IWTC WOMEN'S GLOBALNET #197
Initiatives and Activities of Women Worldwide
By Anne S. Walker

June 5, 2002

WOMEN, YOUTH AND SCIENTISTS SPEAK OUT AT WSSD PREPCOM IN BALI

Adapted from the Jakarta Post
May 31, 2002 Friday

WOMEN HOPE FOR A PEACEFUL AND HEALTHY PLANET. They voice their hopes in
a document called "Women's Action Agenda for a Peaceful and Healthy
Planet 2015", a blueprint of their dreams and goals for sustainable,
gender-sensitive, people-centered development.

Women, according to a report prepared by the Women's Environment and
Development Organization, demand that governments stop various violent
actions, which is incompatible with sustainable development. They urged
governments to promote the universal ratification and implementation
without reservation of the International Criminal Court, emphasizing the
responsibility of all states to put an end to impunity and to prosecute
those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes,
including those relating to sexual and other violence against women.

In the economic sector, women also criticize the unfair distribution of
prosperity. The current economic system perpetuates inequitable
distribution of wealth and the means of production, skewed power
relations, over- consumption and irresponsible use of natural common
resources. Privatization has deprived women of essential services
formerly provided by the state. Thus women bear the impact on multiple
levels-juggling more work and household tasks with less income and less
access to land.

The women urged the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the
World Trade Organization to work with the United Nations to set goals
and timetables for increasing the number of women in decision-making
positions to at least 30 percent and mainstream gender perspectives in
all institutional programs. They also called for all states to implement
the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), including the adoption of gender
equality legislation that guarantees women equal rights to own, manage,
inherit and control land, and to access credit and appropriate
technology.

Access to health and education must be widely opened. Women's human
rights and economic security are unattainable without accessible and
affordable basic health and reproductive health services.

Similarly, access to education is essential for sustainable development,
but many educational programs fail to consider sustainable development
as critical to the future of all generations. At present, women and
girls comprise the majority or 65 percent of the world's non-literate
group. Women's education is key to the promotion of poverty eradication
and sustainable development.

YOUTH FROM AROUND THE WORLD ALSO SPEAK OUT. Frustrated by the continued
lack of commitment and political will in the part of governments to
pursue sustainable development, youth from around the world put forward
concrete and timely proposals for real sustainable development
implementations. In a report prepared by the youth caucus of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, youth noted that any country would be
able to achieve sustainable development if they have peace, democracy,
transparency in government, minimum corruption, and no discrimination in
all its forms. To achieve sustainable development, the youth demanded
poverty eradication and cancellation of the external debt of developing
countries.

They also demanded the recognition of ecological debt and social debt of
industrialized countries to developing countries whose natural resources
had been exploited by the former and their multinational corporations.
They encouraged governments and industries to remove unsustainable
subsidies, adopt cleaner production technologies, and green taxes,
minimize production of toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases and put
limits on corporate advertising pollution in public places.

Youth urged governments, the United Nations system and stakeholders to
educate citizens on sustainable water management and halt destruction of
forests. They insisted on the implementation of international laws and
treaties to protect freshwater supplies. In addition to such priorities,
the youth group called on states, UN agencies, civil society structures
and businesses to invest in the skills and abilities of young people.
They also demanded that governments and local authorities include youth
in decision making processes.

SCIENTISTS PLEDGE TO ENHANCE THEIR ROLE IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT. The scientific and technological community has pledged to
enhance its role in promoting sustainable development by inventing and
implementing several changes. One of the significant changes is to carry
out integrated-oriented and interdisciplinary research that addresses
the social, economic and environmental pillars of sustainable
development.

Governance systems for sustainable development at the local, national,
regional, and global levels must incorporate the best available
scientific and technological knowledge. Major research initiatives are
underway to address the scourge of infectious diseases that is the major
cause of morbidity and premature mortality in developing countries.

One more important step is to encourage collaborative works between
scientists and the indigenous people to blend traditional and scientific
knowledge for sustainable development.

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