CSW Update

Over recent years, WNC attendance at CSW has become a regular responsibility and we play an important role in providing a link between the UK Government delegation and UK NGOs. In doing this, they undertake a number of activities to support both parties in preparing for and participating in CSW, including:

1) for those who are attending for the first time to give them general background information on CSW and

2) a meeting between the Government delegation and NGOs to discuss UK priorities for CSW

What happened at the 51^st session of the CSW:

26 February- 09 March 2007?

In 2007, the two themes examined at CSW were:

(i)The Elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child;

(ii) Review of the agreed conclusions on the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality

Parallel Side Events

On the Thursday 01 March 2007, the WNC, supported by National Alliance of Women's Organisations (NAWO) facilitated a side event entitled: Developing International Indicators on VAW. The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women (VAW) Yakin Ertuk and internationally renowned VAW specialist, Professor and WNC Commissioner Liz Kelly discussed the commitment to the transnational indicators at the UN and the initial proposals developed by Liz Kelly.

This was extremely well attended with standing room only. A lively debate followed and women from all over the world discussed the specific proposals and the vital need for agreed indicators. The report on which the side event was based will be submitted by Yakin Ertuk to the Human Rights Committee at the end of 2007.

Draft Resolutions:

The agreed and final conclusions will be published in a report in the next few months.

WNC Women's Human Rights E-network (WHRE)

The WHRE (formerly the International Working Group) was established to bring together the views of women from around the UK on international issues, to lobby government on key topics, and to contribute to government policy.

The WNC has responsibility for two ongoing work areas: producing a Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) shadow report, and preparing for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) annually. Following a restructure in the WNC this work will function primarily as an e-network with e-network members meeting only on an ad-hoc project basis. 

The e-network is open to WNC partners, and organisations and individuals interested in learning more about women's human rights and gender equality from an international perspective. In a regular email circulation, e-network members receive up-to-date information on gender issues in the international arena, invitations to events and seminars, information on current government and NGO initiatives, and have opportunities to contribute to consultation exercises.

Migration and Asylum Sub Group-Update

The WNC organised a roundtable on migration and asylum on 6 September 2005. The roundtable gathered key experts from various backgrounds to share their knowledge and identify possible issues for the WNC to take forward. The key aims of the roundtable were to:

Key issues identified include:
- Need to mainstream gender into research
- Lack of gender-based information in the new immigration proposal
- Lack of accessibility to the legal system for refugee women
- Health status of refugee women and the restrictions on health care for undocumented migrants and failed asylum seekers
- Lack of awareness from officials and caseworkers about women asylum seekers special circumstances.
-Refugee women not being informed of their rights
- Insufficient country of origin information for officials in covering women's issues such as Female Genital Mutilation
- Concerns about women who are in detention or destitute at the end of the asylum process

The WNC established the Migration and Asylum Sub Group at the end of 2005 to take forward specific issues in the field of migration and asylum as identified at the roundtable event. Members are drawn from a wide background and the group is currently taking forward its work programme, prioritising Citizenship & Integration, Immigration, the Asylum and Nationality Act and the points-based system for managed migration for the focus of the group.

The Group meet quarterly and have undertaken the following activities since its inception:

WNC07/2/04