2007/10/24

Launch of Social Watch Report 2007 at United Nations Headquarters

Social Watch

The Social Watch Report 2007 entitled “In dignity and rights. Making the universal right to social security a reality” was launched October 24 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, in the context of the United Nations High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development (Ffd).

In cooperation with the UN Non Governmental Liaison Service and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Social Watch participated Wednesday in a panel discussion on “Gender Perspectives on Development, Aid and Trade”, to debate the critical importance of considering gender equality within the Ffd agenda and processes; civil society proposals to strengthen the FfD process and outcomes including new issues; and alternative policy approaches that would support financing gender equality, including innovative financing mechanisms.

The Social Watch Report 2007 presents the Gender Equity Index, developed by Social Watch to measure gender equality in the world. It measures three indicators: education empowerment, and economic activity.

“Our work is to link poverty and development with the gender perspective”, said Social Watch Coordinator Roberto Bissio and one of the speakers of the panel. According to the Gender Equity Index, there is no country with complete gender equality, “so the key is how to expand policy spaces to put and end to the gender gap”, he added.

“The Social Watch Report 2007 shows that social security is being dismantled worldwide, in part because of the effort of countries to retain capital investments to follow financial recommendations that supposedly lead to a better business environment. This jeopardizes the retirement life of older citizens, particularly women”, pointed out Bissio.

The 2007 Report focuses on social security, providing a worldwide overview with an approach that emphasizes the right of people to live in dignity with secure livelihoods. It provides ample direct evidence of how the human right to social security is violated every day, as well as valuable suggestions on how to make it a reality.

Talaat Abdel Malek, Vice Minister for Economic Affairs of Egypt, also a speaker at the panel, said that governments need to make more serious and persistent efforts to minimize legal, economic and institutional constraints to development, with particular emphasis on gender issues. “We also need a set of programmes that take the long view sponsored by NGOs, the private sector, and communities regarding education, microfinance, literacy and other aspects”. Nowadays there are a lot of programmes that are not integrated, the vice minister added.

In Norway, women’s rights and gender equality has been made one of the main priorities and objectives in the development agenda as a cross-cutting issue, stressed Anne Stenhammer, Norwegian Secretary of State for International Development, who informed that Norway will next year double UNIFEM’s budget. “No one should think we are a model”, but it is important to share experiences to try to implement policies on gender equality, she said.

Experience has showed that the implementation of policies to promote gender is a challenge, said Marina Durano, programme specialist on Economic Security and Rights of Unifem. The UN Fund for Women conducted a capacity-building study that showed that communication is essential. “Women are talking to Finance Ministers but one does not know the other’s language. We really need to see Finance Ministers speaking with women’s national machineries, since women are stating what kind of policies they would like”, she said.

“The challenge is how to translate the discourse of Financing for Development into concrete measures and programmes. Not to develop special programmes is a way of marginalizing our agenda”, stated Hellen Grace AkwaiiWangusa, Anglican Observer and Personal Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations.