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CSD NGO Women's Caucus Report on the work and gains of
the Women's Caucus during High-level Regional Meeting for the World Summit
on Sustainable Development By Daphne D. Roxas, Executive
Director, Asian Women's Network on Gender and Development (AWNGAD),
Coordinator, Philippine NGO Beijing Score Board The High-level Regional Meeting for
the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held 27-29 November 2001, in
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. All the sessions of the Meeting was held at the Hotel
Inter-Continental, 296, Boulevard Mao Tse Tung, Phnom Penh 3, Cambodia. The Meeting was co-organized by the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN
ESCAP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The
Meeting consisted of three segments, namely, (1) the Asia-Pacific Round Table on
Sustainable Development; (2) the Informal Consultations
among Senior Officials; and (3) the Meeting of Ministers. The High-level Regional Meeting on
WSSD formulated and adopted a "regional platform" that comprised a
regional assessment of the implementation of Agenda 21, key policy issues
and priorities for sustainable development, goals for the region in the next
decade and specific proposals to the World Summit on Sustainable Development
regarding strengthening or raising the effectiveness of regional and
international cooperation, including institutional arrangements and
financing. The Asia-Pacific Round Table on
Sustainable Development was convened on 27 November 2001. It was attended by
ministers and senior officials of ESCAP members and associate members,
chairpersons of the regional Round Tables and subregional preparatory
meetings, and representatives from stakeholders, major groups, international
organizations and regional partners. During this meeting, Daphne D.
Roxas, Executive Director of the Asian Women's Network on Gender and
Development (AWNGAD), read the Declaration of the Asian Women's Conference
on Gender, Finance and Sustainable Development held October 26-30, 2001 in
Bangkok, Thailand. Most important during the Informal
Consultations among Senior Officials and the Meeting of Ministers, through
the Korean delegation, especially Dr. (Ms) Park Eun-Kyung, the Women's
Caucus and the Asian Women's Network on Gender and Development (AWNGAD),
successfully inserted wording on gender equality and gender justice on
specified strategic part of the regional platform for action -- the draft
Phnom Penh Regional Platform on Sustainable Development For Asia and the
Pacific (Draft for Adoption) dated: 29 November 2001. The wording of the women's caucus
as drafted is specifically found in the: 11. KEY ISSUES AND PRIORITIES FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (page 2) letter C. Cross-cutting issues (page 8)
line 24: " We stress the need to
address urgently the following cross-cutting issues in order to move the
region towards sustainability: policy challenges for sustainable
development; institutional reform and governance; capacity building;
enabling informed decision-making; technology transfer; promoting
participation This part of the document where the
phrase: "ensuring gender equality and gender justice" is cited as
a cross-cutting issue is a clear victory for the Asia-Pacific women's
caucus. Also, the women's caucus was able to insert in the listing of cross-
cutting issues: " 7. Ensuring gender equality
and gender justice (line) 31. We emphasize the importance of empowering
women in social and economic development... and .. We support the Beijing
Platform for Action and Chapter 24 of Agenda 21 as blueprints for achieving
equality for women." Together with the Asia Pacific
Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), the Kitakyushu Forum on Asian
Women (KFAW) and the Jakarta WSSD PrepCom NGO Forum, the Asian Women's
Network on Gender and Development (AWNGAD) co-convened the Women's Caucus at
the Asia Regional Peoples' Forum on Sustainable Development. The Forum was
held prior to the High-level Regional Meeting on WSSD on 25-26 November,
2001 at the Buddhist Institute, Ministry of Religious Affairs Sankat Tonle
Basac, New Building, Phnom Penh and was organized by the NGO Forum on
Cambodia, Tebtebba Foundation and Third World Network, with support from
Heinrich Boell Foundation and Oxfam America. Through the participation of
the Asian Women's Network on Gender and Development (AWNGAD), the Women's
Caucus in the Asia Regional Peoples' Forum on Sustainable Development
considered the Declaration of the Asian Women's Conference on Gender,
Finance and Sustainable Development held October 26-30, 2001 in Bangkok,
Thailand. The Women's Caucus formulated the
Statement: " Engendering the Agenda of the World Summit on Sustainable
Development" . The Women's Caucus Statement asserted that " gender
justice is integral to sustainable development and that women's rights are
human rights and human rights are inalienable to the attainment to
sustainable development. The Statement called for States to consider gender
equality and gender justice as a distinct and separate cross-cutting issue
in the Agenda of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and that States
must commit and realise the full integration of gender and sustainable
development including gender budget and gender mainstreaming." (For complete photo documentation please access online the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) coverage of the The World Summit on Sustainable Development Asia-Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting 27-29 November, Phnom Penh, Cambodia in http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/2002/wsasi/). |