WUNRN
ASIA
PACIFIC CAUCUS STATEMENT AT THE 52ND SESSION OF CSW
UN
COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN 2008
I speak on behalf of the women of the Asia Pacific region; a region
comprising 60 percent of the world's women and representing the greatest
diversity of women.
State commitments to financing for gender equality, at the international,
regional and national level, have not gone far enough. The gap between
commitments and full implementation on the ground remains. Practical
implementation has been challenged by non-effective financing of
programmes aimed at advancing the status of women. Millions of women in
Asia and the Pacific lack sustainable livelihoods, full health care, and
live in fear of violence and abuse. Lack of access to sexual and
reproductive health services, physical and psychological services, and
effective education of women and girls further impedes on the well being
of women in our region. Global warming and climate change have had a
disproportionate impact on women. Trafficking of women and girls is a
growing and severe problem and HIV/AIDS is increasing at a rapid rate
across the region.
Policy initiatives often disproportionately affect women. The achievement
of full gender equality requires more effective widespread implementation
and monitoring of gender-responsive budgeting with gender impact
statements included in national budgets. Gender mainstreaming does not
replace the need for targeted, women-specific policies and programmes,
positive legislation, corresponding budget allocations, and operational
programmes for women at the national, regional and international level.
Access to funds for effective programmes for women is a problem for
women's NGOs region wide.
A critical and key issue for Asia Pacific women is the impact of conflict
and post conflict trauma. In conflict situations, women, girls, men, and
boys participate in and experience conflict, peace processes and
post-conflict recovery differently. All post-conflict reconstruction
programmes should support initial gender impact assessments, gender budget
analyses, and advocacy to improve spending patterns so that donor funding
benefits women and men equally. National Action Plans for Security Council
Resolution 1325 must be developed. Peace-building must be a participatory
process that does not reconstruct what has failed, but develops a new
paradigm based on gender equality and the protection of women's social,
economic, and political rights.
We, the women of the Asia Pacific Region call for measurable gender
benchmarks across the diversity of women's experiences; gender
disaggregated statistical data collection, and analysis increased research
into measuring gender outcomes; and funding for concrete commitments to
targeted gender architecture at the national, regional and international
levels. We call for national and regional action plans on gender equality
which incorporate benchmarking. We call for an increase in specialized
funding by States for programmes for women.
We call for the recognition of women's contribution to the presently
invisible informal sectors of the economy and the tearing down of
structural barriers to women's participation in decision making. We call
for concrete commitments to the UN Violence Against Women Campaign and
want to see funding and resources committed at the national level to
address the endemic violence in the region.
We ask States to recognise the fundamentals of the principles of justice
and unity, and the centrality of gender equality in poverty reduction and
social justice in development aid. Only then will ongoing barriers for
women begin to be overcome, obstacles which universally hinder women's
development and full attainment of their human rights.
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Presented at CSW by Carole Shaw, who is from the Center for Refugee
Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. She is on the
Steering Committee of the Asia Pacific Women Watch and a member of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
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Thank you.