WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA)

http://www.wwda.org.au/contents.htm

BEIJING + 15 REVIEW - WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES

In March 2010, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will undertake the fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA). A significant part of this Beijing+15 review will be the sharing of information between the delegations from both government and non-government organizations (NGOs) about improvements in the status of women since BPFA and good practices for implementing change.

There will be differences of approach between countries in their preparation for Beijing+15 review, but the emphasis should be on presenting a comprehensive picture of the actions undertaken in the past 15 years to improve the lived experience of all women in each of the member nations.

It is important that the voices of women with disabilities are heard in this process. So often input from this sector of the population is not sought or heeded, so that issues for women with disabilities continue to be overlooked.

However, any grouping of women with disabilities with a reasonably formed contact network can assemble a report which gives a snap-shot of the situation for women with disabilities in a particular country or region. The collected information does not have to form a separate report, but can feed into an official country report as well as to the Shadow Report of an NGO.

Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) has begun using its networks to gather information which will be collated into a report for inclusion in both the Australian Government report to CSW and into any NGO Shadow Reports which will be submitted in parallel. An outline of the network message sent out for their consultation process follows.

Women With Disabilities & Beijing+15

Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA), the national peak body representing women with all types of disabilities in Australia, is contributing to the Australian consultations on the fifteen year review of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing+15). WWDA is calling on all women with disabilities to have input to this important review process. It is critical that women with disabilities have their say on what issues they are currently facing in their lives and what they think should be done to improve their lives.

What is Beijing+15?

In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, China by the United Nations. At that conference, all the governments of all nations attending agreed to the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). The BPFA was a landmark agreement. It identified a range of actions governments, the United Nations and civil society groups should take to make women’s human rights a reality. This included actions on poverty, education, health, women being politically active, government institutions, young girls, the economy, violence, women’s rights, media, the environment and armed conflict. Women’s groups had a strong presence and influence at these meetings, and so the Platform is very strong in recognizing women’s human rights. In 2000, the Governments and the UN reviewed how many of these actions had been put in place in five years. This review was known as Beijing+5. In 2005, the Beijing+10 review was undertaken to monitor the progress of Governments and the UN in commitments to and implementation of the BPFA.. In 2010, Governments and the UN will review how many of these actions have been put in place in 15 years, and identify the new and emerging areas of concern.

How Women With Disabilities in Australia are having input to Beijing+15

Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) is contributing to the Beijing+15 process in a number of ways: 

WWDA is supporting individual women with disabilities to attend Australian regional and local Beijing+15 consultation meetings.

WWDA is consulting directly with women with disabilities from around Australia seeking their views, comments, case studies and stories on any of the 12 critical areas of the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as asking for information on any emerging issues which are not covered in these areas.

The 12 areas are:

1. Poverty

2. Women Decision Makers

3. Education and Training

4. Government Institutions

5. Health

6. Women’s Rights

7. Violence

8. Media

9. Armed Conflict / Refugees

10. Environment

11. Economy

12. Young Girls

WWDA will then collate the information received from women with disabilities for inclusion into the national response which will be taken to the regional and international meetings for the fifteen year review of the Beijing Platform for Action.

WWDA is providing relevant WWDA reports and policy submissions for consideration and reference in the development of the national response to the Beijing+15 Review. 

For more information

For more information on Beijing+15, go to: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/index.html

For more information on the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) go to:

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform

Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA)

ABN: 23 627 650 121

PO Box 605, Rosny Park,  Tasmania  7018 AUSTRALIA

Ph: +61 3 6244 8288  Fax: +61 3 6244 8255

Email: wwda@wwda.org.au

Web: www.wwda.org.au

Executive Director:  Carolyn Frohmader

================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.