WUNRN
Via Asia Pacific Civil
Society Forum on Beijing + 20
ACTIVISM TODAY: WHAT DID
BEIJING MISS?
"The
Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) has to be seen with new eyes," said Cai
Yiping, a women's rights activist from China. She reiterated that women's
issues cannot be dealt with in silos. For instance, climate change and
environmental inequality affect the poor and women are the majority amongst the
poor. Similarly, the shift to talk about development is being done at the
expense of women's human rights when development goals should be seen in the
light of human rights. Yiping ended by reminding participants that "We are
here because we are the movement. We are part of a larger movement. We are the
faces of the feminist women. Everyone is counted."
Women also continue to struggle to achieve
their human rights in and outside the BPfA's critical areas of concern. Women
activists from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, China, and Pakistan spoke
about the work they are doing on issues that are still missing from the BPfA
and in its implementation, such us migrant work, sex work, sexual orientation
and gender identity, and disability.
Erwiana Sulistyaningsih spoke about her
struggle as a former Indonesian domestic worker who had been held in slavery
like conditions. "I have learnt many lessons from this experience. Through
my case more cases have come out," she said. Lilly Besoa, an internally
displaced indigenous woman in Papua New Guinea, continues to work in situations
of tribal conflict. "We try to get women into mediating for conflict and
continue to educate women on peace and security," she explained.
"I am a member of the Asia-Pacific
Network of Sex Workers—APNSW—and I am also proud to say I am a sex
worker," started to say Kay Thi Win. Thi Win stressed the importance of
decriminalizing sex work in order to reduce violence and ended by saying,
"[w]hen a women makes a decision to do sex work she has already empowered
herself economically. She makes a decision to not be poor."
Zhang Dandan spoke about the history of
the lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LBT) movement in Mainland China and the
strengthening of this movement. She recalled the importance of the 1995 Beijing
Conference. "For the first time we saw LBT people," she said. She
also insisted on the importance of integrating this issue into the BPfA and
reminded women's organizations of the need for visibility of LBT people,
"When you talk about gender equality think about gender diversity,"
Dandan said.
Abia Akram, who coordinates a network of
women with disabilities in the region, continues to work to end the barriers of
communication, information, and attitudes that women with disabilities face.
"We need to make people understand that disability is just a
diversity," Akram said. "We also need to strongly engage women with
disability and have them in leadership roles," she added.
WOMEN CONTINUE STRIVING TO
ACHIEVE DEVELOPMENT
Representatives
from organizations from the Philippines, Fiji, and India spoke about moments of
achievements and moments of failure in their work to address the root causes of
discrimination against women in achieving development justice. Vernie
Yocogan-Diano—a Filipino indigenous people's activist—recalled as a victory the
formation and strengthening of indigenous women's organizations and vibrant
engagement of indigenous women with governments. However, she continues to be
concerned about massive land grabbing and the taking over of indigenous
people's natural resources.
Noelene Nabulivou—a Fiji
activist—highlighted the way in which civil society has been able to transform
the global conversation on issues that were not recognized in the past, such as
LBT rights, but considers that there is still a need to be bolder and stronger.
Fathima Burnad Natesa, representing Dalit women in India, mentioned as a
victory the occupation of land by Dalit women and their participation in
high-level meetings where they were able to question the minister about policies
and projects that affect Dalit women. She added, "Tribal women are working
hard in transforming individual lives. We have the personal and collective
courage of a movement."
Finally, Sivananthi Thanenthiran, working
with women's organizations throughout the region, said "Autonomy of our
bodies equals autonomy of our lives," as she noted the lack of discussion
of this issue in the global dialogues as a failure. However, she also stated
the need to be true to women's politics in the face of what feels like daily
moments of failure.
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