Second meeting of "NGO Report Preparation Group" was held on May 8th. The group was set up as a coalition of a number of women's group in Japan to prepare Japan's Alternative Report as an input to the Women 2000 Conference.
"Women 2000" - a special sesion of the UN General Assembly will be held June next year in New York to review implementation of Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). It appears that NGO Forum of a large scale as the one held during Beijing Conference will not be held during this Conference. Thus it was agreed that an NGO Alternative Report bringing together the opinions of various NGOs from around the world should be prepared in time for the March 2000, 44th session of the UN Commission on Status of Women.
In Japan, "NGO Report Preparation Group" was formed in April 1999 to contribute to this process. It will aim to collect wide range of women's view nation-wide as a basis of praparing its national report. The Group decided to compile sub-reports along the 12 critical areas of the Platform for Action adopted at Beijing Conference. Accordingly, report coordinators were assigned along the 12 critical areas.
| 12 Critical Areas | Organization | Coordinator |
|---|---|---|
| Women and Poverty | Deomocratic Women's Club (Fujin-Minshu-Club) |
Chieko AKAISHI |
| Women and Education | Asian Women's Network (Asia-Josei-Network) |
Kuniko FUNAHASHI |
| Women and Health | Women and Health Network (Josei-to-Kenko-Network) |
Hiroko HARA |
| Violence against Women | Violence Prevention Law Caucus (Boryoku-boshi-hou-Caucus) |
Mayumi MAKITA |
| Women in Conflict | Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center (Asia-Josei-Shiryou-Center) |
Yayori MATSU & Machiko TOMOMASA |
| Women and Economy | Kansai World Women's Conference Network (Sekai-Josei-Kaigi-Network-Kansai) |
Toyoko NAKANISHI & Reiko SHOJI |
| Women and Political Participation |
National Federation of Feminist Legislators
(Zenkoku-Feminist-Giin-Renmei) |
Satomi NAKAJIMA |
| Institutional Mechanisms | Beijing Accountability Caucus (Peking-JAC) |
Hiroko HASHIMOTO |
| Women and Human Rights | International Association for Women's Status (Kokusai-Josei-no-chii-Kyokai) |
Etsuko HORIGUCHI & TANIGUCHI |
| Women and Media | Gender and Communications Network (Gender-to-Communication-Network) |
Yasuko MURAMATSU |
| Women and Environment | Contact group for Women and Global Environment (Chikyu-kankyo-Josei-Renraku-kai) |
Etsuko SEKIGUCHI |
| Girl Child | Association for Women in University (Daigaku-Fujin-Kyoukai) |
Kei FUSANO |
* Comments are solicited to feed into the counter report including alternative policy proposal and comments to the "official govenmental report responding to the 'questionnaire on implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action'" prepared by the Prime Minister's Office.
* Japan Govenment's report is expected appear in the Website hosted by the Prime Minister's Office around mid-May in Japanese and in English.
Important Dates
| 18th July | Final Drafting of National NGO Report |
| 25th July | Complete NGO Report ready (Japanese and English) |
| mid August | Presentation of the prepared NGO report to East-Asia Sub-regional Meeting (dates to be confirmed) |
| 31 August - 4th Sept | Participation in preparation of "Regional NGO Report for Asia" during Asia Regional Meeting in Thailand |
| 26th - 29th October | Presentation of Asian Regional Report to the Inter-governmental Regional Preparatory Committee organized by UN ESCAP |
| March 2000 | Commission on Status of Women NGO Committee to compile Global Report based on inputs from the 5 regions. |
The Japan NGO Alternative Report was launched last August 13. The report is available on-line at www.jca.apc.org/fem/bpfa.
"NGO Report Preparation Group" is soliciting donations (in multiples of 5,000 yen) in support of the planned activities.
Contact: Secretariat, Beijing Accountability Caucus
Phone/Fax: +81-03-3407-7922
TRANSLATOR NOTE: names given in english may be incorrect (both organizational and individual).
Translated by: Yukika Matsumoto
