The Caribbean is the likely peace broker among the almost 200 United Nations (UN) membership as its General Assembly winds-up the Special Session, Women 2000, Gender Equality, Development and Peace in the 21st Century at the UN headquarters in New York.
At issue is the “Outcome Document”, which will outline the review since the last World Conference on Women in Beijing, and sets out a work programme leading into the next world conference on women.
Caribbean delegates are being urged to take the lead in charting common ground on issues relating to health care and sexual and reproductive health and rights which are stalling the completion of the final document.
A Caribbean delegate believes that it is times such as these that the high regard in which the Region is held is appreciated.
The contingent is being relied on for its negotiating skills in helping the main working group in preparing the final document in a language that many hope will find agreement among the entire UN membership.
The Caribbean has been applauded for its coordinated response to major issues and participation in international fora with special commendation for its leadership contribution to the successful conduct of the Beijing Conference.
In New York and also in Beijing, the Caribbean adopted a united position, the comprehensive preparation process for which much needed resources and technical assistance came from the UN agencies.
In an effort coordinated by the CARICOM Secretariat, Member States were aided in the preparation process by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) and the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
UNIFEM is the UN agency that has primary responsibility for women’s issues and it has programmes and projects in 130 countries, including the Caribbean.
This inter-agency collaboration was also fundamental in the preparation for Beijing, with UNIFEM in particular, helping to fund the participation of many Caribbean representatives in the process.
The Caribbean’s preparation for Beijing + 5 started shortly after the Beijing Conference with a Ministerial meeting in Guyana. Coming out of that meeting was the Georgetown Consensus in which the Ministers reaffirmed their government’s commitment to the Beijing Platform for Action, The regional Plan of Action and the CARICOM regional Plan of Action.
Taken as a whole, these plans, which came about after much research in CARICOM Member States, define five priority areas for the Caribbean with four initially regarded as needing the highest priority.
The five priority areas are: the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women; inequality in health care and related services; all forms of violence against women; inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision making and the girl child.
Since Beijing, all of these issues, except for the Girl Child, have been placed on the font burner. It is expected that after this mid-term Beijing review, the issue of the Girl Child will also be placed on the front burner.
CARICOM delegates say the future approach regional governments will adopt in dealing with the Region’s priority areas will be guided by the situation on the ground and also the findings coming out of the UNIFEM publication- Progress of the World’s Women 2000.
The executive Director of UNIFEM Dr. Noeleen Heyzer says the publication will be a biennial one and will use scientific indicators to track the progress of women.
This publication is one of the more recent initiatives by UNIFEM, and resource personnel from CARICOM Member States contributed to the report.
Dr Heyzer informs that UNIFEM in fulfilling its mandate has a responsibility to initiate and coordinate initiatives for the world’s women. She adds that the needs vary globally, but the organisation is committed to meeting the challenges. The work of UNIFEM in the Caribbean has not gone without notice. In the citation for her achievement for being awarded the CARICOM Triennial Award for women in 1999, Professor Jocelyne Jossiah’s leadership role with UNIFEM was specifically noted.
In addition to support and resource allocation at the national level, the support of UNIFEM and UNECLAC was instrumental in getting CARICOM countries prepared for the Beijing + 5 meeting and importantly, making it possible for them to position themselves to speak with one voice on the world stage.
