UNHQ, New York (ECA) — - ECA's African Centre for Women (ACW) today officially launched the first edition of 'The Status of Women in Africa' a new CD-ROM containing comprehensive gender-disaggregated data on African development.
The CD-ROM was launched at an Information Workshop for National Focal Points jointly organized by ECA and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), shortly before the United Nations General Assembly Special Session "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century", which takes place from 5-9 June 2000.
The workshop was chaired by a representative from Gabon, the chair for the month of the Africa Group of Permanent Missions to the UN. Briefing delegates at the launch, Ms. Josephine Ouedraogo, Director of ACW, explained that the Centre's main objective in producing the CD-ROM was to provide statistical data on the status of women in Africa by country and by gender, where the latter existed.
Stressing the usefulness of hard data as an instrument for planners and policy makers, Ms. Ouedraogo added: "No government action is credible without statistical data to justify choice of priorities and to monitor and evaluate measurable objectives of government".
The CD-ROM - which features audio and video as well as user-friendly, searchable data -- was enriched by feedback from participants at the Sixth African Regional Conference on Women held in Addis Ababa in November 1999, convened by ECA to assess the progress made in implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action since 1995. The content of the CD-ROM had been guided by the 12 critical areas of concern in the Platform, and by the need to develop a clearer picture of the impact of implementation on the lives of African women. The CD-ROM will be updated annually.
The Information Workshop also touched on the sensitive and delicate nature of ongoing negotiations regarding the draft Outcome Document to be discussed at the Special Session. The Africa Group negotiations are part and parcel of the work of the Group of 77 and China. Informal and often fractious deliberations have been ongoing for the past week. The disputed wording in "brackets" mainly relates to women's reproductive rights and to rights of sexual preference. To hasten consensus, informal discussions are being used to tackle areas of disagreement within the Group.
The 3rd Committee, comprising members of permanent missions to the United Nations, is currently engaged in attempts to achieve consensus around contentious wording contained in the Outcome Document that stipulates the way forward in accelerating implementation of the Platform for Action.
Delegates will continue to meet informally to thrash out disagreements in the text of the final draft document. The aim is to reach minimum consensus by Tuesday 6 June when the first reading in plenary is anticipated. Members of the Africa Group and of the 3rd Committee, including Ministers arriving at the weekend, are hoping to build consensus in the coming days so as not to drag the deliberations down by focusing on issues clouded by religious and cultural perceptions.
Daily updates by the ECA Communication Team, related links on the Special Session on Beijing + 5 and the contents of the CD-ROM will be available on the ECA Website at: http://www.un.org/depts/eca
For more information about ECA's participation in the Special Session, please contact:
Lorna Davidson, Sophia Denekew or Mercy Wambui C/o Regional Commissions New York Office 31st Floor UN Secretariat New York Tel: +1- 212-963-6905 Fax: +1-212-963-1500 Email: cteca@yahoo.com
