FemLINK’Postcards: 2012 Commission on the Status of Women

**FemLINKPACIFIC’s Executive Director is attending the CSW events as the regional focal point for the GEAR campaign

02 March (New York)

Pacific leadership was congratulated for the work and progress towards the development of a Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security as a model for collaboration by Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, the former Under Secretary General and High Representative of the UN and President of the UN Security Council (March 2000, June 2001).

He was speaking at a parallel event to the UN-CSW "Moving Towards a Just Peace: UNSCR1325, Peacebuilding, Relevant Research".
Chowdhury also stressed the importance of Action Plans taking a stronger preventive approach and not just waiting for conflicts to break out highlighting that this is also one way to avoid the unnecessary costs of violence, wars and conflict:

"We can resolve our problems in a peaceful non violent way."
Action Plans, he said must advance non violence and a Culture of Peace.

Meanwhile, a roundtable dialogue between the GEAR Campaign representatives in New York for CSW and senior management team members of UN Women (01 March) brought clarity to the operationalization of the work at national and regional level including the timeline to the establishment of the civil society advisory groups at national and regional level, as well as the global and was an opportunity for the GEAR campaign's regional focal points to highlight our regional perspectives, realities and concerns.

Membership, we were told, will be on a rotational basis and there will be a range of models used ensuring democratic and transparent processes, with the need for flexibility.

The roundtable also discussed improved communication systems and processes and the recent Regional Architecture Review, including in the Pacific region. The outcome of the review will be a series of options on how UN Women can work better within the UN system and the report of the review with cost implications will be presented to the Executive Board meeting in June.

Aside from operational matters, the roundtable heard that UNWomen is committed to also engaging with civil society in a sustained manner particularly to progress the gender equality into the post-2015 agenda which is when the Beijing Platform for Action, UNSCR1325 and the MDGS will be reviewed.
....

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Executive Director, FemLINKPacific (www.femlinkpacific.org.fj)

ENDS

© Scoop Media