Ms. Conchita Poncini, President
Int'l Fed. of University Women
Room E2, NGO Lounge, Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel : +41-22 / 917.4735
Fax : +41-22 / 917.0181
Email : ngocsw@iprolink.ch
Michaela Told, Vice-President
Women's Int'l League for Peace & Freedom
1, rue Varembé, CP 28
1211 Geneva 20 , Switzerland
Tel : + 41-22 / 919.7080
Fax : + 41-22 / 919.7081
Email : mtold@iprolink.ch
Brigitte Polonovski Vauclair
Int'l Council of Women
64 rue de Diekholzen
74920 Combloux, France
Tel : + 33 450 / 93.3483
Fax : + 33 450 / 58.6861
Email : bvauclair@aol.com
REPORT TO THE CONGO BOARD MEETING
JUNE 1998
Following CONGO's 1997 General Assembly, the Committee elected at the
meeting in February 1998 its new Bureau for the 1998-2001 period as follows:
President: Ms. Renate Bloem
(World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women)
Vice-Presidents: Ms. Barbara Lochbihler
(Women's International League for Peace and Freedom)
Ms. Conchita Poncini
(International Federation of University Women)
Secretary (French): Ms. Danielle Bridel
(Zonta International)
Secretary (English): Mr. Giovanni Ballerio
(Baha'i International Community)
Treasurer: Ms. Nicole Piaget
(International Federation of Business and Professional Women)
Under the auspices of the Committee function currently eight Working
Groups:
- WG on the ECE Region
- WG on Employment and Economic Development
- WG on the Girl Child
- WG on Health
- WG on Nutrition
- WG on Peace
- WG on Refugees
- WG on Traditional Practices
Activities:
During the period following its election the Committee continued to promote and
monitor the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all programmes and work of
the Geneva based UN system.
Commission on Human Rights (16 March - 24 April)
In particular, the Committee focused its attention and energy on the Commission on
Human Rights. The Committee facilitated a daily Caucus throughout the entire
6-weeks period with the objective to address each item on the agenda with a gender
perspective. The Caucus provided a platform for NGOs from all over the world to
discuss issues linked to the violations of human rights of women and girls and
create the space for more information sharing and networking. It also helped NGOs
coming from outside to gain a better understanding of the proceedings of the
Commission and of how to gain access to it. In addition the Caucus prepared joint
statements on "gender integration" on "social/economic rights of women" and on
"the girl child" and targeted governments with special lobby strategies to influence
the outcome of resolutions. The Committee also organized Briefings with relevant
Government delegates, Special Rapporteurs and UN Officials, including meetings with
Angela King, (Gender Advisor to the Secretary General) Radhika Coomaraswamy (Special
Rapporteur on Violence Against Women) and Patricia Flor (Chairperson of the
Commission on the Status of Women). The Committee established good relationships with
the "Gender Team" of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and had
regular meetings with them. With the support of the Gender Team the Committee
organized and chaired a Brainstorming session (6 April) under the theme: "The Human
Rights of Women and Gender Mainstreaming: Sustaining the Momentum" in which Mary
Robinson, Patricia Flor, Radhika Coomaraswamy, Mijarul Quayes, (representing the
Chair of the Commission) and Charlotte Bunch (Center for Women's Global Leadership)
exchanged their views. The session provided an informal sounding board for women's
rights' issues which were subsequently discussed in the plenary of the Commission
where for the first time in its history the Commission broke from its regular agenda
and devoted a historic Special Session to an interactive dialogue on gender issues
and human rights.
Other activities initiated by the Committee included Panel discussions on "The
Impact of Globalization on World Trade and Gender" (23 March) organized by the WG
on Women's Employment and Economic Development, "The Right to Food" (24 March)
organized by the WG on Nutrition, "Ideals versus Reality: How to help Afghan Women"
(15 April) organized by the WG on Refugees.
The President of the Committee was invited by the Chairperson of the Commission to a
discussion on how to make women more visible on a revamped agenda. All in all, the
various activities had quite an impact on the Commission and contributed to the
adoption of a proposed new item on the agenda: "Integration of the human rights of
women and a gender perspective", with a sub-item on "Violence against women".
International Women's Day
Preceding the Commission on Human Rights and in honor of the 50th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Committee's Working Group on Peace
organized its annual two-day seminar, celebrating International Women's Day, on the
theme: The Right to Peace (11-12 March). Participants discussed the issue from a
security and human rights angle, looked into disarmement trends and developments and
were given a comprehensive overview of the Conference on Disarmement by Ambassador
Anderson from Ireland. They also looked into peace initiatives organized by women as
follow-up on the Beijing Platform for Action.
World Health Assembly (11 May-18 May)
The Committee cooperated closely with the NGO Forum For Health and is a member of
the co-ordinating Committee of the Forum. The President of the Committee on the
Status of Women co-chaired the Annual General Meeting and Symposium: "The Effects
of Globalization on Health" (11 May) which was held as a special event to mark the
50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights and the 50th Anniversary of
the World Health Organization. She brought to the fore the adverse effects of
discrimination on health and health care due to gender, race, ethnicity, age and
other forms of human rights violations. She emphasized the rights-based approach to
health because health is a major prerequisite for the full enjoyment of all other
human rights. Some 1.5 billion people do not have acces to basic health care services,
most of them being women. She also referred to ECOSOC Resolution (1997/2) that
mandates the United Nations, including its specialized agencies such as WHO, "to
integrate a gender perspective into all aspects of their work".
Committee members participated in a briefing given by Dr. C. Moreno, WHO, and
Ms. Marianne Haslegrave, Commonwealth Medical Association, on the preparations for
an "Expert Group Meeting on Women and Health, Mainstreaming the gender Perspective
into the Health Sector" to be held from 28 September - 2 October 1998 in Tunis
(Tunisia) The report of this meeting will serve as the background for the panel
discussions on "Women and Health", one of the critical areas of concern to be
considered at the 33rd session of the Commission the Status of Women, New York,
1-19 March 1999.
International Labour Conference ( 2-19 June)
The WG on Women's Employment and Economic Development organized a Round table on
"Job Creation in Small and Medium Enterprises: What role for women entrepreneurs"
(8 June) and contributed with constructive proposals to the drafting of the Job
Creation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Recommendation, 1998.
The WG on the Girl child co-sponsored a "NGO Briefing on Extreme Forms of Child
Labour" (9 June) focusing on girls and education. The WG also lobbied with prepared
language to include the hidden aspects of girls' work in the new proposed ILO
Convention on the worst forms of Child Labour.
Renate Bloem, President NGO CSW
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to inform you that the next meeting of the Committee on the Status of
Women will be held on Monday, 12 October 1998 9h.30 - 13h.00 at the Palais des
Nations.
For the Conference Room number, please call Lee Weingarten closer to the meeting at
Tel.: 22 - 788 7300. You will find enclosed the proposed agenda, the minutes of the
meeting held 22 June 1998, as well as a Draft Plan of Action for the Committee. The
Bureau proposes to hold another meeting on 16 December 1998, entirely devoted to
discussion and reports of the Working Groups and Task Forces. The meeting will be
followed by an end-of-the-year reception in the NGO Lounge.
Please remember also that on Sunday 18 October 1998 the UN will commemorate during
its annual Open Day the joint celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the 150th Anniversary of the Swiss Federal State.
The Committee has been invited to have a stand to inform about its activities and
those of its members. If you want to take this opportunity, please be prepared to
bring information material from your organization to our next meeting. Conchita
Poncini, Vice-President, has been asked to coordinate all activities for this event.
I hope you all had a good summer, and I look forward to your active participation at
our October meeting.
Yours sincerely,
Renate Bloem
President
Meeting of the Committee on the Status of Women
Monday, 12 October 1998, 9h30 - 13h00
PROVISIONAL AGENDA
- Adoption of the agenda
- Adoption of the minutes
- Matters arising from the minutes
- Finances
- Report of Task Force on future activities
- Preparations for the Commission on Human Rights
Task Force on Women's Human Rights Caucus
- Preparations for the Commission on the Status of Women
Task force on Health (Report of Expert Group Meeting in Tunis)
Task force on Institutional Mechanisms
Task force Beijing + 5
- Report on the Consultation on Strengthening Human Rights Mechanisms
- Report on the Sub-Commission
- AOB
- Date of next meeting
Draft Proposal for a Programme of Action
Background
The aim of the Committee has always been to advance the status of women and girls
throughout the world. In the past this was done mainly through information sharing,
through advocacy with relevant UN agencies, holding of seminars and open meetings
and alerting the constituency of its members to pertinent issues.
During the preparation of and follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women in
Beijing, (and other UN World Conferences) the Committee expanded its knowledge and
understanding of advocacy and lobby. This had an direct input to the outcome of the
Conference. The Committee also gained considerable experience in monitoring the
implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, in promoting the concept of
gender mainstreaming and a gender perspective and in dealing effectively with UN
mechanisms.
More recently the need has been expressed to use this experience for outreach,
training and empowering of women and girls, in particular from developing countries
(and countries in transition) in order to build their capacities. The Committee
therefore has decided to become more operational. The following draft proposal will
outline some possible new activities:
Activities
- Training
- Training women on how to access and use UN mechanisms for effective lobby and
advocacy, e.g. during the Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission and other
UN events
- Human Rights Education
- Using Human Rights instruments, in particular CEDAW and CRC, and the Vienna
and Beijing Declarations and Platforms for Action, for human rights education and as
tools to educate women and girls on their rights and as means to empower them
- Outreach
- Linking international advocacy for the human rights of women and girls with
action at the national and local level through holding of seminars, conferences in
relevant country situations, if possible in cooperation with UN agencies (on special
themes, e.g. "violence against women and girls", "conflict resolution", "social and
economic rights", "trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour" "FGM", etc.)
- Promoting national coalitions
- Awareness-raising
- Making universal human rights alive for women and girls in their own cultural
environment and raising awareness on particular harmful traditions
Networking
Creating more networks of solidarity through Advocacy Notes, establishing of a
website, sharing minutes and working closer with other Committees
Internship
Creating possibilities and programmes for internship
Fundraising
Writing proposal for donors, creating opportunities for imaginative fundraising
(raffles, tombolas etc)
