"The Fourth World Conference on Women produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), a comprehensive women’s human rights paradigm that envisioned the transformation of power relations. This was a global vision of social justice, equality, development and peace. Fifteen years later, the BPfA would seem to be considered by governments as technical instrument, and its substance has been depoliticised and diluted.The key implementation strategy of gender mainstreaming has lost its critical perspective and transformative purpose in terms of power relations and inequalities.
The Urgent Action Fund-Africa, a Pan-African women’s human rights organisation, notes with great concern Uganda’s draconian Anti-homosexuality Bill 2009, the ongoing parliamentary debates and the suggested amendments to the Bill.
"International Women’s day is an occasion for us, women, all over the world to celebrate and to unite for social and gender justice, environmental sustainability, peace and equality and make our voices heard! We are in the midst of the most serious crisis since decades: the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of women and men, girls and boys worldwide are threatened by the complex set of the financial, economic, energy, food, climate, and inequality crisis..."
"Madam High Commissioner, we recently had the privilege of communicating to you a letter in support of your inclusion of issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in your SMP, outlined in your Annual Report, and would like to take the opportunity of reaffirming that support in this more public setting..."
The Fourth World Conference on Women produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), a comprehensive women’s human rights paradigm that envisioned the transformation of power relations.
