Kale herbevestiging Beijing PfA na 15 jaar

Dinsdag 2 maart is in de Commission on the Status of Women een verklaring aangenomen ter gelegenheid van de vijftiende verjaardag van de Vierde Wereld Vrouwen Conferentie in Beijing. In de verklaring onderstrepen de regeringen nogmaals het belang van de uitvoering van het Beijing Platform for Action en beloven ze plechtig verdere actie te ondernemen. Waar dat uit bestaat blijft echter duister. Het is een bloedeloze, kale verklaring, te vinden op de Beijing +15 website – in de woorden van Luisa Antolin (WIDE) “everything is a copy paste of what we already agreed before.”
De tekst van de ‘Declaration’ was, al voordat de CSW begonnen was, ‘uitonderhandeld’. Vanaf de loop van januari hebben via de missies van de landen bij de Verenigde Naties (Permanente Vertegenwoordiging) conceptteksten gecirculeerd. Verschillende landen hebben geprobeerd de verklaring op te tuigen, er meer ambitie in te stoppen, maar tevergeefs. Het hele proces heeft zich bijna geheel buiten de NGO’s om voltrokken. Daarover heerst, begrijpelijk, grote frustratie onder de NGO’s. In allerlei caucusses en minder gestructureerde samenwerkingsverbanden wordt op dit moment gewerkt aan tegen verklaringen. Ama werkt in de WIDE-delegatie aan een tekst. Het is nog niet geheel en al duidelijk in hoeverre daarbij samengewerkt wordt. Communicatie onder de NGO’s is erg lastig, omdat er in het VN-gebouw geen ontmoetingsgelegenheden zijn. De locaties waar de meeste side-events plaatsvinden hebben geen wireless toegang. De dagelijkse NGO-briefing is in de Salvation Army op de 52str, toch gauw een half uur lopen van het VN-gebouw. Andere jaren was die altijd in de vergaderzaal waar de officiële sessie om 10 uur begint en daardoor veel beter bezocht. Dat was een goede gelegenheid informatie uit te wisselen en die is er nu eigenlijk niet.

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