• The Disability Network in Beijing
  
• Beyond Beijing
  
• Sites Not to be Missed
  
• Indigenous Peoples and the
  Fourth World Conference on Women
  
  Volume 1 #3: Part One

The Fourth World Conference of Women (FWCW) was an historic experience for me. It was the first UN Conference on Women I have participated in fully. By full participation I mean working and planning with other women at the grassroots level, national and international levels.

Inclusiveness

The Beijing Conference was more inclusive than any of the previous UN conferences (Mexico City, 1975; Copenhagen, 1980; Nairobi, 1985), for it addressed issues of all groups of women in a more inclusive manner. The FWCW was the first Women's Conference ever in the history of UN Women's Conferences to include the agenda of disabled women.

During the regional Preparatory meetings, which were held close to two years prior to the Beijing Conference, the 12 Critical Areas of Concern were addressed. At these meetings women and girls with disabilities were able to participate and contribute. Hence, when the NGO Forum began in Beijing, the Platform for Action reflected some of the issues of women and girls with disabilities.

The Disability Network

When preparing for the FWCW, Disabled People's International, World Blind Union, Federation of the Deaf and Mobility International, USA, formed a network called Women in Linkage on Disability (W.I.L.D.). The purpose of the network was to unite and build a strong voice of women with disabilities around the world.

Through WILD, women with disabilities organized an international symposium on issues of disability. The symposium was held on the eve of the NGO forum, on August 29. It was attended by over 200 women with disabilities from the five regions of the United Nations. NGO Forum

At the forum, things were not as easy as we would have liked. Persons with disability faced a lot of challenges at the Forum, including:

• Accommodation - The particular hotel for women with disabilities was too far from everything;
• Distance - The distance from the bus to the tent area was too far for women with disabilities to walk. The distance between activities was beyond many participants abilities, not to mention disabled persons;
• Rain - Nature took over, rain at a new field, fresh ground with over 85 tents, and a population of 31,000 delegates. It was very hard to move from one place to another in the rain on soft ground with some people in wheelchairs;
• Access - Having planned several activities for the forum, we found it difficult to hold some of them due to accessibility and some inaccessible facilities.

In order to be equal participants at the Forum disabled women had to push a little harder for the China Organizing Committee (COC) and the NGO Forum to make some adjustment for access. We found out this was one way to get some implementation on some issues, although a demonstration mechanism had to be used as well.

After facing several challenges, we had to move beyond access to deal with real issues that had brought thousands of women to Beijing. There was networking and sharing with individuals as well as different NGOs from all parts of the world.

UN Fourth World Conference of Women

This was different from the NGO Forum . For the NGO accredited delegates, it was to lobby and ensure that the issues and proper language went into the official document, the Platform for Action. It gave individuals and groups an opportunity to discuss with their official government delegates issues that should be reflected in the official document.

Conclusion

We need to take note of the great deal of work which is left to be done by our governments, organizations and communities. The Platform for Action is not a legal binding document, but a vehicle and tool for us to work with and persuade our governments to be accountable and implement what they agreed to in Beijing. What is reflected in the Platform for Action is a call for responsibility for implementation - a call placed on all of us.

You can contact Disabled Peoples' International by e-mail
101-7 Evergreen Place, Winnipeg, MB R3L 2T3

Interested in keeping up with the networking after Beijing '95? Here are a few sites to check-out.

Granny G's Canadian Neighbourhood Homeport.Is a home of information and support for the Tibetan women's inclusion at Beijing, and the Tibetan Women's Association. "The lasting result of the Women's Conference in China is that millions of women will be networked... " (from CATT'S CLAWS #61, 9/7/95).

WomensWeb is Canada's first Internet-based service and support program for women. The creation of WomensWeb is the final activity of the Canadian Women's Networking Support Program, a 2-year strategic initiative with international affiliations to provide a global electronic forum for women during the UN World Conference on Women and NGO Forum.

Also check out their affiliate at WomensNet.

The Linkages site and the Earth Negotiations Bulletin site is maintained the International Institute for Sustainable Development. They will be gathering links to information on the follow-up, analysis and adherence to commitments.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin provided daily issues in French and English on the negotiations. The information was gathered by a team of writers and editors, who sat in the negotiations with laptop computers.

The Feminist Majority Online site: Half The World, Half The Power carries a useful conference wrap-up by Jennifer Jackman and Christine Onyango pointing out gains for women's rights, and further links.

Thanks to Jennifer Gagliardi for locating the final adopted version of The Platform for Action

The Indigenous Women's Network has provided a summary of the Issues Affecting Indigenous Women for the Beijing Conference. This has been placed on the 'Net by the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center.

Issues included are culture and religion, health and reproductive rights, AIDS, sterilization, domestic violence and 'the land we live from'. The international context and covenants with Indigenous Peoples is also explained:

"To protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, all International covenants must refer to us as peoples, not populations or people."

The "s" issue is described in the PEOPLEs document shared at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women:

"The "s" Issue

"Some nations in the U.N. want to refer to indigenous peoples as "people". They do not want the "s" on peoples because if the "s" is added, it means that indigenous peoples will have collective rights. These colonizing nations do not want to provide indigenous cultures and tribes to have collective rights to their traditional lands.

"PEOPLE have individual rights.

"PEOPLES have collective rights to their lands, natural resources and other collective endeavors including their right to pray together, live together and develop an economic system together.

"All indigenous peoples live as cultural units. It doesn't make sense to say that one individual is an Indian - but they can't be part of the tribe."

Isis is an exciting WWW page which features the art and culture of women of the African diaspora. Includes featured site, film, video, and the visual arts, ourstory, performing arts (music, dance, and theatre), written word (literature, poetry, and nonfiction), spirit, organizations, institutions, and events.
[Editor's Note: This link is not currently valid- November, 1998]

Isis links with WebDiva's Infocenter, Sandra Hall's impressive set of links and search facilities for Africans on the Net.
[Editor's Note: This link is not currently valid- November, 1998]

Denise Osted's site Welcome to the Centre of my Web offers some of her favourite links. Go toWomen's Web Links to find women's sites and resources such as Gender-Related Electronic Forums, Women's Wire, Women's Books Online, FeMiNa and the Lesbian Avenger Handbook. [Editor's Note: This link is not currently valid- November, 1998]

Aboriginal Web Links provides links to various Aboriginal resources, especially (but not exclusively) Canadian ones including NativeWeb, Bill's Aboriginal Links, Aboriginal Super Information Highway and Tribal Voice.

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Volume 1 #3 Part One