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In acknowledgement of the urgent need for more effective and interlinked regional feminist responses from the economic south involving and in support of women advocates working in areas of gender and development, DAWN is organising a series of regional consultations and training institutes on “Strengthening Policy Analysis and Advocacy on Gender, Economic and Ecological Justice” in three regions - the Pacific, Africa and Latin America - in 2010 and 2011.
This advocacy is part of DAWN’s on-going effort to help promote awareness on and resolution to three major challenges highlighted in global governance debates: The first challenge is the existence of double standards in the response to the triple crisis. An unequal playing field in key policy areas is a major obstacle to coordinated response. The second challenge is the search for a sustainable model of economic recovery, growth, and development. The focus on financing climate change mitigation and adaptation is too narrow given the significant resource flows needed for developing countries to shift from high carbon, fossil-fuel energy to low carbon, renewable energy sources; to address the food crisis exacerbated by extreme and frequent climate events, floods, droughts, storms, loss of arable land and biodiversity; and to provide social protection for groups most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change including disease, landlessness, migration, poverty, and much more. Thus, far solutions to all these challenges have tended to be market- or technology-oriented and driven by corporate interests, which have created new inequalities between the North and the South. The third challenge is the inconsistencies between international trade rules (both WTO and regional trade mechanisms) and international environmental agreements.While economic south governments and civil society acknowledge some of these converging crises, as in other regions of the globe the inter-linkages between them are often ignored.
This project brings together actors working in various spheres of the areas of gender, economic and climate justice in the three regions of the Pacific, Africa and Latin America, in settings where people can raise difficult questions and political challenges in an atmosphere of trust and collective reflection. Specifically, participants include researchers and analysts from academia and civil society; policy makers from government, inter-governmental and regional institutions; and young and local women activists. The training institutes and consultations aim to provide venues for sharing information on a range of global and regional responses to the world multiples crises, including new initiatives that challenge hegemonic thinking and systems in finance, trade and monetary, and environmental policymaking, as well as for mapping current measures, mechanisms and programs at national and regional levels; and discuss possibilities, constraints and contradictions. The women’s rights activists from local and regional organizations will have their own facilitated input process.
Through the process, DAWN also hopes to encourage young feminists and women’s rights advocates to increase their engagement in transforming global economic and climate change governance structures; build capacity in policy analysis and advocacy on key gender, economic and climate justice issues, and their interlinkages; and encourage solidarity and support to contribute to policy proposals and social movement activism toward and during regional and global policy advocacy targets including the Tarawa Climate Change Conference (Kiribati, Nov 9-12 2010), CBD COP 10 (Nagoya, 27-29 October 2010), UNFCCC COP 16 (Mexico, Nov 29-Dec 10, 2010), Rio+20' Earth Summit (New York, May 2012), UNFCCC COP 17 (South Africa) and others.*
The GEEJ series began in the Pacific last September 2010, followed by Africa in November 2010, and to be continued in Latin America in March 2011.
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Cook Islands Women’s NGO at the Pacific Islands Forum
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At the 2011 Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland New Zealand, the Cook Islands Government may be the only delegation with official NGO representation.
Kairangi Samuela of Punanga Tauturu Inc has been accredited to the Government delegation as an indication of the Government recognition of civil society and NGO partnerships in economic and social development. It is even more significant that it is a women’s NGO representative.[1]
Punanga Tauturu Inc (Cook Islands Women’s Counsellng Centre) is a Women and Children focused NGO whose objectives include creating a positive legal framework that recognizes the rights of women and children in accessing Justice in terms of domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence. They work to empower women through the provision of information and training programmes on legal literacy and human rights
The Cook Islands Prime Minister, Hon. Henry Puna agreed that Samuela be recognised as a member of the delegation and be included in debriefings and discussions during the Forum. Samuela acknowledges that it is a privilege to be given this level of access into Government negotiations and is working hard to understand how the processes work and identifying how NGOs can better influence the process during build up, and in the Forum itself.
Samuela says that she is quickly learning the different acronyms for organisations and understanding “diplomatic” talk in terms of negotiations. "These meetings are different from NGO meetings that are often loud and passionate and I am receiving support from various Government reps on the delegation in understanding the issues being raised, the ways to effectively engage in these spaces, and the opportunities for substantive impact."
Where are the women?
Samuela says that the lack of women in decision making positions in the Pacific Islands is clearly obvious at the Forum meeting in Auckland. There is only one female representative (Timor Leste at ACP meeting) and also Government delegations are made mostly up of men. This is also visible in the delegations of the Crop Agencies of the Pacific, for example Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPF), and the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (PIFS).
It has been suggested that this may be due to the issues of discussion taking place at the Forum which include Tourism, Trade, Energy, Climate change, which are generally male dominated areas of skills and expertise. However, Samuela disputes this notion saying that if we look at the tourism industry across the Pacific these are mainly dominated by women workers e.g Hotels, restaurants and other service sectors, which should make it even more important that women are promoted and recognised in Outcomes documents at the highest level of talks. This is the case for many other Pacific industries.
"Regardless, it is essential that women are always adequately represented at all levels of decision-making, including in national parliaments, in local government and at Forum meetings", says Kairangi Samuela.
It is also noted that there is a Forum section on the participation of women and the work being progressed in this area with UNWomen and the SPC in the Small Island States (SIS) discussion paper, and it is hoped that due seriousness and time is devoted to this discussion.
Climate Change funding?
Through the Small Island States (SIS)communiqué, the Premier of Niue had requested the Forum to develop stronger language to reflect the concerns of Pacific leaders in the delays in release of funds for financing Climate Change and also to recognise that climate change related impacts are already occurring and that assistance is urgently required.
The President of Kiribati also put forward a proposal to the SIS meeting to recommend that the Small Island States put forward stronger language to international talks on Climate Change issues. President Tong said that he had attended many international meetings regarding the COP discussion and is concerned that most of the language is about prevention with little recognition that work needs to be done now to address existing issues for many small island states. He is concerned that the International Committee seems to view Climate change as a mid level importance when Kiribati and other small island states view climate change work as urgent and impacts already at “extreme” levels, and that the small island states need to reiterate language that is reflective of this in the communiqué from the SIS.
He urged the small island states to mobilise now to deliver for the Durban COP17 talks in Nov-Dec this year to ensure that issues are attended to urgently including the need to address the release of funds for Climate change.
Punanga Tauturu believes that government and NGO delegations to COP17 and the Earth Summit in Rio+20 in July next year must support the meaningful participation of Pacific women, young people and Indigenous groups working on issues of gender, economic and ecological justice and human rights.
A recent statement by women advocates from across Pacific states indicated that the Pacific needs “policies and programs that empower communities, families and individuals, rather then exposing us to market assault and the changes in climate that affect land, livelihoods, handicrafts, indigenous medicines, staple food, symbolic wealth and our caring social relationships that include women’s informal networks of mutual support.” [2]
For more information: Kairangi Samuela, Punanga Tauturu Inc, Email: kairangi.samuel@gmail.com
Source: DAWN/Punanga Tauturu Inc.
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[1]
Kairangi Samuela is a DAWN Regional Training Institute alumnaand GEEJ network member. Kairangi acknowledges travel support by Dr Yvonne Underhill-Sem, Centre for Development Studies, University of Auckland and DAWN GEEJ Pacific network member. NZAID is an important core funder of Punanga Tauturu Inc.
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GEEJ Pacific Input into the UNCSD Sub-Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Pacific (Samoa, 2011 Jul 20-21)
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Statement on Gender, Economic and Ecological Justice by Young Women Activists from Latin America and the Caribbean
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Declaración de Montevideo de jóvenes feministas activistas de América Latina y el Caribe (Marzo 2011)
Nosotras, jóvenes feministas activistas de América Latina y el Caribe nos reunimos en Montevideo, Uruguay entre los días 18 y 21 de marzo del 2011 en la Consulta Regional y Capacitación para el Fortalecimiento e Incidencia en justicia de género, económica y ecológica convocada por Alternativas para el Desarrollo de las Mujeres en la Nueva Era (DAWN) y la Oficina de Educación y Género (GEO) del Consejo Internacional de Educación de Personas Adultas (ICAE). En este espacio construimos colectivamente la siguiente declaración:
Reconocemos la realidad dinámica y compleja de nuestra región, donde coexisten gobiernos neoliberales y progresistas, donde los derechos humanos y particularmente los de las mujeres han sido limitados por fuerzas conservadoras, y donde las desigualdades materiales continúan ampliándose entre géneros, raza/etnias, y clases.
Reconocemos que el actual modelo imperante de crecimiento y desarrollo basado en la mano invisible del mercado que la mayoría de nuestros gobiernos conoce, practica y promueve, ha fracasado. Rechazamos estos modelos que se basan en el extractivismo y los patrones de producción y consumo actuales, que no contemplan una visión integrada del desarrollo, sino que por el contrario, profundizan las desigualdades sociales y la insostenibilidad ambiental. Estos son a su vez, modelos heteronormativos, racistas y colonialistas entre cuyas consecuencias económicas se manifiesta la discriminación laboral, la falta de acceso a la seguridad social y a una educación de calidad por parte de personas afrodescendientes, indígenas, migrantes, homosexuales, lesbianas, transexuales e intersexuales. Las crisis sistémicas en nuestra región ocurren en un contexto de profunda disparidad entre el Norte y el Sur globales, cuyo telón de fondo es la división internacional del trabajo históricamente injusta, que se refleja en la división sexual del trabajo de la economía global de los cuidados.
Resistimos la financiarización, mercantilización y privatización de la naturaleza y condenamos el uso y difusión de las tecnologías que ponen en peligro el bienestar de la Madre Tierra, y que son una falsa solución a la crisis climática. Estas incluyen: los agrocombustibles, los organismos genéticamente modificados, la nanotecnología y la geoingeniería, así como los mecanismos de reducción de emisiones por deforestación y degradación (REED+[1]), las plantaciones de monocultivos y otros megaproyectos. También rechazamos el desarrollo y generación de energía nuclear que no representa una solución a la reducción de gases de efecto invernadero y que por el contrario ostentan un riesgo serio para la subsistencia de todas las formas de vida en el planeta.
Creemos que el contexto anteriormente mencionado exige una reformulación radical de las políticas y prácticas de desarrollo. En la medida en que la calidad de la democracia depende de la participación igualitaria entre mujeres y hombres, incluyendo la participación de las y los jóvenes en los espacios de toma de decisión, nosotras jóvenes activistas feministas de América Latina y el Caribe proponemos el siguiente plan de acción de 12 puntos:
1.Exigimos que los gobiernos garanticen la participación activa de mujeres y jóvenes en los procesos de búsqueda de un nuevo modelo de desarrollo que de respuestas a las diversas problemáticas que hoy tenemos que enfrentar producto de las crisis financiera, política, climática, alimentaria, energética y de cuidados. Esta participación es crítica para el fortalecimiento de la autonomía y libertad de los pueblos para definir su presente y futuro.
2.Exigimos a nuestros gobiernos el reconocimiento constitucional de los Derechos Económicos, Sociales, Culturales y Ecológicos, y la creación de los mecanismos idóneos para su justiciabilidad. Además, demandamos una política social integral que redistribuya equitativamente el poder, los recursos, los ingresos y los servicios, atendiendo las diferencias de sexo, etnia, raza, clase, orientación sexual, generacional, discapacidad y creencias.
3.Reafirmamos la importancia de la Plataforma de Acción de Beijing (1995) y el Consenso de Quito[2] (2007) que han sido producto de las luchas de las mujeres por la justicia. Exigimos la formulación de políticas nacionales y mecanismos para su cumplimiento.
4.Exigimos el reconocimiento y la cuantificación del trabajo de las mujeres en todas las modalidades (remuneradas formales e informales, precarias y no remuneradas), valorando el aporte significativo de las mujeres al sistema económico así como a su propia calidad de vida y dignidad.
5.Demandamos el acceso universal a la seguridad social, el desarrollo de servicios públicos de cuidados para niñas, niños, jóvenes y personas adultas mayores sin importar su orientación sexual, así como la ejecución de políticas dirigidas a la redistribución equitativa del trabajo remunerado y no remunerado entre mujeres y varones.
6.Exigimos el reconocimiento de las familias homoparentales en los sistemas estadísticos nacionales y las políticas públicas de la región.
7.Exigimos la plena vigencia de los Estados Laicos, el reconocimiento y la garantía de la salud y los Derechos Sexuales y Derechos Reproductivos, así como la despenalización y legalización del aborto, para el ejercicio pleno de los derechos de las mujeres a tomar decisiones libres e informadas sobre su maternidad y evitar las muertes por abortos clandestinos.
8.Exigimos el cumplimiento por parte de los gobiernos de la CEDAW[3], la Convención de “Belem Do Pará”[4] y la Convención y protocolos de Palermo[5], como mecanismos de prevención y erradicación de todo tipo de discriminación, desigualdad y violencia hacia la mujer. Los gobiernos deben prestar especial atención al combate de la trata y tráfico de mujeres, y del feminicidio. Los altos índices en la región de estas problemáticas demuestran la falta de voluntad política para combatir estas realidades que afectan la vida de niñas y mujeres. Los gobiernos deben también garantizar la erradicación de todo tipo de violencia y fundamentalismos, basados en ideas misóginas, homofóbicas, lesbofóbicas, transfóbicas asegurando la integridad y autonomía de los cuerpos, especialmente los de las mujeres.
9.Demandamos la creación de un Tribunal de Justicia Climática de América Latina y el Caribe que establezca responsabilidades por las consecuencias del cambio climático y la deuda ecológica incurrida por los países desarrollados , y que incluya programas de financiamiento para las comunidades más afectadas, priorizando a las mujeres.
10.Nosotras afirmamos que nuestro planeta es un ente vivo con derechos y espíritu y en éste sentido, hacemos un llamado para el diálogo ciudadano a fin de construir colectivamente el principio del “Buen Vivir” como alternativa necesaria para lograr el respeto por los derechos humanos de los pueblos en armonía con los derechos de la Madre Tierra.
11.Convocamos a movilizarnos y actuar contra la militarización, las políticas armamentistas-imperialistas, gobiernos dictatoriales y a solidarizarnos con las crisis sociales, ambientales y humanitarias, para el pleno respecto de los derechos humanos de los pueblos, especialmente de Honduras, Haití y Japón.
12.Hacemos un llamado al diálogo y la articulación entre movimientos sociales, en particular con las mujeres jóvenes en toda su diversidad para participar e incidir en los procesos políticos, sociales, económicos y ambientales, a nivel local y regional.
Montevideo Declaration of Young Feminist Activists from Latin America and the Caribbean (March 2011)
We, the young feminist activists from across Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in Montevideo, Uruguay from the 18th to 21st of March 2011 for a Regional Consultation and Training Institute on Gender, Economic, and Ecological Justice convened by Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and the Gender Education Office (GEO) of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE). In this space we collectively developed the following declaration:
We recognize the dynamic and complex reality of our region, where neoliberal and progressive governments coexist, where human rights, particularly those of women, have been constrained by conservative forces, and where material disparities across gender, race, ethnicity and class continue to widen.
We recognize the failure of the prevailing growth and development models, driven by the invisible hand of the market that the majority of our governments practice and promote. We reject these models based on extractive-ism and the current production and consumption patterns that do not contemplate an integral vision of development but on the contrary, deepen social inequalities and undermine environmental sustainability. These are hetero-normative, racist and colonialist models among whose economic consequences are labor discrimination, lack of access to social security and quality education for persons of African descent, indigenous people, migrants, homosexuals, lesbians, transgender and intersex persons. The systemic crises in our region is happening in a wider context of deep disparity between the global North and South based on a historically unfair international division of labor and reflected in the sexual division of labor of the global care economy.
We reject the mercantilism and privatization of nature and condemn the use and dissemination of technologies that endanger the welfare of Mother Earth and are false solutions to the climate crisis. These include agrofuels, genetically modified organisms, nanotechnology and geo-engineering, as well as mechanisms for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+[6]), monoculture plantations and other mega-projects. We also reject the development and generation of nuclear energy, which does not present a solution to reducing greenhouse gases and instead poses a serious threat to the survival of all life forms on our planet.
We believe that the afore-mentioned context demands a radical reformulation of development policies and practices. As evidence shows the quality of democracy depends on equal participation of women and men, including the youth, in all aspects of decision-making. We young feminist activists from across Latin America and the Caribbean therefore call for the following 12-point action plan:
1.We demand that our governments ensure the meaningful participation of women and young people in designing new development models that address the diverse problems we face stemming from the financial, political, climate, food, energy, and care crisis. Such participation is critical in strengthening peoples’ autonomy and freedom to define their present and their future.
2.We demand that our governments constitutionally recognize Economic, Social, Cultural and Ecological Rights and create mechanisms to enact them. We further demand an integral social policy that equitably redistributes power, resources, income and services taking into account gender differences across ethnicity, race, class, sexual orientation, generation, ability and belief.
3.We reaffirm the importance of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the Quito Consensus[7] (2007), both hard won gains of women’s movements struggle for justice. We demand compliance through the formulation of national policies and mechanisms .
4.We demand the recognition and quantification of women’s work in all its modalities (formal and informal remunerated, precarious and non-remunerated), giving value to women’s significant contribution to the economic system as well as to their quality of life and dignity.
5.We demand universal access to social security, development of public services for children, youth and the elderly, regardless of their sexual orientation, as well as the execution of policies focused on the equitable redistribution of paid and unpaid work between women and men.
6.We demand recognition of homo-parental families in the national statistical systems and the public policies of the region.
7.We demand full respect for the secular state, the recognition and guarantee of sexual and reproductive rights and health as well as the decriminalization and legalization of abortion, thereby affirming women’s right to make free and informed choices and preventing deaths due to clandestine abortions.
8.We demand government compliance with the CEDAW[8], the Convention of “Belem Do Pará”[9] and the Convention and Protocols of Palermo[10], as mechanisms to prevent and eradicate all forms of discrimination, inequality and violence against women. Governments must give special attention to combating the trafficking of women and femicide. The high rates of these problems in the region show the lack of political will to fight these realities that threaten the lives of girls and women. Governments must also fully guarantee the elimination of all forms of violence and fundamentalisms based on misogynist, homophobic, lesbian phobic, trans-phobic ideas, insuring the integrity and autonomy of the body, especially that of women.
9.We demand the creation of a Climate Justice Tribunal for Latin America and the Caribbean that establishes responsibilities for the consequences of climate change and the ecological debt incurred by developed countries including financing programs in communities most affected, giving priority to women.
10.We affirm that our planet is a living entity with rights and spirit and in this regard, we call for citizen dialogues to collectively construct the principle of “buen vivir” (good living) as a necessary alternative that respects the human rights of peoples in harmony with the rights of Mother Earth.
11.We call for mobilization against militarisation, imperialist arms policies and dictatorial governments, and form solidarity around issues of social , environmental and humanitarian crises with full respect for peoples’ human rights, especially in Honduras, Haiti and Japan.
12.We call for greater dialogue and articulation among social movements, particularly among young women in all their diversity to participate and influence the political, social, economic, and ecological processes, at local, regional and global levels.
Las siguientes mujeres jóvenes activistas feministas de América Latina y el Caribe elaboraron esta declaración / The following young feminist activists from across Latin America and the Caribbean developed this Declaration:
Areli Fraga, Centro de Apoyo para el Movimiento de Occidente, REPEM, México
Carolina Cerveira, REPEM, Brasil
Diana Senior, Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica
Florencia Partenio, Universidad de Buenos Aires/CEIL, Argentina
Gabriela Pedetti, Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre el Desarrollo, Uruguay
Giovanna Modé, Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación, Brasil
Herlinda Villareal, REPEM, Colombia
Marcela Moreno, Centros de Estudios de la Mujer, Chile
Marianela Carvajal, Repúblika Libre, República Dominicana
Martha Rico, Centro Flora Tristán, Perú
Masaya Llavaneras, Maestría en Estudios de la Mujer, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela
Nicole Bidegain, International Council for Adult Education, Uruguay
Rafaela García, Comuna Canaria, Uruguay
Rocío Salas, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Perú
Verónica Salinas, Campaña Boliviana por el Derecho a la Educación, Bolivia
Feminist, gender equality, social justice and human rights organisations: To add your organisational support to this statement, please send your name and work role, full name of organisation, and contact details to email/Para adherir a esta declaracion enviar un correa a: info@dawnnet.org or noelene@dawnnet.org. Please also indicate if contact details can be published online at the DAWN website.
We welcome additional support sign-ons until September 30, 2011. Additional signatures will be updated online.
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[1] REDD+ es un mecanismo propuesto para mitigar el cambio climático. Busca reducir las emisiones de GEI mediante el pago a las naciones en desarrollo para que detengan la tala de sus bosques; incluyendo a ello, el potencial de conservación, el manejo forestal y el aumento de reservorios de carbono en ellos. Este mecanismo es una estrategia que apoya la mercantilización de los bosques y el carbono, permitiendo a los países desarrollados continuar con las emisiones a través de sus grandes industrias y transnacionales.
[2] Consenso de Quito, Décima Conferencia Regional sobre la Mujer de América Latina y el Caribe. CEPAL.
[3]Convención sobre la Eliminación de Todas las Formas de Discriminación contra la Mujer. 1979, Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas.
[4] Convención Interamericana para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia contra la Mujer. 1994, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, OEA.
[5] Convención de las Naciones Unidas contra la Delincuencia Organizada Trasnacional. 2000.
[6] REDD+ is a proposed mechanism to mitigate climate change. It looks to reduce GEI emissions through payment to developing nations to deter deforestation which includes the potential for conservation, management of forests and to increase the number of carbon reserves. This mechanism is a strategy that supports the merchandising of forests and carbon foot-prints, allowing developing nations to continue emissions through its large industries and multinational corporations.
[7] The Quito Consensus, 10th Regional conference on Women in Latin America and the Carribean. (CEPAL). A consensus agreement adopted by 33 governments at the 10th session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in 2007.
[8] Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979, United Nations General Assembly.
[9]Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women, 1994, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,, OAS.
[10] United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. 2000.
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Letter of Concern from Pacific Gender, Economic & Environment Justice Workshop participants
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On the status of the Pacific Regional Office of UN Women, and non-renewal of contract of incumbent UN Women Pacific Office Regional Programme Director, Ms. Elizabeth Cox
To: Ms. Michelle Bachelet, Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
Cc: Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General for Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships, UN Women; John Hendra, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy and Programme, UN Women
Dear Ms Bachelet,
We are writing to you as participants of the recent Pacific Gender, Economic & Environment Justice Workshop. This consultation* in September 2010 in Suva, Fiji brought together representatives from Pacific governments, regional institutions and civil society, including young and local women advocates, researchers, academics and social/media commentators. It was jointly convened by Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG), with the support of the UN Women Pacific Office and Global Fund for Women.
We are extremely concerned to hear that there are plans for non-renewal of the contract of incumbent UN Women Regional Programme Director (RPD), Ms. Elizabeth Cox and further that there may be plans to downgrade the level of UN Women presence in the Pacific, including perhaps the appointment of an Officer in Charge (OIC) rather than a RPD from May 2011.
We are writing to firstly express our utmost confidence in Elizabeth Cox, to acknowledge both her remarkable leadership as Regional Programme Director of UN Women and her invaluable contribution to generally advancing gender equality and human rights work in the Pacific, and to urge your office to renew her contract as UN Women Pacific Regional Programme Director.
We also bring to your attention the importance of UN Women in the region at this particular time and call for increased resources and visible support for the work of the UN Women Pacific Office. We urge that, at the very minimum, the UN Women regional mechanism retains the current level of on-the-ground presence in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Kiribati and the Northern Pacific and that consideration be given to expanding its presence, to cover other Pacific Island states.
At our recent consultation on Gender, Economic and Ecological Justice (GEEJ) in the Pacific region in September 2010, the UN Women Pacific team assisted organisers of this regional consultation bringing together key regional government policymakers, regional institutions and civil society to strengthen and deepen urgent inter-linkage work relying on the leadership of global South women in regionalized and South-South processes of development debates and alternative policies. The UN Women Pacific Office was fully engaged during the development process and staff helped in strategic and practical ways throughout the regional consultation and training institute. They were key partners in its success. This was just one visible example of the involvement and effectiveness of the UN Women Pacific office under the leadership of Elizabeth Cox.
Since she became Regional Progamme Director in 2006, Elizabeth Cox has brought her keen understanding of the region, her long years of grassroots experience and her skills in conceptualising results-oriented programmes to the position to build UNIFEM Pacific into an office that was fulfilling its mandate under the UNIFEM Strategic Plan (2008-2011) and is now poised to fulfil the new mandate of UN Women. She has transformed a formerly ineffectual UNIFEM regional office into a credible office that works to support advocacy for gender equality and women’s rights in the region through innovative programme interventions, that has overseen the development and implementation of a now well-known and widely accessed EVAW Facility Fund, and that is represented at all strategic engagements in the region involving governments, donors and civil society organizations.
At this time of multiple and interlinked crises, an active women’s movement in the Pacific is critical to ensuring that development and human rights are prioritised in regional government responses to crises. Under Elizabeth Cox’s leadership the UN Women Pacific office has played an important role in both supporting women’s advocacy and bringing together diverse actors in different arenas. We are determined that this should continue.
There are many visible programmatic gains and these will no doubt be reflected in further letters from the region. What is absolutely clear to all signatories here is that the leadership of Elizabeth Cox in the period between 2006 and 2011 has been effective, transparent, ethical and stable and has allowed the women’s movement here to function in the face of major regional and global civil and political, economic, social and cultural challenges –in a way that has not been previously possible.
There is a growing consensus in the region that we require equal and differentiated attention from UN Women work in Asia, and we are concerned that this has not been adequately demonstrated under the leadership of the current Asia-Pacific office. If there are to be any criticisms as to Pacific deliverables, the focus should begin in an examination of structural issues linking the Asia-Pacific and Pacific offices to the management set-up of the previous UNIFEM-NY Head Office, not with the UN Women Pacific office that has increased effective implementation and representation of Pacific women’s issues despite a clear lack of support and resources from the wider regional office.
In line with the key priority areas of work for UN Women** we specifically request the following. In relation to:
1) Expansion of women’s voice, leadership and participation: A full review of the UN Women leadership in the Asia-Pacific office to ensure that sub-regions such as the Pacific are fully reflected in all programmatic design and development, and that the views of Pacific governments, institutions and civil society (and in particular national and regional women’s civil society networks) be included in such assessment; Also increased recognition and support for the existing UN Women Pacific office programme on Gender Equality in Political Governance which is active now in most countries in the region including at the highest levels of government in PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and with extensive civil society participation;
2) Ending violence against women: Increased recognition and support for the work of the Pacific Islands Forum Reference Group to Address Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), the Pacific Women’s Network to End Violence against Women, and recognition of the contributions of UN Women Pacific to their work and to the UN Women Pacific Facility Fund to End Violence against Women;
3) Enhancing women’s economic empowerment; Increased recognition and support for UN Women Pacific regional work including extensive participatory research on women and the informal economy, and an innovative project on rural women and markets in PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji;
4) Ensuring gender priorities are reflected in national plans and budgets, including capacity to support CEDAW reporting: Increased recognition and support of UN Women Pacific’s key input into CEDAW implementation and reporting support alongside partners such as Pacific governments, regional institutions such as the Regional Rights Resource Team at the Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC), and with key national women’s rights NGOs and networks.
The signatories of this letter express the hope that the momentum that is steadily building in the Pacific region on work to address interlinkages between gender, economic and ecological justice and rights can continue to call on the valuable support of a strengthened UN Women, and in particular the UN Women Pacific Office, under the continuing leadership of Elizabeth Cox.
Signed:
Claire Slatter,
Board Chair,
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN),
Fiji
Kairangi Samuela,
Manager,
Cook Islands Women’s Counselling Centre,
Cook Islands
Maureen Penjueli
Coordinator
Pacific Network on Globalisation
Suva, Fiji
Rosa Koian,
Bismarck Ramu Group,
Madang,
Papua New Guinea
Ender Naomi Rence,
Minana Communication Officer,
Honiara, Solomon Islands
Peni Moore
WAC Creative Director,
Women’s Action for Change (WAC),
Suva, Fiji
Dr Yvonne Underhill-Sem,
Director, Centre for Development Studies, University of Auckland,
Past Regional Co-ordinator (Pacific) for DAWN (1998-2008),
Cook Islands/ New Zealand.
Lice Cokanasiga,
Campaign Assistant,
Pacific Network on Globalisation
Suva, Fiji
Michelle Kopi,
Postgraduate Student,
University of Bradford, UK
Papua New Guinea
Professor Vijay Naidu
Director, Development Studies
Head, School of Government, Development and International Affairs (SGDIA)
Faculty of Business and Economics
University of the South Pacific,
Suva, Fiji
Noelene Nabulivou,
Management Collective Member,
Women’s Action for Change (WAC), Fiji.
Also, DAWN Associate - GEEJ/Rio+20
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
Fiji/Australia
*Participants were from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Kiribati, Tonga, Australia and New Zealand and they worked with feminist facilitators from the economic south including Fiji/Rotuma, Cook Islands/NZ, Madagascar, India and the Philippines.
**Speech delivered by Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet during the UN Women Launch Celebration held in the General Assembly Hall at UN Headquarters on 24 February 2011.
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ADDITIONAL SIGNATORIES
James Zamora
Muslim Xtian and Indigenous Peoples Alliance
Cotabato Mindanao Philippines
Support group to the GRP MNLF Peace Process
Dr. Thanh-Dam Truong
Women/Gender and Development Studies
International Institute of Social Studies
Erasmus University of Rotterdam
Roshni Sami
Board Member
Fiji Women’s Rights Movement
Fiji
Kris Prasad
President
Drodrolagi Movement
Fiji
Sima Chand
Management Collective Member
Women’s Action for Change (WAC)
Fiji
Arietta Tuitoga
Women's Project Officer
Rainbow Women's Network
Fiji
Cynara Teresa Mackenzie
Fiji
Professor Shirley Randell AO, PhD, FACE, FAIM, FAICD
Director, Centre for Gender, Culture and Development
Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) Rwanda
Consuelo Prado
University Autonoma of Madrid
Robyn Slarke,
Current Donald Groom Fellow
Past Dunlop Asia Fellow
Foundation Manager & Former Executive Director
Magabala Books, First Aboriginal Publishing House
Dianne Goodwillie
Consultant and Former Canada Fund Co-ordinator
Queensland
Ruth Lechte
Retired Pacific Area Director of Energy and Environment
Co-ordinator, World YWCA
Barry Coates
Executive Director
Oxfam New Zealand
Ms Jean Kekedo CSM, OBE
Women's Right Advocate
Papua New Guinea
Jaclyn Louise Bonnici
Aotearoa New Zealand
Dr. Betty McLellan
Chairperson
Queensland Women's Health Network
Australia
Ms Savina Nongebatu
Solomon Islands
Ms IIlisapeci Namuaira-Juita
Lautoka, Fiji
SOQOSOQO VAKAMARAMA NI YASANA O BA
SSV Ba is an arm of the Ba Provincial Council to handle and address all women-issues of the Province of Ba. It concerns itself in empowering the iTaukei women of Ba economically, socially, politically and technologically.
Rogorogoivuda House
Lautoka
Fiji
Alison Aggarwal
Australia
Liane Timmermann
Organizer
MillionWomenRiseCymru
UK/Wales
For more information please contact: Noelene Nabulivou, Email: noelenen@gmail.com
GEEJ Pacific and Africa Discussions are available at DAWN Informs December 2010 Issue
For more information on GEEJ, click HERE
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Combined Statements by Young Women Activists from the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean on Gender, Economic and Ecological Justice
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Click DOWNLOAD to view combined statements on gender, economic and ecological justice by feminist alumni of the DAWN GEEJ Training Institutes in Pacific, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean regions.
For individual statements, click the corresponding category:
GEEJ Pacific Statement
GEEJ Africa Statement
GEEJ Latin America and Caribbean Statement
GEEJ Pacific and Africa discussions are available at DAWN Informs December 2010 Issue
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