Subject: [fem-women2000 373] PACIFIC WOMEN UNITE AND SEEK INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR PEACE
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 06:45:26 -0500
Seq: 373



Forwarded by lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
---------------- Original message follows ----------------
 From: "liz" <liz@gn.apc.org>
 To: Multiple recipients of list <b5ngonews@lists.sn.apc.org>
 Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 17:28:13 +0200
 Subject: [B5NGONEWS] PACIFIC WOMEN UNITE AND SEEK INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR PEACE
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Global Women's Media Team/Electronic News Bulletin
distributed by Isis International-Manila
mailto:owner-bpfa-news@isiswomen.org
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PACIFIC WOMEN UNITE  AND SEEK INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR PEACE
By Beverleigh Kanas Liu*

UNITED NATIONS, New York ュ  NGO members from Fiji have appealed  to
delegates to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Women 2000 to join
an international campaign to regain peace in their country which has been
gripped by a hostage crisis for the past three weeks.

The crisis, in which businessman George Speight and his supporters held
members of the Parliament hostage to demand the resignation of President
Ratu Mara, has affected the participation of Fiji, which failed to send
government representatives to the UN assembly.

Various issues concerning women in war torn and in conflict areas have been
discussed in the conference, also  known as the Beijing Plus Five Review.
The session is a review of the gains of women since the Fourth
International Conference on Women in the Chinese capital in 1995.
Members of the Fiji Women's Crises Centre and Fiji Women's Rights Movement,
discussed ways to highlight their concerns and those of other countries who
are  in  similar situations.

They received support from members of women NGOs from East Timor and
Africa. "We are going through a hard time too, and even though we do not
have funds to support the women in Fiji, we are with them in spirit," said
an East Timorese representative.

When Taina, a Fijian living in New York, stood up to speak, her voice
faltered and tears ran down her cheeks. There was silence for a few minutes
>from those present in the room.

One delegate said that  while those present in the room may come from
different countries, they have one common goal, to  "unite and fight for
themselves." ###


* The Global Women's Media Team (GWMT) for the UN General Assembly Special
Session to Review the Beijing Platform for Action is composed of NGO women
and women journalists from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa and Eastern
Europe. The GWMT is coordinated by Isis International-Manila and supported
by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in East and South
East Asia and South Asia, the Canadian International Development Agency -
South East Asia Gender Equity Programme, United Nations Development Program
in Latin America, the Caribbean and Mongolia, oundation for Sustainable
Development, NCOS-Pilipinas, World Council of Churches, and the British
High Commission.

Beverleigh Kanas Liu is a member of the GWMT. The main objective of the
Team is to cover the UN General Assembly Special Session on the Review from
5-9 June, 2000, at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York. Beverleigh
works as the Information/Communication Officer of the Vanuatu National
Council of Women.

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