• Editorial
• Appropriate ICTs
• Interview
• NGO Caucus
• NGO Activities NGO-speaker for Italian delegation
• Resources WomenAction for Alternative National Reports
• WA 2000 Team

Editorial

The 44th UN CSW meetings represent a last major opportunity for NGOs to make their voices heard before June. The Special Session on Beijing +5 of the UN General Assembly will not be a World Conference on Women and there will be no parallel NGO Forum. Like many other NGOs, WomenAction2000 will be very active during the coming three weeks. One of our activities is the Daily Bulletin, available Monday through Friday at the Opening Session. Background information will be made available on the WomenAction web site (http://www.womenaction.org). The information we receive from you will be made available to a large global audience through this resource. In addition to the Daily Bulletin, we will produce the Weekly News: analyzing the progress of the meetings and the main themes and emerging issues, covering events and promoting NGO-sponsored activities.

Secondly, WomenAction invites you to visit the Internet Café on the 12th floor of the Church Center, co-organized by WomenAction and CONGO. Not only can you link up with colleagues at home but you are encouraged exploit this technology to enhance your participation at the CSW. From March 6th to 10th we will link up with the Global Knowledge II conference taking place in Kuala Lumpur. Finally, WomenAction 2000 will play an active role in the NGO Media Caucus and will disseminate an alternative assessment on Section J in the course of the first week.
WomenAction 2000

Appropriate ICTs

APC- Africa-Women is undertaking research on the changes in African women's use of ICTs since the Fourth UNWCW. Colleen Lowe Morna is conducting interviews at the CSW with African women NGO representatives. The research will be launched at the B+5 Review in June. It forms part of a holistic APC-A-W's program of activities related to the B+5 process in Africa and internationally. The research will have a strong focus on the practical impact and applications of ICT's using examples and case studies wherever possible.

Methodologies include a literature review, drawing on online and offline resources; participation in, and analyses of online discussion forums eg Flamme; E Mail interviews as well as face to face and phone interviews.
More information at http://flamme.org.

Interview - Reasonably satisfied

Patricia Flor finished her term as Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women today. Previously head of the German delegation, she had been elected to the commission with a two year mandate. The most difficult negotiation during this period was the additional protocol of CEDAW, the agreement specifically combating discrimination against women. For Patricia Flor 'it's the very greatest success of this period'. CEDAW represents a legal international tool, ratified by more than 150 countries, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. It is a political victory. The problem remains that only the Security Council (male dominated - only 10 female delegates among its 189 members) can sanction countries that do not comply to UN agreements. CSW is a 'political authority' that verbally condemns certain practices or highlights specific negative situations and as such is an active lobbying instrument to encourage governments and United Nation to intervene. 'CSW creates the basis for political actions from governments', she insists.

Throughout her term as Chair, 'CSW gained more prominence'. Policy on the advancement of the position of women was mainstreamed. More links were developed with others committees, among others the Human Rights Commission and the Social and Economic Council. Because of its strategy of 'opening to a larger audience' CSW earned visibility.

While the Beijing Platform for Action proved difficult to survey and implement, the CSW developed as a concrete new working instrument.

Patricia Flor will continue to work as PrepCom vice-Chair until the Beijing+5 Conference in June, after which she will return to her previous job in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Berlin. 'The task of PrepCom isn't easy. We have to attend to new trends, identify obstacles'. But the biggest point is what to do after June. Are there new topics to define? Are there new ways of working to invent? 'Everything must be clarified inside the UN system', she says. The future of the CSW resides in how it justifies its existence: through mainstreaming and through gender expertise.
Joelle Palmieri, WomenAction 2000

NGO Caucus

Women and the media

The Caucus on Women and Media met on February 27, with the objective of formulating consensus proposals and integrating them in the CSW meeting which began today at the UN. The Caucus will discuss issues such as the cultural and geo-economic divisions which limit women's access to technology, and the common obstacles that all women in media face throughout the world in their efforts to promote women in decision-making in media, to counteract the stereotypes of women's images in media and to give women a voice. It will also discuss strategies to generate resources for development of projects for women in media and women-owned media and legislation needed for women to have access to the airwaves in radio and television. It will design and implement strategies to influence the official documents of the evaluation process of the PFA, including implementation and expansion of Chapter J, and inclusion of media as an overarching issue in Part IV of the Outcomes Document entitled, "Actions and Initiatives to Overcome Obstacles and to Achieve the Full and Accelerated Implementation of the Beijing PFA".
The Caucus will continue to meet daily at 2pm, 3rd floor, Church Center.

Armed Conflict Caucus

Armed Conflict Caucus will prepare an NGO statement for 28th February Plenary to be circulated by morning of Tuesday for incorporation in their intervention through the Asia-Pacific Regional Caucus. (see http://www.womenaction.org). Comments for the draft accepted during morning of 28th. A small drafting group will look into L-1/Rev.1 for line-by-line input. The Caucus will meet everyday from 2:15 - 3:00pm, and the room to be posted in Room B.

Youth Caucus

Youth caucus was chaired by Shireen Lee (shireen_lee@yahoo.com), about 20 women attended. It was agreed to prepare a rather general statement for NGO intervention on Tuesday 29th to indicate why young women need to be addressed specifically. Working group prepares statement and decides on spokesperson. Platform to address young women's issues to be formulated next Monday March 6th. Youth caucus will meet every day this week at 1:30 p.m., same place (conference room 1).

Poverty Caucus

Caucus agreed to keep meeting at 3.15pm but place of meeting will be changed. Please check notice posted in conference room B for new place. Caucus participants began sharing of grassroots women's programs and strategies.

NGO Activities - NGO-speaker for Italian delegation

28 February 2000 - The Italian NGO representative Barbara Terenzi Calamai of AIDOS delivered today on behalf of the Italian delegation a speech in the session "Comprehensive Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Platform for Action". This year the NGO representation was expanded to include a larger number of NGOs as Italy recognizes the importance of the role played by civil society in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

The Italian NGOs have been working in emergency situations in Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, Palestine, Somalia and Central America. They have fostered North-South co-operation, have set up empowerment initiatives by and for immigrant women, they have developed capacity-building courses for women who wish to be involved in politics.

She called for wider NGO participation in the Special Session and the convening of a 5th World Conference on Women as a natural forum for innovative partnerships between governments and civil society.

Resources - WomenAction for Alternative National Reports

The following alternative national reports are available on the European WomenAction 2000 website Albania; Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Canada; Czech Republic; Denmark; Finland; Germany; Ireland; Moldova; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russian Federation; Slovak Republic; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Ukraine; United Kingdom; United States (through US Women Connect site); Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).

WA 2000 Team

Women Action Daily News production team: K. Banks, V. Berroa, B. Finke, I. Leon, S. Masters, Y. Matsumoto, J. Palmieri, L. Pugh, J. Small.

WomenAction is a global information, communication and media network that enables NGOs to actively engage in the Beijing+5 review process with the long term goal of women's empowerment, with a special focus on women and media.

This newsletter is made possible through generous financial support from WomenWatch, the Swiss Development Agency and the Shaler Adams Foundation.