 |
Negotiations: Informal meeting
of the COW and Working Groups
The
COW met informally to continue negotiations into the early morning
hours on Friday. . . . . |
|
US
Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke in the COW speaks with US
delegates; the COW before the convening of the late night session
|
| Photos
(left to right):CSW Chair Christine Kapalata, Tanzania, and Working
Group II Chair Asith Bhattacharjee, India; Chair Bhattacharjee speaks
with the US; and Working Group I Chair Kirsten Mlacak, Canada, with
Chair Kapalata |
|
Vice-Chair
Patricia Flor (Germany)
chaired the contact group and took over negotiations in the COW,
which reconvened at Midnight. Paragraphs on the following were left
pending from the contact group: diversity, family issues, sexual
rights, violence against women and marital rapes, pornography, armed
conflicts, peace, inheritance, girlchild, NGOs, governance, monitoring,
national machineries, abortion, labor, trafficking, religious leaders,
sovereignty, health, foreign occupation, unilateral measures and
sanctions.
|
|
|
The
Australian delegation consults (left); Chair Asith Bhattacharjee
talks to SADC delegates
|
|
Photos
(left to right): The Sudan; Guatamala, representing SLAC (Some Latin
American Countries and the Holy See; and JUSCANZ
|
|
Panel
Discussion: "Building on Beijing:Challenges for Realizing
Women's Human Rights" .
Organized
by UNIFEM, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and
UN Division for the Advancement of Women.
Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights (left), discussed
the nature and extent of state responsibility in securing human
rights. She expressed concern that some delegates were moving away
from state responsibility in the final document. She said human
rights of women, including right to education, property rights,
and political involvement, must be enforced in national laws. She
lamented deletion of a paragraph regarding homosexuality. She
lamented that many countries do not condemn marital rape or honor
killings or support  reproductive
rights. Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, UNIFEM, emphasized
that, in addition to state responsibility, the corporate sector
should be held responsible and what happens across boundaries is
extremely important. She highlighted the training of women in the
use of CEDAW and all aspects of life and highlighted the importance
of the Optional Protocol. She called for the engendering of government
budgets. She discussed women's economic rights, reiterated that
in the context of globalization, governments alone cannot be held
accountable and pointed to financial institutions and corporations.
She said corporations should adopt codes of conduct based on CEDAW
and the UN systems. The event was moderated by Zelmira Regazzoli,
member of the CEDAW Committee.
 Other
Panelists (left to right): Navanethem Pillay, Judge, International
Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, Gay MacDougall, member of the Committee
for Racial Discrimination, and Asma Jahangir, UN Special Rapporteur
on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.
For more
information visit: www.unhchr.ch
or www.unifem.undp.org
|
Press Conference: Assessing progress made, particularly
in the area of women's reproductive and sexual health and rights,
during the Beijing+5 review process
The Center
for Reproductive Law and Policy (CLRP) held a press conference
calling on governments to stop waffling on reproductive an sexual
health and rights. Kathy Hall Martinez, Deputy Director, International
Program, CRLP, said the pace of the week's negotiations has
been frustratingly slow and that "a small group of conservative
extremists are still singing the same song--refusing to recognize
women's reproductive rights." Shanthi Dairiam, International
Women's Rights Action Watch, Malaysia, said that although
CEDAW has been in effect for twenty years and has been ratified
by 165 countries, some governments this week have called it "old
business." She said the CEDAW is the foundation of the Platform for
Action. Bene Madunagu, Girls Power Initiative, Nigeria, said
their is some misconception that rights are a Western concept
being imposed on developing countries and referred to the Universal
Declaration of Human Righ. She said reproductive rights are not
just a Western concept and that they are vital to women in Africa.
Amparo Claro, Latin America and Caribbean Women's Health Network,
Chile, said the Beijing Platform for Action has encouraged
the women's movement in Latin America to press governments for
legal and policy reforms and urged a strong reaffirmation of the
Platform.
Above
photo (left to right): Shanthi Dairiam, International Women's
Rights Action Watch, Malaysia, Bene Madunagu, Girls Power Initiative,
Nigeria, Amparo Claro, Latin America and Caribbean Women's Health
Network, Chile, and Kathy Hall Martinez, Deputy Director, International
Program, CRLP
|
|
Panel
Discussion: "Study on Women's Participation in the Electoral
Process" Organized
by the  Department
of Economic and Social Affairs. The panel addressed, inter alia,
a report released today (June 8) by the International Foundation
for Election Systems (IFES). The study found that women with
greater levels of education had more access to political and economic
information information, and were more interested and willing to
participate in political and economic transition. The unique date
was taken from five  national
surveys conducted in Belarus, Indonesia, Ghana, Kazakhstan, and
Ukraine. The survey also analyzed gender-specific responses to numerous
questions on topics such as the meaning of democracy, trust in social
institutions, assessment of corruption, and attitudes toward NGOs.
To obtain a copy of the report, email: torie@ifes.org
Panelists included Pamela Reeves, Director, Development and
New Initiatives, IFES (left), Khairat Abdul-Razaq, Senator, Nigeria
(left center) and Khadija Al-Dubai, Permanent Representative of
Yemen to the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture
(ISESCO) (right)
|
ENB Summary of CSW-44 and the Informal
Consultations
Linkages FWCW page
UN Division for the Advancement of Women Beijing +5 Site with official
documents and information
for participants
Special
Events during the Special Session
|
BNT (version française)
See below for
the following coverage:
