From DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.orgTue Aug 22 02:35:00 1995 Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 10:09:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: USA on Beijing 3 [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE June 1995: Overview of Draft Platform for Action for 4WCW GLOBAL CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT June, 1995 OVERVIEW OF THE DRAFT PLATFORM FOR ACTION AS NEGOTIATED AT THE FINAL PREPARATORY CONFERENCE FOR THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN UNITED STATES ACTIONS AND PRIORITIES INTRODUCTION The UN Fourth World Conference on Women will be held in Beijing from September 4 - 15, 1995. The final preparatory meeting for the conference was held at the United Nations in New York from March 15 - April 7, 1995. At this meeting, held during the annual session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the preparatory body for the conference, delegations negotiated a draft Platform for Action to be considered for adoption in Beijing. This is an overview of the Platform as it was negotiated at the New York meeting, describing U.S. actions and priorities. OVERALL MESSAGE The final draft of the Platform for Action to be adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, contains distinct elements that reflect a developing consensus around the world -- a consensus that did not really exist ten years ago. The U.N. decade for women, 1975 to 1985, and the document adopted at its culmination, of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies, (a plan for the years 1986-2000), sought to advance the status of women working under the broad themes of equality, development and peace. The experience of the past ten years, a combination of research, analysis, legal reform, development work and the networking and organizing efforts of women themselves have brought the world to a realization that the only way to bring about equality, development and peace is to empower women by integrating them into the mainstream where they can work in partnership with men in all levels and structures of society. This directly mirrors the overarching goal for the conference set by the United States. From the first paragraph of the Mission Statement through to the final chapters on Institutional and Financial Arrangements for Implementation and Follow-Up, the draft Platform is a call for the empowerment of women; integration of women into the mainstream of all institutions of society and of a gender perspective into all systems; and an equal partnership between men and women for the good of society. PRIORITY The overall priority of the U.S. is to build on the commitments made at the past world conferences on women, and on the recent world conferences on the Environment and Development, in Rio; on Human Rights, in Vienna; on Population and Development, in Cairo; and on Social Development, in Copenhagen. PLATFORM AREAS REQUIRING FURTHER AND EXTENSIVE NEGOTIATION HUMAN RIGHTS Three sections involve human rights -- violence against women, the impact of armed conflict on women, and the human rights of women. Support for strong language in these sections, and leadership to retain such language, came from all regions of the world. The U.S. underscored governments' responsibility to ensure the human rights of women, and to advance women's legal equality and civil and political rights. African delegations in particular led the effort to call on governments to address harmful practices that led to violence against women, and to review civil and customary law so as to reduce legal discrimination against women, in such areas, for example, as inheritance and property rights. The Violence against Women section provides a comprehensive definition of what constitutes such violence, and calls on governments to take responsibility for preventing and punishing acts of violence. The platform also addresses the importance of preventive action, including through counseling and rehabilitative programs for offenders. The sections on Human Rights and on Promoting Peace seek to draw attention to the fact that the human rights of women are, as stated in the Vienna Declaration adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights, and that action must be taken by governments and international organizations to ensure the protection of these rights. While there is already agreement on a number of important issues, there was a strong effort by some countries to prevent any language that might broaden UN efforts in the area of human rights, and efforts by some countries to inject political issues into the debate. Thus, large portions of these sections remain bracketed. Nonetheless, consensus was reached on a number of important issues. The Platform calls on the UN to integrate concern for the human rights of women into all its human rights activities. The U.S. took the lead on committing governments to train officials, including security and military personnel, in human rights and humanitarian law, and to punish violations against women. The Platform recognizes that if women are to fully exercise their rights they must be informed about those rights. The U.S. was part of a broad consensus recognizing that innovative programs must be developed to help women to achieve legal literacy so that they understand and exercise their rights. INEQUALITY BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SHARING OF POWER AND DECISION-MAKING AT ALL LEVELS Drawing from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that everyone has a right to take part in the government of his or her country, the Platform includes a section on the importance of increasing the participation of women in politics. While there was disagreement over the types of mechanisms for facilitating this participation (with some countries favoring more affirmative measures), there was little disagreement expressed about the importance of this. HEALTH The U.S. goal was to take a lifespan approach to health, broadening the attention given to health for women of all ages and from a diversity of situations and backgrounds. In addition to these issues, progress was made in negotiating language on preventive programs, research, increased resources and follow-up on women's health. Issues related to breast and cervical cancer, as well as other cancers of the reproductive system, menopause and other conditions associated with aging, nutrition, substance abuse and environmental and occupational health hazards are all addressed. Much of the text remaining in brackets is language that was previously agreed to in September, 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. Bracketed text primarily addresses reproductive and sexual health including in the sections addressing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive rights, unsafe abortion, unwanted pregnancies, condoms and contraceptives and the number of times language addressing parental involvement in adolescent services is included in the document. GIRLS Through the leadership of African states, the G77 introduced a new section for the Platform focusing on eliminating discrimination and ensuring the rights of girls. The U.S. worked at the prepcom to strengthen the proposed section, by making it applicable globally rather than regionally. Bracketed language remains concerning discouragement of early marriage, addressing son preference that leads to prenatal sex selection, disparities in access to food, health services and education, and on reproduction, and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. POVERTY The Platform calls attention to the increasing burden of poverty on women, (the feminization of poverty) and places women's situation in the context of the global economy and the effects of global economic policies. For this reason, there is a considerable amount of bracketed language, much of it involving "cause and effect" relationships, calling for foreign debt cancellation and the allocation of resources. The US supported, and consensus was reached, on strong language calling for economic opportunities for women and inclusion of women in economic policy making, for access for women to credit and to savings mechanisms, and support services. Although much of the text related to macroeconomic policies and structural adjustment programs is bracketed, consensus language calls for structural adjustment programs to be designed to minimize their negative effects on vulnerable groups and to review the impact of structural adjustment programs by means of gender- sensitive social impact assessments. EDUCATION AND TRAINING The U.S. supported the Platform's emphasis on full participation of women and girls in life-long learning and in educational policy- and decision-making. The Platform calls for equal access to education for women and girls; education, training and re-training policies for women, particularly those re-entering the labor market; curricula free of gender stereotypes; the reduction of female illiteracy and the promotion of family engagement in learning. Bracketed areas involve barriers to schooling for pregnant girls and young mothers, teacher training programs and materials to promote mutual respect and shared responsiblities between girls and boys, and religious expression in educational institutions. ENVIRONMENT The U.S. actively supported recognition of and action to address the data gap concerning women's susceptibilities and exposures to environmental hazards and toxic substances, the particular situation of women with low incomes, indigenous women, and women belonging to minorities, the participation of women and girls at all levels of decisionmaking in both formal and informal arenas that influence environmental quality, and equal access to education, information and resources in furtherance of environmental protection and natural resource management objectives. U.S. langauge relating to risks to women's health in low income areas with high concentrations of polluting industrial facilities remains bracketed. ECONOMICS In the section on Economic Structures, the U.S. supported and introduced new language that focused on the need for wider acceptance of basic worker rights as minimum labor standards for women; facilitating women's access to credit and capital markets, training, and development of new financial intermediaries to serve their needs, including reaching hard to serve women such as those in rural areas. MECHANISMS There is much in this chapter that was supported by the U.S., including improved gender-sensitive analysis of statistics, information and policy analysis; anti-discrimination; promotion of family-friendly policies for both women and men; and the acceptance and use of life-long learning for women and men in and out of school environments. The Platform urges governments to make efforts to measure and better understand unremunerated work, and to seek to develop methods to asssess its value in quantative terms, for possible reflection in accounts that are separate from but consistant with core national accounts. DOCUMENT-WIDE FEATURES GENDER To the surprise of most delegations, a handful of countries moved to delete or bracket the word "gender" throughout the text. In order to resolve this issue, a special working group met in New York in May. The U.S. joined consensus on the adoption of a Chairman's statement that will appear in the report of the Conference. The statement reaffirms that "gender" as used in the Platform is intended to be interpreted and understood as it is in ordinary, generally accepted usage. DIVERSITY As promised, the U.S. made inclusiveness a priority, working to ensure that the diversity of women was recognized as well as the fact that some women face additional barriers to their advancement because of factors other than gender. This concept is recognized throughout the document. For example, the U.S. and other supporters, working with women themselves, were successful in including women with disabilities and women from ethnic and racial minorities. One paragraph early in the Platform describes the diverse situations of women which should be incorporated into action plans. Because it is bracketed, it remains to be negotiated in Beijing. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs) The U.S. strongly supported recognition of the role NGOs play in policy planning, development, implementation and monitoring of programs for the advancement of women, and urged in several places in the document that governments work in partnership with NGOs, grant NGOs legal status and protection, and permit the independence of NGOs, including financial independence. Some delegations within the G-77 strongly oppose a monitoring role for NGOs. The U.S. has consistently supported inclusion of monitoring. YOUNG WOMEN Working with the youth caucus, the U.S. introduced language in the Global Framework calling attention to the importance of young people in shaping the next century, and the commitment that the international community must make to them to prepare them for their future role. Young women need to be part of the process - working to ensure that their needs are addressed and helping to form their future. The U.S. also supported specific references to young women or youth throughout the document. IMPLEMENTATION AND FOLLOW-UP The U. S. supported language in the document introduced by Australia that invites governments to come to Beijing ready to state specific national commitments for priority action within the context of the Platform. These commitments are seen as first steps toward implementation, not as a substitutes for action on the entire document. Currently, the U.S. is giving serious thought to the nature of commitments and types of initiatives it may bring to Beijing that will result in practical outcomes for women and girls in the U.S. The U.S. also supported and contributed to language that calls upon governments to consult with relevant institutions and non-governmental organizations, preferably before the end of 1995, on how to best develop implementation strategies for the Platform. Further, governments are called upon to have such plans developed and in place within a year. The U.S. is committed both ideologically and because it is effective to an ongoing process between government and non-governmental organizations on achieving full equality and partnership between women and men in the political, economic and social structures of the U.S. In this time of tight resources, the U.S., as was true of donor nations in general, took a conservative approach toward finances and resources for implementation, urging refocusing and reallocation of existing where possible. Also, because the U.S. is interested in overall reform of the UN and better coordination and linkage between its agencies and the whole series of international conferences that have been held in the past ten years, the U.S. concentrated on ensuring that implementation of the Beijing Platform be in concert with this overall process. (###)