Regional Conference on Women in Latin America & the Caribbean

At the eighth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, participants agreed that the Lima Consensus “will constitute the region’s contribution to the special session of the UN General Assembly. The special session of the General Assembly is entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the 21st century .”

The regional conference, which was held from February 8-10, 2000, also approved the submission of the agreements adopted at its session to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, for consideration at its 28th session, to be held I Mexico City, April 3-7, 2000.

Some of the resolutions adopted at the conference included:

• strengthen the implementation of the Regional Programme of Action beyond the year 2001 and promote the effective implementation of the Plateform of Action;

• urge the States of the region to sign, ratify and implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women;

• create or strengthen institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women ant the promotion of equal opportunity and endow them with sufficient amounts of all relevant types of resources;

• strengthen democracy in the region through the adoption of policies and measures that facilitate women’s rights to full and equal citizenship and their participation in decision-making in all sectors and at all levels;

• support the implementation of plans and programmes of action aimed at ensuring access to education for girls and boys together with satisfactory educational coverage and quality;

• strengthen systems for collecting and processing statistical data disaggregated by sex, and adopt the use of gender indicators that will contribute to a baseline analysis of the status of women;

• urge bilateral and multilateral international cooperation agencies to strengthen their technical and financial support programmes on the basis of mutual respect and to foster an exchange of experiences in light of the fact that international cooperation is an effective means of promoting equality, equity and human rights.
  
  
  

44th Session of Commission on the Status of Women

During its 44th session and in its capacity as Preparatory Committee for the special session, the Commission heard statements from many delegations, United Nations agencies and NGOs. A wide range of gender issues was debated and a number of divergent approaches were discussed, but overall, delegations affirmed the Platform as an essential instrument for the achievement of gender equality, which was not open to renegotiation.

Opening the Commission’s session, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, Angela King, highlighted recent progress, including increasing recognition at the national level of women’s human rights, higher employment among women, and the designation of rape as a war crime. Thus, while the Beijing Conference had been a “critical milestone” in the advancement of women, clearly, “swift, bold and uncompromising” policies were needed to search for more effective ways of implementation.

On the other side of the picture, she noted that women’s human rights had been blatantly ignored, in some countries. There had been an increase in the “feminization” of poverty and violence against women, especially in the home, and their specific health care needs had not been sufficiently addressed. Moreover, their vulnerability in armed conflict was deepening.

Indeed, girls in school were often the first to be pulled out in times of crisis. Of the 100M children out of school, two thirds were girls, the Executive Director of the UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, told the Commisison. While some gains had been made, millions still lived in poverty and could not read or write. Also, women and girls were most affected by armed conflict and by the global HIV/AIDS catastrophe.

A number of other issues were identified as challenges to implementation of the Platform, including the lack of human and financial resources, the negative effects of globalization, and unequal access to improved communications technology, particularly among women in developing countries. The trafficking of women and girls and the increasing violent trend against them was also worthy of examination.

In introductory remarks at the opening of the Preparatory Committee, Deputy Secretary-GeneralLouise Frechette expressed concern about the limited progress achieved since Beijing. The special session would indeed provide an opportunity to determine how to travel farther and faster along the road towards true gender equality. The challenge ahead for the Committee was twofold: to reiterate and strengthen the platform; and to ensure that “Beijing +5” had not been a “water-tight” process but one which had permeated other areas for action.