UNITED NATIONS ­ Ten women in their early 20s bound their hands with paper chains then broke these free, while their colleagues unfurled banners with various messages.

The banners carried these words: “I’m not living, just surviving”; “I’m forced to abandon my education”; “They don’t remunerate my work.” After that, some of their colleagues brought out sheets imprinted with these messages “Youth for women rights” and “We support the Beijing Platform for Action.”

The sheets bore the hand imprints of the protesters, who then broke out in song (“The right to choose is the right to life” was the main line.”) But youth angst was far from the minds of these women, who came from Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

They are simply expressing their support for the delegates to the Special Session on Women 2000 that is ongoing until Friday. Their demonstration coincided with the meeting organized by representatives of nongovernment organizations who are attending the conference, a special session to review the gains and obstacles for gender equality five years after the Fourth International Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995.

Some 10,000 delegates from 188 member countries and close to 3,000 NGOs are attending the conference, also known as Beijing Plus 5, with the theme: “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century.”

The assembly of young adults is part of the activities of a group called “Youth for Women Rights” that was created during the session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 2000. The group is composed of three networks - the Latin American and the Caribbean Youth Network, the Youth Coalition for ICPD+5 and NAPY ­Network of Asia and the Pacific Youth-), the CSW and Beijing+5 Youth Caucus, as well as other independent youth women from over 60 countries around the world.

One of the organizers, Diana Fuster, a member of the Latin American and the Caribbean Youth Network, said “the activity aims to demonstrate that the rights of women are not respected on our countries”.

Fuster, who works in the NGO Colectiva Feminista Pancha Carrasco in Costa Rica, said their performance aims to express a positive message that through solidarity “women can liberate the chains that kept us captured, empower ourselves and promote human rights.” (Isis International/Manila-Global Women’s Media Team*)

*The Global Women's Media Team (GWMT) for the UN General Assembly Session to Review the Beijing Platform for Action is composed of NGO women and women journalists from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. The GWMT is coordinated by Isis International-Manila and generously supported by UNIFEM-East and Southeast Asia, UNIFEM-South Asia, Canadian International Development Agency-Southeast Asia Gender Equity Programme, UNDP-Latin America and the Caribbean, UNDP-Monglolia, British High Commission in Vanuatu, Foundation for Sustainable Society, Inc., National Centre for Cooperation in Development (NCOS-Pilipinas), Women Action and the World Council of Churches.