Pretoria - The Group of 77 and China have called for renewed efforts to tackle the problems that persist since the 1995 adoption of the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on gender equality and women's empowerment.
Twenty years after the adoption of the Beijing Declaration, the group has underscored the need to accelerate efforts to achieve full and effective implementation.
Speaking at the high-level 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the UN headquarters, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Susan Shabangu, said the implementation of the declaration was necessary for the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration.
South Africa is the current chair of the Group of 77 and China, which is the largest intergovernmental organisation of developing countries in the UN.
It provides the means for the countries of the South to articulate and promote their collective economic interests and enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues within the UN system, and promote South-South cooperation for development.
The session, which includes UN Member States, civil society organisations and UN entities, will for the next two weeks deliberate the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
This year's session is particularly significant as it marks the 20th anniversary of that meeting, which gave birth to the action plan that has become widely known as the blueprint for women’s empowerment. The plan focuses on 12 critical areas of concern, from women and the environment to ending violence against women.
While welcoming progress in several areas of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Minister Shabangu said the group remains deeply concerned that overall progress for women and girls across all the MDGs remains slow and uneven.
“We are especially concerned about the lack of progress for women and girls in our countries and those who experience multiple forms of discrimination based on their various statuses in their communities, such as ethnicity, disability as well as women and girls living with HIV and Aids.”
The Minister said the group was also concerned that the MDGs are least likely to be achieved for women and girls in countries affected by conflict and living under foreign occupation or unilateral and coercive measures, contrary to international law.
The time to act is now
The alliance felt that the 59th session of the CSW offers a great opportunity to assess the achievements and identify the challenges since the adoption of the MDGs to attain substantive equality between women and men.
It is also an opportunity to contribute to the debates that are taking place at the national, regional and global levels in relation to the post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“We should accelerate our actions at all levels to address the many challenges affecting women and girls, such as violence, extremism and discrimination as well as those that are socioeconomic in nature,” Minister Shabangu said, calling for the involvement of both men and boys in the process.
The group also identified human trafficking as a concern still. In this light, Minister Shabangu called on the international community to take appropriate measures to address the factors that increase the vulnerability of women and girls to trafficking.
“There is a need to establish and strengthen national capacity to provide better protection for women and girls and to punish perpetrators of such crimes.
“We should also have a more holistic approach that also address the scourges of poverty, unemployment, lack of socioeconomic opportunities, gender based violence, discrimination and marginalisation, as they are some of the contributing factors leading to trafficking of women and girls.”
Minister Shabangu used her address to stress the importance of promoting the empowerment of women and their ability to generate income. She said ensuring equal access for all women, including those in rural areas, is a vital development agent that can lead to higher economic productivity and better opportunities.
She said the group is of the view that achieving women's empowerment and their full and effective participation in all spheres of society is fundamental to the achievement of equality, development and peace.
However, Minister Shabangu said these gains are reversed by violence against women, as it continues to be a major obstacle to the achievement of gender equality and development.
The G77 countries and China reiterated their firm commitment to join efforts and to continue combating all forms of violence against women, including its most extreme manifestations such as female genital mutilation and femicide.
The group further stressed the right to education as a human right as well as eliminating illiteracy, ensuring equal access to education, in particular in rural and remote areas. - SAnews.gov.za
