UN Women Committee: Negotiations are speeding up

Debates heated up, things are moving at UN Women and you’re not prepared.

As general speakers’ speeches came in quick succession this morning, we feel that something is happening. Delegates of UN Women have gained confidence and debates have heated up. The delegate of South Africa said: “South Africa is ready to work with Ireland and the US and to participate in more projects. We want to keep discussing with everyone.”

Germany filed a motion to structure sex education. Unfortunately, denied. The reason? Small talks and criticism get us nowhere. At least it is the opinion of Chile: “Good proposal but not concrete. Who? How? Why? We need to focus on this issue. Everyone agree on the general idea but no one is proposing efficient concrete action.”

Fortunately, Eritrea filed a motion for a 20 min break in order to have time to prepare their working papers. In the end, it wasn’t 20 min but 40 min….Chairs are running out of patience.

Anyway, they’re working hard to find concrete solutions and make abortion safer in every country: their working paper “Proposal for the promotion of women’s rights with special emphasis on the eradication of female genital mutilation and the self-determination of abortion regulations“ initiated by Eritrea is moving forward.

This morning session can be summarised by this optimistic statement of the delegation of Chile which says it is pleased to finally see some effective ideas emerge through the different working papers and wants to work all together at a smaller scale to be more efficient.