ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL COMMISSION

United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok, Thailand

Statement by NOELENE NABULIVOU
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Fiji
and Women's Major Group
(Shortened/Check on delivery)

To the Committee of the Whole 1,
Agenda item 3: Review of issues pertinent to the subsidiary structure of the Commission, including the work of the regional institutions, on
(a) Macroeconomic policy, poverty reduction and inclusive development
25 April 2013

Distinguished Chair, government representatives, UNESCAP Bureau, Civil society collegues and Friends,

As discussed by many in the Regional Implementation Meeting just this week on Rio+20 Outcomes, and during this time of critical delberations on Sustainable Development and the Post 2015 Development Agenda, DAWN wishes to recognise this Regional Commission for its important focus on macroeconomic policy, poverty reduction and inclusive development, and offers a few short inputs as follows:

Regional Commissions such as this, provide valuable fora to ensure strongest input of national and regional realities and priorities into regional and global development plans, and negotiations on SDGs and P2015 Development agenda negotiations. Therefore, we thank you and UNESCAP for the opportunity for civil society including women's groups to contribute, and trust this will only increase in coming years.

This regional focus is absolutely critical in a historical moment where the just-released 2013 Asia Pacific Economic and Social Survey shows that despite some gains in poverty reduction, there are still over 800 million poor in the region struggling for survival on an income of less than $1.25-a-day, consituting nearly two-thirds of the world’s poor. We reiterate on precarity of much work in Asia-Pacific, with over 1 billion workers in the region currently in vulnerable employment. All this, in the midst of food and water crises across the world including in the Asia Pacific, with an estimated 563 million people in our region undernourished.

Therefore DAWN, as one of over 400 women's groups that are part of the Women's Major Group network including in the Asia Pacific region, raise the following as essential elements of all effective and inclusive development agendas in order to eradicate poverty including immediate strongest attention to ending extreme poverty; addressing persistent and deep social and economic inequalities; and with strongest attention to environmental degredation and climate change.

Specifically, we call for the following:

 Recognition that there are ecological limits to the ‘growth’ paradigm and that sustainable and equaitable economic and social development can never be primarily or only profit-driven;

Responsible macroeconomic policy also requires building on an overarching principle of equitable sharing of atmospheric space and respect for planetary boundaries, between and also within States and taking into account intergenerational and social justice, including gender and environmental justice;

Further it implies respect for the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, which considers historic economic, ecological and social debt responsibility and in compliance with Agenda 21 and Rio+20 commitments on technology transfer, monitoring and assessment, skills development and research as explicit in all investment and trade regimes, and in line with precautionary principle and principle of free, prior informed consent as critical social and ecosystem protection;

Women from Asia Pacific also call for urgent global reform of monetary, financial and trade rules in line with human rights obligations, and with adequate policy space for all states, including LDC, LLDC and SIDS states in the economic south, so as to effectively implement effective macroeconomic policies, trade and investment agreements to achieve gender, economic and ecological justice for all;

This includes global and national binding safeguards for all peoples of Asia Pacific States, including through application of the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This is central for the protection of bio-cultural users of land and natural resources from negative impacts of extractive industries, and large-scale monocultures;

It also implies affirmation of global moratorium on geo-engineering in order to prevent the unsustainable technological and market based fixes that attempt the large-scale manipulation of the earth’s climate such as managing solar radiation, extracting carbon from the atmosphere, and modifying the weather; This can never be the underpinning of responsible macroeconomic policies, as they merely delay and often in fact worsen, longterm social and environmental situation;

Relatedly, we call for the phase-out, elimination of financial support and immediate moratoria on harmful economic activities which affect the health of people and the environment, particularly in the areas of extractive industries, nuclear energy, and chemicals. We cannot speak of education for poorest communities to phase out uses of such harmful chemicals for example, when chemical companies continue to have access to domestic markets to sell such goods;

Rather, we must promote truly safe and sustainable energy solutions that prevent negative impacts on the health of people and of the planet and that do not further deplete existing community resources;

This implies further and better resourced state and UNESCAP support for re-orientation of national agricultural plans away from extractive industries and export- oriented agribusiness and toward local women-led and small-holder agro-ecology practices including strong protection of local free and non-marketised seed supplies and distribution systems so as to reverse environmental and social impacts of food insecurity, soil degradation and land grabbing on all affected communities including refugees, internally displaced peoples, migrants, fisher, forest and indigenous peoples, pastoralists, people with disabilities, people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identities, and many other high-need and marginalised groups;

To close, we call strongly for guarantees of Asian and Pacific women's equitable access to, and control over resources for fair asset redistribution among different social groups. This includes issues related to land, ocean, credits, technology, intellectual and cultural property;

Member States, we sincerely remind that there can be no real development by, with and for women and girls in the Asia and Pacific if we do not guarantee the human rights of all. This includes guarantee of bodily integrity and autonomy, full sexual and reproductive rights and an end to all sexual and gender based violence;

It also requires far clearer political and technical recognition that care and social reproduction are intrinsically linked with the productive economy and therefore must be fully reflected in all microeconomic and macroeconomic policy- making. This is a bottom-line for all poverty eradication, gender equality, human rights and sustainable development policy in the Asia-Pacific region and globally, and must be explicitly reflected in all national and regional development plans.

Thank you Distinguished Chair, Member states and collegues.

WE WILL NOT BE MAINSTREAMED INTO A POLLUTED STREAM:
FEMINIST VISIONS OF STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS FOR ACHIEVING WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY IN THE 2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

22 March 2013

This Women's Major Group statement was read at the international NGO conference on ‘Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda: Reconfirming Rights – Recognising Limits – Redefining Goals‘ was held from 20-22 March 2013 in Bonn, Germany. For more updates and materials on this conference visit: http://www.worldwewant2015.org/BONN2015

We caution against developing another set of reductive goals, targets and indicators that ignore the transformational changes required to address the failure of the current development model rooted in unsustainable production and consumption patterns exacerbating gender, race and class inequities.

We do not want to be mainstreamed into a polluted stream. We call for deep and structural changes to existing global systems of power, decision-making and resource sharing. This includes enacting policies that recognize and redistribute the unequal and unfair burdens of women and girls in sustaining societal wellbeing and economies, intensified in times of economic and ecological crises.

Any Post-2015 development agenda must be based on the principle of non-regression, firmly rooted in human rights obligations and commitments from the UN conferences of the 1990s and gains made through their follow up processes at regional and global levels . They must also proactively address increasing inequalities within and between countries, feminization of poverty, discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity, commodification of natural resources, threats to food sovereignty, global warming, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

We insist that the Post-2015 development agenda must not be driven by the donor or corporate sectors. Rather, it must be articulated through a progressive policy framework that aims to fairly redistribute wealth, assets, and power to achieve social, economic, ecological, and erotic justice. It must also tackle intersecting inequalities and multiple forms of discrimination based on gender, age, class, caste, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and abilities.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda must:

• Prioritise gender equality and women’s human rights throughout the framework.

• Ensure meaningful participation of women's and social movements in the design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of development policies and programs.

• Use the human rights architecture as its basis and include concrete means of implementation that prioritize public financing over public-private partnerships in order to realise states obligation to allocate the maximum availability of resources.

• Promote innovative, democratic financing mechanisms, including long-term, flexible support for civil society organizations, including women's organizations.

• Recognize that there are ecological limits to the ‘growth’ paradigm and that sustainable development must be safeguarded from corporations and States that prioritise profit over all.

• Respect and build upon then overarching principle of equitable sharing of atmospheric space, between and also within States, taking into account intergenerational justice. It also implies respecting the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, which considers historic economic, ecological and social debt responsibility.

• Urgently reform monetary, financial and trade rules globally in line with human rights obligations, that ensure policy space at the national level to implement macroeconomic policies, trade and investment agreements to achieve gender and social justice.

• Create global and national binding rules and safeguards including by applying the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. For instance, this is central to the protection of bio-cultural users of land and natural resources from negative impacts of extractive industries, and large-scale monocultures.

• Ensure that Agenda 21 and Rio+20 commitments on technology transfer, monitoring and assessment, skills development and research are explicit in all investment and trade regimes, and in line with the precautionary principle and principle of free, prior informed consent as critical ecosystem protection.

• Reaffirm the moratorium on geo-engineering in order to prevent the unsustainable technological and market based fixes that attempt the large-scale manipulation of the earth’s climate such as managing solar radiation, extracting carbon from the atmosphere, and modifying the weather.

• Phase-out, eliminate financial support, and impose moratoria on harmful economic activities which affect the health of people and the environment, particularly in the areas of mining, nuclear energy, and chemicals.

• Promote safe and sustainable energy solutions that prevent negative impacts on the health of people and of the planet and that do not further deplete existing community resources.

• Re-orient national agricultural plans from extractive industries and export-oriented agribusiness toward local women-led and small-holder agro-ecology practices.

• Include strong protection of local free seed supply and distribution systems in order to reverse the environmental and social impacts caused by food insecurity, soil degradation and land grabbing, on all affected communities including migrants, fisher, forest and indigenous peoples, pastoralists, and many other marginalized communities.

• Guarantee women's equitable access to and control over resources that promote fair asset redistribution among different social groups regarding the use of land, ocean, credits, technology, intellectual and cultural property.

• Affirm the human rights of women, girls and people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities to bodily integrity. Eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence based on misogynist, homophobic, lesbian phobic, and trans-phobic ideas. Specific attention is also needed to address the violence faced by women human rights defenders, sex workers, and women working in conflict and militarized contexts, among others.

• Guarantee sexual and reproductive rights and universal access, to quality, comprehensive, integrative sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, safe abortion, STI and HIV prevention and treatment, and maternity care with an emphasis on equity and respect for diversity.

• Recognise that care and social reproduction are intrinsically linked with the productive economy and therefore fully reflected in macroeconomic policy-making. States should guarantee universal access to public care services and private sector regulation to ensure quality and decent working conditions and income for care providers. The post-2015 agenda should promote policies that shift patriarchal cultural norms in order to promote equitable distribution of care work between men and women and diverse families.

• Ensure equitable and universal access to formal and popular education throughout the life cycle that includes comprehensive sexuality education, gender equality, human rights and environmental sustainability.

• Tackle gendered labour market segregation, and ensure universal and affordable access to social protection and public services including housing, education, water and sanitation, health care and unemployment benefits.

We demand a transparent and democratic process in the development of the Post 2015 agenda where feminist, human rights, environmental and social justice movements' claims are prioritized over politically and economically dominant elites and States.

This statement is endorsed by:

Women International for a Common Future ,WECF/WICF
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, DAWN
Global Forest Coalition
Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice, RESURJ, Mexico
Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
International Women's Health Coalition
Diverse Voices and Action for Equality, Fiji
Bismarck Ramu Group, Papua New Guinea
Women and Media Collective, Sri Lanka
Third World Network, India
Social Watch
Global Policy Forum Europe
REPEM LAC Red de Educacion Popular Entre Mujeres Latinoamérica y el Caribe
Red de Educación Popular entre Mujeres de Latinoamérica y el Caribe
Feminist Task Force
Association for Women's Rights in Development, AWID
Action Aid International
Young Women's Christian Association YWCA, Worldwide
ASTRA Youth Network of Youth Advocates for Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights in Central & Eastern Europe Poland
Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), Lebanon
César Neftal Artiga Cartagena Asociación Nueva Vida Pro-Ninez y Juventud, El Salvador
Sex og Politikk - the Norwegian Association for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), India
National Platform of Dalit Women, India
Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) Bangladesh
International Network of Women's Funds
Action Network for Migrant Workers (ACTFORM), Sri Lanka
Catholics for a Free Choice / Bolivia
SANGRAM, India
VAMP, India
Network for Women's Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), Ghana
Women for Sustainable Development, Japan
CHIRAPAQ - Center for Indigenous Cultures of Peru
Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas – ECMIA
The African Women's Development and Communication Network -FEMNET
Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (APA)
Coordination of flemish north south movement, Belgium
Both ENDS, Netherlands
Cameroon Youth Movement for Citizenship (CYMC) , Cameroon
Centre for Human Rights and Development Studies (CHRDS), Serbia
Niger Delta Women's movement for Peace and Development
WUNRN, Women's UN Report Network
ASTRA Network, Poland
Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning, Poland
Gender and Environmental Risk Reduction Initiative (GERI), Benue State
Gender Action on Climate Change for Equality and Sustainability (GACCES), Ghana
Children Rights and Development Association, Turkey
Climate Change and Development NGO Alliance, Azerbaijan
Coordinación de ONG y Cooperativas (CONGCOOP), Guatemala
Danish Family Planning Association, Denmark
Ecosystems Work for Essential Benefits (ECOWEB), inc, Philippines
FOCO-Foro Ciudadano de Participación por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos, Argentina
Fundacion Etnica Integral, Dominican Republic
Global Campaign Against Poverty
Green Life Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
IDS Sussex and independent researcher, Germany,
International Planned Parenthood Federation, Bolivia
Iraqi Alamal Association, Iraq
Journey, Maldives
NGO Federation of Nepal, Nepal
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement / GCAP Philippines, Philippines
Rotaract BOMBACACEAE MAJUNGA, Madagascar
Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development, Uganda
Unión Nacional de Instituciones para el Trabajo de Acción Social (UNITAS), Bolivia
Womens Advocates Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone
Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), Philippines
Women's Society for Sustainable Development, Iran
The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement, Egypt
Women's Earth and Climate Caucus, USA
The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action - Trinidad and Tobago
Partners in Sexual Health (PSH), Zambia
AIDOS, Italian Association for Women in Development
Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer -FEIM-, Argentina
Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), Rutgers University
Population and Sustainability Network
Fiji Women's Rights Movement, Fiji
Women for Women's Human Rights - NEW WAYS
genanet - focal point gender environment sustainability, Germany
Rutgers WPF
IPAS, International
Brazilian Confederation of Private Nature Reserves
SWAN (South Asia Women's Network)
Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI), Liberia
The International Centre of Comparative Environmental Law
Nepal International Consumers Union (1991)
FemLinkpacific - Regional Women's Media and Policy Network on UNSCR1325
Akshara Centre, Mumbai India
Adele Reproductive Health Foundation, Cameroon
Nur Amalia (Indonesian Women Association for Justice - APIK)
Drodrolagi Movement, Fiji
Oceania Pride, Fiji
International Alliance of WomenAIDS Accountability International, South Africa
Women Won't Wait Campaign  (Global)
Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha -SANGRAM, India
Reconstruction Women's Fund, Serbia
Voice of Difference, Serbia
Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), International/Asia-Pacific
Women for Women's Human Rights - NEW WAYS
Pathfinder International
The International Women's Anthropology Conference (IWAC)
The Second Chance Fd., NYC, USA
Pacific Women’s Watch (New Zealand) Inc.
Abuntu for Development, Ghana
African Women's Millennium Initiative (AWOMI), Senegal
Action Canada for Population and Development
KULU-Women and Development, Denmark,
Vision Spring Initiatives, Lagos Nigeria
Global Justice Institute
Countdown 2015 Europe (International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network – IPPF EN, Brussels
Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung,DSW, Germany
Equilibres et Populations ,E&P,France
European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development,EPF, Brussels
Interact Worldwide, UK
Marie Stopes International Brussels Office,MSI, Brussels
Sex & Samfund – Danish Family Planning Association, Denmark
 Swedish Association for Sexuality Education,RFSU, Sweden
Rutgers WPF, The Netherlands,
Vaëestoliitto – Family Federation of Finland,Finland
Sensoa,Belgium
Irish Family Planning Association,IFPA, Ireland
Sex og Politikk, Norway
Associação para o Planeamento da Família,APF, Portugal
Federación de Planificación Familiar Estatal,FPFE, Spain
Santé sexuelle, Switzerland
Towarzystwo Rozwoju Rodziny,TRR, Poland
Men for Health and Gender Justice Organisation, Botswana
Pacific Women’s Watch (New Zealand) Inc.
Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) - Guyana
Women Enabled, Global
COC Netherlands, the Netherlands
Reproductive Health Matters, London-based/International

Individuals:
Naima von Ritter Figueres
Janot Mendler de Suarez, Boston University Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future
Brigitte Leduc, Gender Equality Adviser, New Caledonia
Maria de Bruyn, SRHR, gender and human rights consultant
Jasmine Kaur - Human rights activist, Fiji
Anush Hayrapetyan, Armenia
Sarah Macharia, Ph.D., Toronto. Canada.
S. Joan Yee, Fiji
Shirley Walters, University of Western Cape, South Africa
Florette Amie TCHIKANKO
Gwendolyn Albert

Endorsements at 17 April 2013- Please contact noelenen@gmail.com if your name has been omitted in error. Endorsements will be updated monthly to October 2013. We also greatly appreciate knowing how/where you have used the statement text in your advocacy work. Check at Women's Major Group website http://www.womenrio20.org for updated versions.

To View more photos please click HERE

To Download the Statement click on the DOWNLOAD button below

DAWN's Cai Yiping (China) and Noelene Nabulivou (Fiji) have been selected as part of UN Women's AP Regional Civil Society Advisory Group.

As part of the AP Regional Civil Society Advisory, they will take part in:

*Providing strategic advice to UN Women on its role within the Region in advancing gender equality

*Providing strategic advice to UN Women on its overall vision and mandate at the Regional level;

*Providing advice on political, economic and social trends which impact UN Women’s regional programming;

*Providing analysis on the sustainable development dialogue and its impact on gender equality and women’s rights issues;

*Acting as a platform for the broader women’s movement in the region, so as to ensure that concerns are tabled on their behalf;

*Providing guidance and inputs to region-wide advocacy strategies; and

*Assisting UN Women in strengthening its engagement and dialogue with civil society at all levels. 

Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in the Post-2015 Development Framework

Expert Panel at 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women

Remarks by ANITA NAYAR
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

7 March 2013, New York

There are multiple, overlapping processes that are all winding their way toward imagining what the UN’s future development agenda will look like.  It has been very challenging to engage strategically in this maze of meetings especially given very limited resources for women’s groups to participate meaningfully.

This afternoon I will share some insights from just three processes toward Post 2015 that I have engaged in over the past year as a representative of DAWN, which is a third world feminist network, and in collaboration with global networks like the Women’s Major Group and the Women’s Coalition for Post 2015.  The three engagements are:

1. An Expert Group Meeting on Gender Equality in Post 2015 convened by UN Women in November 2012;
2. Asia Pacific Regional Dialogue on Post-2015 convened by DAWN, Asia Pacific Gender and Macroeconomic Network and UN Women’s Regional Office also in November 2012
3. The 20-year review of the UN Conference on Environment and Development or Rio+20 in June 2012, which was an important stepping-stone toward 2015.

At the Expert Group Meeting we agreed that the post-2015 development agenda must move us well beyond current MDG Goal 3.

(a) It must be situated in a human rights framework, with the full realization of women’s rights as a goal in and of itself.
(b) It must include the elimination of all forms of gender-based discrimination, including sexual and gender based violence against lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
(c) It must tackle macroeconomic policies at the global and national levels such as fiscal, monetary, trade and investment policies that are often key barriers to development.
(d) It must address deeper structural issues of power, accountability, sharing of resources and decision making.

At the Asia Pacific Dialogue we drew on a recent report of the Asian Development Bank that named technological progress, globalization and market-oriented reform as the drivers of inequality in the region.  

(a) So despite experiences of continuing (if slower) growth in the region during a period of global economic instability, the evidence shows us that there is no automatic link between economic growth and improved development outcomes.   Also the idea that growth will increase women’s equality does not hold.  In fact we can point to many examples that growth has been based on women’s inequality.

(b) Despite the reduction in poverty rates in two countries – India and China – women continue to be more likely to live in poverty than men. For the Asian region, the proportion of workers in vulnerable employment among women workers ranged from 41% in West and Central Asia to over 80% in South Asia. 

(c) To address this we need coherent economic policies that generate living wage employment and that tackle gender discrimination in the labour markets; we need social protection systems that include support that women need for their reproductive work that is often unpaid or underpaid; we need progressive tax reforms and a financial transaction tax to finance basic social security and health care, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services.

So while both the Expert Group Meeting and the Asia Pacific Dialogue were clear about the links between human rights, sustainability and the macroeconomic policy environment why is it that governments at Rio+20 were resistant to addressing these inter-linkages?  Most states concentrated on what they considered their 'big ticket' items of finance, trade and aid with little interest to incorporate a gender analysis into these macroeconomic issues.
 
(a) Gender and agriculture:  Reference is made to the critical role that rural women play in food security through traditional sustainable agricultural practices including traditional seed supply systems. However these are under severe threat unless governments stop prioritising export oriented agribusiness.  Why were such wrong-headed policies not addressed in Rio+20? Will the Post 2015 agenda be any different?  Will governments address the root causes of the food crisis including corporate control over food production and speculation in agricultural commodities?

(b) Gender and climate change:  It’s widely recognized that those living in poverty, the majority of whom are women, are disproportionately affected by climate change.  This is true because women have disproportionate responsibility for providing food, fuel and water for their households - all areas that are affected by climate change.  There is also broad recognition of the critical role that women play in actively building resilience and in reducing emissions.  So given this common understanding why were governments at Rio+20 resistant to addressing the linkages between gender and climate change?

(c) Gender and work: A reference is made to women’s “unpaid work” but a failure to recognize the unequal and unfair burden that women carry in sustaining care and wellbeing. Development is not sustainable if care and social reproduction are not recognized as intrinsically linked with the productive economy and reflected in macroeconomic policy-making.

(d) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: In the power struggles over global economic justice issues at Rio+20 sexual and reproductive health and rights was treated like a poker chip.  There is no acceptable reason to trade women’s and young people’s sexual and reproductive rights and health.  The Post 2015 Agenda must challenge the narrow MDG agenda and affirm women’s fundamental rights to bodily autonomy and integrity.  In the words of my sisters from the Pacific (unveil t-shirt) “My body is not your political battleground.” Not now, and not in 2015.

On this road to 2015 we need to reclaim as the basis the agreements from the key development conferences of the 1990s when the linkages between gender and all three pillars of sustainable development were acknowledged.  Governments even acknowledged the threats to sustainability and women’s rights.  For example, the negative effects of structural adjustment programmes on women, especially in terms of cut-backs in social services, education and health and in the removal of subsidies on food and fuel.  Today there is no mention of the impacts on women’s rights of damaging practices such as agribusiness, monoculture, land grabs, and commodity speculation that played a significant part in the food crisis.

Why are these failed policies not being challenged?  Is it because they are succeeding for some? We have to ask ourselves who is benefiting from policies that undermine human rights and sustainability of the planet?

The Post 2015 Agenda must be relevant to current realties in the context of multiple, converging crises including the financial crisis, economic recession, food, climate and biodiversity crisis.

(a) It must give us the handles to move away from the failed international financial and trade institutions and make significant structural changes in the global development architecture.

(b) It is time to confront the inequitable distribution of assets and property whether between those who hold land, financial, and intellectual property and those who do not, between those who decide over global economic governance policies and those who do not, and between those who control their bodily integrity and yet have little responsibility for the care of future generations and those who do not have bodily integrity and yet are expected to fulfil obligations to feed and nurture others.

(c) The human rights framework is helpful in addressing these structural inequalities.  While there is a lot of talk about a rights-based approach to development there are no substantial investments in women’s human rights as a goal in itself. The Post 2015 framework must be based on the universality and indivisibility of human rights taking into account intersecting inequalities and ensuring non-discrimination based on gender, age, class, caste, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and abilities.

The human rights instruments have been available to us for more than 50 years and yet we have been slow in integrating this approach into policies and programs in a meaningful way. For example it would be helpful to use the human rights framework to regulate and hold corporations accountable or to look at how ODA supports international commitments to gender equality and women’s rights.

(d) Centrally important in the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights is the active participation of women’s organizations at national, regional and global levels.  Their continued funding and engagement in the Post 2015 process is critical.  Who else will ensure that governments don’t suffer from amnesia and begin to seriously address the structural transformations that are required for gender, economic and ecological justice?