Fifty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women
UN Headquarters
February 25th to March 7th 2008
From 25 February 25 to 7 March, governments and civil society gathered at the United Nations to discuss “Financing for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”.
Five resolutions were adopted:
- Release of women and children taken hostage, including those subsequently imprisoned, in armed conflicts
(download the pdf)
- Ending female genital mutilation
(download the pdf)
- Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women
(download the pdf)
- Strengthening of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
(dowload the pdf)
- Women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS (download the pdf)
IPPF delegation
IPPF had representatives from our Member Associations from around the world, including from:
- Brazil
- Puerto Rico
- Venezuela
- New Zealand
- Sweden
they all participated actively in parallel events, caucuses, as well as in national delegations (New Zealand and Sweden).
Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR)
The GEAR campaign was formally launched during the CSW on 27 February, where the Global and Regional Focal Points presented the history and goals of the campaign and urged women’s groups and interested organizations to join.
The GEAR campaign highlighted the under-resourcing of the women’s entities in the UN system and the need for a stronger, consolidated, higher status women’s entity.
It is well-demonstrated that the lack of a strong, well-resourced women’s entity with normative and operational responsibilities, and an effective presence at country level, led by an Under Secretary General, has slowed the progress of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
The campaign’s message, carried by hundreds of women at the CSW, to “GEAR UP” was taken up by over 40 countries, where they mentioned in their national statements the need to strengthen the UN’s institutional mechanisms on gender equality and called for a consolidated entity led by an Under Secretary General.
The Agreed Conclusions note “under-resourcing in the area of gender equality in the UN system…….and stresses the need for more effective tracking of resources….spent on enhancing gender equality….” (para 19)
The Agreed Conclusions specifically call for strengthening the UN system both through more effective gender mainstreaming and for “enhancing its capacity to effectively assist States….on gender equality and women’s empowerment….and to make adequate and reliable human and financial resources available.” (para kk).
The countries who pushed for stronger language on GEAR were:
- Australia
- Canada
- European Union
- Iceland
- Liberia
- MERCOSUR (The Southern Common Market; created by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay)
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Philippines
- Switzerland
The next steps in terms of the GEAR campaign, will be to convey to the General Assembly the broad support from governments and civil society, for moving forward on a stronger institutional mechanism for women that can deliver real improvements in women’s daily lives.
Analysis of the negotiations
The negotiations on the Agreed Conclusions were closed to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the second day. This made it very difficult for us to keep track of which delegations were outspoken about the issues we were concentrating on.
Sexual and reproductive health (SRH)
The governments of Norway and New Zealand took the lead in pushing for explicit language on financing for women’s health, including their sexual and reproductive health. Countries that supported this proposal were:
- Switzerland
- CARICOM (The Caribbean Community)
- Mexico
- Canada
- Cuba
- Denmark
- Israel
- Germany
- Sweden
- Finland
- Belgium
- Italy
- UK
- Iceland
- Estonia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Portugal
- Austria
- Turkey
Countries that opposed this language were:
- Syria
- Ireland
- Malta
- Poland
Although it was problematic to have the EU split over SRH language, it also allowed for more voices of support to include the provisions.
As much as we lobbied governments to include language on sexual and reproductive rights, there was no political support on behalf of any governments except New Zealand and Norway on including rights-based language in this area.
HIV/AIDS Resolution
We were successful in ensuring that the HIV resolution retained all of the strength from the previous 2006 resolution on the same subject. It includes references to the following:
• The Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights
• Violence against women and girls, including marital rape. The inclusion of marital rape is often controversial.
• Calls for intensifying implementation of Beijing and ICPD commitments
• Reaffirms the commitment to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015
• Calls for gender equality resources within AIDS responses
• Calls for increased prevention efforts for women and girls, young people and adolescents, including ensuring that prevention takes into account their particular impact on women.
New references were also added on prevention, treatment, care and support for older women and women with disabilities. In the case of older women, this is significant as it acknowledges the prevention needs of older women, and not only their role in providing care and support.
Conclusions
It was interesting to see how sexual and reproductive health language is becoming less visible and instead is using maternal and child health for fear of reaction.
This is a matter of concern, as it is providing a useful strategy to weaken the language adopted at Cairo and the commitments countries agreed to fulfill.
2007
Find out about our work at the Commission on the Status of Women in 2007.