(New
York, June 10, 2000) After an all-night negotiation session, delegates
from 180 countries reached agreement on the Outcome Document related
to the implementation of the Platform for Action adopted in 1995
in Beijing, China.
The
following is a statement by leaders of the Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) as issued from the Linkage Caucus, a coordinating group
that links NGOs across the various issues and geographic regions
of the world:
(Beijing +
5 UN General Assembly Special Session, New York, June 9-10, 2000) As women
from around the world who have been active in the "Beijing + 5"
Review process nationally, regionally, and internationally, we re-commit
ourselves to working for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action
and for the advancement of the human rights of all women. While there have
been positive aspects to this review process, we want to register our
disappointment with the Outcome Document agreed to by governments at the
United Nations today. We appreciate the hard work that many have put into
this process and applaud those delegations that have fought to defend and
advance commitments to women. However, we regret that there was not enough
political will on the part of some governments and the UN system to agree
on a stronger document with more concrete benchmarks, numerical goals,
time-bound targets, indicators, and resources aimed at implementing the
Beijing Platform.
Still, some
important steps were taken. First and foremost, the Political Declaration
reaffirms that governments have the responsibility to implement the
Beijing Platform for Action, and thus, the platform remains the reference
point for governmental commitment to women's rights in all 12 critical
areas of concern. Some of the other areas advanced in the document are
outlined below.
We will
continue to utilize the Beijing Platform as well as other world conference
documents and reviews in our work for women's empowerment and rights. We
will also work to hold governments accountable to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (which 165
countries have ratified), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
all other human rights treaties and standards. These instruments entail
binding obligations on government signatories to respect, promote,
protect, and fulfill the human rights of women and girls, many of which
are elaborated in the Platform for Action. The commitments contained in
all these documents are universal, inalienable and indivisible.
The Beijing
+ 5 review provided opportunity and space for public assessment and
discussion of the critical areas of concern. As a result, we have been
able to air important issues locally and globally. Many governments have
made reports on what they are doing to implement the platform, and women's
NGOs have produced over 100 alternative reports engaging in public debate
about what still needs to be done. Some of the regional meetings for this
review resulted in documents which women can use to advance women's rights
nationally and regionally. Even the obstacles that we have encountered in
this review have taught us what we need to do to improve the current
political climate in the world and to counter the intransigent minority
who still oppose women's rights. And as always, women have taken this
space to network and share experiences and strategies across cultural,
racial, national and other boundaries.
It is
women's movements that have placed women's empowerment and rights on the
world's agenda over the past 25 years. Once more women have come to this
review in record numbers as we did for the World Conference in Beijing.
And it is women who will continue to take the leadership in working for
these goals. We will not be turned back. We welcome support and
partnership with men, with governments, the United Nations and other
institutions as we continue the struggle to realize economic justice and
all human rights for all women in all our diversity in the next decade.
