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Internationale Vrouwendag bij de VN

Op 6 maart (2008) vond de viering van internationale vrouwendag bij de Verenigde Naties plaats. Zo kon er toch nog tijdens de CSW, die op 7 maart afsloot, iets aan internationale vrouwendag gedaan worden.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was de eerste keynote speaker. Hoewel hij begon met een te rooskleurig verhaal over wat er al allemaal bereikt was – zo zouden al 50 landen gendersensitive budgetting hebben ingevoerd – ging hij al snel over op de noodzaak de investeringen in vrouwen te vergroten. “We should scale up the gender investment in ODA” (= Official Development Assistance ofwel ontwikkelingshulp bekostigd door staten). “We should increase mainstream financial support available to women.”
Zijn voornemen is de personele bezetting van OSAGI bijna te verdubbelen (Office of the Special Advisor in Gender Issues and Advancement of Women). Ook de Division for the Advancement of Women staat een aanmerkelijke uitbreiding van het budget te wachten.Tenminste als de Algemene Vergadering van de VN daarmee instemt, zo voegde Ban Ki Moon er aan toe. Aanwezigen waren gepast verheugd. Ze hadden gehoopt op de aankondiging van de benoeming van Gita Sen tot directeur van UNIFEM – de opvolging van Noleen Heyzer laat al geruime tijd op zich wachten. Verder was, tegen beter weten in, ook gehoopt op een signaal om de gewenste hervorming/samenvoeging van de verschillende VN-gender instituties tot stand te brengen (zie elders in dit weblog).
Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi (Zuid Afrika) hield een gepassioneerd betoog, dat helaas (nog?) niet via internet beschikbaar is. Ze vond dat het tijd was, 13 jaar na Beijing, om verantwoording af te leggen aan de ‘women of the world’. ‘Have we done enough to achieve what we were required to do?” Ze riep zowel regeringen als civil society op om zich in te zetten: “ Ensure that we implement the talk by investing in the women and the girls.”
Na de derde openingsspeech van the CEO van Goldman Sachs Group (investeert in de business opleiding van 10.000 jonge vrouwen uit de Global South) was er nog een ‘High Level Panel’. We kunnen niet rapporteren want we gingen het kritische statement voorbereiden waarover we elders in het weblog rapporteren. Aan de gestage exit-stroom te zien was het niet zo spannend.

Leontine Bijleveld (WO=MEN en Netwerk VN-Vrouwenverdrag)
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