Monthly Archives: March 2016

The final session of CSW 60

CSW 60The Commission on the Status of Women was held in New York from March 14th to 24th, 2016.  It was preceded by a one day event on Sunday March 13 the  NGO CSW  Consultation Day.  If you wish to see the web cast of the adoption of the Agreed Conclusion of the 60th Session of the CSW Click Here

The negotiations were only concluded before midnight on March 24th  You can access the document HERE   If you listen to the statement of the various member states you will get hints as to the stumbling blocks.  Saudi Arabia was the first to make a statement followed by the US, the EU, Egypt, Yemen, Mexico, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Canada, Iran, Colombia, Mauritania, and the Holy See.

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GSIJP Team at CSW 60 with Mission Partners from Taiwan and Emma.   From right to left: Cecile Kern, Winifred Doherty, Yen-Chu Chen , Emma Mackey,  Yu-Chia Chang, Cyan Chen and Clare Nolan 

This team presented a parallel event entitled ‘Economic Empowerment Strategies Addressing Systemic Issues affecting Girls and Women’ from Taiwan, to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Bolivia. From the Agreed Conclusion paragraph 16 “The Commission…emphasizes that no country has fully achieved gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, that significant levels of inequality between women and men, girls and boys persist globally, and that many women and girls experience vulnerability and marginalization owing to, inter alia, multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination throughout the lifecycle.

The Agreed Conclusion “Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development” are captured here in a piece of art work submitted by Monique Tarabeth to NGOCSW Committee for the cover of the Handbook 2016.  We were not selected for the cover but were a divider inside the book.  Thanks Monique!

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Apart form the cover the other art pieces were in black and white.  Beautiful expressions of empowerment!

 

News from Australia- Linking with CSW60

Minister for Women and the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson will tomorrow represent Victoria at the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women annual conference.

The conference will help inform the Andrews Labor Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Family Violence, which is due to report on 29 March.

Ms Richardson – alongside Member for Melton Don Nardella and Member for Macedon Mary-Anne Thomas – will join other political leaders from around the world to attend the CSW60 conference on women’s empowerment and global equality at the UN headquarters in New York.   READ MORE

Good Shepherd in Australia/New Zealand made a submission to the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Women and the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson

“Family violence is a national emergency. I want to see what the rest of the world is doing to prevent violence and improve the status of women so I can bring back their ideas to help Victorian families.”

“The Andrews Labor Government is determined to fix the broken system of family violence and we know this will only be possible if we also address gender inequality and do more to empower women.”

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CSW 60 (Commission on the Status of Women)

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CSW 60 commences on Monday March 14, 2016 at the United Nations Headquarters in NY.  The theme of the Commission this year is ‘Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development.’  The review theme: ‘The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.  This is a review of the implementation of the agreed conclusions from the fifty-seventh session of the Commission.    All the official event of the Commission will be Webcast live or you can choose to check up later .  This link will give you an overview and bring you to the various webcast

04f3be91-9d71-4a1d-8d9b-af60c21cae07The Good Shepherd Statement to the Commission is on the website and listed among the official document of the session.  You can access one of the 6 languages into which it is translated HERE. The statement addresses the issue of prostitution and squarely names prostitution as a forms of violence against girls and women.  ‘A system of prostitution is “incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person” as stated in the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (1949).’   The continuance of the system of prostitution undermines both dignity of the person and equality.  Prostitution is enabled by a patriarchal system in which it is embedded.

On my way back to NY yesterday I watched two movies  Suffragette and I am Malala.   Suffragette is the history of ordinary women seeking to get the vote in the latter part of 19th and into the 20th century.  We all know the story of Malala and the right of girls to be educated.   As I think of these women and girls and the abolitionists of today with regard to ending prostitution or the threats levied against women human rights defenders around the world I wonder if much has changed! This is poignantly seen in the murder of Berta Cáceres  from Honduras for her environmental work.

Patriarchy, corporate power and finance  are very much interlinked.   The continuance of the system of prostitution which undermines both dignity and equality is propagated by commercial interests in sexual exploitation.   In fact, under patriarchy, we currently witness systems of commercial exploitation of women and girls being reframed as simply part of the market economy — the commercial sex industry — as if sexual slavery, inequality and gender-based violence are in some way extrinsic to this experience. The promotion of the commercial sex industry serves to legitimize prostitution, which is violence against women and girls.

‘Gender-based discrimination and inequalities, patriarchal structures that promote male sexual domination, and culturally imposed feminine gender stereotypes all contribute to the sexual exploitation of women and girls. These discriminatory attitudes inherently demean women, permitting objectification and commercialization and infringing their rights and dignity. The feminization of poverty and global migration patterns also foster the continuance of the system of prostitution of women and girls, abandoned widows and their daughters being a particularly vulnerable group.’

‘From long experience accompanying women who have been in prostitution, our organizations knows that prostitution is a form of gender-based violence that inflicts severe damage and risks the physical and psychological health of women and girls. It is the exercise of power and control of male access to female bodies from female genital mutilation to child marriage; from domestic violence to reproductive rights. The exchange of money for such access does not eliminate the violence women face in prostitution or the sex trade. We know that prostitution is a lucrative business, mostly controlled by criminal groups, and it is tightly linked to trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation. The theoretical separation of the violence of trafficking and the inherent violence of prostitution serves only the criminals and profiteers; they are not separate phenomena. They are inextricably entwined with gender inequality and male dominance and the continued debasement of women.’

I have ended up quoting much of our statement to the Commission.  Much of my advocacy work during the Commission will be focused on this issue.  We are extremely happy to collaborate with the Sisters of Mercy in a side event on March 17th entitled -‘No Random Act: Human Trafficking and the Interplay between Systemic Oppression and the Individual Life Course   CSW March 17th Parallel Event Addressing Human Trafficking- Sisters or Mercy, Good Sheperd Sisters and ACRATH  The research for this work comes from Good Shepherd programs in the Philippines.  Yolanda Sanchez, in Geneva was able to make a statement promoting ‘the life course perspective’ with the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.  Final Oral Statement for the 31st Session of the UN Human Rights Council

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March 8, International Women’s Day

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Pledge for Parity … read more

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Today Yolanda read the following statement at the Human Rights Council in solidarity with all trafficked girls and women throughout the world calling for a ‘Life Course Perspective’ to address the root causes of human trafficking .  Zelna Oosthuizen, link counselor from the Congregational Leadership Team to the GSIJP Office was present at the session.  This statement was make in collaboration with the Sisters of Mercy.

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Berta Cáceres, assassinated in Honduras on March 2nd

Terrible news from Honduras regarding human rights defender, Berta Caceres. We will keep her in our thoughts and prayers. She is a victim of what we call the Extractives Development Model–the nexus of unscrupulous business, corrupt government and the devastating extractives industry. (Rosa Lizarde)

BertaWe are shocked and saddened to learn of the assassination of Honduran environmental activist and indigenous leader of the Lenca people, Berta Cáceres.

Berta Cáceres’ faithful leadership of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (COPINH) reflected not only her dedication to nonviolent resistance to illegal logging and mega-projects that devastate the environment but also her deeply felt belief in the rights of indigenous communities to their land and livelihoods.  Maryknoll

Photo: Berta Caceres, courtesy of the Goldman Environmental Prize.

Berta Caceres  (You Tube) Berta Cáceres, galadornada del Premio Goldman 2015, Honduras

Interesting Articles Featuring Winifred at the UN

IMG_1549.jpgJeanette Mc Dermott, Communications, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Province of the Mid North, USA recently spent two weeks in New York following the work of Winifred Doherty as the NGO representative on behalf of the Congregation.  Read her article in  Items of Interest-March 2016

Catholic Ireland featured an article on Sisters speak out against trafficking at the UN

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 Aine, Angela and Winifred

A third article related to this time period is a summary of the side event Maisha – A New Life outside the Mines which was held durn the Commission for Social Development on February 4, 2016. Report on Side Event Feb 4 2016

A quote from the Universal Declaration on Human Rights – Article 25 on the right of everyone to a standard of living adequate for health and well being – linking with the rights to Social Protection for everyone.

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