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September
9, Bangkok—Day three
of the ESCAP High Level
Ministerial Meeting (HLM)
to Review Regional Implementation
of the Beijing Platform
for Action was marked
by shifting schedules,
limiting time for parallel
discussion and giving
more time for panel presentations
and discussion in plenary.
Governments insisted that
the schedule set by the
ESCAP secretariat be adjusted
to allow for governments
to have more interactions
with each other.
The
adjustments allowed NGOs
to deliver intervention
statements on the floor
on this day instead of
on the final day of the
HLM. Statements were delivered
to the floor on issues
of youth and health rights,
media and ICT, disability,
land rights and armed
conflict. A general statement
from the APNGO Forum Caucus
was also delivered. Many
of the statements addressed
the lack of implementation
of the Beijing Platform
for Action, gaps that
governments failed to
report in their own presentations.
They also raised the issue
of emerging forces of
globalisation, fundamentalism,
and militarism that have
allowed gender inequality
to proliferate further
in the Asia and Pacific
region. What was significant
for the NGOs was that
these statements would
be included in the official
document to be drafted
by the governments as
an outcome of the HLM.
The
NGO statements will be
collected by the Asia
Pacific Women’s Watch
and will be made available
on the APNGO Forum website
at <http://ap-ngo-forum.isiswomen.org>.
Panel
presentations on gender
mainstreaming, regional
cooperation, rights-based
approach (see separate
report) and the role of
men and boys were then
held in plenary. In addition,
parallel sessions on each
of the topics were held
in different meeting rooms.
Government
delegations reconvened
at 4 p.m. to begin the
drafting process, assisted
by the ESCAP secretariat.
NGOs were not allowed
to sit in the drafting
room but were able to
make contributions to
the document by coordinating
with friendly government
delegations who were willing
to carry suggested language
into the deliberations.
The outcome report will
be submitted to the UN
Commision on the Status
of Women when it holds
its 49th meeting in March
2005.
Aileen
Familara of Isis International
Manila, for APWW
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