Women’s rights higher on the development agenda in the
Netherlands with the new WIDE platform |
By Gea Meijers
Dutch
women activists, development organisations and government officials have joined
hands to strengthen their commitments on gender equality and women’s
empowerment, especially against the violence towards women. Last month they
signed three resolutions that are part of the ‘akkoorden van Schokland’
(resolutions of Schokland) and that commits them to work together around
‘violence against women’, ‘collaborate in activities to realise UN security
council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security’ and ‘invest in women’s
equality with 15 million until 2015’.
The
resolutions are part of a process within the Dutch government and the civil
society of a renewed focus on gender equality in the Dutch international
relations. Civil society organisations initiated last year the launch of a new
gender platform after the previous platform ceased to exist towards the end of
the nineties. Now, a little bit wiser and even more committed, the new platform
has been formally launched this spring with young and older individual members
and member organisations such as Oxfam/Novib, Hivos, ICCO and Cordaid. The
platform is called WO=MEN (women equals men) Dutch Gender Platform and focuses
on gender equality and social justice, especially in relation to the Dutch
international relations. The WO=MEN Platform joined WIDE as a WIDE national
platform at the last General Assembly. Freshly started, the gender platform
already contributed actively in the shaping of the Schokland resolutions with
the recently formed new government, which is a coalition of socialists and
Christian conservatives and moderates.
The
resolutions of Schokland on gender are promising. They commit the undersigned,
coming from civil society and government, to a) develop new joint policy and
projects around combating violence against women in different developing
countries, starting with 3 selected countries in 2008, b) to come up with a
national plan of action on resolution 1325 by the end of 2007 with renewed and
additional commitments, c) and to set up a new ‘virtual’ fund to invest in
gender equality for which the Dutch government has allocated 40 million Euro up
to 2010. Other organisations, companies and international donors will be invited
to join this fund. WO=MEN Platform will be part of the implementation of the
gender resolutions.
For
further information, please contact the coordinator of WO=MEN:
info@wo-men.nl Tel: +31 (0)70 376 5500.