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.

Leontine Bijleveld
WO=MEN

Comments

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...

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 ...

"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 ...

WO=MEN in New York

Search This Blog