CPNN

UN Commission on the Status of Women revamps working methods

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

The UN Commission on the Status of Women concluded its 59th annual session today [March 20] with an agreement by UN Member States on steps to boost its efforts to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Click on the photo to enlarge

Governments attending the meeting agreed on new working methods for the Commission to continue setting standards related to the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and strengthen its role in global policy- making and coordination of actions around implementation.

They affirmed the commission’s central contributions to shaping the landmark post-2015 sustainable development agenda slated for adoption by a global summit of heads of state and government in September.

As the primary UN body for advancing intergovernmental commitments to gender equality and follow-up to the Beijing Platform, the Commission will further align its work to the Economic and Social Council and the new UN High- level Political Forum. This will strengthen efforts to integrate gender equality across all global debates and actions on sustainable development.

Since a large number of government ministers now attend the Commission, Member States agreed to create a ministerial segment starting at the next session in 2016. It is expected to heighten the visibility of current concerns, and offer opportunities to demonstrate high-level political commitment to accelerated progress towards gender equality, empowerment and the full realization of women’s human rights.

Congratulating the Member States, civil society and the UN system for “a forceful, dynamic and forward-looking session”, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka said in her speech, “We are all aware that there are no shortcuts to realizing gender equality, the empowerment of women and the human rights of women and girls. Based on the road we have travelled, we know that there are more challenges ahead of us. We know we must continue to work, systematically and relentlessly, to bring about transformation in our families, societies, economies, and political and public spaces.”

Governments agreed to sharpen focus of the Commission’s annual review theme. Moving forward, case studies will demonstrate lessons learned in implementing commitments made in previous Commission sessions. The Secretary- General will issue a targeted report on progress on the theme, drawing on national data and other inputs. The process will help close gaps between promises made and measurable change, and offer concrete evidence of how international norms can be translated to make a major difference in the lives of women and girls.

The 59th session included a range of high-level roundtables and panels on critical topics ranging from scaled-up financing for gender equality, to responsibilities of men and boys, to improved gender-disaggregated data. Discussions on lessons from the Millennium Development Goals will further shape the post-2015 development agenda.

Learn more about the Commission on the Status of Women.

(Click here for a Spanish version of this article or here for a French version)

Question for this article

Does the UN advance equality for women?

The following article by Lyndal Rowlands in the Inter Press Service, suggests that the UN is not making much progress on its commitments for women’s equality:

2015 marks anniversaries for two significant commitments made to increasing women’s participation at peace tables.

Yet despite the Beijing Platform for Action and the Security Council Resolution 1325 both committing to increasing women’s participation in peace building 20 and 15 years ago, respectively, there has been very little progress to report.

The latest available statistics show that women made up only 9 per cent of negotiators at peace tables between 1992 and 2011. That the most recent data is from 2011 shows that more work is needed even in basic areas such as data collection and reporting of women’s participation in peace building.

IPS summarises here four reasons we should value women’s participation at the peace table more, based on discussions at the 59th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) over the past week.

Beijing Platform for Action Section E

Women and Armed Conflict Diagnosis

Strategic objective E.1. Increase the participation of women in conflict resolution at decision-making levels and protect women living in situations of armed and other conflicts or under foreign occupation. Actions to be taken.

Strategic objective E.2. Reduce excessive military expenditures and control the availability of armaments. Actions to be taken.

Strategic objective E.3. Promote non-violent forms of conflict resolution and reduce the incidence of human rights abuse in conflict situations. Actions to be taken.

Strategic objective E.4. Promote women’s contribution to fostering a culture of peace. Actions to be taken

Strategic objective E.5. Provide protection, assistance and training to refugee women, other displaced women in need of international protection and internally displaced women. Actions to be taken.

Strategic objective E.6. Provide assistance to the women of the colonies and non-self-governing territories. Actions to be taken.
Women Bring Commitment and Experience to the Peace Table
Often the first people invited to participate in formal peace negotiations are the people holding the guns and the last are women who have expertise in building lasting peace.

Zainab Bangura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, told a CSW side event on Tuesday last week, “In the Central African Republic, the only community where they were not killing each other was a community where the Christian women said, ‘These Muslim women are our sisters.’

“Why? Because the women in the community said, ‘We have lived together for the last 100 years’,” Bangura said.

In the Phillipines, Irene Santiago was a member of the government panel that negotiated peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Santiago came to the table with years of experience working with Christian, Muslim and Indigenous women leaders for peace.

Speaking at a CSW side event at the International Peace Institute (IPI) on Thursday, Santiago said that she knew that her years of experience working with civil society for peace stood her in good stead to make a significant contribution to formal peace negotiations, which she did.

Speaking with IPS, Santiago said women’s voices not only have to be heard, but that they also have to be acted on.

“For women. It’s almost never always about themselves, it’s always about our children, our husbands but also about our communities,” Santiago told IPS.

In Africa, women have fought to be included in peacemaking, even when their contributions have not been recognised.

Bineta Diop, Special Envoy on Women Peace and Security to the African Union, says that mediators need to be held accountable when they only invite the people who hold guns to the peace table and ignore women’s contributions.

“I have been involved in many crises where women were knocking at the door and saying we want to be at the table,” Diop said.

Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, known as the father of Security Council Resolution 1325, said that the determination of African women to be involved in peace negotiations should be seen as an inspiration by other countries.

Despite serious difficulties, war and conflict, African women have shown continued determination to hold their countries accountable, Chowdhury said.

Gender Equality in Peace Time Prevents Conflict
Also speaking at the IPI, Valerie Hudson, co-author of ‘Sex and World Peace’, said that her research has shown that the way women are treated within a country is one of the most accurate indicators of the quality of relations that country will have with other countries.

Diop agreed with Hudson, saying that countries that are likely to fall into conflict have higher levels of discrimination and inequality.

“Discrimination against women, especially the non-participation and non-inclusion of women in democracy is … one of the root causes of the conflict,” Diop said.

Ambassador Choudhury agreed with these sentiments, telling IPS, “I believe that no country can claim that their country is not in conflict if women’s rights are denied, if women’s equality is not ensured, if women’s participation at all participation levels is not there.

“I think that if we women are violated, if women’s equality of participation is not there we cannot say that we are at peace, we are in conflict with ourselves. This is a conflict which is happening within ourselves and within the countries. We don’t have to go into the traditional description of conflict, civil conflict or fighting with another country,” Chowdhury added.

Dr. Youssef Mahmoud, Senior Adviser at the International Peace Institute also speaking at the IPI event said, “A world where 51 per cent are ignored is a dangerous world for everyone. I can’t imagine why any men would be indifferent to this.”

Women Are Active In Civil Society
Several discussions at the CSW questioned why militaries were the primary actors in peace building, while non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society’s expertise was not called on.

The 15 Journalists Putting Women’s Rights on the Front Page

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

an article by Lyndal Rowlands, Inter Press News Service (reprinted by permission)

Media coverage of maternal, sexual and reproductive health rights is crucial to achieving international development goals, yet journalists covering these issues often face significant challenges.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

Recognising the contributions these journalists make to advancing women and girls’ rights, international advocacy organisation Women Deliver have named 15 journalists for their dedication to gender issues ahead of International Women’s Day 2015.

Among the journalists Women Deliver recognised for their work is IPS correspondent Stella Paul from India. Paul was honoured for her reporting on women’s rights abuses through articles on such issues as India’s ‘temple slaves’ and bonded labourers.

Paul’s dedication to women’s rights is not only shown through her journalism. When she interviews communities, she also teaches them how to report abuses to the authorities and hold them accountable for breaking the cycle of violence.

Paul is herself a survivor of infanticide. She told Women Deliver, “When I was a baby, I got sick and some of my family members decided that I should die because I was not a boy.

“Decades later, I’m inspired by the courage of my mother – and countless other women – to expose and end gender- based violence and inequality.”

Among others, Paul’s story on bonded labour in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad has had a tangible impact on the lives of those she interviewed. In July she blogged about how one woman featured in the article ‘No Choice but to Work Without Pay‘, Sri Lakshmi, was released from bonded labour by her employer after a local citizen read the article on IPS and took action.

Lakshmi’s daughter Amlu, who once performed domestic labour while her parents went off to work, is now enrolled in a local elementary school.

Another journalist honoured was Mae Azango from Liberia.

Women Deliver CEO Katja Iversen told IPS, “Mae Azango deserves a Pulitzer. She went undercover to investigate female genital mutilation in Liberia. “After her story was published she received death threats and [she] and her daughter were forced into hiding. Mae’s bravery paid off though, as her story garnered international attention and encouraged the Liberian government to ban the licensing of institutions where this horrific practice is performed,” Iversen added.

Azango told Women Deliver, “Speaking the truth about female genital cutting in my country has long been a dangerous thing to do. But I thought it was worth risking my life because cutting has claimed the lives of so many women and girls, some as young as two.”

Iversen said that many of the honourees had shown incredible dedication, through their work. “For some of our journalists, simply covering topics deemed culturally taboo – like reproductive rights, domestic violence or sexual assault – can be enough to put them in danger,” she said.

(This article is continued in the discussion board on the right side of this page)

Continuation of article

However despite their dedication, journalists still also face obstacles in the newsroom.

“One of the questions we asked the journalists was: what will it take to move girls’ and women’s health issues to the front pages?” Iversen said.

“Almost all of them said: we need more female journalists in leadership and decision-making positions in our newsrooms. Journalism, like many other industries, remains a male dominated field, which can be a major obstacle to publishing stories on women’s health and rights.”

But the issue also runs deeper. There is also a lack of recognition that women and girls’ health rights abuses and neglect are also abuses of human rights, and combatting these issues is essential to achieving development for everyone, not just women and girls.
This means that women’s health is often seen as ‘soft news’ not political or economic news worthy of a front-page headline.

“Unfortunately women’s health and wellbeing is still, for the most part, treated as ‘soft’ news, despite the fact that when women struggle to survive, so do their families, communities and nations,” Iversen said.

“Every day, an estimated 800 women die in pregnancy or childbirth, 31 million girls are not enrolled in primary school and early marriage remains a pervasive problem in many countries. These are not just women’s issues, these are everyone’s issues – and our honorees are helping readers understand this link.”

As journalist Catherine Mwesigwa from Uganda told Women Deliver, “Women’s health issues will make it to the front pages when political leaders and the media make the connection between girls’ and women’s health and socio-economic development and productivity, children’s education outcomes and nations’ political stability.”

Male journalists also have a role to play and two of the fifteen journalists honoured for their contribution to raising awareness on these crucial rights were men.

Besides India and Liberia, other honorees hailed from Argentina, Cameroon, Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United States.

Readers have the opportunity to vote for their favourite journalists from the fifteen journalists selected by Women Deliver. [Editor’s note: Voting closed March 20.]

The three winners will receive scholarships to attend Women Deliver’s 2016 conference, which will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

[Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.]

March 23, 2015FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, globalglobalCPNN Coordinator

U.N. Says Maternal Mortality Rate Has Nearly Halved since 1990

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

an article by Josh Butler, Inter Press Service (reprinted by permission)

The global rate of maternal deaths is reducing faster than any time in history, according to a new report presented to the United Nations on Tuesday.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

The ‘Every Woman Every Child’ initiative has saved 2.4 million women and children since its inception in 2010, claims the report Saving Lives, Protecting Futures, presented by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The report states maternal mortality has been nearly halved since 1990, and in 2013, 6.4 million fewer children under age five died compared to 1990. Every Woman Every Child states 11 million more women have given birth in a health facility, 8.4 million more women and girls use modern contraception, and post-natal care for women increased 25 percent.

“Our task now is to maintain and build on that momentum, complete the unfinished health MDGs, end the appalling tragedy of preventable deaths and invest in the futures of women, children and adolescents,” Ban wrote in the report’s foreword.

“Yet we can and must do much more to provide access to the health care that women need… we must work to ensure that children are born into a safe environment where they will receive necessary vaccines, nutrition and care. There is still too much needless suffering.”

More than two-thirds of the $60billion pledged to the initiative by partner countries and institutions has been distributed and used. Speaking at the launch of the report, Ban said signs of progress were encouraging.

“More women are giving birth in a health facility, more women and girls are receiving the sexual and reproductive health services they want and need, and more pregnant women are receiving anti-retrovirals to prevent HIV transmission to their babies,” he said.

Every Woman Every Child describes itself as an “unprecedented global movement that mobilizes and intensifies global action to improve the health of women and children around the world.” The programme began in response to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) four and five, concerning maternal health and child mortality, which were seen as the MDGs “were lagging furthest behind.”

The report urges partner to keep reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health “high on the global agenda in the post-2015 era.” The initiative has set its goal as reducing the global maternal mortality rate to 70 in 100,000 births, and newborn mortality rates to 12 per 1000 births.

[Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.]

Question liée à cet article: