CEDAW and SDG Implementation- Step It Up Planet 50-50

WHEN: Thursday, 19 May 2016, 10:30 - 11:15 A.M

A briefing for the media by Ambassador of Canada, Indonesian and regional experts on women’s rights will discuss how investing in women and girls will accelerate development in Indonesia and ASEAN

Ms. Roberta Clarke, Regional Director and Representative in Thailand, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the PacificH.E. Marie-Louise Hannan, Ambassador of Canada to ASEAN, Global Affairs CanadaRepresentative from Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (MOWECP)Ms. Jeannie E. Javalosa, Co-Founder of ECHOstore, President and Trustee of GREAT Women PhilippinesMs. Sjamsiah Ahmad, Former Member of CEDAW Committee (2001-2004)Ms. Ayu Oktariani, Board Member of the Indonesia Positive Network and Focal Point forYouth LEAD and women living with HIV in Indonesia

WHERE:
Satoo Garden Meeting Room, Shangri-La Hotel, Kota BNI, Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 1, Jakarta, Indonesia 

WHAT:
UN Women is organizing a meeting on 19-20 May at which it will join senior government and judicial officials and civil society activists from across Southeast Asia to assess progress and challenges on women’s rights in the region over the past five years. The U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is a state obligation for ASEAN governments to follow. The Government of Canada funded the programme which UN Women implemented. Besides Indonesia, the programme also covers Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam – countries with very diverse social, cultural, religious, economic, and political systems that call for complex strategies in struggling for women’s rights. Senior government and judicial officials from those countries will attend the Jakarta meeting.

Participants will discuss ways to achieve the recently announced global goal to “Step It Up” to achieve gender equality by 2030, which many Asian leaders have committed to. At the Global Leaders' Meeting on 27 September 2015, Indonesia’s Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said: “We are more than eager to improve the quality of life of women. We must ensure that women have equal and inclusive access to greater participation in, as well as better control of and benefit from, all sectors.”

UN Women was created by the UN General Assembly in 2010 to promote the equality and empowerment of women.

WHY:
The World Economic Forum’s 2014 Global Gender Gap Report found that the ASEAN countries as a whole were making progress on ensuring that women are not held back in economic participation and opportunity, education, health and survival, and political empowerment. In the nine countries for which data was available (the exception was Myanmar), the report found an average gap of 30.7%, compared with 31.1% for the 2013 report. It said Indonesia had closed the gap in education but was slipping in political empowerment.

So despite notable progress, much more needs to be done for women and girls in ASEAN so that they may live free of violence and enjoy the freedom to make their own decisions on every aspect of their lives.