Subject: [fem-women2000 374] WOMENS' DELEGATES REACH AGREEMENT
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 06:45:32 -0500
Seq: 374



Forwarded by lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
---------------- Original message follows ----------------
 From: Liz Probert <liz@gn.apc.org>
 To: Multiple recipients of list <b5ngonews@lists.sn.apc.org>
 Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 11:39:20 +0200
 Subject: [B5NGONEWS] WOMENS' DELEGATES REACH AGREEMENT
--



>X-From_: women2000@ccmc.org  Sat Jun 10 12:15:26 2000
>From: women2000 <women2000@ccmc.org>
>Subject: Women 2000/Beijing+5 Update
>Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 11:49:07 -0400
>
>According to UN Assistant Secretary-General Angela King's staff, the
>negotiations ended at 5:59 am Saturday morning with an agreement on the
>Outcome Document.  The General Assembly is reconvening at 3pm.
>
>Message-ID: <307FFAF55024D411BCE300A0C9A941EA03E591@COMMSRVR>
>From: Ketayoun Darvich-Kodjouri <kdarvich@ccmc.org>
>To: women2000 <women2000@ccmc.org>
>Subject: June 10, 2000:  Associated Press:  Womens' Delegates Reach Agreem
>         ent
>Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 11:16:38 -0400
>
>Associated Press; June 10, 2000; Saturday 8:57 AM, Eastern Time
>
>HEADLINE: Womens' Delegates Reach Agreement
>BYLINE: EDITH M. LEDERER
>
>Delegates from 180 countries reached agreement this morning on a new U.N.
>plan to accelerate progress toward women's equality after an all-night
>debate over abortion, sexual rights and other key issues.
>
>''It was absolutely worth it,'' said U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Angela
>King, a special adviser on the advancement of women. ''I feel that 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.''
>
>The new document reaffirms the 150-page platform for action adopted at a
>landmark 1995 U.N. women's conference and moves forward with tougher
>measures to combat domestic violence and trafficking in women, and tackle
>the impact on women of HIV/AIDS and globalization.
>
>But attempts to move beyond Beijing on the contentious issues of abortion
>failed and proposed references to sexual rights and sexual orientation were
>dropped from the final text by delegates meeting in committee.
>
>The final text maintains language from Beijing on women's reproductive and
>sexual health.
>
>''I'm very happy that the dire predictions that there would be a rollback of
>Beijing have proven false,'' King said. ''Instead for all the world to see,
>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.''
>
>The agreement was reached shortly after 5 a.m. and delegates were told to
>return two hours later to wrap up the conference. But when they arrived many
>not having slept U.N. officials informed them that the General Assembly
>session to formally approve the document by consensus was delayed further
>because translators needed more time.
>
>During the night, several issues were resolved including a dispute between
>the United States and Cuba over the effect of U.S. sanctions against the
>communist island nation on Cuban women.
>
>The final text calls on governments to set a target date of 2005 to
>eliminate the gender gap in primary and secondary education. It also moves
>''substantially beyond Beijing in the roles men and boys can play to achieve
>gender equality,'' King said.
>
>Delegates also agreed on strong planks calling for prosecution of all forms
>of domestic violence, now including marital rape. The traditional practices
>of forced marriage and honor killings are addressed for the first time in an
>international consensus document, with the draft text calling for laws to
>eradicate these human rights violations.
>
>Many of the issues that stalled negotiations here also dominated the Beijing
>conference sexual rights, sexual orientation, abortion, sex education for
>adolescents and family values.
>
>After a lengthy fight in Beijing, references to sexual orientation which the
>Vatican and several Islamic and Catholic countries vehemently oppose were
>dropped from the platform.
>
>The term ''sexual rights'' was never included in the Beijing platform,
>though it does state that women have the right to ''decide freely and
>responsibly on matters related to their sexuality ... free of coercion,
>discrimination and violence.''
>
>Conservative activists fear that sexual rights could be broadly interpreted
>as condoning homosexuality.
>
>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 against the West and hundreds of pro-Beijing women's rights
>activists.
>
>Cuba and the United States, meanwhile, clashed for days over Havana's
>insistence on referring to the negative effect of U.S. sanctions, especially
>on women and girls.
>
>King said the dispute was settled early today when both countries agreed to
>compromise language taken from a previous U.N. conference. It notes that
>''in some countries, advancement of women is adversely affected by
>unilateral measures not in accordance with international law ... that create
>obstacles to trade relations among states.''
>
>Several organizations issued a joint statement registering disappointment
>with the final document but reaffirming their commitment to work for
>implementation of the Beijing platform.
>
>''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 the statement,
>which was issued by the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers
>University and the Women's Environment and Development Organization.





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