Subject: [fem-women2000 211] CSW Daily News 12 -English-
From: "takasaki.ayako" <ayako.takasaki@ntt.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 19:00:07 +0900
Seq: 211

高崎です。
以下はWomenAction のDaily News12号（3月15日）です。
転送が遅れてしまいました、申し訳ございませんでした！


To: Multiple recipients of list <b5ngonews@lists.sn.apc.org>
Subject: [B5NGONEWS] March 15th 2000 - New York CSW - Daily Number 12


March 15th 2000 - New York CSW - Daily Number 12
 
Editorial

The European Union representative speaking at Tuesday's NGO briefing was
clear: Europe wants a World Conference on Women in 2005.  Though
encouraging, this statement from Europe won't be enough to reassure the vast
majority of women participating at PrepCom.  At this point, it is far from
certain that the definitive text will be finished at the end of the week
and, as if that weren't enough, rumours are flying that there will be no
more World Conferences in the future. Political manoeuvre or lack of funds?
The reasons are anything but clear, and the lack of transparency about the
future is wearing on the hundreds of women who have invested themselves in
these meetings.  Meetings that give a meaning and a perspective to their
everyday activist work. 
WomenAction 2000 will distribute our last issue Friday morning. We hope to
return in June.  Communicating is the main struggle of our team members, who
will continue putting their diverse media skills to use in the service of
women's rights, all around the world.  To all of you who will be gone Friday
morning, we want to say what an enriching experience this daily newsletter
has been for us; we hope that it has been useful to conference participants.
See you soon online, where you can find every issue of the newsletter in
English, Spanish and French.
WomenAction 2000
 
Appropriate ICTs

Worldwide Media Extravaganza Marks the Launch of the World March of Women
Simultaneous press conferences in dozens of cities, a satellite link and a
live webcast marked the launch of the World March.  Over two years in the
making, this massive world-wide effort has the support of more than 3500
women's organizations and organizations working with women in 149 countries,
not to mention the countless individual women who will participate in March
activities. 

ICTs have been essential to organizing on this massive scale.  Launched in
1998, the World March Website now has sister sites from local organizers in
Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Europe, Mexico, Qu蛯ec, Senegal and the USA. 

The March will use every imaginable media to put the spotlight all year long
on a list of demands agreed on by delegates from around the world.  Press
conferences, communiqu薔 street theater, spiritual events, marches and
rallies, parades, and hundreds of other activities throughout the world aim
to raise consciousness among the public, governments and international
institutions, with the goal of ending poverty and violence against women.
www.ffq.qc.ca/marche2000

Interview

A law for Equality in politics

Fran苡ise Gaspard, head of the French Delegation, reminded us in an
interview of the facts leading up to France's adoption of a law in favour of
political gender equality, that is, equal representation of men and women in
all political bodies.  According to the new French law, beginning in 2001,
45% of all persons elected in municipal (i.e. local) elections must be
women.  This will also be the case in France's regional and European
elections.  How could a country that was so very far behind in this respect
have succeeded in adopting a law on political gender equality?

"You have to go pretty far back.  In 1975,  the need for equal power between
men and women was brought up in the Mexico conference. Only Scandinavian
NGOs really took off with this question."  At that time, the main objectives
were attaining women's autonomy through economics and 
contraception. 

"As the conferences succeeded one another, a reflection emerged.  In
Istanbul, where Habitat II  in the 90s treated the question of cities, women
began saying that as long as they didn't have power, nothing would change
with regard to dwellings."  Then two events in Europe made things click: the
fall of the Berlin wall and the request of the former Soviet Bloc countries
to join Europe.  'These countries basically asked us: what is it to be a
democracy?  What is a democracy without women?'  The Council of Europe
created a group of experts on the building of European statistics on women's
place in politics. Fran苡ise Gaspard belongs to this expert group."It was
around 1993 in France that French NGOs took up this question and put
pressure on governments, arguing that if we did not pass a law we would
never make it past the glass ceiling."

A groundswell of public opinion resulted in the new political gender
equality law, which will definitively be adopted in a few days.  Fran苡ise
Gaspard also highlighted the important role that NGOs in Beijing played by
having decision-making  integrated as a critical area of concern in the PFA.
This allowed the development of an important international network on
political gender equality (with Japan, India, Argentina).  In conclusion,
Fran苡ise Gaspard stressed the fact that the concept of political gender
equality has been able to dismantle resistance to the notion of quotas,
simply because parit rhymes with 蜃alit藪
Michele Dessenne

Media training for women leaders

Journalist Nkechi Eke Nwankwo wrote a book in 1996 that changed the world
for women in politics in Nigeria. "Gender Equality in Nigerian Politics",
published in Nigeria with the financial assistance of the Dutch government
and UNIFEM, champions the cause for equal gender representation in Nigerian
politics and public life. 

It provokes a serious discussion on what should be the duty and
responsibility of the mass media, in the effort to build an egalitarian and
equitable society under democratic rule. "Out of 569 politicians, there are
3 women in the Upper House and 12 women in the Lower House. The women were
avoiding the media, not wanting to advertise themselves. It's part of their
socialization - women should be seen and not heard. Even though they  want
to be in politics, they don't want to be interviewed. 

But in a country with a population of 110 million there is no way you can
reach the constituency without the use of media. Women in politics had no
media strategy."

After the book came out, journalists began to use it to train women in media
skills. They would invite women in leadership positions to a press
conference and train them in how to tell the journalists about the issues
they were working for. They would train women to answer questions that were
not expected. They would train them to get around difficult questions by
talking about what they wanted to talk about. Nkechi Eke Nwankwo decided to
bring all these media training initiatives together in the Women's
Leadership Group. The group works with NGOs to train women leaders in media
skills.  "Our trainers are media people, well-placed in their broadcasting
organizations. After the first day of training, interviews are broadcast on
national and local TV. After the training, the trainers are mentors. The
trainees can call them for advice."

The Group now works with NGOs to locate women who could become politicians.
"Women who choose to run for office, we train. By the time they start
campaigning, their names will be well known. More people will be willing to
back them, increasing their chances of success."
The Group has many good ideas, but without structural funding they will not
be able to continue. "If we have funding, we can concentrate on doing the
work, instead of working out how to make a living." Little of the work is
done using Internet. "For one, the phone lines are bad. But most
importantly, we don't have the resources. We would love to have access."
Lin Pugh

NGO Caucus

Changes in Coalition Document

The Coalition in Support of the BPFA announced during the 10 March Linkage
Caucus that changes have been made in the Coalition Document in response to
the call from the Violence Against Women (VAW) Caucus regarding the use of
the term "forced prostitution" in the document.  At the Linkage Caucus on 9
March, the VAW Caucus had strongly argued against the use of "forced
prostitution" in the coalition document, stating that there should be no
distinction between "forced" and "free" prostitution. The VAW Caucus
representative also stressed that prostitution is in itself
Violation. By emphasising that only "forced" prostitution is considered a
human rights violation, prostituted women will have to bear the burden of
proving that they had been violated.

Working on the principles of remaining consistent to the language of the
BPFA, and of focusing on approaches that unify instead of divide the women's
movement, the Coalition has deleted the term "prostitution" in the language
of the Coalition Document and will use "sexual and economic exploitation of
women" in its place. 
Cheekay Cinco

Trafficking in women in CEE/CIS

A new view to the trafficking in women in CEE/CIS from Barbara Limanowska,
executive director of the Polish national women's information centre OSKA.

Experience of the NGO's working in the field of trafficking shows that in
many cases the women who decide to work abroad are neither duped or
kidnapped, but are fully aware of the fact that they might be offered a job
in the sex industry. The majority of them are women who agreed to work as
prostitutes, or housekeepers, or workers in sweatshops, and were then
cheated by their employers or intermediaries after they had begun to work.
Most of these women are not "victims" of trafficking. The sex industry is
almost the only place where a woman from Eastern Europe without work
experience and knowledge of foreign language can find work. But also these
women need protection because they are often the ones who are exploited,
forced to work, lack legal job contracts and go in fear of the police.
Illegal migrant women, prostitutes -pay the highest price, they are
arrested, deported, banned from Western countries and enlabelled as
criminals. If the rights of women are to be taken seriously and protected,
trafficking cannot be seen as a separate issue, and actions taken against it
cannot reduce women's access to safe and secure means to migrate, to decent
employment and education. When we talk from the perspective of trafficking
only, we cannot effectively address the problems which are at it's roots:
discrimination, lack of opportunities, poverty. Looking at the issue of
trafficking in the framework of human rights allows us to address its real
roots. That is: conditions which encourage women to migrate, women's
extremely high rates of poverty and illiteracy, as well as general social,
economic and political discrimination that all women face.  To be able to
really prevent trafficking we have to reframe it.
Lenka Simerska

Official Process

June subscription

Here are some important details for those who are planning to attend or be
involved in the 
upcoming June Meeting. Please take note of the following:

1. It is very likely that the number of delegates per organization will be
set at 2-3 women. If many women register, it will be limited to 2 women per
organization.

2. The US government has initiated the following steps to try to get women here 
without too many visa hassles.They are informing all their embassies and
consulates that 
this meeting will take place in June, and that women will be attending them.
Women will need the letter of invitation or confirmation from the Division
on the Advancement of  Women (DAW) to  take with them for visa application.
Each US embassy and consultate will be provided with steps on how to process
these applications. If there are any problems, contact Peggy  Carrie, at the
US Mission office in New York for assistance.

3. The US Host Committee will make available the Customs House Building, a
newly renovated US government building near the UN for workshops,
conferences and all Review events. It will also have teleconferencing rooms
so women who cannot get into the UN building can listen to the deliberations
while they are going on. Because of the number of events they expect, the
deadline
for requesting space for meetings, forums or any  other activities will be
April 15th. All requests should be made to the Coordinating Committee. 

4. A website where women can get more information and send in e-mail
messages, is currently being constructed. URL is
http://www.beijingplus5@host.com 
The website will also feature a calendar of events, expected to change a
things move along.

5. CONGO will be hosting a 2 day NGO Forum on June 2-3.  The General Assembly 
meeting will be from June 5- 9.

6. For other details, visit the apwomen2000 archive at 
http://www.isiswomen.org/womenet/lists/apwomen2000/archive. See article,
Preparing for B+5 June 2000 General Assembly. 
Luz Martinez

Fifth World Conference?

The question in Patricia Flor's mind - vice-chair of the PrepCom - is
whether it is possible to make a document that can stand next to the Beijing
Platform for Action. What is the next step? A "mega-super-global-conference
on all the issues - population, environment, women would be important but
hardly possible," said Flor at the NGO briefing on 10 March. "What we need
to do first is strengthen the partnerships with NGOs. We acknowledge the
role NGOs play and continue to play in follow-up activities. Mainstreaming
should be an on-going concern of the UN, and this is part of the task of the
CSW for years to come. A forum for separate debate focused on women remains
necessary."  
Lin Pugh

Security Council is not Hijacking CSW

Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh and present Chair of the
Security Council presented a statement during the PrepCom on International
Women's Day. One apparently surprised delegate wondered at why he addressed
the group. The gist of  the Chair's reply was: "I'm not trying to hijack
your meeting, but to strengthen the process." 
The full text is available through www.womenaction.org. 
Lin Pugh

The Insiders Viewpoint

Word is getting around that the Prepcom will not get through part IV of the
Outcome document
Actions and initiatives to overcome obstacles and to achieve the full and
accelerated implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. Talk is that
governments are stalling the process. WomenAction is conducting random
interviews with members of official delegations and this is what they have
to say:  

"While I'm hopeful that there will be an Outcome document by the end of this
week, the reality is there might still be a need for intersessional
meetings. I hope these will be scheduled as close to the General Assembly in
June as possible so that we won't have to come to New York twice. This is a
very expensive exercise for those of us coming from developing countries.
Governments are also scrambling for resources to come to these meetings."
R. Tupou Vere, Fijian delegation 

"The process is extremely slow. I'm not sure if there are invisible forces
that are deliberately stalling the process. The issue of economic
empowerment which is very important for us Nigerian women and African women
in general, is being downplayed by the developed countries. The concerns
around the World Trade Organisation are not properly addressed in the
deliberations."

"NGOs should sustain their lobbying efforts. They're doing very good work in
providing us the language." 
Dr. Timiebi A. Koripamo-Agary, Nigerian delegation  
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza

Agenda

Racism too, is about Women's Equality

Racism is increasing globally. Yet, women's NGOs and government have shied
away from confronting racism head on. Racism is a determinant of health.
Racism is a determinant of violence and a cause of violence against women.
Racism impacts the economic and education status and access to goods and
services for many women. The majority of women living in poverty in the
world are Black, Indigenous, and women of colour. 

They have been undermined by an oppressive global economic system. In
particular, governments in the North have refused to deal with the systemic
nature of racism, colonialization and the growing movement of white
supremacy in any real way.

As we evaluate the Beijing PFA, let us also remember that our governments
have also signed on to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD).

To make the link between gender and race, a briefing about the World
Conference on Racism and Xenophobia will be held at 11-13:00 on Friday,
March 17th in Room B. 
By Joan Grant Cummings

National Action Committee on the Status of Women.

Transforming the Platform for Action into local Action

You can come and participate in an interactive workshop with representatives
from different regional and subject caucuses on strategies and ideas to
implement the Platform for Action.
UN plaza, Wednesday ; March communauty. Level ; Church Center , 11.15 - 2.45 pm.

Co-hosted by Amrita Dasvarma, Beijing + 5 NGO Coordinator Australia Jessie
Walker, Beijing + 5 Northwest Forum Organizer USA Philipp Thigo, Yougth
Caucus and Africa Region.

WomenAction 2000 is a global information, communication and media network
that enables NGOs to actively engage in the Beijing+5 review process with
the long-term goal of women's empowerment, with a special focus on women and
media. S. Boezak, J. Radloff,  M. Cabrera-Balleza, B. Finke, S. Hackett, D.
Plou, L. Pugh, L. Simerska, I . Massu,  M. Dessenne, C. Cinco
 
 
GreenNet Support    (grngnguest@gn.apc.org)

（転載ここまで）
Regards;
TAKASAKI AYAKO
ayako.takasaki@ntt.com
************************