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Women with Disabilities Impact UN Beijing+5 Meetings in New York
An estimated 10,000 women representing their governments or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) descended on New York City in early June to make their voices heard in the United Nations "Beijing+5"meetings. Among them was a small dedicated group of 65 women with disabilities from 31 countries around the world, participating in both the overall activities and in a unique training program.
Beijing+5 is the short name given to the UN official review process of concrete achievements on behalf of women since its 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing.
The process included: (1) a special session of the UN General Assembly, June 5-10, where progress reports were given by UN officials responsible for women's issues and by governmental delegates; (2) development and adoption of an outcome document on priorities to ensure continued advances for women and girls in the 12 key areas identified by the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action; and (3) a series of NGO activities designed to exchange current information and impact the outcome document.
The 12 key areas of the Platform, which were the main focuses of group meetings during the UN review process, are: poverty, education and training, health, violence, armed conflict, the economy, power and decision making, institutional mechanisms, human rights, the media, the environment and the girl child.
Challenges & Results
One measure of the effectiveness of the disabled women's activities is the recognition given to their specific concerns in the arduously negotiated Final Outcome Document. Adopted by the June 10 UN General Assembly meeting, following several all-night re-write sessions, the document contains a political declaration and identifies further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Platform for Action.
It is an impressive achievement that disability concerns are mentioned at all in the outcome document, as the main energies of the meetings were directed toward problems which have worsened since 1995-such as the rise in numbers of women affected by HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, "honor killings" and trafficking in girls and women. Delegates and UN officials were also working overtime to prevent the gains made in the Beijing Platform from being watered down by the strong conservative factions, as reported widely in the mainstream press.
Overall, strong references were included in the document, identifying girls and women with disabilities as having particular concerns about violence and needing equal access to education, training, health care, rehabilitation and employment. The outcome document has been posted on the UN website as follows: www.un.org/womenwatch
The main goal of the disabled women's activities was to ensure that disabled girls and women were not just mentioned in the document as part of a "laundry list" of women facing multiple barriers, but also identified as having their own agenda, momentum and place within the women's movement.
Visibility
The presence of women with disabilities from 31 countries was perhaps most visible during UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's official welcome to Beijing+5 at a public ceremony held June 5 in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Thanks to the Beijing+5 host committee, a prominent space for the disability contingent was reserved in the front rows.
Somewhat less visible, but equally powerful was the disabled women's participation throughout the week, working with their national governmental delegations, their UN missions or other NGOs advocating for women's rights and services. Their job was to spread the word about resources offered by the growing number of disabled women's groups and to provide research and information articulating priorities.
The disability contingent was also well integrated into an associated high level International Women's Health Conference, held June 7 at Hunter College. Here, thanks to close collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, disabled women's health and equity issues were part of plenary and workshop sessions.
Another measure of results is that disabled girls and women were identified as priorities in the country reports presented to the UN General Assembly by Burkina Faso, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, United Arab Republic, Uganda and others.
General Assembly Participation
The only General Assembly speech focused on disabled women's needs was given by the Hon. Florence Naiga, Uganda's Minister for Disability & Aging and a strong representative of Africa's grassroots disability movement. On-going support to the disability caucus was also given by the governmental delegations with disabled members. For example, Kicki Nordstrom, First Vice President, World Blind Union, was a member of the official Swedish delegation, and Judy Heumann, Assistant Secretary for Education, was part of the U.S. delegation.
Successful Collaborative Seminar
As one of the younger participants stated at the opening of the seminar, "This is my dream: to be surrounded by and working with talented disabled women and our allies from all over the world."
The June 1-8 seminar and advocacy training brought together young deaf, blind and physically disabled women from Africa, Asia, & the Pacific, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North & South America. An intense schedule had been planned by the organizers: Rehabilitation International (Barbara Duncan & Harilyn Rousso), World Institute on Disability (Kathy Martinez), Disabled People's International (Lucy Wong-Hernandez, World Federation of the Deaf (Carol-Lee Aquiline) and the World Blind Union (Kicki Nordstrom).
Several of the seminar planners had represented their organizations at the original 1995 Beijing conference and at this meeting served as seminar faculty and mentors to the younger participants.
Ambitious Objectives
The ambitious objectives for the week were: 1) to provide an historical overview of the UN and its work on behalf of women and people with disabilities; 2) to introduce the international disability organizations and their work on women's issues; 3) to review the international research on girls and women with disabilities; 4) to create opportunities for the participants to mentor each other, become a cohesive group and have an impact on the outcomes of the UN Beijing+5 meetings; and 5) to learn about disabled women's activities in the countries represented by the participants.
Sponsors
The Beijing+5 Seminar was one of a 1999-2000 series of initiatives to improve employment prospects for women with disabilities sponsored by the U.S. Social Security Administration and Departments of Education and Health & Human Services. Other sponsors of the Beijing+5 seminar were: the U.S. Agency for International Development, the UN Disability Unit, UNICEF, the Women's Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Sister Fund and the Third Wave, all of which provided scholarships for women with disabilities or in-kind services, such as sign language interpretation and meeting facilities.
The Danish Council of Organizations of Disabled Persons and the National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda raised funds for a group of 12 women from 10 English speaking African countries to attend Beijing+5 activities in New York.
Diverse Participants
An unusually diverse group of young participants, ages 18-36, passed the application process and flew from around the globe to reach New York City. Most had never been to the USA and many were traveling internationally for the first time. Participants came from: China, Australia, Nepal, India, the Philippines, Madagascar, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Ghana, Brazil, Panama, Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Latvia, Sweden, Canada and from throughout the USA. (A participants list appears as an appendix to this report.)
All of the participants were involved in local or national disability groups in their home countries, many in leadership positions, while some are still working on their graduate or post-graduate degrees.
Professions represented included: biologist, ombudsman, lawyer, social worker, occupational therapist, community development worker, professor, government staff, teacher, manager or chief executive of organization, employment specialist, leadership development trainer, peer counselor and journalist.
Approximately 10 of the participants were deaf, another 5 or so were blind and the balance had a range of physical disabilities, including those caused by polio, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, burns, muscular dystrophy, lupus and short stature. A couple participants were disabled by war and/or landmines.
Seminar Highlights
According to the majority of the seminar evaluations received, and informal reactions conveyed to the sponsors, some of the most valuable aspects were:
In addition to the work described
above, all participants were required to carry out individual or to take
part in group assignments that would progress the status of women and girls
with disabilities. Some assignments were short-term, aimed at the Beijing+5
process and completed on site, while others are long-range and will require
future efforts. Examples are:
The active, "hands-on" contingent
of deaf women decided to organize a network for young, deaf women under
the auspices of the World Federation of the Deaf, and already outlined
roles for many of the women present, such as
One of the underlying goals of the seminar was that the organizing groups would be identifying and preparing young women to take on the role of leadership and training for the next generation of women activists in the worldwide disability movement.
The high caliber of the participants and the wide range of their domestic and international experience with both women's issues and disability organizations was a major contribution to the success of the initiative.
The organizers felt a genuine pride in taking part in the beginning of the "passing of the torch" to the next generation of women leaders in the worldwide movement of people with disabilities.
One example of the spirit and ingenuity of the younger participants was how two of the blind women, Sylvia Quan of Guatemala and Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes of Chile, agilely managed to turn a stroll through a UN Exhibit of Women's Art into a meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. They took the opportunity to brief the Secretary General on women's disability issues.
Combined Seminar & Training Model
The organizations involved
in planning the seminar agreed that although many aspects could have been
improved with more time to coordinate and more funds for translation and
interpretation, that the basic model was one that could be used effectively
in the future. The model consisted of the following components: intensive
academic classes utilizing faculty and mentors with international expertise
in disability, human rights and women's issues; exchange of information
about the situation of women with disabilities in the countries represented;
followed by "hands on" advocacy, practical assignments and participation
in Beijing+5 activities. As far as we aware, this was the first training
specifically designed to provide historical background in the international
disability and women's movements, combined with the opportunity for hands-on
advocacy. It was also the first instance of the international disability
organizations working together to provide training, mentoring and opportunities
for collaboration across disability issues.
Additional Results
Upon returning home, participants were also required to conduct public education or training events in their countries to ensure that the results of the Beijing+5 meetings were broadly disseminated and to encourage the participants to engage local women's groups in integrating disability issues into their efforts. The organizers have already received reports from more than 10 countries that these follow-up activities and dissemination efforts are underway.
Additionally, some participants
have made contacts with their local U.S. AID and UNICEF offices to initiate
further collaboration and integration of disability concerns into ongoing
development programs. Five of the Latin American participants will speak
to the women's issues seminar within the Rehabilitation International
World Congress in Rio in late August. Two of the U.S. participants held
a report-back session at the World Institute on Disability offices in August,
where they made a power point presentation and took questions from a group
of 25 invited specialists in training, disability and women's issues.
Staff
The success of the week was
due in large part to the following dedicated staff members of WID and RI:
Jennifer Geagan, conference coordinator, Marylyn Thornton, financial officer,
and Jeremy Thornton, photographer, all of WID; and Barbara Artusa, comptroller,
Leonor Coello, Spanish language specialist, and Marie-Chantal Joseph, French
language specialist, all staff or consultants of RI. The assistance and
translation skills of Maribel Derjani-Bayeh of the UN Disability Unit were
also greatly appreciated. Melinda Levine of the UN staff was also an outstanding
volunteer.
Mentoring was a significant aspect of the Beijing+5 seminar for young women.
Shown next are some of the
younger Beijing+5 participants, representing the following countries: USA,
Egypt, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Spain, Madagascar, Kenya, Peru, Ireland,
Panama, and Canada.
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Many thanks to Jeremy
Thornton for taking these wonderful photographs.
Beijing+5
Training Seminar Participants
| Elizabeth Alarnick
City University of New York 680 Ocean Pkwy Apt 9I Brooklyn, NY 11230 Tel: (718) 972-1676 Zealing@aol.com Maria E. Antunez
Carol-lee Aquiline
Roselyne Akum Ayuke
Vivian Berry
Nuria Carrera I Comes
Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes
Ivana Cordier da Fonseca
Nory A. Delano
Rama Dhakal
Heidi M. Evans
Gertrude O. Fefoame
Jennifer Geagan
Shivani Gupta
Judy Heumann
Shannon Hy
Jennifer A. Jackson
Ann Jonsson
Marie-Chantal Joseph
Barbara Kolucki
Ilze Laine
Nancy Landreville
Melinda Levine
Kathy Martinez
Monica Mbaru Mania
Xenia Y. Mejia
Jane Momdiwa
Chiku Mwalutambi
Rauha Nehale
Kicki Nordstrom
Anne Buore Oginga
Mercedes Paniker
Rami Rabby
Fela Razafinjato
Barbara Riverdahl
Harilyn Rousso
Karen Saba
Raquel Soto Arquero
Jeremy Thornton
Macline Twimukye
Jon Wolfe Nelson
Lucy Wong-Hernandez
Ilene R. Zeitzer
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Ana Malena Alvarado
Association of Sordos De Chiriqui P.O Box 343 David, Chiriqui, Panama Tel: (507) 775-4162 (507) 774-4471 Anaalvao@chiriqui.com Barbara Ann Artusa
Hellen Grace Asamo
Rosangela Berman-Bieler
Beverly J. Buchanan
Susan Chitimbe
Leonor Coello
Theresia Degener
Maribel Derjani-Bayeh
Barbara Duncan
Michelle Favis
Stephanie Feyne
Nora Groce
Gulbadan Habibi
Sherry Hicks
Akiko Ikeda
Anneli Joneken
Florance Kabayadondo
Tarsha R. Lagrone
Linda A Lamitola
Noelle Lee
Kabelo Makgata
Olga Martinez
Peggy McLeod
Dr. Sruti Mohapatra
Bill Moody
Safia Nalule
Kirsten Nielsen
Francisca Numba
Liz Olsen
Silvia Quan
Dinah Radtke
Carmen Reyes-Zubiaga
Gretty R. Rivero Alcocer
Carmen Rui Pascal
Rosa Ana Sanchez Nunez
Susana Stiglich
Marylyn Thornton
Victoria Wardlaw
Daniel W. Wong
Jia Yang
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