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UNITED
NATIONS, Apr. 1 (IPS) - A coalition of 40 international non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) is demanding that the upcoming World Conference
against Racism (WCAR) give high priority to the issue of gender
and racial discrimination.
''Gender
and race affect each other, they are not two separate streams when
dealing with issues of racial discrimination and xenophobia,'' says
the Women's Human Rights Caucus comprising 40 NGOs worldwide.
''The
mainstreaming of gender issues is therefore vital because without
addressing gender, as well as age, class, caste and sexual orientation,
the remedies to challenge and eliminate racial discrimination arising
from WCAR will not be effective,'' says the coalition.
The
WCAR, described as one of the major UN conferences on human rights,
is scheduled to take place in South Africa Aug. 31 Sept. 7. The
issues on the agenda include racism, xenophobia, women's rights
and mistreatment of minorities.
Pragna
Patel, a community case worker at Southall Black Sisters Legal Advice
Centre in London, told the UN Commission on the Status of Women
(CSW) last month that it is time to stop looking at race and gender
discrimination in a one dimensional way, ''as mutually exclusive
phenomena''.
While
racial inequality largely addresses the experiences of black men,
sex discrimination addresses the experiences of white women. The
marginalised minority women of colour, she concludes ''fall between
two stools'' and are rendered ''invisible''.
Many
NGOs are ''disappointed'' with the conclusions on gender and racism
reached after two weeks of deliberations at the CSW sessions.
Charlotte
Bunch, executive director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership,
an NGO based in the United States, says that ''while the CSW talks
about gender and race, they still tend to approach them as separate
issues that happen to affect the same person some time, while we
are really trying to get them to understand the feminist analysis
that intertwines race and gender''.
''I
think the problem with the CSW is their concern to keep the focus
on gender. They are reluctant to talk as much about the intersection
of race and gender as we think they should be doing,'' she added.
''They
fear this will take them away from gender, and I suspect, at the
WCAR we may see the opposite, which means that many people there
would not want to deal with gender as a factor in racism because
they are afraid it will take the conference away from the race issue,''
Bunch noted.
The
Brussels-based European Women's Lobby (EWL), comprising over 2,700
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from the 15-nation European
Union (EU), is demanding ''targeted and specific measures that ensure
integration of gender dimension and action taken at all levels''.
These
should include issues concerning women of colour, ethnic minorities,
migrant women, refugees, asylum seekers and others who experience
multiple discrimination on gender, ethnic and religious grounds.
According
to EWL, there are 50 million female international migrants, including
about 12 million in Europe alone, who face poverty, social exclusion,
precarious legal status, violence and intimidation, difficult access
to labour markets and lack of visibility.
Yakin
Ertruk, director of the UN Division for the Advancement of Women
at the UN defends the CSW and its recommendations declaring that
''they reflect the common concerns of very diverse countries''.
Calling
the CSW negotiations ''successful'', - Erturk says that ''intersectionality
is the agreed language of WCAR now. In the past, race and gender
followed parallel lines, but now we do have a convergence and this
is something we should view as a positive outcome of CSW''.
Is
there a danger that the WCAR may turn into an all-men's affair?
''No,'' says Erturk. ''Nothing is all men's affair anymore. We are
putting our foot into everything.'' With demarcation lines now clearly
drawn at the United Nations between countries that want WCAR to
be a non-event and those for whom this is an opportunity for effecting
change and obtaining results,''the stakes are high in very significant
ways both for the victims and for the perpetrators of racism and
racial discrimination'', says Philippe LeBlanc, delegate of the
Dominican Republic to the UN Commission on Human Rights.
''It
is bound to be one of the most controversial meetings ever organised
on the topic,'' he predicts.
Leslie
Wright, Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in New
York, says that there should be strong language at the WCAR condemning
early marriage, rape, incest, trafficking, and other sexual abuses
of the girl child. (END/IPS/HD/an/da/01)
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