Introduction

The Geneva NGO Committee on the Status of Women (Committee) was founded in 1973 after the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to designate 1975 International Women’s Year with a three part theme: equality, development and peace. The Committee later became one of the important coalitions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to prepare for the ensuing World Conferences on Women from the first one in Mexico in 1975 to the fourth one in Beijing, China in 1995. The Geneva Committee has worked closely with its counterpart Committees in New York and in Vienna.

The principal aim of the Committee is to reach gender equality in all spheres of life by working in partnership with the UN and its specialized agencies to ensure that governments respect the commitments they have made at World Conferences and through international conventions and principles on non-discrimination, and to attain a global momentum in mainstreaming gender equality.

As a substantive committee in Geneva of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relations with the UN (CONGO), the Committee has a strategic position within the UN system to influence political decisions in areas as varied as economic, social and cultural reforms, human rights of women at work and in economic and trade issues.

The Committee groups over 60 international NGOs and women’s organizations representing many millions of women and men world-wide. It meets regularly 4 times a year, often with a guest speaker from the UN and its specialized agencies, the World Bank and other experts from the academia and the private sector.

Over the years, working groups were established to address specific issues of significance to the status of women. It is through these Working Groups (WGs) that the Committee facilitates information sharing and networking. Member organizations are specially effective in their role when collaborating within the Working Groups and Task Forces of the Committee. At present there are nine working groups, a task force and a special project. Their objectives and some of their more important activities are described in the pages that follow. Individually, members also operate within their respective organizational mandates at the local, national and regional levels.

Our members serve as advocates to raise awareness and sensitivity to gender equality in human rights and all areas relevant to improving women’s lives. Given the heterogeneity of women in their productive and reproductive roles, the Committee’s principal strategy is to mainstream an holistic and integrated human rights-based approach to gender equality and to serve a catalytic role for the advancement of women at all levels of decision-making and in all spheres of their lives including in the family and household milieu.

Over the years, the Committee has strengthened relations with the UN and its specialized agencies and this has been reinforced through close collaboration in caucuses, public debates and panels organized by the Committee and its Working Groups. At major conferences when NGOs from all over the world participate, the Committee has increasingly acted as an advisory body in technical and substantive issues relating to the differential effects to women and men of policies and practices.

Our advocacy work has also expanded at the Human Rights Council through the organization of caucuses during the duration the council sessions. It has facilitated networking between NGOs, government and other intergovernmental bodies, academia and other members of civil society. We strategize, make joint statements with other NGOs coming from outside, provide space for public hearing and training sessions in the form of briefings and orientation programmes on procedures and lobbying techniques.

The Committee is also actively involved with the Working Groups of the Human Rights Council as well as with treaty bodies notibly the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Increasingly we have made inroads into other UN bodies such as the UNFPA, ECE, UNCTAD, its specialized agencies like the ILO, WHO, ITU and WIPO as well as the World Bank and the World Trade Organizations (see full names in Annex 1).

The open meetings which the Committee organizes on topical issues such as the digital revolution, electronic work, intellectual property rights and mainstreaming gender equality perspectives serve as a sounding board to governments.

As women, we could indeed bring about change in trends and tendencies of economic globalization that so far has exacerbated the feminisation of poverty and exploitation of many women. Through the feminine energy model, we could create circles of influence rather than pyramids of power. We could inculcate in society societal values of life-giving and nurturing. This is why women need to be part of the decision-making process at the peace-negotiating and peace-making tables.

I wish to thank the women and men leaders for their inspiring messages encouraging us to continue with our mission to bring the status of women to an equal level with men. The process is long and the task is formidable, but as the President of the First World Conference of Women said “It only takes a little longer to do the impossible”. We count on the commitment of our members and the solidarity of our friends, donors, sponsors to help us shorten the time and process in reaching our goal, a goal which is to enhance spiritual and human values, social cohesion and economic prosperity for all through social justice and the promotion of sustainable peace and development.

Conchita Poncini
President