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NGO
Forum on Beijing + 10 -
6 July 2004
The Asia-Pacific NGO Forum was held at
Mahidol University, Salaya campus in Thailand on 30 June to 2 July.
Five hundred participants representing various NGOs in the region congregated, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Platform and
30 years of women’s gains. The event also linked Beijing with the
Millennium Development Goals (MDG)s and other UN processes. The summary,
conclusions, and recommendations from this Forum will be compiled in a
Purple Book which the NGOs will present to the High Level
Intergovernmental Meeting at UNESCAP in September 2004.
The NGO Forum was a result of a series of
meetings which began in February 2003 when the Asia Pacific Women’s
Watch[1]
met in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for a strategic planning meeting and
network training session. It was at this meeting that discussion for the
Beijing +10 review process was initiated. UNIFEM, being recognized for
its leadership role in gender issues, was invited to participate in the
meeting and briefed on major topics of concern. UNIFEM Bangkok also
provided the catalytic funds to support the meeting.
Since 1999, UNIFEM has been the
institutional partner of women’s advocacy groups and NGOs, particularly
in East and Southeast Asia. It has been providing funds to APWW to
support the organization’s Steering Committee, the decision-making arm
of the network, to enable it to effectively monitor and advocate for
governments’ compliance with BPFA and the B+5 Outcomes Document.
On February 13-14, 2004, representatives
of twenty four regional, sub-regional and national networks of women’s
organizations met and organized themselves into the Convenors’ Group for
the A-P NGO Forum on Beijing +10. This first Convenors’ Meeting was held
in Bangkok. The UNESCAP Gender and Development Section of the Emerging
Social Issues Division participated in this meeting. UNIFEM, a major
partner in this initiative, was also in this meeting. The Conveners’
group strongly felt that the Asia-Pacific Forum need to effectively
project the women’s movements’ intent to “secure the gains of women
enshrined in the BPFA while surfacing new/emergent issues that arise
from an environment which had become extremely challenging for women’s
rights, empowerment and development.” These environmental factors
included: rapid globalization; militarism and the ‘global war against
terror’; and resurgent conservatisms and fundamentalisms.
From April 29-30, 2004, the second CG
meeting was again held in Bangkok. Functional and thematic committees
were formed with designated focal person and/or organization. There
were nine Functional Committees. They consisted of: Program, Lobbying,
Participation, Fundraising and Finance, Gender and the marketplace,
Media and Communications, Drafting and Publications, and a Cultural
committee. The Thematic Committees were: Women and the Environment,
Education and Training of Women, VAW, Women and the Media, The Girl
Child, Institutional Mechanism for the Advancement of Women, Women and
Armed Conflict, Power and Decision-Making, Women and Poverty, Women and
the Economy, Women’s Health and the Human Rights of Women.
[1]
Asia-Pacific Women Watch (APWW) – is a formal network of women’s
NGOs in the A-P region and includes representation from Central
Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Pacific and from
regional networks. Its role is the continued monitoring and
advocacy for the BPFA implementation.
UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations,
providing financial support and technical assistance to innovative
programs promoting women's human rights, their economic and political
empowerment, and gender equality in over 100 countries. For more
information, visit
www.unifem.undp.org.
UNIFEM, 304 East 45th St, 15th Floor, New York, NY
10017, tel: 212 906-6400, fax: 212-906-6705
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