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UN and NGO ActivitiesECE Regional Preparatory Meeting for Beijing +5
Geneva, January 17-21, 2000
Geneva, January 17-21, 2000
Prepared by Mary Haney, NCRW Senior Research Scholar
The agenda and final documents for the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Regional Preparatory Meeting for Beijing +5 were limited to five areas of concern: "Violence Against Women and Girls"; "Women and Girls in Armed-Conflict Situations"; "Women and The Economy"; "Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women"; and "Women in Power and Decision-Making."
In advance of the meeting, the ECE Secretariat prepared several versions of an "agreed conclusions" document for distribution to "ECE experts" and member governments for their comments and subsequent revisions. The penultimate version of that document was the text for both the "NGO Working Session" and the "Expert Meeting at the Inter-Governmental Level" that took place, one after the other, in Geneva. (Unfortunately, the final version was not ready for distribution until the day before the meeting ended.) NGOs chose which of the five agenda items and related documents they wished to work on during the five days of meetings and joined official delegates and secretariat members in the Informals--in some cases contributing to the text of the agreed conclusions line by line, thereby jointly producing what was to be the final conference document, the "Agreed Conclusions."
For those of us who had attended the ECE Preparatory Meeting for Beijing held in Vienna 1994, a change in the ECE's attitude and approach was very apparent. In fact, my strongest impression of the way that the Geneva conference went during those five days is that, by design, it was the most integrated and open UN meeting I have ever attended. (I did not go to the Habitat Conference; I gather that NGOs were able to participate in all deliberations at that meeting also.)
Another important aspect of the Geneva meetings was the unusually large number of Central and Eastern European (CEE) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) NGOs that participated. One estimate I heard was that, of the 600-plus NGOs that attended, 150 were from the Eastern European and former Soviet Union regions. Although they were there as a result of financial support from various sources (UNDP, UNIFEM, the Batory and Ford Foundations, and others), the two UNIFEM-led training workshops held in December 1999, one in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the other in Budapest specifically for the Special Session on Beijing +5, were probably most responsible for the number of participants from the region and their high level of participation.
It was particularly striking to see so many representatives of Central Asian NGOs at the meeting--that was another way in which the Geneva meeting differed sharply from the 1994 Vienna PrepCom; it was there that the CEE NGOs, but not central Asians, were first exposed to the UN.
During the Geneva conference, the CEE and CIS NGOs prepared a paper calling the ECE's attention to what they termed "the particular challenges and recommendations of our subregions." The paper presented a plea for greater understanding of the conditions and problems of their region, including the prevalence of armed conflicts; for assistance in "building genuine democracies and cultures of peace," and for support of their efforts to "work with out governments to promote and protect women's human rights and gender equality."
This sub-regional group succeeded in adding a paragraph to the NGO-drafted "Preamble" to the "Agreed Conclusions" that refers to the "disproportionate negative impacts of transition processes on women's lives and livelihoods."
Throughout the meeting, representatives of governments and NGOs alike made references to the importance of adopting a human rights perspective in regard to the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
As far as I know, there were only a few instances of disagreement with or disapproval of the agenda, the process and the outcome. The Europeans, both Eastern and Western and on behalf of the EU, expressed their displeasure at the absence of attention to women's health issues, including reproductive health. To compensate for that, a workshop was held for and conducted by NGOs on "Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the ECE Region." Subsequently, references to women's health care and sexual and reproductive health were added to the documents on violence and on women in armed conflict.
Other areas and issues that were sources of disagreement or dissatisfaction included these:
- Inadequate representation of indigenous women on NGO delegations; according to two indigenous Canadian representatives, that is the reason for the “widespread reluctance to discuss racism and discrimination despite references to those subjects in the Platform for Action”;
- lack of definition of “trafficking” in the “Violence against Women and Girls” document; not resolved because of divergent opinions about making a distinction between forced and voluntary prostitution; reference is made, however, to “trafficking in all its forms”;
- exclusion of racism as a form of violence against women; this was resolved, and it was so included in the final document;
- inclusion, in the “Violence Against Women and Girls” document, of a reference to lesbian oppression and laws that criminalize homosexuality as creating “a climate which encourages violence against women”; originally opposed by the Holy See representative, his reservation was withdrawn, and the reference stood;
- a commitment to convening a fifth world conference on women in 2005; it was not included in the institutional mechanism document;
- an NGO preamble to the document on “Women and the Economy” that refers to the deleterious impact on women of globalization; this did not appear in the final document;
- reaffirmation of the desirability of 50/50 male/female parity in political participation was not included in the final document on “Women in Power and Decision-Making”; instead, reference is made (as in the Platform for Action) to “equal participation” in decision making.
My impression is that this meeting was, in the end, far less contentious than many of those that have preceded it. Its format was arduous and complicated to carry out, and very dependent on the leadership skills of those in charge of the workshops, caucuses and/or drafting groups. A few persons chosen for those roles proved not adequate to the task; generally, however, they performed well. The general meetings were ably led by Patricia Flor of the German Foreign Ministry. She will be the chair forthcoming CSW and Beijing +5 PrepCom at the UN headquarters. One can hope that the substance of the ECE session will have a positive impact on those meetings in New York and that, in particular, the process will be replicated.
The Beijing +5 PrepCom meetings will be held at the UN in February/March 2000. According to the IWTC “Women’s Global Net” #136, January 17, 2000, NGOs wishing to represented at the PrepCom should register immediately with the Division for the Advancement of Women.
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