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...