WUNRN
E/CN.6/2015/L.1 - Political
Declaration on the Occasion of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Fourth World
Conference on Women
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/CN.6/2015/L.1
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MANY WOMEN ACTIVISTS QUESTION
CSW 59 POLITICAL DECLARATION, AS DILUTED, UNAMBITIOUS
CALL FOR STRONGER COMMITMENT
TO WOMEN’S RIGHTS, HIGHER AMBITION, REAL RESOURCES, ACCOUNTABILITY
As the Commission on the Status of Women 59 meets,
some UN states have been accused of trying to dilute a women’s rights
declaration
Women’s rights activists have expressed alarm at the
proposed wording of a UN declaration that they say could portend a major step
backwards for women’s rights.
The text of the declaration, due to be published on 9
March at the start of the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), has been
branded bland and unambitious.
This year’s CSW will mark the 20th anniversary of the
landmark fourth women’s world conference in Beijing in
1995. The conference’s platform for action, signed by 189 governments,
identified 12 critical areas to empower women, such as greater involvement in
decision-making and in conflict resolution, improving the rights of girls and
ending violence. At the time, the agreement was seen as far-reaching and a
blueprint for achieving women’s empowerment.
The two-week CSW, held in New York, will review
progress made in implementing the Beijing recommendations over the past two
decades.
But last week, the Women’s Rights Caucus, which
monitors discussions at the CSW, said it was concerned that the language in the
declaration was being watered down by certain UN states.
The caucus called on organisations to add their signatures to a statement demanding the
declaration be strengthened.
“At a time when urgent action is needed to fully
realise gender equality, the human rights and empowerment of women and girls,
we need renewed commitment, a heightened level of ambition, real resources, and
accountability,” said the statement.
“This political declaration, instead, represents a
bland reaffirmation of existing commitments that fails to match the level of
ambition in the Beijing declaration and platform for action and in fact
threatens a major step backward.”
It added: “Governments cannot pick and choose when to
respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of women and should not do so in
this declaration.”
By Thursday, more than 770 organisations had signed
the caucus statement.
It is understood that Russia, the Holy See (which has
a seat on the UN as a non-member permanent observer state), Indonesia,
Nicaragua and the Africa group of countries have tried to limit references in
the text to human rights and to remove mention of the role feminist groups play
in advancing gender equality. These states argue that human rights was just one
chapter of the Beijing platform for action, rather than an overarching theme.
Caribbean countries are also understood to have failed to step up to support
women’s rights.
Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Japan, Canada,
Philippines, Chile, El Salvador, Australia and the EU are believed to be among
those that have repeatedly challenged any removal of references to human
rights.
The Holy See is also thought to have wanted mention of
a standalone gender equality target proposed in the sustainable development
goals removed from the declaration.
Any specific reference to women’s rights activists is
expected to be lost.
The pushback on women’s existing rights from these states is not
unusual in UN political statements, or are their attempts to block
any progressive moves forward.
A record 8,600 civil society activists have signed up
to attend this year’s CSW, which, as well as reflecting on the Beijing
agreement, will discuss its relevance to the proposed SDGs, which are due to be
implemented next year.