CSW
2005, WEEK TWO: RESOLUTIONS SUPPORTED BY ASIA-PACIFIC NGOs
Week
Two (March 7 to 11) of the 49th session of the Commission on the Status
of Women (CSW) will be marked by debates on the various resolutions
filed by governments on emerging issues for women around the world.
NGOs lobbying at the CSW are making sure that progressive positions
are taken by governments advancing these resolutions, which cover
economic empowerment, gender mainstreaming, trafficking, tsunami disaster
response, and armed conflict.
Updates
on the various lobbying efforts with relevance to the Asia Pacific
region were shared at the Asia Pacific Women's Watch (APWW) consultation
forum held on Saturday, March 5, 2005. APWW continues to lead the
NGOs from this region in lobbying efforts at all the Beijing and post-Beijing
processes and has been coordinating the daily caucuses of the region.
Many of the issues brought up in this session of the CSW were
On Trafficking:
The United States tabled a resolution on trafficking that aims to
declare prostitution a transnational crime. Sunila Abeysekera of INFORM
commented on how this resolution seems to focus on the demand side
of trafficking, and not on the root causes of migration, nor of the
rights of trafficked persons. Gigi Francisco of DAWN and IGTN noted
that there exists a treaty on trafficking, the Palermo Protocol, which
few Asian countries have signed and even fewer have ratified--NGOs
can put pressure to bear on these few countries if they think that
that resolution is worth supporting. Patricia Licuanan reminded the
women of the forum that the Philippines had already pressed a resolution
in previous CSW sessions, and that this resolution, which includes
broader coverage of the factors around trafficking, was already approved
by the UN General Assembly (GA). The emergence of a new resolution
on trafficking, Licuanan noted, might open up the GA resolution to
further debate. A committee was formed by APWW members to look at
the documents related to the current resolution so that it could be
commented upon.
On Economic
Empowerment:
Another resolution forwarded by the US delegation was on economic
empowerment. They held informal consultations with other governments
last March 3, and countries such as Canada, Cuba, China and Japan
had already added their revisions. Francisco said that the resolution
focuses on providing enhancing environments for business women as
well as furthering the agenda for trade liberalisation. The revisions
proposed by the consulted governments added new language that balances
the resolution with clauses on poverty alleviation. Meanwhile, a group
working within the NGO Caucus has already submitted its version of
the resolution that would comment on the global multilateral trade
agreements. They will be meeting everyday at the cafe near the conference
rooms for people willing to work on drafting statements for the resolution.
On Gender
Mainstreaming:
Bangladesh and the United Kingdom held informal discussions in March
4 on their proposed resolution regarding gender mainstreaming, and
another informal is scheduled on March 7, Monday. Yamini Mishra of
APWLD, reported that the resolution: (1) does not focus on UN structures,
but rather on national policies and programmes; (2) allows for targetted
interventions mainstreaming policies; (3) does not refer to the Millenium
Development Goals (MDGs) nor to human rights; (4) requires governments
to prepare gender budget data and gender disaggregated data (5) and
asks the Secretary General to report on gender mainstreaming. Mishra
together with other APWW members are preparing additions to the resolution
that they will submit to governments at the next informal consultation.
They proposed to add some paragraphs referencing MDGs and human rights,
gender budgeting, and the UN Security Council resolution 1325.
On Tsunami
Response:
The Philippine government delegation filed a resolution on tsunami
response in reference to the global efforts of aid and relief after
the tsunami disaster that struck several Asian countries in December
2004. The tsunami resolution highlights the special needs of women
affected by the tsunami and the need for more women-targetted relief
and rehabilitation of the affected areas. More consultations will
be held on this resolution on March 7, 8, and 9.
On Armed
Conflict:
The Fiji delegation submitted a resolution on armed conflict but are
asking for help in the development of their resolution. Titilia Naitini
of Fiji National Council of Women said that the members of the Fiji
delegation are still new to the process and would appreciate the assistance
in drafting their resolution.
Aileen Familara
Isis International-Manila for Asia Pacific Women's Watch
