————————-

IPA Submission to Annual Ministerial Review 2012
Addressing root causes of inequality

————————-

Sustainable and inclusive growth demands a people centered and bio-centric development and cannot be achieved without addressing the issue of inequality. The UN publication The Inequality Predicament states that ‘A healthy, well-educated, adequately employed and socially protected citizenry contributes to social cohesion. Improved access by the people living in poverty to public assets and services and income transfer programmes to sustain the poorest families are essential to changing the structure of opportunities and are key to reducing the intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality.’

A study by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University shows that the richest 1% of adults owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. The bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth.

According to one of the Human habitat reports of the UN, one of the fundamental roles of the governments in a democracy is to build equality and be perceived by the citizens that inclusion and equality are fundamental objectives of public authorities.

Professor John Langmore, Australia, one of the 15,000 and more signatories to the campaign Support the Social Protection Floor Initiative, had commented, ‘There can be no doubt about the benefits of social protection. It can prevent or alleviate poverty and reduce inequality and injustice. The net costs of social protection mechanisms are likely to be offset in due course by a better motivated, nourished, educated and healthier workforce. Reduction of inequality and despair reduces social tensions. The benefits of national social security schemes are shown by their universal use in successful developed countries.’

The recent Report Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization states that about 5.1 billion people, 75 per cent of the world population, are not covered by adequate social security.

Another issue that needs urgent attention to achieve sustainable growth is corporate social responsibility and accountability. We affirm the effort of UN Global Compact involving a number of social actors to influence the action of companies. However, establishing a mandatory global policy framework calling forth Companies to implement sustainability issues is imperative.

Therefore, we call upon the Annual Ministerial Review to consider the following recommendations:

• Ensuring implementation of universal social protection floor (SPF) tailored to national needs; investing domestically a minimum of 4 per cent of GDP in SPF; implementing innovative financing mechanisms such as financial transaction tax, and using its resources to support vulnerable countries to implement SPF.
• Reducing military expenditure and using its resources for sustainable and inclusive growth. In the words of UN Secretary General, “Every year the world spends $1.4 trillion on weapons. With a fraction of that we could cut poverty, fund schools, provide health care, and protect our environment”.
• Establishing a mandatory global policy framework that ensures responsibility and accountability of national and multinational corporations.
• Ensuring progressive taxation.
• Ensuring  policy framework for sustainable consumption and production patterns.

————-oooOooo————-

————————–

Oral Statement by International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation, in special consultative status with Economic and Social Council, bringing the voice of rural girls and boys on the Review theme CSW56: Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women during the 56th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 27 February-9 March 2012. The statement will cover the importance of investing in girls to achieve the objectives of the Priority Theme: Empowerment of Rural Women and their role in Poverty and Hunger Eradication, Development and Current Challenges.

———————

My name is Mary Naccarato and I represent the International Presentation Association. Thank you, Chairperson, for the opportunity to present the voices of rural girls and boys during the Commission on the Status of Women. Our organisation carried out group discussions in a number of villages in Zambia on the Review theme ‘Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women’. I present to you the outcome of the discussions among girls and boys in rural areas. I regret that they themselves are not here to present this statement. The girls in rural areas experience a lot of gaps in the implementation of the commitments made in CSW52. They express their hopes and dreams and recommend  that the 56th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women be inclusive of rural girls in the Agreed Conclusions with the following insertions:

• Legislate and implement a nationally tailored human rights based ‘Social Protection Floor Initiative’ targeting girls in rural areas and providing basic services – water and sanitation, health and education
• Ensure focused and sustained domestic public policies and programmes for the advancement of rural girls
• Ensure registration of all births and the collection of gender disaggregated data specifically including rural girls
• Invest in rural girls and create an enabling environment for rural girls to attend secondary and tertiary education. For some populations this may need to be language appropriate and culturally sensitive particularly at the secondary level.
• Provide participatory forums ensuring that  rural girls have a say in decisions that affect their lives
• Ensure  electrification of villages with renewable energy and provide ICT opportunities for rural girls
• Ensure capacity building for rural girls enabling them to be contributors to a sustainable economy
• Provide health education and services for rural girls
• Empower and prepare rural girls for entrepreneurship
• Ensure that rural girls are provided safe environment at all levels
• Encourage continual public service announcement, education and awareness raising on dangers of human trafficking, migration, harmful traditional practices, sexual exploitation, kidnapping and early marriage.

Chairperson, the World Development Report 2012 titled ‘Gender Equality and Development’ states that despite the progress made, gender disparities still remain in many areas, and even in rich countries. These disparities are seen in the fact that 4 million women and girls die each year and 35 million girls are still out of school today.

The Chicago Council of Global Affairs in their document titled ‘Girls Grow: A Vital Force in Rural Economies’ states ‘Investing in girls is the right thing to do on moral, ethical, and human rights grounds. Perhaps no other segment of society globally faces as much exploitation and injustice, and we owe girls our support as integral, yet overlooked, members of the human family.’

Chairperson, we call upon national governments and the international community for the full implementation of the existing commitments[1] made to girls. We firmly believe that the voices of rural girls and boys will be heard by you, the policy makers of this session resulting in relevant policies and programmes at all levels, empowering rural girls as agents of social change in eradicating poverty and hunger and enabling them to play a greater role in sustainable development.

I thank you for this opportunity.

———————–

---

[1] A/C.3/66/L.24/Rev.1

————-oooOooo————-

———————

Written Statement to CSW56 by the International Presentation Association

Commission on the Status of Women

Fifty-sixth Session 27 February – 9 March 2012

Item 3(a)(1) of the provisional agenda*

Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on women and to the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges”

Statement submitted by the International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council

Statement

A call for justice, recognition and appreciation of Indigenous peoples with particular reference to the vision, incisive criticism and contribution of the indigenous woman to society as a whole

“I encourage all Member States to take concrete steps to address the challenges facing indigenous peoples—including marginalization, extreme poverty and loss of lands, territories and resources”.[1] These encouraging words of the Secretary-General echo the strong United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and have hopefully led to shifts in the consciousness of the global community. Progress has been made but much remains to be done, especially in our understanding of indigenous women, their creativity, ingenuity, adaptation and efficiency within the family and local community. Also, the understanding of gender issues among all cultures is complex and sensitive.

Almost without exception indigenous voices have remained overshadowed by a mainstream discourse rooted in the accumulation of wealth rather than the appreciation of the dignity of the human person. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) found approximately 600 Guarani families in the Bolivian Chaco existing in contemporary forms of slavery. Every day around the world, people living in poverty, especially those who name themselves as indigenous are “pushed to the outskirts of our cities as public spaces and transport facilities are privatized and gentrified.”[2] When penalization, rather than respect and empowerment, are the norm there is an entrenchment, exacerbation of and a growth in poverty at all levels. Indigenous people traditionally live on lands rich in natural resources and minerals. There is a growing awareness among them that governments or corporations must be obliged to obtain the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the people who are custodians of their lands before engaging in any activity that changes their lands, resources or territories.

Despite the accumulated impact of centuries of colonization and its erroneous ideas of “development”, many indigenous cultures have produced some of the world´s best activists, scientists, environmentalists, lawyers, artists, poets, musicians and philosophers. As the global awakening and awareness encouraged a return to the harmonious relationship with Nature, the Ecuadorian people, both indigenous and mainstream cultures, produced the first Constitution in the world to recognize the Rights of Nature in 2008. More than 100 communities in the United States have included this recognition into their local ordinances and many other countries are promoting the education and advocacy of the Rights of Nature. From Cochabamba, Bolivia, came a call in April 2010 to recognize and protect humanity and Mother Earth from the ravages of so many depredatory activities such as the extraction of fossil fuels, the many logging concessions and the over-exploiting of fresh water resources.

Despite the Geo engineering of the climate crisis, the fertilizing of oceans to grow plankton, the various crimes committed against rural communities we wish to highlight the resourcefulness of the indigenous woman in the Bolivian Altiplano or the Central Andean regions of Ecuador and Peru. Studies show that these women skillfully manage a wide range of obligations such as running households, educating their children, working in the fields, weaving and performing multiple tasks at the same time. Further recent studies of the indigenous woman living on the outskirts of major Andean cities highlight the very public domain of the market place in the lives of so many migrants[3]. Normally the feminine indigenous world was closed and private, hidden away in whispered Kichwa tones but there is a continual reversal of roles as the constant organic growth of the open market space with its myriads stalls gives the female seller her strong presence in society.

Temporary respites are experienced from the violent excesses of male violence, friendships are formed but, above all, the economy of the household is secure for another day. All human life is experienced in the Andean market place: a tailor patches worn garments; brightly colored shawls are knitted as the seller awaits the next customer, shoes are repaired on the spot and the never ending small live animals peer out from cages and await their fate. Domestic expertise has been transformed into a creative approach to meet the needs of new realities.

Experiences such as described above make it imperative for governments to recognize and invest in the empowerment of the indigenous woman. Her property rights have to be ensured and she needs control over natural resources for sustainable food security. The promotion of rural women, farmers´ cooperatives and access to marketing the food they produce is one of the major requirements for advancement during the coming years.

There is an increasing danger that the Global South will follow the disastrous consumer patterns of the Northern countries. Thomas Linzey, a US based lawyer working to develop the legal framework to protect Nature, explains that the dominant form of environmental protection in industrialized countries is based on the regulatory system, legalizing the discharge of large amounts of toxic substances into the environment and this is not working. Recognizing the Rights of Mother Earth, compensation would not only be measured in terms of an injury to people, but also of damage to the ecosystem.

In places throughout the world like the Amazon where hundreds of proposed dams, roads, massive oil and gas drilling, pipelines and biofuel plantations are threatening to destroy the hydrological systems it is increasingly critical that Indigenous and all peoples unite in supporting the legal rights of Nature.

We recommend that the Member States and the International Community

• ensure the universal implementation of the commitments made in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the UN General Assembly 2007. The communal spirit of the Indigenous Community calls for full compliance with the principles endorsed in the declaration which will help greatly to empower Indigenous women and their community
• introduce peer review mechanism in the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• take into serious consideration the recommendations made in the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples A/HRC/18/35 titled ‘Extractive Industries operating within or near Indigenous Territories’[4]
• raise awareness, design and implement cooperative enterprises tailored to the capacity of the Indigenous Peoples during the International Year of Cooperatives 2012
• implement nationally tailored ‘Social Protection Floor Initiative’ a tool necessary to eradicate poverty and empower indigenous peoples.

---

[1] http://www.un.org/en/events/indigenousday/message_sg.shtml 9 August 2011

[2] Statement by Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, Special UN Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights to 66th Session of the UN GA 25 October 2011

[3] http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/LASA98/Weismantel.pdf

[4] http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/SR/A-HRC-18-35_en.pdf

————————-

————-oooOooo————-

———————

Statement by the International Presentation Association, an NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC, on behalf of New York based NGO Committee for Social Development and its Subcommittee for Poverty Eradication

Consultation on the ‘Report (HRC/15/41) of the Independent Expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty on the draft guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights’ Geneva, Palais des Nations, Conference Room XVII, 22 and 23 June 2011

Rights-based Social Protection

In her report to the General Assembly on the question of human rights and extreme poverty A/65/259[1], the independent expert has highlighted the importance of social protection measures in the Millennium Development Goals agenda. The independent expert has also stressed that social protection measures designed, implemented and evaluated within the framework of a rights- based approach are more likely to ensure the achievement of the Goals and to result in long-term improvements.  The independent expert in the same report called on States to devote increased attention to the issue of gender equality while designing, implementing and evaluating social protection programmes within a human rights framework.

She has stated that Social protection contributes to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 1 (eradicate extreme poverty and hunger) by transferring resources to those living in extreme poverty, enabling the beneficiaries to generate income, protect their assets and accumulate human capital.[2] Many studies note the potential of social protection initiatives to promote progress towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 1, in particular target 1: halving income poverty by 2015.

The Resolution A/RES/65/214[3] adopted by the UN General Assembly on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty recalls that promoting universal access to social services and providing social protection floors can make an important contribution to consolidating and achieving further development gains. Furthermore this social protection system that addresses and reduces inequality and social exclusion are essential for protecting the gains made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Resolution also encourages States when designing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating  social protection programmes to ensure gender mainstreaming and the promotion and protection of all human rights in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law, through this process.

During the 49th Session of Commission for Social Development, there was much interest shown around ‘Social Protection’ as an emerging issue. The NGO Committee on Social Development strongly supports the Social Protection Floor Initiative – a joint UN effort spearheaded by the ILO, and supported by numerous UN agencies, international NGOs, development banks and other development partners. The concept of a social protection floor is very clear. No one should live below a certain income level and everyone should be able to access at least basic health services, primary education, housing, water, sanitation and other essential services. Along with universal access to social services, Social Transfers, in cash or kind, guarantee income security, food security and adequate nutrition.

About 75 percent of people in the world are still not covered by adequate social security. Lack of social protection is a liability that undermines social cohesion, economic performance and creates political and institutional instability. In a world of growing inequality this floor is a necessary tool in eradicating poverty. It helps governments to build more inclusive national development plans which put people at the centre.[4]

At a press conference at the UN Headquarters, New York on 14 February 2011, Michael Cichon, Director of the ILO’s Social Security Department said stakeholders seemed to have long forgotten that social security was indeed a human right… He stressed that implementing the Social Protection Floor Initiative in a developing country with an expenditure as little as 3 to 4 per cent of gross domestic product could reduce the poverty head count by about 40 per cent.[5]

We propose that countries that lack sufficient revenue to manage the Initiative from domestic revenues be supported by the international community from the sources of innovative financing mechanisms.

Innovative financing mechanisms emerged at the beginning of the twenty-first century and since then have been in conversations at the United Nations. During the 2011 Special High Level Meeting of ECOSOC, UNCTAD, WTO and the BWI, the NGO Committee for Financing for Development has recommended the following five innovative sources of financing for development- Financial Transaction Tax, International Solidarity Levy on Airline Tickets, Combat Tax Havens and Capital Flight, Debt Swaps, Reduce Military Expenditures [6].

Therefore, we call upon the UN Member States and the International Community to take into consideration the following recommendations to overcome extreme poverty through rights based social protection measures:

• ensure that the UN Member States who have not yet done so, invest domestically a minimum of 4% GDP  towards rights based universal Social Protection Floor Initiative

• implement  further the suggested innovative sources of financing for development - Financial Transaction Tax, International Solidarity Levy on Airline Tickets, Combat Tax Havens and Capital Flight, Debt Swaps, Reduce Military Expenditures

• support with resources from  innovative  financing  mechanisms the UN Member States who lack  sufficient revenue to manage universally the Social Protection Floor Initiative from domestic revenues.

---

[1] http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N10/478/79/PDF/N1047879.pdf?OpenElement

[2] World Bank, The Contribution of Social Protection to the Millennium Development Goals (2003); United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), What Will It Take to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals? An International Assessment (2010)

[3] http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N10/525/38/PDF/N1052538.pdf?OpenElement

[4] Social Protection Floor Campaign material

[5] http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2011/110214_ILO.doc.htm

[6] http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ecosoc/springmeetings/2011/NGO1.pdf (see box below)

————————

Currency Transaction Tax and Financial Transaction Tax

At issue is how to find significant and stable new sources of funding for development. Both of these taxes envision levying small taxes on the financial sector. However, given the size of transactions being taxed the resulting revenue would be both significant and stable.

The currency transaction tax (CTT) would levy a very small proposed rate with the intention of not disturbing the global market for major currencies. Depending on the actual rate used, revenue estimates for this tax range between US $24 billion and US $300 billion.

The Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) envisions a broader scope for the tax than the CTT. One version calls for a levy of 0.05% to be applied to various categories of financial transactions including stocks, bonds and currency. This would be imposed on both domestic and international transactions. With global agreement, this tax could raise between US $600-700 billion.

We urge governments to implement an international FTT with an explicit development component.

We urge governments to support domestic efforts to implement versions of the FTT again with a development component and building on experiences in various countries.

International Solidarity Levy on Airline Tickets

The purpose of the International Solidarity Levy on Airline Tickets is to tax individuals who take a flight out of specific countries that have implemented the policy, and then transfer the money to development projects.

Most of the money from this tax goes to UNITAID, which is the United Nations international drug purchasing facility for medicines related to HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis.

This innovative tax is easy to implement, has seen a great deal of success, supports development and cooperation between nations, and it provides a long-term and stable source of funds while supplementing ODA requirements.

Tax Havens and Capital Flight

Capital flight and tax evasion continue to drain much-needed resources for development. Tax Justice Network estimates the amount of funds held offshore by individuals is about $11.5 trillion with a resulting annual loss of tax revenue on the income from these assets of about 250 billion dollars. This is five times what the World Bank estimated was needed to address the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving world poverty by 2015.

• Capital flight and other illicit transfers of funds must be combated: There needs to be an automatic exchange of tax information between governments. Transparency, supervision and regulation are essential in institutions such as hedge funds, private equity and sovereign wealth funds. Cross-border tax evasion should be treated as criminal activity and tax havens must be closed. The “United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters” should be strengthened and upgraded into an intergovernmental body. Its agenda should include measures to combat capital flight and tax evasion and also measures to assist developing countries to improve their tax administration. In the long run a World Tax Organization should be established.

Debt Swaps

Debt Swaps represent an innovative approach to cancelling debt in the developing world, while, at the same time, providing additional resources for socio-economic development projects. It cancels external debt in exchange for the debtor government’s commitment to mobilize domestic resources for specific development rather than debt repayment. The debt swap process is applied through three-way agreements, overseen by a multilateral organization which results in multiple benefits for all parties.

We urge governments and institutions to study the multiple benefits of such Debt Swaps as Debt2Health (a Global Fund to Fight AIDS initiative) and to participate in this initiative or similar ones.

Reduce Military Expenditures

According to the Global Issues’ website, over the past decade, there has been a 45% increase in global military expenditures. Hunger, violence and climate change, etc. have also increased at an alarming rate. We strongly recommend reducing military spending and redirecting a significant portion of military expenditures to social development especially to poverty reduction.

In his remarks to UN Security Council “informal informal” Youth Session, New York, 21 December 2010, the Secretary-General stated, “Every year, the world spends $1.4 trillion dollars on weapons. With a fraction of that we could cut poverty, fund schools, provide health care, and protect the environment. One year of global military spending could pay the UN’s budget for 732 years”. The estimated cost of achieving the MDGs is $135 Billion. Therefore, we strongly recommend that all nations reconsider their military spending and reallocate more money to poverty eradication.

————————-

————-oooOooo————-

———————

Economic and Social Council

Commission for Social Development – Forty-ninth session

9-18 February 2011

Follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development and the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly:

————————

Priority theme: Poverty Eradication

——————————

Statement by the International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation, a non-governmental organisation in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council

Endorsed by:

Statement

Poverty has many causes. They on occasion do include natural disasters like drought, as well as the horrendous earthquake in Haiti and floods in Pakistan this year. But for the most part human behaviour is the root cause of most poverty from the wasteful use of fertile lands and the seas, global warming and the disasters of war, and most especially policies which have lead to ever increasing inequality within and between societies. Indeed, most societies too willingly tolerate sources of poverty that are in their power to correct, such as the unequal treatment of women in general and Indigenous peoples in particular. Social exclusion results from political choices.

Additionally, too often societies tolerate cumbersome and corrupt bureaucracies that limit the actual delivery of services allocated for the impoverished. Those living in extreme poverty and those made poor do not accept the inequity passively. They struggle to overcome poverty, but too they often are hampered by the ill health of adults and of the children they must care for; by the lack of land rights and access to affordable credit and other needed financial services; by an inadequate or non-existent transportation infrastructure; and above all, by the absence of decent work.

Effective Practice

One of the many good practices with inclusive economic dynamism implemented by NGOs is narrated by the Chairperson of Clann Credo, Ireland: ‘… Social Finance is assisting the social entrepreneurial endeavours of many NGOs. Nonprofits, and Community & Voluntary organisations who are now exploring new and innovative ways of generating funds in order to continue to address deeply entrenched social inequalities.

Since its inception in 1996, Clann Credo (cf. www.clanncredo.ie) has been helping to combat these issues, through investment based on a model which places social dividend on an equal footing with financial return. To date Clann Credo have provided financial support to over 250 projects addressing social needs in communities from Donegal to Cork, from Tallaght to Manorhamilton and on a smaller scale, as far afield as Romania and South Africa.

Our loans have helped organisations to achieve their objectives by enabling them to create and maintain employment, develop community activities and services, acquire vehicles for accessible transport, purchase, construct or refurbish properties and provide training and employment opportunities to those in need…’

Clann Credo is a social entrepreneur project which promotes the eradication of poverty by helping to resource community-based projects which foster the generation of employment and decent work for those who are impoverished.

Poverty to significantly decline needs a vigorous and sustained economic growth with a marked increase in the generation of jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. Unlike the ‘jobless growth’ of the decades leading up to the Financial Crisis in 2008, growth must be sustained by well-functioned public services, market oversight and a fair tax system to raise adequate revenue for necessary social as well as economic programmes. A healthier and better educated workforce is more easily absorbed into growing numbers of better paying and more productive jobs. Transforming a poor population into a “middle” class also creates a mass market for additional production of goods and services. Coupled with responsible care for the environment, high standards for workplace safety, and explicit social inclusion priorities, poverty can be overcome.

Beyond national policies, re-examining the approach to development on the international level is essential. Unfortunately the policies of the previous decades imposed on developing countries costly models of privatization and structural adjustment, commodity specialization and food insecurity, liberalization of capital flows, speculation leading to financial crises, and social expenditures sacrificed to fiscal constraint. The financial crisis of 2008 has highlighted two areas which require re-thinking.

First, while the market is a powerful tool, it must be guided in the public interest – the “common good” and dignity of each human being – to deliver economic development and poverty eradication. Second, the market must be complemented by an effective provision of essential economic and social services that can keep pace with growth. To serve this end, governments need to mobilise resources through a just system of taxes.

As evidence to the above case study, essential to effective programmes to eradicate poverty is the involvement of those living in crushing poverty who are in fact the major stakeholders. They should be an integral part of the designing, monitoring and evaluating of all policies. Too often they are relegated to being simply the ‘objects’ of the charity of the donors. Those living in poverty must be recognised as the ‘subjects’ who need to author their own lives.

Only a paradigm shift at national and international level to complement anti-poverty amelioration with inclusive economic dynamism will eradicate poverty[1]. Rather than focusing purely on economic growth, policy makers should fashion policies which would serve the basic human development of all people, especially the too often excluded sectors of the society at the ‘bottom.’ A primary plank of poverty eradication policies must be the generation of decent work so that those in poverty can extricate themselves and their families.

The economic crisis has called into question old ways of thinking and old economic models have been exposed as fundamentally unsuited to promoting human development. The recent financial and economic crisis provides an opportunity to make fundamental changes – the kind of opportunity that has not been seen for generations.

The determined manner in which governments have recently pumped many billions dollars into rescue packages for their economies shows clearly that when the scale of emergency is understood, politicians can find the will to act. Political will need not be a permanent obstacle to tackling poverty.

However, changes in politics are not enough. There is a need for a more fundamental change of the dominant development paradigm. The current crises reflect a model of development that is blind to environmental and human rights issues and confusing economic growth with progress in society. The former model regarded combating poverty as a primarily a technical challenge. It was not people-centred, and did not respond to the larger demands of social justice.

Recommendations

We therefore recommend …

• A comprehensive program is needed to tackle the global development crisis at its roots, mitigating its social impact and preventing future crises. Needed are effective regulations and reforms in the global economic and financial system.
• The Millennium Development Goals address the symptoms of poverty and underdevelopment, but ignore their deeper causes. A modified or alternative program is needed to address the social and environmental failings of the current model of economic development.
• On the local and international levels greater emphasis must be placed on the generation of decent work as the most effective way of enabling the impoverished to lift themselves out of poverty.

Most of the root causes of poverty are human actions; all of the above actions are means to eradicate poverty at its roots.

---

[1] Rethinking Poverty

—————————–

————-oooOooo————-

—————————

Commission on the Status of Women – Fifty-fifth session

28 February – 4 March 2011
Item 3(a) (i) of the provisional agenda

Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”: implementation of strategic objectives and action in critical areas of concern and further actions and initiatives: Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work.

Statement submitted by the International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation, a non-governmental organisation in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council

Statement

The Advancement of Women and Girls is one of the areas of concern for the International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation in 22 countries, both from global South and North. Taking into consideration that the Review Theme of the 55 Session of the Commission on the Status of Women is on ‘CSW51 Agreed Conclusions on the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child’,[1] this statement presents the voices from group discussions with the participation of more than 400 women and girls, held in Australia, India, Peru and Zambia. The statement depicts stories of effective practices and implementation gaps re the Agreed Conclusions in both urban cities and rural villages. The women and girls also bring to our attention some of their recommendations.

Effective Practices

Considerable efforts have been made to meet the target of eliminating gender inequalities in primary and secondary education, by making education compulsory and free for all. Incentives such as the introduction of a midday meal scheme in schools provides free lunch to students on all working days with the hope of protecting them from classroom hunger and malnutrition; increasing school enrollment and attendance; improving socialization among children of all walks of life to reduce discrimination; ensuring safe and supportive school environments for girls; and providing employment to women paving way to economic and social empowerment. An enabling environment is created for pregnant girls to continue their education.

Gender budgeting with special attention to the girl child has been given importance in the areas of better infrastructures in schools, regular health checkups, reduction in gender gaps in literacy and wages, cash transfer schemes for the registration of the girl child, immunizations, enrollment to school and retention in school and enforcing minimum age for marriage. Scholarships are available for tertiary education; some of the other programmes considered under gender budgeting are-‘Bridge Schools’ with quality education packages provided to the girl child, in particular, street children, child labourers, children of sex workers; nutrition programme for seasonal migrant girls; awareness campaigns to provide education and training on gender issues; compulsory registration of pregnancies and births; cash certificate for the girl child born and registered in a family below the poverty line as financial support to the family at the time of girl’s marriage.

Legislations regarding child labour in all its forms, child marriage, sexual exploitation, sex determination and trafficking have been enacted. Offices have been established for the advancement of women.

Effective practices also include creating enabling environment for girls to participate in decisions that affect their lives. The Neighbourhood Children’s Parliaments bring together girls and boys in small groups at neighbourhood level enhancing gender equality and better lives for all.[2]

Implementation Gaps

The Human Development Report 2010 states that the disadvantages facing women and girls are a major source of inequality and that all too often women and girls are discriminated against in health, education and the labour market with negative repercussions for their freedoms. It also brings out the fact that gender inequality varies tremendously across countries. The recently published report on trafficking emphasises that, ‘Trafficking is a fluid phenomenon responding to market demands, weakness in laws and penalties, and economic and development disparities; More people are trafficked for forced labour than for commercial sex’.[3]

We are aware of the numerous stories of struggling women and girls, narrated by Nicholas D.Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.[4] The following are some of the stories narrated by women and girls during the group discussions. These stories are the tip of the iceberg of the struggles faced by women and girls across the world. They reveal the existing gap between the commitments made in the ‘Agreed Conclusions on the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child’ and the implementation of those commitments.

• Lima, 16 years of age was promised a job; the employer sexually abused her and threatened to kill her if she were to let others know about the abuse; the girl later became sick and died.
• Doris, a 12 year old adolescent, was forced into child labour due to poverty at home; she was expelled from the job when she reported that the employer was sexually abusing her.
• Girls in schools were promised question papers ahead of exams if they allow themselves to be sexually exploited by the teachers.
• Women and girls are promised employment in other countries and are forced into brothels as prostitutes.
• Girls going into prostitution are exploited by the perpetrators from other countries, for pornography, even to have sex with dogs.
• Girls were asked by their families to have multiple jobs like selling things in the market and as domestic workers for minimum wages.
• Becoming sex workers is not an option for many girls as it is their livelihood to earn money for school fees, to meet basic needs and support their families.
• Patients in need of medical care in hospitals are expected to bring the basic needs such as bed sheets, pillows, blankets, needles, gloves, buckets, money to purchase medicines.

The group discussions also brought out the fact that while pressure groups in developed countries lobby governments on matters such as trafficking and equal opportunity for women and girls, ‘sweat shops’ exploit the labour of migrant groups, especially women and girls, to produce low-priced goods, and the sex industry is able to hide the existence of trafficked workers. Girls living in rural and remote areas are more disadvantaged and are vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual exploitation.

The CSW 51 encouraged the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women as well as all human rights treaty bodies to invite States parties to ensure that their reports explicitly address the situation of the girl child. The Commission also called for the United Nations Country team to strengthen their country level advocacy and their technical capacities to address all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child.[5] In spite of the many efforts, the stories told by the girls during the group discussions, speak to us of the vast implementation gap.

Recommendations

We therefore recommend Governments and the International Community to…

• create enabling environment to promote universal participation of girls based on equality of rights and opportunities resulting in reducing gender inequality
• give attention to the multidimensional poverty when investing in policies and programmes for girls. ‘Poverty is deprivation of one’s ability to live as a free and dignified human being with the full potential to achieve one’s desired goal in life’ [6]
• collaborate with the Civil Society Organisations to accelerate progress to end discrimination and violence against the girl child and to empower them
• mandate ‘UN Women’ to ensure enforcement of the existing legal instruments in favour of girls.

The real hope for greater progress is this year’s overall theme “Access and participation of women and girls, to education, training, science and technology, including the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work” and the creation of a new entity the ‘UN Women’.

---

[1] http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/agreedconclusions/Agreed%20conclusions%2051st%20session.pdf

[2] Neighbourhood Community Network: http://www.neighborhoodparliament.org/

[3] Trafficking in Persons Report 2010

[4] Half the Sky

[5] ‘Agreed Conclusions on the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child’

[6] Rethinking Poverty