Women are a cornerstone of African development, but despite some progress, African women’s access to ressources and power is still challenging in most countries, and the objective of eradicating violence
The 2015 report of the Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice is a radical accusation against patriarchy. Human Rights Council resolutions – threaten to undermine international achievements in the field of human rights in the name of cultural and religious diversity.
The theme of the day was My Vote My Choice 2015
We have the legal framework:
UN SCR 1325 (2000)
CEDAW
General Recommendation 30
We deplore that 20 years after the 1995 Beijing Conference , in most countries including the Philippines, gender inequality remains pervasive economically, politically and socially, . Women continue to suffer from authoritarian and military regimes, increased militarisation, violence and armed conflicts, unlawful foreign interference, lack of fundamental freedoms and human rights violations, corruption and poor governance, development injustice, and discrimination
Negotiatiions the Political Declaration on the anniversary of Beijing+20 that will be adopted on the first day of the CSW are not going well. Women’s organizations, feminist organizations and organizations that work to achieve the full realization of women’s human rights are laying out a minimum of demands necessary to achieve the goals of fully realizing gender equality, the human rights and empowerment of all women and girls everywhere.
The adoption of a Political Declaration on the first day of this year’s CSW means that women’s groups and networks will not have real quality space and opportunity to contribute to the discussions and inform the Political Declaration. This is an expression of the backlash on women’s human rights. Changes in the working methods of must give decision power to women’s NGOs ,in particular access to negotiations over the outcomes of CSW
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, President of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women- Geneva: The decision to adopt the political declaration on first day of the CSW reduces space for civil society participation. We strongly recommend a review of your decision on timing for adoption of the political declaration.
In order to speed up change, it is essential that more men and boys are involved as agents for change in gender equality issues