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Change Your Life! |
Landmark women's conference end's |
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June 12, 2000
But
women's rights activists and several countries including the United
States, South Africa and Norway said the new initiatives didn't go far
enough to speed implementation of the 150-page platform of action adopted
in Beijing in 1995. Despite
fears that delegates would chip away at the Beijing platform,
the weeklong U.N. Women's Conference ended Saturday with no backtracking -
which was welcomed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan who had urged delegates
earlier in the week to protect and advance the gains made by women five
years ago. Delegates
on Saturday approved the new plan to implement the Beijing
platform, as well as an accompanying political declaration, following
all-night negotiations that delayed the wrap-up of the conference by a
day. Both documents were approved by consensus. Before
General Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab called for a decision,
two dozen nations expressed reservations on specific points in the new
document. A dozen more commented after consensus was approved. Gurirab,
who is Namibia's foreign minister, declared that the documents
moved the global agenda for women forward. "If
governments demonstrate the necessary political will and allocate
the human and financial resources required, I am convinced that the goals
of gender equality, development and peace will become a reality very early
in the 21st century," he said before gaveling the conference to an
end. The new action document includes tougher measures to combat domestic violence and sex trafficking, and to tackle the impact of HIV/AIDS and globalization on women. But
despite an all-night session, virtually no progress was made on the most
contentious issues - including access to safe abortion, sexual rights,
sexual orientation, and equal rights of inheritance. That
disappointed grass-roots groups, which had been lobbying for more
specific goals and stronger action, especially on issues regarding
sexuality and reproductive health. "We
regret that there was not enough political will on the part of
some governments and the U.N. system to agree on a stronger document with
more concrete benchmarks, numerical goals, time-bound targets, indicators,
and resources aimed at implementing the Beijing platform," said a
statement by the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers
University and the Women's Environment and Development Organization. The
United States are expressed regret that the conference did not
move forward on several reproductive and sexual issues. King
said omission of any reference to sexual orientation "in no way
justifies such discrimination by any country." She also expressed
regret that little progress has been made in addressing the health impact
of unsafe abortion, noting that since Beijing "nearly 400,000 women
have died unnecessarily from unsafe abortion." Nonetheless,
U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Angela King, a special
adviser on the advancement of women, said she was encouraged by the
progress made. "It
was absolutely worth it," she said, after the delegates reached
agreement after 5 a.m. "All those millions of women who are looking
at us are totally vindicated, and they have something to grasp to assist
them for their battles for equality. "We
have a very strong document which not only reaffirms Beijing and
other relevant conferences on human rights and social development, but
also moves forward," she said. The
conference brought together about 2,300 international delegates and 2,000
representatives of grass-roots organizations. Aside
from closed-door negotiations on the final document, dozens of panel
discussions were held on subjects ranging from women crossing the digital
divide to rituals of widowhood. The
first U.N. women's conference, in Mexico City in 1975, launched
a movement toward women's equality that was still gaining momentum, King
said, adding there would be another progress review in 2005. The
battle lines for the current conference - known as Beijing Plus
Five - mirrored those at Beijing: the Vatican and a handful of Islamic and
Catholic countries - including Libya, Algeria, Iran, Sudan and Nicaragua -
against the West and hundreds of women's rights activists. Unlike
in Beijing, where the Vatican was very vocal, neither the Holy
See nor the handful of Catholic and Islamic countries blocking consensus
on sexual and reproductive issues held news conferences in New York this
week. The
only conservatives to speak out were from a coalition of anti-abortion
and religious groups, who blamed rich Western nations for pushing
"radical language" on abortion, sexual rights and homosexual
rights. Jyoti
Shankar Singh, executive coordinator of this week's General Assembly
session, said issues relating to sex and reproduction didn't have the same
intensity they did at the 1994 population conference in Cairo or the 1995
Beijing conference. "People were concerned with a lot of other issues - violence Attempts to include stronger language on access to abortions The platform does say women have the right to "decide freely
and Women's rights advocates said this constituted sexual rights, but A dispute between the United States and Cuba over Havana's King, the U.N. official, said both countries agreed to compromise Delegates noted strong planks calling for prosecution of all The document also calls for implementation and increased King said the document urged programs to educate men about safe |