Skip to main content

No agreed conclusions of CSW 56 at all!

Even though the negotiations had been extended beyond the date that was scheduled to have concluded the session in the end no agreed conclusions have been adopted at the 19th meeting of the fifty-sixth session of the CSW (March 15 2012). To my knowledge it is the first time in history that the CSW did not adopt agreed conclusions to (formally) submit to the Ecosoc Council.

Embarrassment all around the diplomatic community in New York! Diplomats rightfully fear to be seen as incapable of flexibility and compromise. In words of Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Women: ‘a disappointing inability to reach consensus.’

There are some rumours that after another nightly session the informal negotiations in the end stuck especially around the wording of issues of sexuality and reproduction. But other subjects too were far from resolved. The statement on behalf of the African Group (AG) hints for instance at disagreements about the term gender: in the African understanding the Beijing Declaration outlined gender as ‘male’ and ‘female’, according to the press release of the UN Economic and Social Council.

By emphasizing the African understanding of ‘sex education’ (should be age-appropriate and under the guidance of adults) the Zimbabwean spokesperson of the AG seems also to point at disagreements on the sexual and reproductive rights issues. The ‘comprehensive sexuality education’ as promoted by the EU seems miles away from Africa. Zimbabwe is one of the hardliners in issues of gender identity and sexuality. Is it a coincidence that the informal negotiations about the agreed conclusions started with the representative of Swaziland speaking in behalf of the AG and in the end the representative of Zimbabwe?

Since the informals were closed for NGO observers almost from the start it is difficult to reconstruct the process and analyse the discourses. It seems too easy to put the blame to the unlikely alliance of Iran and the Holy See or to assume that mainly the African Group and CARICOM are heading backwards from the Beijng Platform for Action.

A link to the EU-statement can be found at the website of E-quality.

Some countries might take the lead on development of a resolution for the General Assembly of the UN in September to provide a specific reference point on the empowerment of rural women and other related subjects like decent work and social protection.

Leontine Bijleveld

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

Blog van ngo-vertegenwoordiger Joyce Brummelman: de onderhandelingen

Ngo-vertegenwoordiger Joyce Brummelman met Benjamin Nolan van de PV in de VN Deze week was het eindelijk zover: mijn reis naar de Verenigde Naties om van dichtbij te volgen hoe de afspraken en onderhandelingen rondom de Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) steeds meer vorm krijgen. Access to justice – toegang tot het recht – klinkt misschien als één thema, maar in werkelijkheid bestaat het uit talloze dimensies. Elk land heeft een andere juridische werkelijkheid, andere barrières, andere verhalen. Als NGO vertegenwoordiger mocht ik deze discussies mede volgen en luisteren naar wat landen, experts en activisten hierover te zeggen hebben.   Ondanks de sneeuwstorm landde ik dinsdagmiddag in New York en ging ik direct door naar de Nederlandse Vertegenwoordiging van de Verenigde Naties. Daar hoorde ik hoe Nederland werkt aan een zo sterk mogelijke uitkomst van de CSW: ambitieus, principieel en met oog voor de realiteit van vrouwen en meisjes wereldwijd. De aftrap: landen in gesprek o...
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