Tid: 31. oktober - 5. november 2001 EUROPÆISK REGIONAL KONFERENCE

Transcription

1 Tid: 31. oktober - 5. november 2001 EUROPÆISK REGIONAL KONFERENCE International Alliance of Women og Dansk Kvindesamfund indbyder hermed til international konference om CEDAW-konventionen (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) Sted: Dalum Landbrugsskole, Landbrugsvej 65, 5260 Odense S Konferencesproget er engelsk I 1991 var Dansk Kvindesamfund vært for en europæisk konference, der havde CEDAW-konventionen som sit tema og repræsentanter fra 21 nationer som deltagere. Konferencen var arrangeret i et samarbejde med International Alliance of Women (IAW), som er en international paraplyorganisation for ca. 60 kvindeorganisationer fra hele verden, herunder ca 30 fra d. 3. verden og mellem 7 og 10 fra forskellige østeuropæiske lande. IAW, som blev dannet i 1904, er den eneste internationale feministiske organisation og har konsultativ status af 1. klasse ved FN og FN s særorganisationer. Inspireret af denne konference har Dansk Kvindesamfund i de sidste 10 år arbejdet med - i forskellige sammenhænge og med forskellige midler - at oplyse danske kvinder og mænd om CEDAW-konventionen og de muligheder den giver. Konferencen har derudover givet fornyet energi til arbejdet med CEDAWkonventionen inden for IAW og IAW s medlemsorganisationer. Tiden er nu inde til at gøre fornyet status. Dansk Kvindesamfund ønsker derfor at afholde en ny konference med deltagelse af kvinder fra hele verden. Hvor langt er vi nået på de 10 år? Nationalt? Internationalt? Hvilke midler har vist sig effektive i arbejdet med at opnå flere demokratiske rettigheder for kvinder? Hvor ligger vanskelighederne? Igen er der tale om et samarbejde med International Alliance of Women. De punkter vi især vil gøre til genstand for behandling på konferencen er: kvinder i politik, vold mod kvinder, handel med kvinder og børn, mainstreaming som instrument til opnåelse af ligestilling mellem kønnene samt sammenhængen mellem CEDAW-konventionen og Platform for Action. INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF WOMEN & THE DANISH WOMEN S SOCIETY EUROPEAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE on THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CEDAW CONVENTION ODENSE, DENMARK 31st. October - 5th. November 2001

2 Draft programme: 31st. October: Throughout the day: Arrivals, registration Reception at the Town Hall of the city of Odense 1st. November: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CEDAW CONVENTION - how are we progressing? Jørgen P. Jensen - Principal of Dalum Agricultural College. Brief introduction to our venue Karen Hallberg - President of The Danish Women's Society. Opening of the conference Patricia Giles - President of the International Alliance of Women. The CEDAW Convention and the Platform for Action - how are we progressing? Future hopes. Questions Coffee, tea Have we progressed? Presentations by - a Scandinavian organisation - a Central European organisation - a Third World organisation. Discussion Lunch Group work (incl. coffee,tea): Progress in the implementation of the CEDAW Convention Plenary - reports from groups Dinner Evening free 2nd Nov: CHALLENGES/ DIFFICULTIES IN IMPLEMENTING THE CEDAW CONVENTION Drude Dahlerup - Professor in Political Science and Gender Research, University of Stockholm: Women in Public and Political Life, - quotas to increase women's political representation all over the world - does it work? Questions and discussion Coffee, tea Presentations by 3 participating organisations from different parts of the world. Are we getting anywhere? - Equal participation of women and men in decision-making porcesses at all levels. Art. 7 and Lunch Sightseeing

3 Group discussions (incl. coffee, tea): Women in decision-making positions Plenary- reports from groups Reception at Lene Pind s 3rd. Nov. WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS - VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Mr. Göran Lindberg - Chief Commissioner of the Uppsala County Police Departement. Violence against Women - Causes and Consequences. Questions and discussion Coffee, tea Ms. Nivedita Prasad - Coordinator at the Ban Ying Coordinating Centre, Berlin. Human Rights and Trafficking in Women and Girls. Art. 6. Questions and discussion Lunch Group work (incl. coffee, tea). Violence against women and trafficking in women and girls. Are we implementing the Convention? Plenary - reports from groups Free Dinner Open discussion Cheese and red wine 4th. Nov STRATEGIES FOR ACCELERATED IMPLEMENTATION Dr. Hana Schöpp-Schilling - Member of CEDAW, Chair of the Standing Working Group on the Optional Protocol. Reservations and the Optional Protocol. Questions Coffee, tea Marsha Freeman - Director of IWRAW (International Women's Rights Action Watch): Mainstreaming and other measures for an accelerated implementation of the Convention. Questions Lunch Panel discussion. Three Equality Ministers from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. What measures have been taken to implement the Convention - and suggestions for the future

4 Questions and discussion Group work (incl. coffee, tea). Measures for an accelerated implementation Plenary. Group reports. Evaluation and concluding remarks Formal dinner at the County Council 5th. Nov. DEPARTURES. Rooms must be cleared by 9.00 The Implementation of the CEDAW Convention (tale) - have we progressed? Leslie Larsen Danish Women's Society The Danish Women's Society works for equal rights and equal responsibilites be-tween women and men in all spheres of life. We have worked for the empower-ment of women for 130 years and are independent of party political interests. Together with 167 other nations Denmark has adopted the CEDAW Convention (UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) by ratification in With this conven-tion women's rights have become an aspect of UN human rights and an impor-tant tool in the struggle for equal rights. An important barrier to full equal rights between women and men is the fact that women do not know their rights. Only a few women are aware of the fact that the international society has adopted this convention on equal rights which guar-antees women basic freedoms and rights. This is the background for the Danish Women's Society's work with the CEDAW Convention. What then have we been doing with this important tool? Have we progressed? I would like to describe what we have been doing in the Danish Women's Society - and how. CEDAW Conference 1991 We started in 1991 by organizing, under the auspices of the International Alliance of Women, a European regional confer-ence in Denmark on the Convention. Women from 20 different nations, inclu-ding guest participants from the Baltic countries, Eastern Europe, the Carib-bean, Africa and Asia met to share their experiences and develop new strategies in their work to achieve the rights that the CEDAW Convention guarantees all wo-men.

5 During that conference we realized even more strongly that there was a great lack of knowledge about the existence of the Convention. How can women use this important tool if they do not know about it? CEDAW information kit 1992/93 Therefore our second project was to produce an information kit in Danish about the Convention for women to use to study the Convention and get ideas on how to use the Convention to improve the situation of women. The kit contains: the Convention text in Danish articles on several issues contained in the Convention - legal literacy, politics, labour market, health, law information on how the Convention and the CEDAW committee works ideas on how one can use the Convention case studies showing how women have used the Convention to change laws in their own countries statistics on women globally a list of definitions of words used in the Convention a list of countries which have ratified a list of suggested reading for more information a copy of the Danish Government's latest report to the CEDAW Commit-tee (Fifth) a copy of the Danish Government's Fourth report to the CEDAW Commit-tee and the Committee's comments on it We have also produced a poster with the text of the Convention in Danish. International workshops in Finland, Denmark and China 1994/95 In 1994 and 1995 we held workshops at the Nordic Forum in Finland, the UN Social Summit in Copenhagen and the UN Women's Conference in Beijing about our CEDAW kit in order to spread the word about the Convention and encour-age other women to make similar kits in their own countries and languages. We have heard that Finland has in fact taken up the idea. CEDAW Campaign 1996 In 1996 we raised money to run a campaign in Denmark on the Convention for our own 19 branches and other women's organizations. We found people knowledgable about several of the issues covered in the Convention who could be used as speakers for public meetings, seminars or study circles arranged by the branches. Then, with the money we had raised, we offered our branches economic support for a lecture room, advertisement of the event, fees for speakers and their transportation costs. All the branches had to do was to organize the meeting on the Convention in their local areas. 10 out of our 19 branches did this. They held meetings on the Convention itself and the Convention related to violence, education, trafficking in women, the labour market, and health.

6 We also had speakers on the issues of environment, media & pornography, handicapped women, gene technology and reproductive health available. Baltic-Nordic Conference 1997 In 1997 we held a workshop on the CEDAW Convention and our work at the Baltic-Nordic Conference on equal oppor-tunities in Valmeira, Latvia. There was great interest in the Convention as a useful tool for their work there. Updating of CEDAW kit Center for Human Rights 1998/99 In 1998 we updated our CEDAW information kit with new statistics, case studies and bibliographies. In addition we held 1-day seminars on the Convention and our work with it at international courses organized by the Danish Center for Human Rights. These were attended by judges, NGO activists and the like working with human rights in their own countries. They came from Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. 50th Anniversary of the UN Univeral Declaration of Human Rights was also the 50th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In that connection we held two public workshops. One workshop was on the Convention and trafficking in women, and the other was on the Convention and women and violence. We also had an information stand at a large public event. Seminar with focus on immigrant women 1999 In 1999 we held a seminar for teachers of Danish language for immigrant women in Denmark on the CEDAW Convention and how it could be used to improve their situation in Denmark. The idea was to inform the teachers about the Convention and our information kit in the hope that they could use the material in their teaching both as a Danish language text for learning Danish but also as a means of informing these women of their rights. The teachers expressed interest in organizing meetings and study circles for smaller groups as well as in using the material for class teaching. Danish National Reports and the Optional Protocol The Danish Women's Society has written comments to the Danish Government's National Periodic Reports to the CEDAW Committee, most recently for the fifth report in These comments are published in the official report as an appendix. We have also participated actively in the work to obtain the Optional Protocol, for example as members of a committee under the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding establishment of the Protocol. We are happy to say that Denmark was the third country to ratify the Protocol. CEDAW Conference 2001 And now we are holding this follow-up conference to the one in 1991 where all the work started. Conclusion

7 As you can see, there is no end to the work one can do with the CEDAW Convention. It covers every area of women's lives and is thus always relevant and important. We are not finished. Our work will continue. We would, for example, like to reach law students at university, the police and high school stu-dents and teachers with our information work. Just to put this work into perspective, however, I would also like to mention that the Danish Women's Society is an NGO and does not have independent financial resources. We have to write many applications for funding for all of our activities, and the work is done on a volunteer basis. Most of us have other fulltime jobs and must do this work in our free time. At times this can become a difficult burden, but we usually find the CEDAW Convention and working with it so inter-esting and inspiring that we regain the energy to continue our efforts. Seeing so many interested participants at this con-ference certainly contributes to that! Best wishes for your own work with this important convention - our bill of rights