Background:

In the past thirty years, women have gathered in Mexico, Nairobi, Copenhagen and Beijing to champion the improvement of the advancement of women and to mark the progress at each step of the way. Following the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing 1995, the UN General Assembly mandated the Commission for the Status of Women to integrate into its programme a follow-up process to the conference. The Commission was to conduct regular reviews of the critical areas in the Beijing Platform for Action.

Beijing’ s twelve critical areas of concern were:

• Women and poverty
• Education and training of women
• Women and health
• Violence against women
• Women and armed conflict
• Women and economy
• Women in power and decision-making
• Institutional mechanism for the advance of women
• Human rights of women
• Women and the media
• Women and the environment
• The girl child.

The 49th session (Beijing +10) of the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women (CSW - an Inter Governmental consultative body at UN) at United Nations, New York took place from 28 February to 11 March 2005. During these two weeks, the CSW focused on the following two thematic issues:

• Reviewing the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of Beijing +5
• Identifying current challenges and forward looking strategies for the advancement and empowerment of women and girls.

Our experiences:

• Everyday of the 49th session Member States reported and made resolutions on the above two thematic issues at the high level plenary sessions.
• Out of the 191 Member States of the UN, 165 states had participated in this great event.
• 2,600 NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from all over the world took active part in the numerable side events that were organized daily; there were regional, thematic and linkage caucuses who met together daily for advocacy and lobbying on gender equality and gender mainstreaming of the resolutions taken by the UN.
• The New York based NGO committee on the CSW had organized a one-day “NGO consultation on the 49th session” prior to the two weeks programme by the UN.
• The NGOs and the CSOs took part as observers in the high level plenary sessions.
• During the two weeks the often reiterated slogans were: Reaffirm the Beijing Platform for action, commitment to action, women human rights, gender mainstreaming, gender equality as cross cutting concern for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
• We had the privilege of taking part in the colourful celebration of the International Women’s Day at UN.

Our focus areas were:

• Gender equality in decision-making
• Trafficking
• Violence against women and the girl child
• Reproductive and sexual health and HIV/AIDS
• Education
• Grassroots participation.

Our learning and insights:

• We listened to the painful stories of the thousands of women and girl children throughout the world caused by the unjust structures.
• We witnessed the prophetic voices of the thousands of women, including religious, with global perspective who commit themselves and dedicate their lives to the cause of justice.
• We heard that “Every problem is an opportunity” and the “Poor are our assets”.

Gaps being noticed:

1. Lack of networking with the Civil Society Organisation by most of the Member States.
2. Non-involvement of the CSO in the decision-making process at local, national and International levels.
3. More words than actions.
4. Member States have low priority review of the MDGs.
5. Those Member States who have not addressed the discriminatory laws should look at them seriously.

Challenges:

• We were called to reconfirm our priorities in our mission.
• We felt the urgent need to be well equipped with the information on the rights of women and the girl child towards ‘rights based approach’ in our mission.
• We were often reminded that “as an International Congregation, we use our global potential and capacity in the service of policy development, research and lobbying for systemic change” (Who will light the lantern, p 3).
• We were challenged to make the optimum use of our NGO Status in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the UN.

Did not our hearts burn within us… Lk 24:32

The action for the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and MDGs is left to the political will of the stakeholders, i.e. the governments, UN agencies and the Civil Society Organisations. Considering the stand we take as IPA, we have a major role to play in strategizing our ministries for the achievement of the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs. As the apostles on the road to Emmaus returned back to Jerusalem to bring the good news, we come to you with the call of Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, to each one of us “There is no time to lose if we are to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by … 2015. Only by investing in the world’s women can we expect to get there.” To kick-start our efforts and activities on MDGs, please visit the websites on MDGs: www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ and http://www.undp.org/mdg/ (Note: these sites are in English).

Addressing on the International Women’s Day, Wangari Maathai, the recipient of the 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner “who stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economical and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa”, told us the following story motivating those who were present there at the conference. “Once there was fire in the forest and all the animals began running away feeling that they could do nothing. However a small humming bird decided to do something. She flew to the river and brought a drop of water to quench the fire. She was persistent, patient and continued the task. All the animals laughed at her and asked her who did she think she was. The humming bird said “I am doing what I can”. Every little effort makes the difference. Besides being humming birds, let us also be eagles when needed.

The three of us are in deep appreciation of the IPA leadership and are grateful for the opportunity given to us to take part in this great event. We are also grateful to Sharon Altendorf, IPA NGO Representative at the UN, who has been extremely generous, enabling our maximum participation in this 49th session of the CSW.

Norris Nawab (Pakistan), Prema Antony (Zambia), and Fatima Rodrigo (India)

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