Subject: [fem-women2000 432] [B5NGONEWS] Report from Geneva
From: Liz Probert <liz@gn.apc.org>
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 18:43:58 +0200
Seq: 432
Sender: Sharon Hackett <hackett@cdeacf.ca> Subject: [B5NGONEWS] Report from Geneva -------- Original Message -------- Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 12:54:07 +0300 (GMT) De: REPEM 2 <repem2@chasque.apc.org> A: M.Calloni@lse.ac.uk FIRST REPORT - SPECIAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OUTCOME OF THE WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND FURTHER INITIATIVES PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA JUNE 26-30 REPORTING: REPEM/GEO/ICAE and DAWN ********************************************** The process of WSSD+5 United Nations General Assembly Special Session is a bit too slow. People are trying to be everywhere , running from one building to another and are also attending the NGO Forum, which unfortunately runs parallel to the Assembly. All this makes very difficult for everyone to strategize and coordinate. Anyway we are doing lobby and exercising pressure in order to incorporate the language of Beijing +5 outcome document Yesterday's working session was very slow, which reminded us of Beijing's +5 Prepcom and Beijing+5 UNGASS. Delegations are working in 3 groups, one chaired by the Ambassador Mr Cristian Maquieira >from Chile, and this group works on commitments: 1. Enabling environment 7: To accelerate the economic, social and human resource development of Africa and the least developed countries, 8:To ensure that when structural adjustment programmes are agreed to they include social development goals Commitment 9: To increase significantly and/or utilise more efficiently the resources allocated to social development Group 2 is chaired by Koos Richelle, from Netherlands, and they work on commitments : 2: To eradicate poverty in the world. 3: To promote the goal of full employment. 4: To promote social integration 5:To achieve equality and equity between women and men 6: Access to health and education 10: To promote an improved and strengthened framework for international, regional and subregional cooperation for social development Group 3 works on the political declaration. There are also three working groups created to work on those para. that are more difficult and where there is no consensus. Yesterday, group 2 were discussing para 97- 100, which are related to the prevention of HIV in Africa, debate became stagnant because the Holy See does not want to recognise the language of the PFA and the language of Beijing + 5 outcome document. Besides they want to delete all kind of mentioning to prevention (except abstinence), and also sexual education. **************************** Language in WSSD+5 text may weaken achievements in Beijing+5 document! Last week in New York during informal negotiations on the outcome document for the review of the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD+5) there was discussion on how to refer to the just completed Beijing+5 outcome document. As a result of official reservations which some governments took on the Beijing+5 outcome document regarding globalisation, debt and other issues, governments are negotiating whether to "take into account", "implement" or "uphold the outcome" of Beijing+5. We understand from an NGO following the negotiations that in the section on Gender Equity in the WSSD+5 document, The US proposed "take into account" the B+5 outcome. EU proposed "fully take into account," the G-77 proposed "uphold" instead of take into account, and Norway suggested "recommit to" instead of take into account. The Beijing+5 document represents the intense labours of many government delegates and hundreds of women NGOs. Merely "taking into account" the document is a dismissal of the work we have done and the achievements we have gained. Because this is a US initiative, we urge US NGOs to contact the President's Inter-Agency Task Force (Lidia Soto-Harmon, 1-202-647-6227; fax 202-647-5337) as well as the US mission ( Ms. Betty King, Ambassador 212-415-4278; fax: 212-415-4443; e-mail: usaun@undp.org), calling for stronger language in support of the Beijing+5 outcome document. An important note: Many of you may know that the US went on record with 11 reservations in the final plenary of the Special Session, Women 2000. These included paragraphs 29, 30, and 135 (i) dealing with globalisation and economic issues. At the time, the US representative, Ambassador Betty King, dismissed the impact of international economic actors on women's lives, saying, "Most aspects of equality for women have no direct link to international economic and financial issues." (see note from UN press release, below). Subsequently we have learned that the Washington-based US delegation to the Special session, including the head of the delegation, had already left NY at the time of the final plenary, and was unaware that Mission staff were making these reservations. Their own negotiating positions were directly undermined by this action. In a briefing for NGOs on Beijing+5 by the President's inter-agency task force in Washington last week, several NGOs challenged the US reservations. One NGO asked if the above comment is the explicit policy of Treasury, as it goes against the accepted positions of the UN, World Bank, IMF and other international financial institutions. She was told that this is not Treasury's official position. There appears to be some scrambling in Washington even to ammend the US reservations. However, the delegation to Beijing +5 does not directly influence negotiations in Geneva this week on WSSD+5. Given the suggested language to merely "take note" of the B+5 document, it appears that the US Mission's position will win out over the concerns of some women in the Administration in Washington. This is an important time to put pressure and let our government know that we will not accept a pull-back from the commitments made at Women 2000. These commitments need to be strongly affirmed at WSSD+5. Carol Barton, Alternative-Women in Development/NY Maria Riley, Center of Concern _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem