United Nations: Advocate for Sexual Rights at the Beijing +10 Review

12/01/2004

SUMMARY

The Beijing+10 Review (B10 Review) is a key forum for advocacy on sexual rights. As an evaluation of national efforts to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA) adopted by 189 governments at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, China 1995), the B10 Review aims to assess the progress and challenges of achieving gender equality globally. Paragraph 96 of the BPFA, in particular, has laid the critical foundation for sexual and reproductive health and rights perspectives.

The B10 Review will be held in conjunction with the 49th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) from February 28 - March 11, 2005 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York (U.S.A.).

ACTIONS

Issues of sexuality (including but not limited to same sex sexuality) have become the lightening rods of UN debate. There is every reason to believe that this will be the case at the CSW annual session which is host to the B10 Review. It is important that sexual and reproductive rights and health, women's human rights and other human rights allies work in coalition to ensure that we stay the ground, at the very least, and at best advance current work to promote and protect women's rights to be free from sexuality-related violence and discrimination.

The following is a list of actions, important dates and resources for getting our concerns on the agenda.

1. Get your NGO accredited to participate in the B10 Review at UN Headquarters

NGOs that participated in the Beijing conference (1995) or the five year review (Beijing +5, 2000) have been invited to participate in the B10 Review. In addition, NGOs that are already registered with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations will be permitted to apply for accreditation. Any other NGO that is interested in participating in the official activities of the B10 Review will have to partner with an ECOSOC NGO that is willing to “sponsor” additional representatives.

Register your NGO representatives http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/ngo.htm#ngo2
Get in touch with ECOSOC NGOs or Beijing accredited NGOs in your community and ask them to sponsor your organization. For a list of ECOSOC accredited NGOs go to: http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/ and click on "Search Engine & NGO Database" on the upper right-hand corner, then click "Full List".
Apply for funding:
The Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) has limited funding to help support the participation of a small number of NGO participants from the global South and countries in transition. You many nominate an individual for funding by sending the name, short cover letter and a current CV for the representative you are nominating to daw@un.org. Your application should have “Urgent: Beijing 10 application in the subject header. As the deadline for consideration was November 30, we recommend you contact DAW to see whether they will still accept your application.
Apply to present an oral intervention or submit a written statement:
Accredited NGOs will be able to provide written statements relating to the two thematic issues of the CSW's 49th session. Time permitting, NGOs may also be given an opportunity to present oral interventions during the high-level plenary and the high-level panels. NGOs are encouraged to submit applications for an intervention in coalition with other organizations working no similar objectives. While NGOs are free to submit individual applications, presenting a joint intervention will increase the likelihood of being selected. For more information on submitting a written statement or presenting an oral intervention see: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/ngo.htm#ngo4
Contact IGLHRC if you are interested in helping to mobilize a lesbian/bi/transgender women's caucus or a caucus on sexual rights.

2. Participate in Online discussions

Several UN agencies are collaborating to facilitate a series of online discussions to gather information and perspectives on the BPFA's critical areas of concern. It is imperative that perspectives on sexual and gender diversity be incorporated into these discussions. To participate, sign up at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/ngo.htm#ngo4

Currently, the schedule of discussion topics is as follows:

Women and the Economy: Moderated by UNDP
11 October - 11 November 2004
Human Rights of Women: Moderated by OHCHR
8 November - 3 December 2004
Violence against Women: Moderated by UNIFEM
8 November - 3 December 2004
Women and Health: Moderated by WHO, UNFPA and UNAIDS
10 November - 24 December 2004, 10 - 21 January 2005
Trafficking in Women: Moderated by UNODC
22 November - 17 December 2004
Women and the Environment: Moderated by UNEP
December 2004
Women and Poverty
Moderated by World Bank
10 January - 4 February 2005
Education and Training of Women and the Girl Child: Moderated by UNESCO/UNICEF
10 January - 4 February 2005
Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women: Moderated by ESCAP
Dates to be determined
Women and Armed Conflict: Moderated by ESCWA
Dates to be determined
Rural Women: Moderated by FAO/IFAD (tbc)
Mainstreamed in all other topics

3. Organize parallel events in your community or a side event in New York:

NGOs are encouraged to sponsor parallel events in their communities and use the B10 Review as an opportunity to raise public awareness and conduct advocacy to demand that their governments live up to their commitments to advance gender equality and women's human rights.

NGOs and UN entities are also invited to organize side events at UN Headquarters in New York. See the following link for information on registering side events during the session, or sponsoring exhibitions in the main conference area: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/ngo.htm#ngo5

4. Take note of the following dates and deadlines:

1 October 2004: NGO online registration began
15 October 2004: NGO surveys were due to the NGO Committee of the CSW
31 December 2004: Pre-registration applications for NGO representatives and/or substitutions due to DAW.
Online registration ends.
15 January 2005: Deadline for submission of NGO written statements.
31 January 2005: Final deadline for side event applications. (Note that space is limited and requests are being considered on a first come, first serve basis.)
28 February - 11 March 2005: 49th Session of the CSW - Beijing +10 Review

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The objective of the Beijing +10 Review is to identify achievements, gaps and challenges in implementing the BPFA at the national level. The BPFA includes twelve critical areas of concern that spell out strategic objectives and actions for advancing the status of women. Paragraph 96 of the BPFA was critical in laying the groundwork for delineating a sexual rights analysis. It defines the human rights of women as inclusive of the right to control their sexuality free from violence, coercion and discrimination:

The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. Equal relationships between women and men in matters of sexual relations and reproduction, including full respect for the integrity of the person, require mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility for sexual behaviour and its consequences.

(BPFA 1994, reaffirmed 2000)

While this articulation of sexual rights is generally considered limited in scope (attempts to include sexual orientation as an unjustified ground for discrimination have been stymied by protests led by a number of countries invoking religious and cultural arguments), it has been an important entry point for raising awareness, initiating advocacy efforts and demanding effective action by governments to respect, protect and fulfill these rights. Many sexual rights activists are now eager to build on the momentum of the 2004 Commission on Human Rights session and the recent reaffirmation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+10, 2004) in order to increase the visibility of lesbian and bisexual women and broaden the discourse of “women's rights” to reflect the diversity of women's experiences, identities and sexualities.

Nevertheless, sexual rights advocates will be confronting highly organized conservative forces such as the U.S., the Holy See and the Organization of Islamic Conferences which are predicted to stage significant opposition to any effort to advance sexual rights perspectives as was recently demonstrated at the Latin America and Asia regional B10 preparatory meetings.

One of the current debates regarding the structure of the B10 Review includes the format of the final outcome document. Many activists are working diligently to oppose any outcome document that would require negotiated text (UN Meetings of this nature typically conclude with some sort of declaration, the wording of which is negotiated in excruciating detail, which affirms governments commitments and obligations regarding the specific themes of the meeting). These activists argue that negotiating text is a contentious and time-consuming process and that there is too much to loose by re-negotiating the language of the original commitments. Rather, they prefer that the B10 Review focus on strategies to improve and advance implementation of the BPFA.

Some delegations, however, argue that it would be a shame if there wasn't a strong reaffirmation of the BPFA. While this would necessitate negotiating text, advocates of this outcome argue that it is vital to demonstrating that the UN is serious and stands firmly behind the advancement of women.

We hope to know the format of the outcome document by December 2004 but there is no confirmation on exactly when the CSW Bureau (the UN body responsible for making this decision) will release this information.

Thematic Focus of the B10 Review

The overall 2005 Session of the CSW will have two thematic focuses: (1) a review of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) as well as the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly (GA) on “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century” and (2) current challenges and forward-looking strategies for the advancement and empowerment of women and girls.

The 2005 session will also take the opportunity to link the B10 Review to a concurrent review of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) . Preparations for a B10 Review have emphasized links between the BPFA and the MDGs in order to leverage the strengths of each to promote gender equality; it is perceived that women's rights will best be served by infusing the gender lens of the BPFA into all of the MDGs (currently there are individual gender-specific goals) while using the specific measurable indicators of the MDGs as benchmarks for progress.

Basis of the Review

Each member state of the United Nations was asked to complete a questionnaire designed to assess major achievements, gaps and challenges, as well as priority areas for further action to ensure full implementation of the BPFA. Individual country responses are available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/responses.htm.

NGOs were asked to contribute to the preparation of these country reports or to provide alternative reports (called shadow reports) and a similar questionnaire was disseminated to NGOs and collected by the NGO committee to the CSW.

Following national data collection and reporting, formal regional B10 preparatory meetings were held (with the exception of the regional meeting for Europe/North America which will be held in Geneva in mid-December) to document and plan strategies for addressing regional priorities at the B10 review. For both the official outcome documents and NGO statements from the regional preparatory meetings see WEDO's B+10 regional meeting matrix at: http://www.wedo.org/meetings.htm.

The official B10 regional preparatory bodies include:

The Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
The Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
The Economic and Social Council for Western Asia (ESCWA)
The Economic Council for Africa (ECA)
The Economic Council for Europe and North America (ECE/NA)

The CSW will use the national and regional reports to produce a global report that will be presented and used as the analytical basis of the B10 Review.

Format of the B10 Review

The latest information available suggests that official B10 Review will include:

a High-level opening session with participation of the Secretary General, presidents of the General Assembly (GA), Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Security Council and heads of state;
at least two High-level roundtables;
a number of High-level plenaries interspersed with high-level panels;
a celebration of International Women's Day (to be held in the first week instead of March 8 to allow Ministers and senior officials to return to their countries for national-level commemoration.)

The High-level roundtables will be focused on innovations in institutional arrangements for promoting gender equality at the national level.

The High-level panels currently being considered are:

Presentation of the review and appraisal processes at the regional level- achievements, gaps and challenges.
Integration of gender perspectives in macro-economics.
The role of regional and intergovernmental organizations in promoting gender equality.
Addressing the linkages between implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome document of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly and the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration: progress, gaps and challenges.
Synergies between national-level implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Other High-level interactive events are likely to include:

Future perspectives on the promotion of gender equality: through the eyes of young women and men.
Remaining challenges in relation to statistics and indicators, building on the discussions at the High-level round table organized in the 48th session of the Commission in 2004 as well as available data from World's Women: Trends and Statistics (2005) and the World Survey on the Role of Women in Development (2005).

RESOURCES

We will do our best to provide updated information as we receive it. Feel free to send us resources or information that you think would be useful to others.