From Agreed Conclusions to Zero draft, via femicide, militarism, Post-2015 agenda and more: in this post from CSW57, former SI Programme Director and President of SI Newport Harbor Area (USA) Dawn Marie Lemonds explains some of the key terms used during the Commission, which focusses on violence against women and girls.
I have had the great fortune over the years to attend over 15 different UN events with Soroptimists – because it was important to me. People often ask "How do you get to do that?". I have kept my ears open, saved my money, allocated time and been willing to attend events when it was possible (such as the NGO FORUM AT CSW for example) as an unofficial participant. There are also ways that you can "attend" from your armchairs – you can participate in surveys and town hall meetings and also monitor the websites.
This year we were so lucky to have several other like-minded "newbies" at CSW 57- Soroptimists who were yearning to be part of the international "big tent". I hope that you get a chance to read their blogs and observations. We were reminded by Michele Bachelet, Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women that there are 6000 of us here at CSW 57- the largest forum ever held on Violence Against Women– about the billions of sisters who are not here- many of whom do not have an opportunity to share their voice. I am so proud of the Soroptimist women who are working tirelessly here and at home to ensure that women and girls have the opportunity to live, be safe, be respected be valued and experience a full array of experiences as citizens of the world.
Every time we come here- we learn new phrases, themes, acronyms, or terms that frame our discussions. I always like to share these with you so that you can start using them as part of your UN SPEAK! ( I bet that some of you are already using some of these phrases)
AGREED CONCLUSIONS – At each CSW it is the hope that a document of Agreed Conclusions will result about the topic that the governments attending will support. Last year, for the first time in many, there was no agreed conclusions. The issues that right now are particularly challenging to get agreement on largely relate at this point (the conference continues through March 15) on reproductive rights, and wording changes in documents that rephrases domestic violence to intimate partner violence. SI IAPD – Anusha urges us all take action in our advocacy with our governments.
CULTURE VS CUSTOMS – An interesting view was stated this week about the difference between culture and customs since "Culture" is often given as a reason for not making a change. In the context of Violence against women a case was made about the "fact" that no culture/religion endorses violence against women. Instead, customs and practices are behaviors that are endorsed by silence or participation but not written as acceptable.
FEMICIDE – This word has been coined to describe the many many ways that women and girls are killed through acts of violence against women from murder, rape, beating, FGM, sexually transmitted disease, bride burning, maternal death from early marriage, suicide due to bullying and despair etc etc etc.
I could not believe that there was yet another form of violence I learned about this time- Breast Ironing. I will celebrate the day when we have smaller statistics and fewer acts of violence. Our work is not nearly done!
MEN AND BOYS – No change for Women and girls will really happen without men and boys being at the table, in the conversation and full partners. Violence Against Women and Girls is learned and can be unlearned if attitudes change. They will only change if they are part of the change. Read more about the role of men and boys in preventing gender-violence.
MILITARISM – A term that was sadly ascribed to a huge increase of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAW) is that of the increased presence and continued abuses by the very people who should be protecting them. Many women and girls – particularly immigrants, indigenous women and internally displaced women (women who are refugees in their own country) also addressed their fear of the local police forces.
PARTNERS NOT BENEFICIARIES – It was heartening to hear so many people state in plenarys, workshops and government meetings that we must ensure that we change our mindset from the mentality of making people "beneficiaries" of the NGO and government work- and instead ensure that they are full partners and have a voice in decisions made about their lives.
POST 2015- AGENDA – The world community is already gearing up to identify what issues will be most important after we reach 2015 when the Milenium Development Goals are to have been accomplished. You will be hearing a lot about this in the next few years and many of us went to both governmental meetings and parallel events at CSW 57 to discuss and identify what those critical issues will be. Find out more at the UN’s World We Want website.
SCALE UP – This is generally used as a challenge to "do more, expand the outreach, the efforts, the involvement, the outreach etc."
TRANSFORMATIVE – This word was used in context to actions and work that changed the status of the people because of the action. Some of the "transformations" came via reduction in povernity/increase in economic status, change in behavior such as reduction in violence against women or bullying, increase in educational status and increase in opportunities to have a voice in decisions made about their lives. I think this gives us a context to strive for when we choose service/program work to do. Does this work/charity change the situation of the person for today , or will this work potentially change their lives in a more sustainable way???
ZERO DRAFT – This is the first document that was distributed of the initial Agreed Conclusions paper. It was 8 pages long and is on the www.ngocsw.org website. Many NGOs gave input to UN Women for this draft.
These terms/ideas will hopefully give you information and pause for reflection. Some of you may not agree with my presentation of them. I look forward to the debate!