Statement by Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), an ECOSOC NGO
Delivered at the Panel on Integrating a Gender Perspective in the work of the Council and its Special Procedures
By Ângela Collet
On 12 September 2008
The lack of interconnections across human rights areas can be seen in the Human Rights Council mandates that review the situation of human rights in relation to economic and financial trends but that never adopt a gender perspective. None of the reports recently presented to the Council on the effects of economic reform policies and foreign debt or transnational corporations appreciate the value of the categories of “gender” or “women” in examining the social dynamics of these issues. This is in stark contrast to the ongoing review process of the UN Financing for Development Conference, where the NGO Women’s Working Group, in which DAWN participates, has systematically underlined the impact of unequal gender power relations in areas such as domestic resource mobilization, foreign direct investments and private capital flows, trade, international financial and technical cooperation, and debt.
Other areas of the Council, in which DAWN is engaged, that demand gender analyses include special mandates on critical ecological concerns such as toxic and dangerous products and wastes; the right to food; access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The Council can effectively contribute toward illuminating the linkages between the devastating health and livelihood effects of environmental degradation, the increasing impoverishment of women, and human rights violations worldwide.