DIVISION FOR ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN PRESENTS PROPOSED 2000-2001 WORK PROGRAMME TO WOMEN'S COMMISSION
Press Release
WOM/1112
DIVISION FOR ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN PRESENTS PROPOSED 2000-2001 WORK PROGRAMME TO WOMEN'S COMMISSION
19990308 Focus Includes Gender Mainstreaming, Implementation of Nairobi, Beijing Women's ConferencesThe Division for the Advancement of Women this morning introduced its proposed work programme for the biennium 2000-2001 to the Commission on the Status of Women, which is expected to act upon the programme at its current session.
The Deputy Director of the Division, Kristen Timothy, said the programme's six areas of focus would include: gender mainstreaming; policy analysis and monitoring activities related to implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; women's enjoyment of their human rights; gender policy advisory services; improving the status of women in the United Nations Secretariat; and outreach activities and information exchange.
She added that the programme's activities were clustered into the servicing of intergovernmental and expert bodies. Those included policy analysis and substantive serving of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The activities would also be grouped under other substantive activities, such as publications, briefings and technical material, as well as international cooperation.
The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, Angela King, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender, made a proposal regarding the system-wide medium-term plan of action for the advancement of women 1998-2000. She said that the medium-term plan should be submitted to the Commission in two stages. The first would be submitted before the special session of the General Assembly in 2000. That will review the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies and the Beijing Platform for Action. The second part would be submitted in 2001 and would include the results of the special session. She requested that the proposal be acted upon at the Commission's current session.
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Also this morning, the representatives of Canada and the United States expressed their concern over the Secretariat's decision not to allow the representative of the NGO Task Force on Women's Health, Losang Rabgey, to speak before the Commission on Wednesday, 3 March. Both representatives said that the decision was not consistent with United Nations rules governing non- governmental organization (NGO) participation and that such a situation should not occur in the future.
Ms. King said her Division regretted the incident and that her staff had wrongly intervened on the question of who would speak on behalf of the NGO Task Force on Women's Health. The Division supported the practice of NGOs forming caucuses to present the views of many NGOs. She had instructed her staff to ensure that the situation would not occur again.
The Commission also announced nominees for officers of the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee for the special session of the General Assembly entitled, "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", which will meet from 15 to 19 March. The special session is scheduled for 5 to 9 June 2000.
The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. to hear a briefing from the chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group on the Elaboration of a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on the Status of Women met this morning to continue its follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), in particular, a review of mainstreaming in organizations of the United Nations system. Under that topic, it also planned to consider the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001 for the Division for the Advancement of Women. (For background information, see Press Release WOM/1109 of 5 March.)
Bureau of Preparatory Committee
When the meeting began, the Commission announced the nominees for officers of the Bureau for the Preparatory Committee for the special session of the General Assembly entitled, "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", which will meet from 15 to 19 March. The special session is scheduled for 5 to 9 June 2000. The nominees, by State Group, are:
African Group of States: Irma Engelbrecht (South Africa) and Christine Kapalata (United Republic of Tanzania);
Eastern European Group of States: Dubravaka Simonovic (Croatia) and Rasa Ostrauskaite (Lithuania);
Latin American and Caribbean Group of States: Monica Martinez (Ecuador) and Sonia Leonce (Saint Lucia);
Western European and Other States Group: Patricia Flor (Germany) and Kirsten Mlacak (Canada).
The Asian Group of States had not yet submitted nominees.
Statements
KRISTEN TIMOTHY, Deputy Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, introduced the Division's proposed programme of work for the biennium 2000-2001 (document E/CN.6/1999/CRP.2, annexes I and II). She said the General Assembly, in its resolution 52/220, had stressed the role of the relevant intergovernmental bodies in its consideration of the narrative of the proposed programme budget, as well as the necessity for a timely presentation of their recommendation on the budget.
The proposed programme of work had been formulated within the framework of the medium-term plan for 1998-2001 related to economic and social affairs, she continued. The medium-term plan had been revised by the Assembly in its resolution 53/207 in order to reflect the United Nations reform process, which included the creation of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
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The subprogramme would be carried out by the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Division for the Advancement of Women in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, she continued. The orientation of the Department was to strengthen the role of the Organization in the promotion of international cooperation for development in the economic, social and environmental and related fields, especially in the context of globalization.
She highlighted the subprogramme's six areas of focus, as follows: gender mainstreaming in the work of intergovernmental forums, and the United Nations Secretariat and system, as well as other intergovernmental organizations and Member States; policy analysis and monitoring activities related to the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; women's enjoyment of their human rights; gender policy advisory services; improving the status of women in the United Nations Secretariat; and outreach activities and information exchange.
The programme's activities were clustered into the servicing of inter- governmental and expert bodies, she said. Those included policy analysis and substantive serving of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The activities would also be grouped under other substantive activities, such as publications, briefings and technical material, as well as international cooperation. Further activities would be clustered according to inter-agency coordination and liaison, such as substantive servicing for the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC).
Continuing, she said that the fourth area on technical cooperation included advisory services, group training and workshops organized under section 21 of the regular budget or financed through extrabudgetary resources. That last section had been added as a result of the merger of the departments and should enable the provision of advisory services in line with the requirements of intergovernmental and expert bodies. The Division was evaluating, jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the issue of gender mainstreaming in several projects in Africa and a project involving assistance to six Francophone countries in Africa to prepare initial reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
She invited the Commission to make comments or recommendations on the proposal, bearing in mind that it would be reviewed subsequently by the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), which would submit their recommendations to the General Assembly at its next session.
DALILA SAMAH (Algeria) asked what form of support the Division for the Advancement of Women would offer and to whom it would be given. She also asked for further clarification on: new issues; issues that had been
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inadequately addressed; and technical cooperation that would be performed by the Division.
In response, Ms. TIMOTHY said that the Division's programme of work included new issues to provide some scope and context for the Division's work. In preparing a long-term plan of action, some flexibility was built into it. Also, the technical cooperation activities of the Division would include work in the areas of implementing the Beijing and Nairobi conferences, including helping with capacity-building, mainstreaming a gender perspective and enhancing understanding of women's rights. Other Division activities would include training and seminars on developing national machineries. All such services, however, would be provided at the request of Members States.
ANGELA KING, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, in her capacity as Chairperson of the ACC Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender, said that a new draft of the system-wide medium-term plan of action for the advancement of women 1998-2000 needed to be submitted to the Economic and Social Council through the Commission on the Status of Women. She proposed that the medium-term plan should be submitted in two stages. The first would be submitted to the Commission before the special session of the General Assembly in 2000. The second part would be submitted to the Commission in 2001 and would include the results of the special session. She said the ACC requested that she bring the proposal to the attention of the Commission, to be acted upon at its current session.
The Commission Chairperson, PATRICIA FLOR (Germany), said the Bureau would prepare a short decision in regard to the proposal.
FLORENCE LEVERS (Canada) said it has come to her delegation's attention that a non-governmental organization (NGO) that was invited to speak before the Commission on Wednesday, 3 March, was then told she could not speak. Losang Rabgey was going to speak for the NGO Task Force on Women's Health, and the reasons for the denial was not clear. She supported the participation of NGOs in the work of the Commission and was concerned that the decision taken by the Secretariat last week was not consistent with her understanding of rules governing such matters within the United Nations. She hoped such a situation would not recur in the future.
LINDA TARR-WHELAN (United States) said that Ms. Rabgey represented an accredited NGO and had a right to speak before the Commission. She should not have been judged based on her name or her ethnicity. The participation of NGOs dated to the earliest days of the United Nations, and deciding which NGOs spoke before the Commission was the responsibility of Member States, which relied on the Secretariat for coordination. All decisions by the Secretariat made in that regard should be in strict accordance with the mandates of the Economic and Social Council regarding NGO participation.
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In reply, Ms. KING said her Division regretted the incident on Wednesday, 3 March, where Ms. Rabgey was prevented from speaking before the Commission. Ms. King said her staff had wrongly intervened on the question of who would speak on behalf of the NGO Task Force on Women's Health. The Division supported the practice of NGOs forming caucuses to present many views. The views from as many people as possible should be heard. She had instructed her staff to ensure that the situation would not occur again. The Division would welcome hearing the statement by Ms. Rabgey.
Ms. LEVERS (Canada) thanked Ms. KING for her statement and her reassurance that the event would not occur in the future.
On the topic of the system-wide medium-term plan of action for the advancement of women, Ms. SAMAH (Algeria) said her delegation would consider the proposal made by Ms. King, although it needed more time to thoroughly study the proposal and ascertain its implications in greater detail and to work properly on it.
The Chairperson, Ms. FLOR (Germany), said that further information on the medium-term plan would be made available to delegations, as needed.
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