WUNRN

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Website - http://5wcw.org/

Jean Bolen- jeanbolen@gmail.com

February 25, 2013 –Press Release

 

MOMENTUM UNDERWAY  FOR 5WCW EFFORTS AT 2013 UN CSW MEETINGS

 

The Call to Action from 5WCW, the grassroots advocacy effort to have a UN 5th World Conference on Women will be very visible at this year’s CSW (March 4 -15), according to Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, spokesperson. A contingent of women delegates from several ECOSOC consultative status NGOs, others from grassroots organizations attending parallel events will be lobbying for 5WCW on panels and informally, giving away the blue buttons, flyers.  Two thousand copies of Bolen’s Moving Toward the Millionth Circle: Energizing a Global Women’s Movement were provided by her publisher to give away in one-on-one conversations by 5WCW advocates.

 

 Women who heeded Eve Ensler’s 1 Billion Rising, the extraordinary international demonstration on February 14  to stop violence against women are now being urged to form circles and become advocates for 5WCW.  The Secretary General and the President of the 66th General Assembly issued a Joint Statement on March 8, 2012, urging member states to send them a resolution to convene a 21st century global conference on women (5WCW), the last held in Beijing in 1995. Pathways to Peace and the Culture of Peace Initiative are strong supporters of 5WCW, recognizing that a peaceful world is one in which women’s concerns are heeded, and UN documents are implemented by governments. In energizing a global women’s movement, 5WCW would mobilize the political will needed to end violence, work toward equality and empowerment of women, and support a culture of peace. An online formal petition (GoPetition) has close to 17,000 signatures with international distribution, and a new Change.org petition has just begun addressed to the women who responded to 1 Billion Rising. Eve Ensler has emailed appreciation for this petition from the Congo.

  https://www.change.org/petitions/one-billion-rising-get-behind-5wcw-un-5th-world-conference-on-women-2

 

The Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly’s request included convening the conference in 2015, twenty-years after Beijing.  Ambassador Aitimova from Kasakhstan circulated a draft resolution for 5WCW with early interest from many states and opposition expected from member states that usually oppose equality for women. The resolution requested by the SG and PGA did not come to a vote, lacking  EU and US support.

 

The reasons for 5WCW can be found in the  ECOSOC Documentation for CSW 57. Advocating a global conference on women, (Translated into the 6 UN official languages). http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/CN.6/2013/NGO/190

 

An excerpt which summarizes reasons to hold 5WCW:

 

The implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) will not

happen until women empower themselves with the support of men, institutions and

Governments. A world conference on women under United Nations auspices would

raise consciousness and mobilize networks and circles of women at every level of

society and across the world. It would energize a global women’s movement, which

is necessary to create the political will needed to bring about gender equality.

Together, political will and compassionate action can end violence against women

and girls in its many forms and further a “mother’s agenda” whereby all children

have what every woman wants for her own child, beginning with living without fear

of violence. The holding of such a conference and the effects rippling out from it

will be steps towards the creation of a culture of peace in the home and in the world.

“It has been made absolutely clear that women need to become activists on

their own behalf.” This was the conclusion reached by the authors of the largest

global study ever conducted on violence against women, as detailed in the

September 2012 issue of American Political Science Review. They found that only

strong feminist movements are able to voice and organize around the top priorities

of women.

 

Advocacy for 5WCW is supported by ECOSOC consultative status NGOs: Pathways To Peace, Earth Child Institute, Women’s World Summit Foundation

 

http://5wcw.org/

Contact: Jean Bolen: jeanbolen@gmail.com