Fiji Young Women’s
Forum Outcomes Statement
1st Fiji Young Women’s Forum
on Young Women’s Participation and Representation in Political Spaces
8th – 10th November, 2013
- The Fiji Young Women’s’
Forum convened by Diverse Voices and Action for Equality (DIVA), Emerging
Leaders Forum Alumni (ELFA), Young Women Producers and Broadcasters-
FemlinkPacific and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), brought
together young women leaders and activists aged 18 – 30 years from Fiji to
discuss barriers and strategies to young women’s meaningful participation
and representation in Fiji’s democratisation process.
- We, young Fijian women
leaders including transwomen, women living with disabilities, LGBTQI
women, rural women, mental health consumers and young women in all our
diversities affirm our power as implementers and contributors of positive
change, decision makers, partners and leaders of today and the future. Our
strength is in our numbers and in our diversity.
- The forum builds on the
initial Fiji Women’s Forum and a rich tradition of activism of Fijian
women throughout our national history and is committed to representing
young women throughout the country. We acknowledge and recognise the work
of the many women who have gone before us and the gains that they have
made for young women today. We note the rich history of women’s
participation in political spaces including social movements and we call
for more recognition of this hard fraught journey.
Young Women’s Political Participation and
Representation
- The Fiji Young Women’s
Forum is deeply concerned with the under-representation of women,
especially young women in decision making bodies. Young women face double
discrimination for both being young and female and are often excluded in
decision making processes, almost entirely absent from local, national and
regional decision making and leadership roles. There is an urgent need to
correct the historical and cultural exclusion of young women in decision
making and political spaces.
- The Fiji Young Women’s
Forum urges local and national governments, political parties, private and
public sectors to implement Temporary Special Measures to increase women’s
representation and participation in decision making. This will enable our
State to comply with CEDAW which Fiji ratified in 1995. The Forum further
asserts that transformative change is not just about the policies of
parties but also party structures that are inclusive and human rights
based.
Rights based, Participatory
Democratisation Processes
- We value and advocate
for the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with
Accountability, that people’s human rights cannot be fully realized
without accountability of the injustices that have been committed.
- The Fiji Young Women’s
Forum affirms that Democracy, the Rule of Law and the full enjoyment of
one’s Human Rights are closely linked.
- We call for adherence to
the principles of democracy including the separation of powers between the
executive, the judiciary and the legislative.
- The forum affirms that
religion and state must remain separate
- The Fiji Young Women’s
Forum is deeply disappointed that young women and the citizens of Fiji
were not consulted in the development of the States’ budget. We remind the
State of their obligation and accountability to translate gender equality,
transparency and human rights commitments into legislation, policy and
budget allocations and to make these norms and standards the guiding
principles of our society.
- The forum participants
highlighted the importance of having legitimate participatory and
inclusive processes in the development of the constitution and national
budget.
- We call for the
reinstatement of the People’s Constitution which was drafted by the
Constitutional Commissioners headed by Professor Yash Ghai with over 7000
submissions including groups and individual submissions from all over
Fiji.
- We call on the State’s
alignment to principles and processes of Free and Fair Elections, such as
the levelling of the current unequal playing field and that rules and
regulations are not oppressive to political parties and independents. We
demand that the elections process is transparent and that citizens,
candidates and all other stakeholders are informed in a timely manner
regarding electoral developments.
- We highlight the
importance of the role of the media in a sustainable democracy and call
for the removal of oppressive laws and decrees. We note the invisibility
of women in the media as powerful agents of change and call for balanced
and accurate reporting and documenting of women free of negative
stereotypical biases. We note the role of community media and alternative
media In facilitating the flow of information.
Sustainable Development
- The Young Women’s Forum
affirms that Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights must be realised.
We stress that bodily integrity and autonomy is at the core of all work on
SRHR, we call for a comprehensive sexual education, information, services
and commodities that is available to everyone including members of the
LGBTQI community and persons with disabilities.
- We are currently living
in a time of escalated social, economic, financial and environmental
crisis we urgently seek full and decent employment and economic
empowerment for all young Fijian women. We call for the meaningful
participation of young women in the design, delivery, monitoring and
evaluation of development goals, policies and indicators at all levels.
- The young women’s forum
is deeply concerned with the rapid expansion of the extractive industry in
Fiji. We call on the State to consider sustainable development options
that do not further exacerbate widespread environmental degradation as
this further commodifies and compounds the burden on young women, social
relationships, communities and societies at large, increasing the labour
required meet their basic needs. We are further concerned with the likely
SRHR issues such as sexually transmitted infections, unplanned pregnancies
and the trafficking of local and foreign women that emerge in relation to
sudden increase in the population of male transient workers in remote
mining communities.
- We acknowledge the
support and solidarity of the broader women’s movement in Fiji and
encourage them to continue to champion the inclusion of the diversity of
young women; in particular transwomen especially when in it comes to
difficult spaces and circumstances.
We commit to work together in solidarity
towards gender equality, participatory democracy, the rule of law and the
meaningful participation of young women in local, national and regional
decision making bodies.