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IWTC Women's GlobalNet #303 Activities and
Initiatives of Women Worldwide
By Mavic Cabrera Balleza |
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The
UN High -Level Coherence Panel consultations with civil society on UN Reform
will be held in Prior to the Panel consultations women’s
groups will meet to strategize on overall messages for the hearings. It will be a chance for women’s groups to
get together to explore strategies and make more concrete recommendations
about the structural changes that ought to happen in order to turn gender
equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment goals into reality. These discussions will also constitute the
basis of women’s longer-term advocacy efforts leading to the 61st
session of the UN General Assembly that will begin on September 12, 2006 in
New York. Member states will negotiate
the panel’s recommended reforms to the current architecture, or at least
recommended processes on UN reform during the General Assembly. Since May 2006, the UN High-Level
Coherence Panel has conducted a
series of thematic and regional consultations as well as field visits in
Kenya, Mozambique, Pakistan and Rome, primarily with UN Staff, but also with
others knowledgeable about the UN system.
Other regional meetings were scheduled to be held such as in Tirana
and Cairo but were cancelled. The UN High -Level Coherence
Panel will complete its work
in August 2006 and its recommendations will be presented to the General
Assembly in September 2006. |
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2.
Women’s initiatives on the UN Reform Women’s groups around the world are
organizing to put forward their concerns regarding the UN Reform process.
Following are some of the initiatives taking place at the national and
regional levels: Norway: The Network for Women and the UN, an open network of organizations and
individuals that aim to strengthen the efforts of the UN system for women was
organized in May, 2006. The Network met with the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg,
Co-Chair of the High
-Level Panel on UN System-Wide Coherence on FOKUS, another organization in Norway that serves as a
resource centre on international women's issues and a co-ordinating organ for
Norwegian women's groups also wrote to Prime Minister Stoltenberg stating that the UN reform process provides an opportunity for
lifting the UN so the organisation is able to meet common challenges related to
development, peace and poverty reduction. However, it also expressed concern
about the possibility that gender equality will not be sufficiently focused
in the reform process. Fokus stressed that gender
equality and the strengthening of the status of women are prerequisites for
the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
It called for “a new UN where issues related to women and equality are placed at the very centre of the organisation.” It
asked Prime Minister Stoltenberg
about the specific measures he will
propose to promote gender equality and women’s rights in a reformed UN.
The full copy of the Fokus letter is available here. The National Congress of the Norwegian
Association for Women’s Rights, held in South Asia: Women’s
organizations including SEWA (India),
Saathi (Nepal) and Struggle for
Change (Pakistan) wrote to the members of the High Level Panel urging for a
stronger UNIFEM as a UN nodal agency for women with proven track record and
expertise. The South Asian women also
conducted a signature campaign expressing their appeal for a strengthened
UNIFEM under a reformed gender architecture in the UN. Representatives of women’s
groups in South Asia met Pakistani Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz, Co-Chair of
the Panel, in Islamabad on 22nd April 2006. The women apprised the
Prime Minister Aziz of South Asian women’s concerns and requested him to put
forward their concerns before the rest of the Coherence Panel members of the
UN Reform Process. Women from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also came up
with a letter and statement reinforcing the concerns of women in other parts
of South Asia. Click
here for the Bangladeshi women’s letter to the Pakistani Prime Minister and
the Sri Lankan statement. The Global Peace Conference that was organized
in Birgunj, Nepal on April 7-8, 2006
formulated a declaration that recognized the support UNIFEM has provided to
different states. The delaration read:
"Therefore, we recommend UNIFEM to be a high powered nodal agency
in the UN as the "Gender Architecture" to operationalize the
women's peace agenda according to the Security Council Resolution 1325."
A group of NGOs and civil society representatives in Nepal which calls itself
“Friends of UNIFEM” is also active in collecting signatures from diverse
groups and networks. |
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