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.