fyi.
----- Original Message -----
From: Christina Ryan
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 9:39 PM
Subject: [wwda-discuss] UN CEDAW session NGO day
Hello WWDA women,
Day 7 - Monday 19 July
This is the big NGO day for the CEDAW session this week. The NGO delegations from five countries will deliver their oral statements in the afternoon, and Australia's NGO delegation has our lunch time briefing with the CEDAW Committee.
The preparations for today have been intense and for some of us it's the culmination of many years work. The Australian delegation has been working on this for four years, so we feel the pressure of making sure that we are effective in getting our message across.
In some ways we are unlucky. Most other countries will deliver their oral statement (this is the chance to get your big issues up front), and then they will have their lunch briefing later in the week. As we are having our lunch briefing first, we have had to rework how we deliver our message to make sure it gets across. Of course we won't be sure that we've succeeded in any way until Tuesday evening, or even in a few weeks when the Concluding Observations are released by the Committee.
NGOs are taken seriously at the United Nations. They are seen as a different source of information about countries, and often they are the only reliable source about what is happening within a country when a government is secretive. Australia doesn't have quite this problem, but we do know that our NGOs provide a different perspective to our government on many issues. Already we have feedback that our Shadow Report is a good quality one and that the Committee members appreciate it.
Our team gathers first thing in the morning to finalise our documents before getting the necessary number of copies organised. We must provide the Committee with our oral statement (with enough spares for the translators), our lunch briefing issues document, and we have another document which is suggested Concluding Observations. After doing some final bits and pieces Caro races off to the photocopying shop 2 blocks away to get this all done.
We need to get some lunch organised for the Committee as we are hosts. Unfortunately we've been given the wrong information about how to do this and we have to negotiate actually getting something. Then we discover that it's going to cost a lot and we wonder how our sisters from other countries will afford this. After some discussions with the IWRAW women we discover that we should have just gone up to the counter and bought a large pile of prepared sandwiches or something. We must also consider the different backgrounds of Committee members and ensure halal and vegetarian food is available and presented properly.
Our lunch briefing goes well. A good number of Committee members attend and listen to our prepared issues statements. These cover the issues that are not covered in our oral statement this afternoon. The floor is then opened to questions and the Committee clearly have done some background as they are ready. We are asked a broad range of questions about:
- Asylum seekers and their access to services
- The absence of a human rights Act
- Are there any temporary special measures currently in force
- The representation of women on boards and the new ASX provisions
- Any challenges to the political empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
- The teaching of Indigenous languages - is everyone learning English
- Are there comprehensive domestic violence laws in each state and territory
- What about sexual offences Acts, and what access is there for women from minority groups to services
- What is non-therapeutic sterilisation
- What is the current situation for FGM in Australia
- What rights under CEDAW do women and girls have in the criminal justice system
- Please explain the new human rights framework and how it might work for us
- How have the human rights Acts in the 2 states that have them worked
- What levels of funding does legal aid have, questions about access to justice
This is just a brief summary, the questions are very in depth and the Committee understands structures and systemic discrimination in a way that is refreshing.
Our delegation answers the questions and provides further information on the issues. We are also joined by Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, and she helps out with a couple of the questions where she has expertise.
The lunch briefings are strictly time limited, so the Committee has an hour with us and then must leave. We thank them and they also thank us. We feel that we've done fairly well in getting our messages across, and in using the structure for the briefing that we devised.
Our next big challenge is the oral statement. This happens downstairs in the main conference room where the CEDAW Committee is in session. It is set up with the usual UN desks, microphones, and headsets for translation. On each desk there is also a power point so that you can plug in your laptop. Many of us use these to recharge throughout the day.
The session starts on time and each country has 10 minutes only. There is a light system that tells you when you have run out. Australia is first, followed by Turkey, PNG, Albania, and finally India. Each NGO delegation delivers its 10 minute oral statement and then the Committee asks questions.
We are pleased with our deliver and we do it within the time. This has taken hard work to achieve and we all breathe a sigh of relief. Most other countries don't quite manage to finish inside the time, but they are all also speaking in English as a second or third language so it's a big achievement. We are all supportive of each other, particularly as we have all been in IWRAW training together for the last few days and we all know what has been achieved.
The Committee asks its questions, they are all directed to specific countries, and then each country answers the block of questions relevant to it.
Questions are about:
- Trafficking and the availability of services for victims including refuges
- The level of multiple intersectional discrimination
- Has the Albanian Ombudsman addressed LBTI issues
- Is there universal maternity leave in Australia
- What subsidies are available for the hiring of women with disabilities in Australia. What level of employment of women with disabilities is there in the public sector.
- Child pornography, and internet availability in Turkey
- Are there laws about child labour in the mines in Albania
- The culture of violence in Albania and how this is being eradicated
- Is there any application under the EU for equality provisions in the law
- The use of temporary special measures
- Political participation of minorities and their access to education
- The number of domestic violence cases in Albania and whether the Optional Protocol to CEDAW would be a useful mechanism
- Violence in Gujarat province in India
- Rural women, government policies, development, living conditions, access to services
- Older women's situation
This is a broad range again and the our team answers the questions about maternity leave, the employment of women with disabilities, the use of temporary special measures, participation of minorities and their access to education, and some information about rural and older women. We get 5 minutes to answer so we must be succinct. Once again we manage it in time and feel pleased that we have done a good job.
Finally Elizabeth Broderick makes her oral statement and answers a few questions. She focuses on participation and representation, violence, and the gender pay gap. We also have these issues and have liaised with Elizabeth beforehand to ensure alignment.
Following the questions the Committee takes a short break before moving into a closed session. This is one of our small windows to grab to speak individually and follow up on interests. I have a further conversation with the Committee member who asked the question about disability employment. This gives me a chance to go into more detail about support for sustaining employment and about the disparity in levels of support between women and men.
At the end of each day is a debrief upstairs in the NGO room facilitated by IWRAW. We all troop up there and consider how we went, comment on how something happened or the types of questions that were asked. The room is humming with the women from Australia, Albania, Turkey and PNG. We also provide some insight on the lunch catering and how to not go about it.
Finally, the Australian team goes off to our own debrief and to work out how to approach tomorrow. Several Committee members have spoken to the team and some have asked for support with questions. Others have said they will ask about a specific issue. We tally all this up and work out a strategy to ensure that everything is covered.
Another long day, but we are as ready for tomorrow as we can be. Now it's over to the Australian government delegation to deliver its statement to the Committee and spend the day answering questions. We will be there all day, along with many of the women from the other NGO delegations, monitoring what is asked and working out how to influence proceedings as much as we can. The other delegations will also be keeping track of the kinds of questions that the Committee are asking at the moment to plan their own strategies.
cheers
Christina
Christina Ryan is representing Women with Disabilities Australia on the Australian NGO delegation to the UN CEDAW Committee. Christina acknowledges the support of the Bendigo Bank (ACT Branch), International Women's Rights Action Watch (Asia Pacific), Senator Sue Boyce, Advocacy for Inclusion, and the YWCA of Australia.
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