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Steps Forward: Initiatives in Beijing Implementation ( Beijing+5 Review)

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There was evidence at Beijing+5 that progressive positions on women’s human rights, including reproductive rights, have become more widely accepted. For example, many delegations that had opposed the Beijing Platform’s provisions on reproductive and sexual rights five years ago, notably from Latin America, supported more progressive measures to implement those very provisions. Despite the right wing’s strategy to wear down delegates to the point of physical exhaustion and extract concessions along the way, the Beijing Platform truly was a “floor.” Even those provisions considered to be “radical” in 1995 were accepted, demonstrating that the international community’s thinking on gender equality continues to move forward as it has in recent decades. As was the case at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, at the 1995 Beijing Conference, and at the 1999 five-year review of ICPD (IPCD+5), reproductive and sexual rights were the primary targets of right-wing opponents of women’s full equality. A small number of conservative governments and their NGO allies sought to undermine the negotiations, primarily by stalling and blocking consensus on issues such as unsafe abortion, the inclusion of reproductive and sexual rights, and discrimination based on sexual orientation; this strategy was designed to chip away at the Beijing Platform’s principles. North-South debates on overseas development assistance, debt relief, and globalization also complicated the negotiations. A handful of countries, including the U.S., fundamentally disagreed on provisions related to sanctions, foreign occupation, and nuclear disarmament, with the U.S. entering reservations on several provisions as a result. Samoa shares with its Pacific island neighbors a vulnerability to natural and economic shocks, as well as challenges of social transformation. Over the past several decades Samoa has weathered these storms, progressively strengthening essential service delivery while improving the wellbeing of those facing the greatest hardship. At the Millennium, Samoa was poised to move beyond Least Developed Country (LDC) status. The United Nations (UN) recommended that Samoa move to developing country status in 2003, and the island nation was to officially graduate in 2011. However, on 29 September 2009 a tsunami swept over the nation‘s coastal regions, killing 143 people, destroying infrastructure and devastating the nation‘s vital tourism industry. Losses were estimated at US$106 million, equal to 17 per cent of annual gross domestic product (GDP). It was the worst natural disaster to hit Samoa since gaining Independence in 1962. The 2009 tsunami and its effects indicate just how extremely vulnerable Samoa remains to natural disaster and other external shocks. This vulnerability is compounded by substantial structural economic challenges and the social stresses of transitioning to a modern economy. Samoa has a small, open economy driven by agriculture, fisheries, tourism, remittances and, increasingly, the service sector. Subsistence agriculture and fishing are integral to Samoan livelihoods with more than two-thirds of households engaged in these activities. Understanding the external threats, economic constraints and social challenges facing Samoa today is critical for identifying the most vulnerable groups and analyzing and strengthening the country‘s social protection systems. Samoa differs from other PICs in that its population is concentrated on only two islands that have relatively developed road and communications infrastructure

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Availability

KP.II-00085

KP.II VAN S

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Detail Information

Series Title

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Call Number

KP.II.GRI s

Publisher

Malaysia : The Asian and Pacific Development Centre(APDC)., 2000

Collation

112 hlm. : ilus. ; 26 cm.

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

967-9928-66-9

Classification

KP,II

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

2000

Subject(s)

Implementasi politik-- beijing
The Gender and Development programme in Asian and
Women Benefit more from mainstream development pol
Implementing a women's plan of action
Marginalised women
Beijing+5 Review

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