Page created 27 August 1999
Last updated 23/04/00
Asia-Pacific Sub-region Beijing Plus 5
Press Release: Australia on Trial Women Take Australia's Track Record on Human Rights to the United Nations
| 28/2/00 Press
release Beijing Plus 5 …media release….media release……media release…. Australia on Trial Women Take Australia's Track Record on Human Rights to the United Nations Australian women are on their way to New York for the biggest meeting since the Beijing Women's Conference in 1995. They are headed for the preparatory meetings leading up to the 44th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, to be held in June. This meeting will review countries' track records on their commitments to issues like poverty, violence, health and education, which form the Beijing Platform for Action. The non-government delegation includes representatives of many of Australia's leading women's and human rights organisations (NGOs), including the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Australian National Council of Refugee Women (ANCORW), Coalition of Activist Lesbians (COAL), Soroptomists, and the Women's Rights Action Network Australia (WRANA). They will be joined by others like UniFem Australia, the National Council of Women, and the Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL), in June. Australia has a proud record on women's rights, and has been named a 'model state' by UN Secretary General, Kofi Anan. But not all women have access to these rights and government policies do not always take their effects on women into account. The Australian NGO delegation will spend the next two weeks lobbying government delegations to support strong statements on issues ranging from the effects on women of mandatory sentencing laws, recognition of indigenous health programs that incorporate cultural health practices, and the rights of women to express their sexuality without fear of discrimination, to the rights of girls and women to participate freely and without restrictions in lifelong physical activity. Australian NGOs are also working closely with similar organisations from across the South East Asian region on issues that affect women across national boundaries. For the last five years, Australian women have worked with Asian women as part of a regional lobby group, on issues including the continued feminisiation of poverty, women in situations of armed conflict, the negative impacts of globalisation, the increased trafficking in women and girls, and the continuing lack of access to power and decision making. Delegates attending the New York meetings are
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