REPORT FROM THE SUB-REGIONAL MEETING FOR BEIJING PLUS FIVE
By Eileen Pittwater, meeting convener
On July 8 1999, 276 women came together for three days for the Pacific Sub-Regional Meeting of Non Government Organisations in preparation for Beijing plus Five, or Women 2000 - the special sitting of the United Nations General Assembly to evaluate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) to be held in New York in June 2000. The meeting, held at the Women's College, Sydney University, was convened by CAPOW! and ANCORW, with a management committee and sponsorship from a number of womens organisations.
It was an incredibly exciting and energetic three days. Keynote speakers included Hilda Lini from Vanuatu, Thampuying Sumalee from Thailand, The Hon. Trish Worth, representing Senator Jocelyn Newman, the Minister assisting the Prime Minister on Women's Affairs, Pauline Tangiora, a Maori elder from Aerotoa, New Zealand, Linda Burney, Acting Deputy General, NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Ms Jenny Macklin, Opposition Spokesperson for Women's Issues.
A 'Hypothetical' panel session of well known feminist thinkers was hosted by Dorothy Mccrae McMahon; the Older Women's Network provided theatre, and 12 intensive workshops focused on the 12 critical areas of the BPFA. The work stopped at about 9pm each night!
The task of the meeting was to produce an evaluation of the implementation of BPFA in the Pacific sub region. While the conference cannot claim to represent the views of all women in the sub-region, women from a number of countries and diverse backgrounds worked together to compile the conference report. Thirty women came from a number of Pacific Island States, New Zealand was represented by a Maori Elder and the Head of the New Zealand Council of Women, there were over 20 Aboriginal women from various parts of Australia and approximately one third of the delegates came from non English speaking backgrounds.
The report of the meeting in Sydney will be circulated for endorsement in the first week in August. It will form our input into the Regional Report which will go to the New York in June 2000 and will form the basis of an NGO response to the questionnaire on the implementation of the BPFA, which has been distributed to all Governments by the United Nations. If you or your organisation were not represented at the conference, but would like access to the Report for possible endorsement, please contact ANCORW at ancorw@ozemail.com.au, tel 02 9649 4066; fax 02 9649 4077.
The meeting identified these issues as crucial to improving the status of women in Australia, Pacific Islands & New Zealand:
* the continuing feminisation of poverty through structural inequality at local, global and regional levels
* need for a more equitable distribution of funds and resources to ensure that women and girl children in the sub region have equal access to health, culturally appropriate education, pathways to positions of power and decision making, human right's, peace and security,
* elimination of violence against women at a domestic level and in situations of armed conflict,
* negative impact of the effects of globalisation on all aspects of the status of women
* need for better networking and closer co-operation between the many Non Government Organisations and Indigenous peoples in the Pacific region
* need for better working relationships between Governments, Non Government Organisations and Indigenous peoples,
* establishment of a mechanism to monitor the status and well being of women and girl children in the sub-region against the commitments made by Governments in the Beijing Platform for Action and any future documents which pertain to the status of women in the next millennium.