Skip to main content

Missed opportunities for Financing for Gender Equality

Statement of Dutch NGO's on the Agreed Conclusions of CSW 52, March 2008 Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women was chosen as the prime focus of the 52nd session of the CSW. Women’s rights organizations in the Netherlands and Europe, having been present at the CSW, remain deeply concerned that there are no meaningful commitments in the Agreed Conclusions related to financing for gender equality, with no concrete targets and timetables and no strong mechanisms for effective tracking and monitoring of financial resources spent on gender equality. It is widely recognised, by governments and civil society, that the allocation of financial resources has been insufficient at all levels for real progress in all twelve critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995). In addition progress toward meeting Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 3 on gender equality and MDG 5 on maternal mortality has been lagging behind progress made with respect to the other MDGs. Instead of scaling up resources to support the work of crucial gender equality stakeholders, the Agreed Conclusions of this year’s CSW have been distracted by the renegotiations around the language of earlier agreed commitments and in some aspects even weakening those earlier agreed commitments, amongst others by the addition of "bearing in mind national priorities" with respect to the recommended following actions. Moreover, the Agreed Conclusions fail to address the need for adequate resources and a diversity of funding mechanisms to support the indispensable role of women’s organizations as the driving force of the agenda of gender equality and empowerment of women at all levels. Since almost half the world population world-wide is under the age of 25, gender equality mechanisms should also address youth and encourage involvement of youth organizations. Therefore it is a missed opportunity that the Agreed Conclusions do not pay any attention to diminishing the specific problems youth organizations face in accessing funds for their activities working towards gender equality. When an international, multi-stakeholder, gathering of gender experts can not make real progress with investing in women and girls, what can be expected from this year’s key events around the Monterrey Consensus and the Paris Declaration? CHOICE for youth and sexuality, E-quality, Hivos, International Information Centre and Archives for the Women’s Movement, International Network of Liberal Women, Liberaal Vrouwen Netwerk, Netwerk VN-vrouwenverdrag, NVSN USA, WIDE (Women in Development Europe), WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform, World Population Foundation/MYBODY, Nederlandse Vrouwen Raad, IFUW
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Women’s Rights Caucus Statement – Protect Women and Girls by upholding the Beijing Declaration

  The Women’s Rights Caucus, representing over 900 feminist advocates from around the world, urges you to oppose the proposed US draft resolution entitled  “Protection of women and girls through appropriate terminology.” Despite the title, we do not feel protected nor represented by this initiative. Download this statement as pdf.   Download this statement in Spanish.   On the heels of the first-ever recorded vote on the agreed conclusions of the annual meetings of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and in complete disregard of the significant opposition their proposal got in the negotiation room, the United States has circulated a new resolution proposal which attempts to falsely state that the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action agreed that  “gender” was defined as “men and women”. It attributes to annex IV of the Report of the Fourth World Conference of Women a meaning that was never agreed by Member States, effectively rewriting th...
Post a Comment
Read more

ARTivism for Change: Creativity as Resistance at CSW69

Artwork "Who can I trust with my story?" from ArtVism in Uganda During the 69th CSW, the Our Voices Our Futures (OVOF) consortium organised a creative ARTivism for Change space where bold protest sign-making, intimate film screenings, and thought-provoking feminist dialogues blended together. Over two days, March 12 and 13, 2025, artists, activists, and allies transformed the space into dynamic real-life canvases of empowerment, solidarity, and cultural and political resistance.   In the main space of the Blue Gallery participants engaged with various stations, including Button Making , Journaling with Art , Drawing , and Protest Sign Making . Participants moved between activities, creating powerful messages of resistance and hope. The creativity extended beyond the activities themselves. Access Denied The ACCESS DENIED campaign , initiated by WO=MEN, was set up to be a photo installation. It highlights the deep gap between the inclusive vision set forth at the 1995 Beijing ...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Beat back the radicals!"

“We will beat back the radicals and we will fight all their falsehoods and we will help as best we can all the faithful UN delegations trying to help the unborn child. But, the Friday Fax and our presence at UN headquarters is not free. In fact, it is terribly expensive. Would you be able to make a sacrificial donation to our work of $500? $100? $50?” This quote is from a newsletter of an American based organization working to stop any agreement at the UN that might possibly be understood to mean that women can have a choice in their  reproduction. It is quite ironic to see the violence in the language, beat back the radicals, from a group who are working at the UN meeting devoted to ending Violence Against Women. Being here at the UN makes you feel in your body and soul that maintaining and advancing freedom of choice for women (and men) is a battle and not everyone fights fair. Some of our Dutch civil society friends attended a panel in which the two main speakers where ...
4 comments
Read more