August 5, 1994 Dear Women's Caucus member, In your responses to our last mailing following PrepCom III, it has been wonderful to hear how so many of you are maintaining the energy and power of the Women's Caucus agenda in your respective countries: disseminating information; organizing local, national and regional meetings; cultivating the media to spread our message; and in some cases securing representation on your delegation to Cairo. WOMEN'S CAUCUS PRE-CAIRO Enclosed please find the key document we will use for our advocacy work in Cairo, "Women's Caucus Recommendations on Bracketed Text in the Draft Programme of Action of the ICPD." It was prepared in close collaboration with the Writing Analysis Group of the Women's Caucus, comprised of Caucus task force chairs, key chapter monitors and major reproductive rights networks. The Writing Analysis Group has worked very hard, during the interim period between PrepCom III and Cairo, to prepare careful amendments with rationales to all bracketed text in the document, including Chapter II "Principles" and Chapter XIII "National Action" which were widely distributed to delegates at the Informal Consultations described below. Please use this document now, in your discussions with your government representatives who will be going to Cairo. We would appreciate hearing their reactions to our recommendations. A few weeks ago, three consecutive Informal Consultations were convened by governments (see parentheses) at the United Nations in New York, to discuss issues that were not thoroughly deliberated upon at PrepCom III: Preamble and Principles (Canada) on 13 July; Goals (Indonesia & India) on 14 July; and Financial Resources (Netherlands) on 15 July. The Chair of each of the informals (Ruth Archibald, Amb. Nicolas Biegman and Amb. Nugroho Wisnumurti, respectively) reminded delegates that the consultations were meant to stimulate discussion and not act as negotiating sessions, hence they would not have the power to add or delete brackets in the document. A brief overview of each session follows: Preamble & Principles: Ruth Archibald led the discussion on the Preamble and each of the 16 Principles in Chapter II. Most delegates expressed concern about the high number of Principles, suggesting a reordering of Principles without any new additions. Some Southern delegates emphasized that the Principles should better recognize the integral linkage between population and development and stressed the importance of the right to development. Discussions revealed that the issue of national sovereignty in "the formulation and implementation of population policies" in Principle 4 will be one of the key principles for negotiations in Cairo. A number of delegates (i.e. Egypt, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan and US) supported the Women's Caucus amendments to the chapeau, Principle 3 and Principle 6. Delegates called for tightening the text of Chapter I's "Preamble", so that it clearly states their collective commitment to implement the Programme of Action and is not simply an executive summary of the document. Goals: Ambassador Wisnumurti led the discussion on the goals of education, especially for girls; infant, child and maternal mortality reduction, and universal access to reproductive health services, including family planning. Dr. Nafis Sadik defended the necessity for the proposed quantitative goals, because without goals, the objectives of the Programme of Action would be sporadic and scattered. Some delegates expressed apprehension over the attainability of global goals and called for the adoption of "realistic" attainable goals. Although roughly 60 countries were represented, only 10 delegates took the floor. Resources: Ambassador Beigman opened the floor for discussion on the following areas: 1) estimates quoted in Chapter XIII of the document; 2) the 20/20 proposal urging governments "to devote at least 20% of public sector expenditures to the social sectors as well as 20% of official development assistance, stressing, in particular, poverty eradication within the context of sustainable development"; 3) the proposal that "up to two-thirds of the costs will continue to be met by the countries themselves and up to one-third from external sources" to implement the Programme of Action; and 4) recognizing the specific needs of countries with economies in transition. A few delegates (i.e. Canada, Sweden and US) supported the Women's Caucus amendments to para 13.15 which articulated our concern that the estimates in Chapter XIII are based on incomplete and imprecise data which must be improved on an urgent basis at national and international levels. While these calculations currently put most infrastructure costs in the family planning estimates, it is recognized that all financial, infrastructural, and human resources must be equitably used for the several reproductive and sexual health services. WOMEN'S CAUCUS PROGRAMME IN CAIRO, 4-13 SEPTEMBER, 1994 An orientation session to the Women's Caucus process is scheduled for Sunday, 4 September, 1994 from 1:45 - 2:30 pm in the NGO Forum Room 3, following a general orientation for NGOs from 1 - 1:45 pm. This session will initiate newcomers into the Women's Caucus process, and update old-timers. During the orientation, we plan to form regional groups (Africa, Asia, Caribbean and Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America) in order to: - Allow for greater interaction between experienced Women's Caucus members and newcomers; - Nominate a Women's Caucus chair from each of the seven regions for the seven daily Caucus meetings; - Nominate Women's Caucus Lobby Contacts within each of the government voting blocs and key sub-regions (G-77, EU, CANZ, CARICOM, Nordic); - Cluster into one of the Women's Caucus Task Forces organized by Chapters in the Document and the ICPD agenda, to monitor floor discussions and coordinate advocacy efforts on the bracketed text in each chapter. It will be very important to get women NGOs on government delegations to take on these assignments, due to limited security passes for NGOs to access the official conference center. - Call for volunteers for a Women's Caucus post-Cairo Task Force to collect ideas out of the rich array of NGO Forum panels and workshops in preparation for the last session of the Women's Caucus at ICPD. (see below) After meeting in regional groups, we hope to reconvene as a full Women's Caucus to announce the respective regional decisions and gear up for our first Women's Caucus meeting on Monday, 5 September at 9 am. The Women's Caucus will convene daily from 9 - 10 am in the NGO Forum Room 3. The strength and momentum of the Caucus depends on your active participation. We have a heavy agenda and collectively we can build support to remove the brackets on language which supports women's perspectives on population and development, as well as continue our struggle for sexual and reproductive rights and health which is at the core of our agenda. One of the main purposes of the daily Caucus will be to brief people on the government process. Many NGOs will focus on activities in the NGO Forum to network, strategize and build an agenda for the future, while a smaller number of accredited NGOs will have access to the governmental negotiations in the conference center. Our strategy, therefore, is to divide work and maximize power for our common advocacy work. Our sisters who are on government delegations will, no doubt, be key allies in carrying the Women's Caucus concerns onto the floor. In collaboration with IPPF, Women's Caucus representatives (lobby contacts, chapter monitors, regional chairs etc.) will meet with NGOs on government delegations daily from 1 - 1:30 pm in the government Conference Center. At the suggestion of many PrepCom III Women's Caucus members, we have scheduled an NGO-Delegate Dialogue for Thursday, September 8 at 6:30 pm in the NGO Forum Room 3. Most leaders of government voting blocs have accepted an invitation from the Women's Caucus to engage in an open dialogue on our critical concerns and how to hold the world's governments accountable to them. This session on reproductive rights and implementing the ICPD will give us an opportunity to openly and directly engage key delegates on how they plan to implement the ICPD outcomes and decisions. For your information, attached is the provisional timetable for the work of the ICPD and general information for ICPD participants prepared by the ICPD Secretariat. Please take careful note of the process for NGO registration. The NGO Planning Committee for the ICPD has done a terrific job in preparing an NGO Forum Programme Guide, scheduling a tremendous array of NGO activities, which each of you should be receiving shortly. WOMEN'S CAUCUS POST-CAIRO The last session of the Women's Caucus at ICPD will be Tuesday, 13 September, 1994. It will be an important session to take stock of our achievements through the ICPD process and to share strategies and plans as we continue our work through the upcoming International Conference processes on Women (Beijing, September 1995) and Social Development (Copenhagen, March 1995). For your information, Diane Dillon-Ridgley, Brownie Ledbetter and I will be staying at the Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel, in Cairo, with the US government delegation. Susan Davis, Anita Nayar and the rest of the WEDO team will be staying at the Dar El Defaa El Gawy (tel. 202-2906905). See you soon at the Women's Caucus in Cairo. Till then, I remain, Yours in sisterhood, Bella S. Abzug