GEAR UPDATE, CSW 2010
54th Commission on the Status of Women March 2010 On March 3, the GEAR campaign held up signs during an official UN meeting of the CSW. After Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had finished his speech, members of the GEAR campaign stood up and held up "GEAR UP NOW!" signs. The SG waved at the GEAR members and they received applause from the audience and member states. The GEAR members were requested to stand up three times later during the meeting. To see this, please visit: http://www.un.org/webcast/2010.html Scroll down to March 3rd and "Special Event: 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women" Morning: Official observance of International Women’s Day [Webcast: Archived Video - English: 1 hour and 43 minutes ] [Webcast: Archived Video - Original Language: 1 hour and 43 minutes ] Click on the first video and fast forward to 15.14 to see the GEAR campaign. ------------------------------------- At this year's CSW (March 12), a resolution on the establishment of the new gender entity was adopted by consensus. Below is the extract from the UN press briefing on it: (http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/wom1792.doc.htm), The representative of Egypt (...) introduced a resolution entitled strengthening the institutional arrangements of the United Nations for support of gender equality and the empowerment of women by consolidating the four existing offices into a composite entity (document E/CN.6/2010/L.7). She said it was a political statement of the will of Member States to support system-wide coherence of all United Nations entities mandated to work towards gender equality. It reflected the United Nations important role to achieve that priority target of gender equality and women's empowerment, as set out in the Beijing Declaration and Platform. It reaffirmed Member States' commitment to put women front and centre. The representative of Norway said that, in adopting the text, which had more than 181 co-sponsors, the Commission would confirm that strengthening United Nations institutions was a truly universal objective. That clear message from Member States should inspire and boost ongoing negotiations of the General Assembly to set up an entity by the end of the current Assembly session. (...) The representative of Yemen, speaking on behalf of the Joint Coordinating Committee of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, and the Non-Aligned Movement, the text’s main sponsor, said the text symbolized the sponsors’ commitment to gender equality and the role of the United Nations to better enable its system to help Member States achieve it by consolidating its gender entities into one composite body. The work of the entity should take into account national traditions and cultural and religious backgrounds, and be guided by the principle of universality. The United Nations response must be in accordance with national needs, and thus, priorities should be set by national focal points. The entity’s operational activities should be governed through a new executive board. He called on the Commission’s members to consider the suggestions put forth by the Joint Coordinating Committee. GEAR UPDATE, CSW 2009 53rd Commission on the Status of Women March 2009 This year’s CSW took place in New York from March 2-13, 2009. It provided a unique opportunity for advocates to come together and build support for strengthening the UN system in its ability to deliver concrete and meaningful results for women around the world. CWGL and WEDO as co-facilitators of the GEAR Campaign, co-hosted two strategy meetings with the Campaign Working Group Regional and Global Focal Points including, African's Women Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Asia Pacific Women’s Watch (APWW), Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Foundation for Studies and Research on Women (FEIM), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), South Asian Campaign for Gender Equality (SACGE)/SAATHI, and WIDE - Globalising Gender Equality and Social Justice along with a number of other organizations in the New York Lobbying Group, (for a complete list of the WG, visit http://gear.collectivex.com/uploads/files/x/000 /017/033/March_2009_GEAR_Campaign_Working_Group.pdf). The GEAR WG also sponsored a workshop during the first week of the CSW where focal points spoke about GEAR activities in the region and challenges they face in country (for photos of the workshop, visit http://gear.collectivex.com/gallery/6722). Furthermore, the GEAR team lobbied delegates in New York permanent missions, spoke with governments, and promoted the campaign in regional and thematic caucuses at CSW. The Linkage Caucus, which has its roots in organizing for the 1995 Beijing Conference and convened by CWGL and WEDO, met four times during the CSW and spurred advocacy about gender architecture within the UN system (to view a video of the Linkage Caucus, visit http://gear.collectivex.com/main/summary). This year the Caucus launched a GEAR petition calling for the creation of a new women’s entity at the UN as well as for meaningful civil society participation to be integrated into all stages of its development and functioning (to sign the petition, visit http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/GEAR). During the CSW, the Secretary General convened an important and long awaited meeting on “System Wide Coherence,” where he introduced a new paper outlining options for the structure and governance of a new women’s entity, and where he endorsed the Composite (or hybrid) option, our preferred of all four options, as “the most promising.” Early this month, the H.E. Mr. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann appointed H.E. Mr. Kaire Munionganda Mbuende and H.E. Mr. Juan Antonio Yáñez-Barnuevo, Permanent Representatives of Namibia and of Spain respectively to co-chair the General Assembly consultations on the System-Wide Coherence process. Both co-chairs spoke at the meetings and shared their support for moving the SWC process forward. Finally, the CSW adopted Agreed Conclusions late Friday evening, March 13, 2009, after arduous negotiations. Gender architecture reform advocates were pleased to note two paragraphs in the final Agreed Conclusions that support the process moving forward and the need to coordinate to address under resourcing for gender equality in the UN system (item 14 and item 15h) (to view the Agreed Conclusions, visit http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw53/AC%20adopted%2013%20March%20advance%20unedited%20version.pdf). |
GEAR at the CSW |