
and a world free from poverty, violence, racial and all other forms of
discrimination – are integral parts of ONE AGENDA. None of these can be
fulfilled in isolation. None of these can be fulfilled unless sufficient
resources are made available, not just pledged.
None of these can be fulfilled without the full respect for women’s
rights and also a genuine participation of civil society.
We call on your political will to bring the spirit of the 49th CSW session to
the Millennium Summit and to ensure that the ONE AGENDA approach defines the
outcome of the
NB. Most of the position papers and statements at the Conference from the CEE/CIS region made strong references to the reproductive and health rights of women. See for example www.eurosur.org/wide/UN/WIDE_CSW05.pdf; www.karat.org
Ministerial Declaration adopted on the Conference of
Ministers of Gender Equality European Union Ministers,
“We, the Ministers of the 25 EU Member
States responsible for gender equality policy participating in the European
Ministerial Conference held in Luxembourg on 4 February
Reaffirm our strong support for and commitment to the full and effective
implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the Fourth
World Conference on Women, the Beijing + 5 Political Declaration and Outcome
Document of the twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly of the
United Nations, as well as the agreed conclusions adopted at the sessions of the
Commission on the Status of Women since Beijing; (…)
Emphasise that gender equality can not be achieved without guaranteeing
women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, and reaffirm that expanding
access to sexual and reproductive health information and health services are
essential for achieving the Beijing Platform for Action, the Cairo Programme of
Action and the Millennium Development Goals; (…)”
The full text is available on ASTRA website: http://www.astra.org.pl/ministerial_dec.htm
Source: Push Journal
The results of these two surveys together with an appeal from several women's
organizations and the WHO recommendations regarding medical abortion were sent
to the Ministry of Health with the request to legalize medical abortion.
Unfortunately, the answer from the Ministry of Health was negative.
For more information, please contact Esmeralda Kuliesyte, at lithfpa@takas.lt
Source: Push Journal
Early
Motherhood May Shorten A Woman's Life. A
study of childbirth and longevity conducted in
Source: Push Journal
Reproductive Rights on the Agenda
Open Letter to Anna Zaborska. On February 24th Open Letter has been sent to Ms. Anna Záborská,
Chair of the Women's Committee of the European Parliament signed by ASTRA
members and many other NGOs and individuals. In the letter signatories, as the
international community working on sexual and reproductive health and rights and
aiming for the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the
Cairo Programme of Action, expressed its appreciation of the commitment to
gender equality of the European Union expressed in the Ministerial Declaration
of the Conference of Ministers of Gender Equality, Luxembourg, February 4, 2005.
This Declaration emphasises "that gender equality cannot be achieved
without guaranteeing women's sexual and reproductive health and rights, and
reaffirm that expanding access to sexual and reproductive health information and
health services are essential for achieving the Beijing Platform for Action, the
Cairo Programme of Action and the Millennium Development Goals". At the
same time the letter underlined the fact that the situation, even within the
European Union, does not comply with this Declaration or with other adopted
agreements. The letter then went on to describe the situation in
Change of the definition of death.
10th
International Women’s Health Meeting.
The
10th International Women and Health Meeting: Health Rights, Women's Lives:
Challenges & Strategies for
Call
for contributions.
After
the success of the "Brüste kriegen" (Getting Breasts) anthology, its
author Sarah Diehl is planning a new anthology on the issue of abortion. She
also wants to address reproduction technologies and the relation or (disappearing)
borders between technologies and human bodies. She hopes to collect subjective
experiences from women and men, theoretical texts, information about the
situation abroad, interviews with political activists, doctors, etc. She's
looking for authors to write short stories from a subjective perspective (although
it's not important whether the writer has had an abortion themselves). She is
also looking for people to carry out interviews, and to write texts about
abortion in particular historical or cultural, and related settings. If you are
would like to make a contribution of would like more information please write to
Sarah at no.desire@web.de
Woman-centered postabortion care:
Reference manual. Herrick, Jeannine,
Katherine Turner, Teresa McInerney and Laura Castleman. (English, Spanish,
Portuguese). This manual serves as a learner’s guide for a state-of-the-art
curriculum that includes is designed to prepare health-care workers to provide
high-quality PAC services. The manual covers all aspects of PAC, including the
guiding principles of woman-centered care, counseling and contraceptive services,
and performing uterine evacuation with the Ipas MVA Plus(tm) and EasyGrip®
cannulae.
Single copies of these publications are available at no charge to
developing-country nationals; the price for others is $10 US a copy.
Processing Ipas MVA Plus(tm) Aspirators and
Ipas EasyGrip® Cannulae. 2004. Designed to hang
on the wall in health facilities, this instrument-processing wallchart presents
an easy to read, step-by-step guide to the appropriate methods for cleaning and
sterilizing or high-level disinfecting Ipas MVA Plus(tm) aspirators and Ipas
EasyGrip(r) cannulae. Single copies
of this publication are available at
no charge to developing-country nationals; the price for others is $3 US a copy.
Planning for a sustainable supply of
manual vacuum aspiration instruments: A guide for program managers. Abernathy,
Marian. (English, Spanish forthcoming)
Designed for use in conjunction with other resources on scaling up
abortion care, this guide fills a gap by focusing specifically on issues related
to developing and maintaining a sustainable supply of MVA instruments at
service-delivery points that have trained providers. Useful for trainers,
health-system administrators, logistics personnel and distributors of medical
products as well as program managers, the guide covers the global mandate to
“train and equip” providers, outlines the five steps to sustainability and
includes case studies from around the world.
http://www.ipas.org/publications/en/PLANMVA_E05_en.pdf