Beijing +15 ECE Regional Review Meeting; challenges remain

On 2-3 November the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) organized the Beijing +15 Regional Review Meeting, bringing together government and UN representatives as well as civil society organizations to discuss progress and challenges regarding the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in the region.

On the first day of the meeting, most countries from in and outside the region, as well as NGO networks, opted to present a statement. In particular, representatives of governments were putting emphasis on their achievements in regard to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration, varying from increased political and economic women’s participation, the creation of institutional mechanisms for gender equality, as well as increased legislation to protect women from violence or from any kind of discrimination. However, all also emphasized that a lot still remains to be done, especially in terms of implementation.

Referring to the Regional Review Report of Progress (ECE/AC.28/2009/4), the Executive-Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe, Ján Kubiš, noted that the countries in the ECE region show quite a lot of diversity regarding the implementation of the Beijing Declaration, but also unity in aspects such as progress in criminalizing violence against women, combating poverty among women and stimulating women’s economic participation by creating employment opportunities. In addition he recognized four main challenges:

  There is a systematic lack of applying gender-budgeting; too often gender-budgeting occurs on an "ad hoc" basis;

  Horizontal segregation of the labour market continues. Although the gender gap in employment has narrowed, the gap in unequal pay and in decency of work remains and needs to be addressed;

  There is still the need to include gender in social protection, in pension benefits, and to recognize their contribution to society in terms of unpaid care work;

  And finally, the biggest challenge is to implement existing legislation, in particular regarding violence against women.

He also stressed the need for adequate statistics, as statistics allow for making the gender gap visible.

From the various statements made at the meeting, it became clear that the promotion and implementation of the Beijing Declaration demands a multi-stakeholder approach. The representative from Albania recognized the importance of the NGO community to push for the development of gender policies. And although gender equality seems to be an issue promoted by women, the representative of Norway referred to the "inclusion of men" in gender equality debates, and in "shared parenthood," which can diminish the burden of women in their unpaid care work. He also stressed the need for political will and underlined that political will is a measure of necessity. The importance of the private sector was noted by participants who stressed that gender equality should be mainstreamed within business and corporations.

Surprisingly, the economic crisis was hardly mentioned in these national statements. The emphasis was rather put on what had been achieved, but the continuity of these achievements was not being questioned. And although some countries did, little attention was given to cross-border issues, such as trade, migration, official development assistance (ODA), conditioned financial support and indebtedness and their impacts on the fiscal and policy space of States to design gender-sensitive policies.

During the panel discussions that followed, however, these issues were mentioned. The first two panel discussions focussed on “Gender-sensitive economic policies in the context of the economic and financial crisis” and included various speakers. Speakers noted that the crisis is affecting women more severely than men, not necessarily in job losses (as both men and women are affected in this case, although in different sectors of the economy), but by increasing women’s care burden, and limiting their access to services and social protection. The crisis means less money for governments to spend, often resulting in regressive taxation, less investments in (social) infrastructure or basic services, such as health care and education.

Barbara Adams, Senior Advisor of the Global Policy Forum, drew attention to the risks and opportunities of the financial crisis for gender-equality in the CEE/CIS region,* which is the region hardest hit by the crisis and the one that is expected to be the last to recover. She identified the lack of a sustainable debt workout mechanism and the decline in national resources as major risks. Like mentioned above, less resources and increased debt generally mean a decrease in the fiscal and policy space of governments, as they have to search new resources through, for example, Standby Agreements with international financial institutions that are not necessarily in favour of countercyclical measures to fight the crisis, nor are gender-neutral. Only four of the ten countries in the CEE/CIS that have new conditional Standby Agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have partial countercyclical policies, but the majority seemed to be "business as usual" or procyclical. The example of the Standby Agreement between the IMF and the Ukraine, provided by Oksana Kisselyova, President of the Liberal Society Institute in the Ukraine, was especially striking in this regard.

Other panel discussions focussed on “gender and the corporate sector,” paying special attention to legislative and voluntary measures to stimulate gender equality at the work floor, initiatives to diminish the gender pay gap and microcredit for women. “New partnerships, networks and alliances for gender equality,” were also discussed, including the role of ODA, the World Bank, NGO cooperation and some experiences of UN agencies.

Below follows an overview of various statements made by civil society organizations during the intergovernmental process. Most recommendations in these statements are the result of joint efforts during the various Interactive Caucuses that were organized at the NGO Interactive Roundtables on the UN-ECE Beijing +15 Regional Review Meeting, held on 30-31 October. The caucuses included thematic as well as sub-regional perspectives. The final recommendations and statements from the NGO Roundtables can be downloaded here.

• Margot Baruch, Center for Women’s Global Leadership, represented civil society’s position from the North American sub region and other high income countries. Civil society called upon the United States to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). They also called upon the United States and the ECE countries to support the launch of the new gender equality entity, and to provide sufficient resources for its operations.

• A Regional Statement by NGOs of Eastern and South Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) argued that gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential in order to achieve equitable and effective development and to foster a vibrant economy. The financial and economic crisis, therefore, should not be an excuse for countries to backtrack on commitments regarding gender equality and poverty reduction, it underscored. They not only called for short-term, but also long-term measures to address the structural problems of the economy, including labour market segregation. Other issues raised were the need for expansionary and countercyclical fiscal policy; progressive taxation; decent job creation and retention through employment guarantee programs; minimum-wage regulations and equal pay; investments in physical and social infrastructure; support to vulnerable groups; re-balancing economic sectors; assuring food security; the protection of migrant workers through, for example, unemployment schemes in countries in origin and destination. They also called upon International Financial Institutions to take a gender perspective in loan approvals and debt servicing.

• The International Council of Women and the International Movement ATD Fourth World in a joint-statement drew attention to the need to review government legislation and socio-economic policies to reduce gender disparities; to ensure that poverty reduction policies and programmes reach those living in extreme poverty; and to involve women and girls in the development of more effective economic and social policies and programmes. The statement also included a call for the creation of new forms of governance and participation at local, national and international levels.

• Brigitte Triems presented a statement by Women’s NGOs from the European and CIS region. The statement acknowledged the significance of the impact of the current economic and financial crisis and therefore focused on the recovery packages proposed to overcome the crisis, while addressing existing deep gender inequalities. Key words in their statement were: continuous support and resourcing of existing institutional mechanisms for gender equality and women’s rights; increased commitments, job creation and retention; ensure a consistent gender equality dimension; a coordinated and multisectoral approach to end violence against women; human security and decisions on disarmament of all weapons; and guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health and rights.

• June Zeitlin, representing the GEAR Campaign, presented recommendations that focussed around “New partnerships, networks, and alliances for gender equality,” emphasizing the need for the creation of the new UN women’s rights entity. To this end, they urged the Secretary-General to stay committed to the timetable to have a report, including the mission statement and organizational arrangements, for the new gender entity by the end of 2009; and also called upon Member States to stay committed to the process.

• The European Women’s Lobby addressed various issues in their statement. They said the recession was a time for historical transformation, one in which gender equality should have a central role, especially because the crisis is not gender neutral. They also noted the multiple identities of women throughout their lives and that this should be taken into account while designing economic and social policies. Furthermore they raised issues such as the need for more equal sharing of family work and women’s protection, including women migrant workers.

• The Swedish Women’s Lobby addressed issues such as the trafficking of women, the need to decriminalize women working in prostitution, the criminalization of customers of these women and part-time work. In their view, for example, part-time work is not a solution; rather the focus should be on full-time jobs for women. They stressed that priority should be given to a rights-based approach to migration and displacement, and called upon Member States to create more political will to include civil society in decision-making processes.

• The interactive Caucus on Migrant and Displaced Women and Trafficking recommended that Member States of the ECE region should take measures to eliminate the economic exploitation of developing countries as that is one of the reasons why migration and trafficking occurs. Furthermore, they should condemn all forms of violence against women and put in place legislation that criminalizes the clients of women in prostitution and completely decriminalizes women in prostitution, as the caucus sees prostitution as a violation of women’s human right. Member States should take a rights-based approach to international migration and provide migrant and displaced women with access to proper documentation, adequate housing, the right to equal pay for equal work, education, health services and social protection, unemployment insurances and free legal assistance. Finally, governments should take proactive steps to condemn racist and discriminatory practices against migrant and displaced women.

• The contribution from the NGO caucus on minority women in the ECE region noted that the majority of minority women are still vicitims of marginalization and/or social exclusion. Therefore, they urge governments to development and implement impacts assesments on minority populations; to review existing legislation; to ensure the participation of minority women in the development of economic and social policies; to reach out to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups; to develop campaigns against violence, including homophobia in business and industry; to ensure equality of social protection for lesbian families; and to ensure adequate funding for minority women organizations to enhace their collective voice.

• The interactive Caucus on Human Rights & Government Responsibilities underlined that the implementation of human rights principles is at the core of responsibilities of all governments and that human rights must underpin the development of all legislation and policies to ensure its implementation. Therefore, they recommended that women’s rights should not be perceived as bargaining terms, nor should “women” be seen as a homogenous group. Member States should impose stronger legislation on the private and corporate sector to respect women’s rights at the work place; collect, analyze and publish data on gender budgeting; develop policies focusing on an aging population; ensure full implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888 and 1889; and States should ratify all human rights treaties and conventions.

* CEE/CIS region: Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

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