WO=MEN in New York

Hilde Kroes, advocay officer of Rutgers WPF, a member organisation of Wo=Men is in New York at the 44th Session of the Commission on Population and Development. After a very intense week, the UN delegations in the Commission on Population and Development reached a consensus. Until the very last minute, it was doubtful if they could agree on the package made by the facilitator. The negotiations reflected the polarization among states about sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Holy See, even though they represent the smallest 'country' in the world, was particularly vocal against ANY language in relation to sexuality, reproductive health, reproductive rights, gender, abortion, family planning, reproductive health services. They not only deny that people have sexual and reproductive rights, they also question the concept of sexual health, and deny that condoms prevent hiv transmission. They even disagree that unsafe abortions account for maternal mortality. The ...

Hilde Kroes, advocay officer of Rutgers WPF, a member organisation of Wo=Men is in New York at the 44th Session of the Commission on Population and Development. Little over one month after the CSW, the world leaders gather again in New York to discuss the issue of "Fertility, Reproductive Health and Development", in light of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, that was signed in 1994. This annual meeting - the UN Commission on Population and Development - holds its 44th session this week. We knew already about a year ago, that this session would be spectacular. Of all issues, the world seems to be most divided when it comes to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender equality. Discussions around development and how sexual and reproductive health and rights contribute to that, in terms of human rights, public health and eliminating poverty seems to be narrowed down to heated debates about abortion, sexuality education...

For the Agreed Conclusions click here . This year’s CSW produced setbacks in already agreed upon language from the Beijing Platform for Action. Negotiations between on the one hand: the Holy See, the Organization of Islamic States (Qatar, Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria) and Benin (on behalf of the Africa Group), and on the other hand: Switzerland, European Union, Turkey, and Mexico, disagreed primarily on the terms “ gender ”, “ gender mainstreaming ”, “ gender equality ”, “ gender based analysis ”, “ sexuality education ”, “ sexual and reproductive health ”, “ maternal health ”, and WOMEN’S RIGHTS . Opposition to these terms was strongly argued by the Holy See and the Africa Group. As a result of their efforts, references to early marriage and early child bearing were completely removed. On top of that, these delegations repeatedly asked for a “ redefinition ” of the term “ gender ”, to add “men and women” after this term, or to footnote reference to the definition included in the ...

Last night around midnight we received the news: there are Agreed Co nclusions for CSW55! Through our e-mail list-serve we heard that one of the more progressive delegates described the outcome of the cumbersome negotiations as a relative 'happy end'. The Agreed Conclusions are adopted, even though content wise not ideal. From her point of view there is nothing in it which would fall behind Beijing or open the Beijing Platform for Action and the wording of gender, gender stereotypes etc. could be held. Furthermore, all of the following are in the text: ' life skills and sex education', 'sexual and reproductive health', equal sharing of responsibilities of ‘daily life and care work’ and 'multiple discrimination' . They said that there is still no "clean text" because it still needs to be re-read with a clearer mind. In their first assessment they estimate that worse could be avoided and that there might even be some useful language in it. Also...

Read our latest tweets on the 'Not Yet' Agreed Conclusions. Start from the bottom to follow the events in 'historical' order. We are leaving now because no news is coming out anymore.... dgenderplatform WO=MEN Delegates are now walking around seeing if they can come to agreements amongst each other to propose to the chair #CSW55 1 hour ago Favorite Reply Delete dgenderplatform WO=MEN Progressive delegate:They all thought this #CSW55 would not be important, and now look what is happening...I have never seen this in my life 1 hour ago dgenderplatform WO=MEN #CSW55 is officially finished, no agreed conclusions yet. Negotiations are continuing. Seems overcoming gender stereotypes is the issue? 2 hours ago dgenderplatform WO=MEN gender equality is agreed in the conclusions, gender-sensitive curricula and overcoming gender stereotypes are still under pressure #CSW55 6 hours ago

At the moment, negotiations about the Agreed Conclusions are continuing and slowly moving towards language that all country delegations can agree upon. In the previous blogpost we wrote about the obstructive attitudes of the Holy See as well as the African Group towards gender equality in the Agreed Conclusions of CSW55. Let us not forget that there are many individuals and organizations around the world, many of which are our partners, who support gender equality, freedom of choice, as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights from a Catholic perspective. Freedom of Choice Catholics for Choice ( CFC ) stand for “a woman’s moral and legal right to follow her conscience in matters of sexuality and reproductive health”. This organization argues from a Catholic perspective that men and women can be trusted to make moral decisions about their lives. Within their programs, they promote condom use and provision of comprehensive sexuality education information. This enables boy...

We can hardly believe it as we hear how the negotiations on the Agreed Conclusions are unfolding behind closed doors: there is a big debate on the inclusion of the word ‘gender’ in the document. Whether it is about gender equality, gender mainstreaming or the importance of gender studies: when gender is mentioned, the African Group (unclear which countries) seems to team up with the Holy See (that is not even a member state but only has observer status) to advocate for removing it altogether. Why would anyone want to take gender out? These conservative delegates have argued that there is no agreed definition, and that any definition provided they would not agree on anyway. What then do they propose? Replacement of ‘gender’ with words like ‘women and men’, ‘children’ and ‘the family’, or the deletion of the word gender altogether. Why is that not a good development? This would take us back to a focus on ‘sex’: women and men as biologically different and therefore with fundam...

Yesterday’s side event The Changed and the Change-makers: Engaging Men and Boys to End Violence against Women and Girls was an example of the increasing consensus that involving men and boys in gender equality issues is essential for change. The session mainly evolved around practical examples for male involvement in ending violence against women. Even in Finland ?! Jarmo Viinanen, Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN, stated that there is no nation immune to the problem of violence against women. In Finland , an average of 100 women a year loose their life because of domestic violence. The country recently adopted a national action plan to stop violence against women. One of the key strategies is to address attidudes and behaviour models, a key audience of which are young men. Viinanen also expressed that though a lack of resources is a key challenge internationally, we should not overstate their importance. Ending violence against women is essentially about the politic...

In the blog post of Monday the 28 th titled ‘Youth Lobbying for amendments to Agreed Conclusions’, we explained how we started to work together with CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, and Youth Coalition to influence the Agreed Conclusions. This was only a drop of the numerous activities and developments that have followed. A delicate equilibrium This week is the most exciting week of the CSW, as during this week the delegations sit together to find consensus on the main topic. It is a tiresome process because every word (literally!) has to be discussed. For instance, some conservative countries do not agree with the terms ‘gender’ or ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights’. In that way, there is a whole list of terms that are controversial. On the other hand, there are more progressive countries, such as the Nordic countries, that are much more progressive. Since all will have to agree with what will be in the final documents, it depends on the willingness of the delegates to ag...

Joint NGO Statement Gender Equality and Sustainable Development New York, March 1, 2011 As Einstein once said: “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it” You, Me, all of us in this room here today need to realize that we are dependent on each other for a sustainable and just World!! It is agreed by the World Community, that gender equality is crucial to the achievement of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable forms of development. We urge member states to partner with civil society and private sector , nationally and internationally. Collaboration between these parties and governments is imperative to protect OUR global public goods. Global Public Goods include: - a clean and healthy environment; - Food stability; - a Global justice system; - Economic and financial stability; - Safety and security It is a necessity that women equally participate as decision makers ...