United Nations Advocacy |
|
|
May 3, 2006, United Nations, New York: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (center) with representatives of women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Representatives: Lydia Alpizar Durán, AWID; Carmen Barroso, IPPF; Charlotte Bunch, CWGL; Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, IWTC; Sam Cook, PeaceWomen Project, WILPF; Sonia Corréa, DAWN; Bani Dugal, Baha'i International Community; Ayesha Imam, WLUML & African Democracy Forum; Doris Mpoumou, WEDO; Cynthia Rothschild, CWGL; Jill Sternberg, WILPF; and June Zeitlin, WEDO. Click on photo for larger view. |
UN Coherence Panel
Dear friends,
Based on what we are hearing from the SG's High Level Panel on Coherence coming out of their last meeting, Aug 31 - Sept 1, it appears that they have reached an agreement, now called the "Oslo Consensus." Strengthening the gender architecture into a stronger, better resourced, and higher level women's entity is likely to be one of their recommendations. It is likely to have some programming responsibilities, but would not replace the gender work of other agencies - that is, the new entity would co-exist alongside the gender mainstreaming work of other agencies.
The report will stick to generalities - the details will likely be decided upon at a later date by the GA and the new SG. The report is being written now and will be formally presented to the current SG, Kofi Annan, in early November. He will then transmit the Report with his recommendations to the GA, which is likely to take them up for discussion sometime in 2007.
Once we get more specific information on the report, its release date and plans for the GA, we will be back in touch about developing strategies to support the recommendations and to push for action in the General Assembly. Meanwhile, please let us know what you are hearing as well as your thoughts on this.
We'd also like to thank you for all your great work - women's efforts have led to the success so far and we need to build on this momentum.
In solidarity, CWGL and WEDO
- September 2006: Briefing Note: Reforming the UN Gender Equality Architecture, prepared by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) and Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO).
- August 29, 2006: Fact Sheet on Reforming the Gender Architecture in the UN System, for consideration by the High-Level Panel on Coherence, Oslo Meeting, by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO).
- July 2, 2006: Gender Equality Architecture and UN Reforms, for submission to the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on System-wide Coherence, by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), and prepared by Aruna Rao, Founder-Director, Gender at Work. This paper briefly outlines the successes and failures of the current UN system in addressing gender equality and women’s rights, and puts forth several principles and characteristics that are critical to reforming the gender equality architecture in order to deliver consistent positive gender equality outcomes.
- May 8, 2006: Briefing Note on Women's Rights and the "Coherence Panel" in the UN Reform Process, the purpose of this briefing note is to provide you with information regarding advancing gender equality at a time of fast-paced UN reform. A number of organizations that have been working together on the UN reform process focus here on women's architecture and machineries within the UN, especially on developments with the "Coherence Panel" since the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 2006. (Spanish, French)
The Human Rights Council, which replaced the Commission on Human Rights, met for the first time in June 2006. At its inaugural session, the Human Rights Council adopted two landmark new draft human rights mechanisms: a new treaty, the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Both drafts will go to the General Assembly for final adoption. A working group was set up to further Council work on universal periodic review of UN member States; their recommendations will go to the Council for further discussion in the September 2006 Council session. Special procedures’ mandates, which include Special Rapporteurs and certain thematic working groups, were extended for one year, as was the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. A working group was set up to begin reviewing mandates and mechanisms inherited from the Commission. Reports of Special procedures will be taken up at the September session. NGO participation was guided by procedures from the Commission, and NGOs were present in all segments of the session, including in the interactive dialogues and informal consultations. A synopsis of the meeting and other important outcomes can be found on the Council’s official website: http://www.ohchr.org/english/press/hrc/HRCOutcomesFINAL.pdf
- August 2006: Charlotte Bunch and Cynthia
Rothschild have written an article on the Council in a new publication on UN
Reform, UN Reform: What's in it for Women?, edited by Mavic
Cabrera-Balleza, Tina Johnson and Liane Schalatek and published by the
International Women’s Tribune Center and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. This
article is an overview of the Council and some of the concerns and interests
of the women’s human rights community, such as preservation of the special
procedures and of NGO access. To read Human Rights Council: Women Monitor
Advances and Note Concerns, click
here.
- June 29, 2006: The Center for Women's Global Leadership gave what's assumed to be the final NGO oral intervention of the inaugural session of the Human Rights Council. NGOs have been making various forms of "interventions" throughout the two weeks of the Council, yet few have come from a feminist perspective or have focused on women's experiences. We believe that this was only the second statement to mention sexual orientation and possibly the only one to name reproductive rights. The statement was given in a section of the meeting that focused on the importance of human rights education. Click here for statement.
-
CWGL has signed on to the following statements:
- Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Must Become Full Partners in The Human Rights Council: Produced by Global Rights, this statement stresses the important contribution NGOs have made and will continue to make in the UN human rights arena. NGO participation in the Council is due to be reviewed in the first year of the Council’s operation.
-
The Promise of the Human Rights Council: Marginalised Groups, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: For many years, CWGL has supported sexual rights advocacy at the Commission on Human Rights. For the Council, CWGL submitted with six other ECOSOC-accredited organizations this statement, which was drafted by ARC International.
- Statement to the First Plenary Meeting of the Council, Advocacy Coalition on the UN Human Rights Council. The Advocacy Coalition was formed to examine the agenda and work of the HRC and to analyze and assess its progress according to its expressed mandate and functions.
- Other
Statements:
- Submission by Sunila Abeysekera, recipient of the UN Human Rights Prize of 1998 and human rights defender in Sri Lanka, 22 June 2006, Geneva
- Submission by International Women's Rights Action Watch (Asia Pacific)
- Resources
- The resolution that created the Human Rights Council stipulates that civil society participation in sessions is due to be reviewed by Council members. Until that review takes place, NGOs will have access similar to that which they had under the rules of the Commission on Human Rights. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom has created a chart that notes comments by states recently elected to the Human Rights Council on future NGO participation in Council proceedings http://www.wilpf.int.ch/humanrights/2006/ngoparticipation.htm
- Update: First Members Elected to Human Rights Council!
- Reform the UN: http://www.reformtheun.org
- Amnesty International: http://web.amnesty.org/pages/un-index-eng
- Forum Asia: http://www.hrc.forum-asia.org (for Asian regional information)
- Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/doc/?t=united_nations_hrc
- International Service for Human Rights: http://www.ishr.ch
- Report
on Informal Consultation and Exchange of Views in