Celebrating women who are no longer left behind and Marietta Latonio who has made the difference.

Mar31

A parallel event on Wednesday March 22nd entitled ‘Inherent Dignity, Real Choices: A Preventive Approach to Ending Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation’ celebrated women who are no longer ‘left behind’ and a woman – Marietta Latonio – who has made the differences.

C7eDOVpW0AQf1yr.jpg-large

This was a collaborative event with Mercy International, UNANIMA International, the NGO Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and US Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking. The event was recorded and uploaded on You Tube

Screen Shot 2017-03-29 at 9.23.40 PM

Marietta Latonio, advocate, researcher, professor of social work, and monitor and evaluation officer at Good Shepherd Welcome House, Cebu in the Philippines was awarded a ‘Woman of Courage’ by Sr Jean Quinn, Executive Director of UNANIMA International in recognition of her work and dedication. It was stressed that she is a woman who gives of herself. Remember she co-researched with Angela Reed ‘I Have A Voice Trafficked women – in their own words’

Inherent Digntiy 1

We were honored to have H.E. Mrs Irene Susan B Natividad, Deputy Representative of the Mission of the Philippines Mission to the United Nations attending the event. Later in the evening we discovered that Her Excellency is a niece of Sr Mary James Wilson RGS. Small world!

Inherent Dighnity 2

Great pictures – Marietta, H.E. Mrs Irene Susan B Natividad (in the center) and Jean Quinn. Angela Reed – the moderator of the event standing in the back. The event opened and closed with a group named ‘Raging Grannies’ a socially conscious non-violent group who bring lots of fun and laughter to the cause. Lyrics to Love and Justice:

Chorus: Love and Justice be my flag I’ll live my truth what e’re will be I swear that I cannot rest till there is equality Love and Justice be my flag I’ll live my truth whatever comes so many rivers to cross till our journey’s done

More connections – one of the members of the group worked as a social worker in Good Shepherd Services NY many years ago! A central part of the event had the recorded voices of women from Welcome House, Cebu who are now empowered women through care and education.

Stories

Marianne 2

Mariana Vanin – Programme and Communications Officer of Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) (pictured above) was a panelist with Winifred Doherty. Winifred noted the similairites in approach offered at Welcome House in Cebu and at Ruhama, Dublin Ireland. The advocacy work of Ruhama was instrumental in the passing of the new sexual offense criminal bill whereby anyone who buys sex is prosecuted and women in prostitution are decriminalized. Prostitution is violence.

Congratulations Marietta!

Co-sponsors

Back Row – Angela Reed; Cecelia O’Dwyer; Jean Quinn. Front Row – Mariana Vanin; Winifred Doherty; Marietta Latonio.

What was achieved at CSW 61?

Mar28

CSW61_ClosingSession_Mar2017__RB_0460_675x450 (002) (Closing of the 61st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown)

UN Women sees the Agreed Conclusion as a Roadmap to women’s full and equal participation in the economy Press Release

The Commission on the Status of Women 61st session ended on Friday afternoon March 24th with Agreed Conclusion – a consensus document on ‘Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work.’ This in itself is an achievement. The document is not yet published and was presented on Friday as an informal paper in English only. The negotiation of this document is an arduous work (the Australian delegated noted it was 107 hours of discussion) and its accomplishment is the result of long hours of discussion and negotiation, into the early hours of the morning each day of the second week. A good overview of the situation can be had by listening to the UN TV Webcast of the closing session. It is about one and a half hours. By listening to the webcast you will see how issues that affect women and girls is highly political and fraught with all sorts of qualifications captured in the phrases such as according to ‘national laws’; ‘social norms’ does not enjoy global consensus …. and the terms ‘sexuality’ is not acknowledged in national law or jurisdiction by a large number of member states nor in International law; express reservations on all principles that are not in accordance with the spirit of Islamic law. Another expression was that anything in the text of the agreed conclusion not in line with national laws is null and void and not applicable. The Australian delegate noted that the discussion and link between SRHR and economic empowerment was profitable in coming to a process of understanding. The Holy See interpreted the concept of ‘gender’ as being grounded in a person’s male or female biological sex, not in social constructions

The EU was largely disappointed with the outcome which it saw as an interpretation of the outcome rather than an negotiated outcome. Three issues were noted – limiting of the space of CSO’s and NGO’s; the link between women’s economic empowerment and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) could be stronger by better references to the human rights component essential to gender equality; and emphasis on national policy space limited ambition and some language reflects the stereotypical role of women and girls and does not contribute to their empowerment and independence. Despite this the EU will continue to work more to build consensus.

Here is the link to the US explanation of Position on Agreed Conclusions at the 2017 UN Commission on the Status of Women.

The person who chaired the negotiations is Ms. Fatma Al Zahraa Hassan (Egypt), Vice-Chair (African States Group) In her address she mentioned the main pillars towards women’s economic empowerment – education, legal measures, socio-economic measures, giving voice to women, achieving financial independence. The document is 20 pages long and will be published in all 6 languages of the United Nations. Seven pages use the following words to introduce paragraphs: reaffirms (6 times), reiterates, (2) recognizes, (16) emphasizes, acknowledges, (3) takes note, strongly condemns, expresses it concern, (5) reiterates its concern, recalls, (2) welcomes, and urges.

Reaffirms – the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for action will make a crucial contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to women’s economic empowerment; commitments to gender equality and the empowernment of all women and girls made at relevant UN summits and conferences; that the promotion and protection of, and respect for, the human rights and fundamental freedom of all women and girls, including the right to development , which are universal, indivisible, interdependent and iterated, are crucial for women’s economic empowerment…; that the realization of the right to education, as well as to access to quality and inclusive education, contributes to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; the importance of significant increased investment to close resource gaps for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and and girls.

Strongly condemens – violence against women and girls in all its forms in public and private spaces, including harassment in the world of work, including sexual harassment, and sexual and gender based violence, domestic violence, trafficking in persons and femicide, among others, as well as harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, and recognizes these are major impediments to the achievement of women’s economic empowerment, social and economic development…

Expresses it’s concern – about the continuing significant gender gaps on labour force participation and leadership, wages, income, pension and social protection and access to economic and productive resources; structural barriers including discriminatory laws and policies, gender stereotypes and negative social norms, unequal working conditions as well as about the growing high incidence of informal and non-standard forms of employment in many regions; occupational segregation; that the feminization of poverty persists; over the persistently low wages earned by women workers;

Reiterates it’s concern – over the challenge climate change poses to the achievement of sustainable development and that women and girls are often disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change.

The document is divided into the following sections:

Strengthening normative and legal frameworks
Strengthening education, training and skill development
Implementing economic and social policies for women’s economic empowerment
Addressing the growing informality of work and mobility of women workers
Managing technological and digital change for women’s economic empowerment
Strengthening women’s collective voice, leadership and decision making
Strengthening private sector role in women’s economic empowerment

The text was revised a number of time in the lead up to the opening of CSW 61 and during the formal negotiations of the two weeks. In the initial text presented by the CSW61 Bureau there was a strong call for implementation of national floors of social protection – here is the reference: (m) Establish universal social protection floors, in line with ILO Social Protection Floors recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), as part of national social protection systems to ensure access to social protection for all, including workers outside the formal economy, and progressively achieve higher levels of protection in line with ILO social security standards; (Based on E/CN.6/2017/3, para 49 (o))” but this reference to ILO R 202 has not remained in the final version.

There are a number of references to social protection systems, social protection and pensions, social protection policies and in one instance including floors and ‘extending social protection and wages that allow for an adequate standard of living’… ‘without reductions in labour and social protections.’

w. Optimize fiscal expenditure for gender-responsive social protection and care infrastructure, such as equitable, quality, accessible and affordable early childhood education, child care, elder care, heath care, care and social services for persons with disabilities and persons living with HIV and AIDS, which meet the needs of both caregivers and those in need of care, hearing in mind that social protection policies play a critical role in reducing poverty and inequality, supporting inclusive growth and gender equality;

x. Work towards establishing or strengthening inclusive and gender-responsive social protection systems, including floors, to ensure full access to social protection for all without discrimination of any kind, and take measures to progressively achieve higher levels of protections including facilitating the transition form informal to formal work;

Argentina speaking on behalf of Latin American countries did reference social protection as important to women’s economic empowerment.

See UN Meeting Coverage and Press Releases

Youth

Youth leaders address the opening meeting of the 61st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

On The Brink of CSW61!

Mar10

The Commission on the Status of Women 61st Session will open officially on Monday morning March 13th at 10.00 am in the UN General Assembly Hall. The NGO’s will start with Consultation Day on Sunday March 12 from 9.00 a.m. to 3.30 in the afternoon. Already participants are beginning to arrive delegates from the various member states and groups of women from all over the world. 8,600 people have pre-registered to attend – a record number. Yesterday afternoon the Chair of the Commission H.E. Mr. Antonio de Aguiar Patriota (Brazil), gave a final briefing to NGO outlining what is planned. Of particular interest to me was information on the current status of the outcome document. The first reading is completed. Ms. Fatma Al Zahraa Hassan (Egypt), is the chair for the negotiations. This first reading was based on the compilation text of February 28 We are awaiting a new version based on the first reading.

This years’ CSW is breaking new ground addressing the issue of women’s unpaid care work. It was noted that there is a lot of similar language and common ground in a document that went from 6 pages to over 70 pages.

During the briefing I made two observations: one in relation to social protection and the second about girls. There are over 31 references to social protection systems but only two times is there reference to social protection floors. We need implementation of social protection floors as a tool towards women’s economic empowerment as social protection systems are tied to employment. I asked that this be noted in the ongoing negotiations. Secondly, there are multiple references to girls but always tagged to women … ‘girls and women’ or ‘women and girls’ but there is no stand alone paragraph on empowering girls through education as the surest way of empowering the women of the future.

There are many references to ending trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation .. noting that women and girls are particularly vulnerable to trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced marriage, forced labour, services and other forms of exploitation, and recognizing the link between migration and trafficking in persons.

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 61st Session – March 13 – 24, 2017

Mar3

Spanish link

The annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 61st Session begins on March 13th and concludes Friday March 24th. The theme this year is ‘Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work.’ There is a small of library of information on the UN Women Website Preparations i) Regional CSW61 Preparatory and Consultative Meetings ii) Multi-Stakeholder Forum and iii) Expert Group Meeting

Perspectives of NGO can gleaned from 220 statements on the Official Documents page. I would like to draw your attention to Statement No 13 in all official languages of the UN – French, Spanish, English, Arabic, Russian and Chinese. This is the statement submitted by ‘Good Shepherd.’ Does it reflect your view and experiences?

French Link

When I wrote this statement I had just listened to Ms. Dambisa Moya , a global economist speak at the Second Committee of the General Assembly. Dambisa suggested six ‘headwinds’ that indicate a growing disadvantage for women and girls seeking economic empowerment. The results of the ‘headwinds’ are i) a jobless underclass; ii) continuing population growth and underinvestment in quality education; iii) reinforcement of pre-existing obstacles to girls and women including; lack of women’s access to land rights, girls’ disproportionate time in carrying water, and increasing feminization of agriculture; the green economy/green growth has not led to more equitable land and resource distribution; iv) income inequality; v) the impact of austerity measures further impoverishes women and girls; and vi) economic policies that actually widen inequalities and impact most negatively on those ‘left behind’ posing a threat to the future of the planet.

Are the girls and women that you work impacted by one or more of these headwinds? Where do human rights and dignity, gender justice, economic justice and climate justice fit in?

Women’s economic empowerment must pay attention to the plight of girls, who are the agents of change for the future. We are calling for improved nutrition, health and education for all girls. If not today’s generation of girls will continue to populate the jobless underclass, work in the informal sector, receive low wages, be landless and be vulnerable to exploitation and gender-based violence.

The accompaniment of girls an women who are furthest behind is the hallmark of our Good Shepherd Ministries. See Maisha Documentary film based on our project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Recall the #16Days16Stories project of the 16 Days to End Violence Against Women. Read I Have A Voice – Trafficked women in their own words These are ongoing projects addressing the headwinds on a daily basis.

What can you do: It is not too late to take the link to the statment and send it to your national delegation who are attending CSW 61. There are very specific asks at the end. i) Fully resource and implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; ii) Urgently invest in girls’ economic empowerment; iii) Challenge and dismantle the power structure that subjugate girls and women – an example of this is the new law in Ireland decriminalizing women in prostitution but persecuting the buyer of sex. A long struggle but worth the effort. When I came to the UN in 2008 Ireland had not yet ratified the Palermo Protocol (2010) and now the Nordic Model is being implemented. (2017); iv) Implement National Floors of Social Protection (ILO Recommendation 202)

English Link

A Lenten Resource – A journey, everyday actions, global effect.

Mar2

I am happy to share with you a very interesting resource created by the Justice Promoters Team of the Sisters of the Presentation, Dubuque, Iowa. It is entitled ‘A Living Lent that Changes the World.’ It presents a schedule for Learning, Acting, Praying, Sharing, Planning, Giving and Advocating each week of the Advent season taking a justice issue from the Sustainable Development Goals – Starting with Goal 8.