Blog van Antia

Officier in Afghanistan

Enkele jaren geleden had ik een collega wiens dochter uitgezonden werd naar Uruzgan. Ze was beroepsmilitair en ging op missie. Tot dat moment was onze betrokkenheid bij Afghanistan een abstracte voor mij. En een dilemma omdat ik enerzijds niet tegen kon zijn dat de bevolking van een arm land dat jarenlang gezucht had onder een streng religieus juk, vrijheid en vrede gebracht werd. Anderzijds vind en vond ik dat wij daar niets te zoeken hebben. Want wie zijn wij dat we pretenderen het beter te weten en anderen met de kracht van geweld vrede en veiligheid te kunnen brengen?

Women’s Economic Engagement and the Europe 2020 Agenda

The Irish presidency of the EU organized an European Conference on gender equality and the labour market called ‘Women’s Economic Engagement and the Europe 2020 Agenda’ in Dublin on 29 and 30 April. Some 150 Europeans from the 27 member states and several candidate states attended. During two days over 35 speakers from the EU, NGO’s, Irish government and several (large) listed companies took the floor to share their insights and knowledge on the matter. I was one of the two Dutch delegates to participate and I was asked to speak about women on the labour market in the Netherlands.

Debriefing on CSW57: wins and losses

Last week the Dutch coordinating ministry for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) organized a debriefing for Dutch NGO’s. It was a nice and sunny Spring day in The Hague. Depending on your point of view the debriefing was either a joyous recollection of the achievements or a bitter looking back on the setbacks.

Day 10: the Final Day

Here in New York you live in a world of its own during the two weeks of the Commission on the Status of Women. Whatever news is dominating the world, we do not know. All our attention is focused at the outcome document, or so called agreed conclusions. So the final day brings not only excitement but also a lot of tension.

Day 9 at CSW57

During the second week the number of parallel and side events drop dramatically. Not much is organized after the Tuesday of the second week. So the attention of the NGO’s present is focused on the negotiations. Those who can lobby, either with their own delegations or with delegations of other countries, lobby hard. Their goal is to try to keep the good language in and try to get the bad paragraphs out of the draft text. What good or bad is, depends on the group you belong to.

Day 8 at CSW: negotiations and more

At Day 8 the negotiations move forward slowly. The expectations are the fourth draft of the Agreed Conclusions will be presented by the facilitator tonight. By then we will know a little bit more where we stand. The negotiations room is closed for NGO’s so all we can see, not hear, is who is speaking when. The discussed subjects remain unclear to us on the outside. From informal talks with members of delegations we know the negotiations will continue until midnight.

zevende dag - verslag van Ines Orobio de Castro

Dinsdag was er een briefing door de EU delegatie (voorzitter Ierland) voor de EU NGO's. Over de onderhandelingen drukte de voorzitter zich zeer diplomatiek uit. De EU is in haar optreden heel voorzichtig als het gaat om de kwesties als seksuele en reproductieve rechten en seksuele oriëntatie en gender identiteit. Er is voor gekozen om niet meteen het voortouw te nemen zoals vorig jaar. Er wordt uitdrukkelijk voor gekozen om polarisatie te vermijden en tot een oplossing te komen waarmee iedereen kan leven.

Day 6: A tour in talks around the world

Over the weekend the facilitator had drafted a third version of the agreed conclusions. This document is based upon the outcome of the discussions during the informals of Thursday and Friday. The facilitator, this year the Philippines, suggests new texts for the discussed paragraphs. This new draft is the document that will be taken into the formal negotiations that have started on Day 6.

The last day of the first week at CSW

Friday, 8 March was the last day of the first week at the Commission on the status of women. And again it was s day that could not be compared by any of the other days. First of all it was International Women’s Day. An event that bears great importance for many, many women around the globe. Unfortunately the weather was dreadful, very cold with a lot of rain, snow and sleet. So the announced march for women’s rights literally fell in the water, as we tend to say in Dutch.

Blog van Aleid van den Brink over CSW57

8 maart: International Women's Day at the UN. Natuurlijk krijgt deze dag de volle aandacht bij de CSW. Iedereen feliciteert elkaar met deze dag: happy international women's day.

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