Major Group: Women
CLOSING STATEMENT OF WOMEN AS A MAJOR GROUP AT CSD 14
We, the Women?s Major Group, intend to move forward by holding governments and
ourselves accountable for the prior commitments that have been made to poverty
reduction, gender equality and women?s empowerment, including but not limited to
the ninth and fourteenth sessions of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD 9 and 14) , the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). In doing so we recognise and repeat that
implementation must be premised on a rights-based approach that guarantees
universal access to basic public goods and services, such as water and energy, and in
this context we make the following commitments for actions :
· We commit to work together with governments to raise awareness about specific
approaches to making energy polices, programmes and projects more equitable
and gender sensitive and also to track implementa tion of governmental
commitments at the local, national and global level;
· We commit to continue to provide leadership and work with governments to
implement result-oriented projects and actions that recognize the critical role that
women play as actors and participants, and NOT only recipients, in the energy
sector, so as to increase women?s access to energy services and create
opportunities for them to improve their livelihoods;
· We commit to developing a knowledge database and disseminating information
on the mechanisms and funds created in the climate change treaty process and
exploring how they can be utilized as resources for creating economic
opportunities for women in developing countries and in countries in transition;
· We commit to participating in innovative initiatives on financing at various levels
in the energy sector, from micro to macro levels;
· We commit to provid ing support and expertise for gender budgeting and auditing
of energy policies and programmes, including Poverty Reduction Strategy Plans;
· We commit to strengthening the capacity of women as a major group to
participate in energy policy-making, decision-making and programme
implementation through South-South, North-North, and South-North networks;
and
· Finally, we hope when we return next year for CSD 15, we will see a different
picture: women on the CSD bureau; a woman chair of the CSD for the first time;
gender balance on the expert panels, and more women represented on the
government delegations. We would be happy to recommend women energy
experts to be included on panels and government delegations. However, Mr
Chair, we refer not only to the participation of more women at CSD 15; we are
also challenging CSD 15 to address more substantially the policy reforms needed
to address the links between access to affordable energy services for the poor ,
gender equality and women?s empowerment.
We, the Women?s Major Group, intend to move forward by holding governments and
ourselves accountable for the prior commitments that have been made to poverty
reduction, gender equality and women?s empowerment, including but not limited to
the ninth and fourteenth sessions of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD 9 and 14) , the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). In doing so we recognise and repeat that
implementation must be premised on a rights-based approach that guarantees
universal access to basic public goods and services, such as water and energy, and in
this context we make the following commitments for actions :
· We commit to work together with governments to raise awareness about specific
approaches to making energy polices, programmes and projects more equitable
and gender sensitive and also to track implementa tion of governmental
commitments at the local, national and global level;
· We commit to continue to provide leadership and work with governments to
implement result-oriented projects and actions that recognize the critical role that
women play as actors and participants, and NOT only recipients, in the energy
sector, so as to increase women?s access to energy services and create
opportunities for them to improve their livelihoods;
· We commit to developing a knowledge database and disseminating information
on the mechanisms and funds created in the climate change treaty process and
exploring how they can be utilized as resources for creating economic
opportunities for women in developing countries and in countries in transition;
· We commit to participating in innovative initiatives on financing at various levels
in the energy sector, from micro to macro levels;
· We commit to provid ing support and expertise for gender budgeting and auditing
of energy policies and programmes, including Poverty Reduction Strategy Plans;
· We commit to strengthening the capacity of women as a major group to
participate in energy policy-making, decision-making and programme
implementation through South-South, North-North, and South-North networks;
and
· Finally, we hope when we return next year for CSD 15, we will see a different
picture: women on the CSD bureau; a woman chair of the CSD for the first time;
gender balance on the expert panels, and more women represented on the
government delegations. We would be happy to recommend women energy
experts to be included on panels and government delegations. However, Mr
Chair, we refer not only to the participation of more women at CSD 15; we are
also challenging CSD 15 to address more substantially the policy reforms needed
to address the links between access to affordable energy services for the poor ,
gender equality and women?s empowerment.