The journey at APWLD till now has been amazing and incredibly informative, so I will be working on one event at a time for the upcoming days in my blogs.
For today it is the Beijing +20 event that was meant to review national actions taken on the Beijing Platform for Action which was developed in 1995.
For today it is the Beijing +20 event that was meant to review national actions taken on the Beijing Platform for Action which was developed in 1995.
I also think it is crucial to mention that this was my first time ever at an inter-governmental negotiation, and it's only fair to say that I should have taken more electives in Law, because I felt I was in a good place. I liked how it felt to see nations battle for what they strongly believed in, I liked watching the language of each paragraph being worked to the very last punctuation for a negotiable consensus amongst the delegations. So let me take you briefly through the various segments of the Beijing+20 Review.
A bird's eye view of the room during the inter-governmental. (Source: UN Women Asia and the Pacific)
Segment 1: Senior Officials
As the title suggests, this was the day where most senior officials attended and debated on what they would prefer on the outcome document for the Review process. I have got to say, I was extremely proud to be coming from the Pacific as it was one of the segments where the Pacific delegates from Fiji, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Samoa took lead in ensuring the document was well equipped with language to benefit women all around the globe, also keeping in mind the basics of women in small island developing nations (SIDS).
The Samoan Delegation.
The Tongan delegation which impressed the entire room with progressive language suggestions.
My personal favorite, the Fiji delegation.
(Source: UN Women Asia and the Pacific)
Segment 2: Ministerial
Now this was the decider event for the review process, and what makes it better is that I got a chance to speak in front of 130+ ministers and their national delegations, as a young woman from the Pacific. (View Script) As scary as it was standing in front of them all for the 5 minutes that we did, the response I got the whole day made it feel like I did a good job of representing the Pacific.
I personally feel that Fiji has done pretty well given that we are still and struggling with development and have recently returned to democracy. I feel the need to honour those who have worked so hard to get Fiji in the forefront today because with regards to gender, Fiji today has:
(Source: Citizen News Service)
I personally feel that Fiji has done pretty well given that we are still and struggling with development and have recently returned to democracy. I feel the need to honour those who have worked so hard to get Fiji in the forefront today because with regards to gender, Fiji today has:
1. It's first female speaker of the lower house.
2. It has seen women take up leadership roles in non-traditional career paths.
3. In terms of the Millennium Development Goals, Fiji is still progressing steadily towards achieving it and the latest report can be viewed here.
4. The World Bank also released data on Gender Equality in Fiji and that can be accessed here.
Do take a look at this very cool map which shows national initiatives in the Asia Pacific region taken in their attempt to implement the Beijing Platform for Action. The map was developed by my colleagues at the Asia Pacific Forum for Women, Law and Development.
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