Copyright 1999 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 10-Jul-99 ***
Title: RIGHTS-DEVELOPMENT: Next EU/ACP Agreement Must Be
'Engendered'
By Debbie Singh and Niccolo Sarno
BRUSSELS, Jul 10 (IPS) - The challenge for the 71 African, Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) countries and their partners at the European Union (EU) is to
focus trade and development policies on women, youth and the poor, civil
society groups agreed here Saturday.
The issue of gender, in the context of a successor agreement to Lome IV -
the trade and aid pact between the EU and former European colonies- was
among the topics addressed at a hearing on the Lome Convention and civil
society held here Jul 8-10.
Both European and ACP non governmental organisations (NGOs) recognised
that "social and economic development cannot be secured in a sustainable
way without the full participation of women."
''They (ACP and EU negotiators) have said gender is a cross-cutting issue, '' -
Brita Bastogi of the Brussels-based Eurostep Network of European NGOs
said - ''but there are no mechanisms in the ACP mandate to implement
measures related to gender.''
In their documents, ACP negotiators reportedly bring together ''gender and
youth'' but participants here claimed that ''the definition of gender even is not
understood by key policy and decision makers within the EU and ACP.''
''The absence of a gender analysis policy framework within the context of the
Lome convention leaves very hollow steps towards the mainstreaming of
gender equity into political, economic and social aspects of the next
agreement,'' warned participants of a gender working group during the hearing.
Recommendations drafted by working groups will be submitted to ACP and
EU negotiators as a contribution from civil society, before their next inisterial
meeting, due in Brussels on July 29-30.
The current Lome convention expires on February 1, 2000 and the successor
agreement currently being negotiated by the parties will be based on the
overarching objective of poverty eradication.
The EU negotiating directives set out three guiding principles "for systematic
application in all areas of cooperation", including "gender mainstreaming and
gender equality."
However, the text of the next agreement, which is currently being drafted,
does not bring forward a coherent policy approach focused at the
empowerment of women, according to participants at the hearing.
Civil society activists and NGO representatives also underscored the need for
greater inclusion and participation by these sectors in the implementation of
the successor agreement.
''Benchmarks keep moving'' - said Pat Made, Africa director of IPS (Inter
pess Service) - ''and we continue to stand still.
Negotiators speak the language and progress continues to seem far away.
We are constantly treating the symptoms.''
Made underscored the need for harmonisation of policies which had
emanated from major United Nations international fora such as the human
rights, environment, population, women's and social development
conferences to ensure consistency and progress.
Kena'e Ka'au, of the South Pacific-based Melanesian Solidarity for an
Independent and Nuclear Free Pacific supported the inclusion of gender as a
development concern in the successor Lome pact but warned that the
meaning of gender is still not widely understood in the Pacific.
''Many in the Pacific think that gender is about women, but it is a much
broader issue,' Ka'au said.
''In the Papua New Guinea and Melanesian context the issue of gender
balance or equality is important...It must be equality and not just a
notion of equality. If this is not done, women will be left out,' he warned.
Ka'au said an additional challenge for the Pacific concerned how the
whole concept of gender in the successor Lome pact would be translated and
made effective on the ground.
He suggested the need for awareness-raising before the gender issue
could become part of the successor agreement but also pointed out that this
would need to be done in the context of national capacity and availability
of resources.
''To be honest, we need to look at home first before looking elsewhere,'' Ka'au
said, stressing that in the Pacific there is a need to consider governments
that were not responding to people's needs.
Calls for the engendering of development policies from their evolutionary
stages have also been heard in Brussels but Hellen Felter, vice-president of
the European Women's Lobby agreed with Ka'au in that, even among
negotiators, ''people don't know what gender is.'
Felter said that out of the 20 appointments as European Commissioners on
July 9, only five were women (the European Commission is the EU's
executive branch).
''And gender has to do also with changing the structure that has been
put up by men,'' she said, pointing out that at the Brussels hearing
''there was not one female chair''. ''And this is Europe ,'' she added,
suggesting that the situation is worse in most ACP nations.
Jagjit Plahe of Kenya stressed the need for existing human rights
agreements to be used as a threshold when discussing trade agreements in
terms of determining whether trade is assisting with the eradication of
poverty.
''Let us not romanticise about words like poverty eradication and good
governance. There have been claims that half the world's poverty will be
eliminated by the year 2015. But which half are we talking about?' she
asked.
''The EU and other international organisations need to invest in awareness-
raising to build capacity and inform poor people about Lome to enable them
to make informed choices,' Plahe added.
Ramesh Jaura, Chair of the Global Cooperation Council in Bonn, said there
is a need to look beyond the successor Lome pact in terms of the
democratisation of international relations.
There is a need for treaties and mechanisms for monitoring these treaties,
and said it is civil society's role to demand more transparent measures of
democratisation in terms of trade, aid and investment, Jaura said.
(END/IPS/ds/ns/ak/99)
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