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Feminists Disappointed with Lack of Progress at UN Conference While pleased that the United Nations Beijing Plus Five Conference in New York ended with 180 nations reaching consensus on a document that reaffirmed the platform approved at the 1995 Fourth World Conference, feminist organizations, including the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University, the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), and Feminist Majority Foundation, expressed their disappointment with the failure to implement a stronger statement. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) lamented the lack of "more concrete benchmarks, numerical goals, time-bound targets, indicators, and resources aimed at implementing the Beijing Platform" (see entire statement in the Beijing +5 Newsroom) and condemned the role of the Catholic Church and Muslim countries of holding up negotiations. Significant gains made at Beijing Plus Five included approval of the Political Declaration that reaffirms and extends governments' responsibility to implement the Beijing Platform of Action. Delegates agreed on a statement to "eradicate harmful customary or traditional practices" against women, including marital rape and forced marriages. They also called for the prevention of sexual exploitation, including trafficking in women and girls, and condemned so-called "honor killings." A final negotiation session, which lasted from Friday into Saturday morning, resulted in the inclusion of a statement that "women have the right to decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality.without coercion, discrimination, and violence." However, little progress was made on the weekend's most contentious issues: abortion and sexual orientation. Opponents of proposed recommendations for wider access to and protection for reproductive rights and for non-discrimination protections for gays and lesbians was led by Catholic and Islamic countries, including the Vatican, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Libya, Sudan, Iraq, and Iran. Conservative delegates blocked the use of the term "sexual orientation" from the final documents, even in a factual statement on the passage of nondiscrimination laws in various countries. They also blocked language that would have called for access to birth control and abortion for women and girls. As a part of their "See Change" campaign that is demanding that the Vatican's UN status as a government be rescinded, Catholics for Free Choice sailed a protest ship on the river outside of the United Nations. The ship with banners and chanting protesters was visible to conference delegates. Despite blocks to progress on reproductive rights and sexual orientation, the final Outcome Document and Political Declaration contained concrete gains for women. For example, the delegates' condemnation of dowry-related violence, "honor killings," and marital rape marked the first time an international document has specified these activities as crimes, says both the NGO Linkage Caucus and the New York Times. Other gains include an attention to the gender aspects of various infectious diseases, women's access to health services, inheritance rights, gender-related asylum, and the negative impacts on women and gender differences in globalization, privatization, and economic restructuring. [Sources: Statement, NGOs of the Linkage Caucus - June 10, 2000 and Washington Post A 20 - June 10, 2000 and New York Times NE4 - June 11,2000 and Knight Ridder/Tribune - June 10, 2000 and New York Times 4-6 - June 11, 2000 and Women's E-News - June 12, 2000 and Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report - June 12, 2000 and Associated Press - June 10, 2000] Feminist Majority Foundation Participates in Beijing +5 The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) joined hundreds of NGOs and women's rights leaders from around the world at the United Nations Special Session of the General Assembly entitled Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century (Beijing +5) in New York last week. FMF International Campaign Organizer Ossai Miazad and Afghan Refugee Giti Shams kicked off the Beijing +5 Conference during the opening Welcome Rally at the United Nations Plaza by addressing the crisis facing Afghan women and girls. Thousands of swatches, distributed by FMF, were worn by speakers and participants to raise awareness of the Feminist Majority Foundation's Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan throughout the special session events. The Feminist Majority Foundation organized several cutting-edge sessions for NGOs during Beijing +5. Cherreka Montgomery, director of Global Outreach, spoke at the Tuesday, June 6th session entitled Faces of Extremism: Countering Right Wing Attacks on the Human Rights of Women Worldwide to encourage women's rights activists to be aware of the many forms of extremism and to know that not all extremists carry guns or are found in Islamic countries. On Wednesday, June 7th, just a day after news broke on the FDA's proposal to restrict mifepristone, the Feminist Majority Foundation held the only session about mifepristone entitled The Fight for Mifepristone (RU486): Making a Medical Breakthrough Available to Women Worldwide. FMF President Eleanor Smeal stressed the importance of making mifepristone available to women in the United States without encumbering restrictions that would limit access. A concurrent session titled Oil, Drugs and Corruption: Measuring Their Impact on the Lives of Women and Foreign Policy, took place on Wednesday afternoon and focused on Afghanistan, Burma and Sierra Leone. A link was established between oil pipelines, diamond mining, drug trade and human rights violations against women and girls. The panelists encouraged activists at all levels to be well informed, and insist that corporations maintain a level of human rights sensibility as they invest abroad. The National Council for Research on Women's closing plenary in their four-day conference "Women and Globalization" featured FMF President Eleanor Smeal who shared her ideas in Carrying the Movement Forward. She spoke on key issues such as mifepristone, the Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan, and other emerging issues affecting the mobilization of women's rights worldwide. FMF's final session represented the only Beijing +5 meeting held to solely discuss the ongoing crisis for women and girls in Afghanistan. A special screening of Shroud of Silence set the tone for a very provocative discussion on humanitarian aid and foreign policy matters. The discussion featured Feminist Majority Foundation strategies to restore women and girls' basic human rights, access to healthcare, education and employment. For action kits to help Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan, visit FMF's Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. And to learn more about mifepristone, visit our Reproductive Rights website. [Feminist Majority Foundation- June 12, 2000]
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Reports from Beijing
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