[WCUSP] Declaration on the UN Reform and a possible new Womens Agency

[yvonne simmons]

> matriarchalstudies at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [womeninblack] Declaration on the UN Reform
> and a possible new
> 	Womens Agency
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WE WANT MORE
> 
> The feminist articulations, networks and campaigns
> of Latin America and the
> Caribbean that gathered in Montevideo, Uruguay, on
> the 29th, 30th and 31st
> of March 2007, with the aim to debate on the UN
> Reform and a possible new
> Women’s Agency, wish to put forward our position
> about this process. 
> 
> An extension of the existing regulation in relation
> to Human and Citizens’
> Rights is the result of the efforts of women and men
> working in the
> different spaces, conferences, commissions and
> international summits. We,
> women have been actors in these efforts to
> democratize and broaden the
> contents of the global regulation. We have
> negotiated, as legitimate actors,
> in the different spaces of the United Nations. As a
> consequence, the future
> of this global governance space concerns us all and
> calls for our
> commitment.
> 
> United Nations is undergoing a deep legitimacy
> crisis, trapped in particular
> geopolitical, economic and ideological interests of
> anti-democratic and
> pro-war forces, paralyzed by a structure created 60
> years ago, which does
> not correspond either to the current global dynamics
> and demands, or to the
> multiplicity of democratic interests that UN itself
> - together with the
> pressure and the fight of the social movements-
> helped to build. UN also
> drags on democratic incongruities, such as according
> governments’ privileges
> to a religious institution. On account of this fact,
> we demand the immediate
> revision of the Vatican’s status in the UN. It is
> unacceptable that it still
> maintains this prerogative, as the Vatican is a
> religious institution, and
> not a state.
> 
> In order to overcome this crisis, to modify the
> current correlation of
> forces, to eliminate the anti-democratic instances
> and practices (such as
> the right to veto in the Security Council), to
> eradicate the presence of
> private institutions, reforming the UN is not
> enough. It is necessary to
> re-found the United Nations!
> 
> Presently, the debate on the reform – within the
> core of the UN- aspires to
> consolidate “One United Nations”; this will not be
> possible in a United
> Nations sustained on correlations of forces with
> deep power imbalances. We
> want a United Nations Organization unified in its
> democratic aspiration, and
> deeply diverse in the democratic interests it
> advocates for and that reflect
> the different social, economic, cultural and sexual
> realities of people’s
> lives. We aim for UN to have a common democratic
> viewpoint based, at the
> same time, on the recognition of diversity. And this
> is not happening.
> 
> The rights and commitments we conquered in the UN
> through CEDAW and  the
> International Treaties, Conventions, Summits and
> Conferences have been a
> founding stone for the advancement of the gender
> equity agenda and the fight
> for women’s rights. We fought, in each one of those
> spaces, to broaden
> gender and social justice, being the Beijing
> Platform for Action one of the
> major consolidations. However, governments deny or
> avoid their
> responsibility, by putting the Millennium
> Development Goals in the center of
> their commitments. These MDGs’ aim is the
> accountability of the less favored
> countries, without taking into account their
> development needs, or the
> modification of the power structures of the
> privileged countries. We share,
> together with the United Nations, the aspiration to
> a sustainable and
> inclusive development; however, we are aware that
> the development agenda at
> multilateral level has been replaced by the security
> and militarization
> agenda. We decide to work for human rights for all
> and the equality of
> people and nations, and we realize how they are, at
> present, deeply
> constrained by the rulings and the arrogance of the
> Security Council.
> 
> Within this context, we demand the immediate
> revision of the Vatican’s
> official status in the United Nations. It is
> unacceptable that it still
> maintains the privileges accorded to a government,
> being as it is a
> religious institution, and not a state.
> 
> No architecture, no organization that embraces or
> develops the gender
> perspective should be isolated in this deep reform
> of the UN structure.
> However, this reform cannot be envisaged without
> including women and
> democratic relationships.
> 
> We take a stand for a gender institutionalism with
> operational capacity in
> every country, which promotes, proposes, monitors
> and looks after the
> women’s rights agenda worldwide, while ensuring the
> necessary gender
> mainstreaming in the United Nations System. With a
> democratic political
> framework that redefines the structures and the
> relations of decentralized
> power, with parity, and that incorporates gender
> perspective as a general
> rule; in equal conditions with the other agencies;
> with adequate resources;
> with a democratic mandate that guarantees the
> strengthening of the regional
> levels; with an active relationship with the civil
> society at global level,
> as well as in the regions and in the countries. We
> take a stand for
> strengthening a gender architecture that articulates
> the work of every
> existing instance, maintaining a dialogue and
> exchange with the highest
> level spheres, and with the capability to be
> accountable to the institution
> itself, to the governments and to the citizens.
> 
> When we speak about United Nations, we refer not
> only to the global
> structures, but also to the regional ones. In spite
> of the fact that the
> regional spaces have been living spaces that had
> nurtured a propitious
> ground to broaden the regional regulation and create
> a level of regional
> gender institutionalism, they are also spaces where
> many states offer
> resistance to the fulfillment of the assumed
> international commitments.
> Hence, the importance of strengthening the regional
> levels and generating
> mechanisms for the governments of the countries to
> comply effectively with
> the established regulations.
> 
> We will maintain a vigilant articulation in relation
> to the standpoints of
> our governments in the debate on the UN reform, and
> we will be constantly
> struggling so as to broaden the democratic practices
> and institutionalism at
> regional, national and local levels.
> 
> In this process, alliances with the feminists of
> other regions are
> essential, on account of both the richness provided
> by the different
> viewpoints for the elaboration of more complex
> global agendas and practices,
> and the force of a global feminist articulation.
> 
> The United Nations Organizations was founded with
> the aim of building
> harmony between peoples; this harmony will not be
> possible as long as
> injustice and inequality define the relationships
> between persons and
> between countries. The challenge to build a
> democratic world involves us
> all, and we are all committed to this search. Not a
> single step backwards.
> 
> Signatories:
> 
> Articulación Feminista Marcosur (AFM)
> CLADEM
> CAFRA
> DAWN AL
> Equipo de Trabajo Feminista de la GCAP- ALC
> Frente Continental de Mujeres Indígenas 
> Iniciativa Centroamericana de Seguimiento a Beijing
> IGLHRC
> ICAE
> ILGA
> Red Latinoamericana de Católicas por el Derecho a
> Decidir
> Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres de América
> Latina y el Caribe REPEM
> Red de Salud de Mujeres Latinoamericanas y Caribeñas
> RSMLAC
> Red Latinoamericana Mujeres y Habitad
> Red Internacional de Género y Comercio
> Red de Mujeres Rurales de América Latina y el Caribe
> RED-LAC
> Programa Regional La Corriente de Centroamérica
> Red  de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas
> Radio Feministas Internacional FIRE
>  
> Campaigns:
> 
> Campaña Tu Boca Contra los Fundamentalismos
> Campaña 28 de Septiembre por la Despenalización de
> Aborto en América Latina
> y el Caribe
> Campaña por una Convención Latinoamericana por los
> Derechos Sexuales y
> Reproductivos
>  
> National Articulations:
> 
> Articulación de Mujeres Brasileras AMB- Brasil
> Articulación de Mujeres Negras-Brasil 
> Consorcio- México
> Comisión Nacional de Seguimiento CNS – Uruguay
>  
> Young Feminist Women’s Organizations: 
> 
> Karin Veloso Mazorca : Jóvenes Feministas de Sao
> Paulo
> Johanna Ortiz : Coordinadora Feministas Jóvenes de
> Chile
> María Eugenia Miranda : Youth Coalition
> María Goñi : Articulación de Mujeres Jóvenes
> Trabajando en América Latina y
> el
> Caribe por los Derechos Humanos y la Ciudadanía
> Carolina Thiede : Programa Sub-Regional del Conosur
> de Mujeres Jóvenes
> Feministas
> 
> 


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